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Subject: 
Re: 2 Things...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 22 Jun 1999 19:51:05 GMT
Viewed: 
762 times
  
In lugnet.general, Todd Lehman writes:
In lugnet.general, James Brown writes:
1: The text is tiny, and often 'greyed out' which makes everything tend to
blend into everything else,

Do you mean the indented quoted text on the full-article view?  Too light
and too small?

Yes and no.  I hadn't actually noticed that yet when I posted that, but yes, I
find the quoted text too small/light/hard to read.  I thought it worked quite
well when quoted text was simply italicized and faded once, rather than getting
progressively smaller and lighter.
What I was actually refering to was the text on the group pages.  I find the
sizing scheme for the various areas odd.  I feel the page would work a bit
better if the messages were larger - at least the same font size as the
charter - and the message headers one size up from that.

2: My *by far* prefered method of browsing messages is the 20-at-a-time
list of subjects, and currently, I can't get the most recent 4 messages
on that list without playing with URL's and doing guess-work as to the
most recent messages.

Would it be better if the first

  More:  All | Brief | Compact

link on each group page repeated the 4 shown messages when you clicked it?
In other words, if the last article is #100, and you click the "Compact"
view, would you rather see articles #100-#81 even though the "Brief" forms
of #100-#97 have already been just shown?

Yes.  (and this is tied in with my #3, as well)  Frequently, especially when I
first catch up in the mornings, there are more than 4 new messages.
Previously, it was one click to the group, and I'd see the last twenty
messages, and rarely have to go down another level.  Currently, I go to the
group, immediately have to go down one level, catch up, and then go 'back', and
read the last four messages.

3: It takes me one more click to get to where I want to go.

Do you tend to hop around from group to group while reading news, or to read
lots of groups?  You might try making a custom HTML file on your local
system with a series of links like this:

I tend to read lots of groups.  My default LUGNet page isn't .com/, it's
/news/traffic/


  http://www.lugnet.com/build/?n=,-20&v=c
  http://www.lugnet.com/general/?n=,-20&v=c
  http://www.lugnet.com/market/auction/?n=,-20&v=c
  etc.

and see how that feels, and if you like that, maybe we can figure out a way
to do something similar somewhere on the server.

Hmm.  That could work.  If I put it in exactly as above, would that work, or do
I have to fill in a number at 'n=,'?

Actually, for me, the best interface would be to have the compact listing show
up on the group page, instead of 4 compact messages.  I don't have the
slightest clue what other people prefer, though, and, while I get vocal from
time to time, I don't consitute a majority. :)

4: Message display appears to be fixed at half my screen width.  This is
mildly irritating, since I almost always have to scroll down now, even to
read a short message.

Fixed at half on all of the pages or only the intro-pages?

Fixed at half on the actual message header and text.  The 'replies to' and 'in
reply to' boxes run the width, and I suspect) the thread graphic does as well.


5: Messages don't get marked in any particular way (that I can tell) if
I have read them.  This means that every time I go back to the list, I
have to hunt down the list scanning text until I figure out what the last
message I read was, instead of simply looking for the color change.

What video mode are you running in (how many bits of color)?  Are the blue
link-boxes not showing up as dark-colored visited links for you?

1024x768, 24 bit.  Part of the issue (I've since discovered) is that most of
the time I run on an LCD, and the subtler variations are harder to see unless I
tilt my screen at a ridiculous angle.

Of these points, the last one is the most irritating, since it (so far, at
least) has seriously increased the amount of time I've spent browsing
messages instead of reading them.  This morning, it's taken me as long to
get through .general in the amount of time it typically takes me get
up-to-date on everything.

Do you think it might be easier to see the difference if the VLINK color
was a shade of (the more standard) purple instead dark blue?  Did you ever
have this problem with the old interface?

Probably.  I did have this problem before, but not nearly to the same degree.
I suspect that it's likely due to the size of the link.  An entire line being a
different color is easier to discern than a small icon, especially on an LCD.

OTOH, I think the new format *looks* much better.  Very clean, very
professional.  Nice work.

Thanks.  The old stuff was just a hack thrown together, which just sort of
happened to work.  This was thought out.  I'm glad that the main problems
are only cosmetic.

Seems to be, but I'd let it run for a while before ruling out huge,
earth-shattering problems. :)

James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: 2 Things...
 
(...) And, as I forgot to mention, the text size is also too small (for me) to be comfortably scanned on the compact listings (and presumably on the others, as well) (...) OO! OO! Tried it. Liked it. No further testing necessary. Now, if only I (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jun-99, to lugnet.general)
  Re: 2 Things...
 
(...) OK, lots of other people were having the same gripe about it. It's fixed now. (...) You're saying you have an issue of readability with the font size? Can you send a screenshot? (...) What if clicking "Brief" gave you #96-#77, and clicking (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jun-99, to lugnet.general)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: 2 Things...
 
(...) Do you mean the indented quoted text on the full-article view? Too light and too small? (...) Would it be better if the first More: All | Brief | Compact link on each group page repeated the 4 shown messages when you clicked it? In other (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jun-99, to lugnet.general)

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