Why the long, stringy posts?

[Anonymous]

Hello Steeles. Is there a reason why posts are so long and skinny? When I type my post, it is nice and rectangular and plump. However, it shows up long and stringy and skinny. Why so? It is much easier to read a post that is fairly rectangular (with the long part of the rectangle on the horizon) rather than the post looking like a beanpole.

Happy New Year and thanks.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Hello Steeles. Is there a reason why posts are so long and skinny? When I type my post, it is nice and rectangular and plump. However, it shows up long and stringy and skinny. Why so? It is much easier to read a post that is fairly rectangular (with the long part of the rectangle on the horizon) rather than the post looking like a beanpole.

Happy New Year and thanks.

I'm afraid I can't provide a very good answer because the posts don't appear long and skinny to me. I do get rectangular and plump posts. Can you provide answers to the following:

1) a link to a post that is long and skinny;
2) what Operating System are you using (Windows XP, Vista, Mac, etc)?
3) what browser (Internet Explorer 5, Internet Explorer 6, Firefox, etc)?
4) what size monitor do you have (15 inch, 17 inch, etc.)?

I'll try to reproduce what you are seeing.

[Anonymous]

I use Internet Explorer both at home and at work. At home I have a smallish monitor -- 13 inches(?). At work, a large one, maybe 15 inches. Both have the aforementioned stringy effect.

[Anonymous]

P.S. DH says "long and stringy" is not the best way to describe the effect. The best way to describe is to state that the post is only four to five words across.

[jsteele]

I just tested the forums with Windows OS and Internet Explorer with screen resolution of 800x600 which is what a 15 inch monitor might use. According to Google Analytics, less than 4 percent of our users have that size screen or smaller. As a result, my previous testing with with higher resolutions. After testing at 800x600, I can say with some certainty that the forums look like crap at that size. The problem is that the left and right columns take up space, leaving very little for the center column which contains the message test. Some of that also gets removed because of the space below the author's name and so on. The result is very little horizontal space left for the message text. Both of your monitors sound like they are much smaller than today's norm. At least at work, you might actually have a 17 inch and can try changing the resolution to 1024 x something. That will make things look better.

Its very hard to come up with page designs that look good at every size and do all that you want. In our case, not only do we need to display the messages' text, but also have advertising space. The page templates used for the screens on which you type messages don't have the left and right columns, which is why those screens are wider. But, once the left and right columns are displayed, not much room is left on smaller monitors. I hate to say that you need to upgrade your monitor just to read DCUM, but most websites are targeting larger resolutions now. As a result, you may find yourself having difficulties with a number of websites.

If you some to a message that you really want to read and can't stand reading 4 words per line, click "reply" to get the wider screen. The earlier messages in the thread will be below the new message. Then, just hit the "back" button rather than submitting a reply.