[Systems] wiki design

[Josh Williams]

On 3/13/10 5:33 AM, Bernie Innocenti wrote:
> On Thu, 2010-03-11 at 19:00 -0700, Josh Williams wrote:
>
>    
>> The content pane is set to a max width of 1020px and is fluid at smaller
>> widths. You're suggesting it should be wider right? Could you attach a
>> screen shot for both problems?
>>      
> Here we go:
>
>   http://wiki-devel.sugarlabs.org/go/Welcome_to_the_Sugar_Labs_wiki
>
>
> Why do we need to limit the maximum horizontal size at all? If I like
> the page to be laid out narrower, I can always resize the browser
> window :-)
>    

That's true, you can always resize the window. I'm in the camp that it's 
better to set a maximum width because I think it's harder to read long 
strings of text. Also I don't enjoy resizing the window just for sites 
that do this. Anyway, I'm not opposed to having it set at 100% width if 
you think most of the wiki users would prefer that.
> Perhaps we need to set a minimum width below which the page starts
> looking bad due to excessive wrapping. But hard-coded dimensions often
> bother people with hand-held devices.
>
> Is there an easy way for web designers to check compatibility across
> multiple browsers? I remember seeing a website that would take
> screenshots of any url with multiple browsers. I forgot its name.
>    

There's adobe browser lab: https://browserlab.adobe.com/ But I don't 
really trust screenshots.

I personally use wine for ie6 and then I have an xp virtual machine for 
ie 7, vista VM for ie 8, and an old ubuntu VM for FF3. I use my 
girlfriends old ibook for safari 3.
>    
>> I haven't actually styled the tables yet. The tables will overflow
>> horizontally on the live wiki now. You're only noticing this happen
>> because the font size is larger forcing the overflow. I can make the
>> font size smaller in the tables if you think the tables break at an
>> unreasonable width.
>>      
> That would be useful imho.
>
>    

Definitely, and I'm working on it!
>    
>>> Note that I have a very high DPI display and therefore I configure my
>>> browsers with bigger than normal fonts. Most sites survive this, but a
>>> few break.
>>>        
>> I think a screen shot will help for this one too. Thanks for the feedback.
>>      
> Please refer to the same screenshot I sent. It's not a Chromium specific
> issue, the layout is similarly odd in Firefox.
>
> To reproduce it, go to the font settings and enlarge the default fonts.
>    

Thanks the screenshot was helpful, I'll be working on the issue later 
next week. BTW if you normally have that many tabs open, I strongly 
recommend you try out tree style tabs for firefox - it's a super handy 
ad on.
>    
>> I'm contemplating removing the borders from the main content area. I've
>> attached a screen shot of this. I think it's more inline with
>> Christian's design for sugarlabs.org and it also avoids some rendering
>> issues browse has with borders.
>>
>> Any input on this direction would be great.
>>      
> I like it borderless! Like Frederick, I also feel that it would be good
> to have some elements reminiscent of the Sugar UI, but only as long as
> we can balance it with aesthetic needs. I met plenty of people who told
> me that our old skin was awful.
>
>    
Thanks, I think it works better too. I'll probably try to remove some of 
the other borders scattered throughout the skin.

Cheers,

Josh