[thesite] need another template..

[mccreath]

> From: jeff
>
> djc & mccreath,
>
> :~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> : heya.. man that looks kinda crowded especially
> : at the top..
> :~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> only kinda though.  i really like what's being done with it.  i'd suggest
> dropping the l.e.o link in the breadcrumb trail and/or making some of the
> other items shorter.

Yeah, we could easily drop that link. We could also shorten the date to an
international standard like 21 Feb 2001.

> i really like the layout of the rest of it though.
>
> :~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> : for sure we should ditch the sidebar, cus
> : everything is gonna be wrapped ina  <pre>
> : tag. i'd like to ditch it, but there are
> : too many things that dropping it may break..
> :~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> i'd like to see us try to keep that sidebar for now.  let's ditch it as a
> last resort.

I agree in principal, but I think the usage of the sidebar on leo, beo, and
meo is pretty weak right now. I'd like to see us either standardize it
across the domains or really spend some time specializing for each domain
(like put a list archive search in the sidebar on leo). I think either
approach is valid since we're already delineating between domains with the
color schemes.

In terms of the list archive and the tips archive, we have the breadcrumb
trail that arguably obviates the need for the sidebar. It's a little
questionable in terms of usability and design both to change navigation
schemes like that, but it's not unheard of, especially under special
circumstances.

> what we really need is a custom tag that will parse a message, breaking it
> into 70 character lines or less depending on where it finds a space
> (chr(32)).

That would be the sweetest, agreed.

> another solution might be to use a really big textarea like we
> use for code
> snippets on thesite and include a link to target the message into a new
> window with zero formatting around it for those that wanna just read it.
> holler if you wanna go this route i've already got the solution
> for that in
> my head.

Erm. I dunno. I think putting example code into textareas works for the same
reason that dropdown nav menus do. They've been used so long that people
actually do get them, despite certain arguments against their use. I think
we can come up with better alternatives by parsing the output from MG or
reworking the pages.

> another thing too, the font size can probably be safely brought
> down a size
> as well.  that will make the lines less likely to break the
> design except on
> the most narrow of resolutions.

I can agree with that, but it's just picking up the <pre> from the style
sheet. So we can adjust that for this site, adjust it for all sites, or
create a custom class. I'd say adjust it for all the sites if we're going to
go that route.

David