Layout Note

I think I'm going to have to make what appears to me to be a minor change, but may affect you, the good reader. Currently, this site actually appears with two completely different layouts. There is the wide, light-green, 3 column layout (triad) that has the flag on the pole, the yellow text menu on the left, and the ice border along the top.

There is also the "Drainpipe" layout -- with a dark green background for the text, the steel tile background, and a drainpipe leading from one post to the next.

As the site is currently set up, you do not get to select the layout -- it is chosen for you depending on the width of your screen. If your screen is too narrow to effectively display the triad 3-column layout, you are redirected to the drainpipe layout. If you view this site with the same size browser, it's likely you've never seen the difference.

However, as I make small adjustments and changes, I update the triad site, and the drainpipe layout doesn't get updated -- so I'm going to have to do something. I'm thinking of just cutting out the code that does the redirect -- but that would mean if you have a narrow browser, you're either going to have to scroll right, or the layout will be odd.

I'm considering making a new layout for the narrow browsers. If I do that this time, I'm going to have to make the whole site modular so that I can display all the items I add and change on both layouts. Of course, that makes even more of a challenge, because I have to take ALL the items I want to display and figure out where to put them on both a wide layout AND a narrow layout.

What this means to you, the good reader (and thank you so much for stopping by) is that over this weekend you might see some odd layouts as I experiment with different layouts and designs.

Does anyone use that left menu on the wide screen layout (the Site Navigation links to the left)?

Posted by: Ogre at 08:04 PM

Comments

1 To be honest, I don't use any of your menus/sidebars. I just want you to create a template that doesn't take 5-10 minutes to load.

Posted by: Contagion at February 10, 2006 09:56 PM (e8b4J)

2 The only place this one is slow is the blogrolling section -- and it intentionally loads last so you can read the main posts while (if) you're waiting!

Now get a high speed connection, and you won't have these problems...

Posted by: Ogre at February 10, 2006 10:38 PM (+Gl1m)

3 Hey! That's with a T1 line. Slowest loading blog in the 'sphere!

Posted by: Contagion at February 10, 2006 11:18 PM (e8b4J)

4 Bah. It's your imagination! I'm using a cable modem, and not counting the Blogrolls, it's 4 seconds, tops...at least it is for me. Maybe I'll have to look at what I can do to speed it up...

Posted by: Ogre at February 10, 2006 11:39 PM (+Gl1m)

5 I have a wide screen - when I happen on you in FireFox, I get the light green. When I'm in IE, which I happen to prefer, I get the drainpipe. I don't know if that's helpful or not.

I've always kinda LIKED the drainpipe.

Posted by: Peter Porcupine at February 11, 2006 07:56 PM (GtwbP)

6 Thanks -- I think the drainpipe only shows up with a narrow screen -- do you still get it when your browser is maximized in IE?

Thanks! I liked the drainpipe, too -- there's some really neat technical stuff behind it -- if you look closely, you'll notice the transition from one entry to the next is random...but it's a really slow-loading setup, so I need to make that faster.

Posted by: Ogre at February 11, 2006 09:38 PM (+Gl1m)

7 "Slowest loading blog in the 'sphere!"

Apparently *someone* never goes to IMAO :-)

My suggestion for narrowing is just have the right sidebar appear directly underneath the left sidebar, but otherwise keep the design unchanged.

Anyway, any time I go to a site that's too wide, I just center the slider so that I can read the center column content and just scroll through the posts. I rarely look at sidebar content.

Posted by: Harvey at February 16, 2006 03:59 AM (ubhj8)

8 And I wonder how many people do that -- completely ignore sidebar stuff. I bet most people who read a lot of blogs do, but the "new" folks probably read every inch...thanks for that input...

Posted by: Ogre at February 16, 2006 11:01 AM (2IrwV)

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