"The 'female' melon is the most sought-after and can be distinguished when the end opposite the stalk has a large coloured circle resembles the areola of a woman's breast."
Going out for a bit; though it's far from finished, perhaps you'd like to poke around the reading group site and let me know (here) if you have any suggestions or requests.
1. The pages reachable from the "June 2005" link and the "Terminology" category use a different style than the main page.
2. The main page would benefit from a narrower column of text. The rule of thumb is about 66 characters, give or take. I find "37em" works pretty well as an approximation.
3. I'd suggest using the same font for both body text and blockquotes, since the quoted text is set off enough simply by being indented. Right now there's a mild ransom-note effect.
4. The banner text looks like a screenshot. If you really want bitmapped text up there, you'll get better results from Photoshop or the Gimp.
5. The black line separating the banner from the posts is a little gratuitous. White space should work just as well.
6. One more banner thought: The "Unfogged Reading Group" subtitle's present location gives the banner an unbalanced feeling. I would put it underneath the title and the two, uh, color blobs.
Also: you want to avoid "text-align: justified" on web pages, since browsers generally lack both hyphenation and a smart line-breaking algorithm. Without these, you get ugly "rivers" of whitespace coursing down the textblock.
2. I'm having trouble deciding what to do about the width of the main column. I really like the width at Unfogged, but I expect posts to be significantly longer at the URG, and I wanted to avoid interminable scrolling. I'll play with it.
3. Meh, I like it the way it is.
4. Not a screenshot; made in Fireworks, not happy with it, but trying to balance crispness with small file size for fast loading. Will continue to play with that too.
5. Yeah, maybe.
6. Those are Rothkos, philistine.
And I hate unjustified text, so we'll have to live with the rivers of white.
And I hate unjustified text, so we'll have to live with the rivers of white.
Not that I'm in the reading group or anything, but I'm with SB re: justified text.
Why do so many people like it so much? Or rather, why do so many people have an irrational hatred for unjustified text? (I've found this to be the case on basically every publication I've ever worked on). Yes, justified text gives you a neat right margin, but at the expense (even with "hyphenation and a smart line-breaking algorithm") of both general readibility and of the aesthetics of the whole . It would make just as little sense to make every word, rather than every line of words, exactly the same width.
It's Procrustian, says I, and has about it more than just a whiff of Teh Fascism.
I had no idea that there was any anti-justified sentiment in the world. Unjustified text looks scraggly and messy to me, and I like those rivers of white; they make patterns.
"Bringhurst" sounds funny. There are lots of things I'm willing to change about the site, but unjustifying the text isn't one of them. If you were actually participating in the reading, as you ought to be, I would, however, make a show of considering your suggestion seriously.
Rivers can be good. In the Humument, which I just bought (and it is Teh Awesome for the Proudly Pretentious), the hero, Bill Toge (who appears whenever the word 'together' or 'altogether' does in the original) is composed entirely of rivers.
The guy who did the Humument did album covers for both Brian Eno and King Crimson, and the King Crimson one had, on its back, the humument-like phrase (I don't know if it was actually generated in the same fashion as the humument or just rendered to appear that way) "this night wounds time", which is pretty awesome.
test
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:22 PM
nest
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:24 PM
Looks like the chat page didn't make it (yet?).
pest
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:28 PM
Yet is right (though does anyone care?). I have to reconfigure some things and so far I've just done the main page, soon I'll do the
rest.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:29 PM
Since the chat page was buried in a link in a now-archived post, if you really want to bring it back it might be
best
to have some other way of getting at it,
lest
it become nothing more than a joke. (You know how we can't abide jokes.)
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:33 PM
Oooh, new headline style.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:34 PM
it become nothing more than a
jest
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:37 PM
You see a new style somewhere?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:38 PM
Ben's reading the care label on his boxers again.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:39 PM
Or on his
vest.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:40 PM
Yes, the headlines weren't bolded. Don't pretend they weren't.
I also just had a weird DNS hiccup where I was being taken to the old site. How odd.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:40 PM
I also just had a weird DNS hiccup
That's why the headlines didn't look right: the pointer to the stylesheet wasn't working for you.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:47 PM
But they're not bolded now, either. At least for me. But bolded headlines might add
zest.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:47 PM
Or tackiness.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:49 PM
That's why the headlines didn't look right: the pointer to the stylesheet wasn't working for you.
If I explain how this makes no sense, will you get all "AMTF" ("Acid Mothers Temple, Fool!") on me?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:54 PM
It all works for me as of this point in time, sofar.
Blest
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 12:58 PM
the homepage loads a lot quicker now, which is great- thanks. looks like the swich of servers was successful, unlike Liza's marriage to David
Gest.
Posted by mike d | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:07 PM
this makes no sense
You're right, it doesn't. By "headlines" do you mean the post titles?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:07 PM
It's a rhyme
fest!
(schmoov, mike.)
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:08 PM
Soon we can get back to discussing
titties!
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:09 PM
I did indeed mean post titles.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:10 PM
Your fondness for the word "titties" has always been oddly endearing. So filled with innocent glee.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:12 PM
"The 'female' melon is the most sought-after and can be distinguished when the end opposite the stalk has a large coloured circle resembles the areola of a woman's breast."
Wisdom from the Larousse Gastronomique.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:15 PM
Not just for the word, either.
