Hi,

Something I've noticed for quite a while that may be a feature that I haven't quite adjusted to yet...

Under Mozilla (and I assume under other browsers), the browser window width determines whether the first page of IWeThey displays single- or double-spaced when LRPDs are present. This can be handy as it indicates at a glance whether new posts are present in lower parts of the page when the page is refreshed. (Or it can be an annoyance on a slow link as the page first displays single-spaced then jumps to double-spaced if a LRPD is present. Depends on how you view things. :-)

But adjusting the browser window width so that (no LRPDs give uniform single spacing) and (LRPD gives uniform double spacing) is a bit tedious. I have it set OK here, but on another machine it doesn't seem to be easy to get things just right.

Is it supposed to work like this?

If so, is there some cheat sheet (or similar) for optimizing the browser width? Could a line of appropriate width (or something similar) be put on the Edit Preferences page to let us know how wide the browser window should be for a particular combination of font face and font size?

I'm using the Georgia font face here at IWeThey, 20 pixel proportional font setting in Mozilla, 96 dpi, and 1600x1200 desktop resolution.

(I generally like to have program windows be as small as possible while maintaining legibility, but under IWeThey the browser window is about 70% of the desktop width - to give you some idea of what I'm using.)

Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.

This will illustrate what I mean by "double spacing":

Load the [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/board/show?boardid=1|Main IWeThey Page]. Maximize your browser window. The Forum names will appear with minimal vertical space between the lines of text. As you shrink the width of the browser window, you'll eventually reach a point where the vertical space between the lines of text will increase to about twice what it was before. That's what I mean by "double spacing".

I don't exert any explicit control over that... If an LRPD image is present, the browser will make that column wider (depending on your resolution/font/etc as you seem to be pointing out).

Ok. If the column width increases just the right amount, the vertical spacing between the text will increase on the appearance of a LRPD.

Are you trying to get the effect of knowing whether or not there are new posts, or is it a display aesthetics thing?

Both. :-)

The double spacing is one indication of new posts, as is the shift to the right (making space for the LRPD). I guess I'm hoping for a way to shrink the browser window width without having to change the font size and without having double spacing appear. You seem to allow more horizontal space for the first column than we absolutely need (e.g. the Chess Games forum and MSiG forum have the longest description and still have about two horizontal inches (on my system) at the onset of the double spacing.

As an alternative to changing the first column width for new messages, could the LRPD in the location bar change colors if new messages were present or not? I don't imagine so, and of course it's browser dependent....

I know! Change the throbber (the animated thingy that shows network traffic in the browser) if new messages are present!!! :-) Just kidding - I imagine that's a nightmare for all the browsers out there.

The shift in the starting column for the LRPD is fine and works well. This "double spacing" is no major concern of mine - I was just curious if it was working as designed and if I understood it properly. Don't change it unless others care about it and think it's an improvement.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.