Forum Banner size annoyance

[pwood]

Perhaps a tad petty but the size of The Art Of Sound banner at the top of the screen means having to scroll down to the post each time a new page is selected using a 15" laptop and worse on a mobile phone with 2.7" screen. I can see the point on the home page but in the forums its annoying. I dont have large text size selected on Firefox either (ctrl 0).

[AlanS]

When I mentioned the banners impact on forum use I got this response

"The rich visual and pleasing
design is something we prize
and that sets us apart from the
competition, so it's not really
something we're keen to give
up"

its tough I think unless a majority forms.

Best
Alan

[YNWaN]

It could, at least, be the same width as the rest of the page though :).

[Alex_UK]

It could, at least, be the same width as the rest of the page though :).

Surely that depends on either the size of the window, or resolution setting of your screen? ;)

[Themis]

Adblock it. ;)

[YNWaN]

Surely that depends on either the size of the window, or resolution setting of your screen? ;)

Err...well, no - no matter what you do, the banner is still slightly wider than the the rest of the page.

[Steve Toy]

It isn't on my monitor.

[goraman]

You think thats annoying?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5PoW7_kdA&NR=1
now that's annoying.

[Beechwoods]

Err...well, no - no matter what you do, the banner is still slightly wider than the the rest of the page.

My browser window is set to 1057x774 on a 1280x800 resolution Apple Laptop (13" display) and the banner is slightly smaller than the page width. The banner width is 1024. Any browser window of 1053 pixels + should look fine, at least it does on my machines (work, laptop, desktop).

If members find navigating the site difficult on their Mobile phones, try the Opera browser, which intelligently resizes the banner and other graphics to optimise things to the handset screen.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Or just scroll down, large headers are actuaaly quite fashionable at the mo :lol:

[Alex_UK]

Err...well, no - no matter what you do, the banner is still slightly wider than the the rest of the page.

not on my laptop it isn't, using Chrome.

[Marco]

Nor mine, using AOL or Internet Explorer :)

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

Just tried using Internet Explorer - no problems with home page.
However, I use Firefox as a browser, and there are size issues between the header and the rest of the home page.

[Beechwoods]

What size is your screen? I use Firefox and it's fine for me. Any chance of a screenshot Chris?

[YNWaN]

Well it is on both my desktop and netbook, so there :)




(its only by a few mm though -I'm really not that arsed)

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i know this is slight thread drift... but chrome is much faster than firefox, it runs each tab as a separate process - this seems to make a difference on all my computers! ... give it a go, you wont look back once you get used to it!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

its a different size in chrome for me too by the way...

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/aosscreenshot.jpg

look how slick chrome is... no shit at the top.. only search/web bar and tabs ... great for a little net book screen

[Beechwoods]

I see... screen res looks like it's 1024, which is the same as the banner, with the margin at the left it gets pushed over slightly... I will see what can be done :)

[Alex_UK]

Chrome rules - I know some people treat Google as the new Microsoft, but I was a geeky Google user from the word go, (must be 10 years now?) when everyone thought they were mad...

[The Vinyl Adventure]

this is scrolled to the right so you can see the 'over hang'

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/aosscreenshot2.jpg

[Beechwoods]

Better?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

yes... no perfect, but it looks much better

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/aosscreenshot3.jpg

[Stratmangler]

Mine looks like this

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae88/Stratmangler/AoShomepage-3.jpg

Screen resolution is 1280 x 800

[Marco]

That's pretty much what I get too, and looks normal to me guys... What do you expect it should look like? :)

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

Just been messing around (again ?) with my view of the AoS homepage, and discovered that pressing "Ctrl" and "-" has a major effect on the way things are viewed.
This is on Firefox - I know that a lot of keyboard shortcuts are interchangeable with IE (at least on XP), and it may also run true with Chrome.

[Beechwoods]

That's pretty much what I get too, and looks normal to me guys... What do you expect it should look like? :)
It's the overhang of the banner at the right, over the lighter box beneath. Chris may find he needs to CTRL+F5 to clear the cache and refresh - Hamish looks pretty much right, but I may need another minor tweak to get it 'just so'.

[Beechwoods]

Chris...

Ctrl and - Zooms the Firefox browser window out so more fits on the screen. I have mine set to the default setting (View > Zoom > Reset, in the toolbar). How does it look for you when you Reset the zoom settings?

[Stratmangler]

Thanks Nick

I found that "Ctrl" and "-" sorted my issue, which goes back to something I missed early in the thread


Surely that depends on either the size of the window, or resolution setting of your screen? ;)

Thanks Alex - I should have read through the thread more carefully.

[Beechwoods]

Good to see we're on your Bookmarks Toolbar though!!

[Stratmangler]

Good to see we're on your Bookmarks Toolbar though!!

