Redesign of SxS site in the works

[David A. Bandel]

On Mon, 01 Apr 2002 17:31:44 -0300
begin  "Federico Voges" <fvoges at intrasoft.com.ar> spewed forth:

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> Hash: SHA1
> 
> Hi,
> 
> 1.- Too many frames = less screen space (I'm using 1280x1024 and the
> space for the "real content" is about 800x600). I don't like frames,
> but I don't mind if they are used in a very clever way (really tough to
> accomplish, though).  :)

You can have the look of frames without frames with CSS.

> 
> 2.- I don't like (at all) the top navigation graphics (font and size).
> 
> 3.- I like the left nav bar.
> 
> Finally, have you considered using PHP (or any other script language)??
> You can do a lot of stuff in an easy way (even generate new layouts in
> plain HTML).
> 
> I can help with the HTML stuff. You can even convert all the articles
> to a pseudo XML markup and convert them on the fly. See:
> http://www.shadowsun.com.ar/~fvoges/misc/xml/test.xml,
> http://www.shadowsun.com.ar/~fvoges/misc/xml/xml2html.php3 and
> http://www.shadowsun.com.ar/~fvoges/misc/xml/xml2html.phps)
> 
> This would solve the issue noted by David Bandel (the use of CSS). You
> can implement a simple (but powerfull) markup so editors/authors can
> create acrticles without the need to learn HTML.
> 
> Answering the question of Net Llama, to every HTML tag you have to add
> CLASS='whatever':
> 
> 
> <TABLE CLASS='sample' BORDER=0 WIDTH='90%' CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=5>

some of this markup needs to be added to the table.sample stuff in the
.css file.

> <TR CLASS='odd'>
> <TD>Something here></TD>
> </TR>
> <TR CLASS='even'>
> <TD>Something else here></TD>
> </TR>
> </TABLE>
> 
> With this sample css:
> TABLE.sample {
>   background-color: #FFFFFF;
>   border: 1pt solid black;
> }
> TR.odd {
>   background-color: #DDDDDD;
> }
> TR.even {
>   background-color: #AAAAAA;
> }
> 
> This will render a white table with the cells with a single black line
> border. The first row with a light gray bg and the second with a darker
> gray.

Look at my source code (http://www.pananix.com/ -- follow the products
page and make the screen small enough to scroll -- watch Tux stay in the
frame.

> 
> 
> If you want some help with this, just let me know. I have experience
> with big sites (ie: www.aunmas.com) using PHP, databases and css. Oh,
> BTW you can generate dynamic stylesheets tailored to specific browsers
> (ie: the "border:" CSS property won't work on NS 4).

and there are others that will only work in Netscape 6 (my use of the
copyright at the bottom of every page is not visible in IE5, Netscape 4,
(don't know about Kongi), etc.

but you're way out of my league -- I'm just an amateur.  I use Perl when I
need to access a database (use DBI followed by: use DBD::Pg).

> 
> 
> On Mon, 1 Apr 2002 10:42:19 -0800 (PST), Net Llama wrote:
> 
> >Fellow Pengiuns,
> >The SxS editors are in the process of reworking the layout & design of
> >the SxS site to make it more usable for everyone.  Here's out latest
> >proof of concept:
> >http://hunley.homeip.net/sxs/parent.html
> >
> >Please provide feedback, whether negative or positive.  If you don't
> >like any of it, SAY SO!  If you love all of it, tell us!  If you think
> >the fonts are good or bad, let us know.  If you think the images are
> >too big, small, pretty, ugly, stinky or otherwise, please tell us.  If
> >you've got questions, please ask, i swear no one will yell at you.  :)
> >
> >Remember, the SxS is your site, and without feedback from the people
> >who use it, we can't improve upon it!  We want to make it as useful and
> >attractive as possible.
> >

Ciao,

David A. Bandel
-- 
Focus on the dream, not the competition.
		-- Nemesis Racing Team motto