150 lines
8.4 KiB
HTML
150 lines
8.4 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<html> <head>
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<title> The Back Page LG #77</title>
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</head>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0000AF"
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ALINK="#FF0000">
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<CENTER>
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<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
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<H1><IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/lglogo.png"
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WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="124" border="0"></H1></A>
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<IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/left.jpg" WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"><A HREF="taneja.html"><IMG ALT="[ Prev ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/prev.jpg" WIDTH="16" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Table of Contents ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/toc.jpg" WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Front Page ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/frontpage.jpg" WIDTH="137" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/cgi-bin/talkback/all.py?site=LG&article=http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue77/lg_backpage.html"><IMG ALT="[ Talkback ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/talkback.jpg" WIDTH="121" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../lg_faq.html"><IMG ALT="[ FAQ ]" SRC="./../gx/navbar/faq.jpg"WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/right.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom">
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<P>
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</CENTER>
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<H4 ALIGN="center">
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<H1><font color="maroon">The Back Page</font></H1>
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<H2>LG to get a makeover and wants your help</H2>
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<P> LG will be getting a facelift in the next month or two. A stylesheet,
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revamped headers/footers, and perhaps a few more images. My biggest pet
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peeve of the current layout is all the the extra whitespace the browsers put
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around headers and <CODE><HR>s</CODE> (horizontal separators). Stylesheets make it
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possible to squeeze out all that space, allowing more content to show on the
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first screenful. Non-stylesheet browsers would still have the whitespace, but
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at least they'd be no worse off than they are now.
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<P> I'm actually thinking about an article header something like this:
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<PRE>
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-----------------------------------------------------------
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| LG LOGO LG LOGO Home > issue 77 (April 2002) |
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| LG LOGO LG LOGO Title Title Title |
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| LG LOGO LG LOGO Title Title Title |
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| LG LOGO LG LOGO by Author |
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| making Linux ... more fun (e-mail link) |
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-----------------------------------------------------------
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</PRE>
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That's a smaller version of the LG logo, and no more <CODE><H1></CODE>
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and <CODE><HR></CODE>
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in the header. "Home > issue 77 (April 2002)" would be Yahoo-style links like
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we've used on the <I>Linux Journal</I> site in the past.
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<P> I also aim to revamp
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the navigation links between pages, to cut down on questions like "Why doesn't
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LG get a search engine or an index of all issues?" (It already has them.)
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Or, "How do I send a question to The Answer Gang? Oh wait, I didn't know there
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was an Answer Gang, so I just sent it to gazette. I looked on the author info
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page, but I'm still not sure where to send my News Bytes entry." All these
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links are available... if you know where to look. Making the links more
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findable in the places people are likely to look will be the goal.
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<P> The Answer Gang and I are looking for some more images to decorate the
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site with. Don't worry--we're sticking to our "minimum graphics" philosophy.
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Just loosening it up a bit. The success of the various cartoon series in LG
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over the past year shows that we can increase the size of LG slightly without
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incurring the wrath of those who find 200 KB an expensive download.
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<P> So, to Leon Czechowicz and all those who have been asking <A
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HREF="../issue76/lg_mail.html#gaz/5">Why we stay plain when we could look
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Really Cool</A>, now's your chance. <STRONG>Send in your suggestions, images,
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HTML fragments, stylesheet fragments, navigation flowcharts and wishlist items
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to <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>.</STRONG> How would
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you like LG to look? We'll probably make a decision (or start to think about
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when to make a decision) around April 15th, so the sooner the better, or at
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least send us an e-mail so we know something is coming. Any ideas or examples
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we like but don't use we'll put into an article, so at least they'll get some
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exposure.
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<P> Those who follow LG closely know our general policies for layout. I've tried
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to articulate them below, but no doubt have forgotten something or other.
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<UL>
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<LI> The site must be completely static so that it can be read from mirrors with
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unknown webserver software, and from CD-ROMs and FTP files where there is no
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webserver.
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<LI> Each issue tries to be > 2 MB, and the number of shared files should grow
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only modestly. This is for people with slow modems, or who pay per minute or per
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megabyte for downloads.
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<LI> It must look OK and navigate OK on a wide variety of browsers, both graphical
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and text.
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<LI> The page width is normally 600 pixels, but may expand to 630 or 750 occasionally.
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The layout must look good anywhere from 600-750.
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<LI> <STRONG>Images</STRONG> should be PNG (preferred) or JPG (not GIF due to
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patent restrictions). Use a white background, no transparency (Netscape
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displays PNGs with transparent pixels as solid boxes), and no animation.
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Maximum image size should be around 200x100, something we can put around a
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header or next to a paragraph.
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<LI> <STRONG>Stylesheets:</STRONG> There will be one global stylesheet for all articles,
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TOC pages and the home page. (Perhaps we'll use mixin stylesheets down the road, but
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that's later.)
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<LI> Javascript, frames and sidebars are anathema. Javascript may be
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considered in very limited circumstances, such as to submit a form when
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pressing Enter in a text field. That provides a slight convenience to the
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Javascript user but no degradation to the non-Javascript user. But any
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Javascript must be functional rather than just cosmetic.
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<LI> No tables around the article text! Keep layout tables to a minimum.
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(I'll have to use a table for the article header though, since non-stylesheet browsers
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can't do style columnizing.)
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<LI> I think we'll be switching to text buttons for the navigation links rather than
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graphical buttons. In a table with colored cell backgrounds, unless we find a style
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strategy that's suitable and looks OK on non-style browsers. Not only do text buttons
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download faster, but they're easier to change later.
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</UL>
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<P> So put on your thinking caps and send in some ideas.
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<HR> <!-- ************************************************************** -->
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<P> Happy Linuxing!
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<P> Mike ("Iron") Orr<br>
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Editor, <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/"><i>Linux Gazette</i></A>, <A
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HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</a>
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<BR CLEAR="all">
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<!-- *** END Not Linux *** -->
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<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 2002, the Editors of <I>Linux Gazette</I>.<BR>
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Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
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Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
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<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
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<CENTER>
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<!-- *** BEGIN navbar *** -->
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<IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/left.jpg" WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"><A HREF="taneja.html"><IMG ALT="[ Prev ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/prev.jpg" WIDTH="16" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Table of Contents ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/toc.jpg" WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Front Page ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/frontpage.jpg" WIDTH="137" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/cgi-bin/talkback/all.py?site=LG&article=http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue77/lg_backpage.html"><IMG ALT="[ Talkback ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/talkback.jpg" WIDTH="121" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../lg_faq.html"><IMG ALT="[ FAQ ]" SRC="./../gx/navbar/faq.jpg"WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/right.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom">
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</CENTER>
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</BODY></HTML>
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