Just makes life easier ;)

[AlanS]

If members find navigating the site difficult on their Mobile phones, try the Opera browser, which intelligently resizes the banner and other graphics to optimise things to the handset screen.

and now it LARGE in Opera Mini on the phone, pity. Any chance of reverting?

[Beechwoods]

It looks like it usually does for me on Opera Mobile 10 for Windows Mobile. I'm just downloading Opera Mini 5 to see how it looks on that.

Edit: On my handset (HTC Touch Diamond) the banner is resized on Opera Mini so it's smaller than the page width... doesn't seem to be problem. Can you recheck?

[AlanS]

I'm using Opera Mini 4.2 and banner is 3-4 times larger than it was earlier this evening. Very similar in OM 5, same Opera servers used.

[Beechwoods]

I can't explain that. It looks tiny on my mobile in Opera Mini 5 beta. More to the point the banner image has been reduced in size by 34 pixels to ensure it displays evenly in a 1024 wide browser window. No other changes have been made. Display on mobile handsets is always going to be a compromise. The display on fullsize screens (laptop, desktop), with standard browsers has to be the main thing.

But as I say, on my phone, Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile resizes the banner to proportions smaller than the page width. The Opera Mini settings on mine are all the default ones :confused:

[The Grand Wazoo]

It's great that the width is sorted.
On the subject of the original post - height............erm
Naah, better not!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

It's great that the width is sorted.
On the subject of the original post - height............erm
Naah, better not!

:lol:

[MartinT]

Looks good here on Chrome & IE8 (1024 x 800 netbook) and Opera (Windows Phone). Never had any problem on my big desktops (1952 x 1024).

[AlanS]

This AM. Opera Mini 4.2 on Nokia 6120
Banner is same height as screen, width 75% of page width.
Much bigger than this time yesterday.

[Beechwoods]

Any chance you could try Opera Mini 5, just to discount that?

My plan is to implement Tapatalk which is vBulletin plug-in designed to give supported mobiles a really slick interface. Givemn I can't replicate the issues you're having on your Nokia with Opera Mini, and the pressing concern to ensure regular browsing looks OK, I'm not sure there's much more I can do.

[AlanS]

Yes 5 final looks identical to 4.2.
They use the same Opera servers to build the page so will do.

[Beechwoods]

Can you check now?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

This is it on my iPhone if that helps

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/8dedf29a.jpg

[YNWaN]

Yep, now it's worse than before :(

[Beechwoods]

Alan - could you let me know how it looks on your phone?

[AlanS]

Alan - could you let me know how it looks on your phone?

back to how it was before the adjustments thanks.

[Beechwoods]

Interesting, but can't explain it. Last night I reduced the size of the banner by 34 pixels. For some reason your mobile running Opera Mini rendered this smaller banner larger than the original.

It looked fine on my mobile though... I assume I wasn't unique but can't replicate what you've seen.

Unfortunately though, I think that the forum has to be optimised to display best on the kind of hardware most of our members use: Laptops and Desktops.

As I say I will be implementing Tapatalk to specifically benefit members of Mobiles (iPhone, Blackberry, Android OS) and so the trade-off should be minimised when this comes in.

It's frustrating that I can't make it look good on your mobile and address the positioning of the banner on average size monitors...

:(

[AlanS]

And now back to super sized as earlier today.

[Filterlab]

And now back to super sized as earlier today.

You need to clear your browser cache, it sounds like it's displaying a previously saved version.

[AlanS]

You need to clear your browser cache, it sounds like it's displaying a previously saved version.

no browser cache cleared -image just the same large version.

[Marco]

Unfortunately though, I think that the forum has to be optimised to display best on the kind of hardware most of our members use: Laptops and Desktops.


Indeed - this is the crux of the matter, muchachos, so please bear it in mind ;)

Marco.

[AlanS]

Perhaps a tad petty but the size of The Art Of Sound banner at the top of the screen means having to scroll down to the post each time a new page is selected using a 15" laptop and worse on a mobile phone with 2.7" screen. I can see the point on the home page but in the forums its annoying. I dont have large text size selected on Firefox either (ctrl 0).

The OP has made a practical suggestion that has been over looked.
Keep the large banner on the home page but use a smaller version, say half size on all other pages. The branding remains without shouting from every page viewed. Most people start from the home page I expect so impact is still made.
Give it try and see how it goes?

[Beechwoods]

Alan,

This was discussed at length when the banner was originally implemented. Chris Grand Wazoo and Hamish alluded in passing to this earlier. The discussions for and against went on for many pages, but the upshot was that the banner is one of the things we feel makes AOS distinctive. I said this earlier in more detail on another thread. I'm afraid that until we feel the current branding has become tired and we go for a full site redesign, the Banner as it is stands.

I should also say that the current banner design does not work at half-size. Recreating a new banner that would is not an insignificant undertaking by any stretch (the one above was a few months in the making, from gathering source images from the membership, to rough designs, and underwent a number of revisions and reworkings before it was finalised). Compare the look of AOS with other HiFi forums and I think you'll agree that the work paid off, even if it does demand more screen real-estate than some.

