[thelist] Site check please rocky-hills.com

[Gunlaug Sørtun]

Amy Johnson wrote:

> I don't have any ideas for how to fix the problem when the screen is
>  resized and the left menu disappears.

Font-resizing and other browser-options are needed by some visitors, so
they should be taken into account and tested to work satisfactory on the
design-level. 'Satisfactory' is not necessarily the same as 'perfect',
but it should be usable. You can't meet all needs and wishes with
today's design-limitations, but the further a design can go, the better.

Arranging text in elements with fixed dimensions, on a fixed background,
is always a hazard. Something has to give or break. Elements must be
able to expand in order to accommodate font-resizing, and you can only
control the expanding-direction(s) and make sure the design doesn't get
in the way of content.

Using a list for those links in #sidebar will give you elements to style
more flexible 'buttons' on.

> I spent a *huge* amount of time finding a CSS template that suited my
>  needs.  I used the floating version with negative margins.  Does 
> this mean I will have to find another 2 column template or is there 
> perhaps a way to get my current one to work? This is my fifth CSS 
> site and I must say it is not getting any easier but I keep forcing 
> myself to use it.

It may become even harder before it starts to get easier, I'm afraid.
Nothing to worry about, as it'll only make you come out as a better, and
more capable, designer, in the end.
(Well, there's no end to it, really.)

Your 'float/negative margins' construct isn't a problem in itself. The
table inside it may be though, as tables expands with content by
default, while the page-carrying construct does not.

Using floats instead of the table in there may be a better way forward,
and will give you better control while also accommodating
browser-options a bit better.

I see some shifting caused by the table when I resize fonts, and it's
the larger text next to images that's pushing it. Floating the images
so the text drops when needed, may solve it.
I always stress-test designs to 28px min-font-size on the browser-side,
and by then the table is "far out" on the black background. Nothing
unusual in that, as most of the web behaves that way. OTOH: it is
something well worth looking into as you go forward, as it can be
improved upon.

I see no real problems when I use my  ordinary web-surfer setting of
'14px min-font-size', so I probably would have found that page quite OK
as an ordinary visitor.
I use Opera, and can zoom the whole page up to 3800 in width on my
screens, but I need none of that on that page.

-------------

Regarding some of the discussion on this thread:
Relax, and have a read here:
<http://www.gunlaug.no/contents/molly_1_01.html>
...may give you some ideas about what you're up against, and maybe even
some ideas about how to "fix" it.
BTW: that page can take '28px min-font-size' without breaking /too/
badly, and it is based on 'floats/negative margins'. Still not 'perfect'
across every user-option though :-) and it probably never will be...

-----

Advice: avoid smoothing of small text on images (#tomenubar
links and so on). Leave text as sharp as it can be, as it is often a lot
easier to read then.

regards
	Georg
-- 
http://www.gunlaug.no