Message Body Text Entry Field

Cloud Mountain · Post by **Cloud Mountain** » August 3rd, 2006, 6:32 pm

Sometimes I wish I were a programmer and not a pro-grammar, so I could save other people from my illmanner questions. What do I mean?

Rarely does a day pass when I'm not wishing that the entry field in the Message body of my LibriVox forums posts wasn't at least 1/3 to 1/2 again wider. Does it have something to do with defining this field to a size that fits within an 800 x 600 monitor? If so, then why do millions of people who view things in a wider way have to suffer? Why can't the smaller, ancient viewers do some extra scrolling.

Well, that's not a nice way to put it, picking on the smaller folk.
But I do wonder.

kristin · Post by **kristin** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:10 pm

I've been wondering why some of the posts fit in my window and others I have to scroll back and forth for every line because they are off the screen or out of the box. Vexing in the extreme let me tell you. The first post of Pirates is like that and every time I have to edit something in it I want to scream.

12makoto · Post by **12makoto** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:12 pm

what browsers are you 2 using?

kristin · Post by **kristin** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:12 pm

Foxfire

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:24 pm

kristin wrote:I've been wondering why some of the posts fit in my window and others I have to scroll back and forth for every line because they are off the screen or out of the box.

OOOOH... ok... now that makes sense... (sorry cloudmountain... I usually need a translator to understand what you're asking)

really long URLs (like yousentit urls) push the width out and force the viewing area to the larger width.....

Solution: when posting long urls use the url tags to use a couple of words for the link instead of the full url =)

12makoto · Post by **12makoto** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:39 pm

I used my 17 inchers to test both IE and Firefox and used the PoP post that Kristin mentioned to test.

IE seemed to make wider posts scroll only when the resolution was smaller than 1024.

FF seemed to make wider posts scroll when the resolution was smaller than 1152.

So those seem to be the minimum optimal resolutions. However, for FF, you can hit Ctrl+- to shrink the size of the text to make more fit on the screen.

BTW, Kristin, I ordered a CD so that I could try to get the music drilled into my head, but it STILL hasn't come in yet. I hope I can get to the PoP recordings this weekend even without the CD's.

Kristen · Post by **Kristen** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:43 pm

...the entry field in the Message body of my LibriVox forums posts...

Yes, the message body form size is quite irritating, isn't it?

Unfortunately, a change means going in and tweaking the phpBB code. I've done that for other sites once or twice and hope never to have to touch it ever again. It's a tangled mess of dependencies, poorly engineered and badly written, undocumented open source. Yuck.

So I think unless there is a more intrepid program editor than me, we're stuck with a badly designed form.

Sorry...

12makoto · Post by **12makoto** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:47 pm

I'm in agreement with Kristen's comments about the free phpBB code being a headache to look at, much less to change. I second her "Yuck."

Hence, giving a couple other suggestions, above, to try ^_-

kristin · Post by **kristin** » August 3rd, 2006, 7:49 pm

Hmmm. I'm at 10whatever by 7whatever. I think that's my only option on this computer though, tiny little 12" screen. Well I can do 800x600 but that doesn't help.

12makoto wrote: BTW, Kristin, I ordered a CD so that I could try to get the music drilled into my head, but it STILL hasn't come in yet. I hope I can get to the PoP recordings this weekend even without the CD's.

If you have any questions or need help with anything in particular PM me. I won't be around much this weekend(getting the new kitten) but I'll try to check in when I can.

Cloud Mountain · Post by **Cloud Mountain** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:13 pm

It's basically fixed at 420 x 220 pixels.

I do my editing in a simple text editor (with thank goodness a passable spelling checker) and then just cut and paste it into the entry field.

(Does everyone need a translator to understand me? In future I'll try to keep my messages down to five twelve-word sentences.) (Okay, 14 words.)

12makoto · Post by **12makoto** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:21 pm

I understood, but then again, I make web pages at work and am used to hearing such complaints with people using smaller resolution. Which, in my work, I try to take into consideration, but they never seem to understand that there's only so much that will fit onto one screen, and if they keep asking for more and more and more ... columns to apear in their reports, then they are going to have to scroll and just deal with it or stop requesting such dang BIG reports that I have to scroll on my normal maxed out resolution! Sheesh.

Sorry about that work related rant.

Anyway, like I said, I understood the first time 'round ^_-

kri · Post by **kri** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:29 pm

If you're using Firefox I can probably fix it for you, but it will involve installing an extension. Otherwise, my only suggestion is to write smaller posts?

Cloud Mountain · Post by **Cloud Mountain** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:49 pm

kri wrote:If you're using Firefox I can probably fix it for you, but it will involve installing an extension. Otherwise, my only suggestion is to write smaller posts?

What is this a response to?

Cloud Mountain · Post by **Cloud Mountain** » August 3rd, 2006, 8:52 pm

All along I've be speaking of the Message body ENTRY field. I'm mixed up now. I'm not sure what half of us are refering to or talking about or who talking to..

Please [quote][/quote]. Thanks.

kristin · Post by **kristin** » August 3rd, 2006, 9:01 pm

All along I've be speaking of the Message body ENTRY field. I'm mixed up now. I'm not sure what half of us are refering to or talking about or who talking to..

Please
. Thanks.

Sorry for confusing your thread.