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>I've fixed that by making the background an image rather than just a brower interpreted color.

the tradeoff there, of course, is that the page takes a little longer to load.


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the tradeoff there, of course, is that the page takes a little longer to load.

Only about 3 seconds for 56k though. The dimensions of the image are 1200x1.


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Congratulations and thank you, Jazz, for taking the initiative to develop the look of the Board. I've felt from the start that the appearance lagged well behind the liveliness of the content; BUT, since I have neither the technical ability nor the creativity to do anything about it, I didn't feel I had the right to complain! You've done a super job and I can't wait for the inauguration of the full-scale new look (as long as you lose the pink and the current AWAD script font).


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the tradeoff with images is that the page takes a little longer to load

And the background will be cached in your local machine for the session, and if you are a regular visitor, probably for longer. If you are a frequent web user and have lots of spare disk space, try increasing the cache size in your browzer (US spelling - I'm learning), this can improve download performance. In IE its Tools/Internet Options and then the Settings for Temporary Files in the middle of the General Page. In Netscape, its Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Cache.

Rod



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First, let me rephrase the statement... "one should be sensitive to download times" (as an T-IT(don't ask) manager, I have no problem there). However, in combination with these download times are internal processing speed times, and I feel for any PC user still running a pentium 2 under 350mhz. Anyone who hasn't bought a new PC in two years may have one. These machines are fine for most basic office/desktop work, there are a lot out there, and will "exponentialy" add to download time.

ofTroy - I am familiar with all the technical references you give, but my point has nothing to do with those... my statement about color theory has to do with the psycological effects of red and blue as a background with long term use... something that is apparently, and going to be (although I hope not) ignored.

...and I believe tsuwm's point should be regarded as ultimately important. Although Rodward may have a point for those of you who like to use your cache which is designed to speed up the display process, not the "download process", it'll do nothing for those of us who don't use a cache (for specific network traffic reasons) and will "hurt" the slower internal processers regardless of cache use. There are also alot of people that don't have a lot of disk space to allot to cache space, and a large cache space on a slower computer can actually® be slower than direct to display downloads.

I, personally, don't like the current color choices (I prefer a blue undertone (a type of grey intead of a type of tan) but everything else looks wonderful).

(EDIT - I would assume 256 colors, no more!)

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Musick, I to am T-IT-- more T than IT-- but with enough IT bragging rights.. (well at least i am this week... i have been known to change careers every once in a while)

Right from the first time (in netscape) the backrground looked ochre to me... and i thought the blue was an nice contrast.. (in fact, from an art/color value point of view, blue/orange is a perfect contrast, but the ochre is a very good choice-- especially since color values are handled differently, and created differently on a monitor (RGB as primary colors, not RBY)

I didn't comment on size, since i have my monitor resolution fairly small-- (all the more room for my desk top-- and i hide my task bar-- since it takes up to much space)

a quick glance of the sourse code shows several of the colors values use 7, E, and other values that will not be the same in every browser..
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
a color tutorial
Color in computers is controlled several ways-- in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)and other ML's (XML, etc.)
color is expressed with 2 place numbers.. only the numbers are in Hex(adecimal) so each XX can express 256 values, not 99-- (one value is 00--no color, so some say 255 colors..) so 6 digits can display 255 shades of Red, 255 shades of Green, and 255 shades of blue.--and then when you start "mixing colors" (say red and blue for a violet or purple= FF00FF). its easy to see how you can get millions of colors..

of these millions of colors, 255 colors are supposed to look the same everywhere.. these colors only use certain values..
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15 (in decemial)
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F (in Hex)

the 255 "universal colors only use the number values in bold.

so plain, intense red =FF0000 (Max out the red value (FF) and no green (00), and no blue (00)
and Green = 00FF00, and Blue= 0000FF.. -- this is sometimes referred to as RRGGBB--
and in unix--these RGB values were expressed in octal --though i am told that has changed..

If in any windows program, you go to a color window (say for fort in word-) and go to the advanced button. you see a rainbow like spectrum.. as you select a color... the window will also give you the RGB values.. (you might have even seen them there, and never knew what you were looking at..Now you have an idea!)

what makes everything more complicated is hue and intensity.. and other factors that will effect that color.


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Thanks for that walkthough, OT - good to know we're in safe hands with a pair of T-ITs to lead us


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Mav-- half the people at AWAD know enough to run rings around me.. the other half are often fine at using a computer-- but don't have a clue as to how it works.. i am somewhere in the middle..

I am not very good at developement (haven't done a lot) but-- i know enough that the techno geeks can talk to me.. and i can ask intelligent questions.. (and not ask impossible tasks).. and i am very good at explaining what i do know, so that other can understand it..

but any number of people here have contributed a wealth of technical information.
we might consider a side line of teaching web/computer basics.. a complete How To list... (how do i get ñ, how do i get a , how do i..)
and then some.. (oh no, jazzo, i think i am suggesting that the FAQ be updated too...and i am backing off before i find that i have "vollunteered" to do it.)


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Thanks to Jazzoctopus for the lead and everyone else for helpful suggestions regarding re-design of Wordsmith.Org.

While discussion of colors and fonts and the like is useful, let's think outside the box. What features would be useful to have here? "Share this page with a friend"? AvantGo, WML, Palm versions of the pages? What else?

What other content would be good to have here? Access to a dictionary or a thesaurus?

Is there a site on the Internet that you especially like and find easy to navigate? Feel free to share it here.

We may not be able to put in all the feature and changes suggested here in the end, but let's open the discussion.

And to answer a question, AWADtalk will follow the color scheme of the rest of the site. And yes, it won't be pink.


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Thanks Anu, not only for the constant attention you must be giving this project, but also for the energy to keep the thinking fresh.

Off the cuff, I agree that Mail this Page and dictionary access would be useful features, and perhaps a more prominent links section to word-orient(at)ed sites like Quinion and so on.

I am sure the more considered responses will be worth listening to.


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