Going out for a bit; though it's far from finished, perhaps you'd like to poke around the reading group site and let me know (here) if you have any suggestions or requests.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:17 PM
An areorbic melon. Sweet.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:18 PM
On the reading group site:
1. The pages reachable from the "June 2005" link and the "Terminology" category use a different style than the main page.
2. The main page would benefit from a narrower column of text. The rule of thumb is about 66 characters, give or take. I find "37em" works pretty well as an approximation.
3. I'd suggest using the same font for both body text and blockquotes, since the quoted text is set off enough simply by being indented. Right now there's a mild ransom-note effect.
4. The banner text looks like a screenshot. If you really want bitmapped text up there, you'll get better results from Photoshop or the Gimp.
5. The black line separating the banner from the posts is a little gratuitous. White space should work just as well.
6. One more banner thought: The "Unfogged Reading Group" subtitle's present location gives the banner an unbalanced feeling. I would put it underneath the title and the two, uh, color blobs.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:39 PM
ogged,
while trying to comment on the reading group:
An error occurred:
mkdir /home/unfogge: Permission denied at lib/MT/FileMgr/Local.pm line 104
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:39 PM
Also: you want to avoid "text-align: justified" on web pages, since browsers generally lack both hyphenation and a smart line-breaking algorithm. Without these, you get ugly "rivers" of whitespace coursing down the textblock.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 1:47 PM
I'd 2nd SB that it seems a little wide.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 2:49 PM
I'm having trouble leaving a comment.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 2:52 PM
Try fiber.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 2:53 PM
Did you just call my comments poo?
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 4:01 PM
Did you just call my comments poo?
Of course he didn't just call them poo. Look at the timestamps.
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 4:03 PM
Things that are not poo: aeroplanes, loving kindness, Michael's comments.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 4:17 PM
Thanks, SB.
1. That's part of the not done yet.
2. I'm having trouble deciding what to do about the width of the main column. I really like the width at Unfogged, but I expect posts to be significantly longer at the URG, and I wanted to avoid interminable scrolling. I'll play with it.
3. Meh, I like it the way it is.
4. Not a screenshot; made in Fireworks, not happy with it, but trying to balance crispness with small file size for fast loading. Will continue to play with that too.
5. Yeah, maybe.
6. Those are Rothkos, philistine.
And I hate unjustified text, so we'll have to live with the rivers of white.
(Comments are fixed, y'all.)
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 4:22 PM
And I hate unjustified text, so we'll have to live with the rivers of white.
Not that I'm in the reading group or anything, but I'm with SB re: justified text.
Why do so many people like it so much? Or rather, why do so many people have an irrational hatred for unjustified text? (I've found this to be the case on basically every publication I've ever worked on). Yes, justified text gives you a neat right margin, but at the expense (even with "hyphenation and a smart line-breaking algorithm") of both general readibility and of the aesthetics of the whole . It would make just as little sense to make every word, rather than every line of words, exactly the same width.
It's Procrustian, says I, and has about it more than just a whiff of Teh Fascism.
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 7:51 PM
I had no idea that there was any anti-justified sentiment in the world. Unjustified text looks scraggly and messy to me, and I like those rivers of white; they make patterns.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 8:01 PM
Unjustified text looks scraggly and messy to me . . .
FASCIST!!!
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 8:20 PM
We will have order.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 8:24 PM
I like those rivers of white; they make patterns.
If you are noticing patterns, you are distracted from the text. You don't want to disrespect the text, do you?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 10:22 PM
Patterns are pretty.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 10:25 PM
What an obstinate fellow. Are you going to make me whip out the Bringhurst?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 10:38 PM
"Bringhurst" sounds funny. There are lots of things I'm willing to change about the site, but unjustifying the text isn't one of them. If you were actually participating in the reading, as you ought to be, I would, however, make a show of considering your suggestion seriously.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 10:42 PM
Fair enough.
But you know this means we can never date, right? Not even a little bit.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 10:51 PM
You know I love you Bridgeplate, but I love abusing my small privileges even more.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 10:52 PM
I love abusing my small privileges
Don't be so hard on yourself. They're probably not that small.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 10:59 PM
Oh, they're tiny. That's why, whenever I actually find one, I abuse the bejeezus out of it.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 11:06 PM
Be careful, now. They're the only ones you've got.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-11-05 11:25 PM
SB, by grouping my comments with "loving kindness" are you trying to imply that I am some kind of Oggedian Wimp??
(seriously though, that was a nice gesture. you're banned.)
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 06-12-05 3:49 PM
Oh man, I love me the Bringhurst. Everyone should learn it, love it, live it.
Especially ogged. I guarantee it won't shrink your small privileges. It might even make them bigger!
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 06-12-05 5:00 PM
Rivers can be good. In the Humument, which I just bought (and it is Teh Awesome for the Proudly Pretentious), the hero, Bill Toge (who appears whenever the word 'together' or 'altogether' does in the original) is composed entirely of rivers.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-12-05 6:36 PM
The guy who did the Humument did album covers for both Brian Eno and King Crimson, and the King Crimson one had, on its back, the humument-like phrase (I don't know if it was actually generated in the same fashion as the humument or just rendered to appear that way) "this night wounds time", which is pretty awesome.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-12-05 6:44 PM
It's actually from the Humument. p. 222, IIRC (I was looking).
AMM performed his opera, Irma, too.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-12-05 6:49 PM
"this night wounds time", which is pretty awesome.
But not as awesome as "this machine kills fascists".
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 06-13-05 10:58 PM