Thursday, February 19, 2009

New look: How you like?

BUMPED; UPDATE: OK, after looking at it a while, something's got to change. I think the problem is simple: The sidebars are the same width, and the center column needs to be wider. Also, it would help if the headlines and text in the main column were somewhat larger -- maybe the main column text at 13 pts. and the sidebar text at 11? Or 14 and 12. Whatever.

So, if we change the right sidebar to make it 20px or 40px narrower; move all the elements that could use extra width to left sidebar; add the extra width to the main column; and find some way to futz around with the text fonts -- to signal to the reader that the main column is, indeed, the main column -- that should do the trick, yes?

Will consult with our VPIT, Eric Reasons, and try to figure out what we can do to improve the readability. I wish the folks at Blogger were paying attention and would try to create a 3-column ready-made template, so we hillbillies wouldn't have to figure this stuff out on our own. Sorry for the temporary ugliness.

PREVIOUSLY: Miss Attila no like. Me primitive Unfrozen Caveman Blogger. Me like three column.

Want wider center column, like Ace? How?

Me not know.

Side columns make skinny? Stuff fit?

Me not know.

What happen page width go past 880 px?

Me not know.

Maybe blog eat sun. World end. Bad mojo.

10 comments:

  1. Let see how it grows on us... :)

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  2. With experimentation I found that I could go up to 900 total pix. That includes all of your margins, too. The layout page on blogger is a decent judge of how far you can go. When you go to far the right sidebar drops off the face of the planet...

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  3. I'm sorry but I have to agree with LMA.

    Want wider center column, like Ace? How?

    Me not know.

    Side columns make skinny? Stuff fit?

    Me not know.


    Please figure it out, man! This one is aggravating my vertigo!

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  4. I like the three-column format. If you want columns that adjust to the width of the screens on which they are viewed, I would suggest using percentages for width, instead of pixels.

    If this doesn't work for you, Mr. McCain, can I at least get hit with some invective?

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  5. May I suggest two sites that offer great blogger templates and advice on how to manipulate the HTML and Java?

    http://www.ourblogtemplates.com/

    and my personal favorite

    http://www.bloggerbuster.com/

    They were great for the HTML and Java Script impaired like me. Best of all, they are free. Hope this helps.

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  6. Plus, there hasn't been any Christina Hendricks pics in more than 3 days. The sidebar and center stuff is fine with me, but the above-mentioned omission is tough to take.

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  7. I think Steve is right about the 900, you expand the whole thing and then change the numbers to match.
    Check out threecolumnblogger.com.

    They pretty much did it all for me (I ended up just copy/pasting their code into my html place)

    But ya bloggers gotta update a few things I think. Like a way to put itunes music up perhaps? Imagine a theme song for The Other McCain, welcoming the reader to your corner of the blogosphere.

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  8. Also, you need to lose the gray background, or at least make it lighter. High contrast is your friend.

    David

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  9. Don't know how this post slipped past me. I'm digging the three column look, but I noticed that youtube embeds drag over into your right column a bit, while watching Ari completely pants Matthews.

    Always at your service. *bow*

    P.S. Encourage your recently insta-lanched protege, Ms. Logan, to include the RSS feed subscription gadget for us!

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