Page too wide ?

Tom Butcher
Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
edited August 2007 in Discuss the website with the team
For some reason the width of the new forum is wider than my screen - I have to keep scrolling across to read stuff at the right hand side - am I doing something wrong.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.

Comments

  • knucklehead
    knucklehead Posts: 243
    I've got the same problem here. can either see the whole message without the poster ID stuff or the poster ID stuff and half the text of the message. Not so bad on the tech parts but v annoying when your trying to follow a conversation in Soapbox!

    Also none of the URL links work for me?
    _______________________________________________________________________
    Always wear a helmet when cycling. If this makes you uncomfortable, think of the helmet as a crown and yourself as King Dorko.
  • john ponting
    john ponting Posts: 491
    edited July 2007
    my 17" screen is set to 1152x864 as normal and it all fits. Text is small but I set up this way so that I can get max xl columns on screen and also design landscape a4 reports in access.


    Just to test - I've left res at 1152x864 but set font to 120%. Fine for this forum but it might be nice if sysadmin changed the forum to a more 'normal' screen configuration.

    Is the software from the States? I've had the same prob with other forums that have recently changed software.
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    I'm not sure how to do that - I tried the resolution under windows control panel and it made the text too small. I don't have this problem on any other forum - the old one seemed OK.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • John Stevenson
    John Stevenson Posts: 962
    When we designed BikeRadar - and the forums - we reasoned that most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide. The site is 1000 pixels wide.

    If there are a large number of people for whom this doesn't work, then we need to revisit that decision.
    John Stevenson
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    john there is also another issue that i have only seen in the road area and they is the advert on the right covers the posting window. and there is no means to horizontal scroll. so you can in some situations miss the last few words from each line.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • John Stevenson
    John Stevenson Posts: 962
    Nick - if you can please let me have a URL and details of the browser and OS you're using (and even a screen shot if possible) I'll add that to the bug list.
    John Stevenson
  • fluff.
    fluff. Posts: 771
    So what's wrong with fit to screen? /stares at huge white borders
  • John Stevenson
    John Stevenson Posts: 962
    Fluffcp,

    The main problem with fitting text columns to screen is that a very wide column is hard to read.
    John Stevenson
  • fluff.
    fluff. Posts: 771
    There a way to use fit to screen and set max-width to say 1200 then? 1000px looks lost on a widescreen monitor as it is, if you change it to 800 or less it's going to look silly. Oh, C+forums were fit to screen of course, and we coped :)
  • bof
    bof Posts: 372
    john_stevenson wrote:
    When we designed BikeRadar - and the forums - we reasoned that most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide. The site is 1000 pixels wide.

    If there are a large number of people for whom this doesn't work, then we need to revisit that decision.

    Some free usability consulting for you:

    54% of users (jan 2007) have 1024*768 resolution screen
    The optimum width for a paragraph is 10-12 words. Yours are over 20 words long.
    The artist formally known as boring old fart
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Is it possible to change this then - my screen is about 3 years old so not new but not out of the ark - as it is it's really difficult to use the forum.

    Alternatively on Opera there is an option of fitting the page to the screen - does the same exist on IE ?
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • Yorkshireman
    Yorkshireman Posts: 999
    I`m not too knowlegable re computors (came rather late in my life :( ), but I have a 16" monitor, setting is 1024x768 and I seem to get everything on screen OK and the text is easy for me to read (and my eyesight aint the best). There just seems to be a lot of white there :wink: .
    Colin N.


    Lincolnshire is mostly flat... but the wind is mostly in your face!
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Yes I tried that setting - as you say there's a huge white strip down the right hand side of the screen and whilst I can read the text easily enough I find it a bit too small to be ideal. Just seems odd that this is the only forum or webpage that I have this problem with. There may be good reasons for the way the site is set up but obviously my computer doesn't get on with them.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • Yorkshireman
    Yorkshireman Posts: 999
    Tom Butcher wrote:
    Yes I tried that setting - as you say there's a huge white strip down the right hand side of the screen and whilst I can read the text easily enough I find it a bit too small to be ideal. Just seems odd that this is the only forum or webpage that I have this problem with. There may be good reasons for the way the site is set up but obviously my computer doesn't get on with them.