[AlanS]

One final elegance you may wish to do which willl avoid the banner being slightly offset as some may see it:

This is the current banner HTML

<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align="left"><div align="center"><a href="index.php"> <img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/Banner2009-FINAL06r-Revised_990.jpg"" border="0" alt="The Art of Sound Forum" /></a>
</div></td> <td align="right"> &nbsp; </td> </tr> </table>

could be slightly improved by being


<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align="left"><div align="center"><a href="index.php"> <img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/Banner2009-FINAL06r-Revised_990.jpg"" border="0" alt="The Art of Sound Forum" /></a>
</div></td> </tr> </table>

i.e. removing the <td align="right"> &nbsp; </td> which servers no purpose as best I can tell. It puts an empty column to the right of the banner image. I think one or two poster mentioned this.

Best wishes

[Beechwoods]

Thanks for the suggestion Alan, I'll give it a go and report back :)

[Beechwoods]

Tweaked to perfection... :) Thanks Alan.

[AlanS]

Well I cannot offer much if any hifi advice but web stuff is part of my work.

BTW forum speed - has anyone tried pruning/archiving those very long threads? Updating/adding to large database records can be slow depending on the database design.

[Joe]

Well I cannot offer much if any hifi advice but web stuff is part of my work.

BTW forum speed - has anyone tried pruning/archiving those very long threads? Updating/adding to large database records can be slow depending on the database design.

Surely that bloody great picture must slow things down a bit too?

[AlanS]

Surely that bloody great picture must slow things down a bit too?

See post 52 and others, the big picture is not negociable - it will only affect people on slow lines like 3g or dialup modems/poor broadband

[Werner Berghofer]

it will only affect people on slow linesAnd people with a feeling for design and visual aesthetics.

[YNWaN]

Tweaked to perfection... :) Thanks Alan.

Not any more :(

[AlanS]

What is Mark is seeing, perhaps he could say what does not look right about it at the moment?

The only thing I can think of is the <td align="left"> might better be <td align="center">

Best wishes

[Grez]

Looks OK to me:

Google Chrome
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u253/grezh/Screenshots/AoS3.jpg

Firefox
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u253/grezh/Screenshots/Aos2.jpg

Opera
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u253/grezh/Screenshots/AoS4.jpg

Internet Explorer
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u253/grezh/Screenshots/Aos1.jpg

[Beechwoods]

I officially give up. I need to focus on the forum migration.

[AlanS]

And it is back to a reasonable size in Opera Mini, for now. Assuming Mark was jesting.
Best with the migration.

[Marco]

And the moral of the story is: view (and use) AOS on a proper computer, not a bloody mobile phone! ;)

Marco.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I use it on my mobile phone loads the header is slightly wonky... But frankly I couldn't give a toss, a simple flick of the thumb up the screen and it's gawn...

[Beechwoods]

Different today versus yesterday, Hamish?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Looks about the same on the iPhone matey,
if I think about it, il get Greg to cast an eye over the code if you like?
Did you get his email?

[Joe]

And people with a feeling for design and visual aesthetics.

Indeed. It looks like an audio jumble sale!

[Beechwoods]

Looks about the same on the iPhone matey,
if I think about it, il get Greg to cast an eye over the code if you like?
Did you get his email?

Yes, many thanks - and it ticked all the boxes. I'll drop him a note tomorrow just to say thanks!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Cool, keep us posted

[AlanS]

And the moral of the story is: view (and use) AOS on a proper computer, not a bloody mobile phone! ;)

Marco.

Marco

Do you know how many members use a mobile phone to access AoS? Perhaps a poll would be interesting. Hamish certainly does and I bet he is not alone.

I think the original post was that the banner was too big (on PCs as best I could tell) then various dissatisfactions about how it appeared on different PCs and PC browsers took place.

I saw the mobile phone improvement/restoration to reasonable size as a bonus having tried to guide Beechwoods to getting it as near correct as possible for PC users. I trust my contribution has been constructive and beneficial to the majority of users.

Good will to all

[Beechwoods]

Definitely! Thanks Alan... Marco just doesn't get modern technology. That's why he's 'Analogue Boy' ;) ;)

When it comes down to it though, mobiles are a minefield for forum usuability. That's why we're interested in Tapatalk, though installing this is on-hold til we've moved to the new host - as and when, but soon.

[AlanS]

I have found the Tapatalk web site but it does not offer anything for Nokias at the moment despite have a link on the home page that link leads to Not available.

Looks like I'll still be using Opera Mini, which does the job pretty well AFAIK. Nice for iPhone and Android users though

Bloody mobile phones eh?

[Ali Tait]

Yeah,be great for my googlephone! And yes,I for one view the forum on my phone every day.It's only in the evening I use the laptop.