- This topic has 4 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 15 years, 1 month ago by
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(warning to everyone: this message is quite long compared to most, so be prepared 🙂 )
Oh, dude. You hit it right on the nail. I ‘hear your pain’, so to speak. There’s a lot I’m going to say, in direct reply to your message, to keessp’s message (sorry that I don’t know your name), as well as to the rest of the site in general, but let me start from the beginning.
First, let me thank you and keessp for informing me about the font-size complaints. To be fair, I don’t know if a lot of those complaints would still hold true for all of those people, but I do thank you for making me aware of it. There’s a lot of messages to read, so I’m not always privy to what’s happened in the past. If you two, and anybody else reading this, could tell me of any specific areas where you consider font sizes too small or images out of alignment, I’d appreciate it. I can’t promise I will change it (or even be able to). I’d rather concentrate my efforts into working on getting the site moved to the new system; however, this would at least make me aware of any possible problem areas.
Now, you might wonder why I don’t go looking myself. Let me begin by stating what browser/OS/resolution setups I use when I browse and when I test stuff on this site.
Windows XP: Internet Explorer 6.0/7.0, Firefox 2.0/3.0, Opera; 640×800, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1600×1200, High-Def (via hookup to my TV)
Windows Vista: (same as Windows XP)
Linux: (same as Windows XP but without IE)
Macintosh: Firefox 2.0, the built-in Mac browser; 1280×800
Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, Playstation 3: their respective browsers; Standard-Def, High-Def (with and without HDMI)I know there are more browsers, resolutions, and OS’s. I like to think, though, that I cover a lot of the bases when it comes to testing and viewing things. In each and every case, everything looks perfectly fine. The PSP and DS sometimes have trouble displaying pages because of their limited RAM and screen size, but other than that, every other setup has no trouble with anything. I’m like you; I’m annoyed by sites that use the excuse that most people use IE at 800×600. Yes, I’m sure a lot of people still do (like my parents), but most people I personally know use different browsers and at higher resolutions. That being said, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to expect most people to be using at least 800×600, but I also think (and I’m sure you’ll agree) that it is wrong to expect people to be using specific browsers and OS’s, especially in today’s world. A few years ago, IE at 800×600 was, in my opinion, a very reasonable expectation. Nowadays, though, the only reasonable expectation is a minimum 800×600 resolution. Everything else should be as flexible as reasonably possible. It’s true that most people will indeed be using a Windows OS, but it shouldn’t take a lot of effort to accomodate any eccentricities that another OS might have. I’ve already said a lot about resolutions, but I have one more thing to say about it. I may alienate some people by saying this, but…anyone using any resolution below 800×600 should REALLY consider increasing the resolution or upgrading. Most websites nowadays just don’t look good below that resolution and some may not display at all. Plus, anything below 800×600 is just…too small a resolution. I really am sorry if anyone is using below that size, but we’ve moved too far beyond those resolutions and monitors capable of higher resolutions are cheap enough now that I think it’s more unreasonable to expect web developers to accomodate sizes below 800×600 than to expect people to use at least that size. Again, I’m really sorry if that alienates anyone, but that’s just the way my design philosophy is…OS and browser as flexible as possible, but a resolution of at least 800×600.
Back to what you were saying, collector…I wish this site, as it stands on this server, could accomodate other OS’s, browsers, and resolutions more readily than it does, but the toolset Faith and I use for the site just doesn’t give us much flexibility in that regard. First of all, we don’t actually write any HTML code when we’re working on the site. I’m not even sure it’s possible to do so. We’re limited by what the toolset provides us, which is more of a WYSIWYG type. In fact, the MS Office interface used when people write their forum messages is the very same interface we’re given when we edit the pages, just with some more options. It’s like using MS Frontpage (as a piece of advice to anyone remotely serious about making and maintaining a webpage, NEVER use MS Frontpage; most web developers will probably tell you the same). This alone automatically mostly limits us to Windows and to IE. I really wish we could be more accomodating right now on this server (I prefer using Linux with Firefox for my browsing myself), but it’s not feasible at the moment. That all being said, though, one thing I CAN tell you is that the toolset on the newer, nicer looking Talkspot server is much better. It’s still of a WYSIWYG type, but it’s not strictly limited to Windows or IE, which is nice. Much, much more can be done on Talkspot than on this older server. I’m sure you, keessp, and everyone else will be happier when the move is made. Now, I don’t know when the move will be made. It depends mostly on Faith and I, and it’ll probably be awhile yet, but when the move is made, the domain name will be transferred to the new server and this old site will be deleted. So, to summarize…While this site is on this server, there really and truly is not a whole lot that Faith and I can do when it comes to flexibility with other OS’s, browsers, and resolutions. And I’m not making excuses either; that’s just the plain and simple truth. When the site moves to the new server, though, things SHOULD improve. Cross your fingers. 🙂
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Before I go on, I wanted to comment on your message real quick, keessp, since it relates somewhat to the rest of this message. The reason I mentioned that Vista and IE might be culprits is because I have used the internet on Vista machines with IE that did funny things with the pages I visited, whereas, for example, another computer sitting right next to it had no issues at all. I agree with you that that is probably not the case with your machine; I just brought it up because I’ve seen and heard of it happening with Vista and IE. Like I said before, I will look into it. 🙂 I’m also going to increase the site of the font on the header and reupload it. Thank you for telling me about the trouble you had! Like I said earlier in this message, I truly do appreciate it when anybody tells us these things. Whether ot not we are able to do something about a problem, it at least makes us aware of it. Again, like earlier, if you see any specific areas, feel free to inform us. As a message to everybody, I realize that forum messages are sometimes too small, but I think that’s less of a site issue and more of an issue with message writers not changing the font size. Oh, and one more thing, keessp…Sometimes, and I’m not saying it’s the case this time, but sometimes using a language set on Windows other than English (I believe you use Dutch, correct? I noticed the Netherlands ‘NL’ symbol on your image) can be a big factor on how things look or display, even if it uses a Roman-based alphabet. Web browsers, pages, programs, etc. sometimes assume that English is the language set being used, and so when another set is used, things may not show up properly. Do other ‘English-based’ sites ever show up funny, too? In any case, when the site moves to the new server, I will do my best to make sure the site looks okay on computers not using an English language set. If it’s okay with you, I might occasionally ask you to take a look at something to see if it looks okay on your computer before I make it official. 🙂
Before I go, I just wanted to tell everyone that it is an honor to be working on this site. Though Faith and I are doing the behind-the-scenes work, we couldn’t do it without the feedback all of you provide us. 🙂 It’s a cooperative effort. We want this to be the best site possible for a company and its games that we all love so much and remember so fondly. Now, just so everyone nows, Faith and I are not being paid to work on this site. It is entirely worked on in our own freetime. While we can’t dedicate 24/7 to this site, the time we spend on it is time spent out of care and love for Sierra, and we want to see it succeed. That’s why I hope everyone continues to contribute like they have been by writing those messages, providing material, making suggestions, and even criticizing a part of the site when necessary. It all helps, believe me. 🙂 This site belongs to everybody who has ever adventured through a King’s Quest game, cleaned up a Space Quest game, or thrown a million rocks in a Quest For Glory game, or for anyone who is new to the wonderful world of Sierra games.
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Nope. Not even the CSS. There may be some obscure option hidden somewhere I haven’t seen yet, but I highly doubt it. I even double-checked after I read your message, but no-go. I feel like a complete idiot now, though. There IS a small, tiny option at the very bottom of our edit screens that allows us to view and change the HTML code, an option I didn’t notice before. Nothing for CSS still, I’m afraid, but HTML, yes.
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