    I think the white space is due to the advert at the top/right of the page (can`t be arsed to block it at the moment).
    Colin N.


    Lincolnshire is mostly flat... but the wind is mostly in your face!
  • Dale3699
    Dale3699 Posts: 8
    Same I keep having to scroll too and its really annoying, it wouldn't be too bad if it all fitted on one page. Its because of the massive banner at the top, and the one running down the side.
    http://www.mtbe.co.uk - Mountain biking forum, check it out!

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  • trekvet
    trekvet Posts: 223
    john_stevenson wrote:
    When we designed BikeRadar - and the forums - we reasoned that most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide. The site is 1000 pixels wide.

    If there are a large number of people for whom this doesn't work, then we need to revisit that decision.

    So what if most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide? Shouldn`t you be catering for everybody? Any webmaster worth his salt should be, or you risk annihilating a lot of users. My screen res. is 800 wide and every other forum I go to fits my screen, as do most websites, including my own. It seems yours is designed by designers for designers. Shouldn`t it be designed for users?
    The Wife complained for months about the empty pot of bike oil on the hall stand; so I replaced it with a full one.
  • John Stevenson
    John Stevenson Posts: 962
    TrekVet wrote:
    john_stevenson wrote:
    When we designed BikeRadar - and the forums - we reasoned that most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide. The site is 1000 pixels wide.

    If there are a large number of people for whom this doesn't work, then we need to revisit that decision.

    So what if most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide? Shouldn`t you be catering for everybody? Any webmaster worth his salt should be, or you risk annihilating a lot of users. My screen res. is 800 wide and every other forum I go to fits my screen, as do most websites, including my own. It seems yours is designed by designers for designers. Shouldn`t it be designed for users?

    If there are a large number of people for whom this doesn't work, then we need to revisit that decision.
    John Stevenson
  • Gavin Weeks
    Gavin Weeks Posts: 321
    TrekVet wrote:
    john_stevenson wrote:
    When we designed BikeRadar - and the forums - we reasoned that most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide. The site is 1000 pixels wide.

    If there are a large number of people for whom this doesn't work, then we need to revisit that decision.

    So what if most people have screens at least 1024 pixels wide? Shouldn`t you be catering for everybody? Any webmaster worth his salt should be, or you risk annihilating a lot of users. My screen res. is 800 wide and every other forum I go to fits my screen, as do most websites, including my own. It seems yours is designed by designers for designers. Shouldn`t it be designed for users?

    Im afraid with the high volume of internet users we have to cater for the majority - more people use 1024x768 or higher than 800x600 these days. If we stuck to the convictions of 5 years ago then we would have gone to 800x600, however in order to progress we have to move on. Take a lookie at the stats.

    http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp

    This kind of site, with the level of content we have and style of the brand there is no chance of being able to do a '1 size fits all' (100%) width site.

    I take offense to the idea of the site being designed by designers for designers, that is total gibberish. Although we did the design and build, the final say on design is always by the guys and girls at the top - who aren't designers, they ARE however all about the users. We went through extensive sessions of usability testing and user interaction and this was the best outcome.

    angryteacher.jpg
    My Ride
  • Yorkshireman
    Yorkshireman Posts: 999
    Gavin Weeks wrote:

    angryteacher.jpg


    I'm sometimes naughty too :twisted: .
    Colin N.


    Lincolnshire is mostly flat... but the wind is mostly in your face!
  • fisha
    fisha Posts: 37
    i've got to admit, the fixed width is a bit out of date these days. its fair enough to assume 1024x768 is the minimum display, so the best thing to do is to make sure that with that resolution it'll all squeeze down to fit in that size.

    However, there is no reason why you cant do that and have it stretch to fit a wider screen if you make it a stretchable format.

    Personally its really annoying that images are forced to be bound to that width when i'm running a resolution of 1920x1200 on the main screen:

    skintones.jpg

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