(no subject)
Okay, the Tales of MU website is still not 100% where I want it to be... you can still see remnants of the old color scheme hither and thither, and the default nav bar at the top--which is right now just an alphabetical list of categories--is not tremendously useful. But I've got it at 95-98% where I want it to be, and it should be readable and usable to most people regardless of their browsers and screen resolutions. If the page was comfortable to read previously, I can't imagine it being uncomfortable now.
The content column is set to take up 61% of the screen's width, which just leaves enough room for the sidebar at lower resolutions (at the very lowest resolutions you'll have to scroll sideways to see the whole bar but reading should still be a comfortable experience), while keeping the text confined to a manageable area at the higher ones. Maybe there will be someone who sees wide margins on the sides of the text and feels cheated, but having just recently got a (slightly damaged around the edges) widescreen monitor for the first time, I can say I find it much easier to read when the page is not trying to use the entire surface area on my desktop computer.
Once I've got it to 100%, I'm going to be making this layout standard for my other stories, and then start tweaking them graphically so that each individual one stands out more, get the MU crest involved on the MU page, for instance. One might wonder why I didn't test out the changes on one of them instead of messing around with my main site. Eh, didn't think that far ahead, really. And if I had done that, I wouldn't have received nearly as much feedback about what was working and what wasn't.
It's a little surreal to be blogging about something as mundane as site design, when there's so much transition and upheaval in my life... I'll be less oblique about that in a few days. Some things are still up in the air. Thanks to everyone who's offered support or simply been patient. The worst is behind me, the best is yet to come.
The content column is set to take up 61% of the screen's width, which just leaves enough room for the sidebar at lower resolutions (at the very lowest resolutions you'll have to scroll sideways to see the whole bar but reading should still be a comfortable experience), while keeping the text confined to a manageable area at the higher ones. Maybe there will be someone who sees wide margins on the sides of the text and feels cheated, but having just recently got a (slightly damaged around the edges) widescreen monitor for the first time, I can say I find it much easier to read when the page is not trying to use the entire surface area on my desktop computer.
Once I've got it to 100%, I'm going to be making this layout standard for my other stories, and then start tweaking them graphically so that each individual one stands out more, get the MU crest involved on the MU page, for instance. One might wonder why I didn't test out the changes on one of them instead of messing around with my main site. Eh, didn't think that far ahead, really. And if I had done that, I wouldn't have received nearly as much feedback about what was working and what wasn't.
It's a little surreal to be blogging about something as mundane as site design, when there's so much transition and upheaval in my life... I'll be less oblique about that in a few days. Some things are still up in the air. Thanks to everyone who's offered support or simply been patient. The worst is behind me, the best is yet to come.