Formatting and fundraising update
Well, I’ve changed the formatting again and I plan to continue to tinker. I very much appreciate all the feedback over the last couple of days so please do keep it coming. Also, if anyone is interested in contributing original artwork to the site, let me know – especially thematic artwork (i.e. tophats and tailcoats, duels, old industrial cityscapes, zeppelins, and so forth.)
And now…it’s that time of year again. In an ongoing effort to keep The League ad-free, we’re launching our yearly fundraising drive. On the left sidebar if you scroll down you’ll see a couple of donation buttons for PayPal. You can use these to donate to the cause, or email me if you’d prefer to donate in another fashion or have any other questions.
We’re hoping to move the site to a better hosting service, possibly up to a virtual private server, but that will cost probably about twice as much as we spent this year on hosting. So any little bit helps. If you know any wealthy donors you want to send our way that would be fine.
You can email me at erik dot kain @ gmail dot com.
The new format is not very friendly unless you have a widescreen monitor. I am using Firefox on a monitor with 1280×1024 resolution. I cannot see the full, 3-column layout on my screen, even with the window maximized. The right side is truncated and I have to horizontal scroll to see the full page. It appears you are using absolute dimensions instead of dynamically sizing the page elements. Not very friendly for anyone who deviates from the developer’s particular configuration.
Ideally, you should set the page to have a width of 100% with absolute min and max widths specified to accommodate the extremes in screen resolutions and window sizes. For example, I use the following in my css file:
#container{width:100%; max-width:1100px; min-width:760px;}
The minimum width accommodates 800×600 screens. The maximum width prevents the page from being too wide when users have a widescreen monitor. The page dynamically adjusts width between those two extremes. There is also code for the different browser implementations, but the snippet above gives you a general idea what I am talking about.Report
I am currently using a public widescreen monitor, and have not yet seen the site on my non-widescreen laptop at home. So I should add that caveat to my endorsement below.Report
Tally, I narrowed it up a bit. I’m not sure I can make it flexible width. I’ll see what I can do.Report
Looks good to me here, too. Did you changes the font a bit on he header, Erik?Report
Yes – I think. Not sure what the old font was, so I just picked one I liked for the new header.Report
I like this the best so far.Report
Count me as surprised that even a well-trafficked website that is overwhelmingly text with the occasional picture presents a financial burden requiring a fund-raiser to support/defray its continued operation.
What are TLOOG’s monthly users and bandwidth requirements?Report
Without getting into the technical details, I’m using my share of the proceeds for booze and loose women.Report
In all the world there is no better use of the PayPal “DONATE” button!Report
This format adds functional utility that I see as worth whatever aesthetic compromises from the old look it entails. Good job tinkering.Report
Thanks! I like it too.Report
Okay, I really like the formatting too. I do have one request and hopefully this change will not cause the software to launch missles at Russia- I liked the little bio boxes. I’m still trying to keep everyone straight here since we have lots of new people with very interesting biographies. So I liked those.Report
And now four columns! (which I like). It seems like everytime I come back there’s some change – either really obvious, or a small Where’s Waldo tweak I have to hunt for.
It reminds me of that Halloween Simpsons, where Homer keeps going back in time to the dinosaur age and changing the future. The way he feels everytime he comes back to present day, cautiously looking about to see what’s different THIS time… That’s how I’ve felt coming back to the League this week.Report