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The width is fine for me. Doesn't seem any wider than before. I'm on 1280 x 1024. I'd actually prefer it even 'wider'! Maybe have the layout use width percentages rather than fixed pixel-widths, to help accommodate the variety of resolutions and browser settings people use?

 

There is so much wasted real estate on my screen with this site. Well, it was virtually the same before, but thought I'd bring it up now. I have a 19" CRT monitor and there is 2.5" on either side of the forum body area that gets unused. Vertically span this up the entire browser screen and that results in a 2.5" x 8" strip on either side that gets unused. In the end, on one screen, that's forty (40) square inches wasted on my screen!! Yikes!

 

Another GUI thing that got changed with the new forum that I don't like is that the top header area is a bit bigger than before. I don't know if it's because of a thicker gray border, or if the Dark Mod banner uses a bigger picture now, or if there's an extra <p> tag at the top somewhere, or if wider rows are now used, or what -- but it's definitely bigger. Thus, you have to scroll down farther on each forum page to get to the posts and other forum info.

 

Just mindless ranting. It looks good otherwise. Thanks!!!

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Using percentages is not what's done nowadays in web dev - standards have changed. Previously, the majority of people on the net used 640x480, so the flexibility was needed to expand from such a low resolution to the higher ones, to a max of 1024x768. Now the majority of people on the net use 800x600, which is a perfectly reasonable size, and monitors are capable of doing ridiculous sizes like 1280 x 1024, which tend to make it hard to read from line to line since they are so long (there is an optimal line width that humans can all generally read with ease).

 

Since 800x600 is reasonable, the standard is to fix it at that size, giving you more flexibility with the aesthetics of the website design and keeping it readable in terms of line width.

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800x600 might be the most common if you include the vast number of computer illiterates who don't know how to change resolution, or baby boomers using outdated machines their kids gave them. But I highly doubt the average resolution of forum members is less than 1024x768.

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That's interesting, Domarius; thanks for the tidbit of info. I personally don't know many people who use 800 x 600 anymore, as I thought newer computers default to at least like 1024 x 768. But I trust you... at least for the average person out there. I wonder if gamers, however -- the crowd we're catering to -- skews the demographic toward the higher-end 1024 or 1280? They often have the hardware to support the higher resolutions and actually often desire this, and will make the necessary changes.

 

I can see how a full screen width of text could maybe difficult to read for the average person. I'll keep that into account when designing websites. But I guess I'm just used to it since I write and read emails all day at work on a 17" monitor and I have the message window open to full-width of screen. Thus, the text extends to both edges of the screen. I personally prefer it this way, but alas.

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Since there seems to be question over whether it's actually a different width, I can confirm it definitely is. I always keep my browser the same size (1" less that both borders of the screen, or 2" in total, approx), always and forever, on a 1024 desktop, and since the upgrade, I must drag the bottom scrollbar over to see the post texts instead of partial text plus full names plus grey border plus small black border.

 

Not complaining, just stating. :)

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I'm currently designing my website and testing pages in Opera, IE and Firefox. It's interesting that Firefox is the only browser that plays gif animations at their proper speed, the other two play them slower.

Also IE tries to block all kinds of content like rollover images and java dropdown menus. A lot of people would be scared by 'THIS CONTENT HAS BEEN BLOCKED AND COULD ACCESS YOUR COMPUTER!!!!" and wouldn't bother allowing it. They're actually missing on out a lot of interactivity on the web. ALso IE will not display table layouts properly half the time. THey look perfect in dreamweaver, Opera and Firefox, but IE usually has them wrong, with gaps etc. Why anyone uses that piece of crap, I have no idea.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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I hope that Firefox will prevent rollovers soon, becasey they get on my nerves. Now that popups are blocked they came up with something new to piss off the surfer. It's obvious from the nature of these stuff that it is just annyoing, otherwise they could put the ads simply in a plcae where the user can choose to see it if he wants.

Gerhard

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I'm not sure what you think rollovers are. It's just an image that replaces another image when you roll the mouse over it. Nothing to do with advertising.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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Exactly, oDD. Rollovers images have been around for years. Unless he's talking about those lame self-contained Flash advertisements that pop up on your screen at gamer sites and stuff. They look kind've integrated with the web page, rather than popping open a new browser window; but you still have to click the [x] Close button. Lame. And IE is just fine for me. i love it. The whole IE warning thing is something only noobs would stress about and it can be turned off.

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Seriously, if you think IE is 'just fine', it's because you haven't tested another browser for more than 5 minutes. IE is the most feature-lacking, unsecure and buggy browser out there. The only reason why 80-90% of surfers are using it, is because most of them do not know better than clicking on an icon on the desktop to fire up the browser.

~m2

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I used Netscape Navigator quite a bit 5 years ago and it sucked. I've used Firefox a bit, but not much. I did notice Firefox didn't run a dynamic web application we used at work, but IE did. IE meets my requirements for a web browser; I don't know what kind of super user you are, but I don't need any extra fluff.

 

In viewing Firefox's "features" (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/, I see I wouldn't use any one of them:

 

* Popup Blocking - Every program these days offer popup blocking. (Yahoo! Bar, Norton Internet Security, IE, SpyBot, etc.). I don't use the feature, I don't want the feature, and I'm sick of every program bundling it in.

 

* Tabbed Browsing - I do just fine without tabs. I don't need more junk cluttering up the UI.

