New forum width - what do we think?

[Oliver]

Some users have complained that the forum was a touch too wide (950 pixels) for their screen size, so I narrowed it to 814.

However on my screen, it looks a bit squished until I use my browser's zoom function (Firefox 3 - use it, it is ace!). Then it looks fine.

So, what does everyone think?

 

[CaSHMeRe]

mine is squished ...

 

[Mr.Darcy]

so is mine...

 

[sanneke]

Mine too.

Looks like too much wasted space.

 

[CaSHMeRe]

the white backgroud is squished, BUT, its of equal length to the rest of the middle. that make sense?

Black/Blue backgroud is the squished one. I can live with it though if it helps other members. No biggie.

 

[NerdyCinderella]

Smokey,

No – not good. You increased the borders of the layout making for more wasted space.

Please look at these two other VBulletin sites to see how the total space is used in the layout for the text.


1) http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/ - Main Topics page

1A) http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/search.php?searchid=938729 – Today’s Posts page


2) http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http://www.e-cigaret.com/forum/index.php&usg=ALkJrhiwIhTgOOxjJYmctinM8JJQsbBcdg – Main Topics page

2A)http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http://www.e-cigaret.com/forum/forumdisplay.php%3Ff%3D13 – Today’s Post page

Having the broad borders is totally unnecessary.

It seems to me in your effort to please us you are sacrificing the many for the few.

I don’t want to offend anyone but resolutions in the area of 800x 600 went out in the Dark Ages.

I’m not a computer expert by far but for those that are complaining of needing to horizontally scroll, need to make the adjustments on their computers. There are several parameters that can be adjusted besides the Resolution, there is Font size and a couple of additional parameters in the Control Panel – Display Section, such as increasing the text size again thru, I think, a zoom-like feature.

Thanks for all your work.

 

[Mr.Darcy]

nerdy,have you a hangover from the big party you threw last night?

 

[NerdyCinderella]

Funny you should mention that...
Yeah, I have a bit of a hangover but You Should See T-Bob! >>

 

[Mr.Darcy]

glad i left early!

 

[Kate]

Cinderella, I just had a look at the forums in the links you posted and none of them require horizontal scrolling with 800x600 resolution. It seems forums don't have to be unfriendly to that resolution to be functional.

 

[NerdyCinderella]

That's great Kate!
Like I said I'm not a computer expert.
Hope Smokey can figure out where the problem is.

 

[TropicalBob]

For me, narrower column width equals easier reading. Eye-track studies at Poynter Institute are regularly done, and having the eyes track all the way across a big screen is just not optimal. Sure, it can be done. But it's a strain.

That's 24mg homebrew in that thar barrel, Cindy! I'm in serious recovery.

 

[Nazareth]

very good for me- not sure what 'squished' looks like? Could someone take a screenshot of what it looks liek squished & post it?

 

[TheEmperorOfIceCream]

I'm at 1920 x 1200 so it isn't bothering me.

 

[Klaue]

to everyones surprise, I voted "change it back". the forum reacted differently than I thought. I would have supposed that the image would set the minimum width, not the maximum width. if that were true, it would still fit a browser in an environment with, say, 1600 x 1200, but also in one with 800x600. but it seems that vbulletin uses the image size to determine everything, which is a bad thing. I, personally, hate such unflexible designs, not only in forums but everywhere. CSS is capable of setting sizes in respect of the size of the browser window. vbulletin seems to ignore that (instead of using a forum width of ~90% of browser width, it uses one with image width + 20 or so).
so, all in all, I think that's no solution - back to the old one.
sorry for the inconvenience

 

[Oliver]

Hi Klaue,

No, vBulletin is set by css - it's just that this style is fixed at a particular width. There is another version that uses a fluid layout - but the templates have to be edited individually when adding modifications, so it is very time consuming to add new templates.

What I'm going to do is to reset this back to 950 as I think that is pretty much the ideal width. It's roughly the width that many other forums default to.

However, I will also install the fluid version of this template, using an even smaller graphic than the one you did for me. I can't do that until I get back from my vacation tho....

Cheers,

SJ

 

[leaford]

Wait a minute, you're on vacation?!? STOP WORKING!!!

 

[Kit]

smokey isnt fire fox ace the free add ons are superb.how do you change the forum size in mozzila ?

 

[Klaue]

well, that's one of the reasons why I prefer burning board. never saw a burning board with fixed widths. I think the whole "wasting screen real estate" on high resolution/maximized browsers while at the same time causing headaches at lower resolutions is a real bad thing. too bad you see it more and more lately. well, if I can help you with the fluid layout, just tell me. and if it's too much work, forget about it. I mean, beside myself there are only 'bout 2 users who have an issue with it

 

[Nazareth]

yeah this has got to be a fluid forum- I'm back to scrolling to read posts again, and it's really bugging me- making it fluid would probably solve hte whole issue for everyone no matter the screen resolution