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On Tue, 2005-05-03 at 17:57 -0700, Aaron Shi wrote: |
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> Is there a "master list" of all the CSS formatting required? I.e. |
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> code, path, input, code listing, etc. etc. while the Guide Page |
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> seemed to cover a lot of stuff, I'm sure it doesn't have everything. |
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> It appears that code and input has the same formatting/colors (namely |
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> blue monospaced font) in the current setup, it seems a bit ambiguous |
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> to me. Any thoughts? What do you guys think about having line |
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> numbers appear on the side of the code listings? Usually I'd put |
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> something like that for long snippets of code, but here it seems to be |
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> commands and console output less than a few lines long so it's |
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> probably not useful... |
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|
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The DTDs should contain all the elements we currently have, and you can |
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correlate them to CSS by checking the XSL, sorry but other than the |
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xml-guide which may not explain everything, that's the best way to find |
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out, if you have any questions or want any help with XSL/XML stuff, |
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please e-mail me or jump on irc and grab me, blackace in #gentoo, -dev, |
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-infra, -doc, or just PM me, I'm usually on :) |
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|
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Now for comments aka destructive criticism ;) |
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|
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On your guide page, I really feel like the author list would be better |
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off in the right bar, since for the handbook for instance, the list is |
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going to get really long. |
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|
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In addition, the drop down in the top bar seems out of place, perhaps it |
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would better left aligned in line with the font size adjustment, e-mail, |
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and print buttons. I do like the buttons though, especially the print |
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one to link to our ?style=printable, but the e-mail one is probably |
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unnecessary since we don't have it now, I doubt people would use it |
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much, and we'd have to implement a script and form behind it, exposing |
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ourselves to people using it to use our servers to spam people. |
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|
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I think the links in the content of the guide page would be better with |
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solid underlines vs. dotted, since dotted usually implies contextual |
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help or a "tool tip" which explains an acronym, and the dotted underline |
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seems to disappear in that much text. |
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|
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The background color on <c> and <i> elements is also much too faint, I |
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would either bolden it up a little or just leave it out, as a matter of |
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fact the body text seems a little too faint as well. |
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|
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The tables I like very much, but the code listings and warnings just |
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seem very out of place, colors mostly...for the code listing the green |
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you use in chapter headings would look better, and I just don't like the |
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single line on the left, it seems like it's supposed to be an editor's |
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note or markup more than part of the document, maybe a similar style as |
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the tables, except a green header row, light blue background would look |
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better...as for notes and warnings, I'd go with a dotted border like |
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your author/document info box at the top has, and a light pastel colored |
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background keyed to what it is, purple for notes, red for warnings, etc. |
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And on the printable page, I'd drop the light background on the code |
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listings and everything else like you do for the tables. |
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|
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In the top bar, I'd align the background of the search form cell to the |
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top so when the bar gets shorter the position of the content relative to |
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the image in the background doesn't change. |
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|
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Since the top bar will get shorter, aligning the content of the search |
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form cell to the top with maybe an 8-10 pixel margin would keep it from |
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moving around, and that bar could use to be shorter in your guide page |
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as the amount of air around the text to the left of the search form |
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looks kind of odd. |
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|
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We should also plan for more content in that search form cell, for |
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instance archives.g.o will need different text and a drop down to select |
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which list to search, packages.g.o will have different needs as well, as |
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will forums...one of my goals during this redesign is to abstract the |
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layout and design sufficiently from the content so as to allow different |
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global content alongside local content for each of our sites/top level |
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apps. |
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|
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Part of that is the top bar once we leave the main index page, on your |
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guide page you show it containing bread crumb style navigation...I had |
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hoped we could use that space for secondary navigation that all our top |
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level apps will need, like forums, bugs, and packages...and archives |
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would benefit from it too. |
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|
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Also in the top bar, in your main page, I was wondering if we could |
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change the Manage, Customize, Optimize, Interact, and Search to be |
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text...I can provide a patch to the code and the css if you want. |
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They're just another 1,902 bytes that have kind of a rough dark edged |
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transparency and look better as text, nearly identical when the primary |
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font is the same, Arial. |
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|
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The "More Headlines" page seems a little redundant, if you want to see |
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more than the last couple on the main page, we might as well display the |
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entire list in a more condensed format, say, per month or something. |
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|
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On your "jump pads" at the bottom of the main page, I don't really like |
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them all that much to be honest since the visitor should be able to |
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easily access everything listed in them from our primary navigation in |
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less than 3 (probably 2) clicks otherwise we've failed to make the site |
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usable, and they only exist to be used as a crutch...but regardless, I |
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liked them better when they were centered in the content area of the |
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page, and in your Documentation one, s/other cocs/other docs/ :) |
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|
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Hopefully my critique hasn't pissed you off too much, but dancing around |
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what I think would only delay the first instance of me pissing you off, |
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and would prevent whatever useful thoughts I have on it from being made |
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known, err well, hopefully there are some in there :) |
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|
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Once again, you can almost always grab me on IRC if you want help with |
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any of our XSL stuff, or want to discuss anything :) |
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|
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-- |
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Blackace |
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Gentoo Linux |
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Infrastructure Developer |