 

* Privacy and Security - Whatever. Load anti-spyware programs, use Norton, IE, .etc and browse away. Yes, I know IE gets hacked the most because it's the most popular and people hate Microsoft. Small price to pay. I've used IE for many years now and my computer has held up just fine.

 

* Smarter Search - I despise programs that get integrated into my browser. (Google search, Yahoo! bar, etc.). I'll do my own searching, thanks. And I don't need more buttons or button bars.

 

* Live Bookmarks - I have no need for this.

 

* Ugh, I could continue on down the feature list, but I'm getting bored with this one. Let's try the next neat browser... Opera 8 (http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/)

 

Lovely, just looked through Opera's features and they seem to be just like Firefox's. *yawwn*. Yeah, I'm really missing out on my browsing experience it sounds like. Boy, I sure wish I knew how to download these other browsers and use them. Even if I could, though, I probably wouldn't know how to click their icons. (sarcasm, heh.)

 

I love people who hate Microsoft just for the sake of being rebellious and anti-big corporation.

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But when most people get their computer from the computer store, or through mail-order (Dell, etc.) -- after it's been all set up -- I think the manufacturer/computer store pre-modifies it to at least 1024. A friend got a computer from Gateway, for example, and I'm almost certain it arrived with 1024 or 1280 already set. Most people don't install WinXP themselves when they get a new PC.

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What are some features that other browsers have? I've only heard of tabbed browsing....

http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

 

I love people who hate Microsoft just for the sake of being rebellious and anti-big corporation.

My personal view on Microsoft has nothing to do with IE being sucky as a browser. But the fact that MS use their PR departments to explain how a security hole is not really a big issue instead of actually fixing it, doesn't really give them respect in my eyes.

 

Netscape was never any good, and I doubt it ever will be. And you're missing out on a lot of features that'll make your browsing experience better, faster and more secure, when you're keeping to Internet Explorer. And you're stuck with loads of 3.rd party programs that clutter up your computer with resource-hungry processes instead of having one browser doing it for you. Why drive an upgraded, yet old and rusty Volvo that came free with your garage, when you can actually get yourself a new one that comes with an airbag and coffee-cup holder (and all that for free)...

~m2

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What's good about opera over IE?

The one thing I can't live without now is mouse gestures, you can do all sort of things with various combinations of mouse holding and clicking - browsing through galleries, going to previous and next pages, or you can set it up to perform any function. Also the magic wand- it remembers your user name and password for any site, so you ony have to ctrl+enter to login -that includes sites that don't give you an option to save your password, being able to right click words and have a choice of 10 enginves to search it with. ctrl+d for paste and go, being able to start from a pevious session even if you have 20 windows open, most of the annoying crap out there is designed for IE and doesn't affect opera, it blocks all popups, being able to toggle off and on images/stored images on the fly, being able to toggle between author and user mode on the fly, a mouse scroll zoom function, tabbed pages, the transfers window has much more functionality than the popup you get when you start a D/L in IE...it's so long since I used IE I can't even remember just how shitty it is, so I've probably missied some stuff out.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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I love people who hate Microsoft just for the sake of being rebellious and anti-big corporation.

lol, there seems to be no end of them at University. Just people who apply the "anti-big-man" theme to EVERYTHING. The funniest conversation I heard between two guys at uni was this;

 

"...well, just use [x software package]."

 

"I stay the hell away from [x software package] because it's commercial."

 

"Yeah but you're gonna work for a commercial company, who's gonna use commercial software -"

 

"(says akwardly) - yeah of course..."

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There are lots of reasons why IE sucks as a browser, security holes aside. It simply does a poor job of rendering pages. It inserts gaps into tables that shouldn't be there, and generally looks for ways to mess things up. When I'm creating webpages, it's always IE that causes the most hassle in getting them to show up correctly.

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I stopped trying to design for IE around 2 years ago now. Hours of frustration trying to get things to work in IE, while it worked in Firefox and Opera, just wasn't worth the time. It's especially confusing when your code meets all the coding standards, displays in the other browsers perfectly and then IE has everything screwed up and you actually have to use non compliant code to make it work correctly. That's just silly.

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Actually, I've done loads of webdesign the last couple of years. After I started with xhtml, css and reading tricks and tips about webstandards and walkarounds, I now know how to design a website that looks good in all 3 major browsers (IE, Opera and Mozilla/Firefox). I first used a separate CSS file for IE, but soon had no need for it.

 

It's all about using the xhtml/css correct, and use small walkarounds when encountering a problem. :)

~m2

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Cool. What gap? Would need to see a screenshot of Opera vs. IE to know exactly what you're referring to. I assume you're saying that little white graphic on the center-left should be all the way up against the left border of the window? Table gaps can be done away with in IE

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So, wait, am I the ONLY person here who uses their browser in a window instead of full screen? :huh: My screen res varies from 1024x768 to 1600x1200 (depending on whether I'm home or at work), but I don't maximise my browser, and I don't want to, either.

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Cool.  What gap?  Would need to see a screenshot of Opera vs. IE to know exactly what you're referring to.  I assume you're saying that little white graphic on the center-left should be all the way up against the left border of the window?  Table gaps can be done away with in IE

 

Yes, of course they can be gotten rid of, but it's extra work that no other browser makes you go through. There's a gap to the top left of the words dark mod in the sidebar.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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