Netscape/Mozilla Friendly!

Hi Bob,

Web page display rendering is one of the biggest bugaboos in trying to have a decent web site. If there was ever a "you can't please everyone" situation, web page design is a top contender.

Here's a couple quick questions that will help me 'tune' our Mozilla stylesheet:

1. Q. Are you on a Mac, Windows, Linux or other operating system, and what version of Mozilla/Netscape are you running?

   (Comment: Unfortunately, it's not only differences between browsers, but different operating systems display graphics, fonts and window 'widgets' differently. At present, our Mozilla/Netscape settings are for Windows only as we do not have access to a Mac with Mozilla/Netscape on it so we can't tune a stylesheet to that configuration yet. Also, we're tuned under Windows to the latest Netscape/Mozilla browser, Mozilla version 1.2.1. Telling us what browser version are you running is a big help.)
    

2. Q. Under menu View>>Text-Zoom, is your Mozilla/Netscape browser set to 100 per cent?

   (Since Mozilla/Netscape under Windows renders most pages in a way that looks the 'same but smaller' than Internet Explorer and Opera, lots of Mozilla/Netscape folks set their browsers to Text Zoom 120 per cent for an across the board 'rendering equalizer'.)
    

3. What resolution (800x600, 1024x768, etc.) is your monitor?

   This is one of the biggest factors affecting what you see... and unfortunately, it is one of the hardest to test short of having a roomful of machines set up with a boatload of different configurations. As explained in the next item, this is where screen shots sent to us with an explanation of your set-up can be a BIG help.
    

4. Q. If you are not on a Mac and not set at other than 100 per cent text zoom, could you please send me a screen shot of your display with a description of your set up?

   (Since there are so many different combinations of operating system, browser, monitor, etc. it is very hard for a web site designer to see a site as everybody else see it. Doing a 'Print Scrn' capture (under Windows, similar procedures are available under other operating systems) of your display should create file that you can send to me that will help us tune our display settings. If you do this, please e-mail the file and your system configuration to webmaster@chandlerguild.com. Your help in this regard is greatly appreciated.
    

With your help, we can slowly but surely edge toward a page generating system that will look decent for as many folks as possible. Again, Bob, thanks for your feedback.

I understand that you will never please everyone, I just try and respond to as many posts on here as possible, especially if someone is looking for an opinion, I hate posting something looking for feedback and never hear anything. The font size doesn't bother me, it was more an observation.

Not sure what happened but late last week the text went back to how it was original on my PC, which was the one I preferred.

On my PC I use Netscape 7.02 with the Text Zoom at 100%. The LCD/Monitor resolution at 1280x1024.

On my Mac I use Netscape 7.02 Text Zoom 100, and Safari 1.0 Beta 2 v73 Text at Standard, but the text is still very large on both of these and requires a lot of scrolling, the LCD resolution is 1280x850.

I have tried playing around with the Text Zoom in the past but if I try and fine tune it for one page to many others are out of whack, so I leave it.

Bob

I just upgraded my system to Mozilla 1.3 from 1.2.1 and the browser detection is not working correctly. My 1.3 Mozilla display is back to the way-too-tiny mode.

This is a bit strange because I only look for the general type of browser, not a specific version, so I'll have to figure out what changed in this release.

Bob, in the meantime, if you want to see your display very tiny under Windows, just update to the 1.3 browser (at least until I figure out what's going on and fix it :-)

Hey Bob and others,

I figured out what changed with the latest Mozilla/Netscape release and updated my browser dectection accordingly. So folks with the latest Mozilla/Netscape browsers should again be seeing larger fonts.

In the meantime, I have figured out how we're going to use stylesheets and browser detection as we evolve the site.

One strength of Drupal (the platform we are using to build this site) is that 'themes' are used for the site's look and feel. The theme setting is supplied as a default assignment, but it can be changed at your individual user account level. Soooo... I will be creating a Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear range of large to small sized stylesheets for the site. When these are on-line, Guildmembers will be able to select the theme they like best for viewing the site.

I'll announce this update as soon as it's on-line,
--Sohodojo Jim--