Hoping for some help, or Grrrrrr....

Author:

Roberta J Cabot

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General Audience (pg)

I guess I'm having some problems standing it anymore.

For the past month or so, I've been having viewing problems with the site: seems the leftmost and rightmost columns of the site keeps on getting wider and wider. I have been making do and coping, but I guess, when I was reading Aunt Andrea's "Great Authors" post, it was time to ask some help. The middle part of the screen, where the stories and blogs are displayed became so narrow, it was only six words wide. The left column was 4/5th as wide as the site's banner. Same with the right column. The middle column, which had the site contents, was only 1/5th as wide as the banner.

Guess I am having trouble making do anymore.

Can anyone make suggestions? Perhaps some kind of setting on my browser?

grrrrrrrrr.....


To see Bobbie's blogposts, click this link:   http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog/bobbie-c
To see Bobbie's stories in BCTS, click this link:   http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14775/roberta-j-cabot
To see Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs
To see Bobbie's old Working Girl Blogs, click this link:   http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/19261/working-girl-blogs

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Theme?

I suppose the logical first step is to ask which site theme you're using? With the default theme, the right hand sidebar is a fixed 158 pixels wide (regardless of browser window size - I measured on a screenshot, not wanting to dive into the dozen or so css scripts to find out which one holds the definition for div.sidebar-right :) )

The left sidebar (which in the default theme only occurs on the main page) is usually a fixed width, but can expand if someone posts a comment / blog with an excessively long word.

So my first hunch would be to change themes and see if you notice a difference (other than that which is supposed to be imposed by the theme!)...

Bike Resources

There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...

As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

What did you say.

RAMI

Dear Mittfh:

I read Boobie-C's question and your answer. I think perhaps she needs more specific help then you gave her. For example, how does one go about changing themes. Is there a do-hickey, a link, a button, a something to allow somwone to do so. If so, where is it.

Unfortunately, some here, and I of course include myself as a prime example, need the type of directions you would give your child on how to accomplish such things.

Thanks for the suggestion, but make it simple enough for us tech dummies.

RAMI
Bobbie-C

RAMI

:)

to change a theme go to my account then edit you can pick a differnt theme about a 1/3 of the way down :)

I play online games *rolls eyes* yes I am one of those people :P
Fav puplished authors atm are Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson series),Carrie Vaughn (Kitty series), Kim Harrision.

Changing themes

The impression I've had from Bobbie's posts is that she's fairly technically literate, and probably knows how to navigate through the more obscure parts of the site.

Just in case she isn't, or for the benefit of anyone else:

In the right sidebar (in the default theme, this is the panel on the right side of the screen containing the Hatbox, Who's Online and In Memoriam among other things), click My Account (directly under Frequently Asked Questions).
The second tab along (under your username) is called Edit. Click that.
Note that this section allows you to do a lot of tweaking, for example:
- changing your username
- Changing your default email address
- Changing your password
- Changing your comment signature
- Enable / disable PMs
- Changing your timezone
Scroll down a page or so to the Theme configuration section.
The third theme down is called "bigcloset" (ignore the screenshot - I know it doesn't look like the 'normal' purple / grey / yellow theme). Click the little circle to the right of it.
Scroll down to the very bottom of the page.
Click Submit.

P.S. That's an interesting typo between "I read" and "question and your answer"...

Bike Resources

There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...

As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

For me...

I run into those "issues" when someone decides that they want to use a particularly LONG word as the subject for a comment (say Arrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh...............). The site code can't wrap something like that nor can it truncate it (as coded) so it ends up "squishing" the center column. Other things that MIGHT squish the middle column would be anything else oversized in the left - that isn't correctly resized (images/adds/etc.) And, one thing that gets me periodically - is when people don't properly close some tags in their "teasers" for their stories (and occasionally stories).

The only think I know if we can do is just turn off screen elements so we can't even see them (You do this by going to "My Account" and then selecting the "Edit" tab. On this page, you can select a theme (as mentioned by others) as well as turn on/off various parts of the display through a series of check boxes. You'll have to play around with them, to get the layout you're happy with. One thing - please leave at least SOME of the adds - so Erin can get the revenue.

Other than that, not much any of us "users" can do to address the above issues. We have to wait for an author or an admin to "fix" them (or for them to scroll off the display).

Good Luck,
Anne

P.S. I didn't make the silly suggestion of getting a larger (wider) external monitor! (Though there are times I'd like one of those!

The other wrapping problem...

Is authors (or commentators) who decide to create a horizontal line with a thousand (or so) hyphens, like this:

---------... ad infinitum.

Your browser doesn't know how to break such a line, and so tries to display it as is, usually to the detriment of everything else.

Never, never, do this.

Use neat little lines, six or seven characters is plenty, especially if you center it using the little C button at the top of the edit box.

-o~O~o-

~~~~~~~

***

• • •

₪₪₪₪₪

The first three are ordinary keyboard symbols, the last two are a small black bullet symbol and the New Israeli Shekel (or Sheqel) symbol. You can find many dozens more online, just search for Unicode Symbols...

I made these bold, just to make them easier to see, but the ideal text ornament (which is what these are) is small and unobtrusive, just enough to sincerely indicate a conscious break in the words.

Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

Alternatively...

There are two separators built into the formatting buttons above the comment box.

The first looks like two rows of eight dots, and looks like this:
--SEPARATOR--

The underlying code is: <img src="/topshelf/system/files/sep-knt-3x13.gif" alt="--SEPARATOR--" title="--SEPARATOR--" height=3 width=100% >

The second is the horizontal rule, which appears next to it in the buttons (before < and > ) - it looks like this:

And looks like this in code: <hr>

As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

I got that probleme too

I got that probleme too, espessialy when I zoom to have bigger characters.
I just use the "Printer-friendly version" link, and probleme solve.