Is the BCTS Home Page getting harder to use?
The past few days (more so than in the past, but even the past few months), I've noticed a trend to much larger blocks for posts on the home page. One of them (now, though maybe by the time anyone sees this it'll have changed) is so tall, I can't see the entire thing on my screen even if I maximize my browser.
My laptop (which is my primary vehicle for visiting BCTS) has a maximum screen resolution of 1440x900, and I generally run browser windows about 1200x700 - to provide room on the side/bottom for IM/IRC chat windows.
I'd personally prefer to be able to see 2-3 (stories on a screen, as I scroll through the page - rather than page down, only advancing through MOST of a single story. I'm not saying the story blurb in question was bad - I may well read it. Or that it was unattractive. It wasn't. Quite the contrary.
I was wondering if anyone else had issues or preferences in this area. It's very possible I'm just a vocal minority of one and will need to deal with my limited screen real estate.
Comments
I agree
but then I'm a grumpy old fart who doesn't read many of them, anyway. My temper not being improved by having a fall in the kitchen and landing on some bottles of red wine, and smashing them whilst i was going to dish up dinner. I smell like a vat and am still bleeding.
Angharad :(
Angharad
Sorry to hear that.
What a waste of good red wine! I hope your blood didn't spoil the taste of the wine as you and Bonzi lapped it up. Waste not want not is my motto.
Hope you're not too badly injured and it's more your pride than your body that's hurting :)
Remember - over 99% of the world's population has more than the average number of legs.
Geoff
Currently, as of today
all the stories on the front page are in compliance with Erin's rules. None exceed it. Its just a lot of authors have chosen to become more visual with presenting their works, Myself being party to this deed as well. There are some remedies you can try such as your browser's zoom out function on text to shrink the page to see more of it. Even though the site is maintained for older machines using 800 x 600 screen format, most use larger viewing settings for display and also use browser's text functions to zoom in and out for their taste.
This site is dedicated to helping authors and we are here solely for that. The real estate space on the front page is set to 50 stories. None of the ones that are up here exceed the guidelines. What you see are the maximum limits and the choice of some authors to utilize it for their story. EVERY author is allowed to do that.
I am a supporter of the current real estate space allowed for the authors and actively fight to preserve it for them. I actually go to authors and help them redesign their teasers to enlarge their teaser box and display catchy font designs and images to attract readers. It's all about advertising an author's work. There are times many authors feel betrayed when their work is passed over because of lackluster in display when they really have excellent stories sitting there. Hence, Spruce up and spice up the front page teaser.
Its still the author's choice how they want to present their material. Whether they want a small teaser box or use the maximum field limits.
I do not think its getting harder to use BCTS, It's getting easier for the authors and the readers.
Sephrena Lynn Miller
BigCloset TopShelf
I agree
But who am I to complain? I'd prefer a simpler and standardised story announcement format to allow more entries/screen-full. I'm interested in the text of the stories rather than the 'covers' even though many of them are very attractive. However, if people want to decorate their story announcements that's fine by me and many do show real talent for illustration.
Remember - over 99% of the world's population has more than the average number of legs.
Geoff
This is why
Four stories per line.
Edeyn Hannah Blackeney
I hope...
...this is the only thing about BC that you want to complain about. :)
The 3Day+ page is provided just so people don't have to look at the teasers if they don't want to. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
When was the last time I complained?
As I've said MANY time, I'm very glad BCTS is here. I honestly think I'd not have really learned that writing can be fun without it. This wasn't intended so much as a complaint (okay, I did complain a little. I admit it), but more of a query to see if there were a lot of people that had issues with the extended presentation. I was trying to open a dialog on whether the larger teaser blocks were helpful to readers.
To be honest, my biggest complaint is how few readers bother to comment on the stories they read. I understand commenting does take time, and there are times we're strapped to find enough to even read, much less comment. But, threads about comments (what's helpful / nice in them, questions about why there are so few, etc.) have shown up periodically.
Annette
While Larger Teaser Boxes Can Help
They do not guarantee extra readership. They do on one point present a 'feel' to the story for the reader to help make the decision to read it or not. I do not think everyone has to have large teaser boxes for every story. Special ones... sure.
Now maybe what you are thinking of is a feature like Frictionmania had, a search page with the titles with little synoptic blurbs and tagging to show up in the quick picks for 3 day weekly and monthly. I do not know if it is possible or not to do here. Erin may be able to do it for those that do not like scrolling down the front page. Maybe ask her?
I know Sephrena is passionate about this site and has her ways and so does Erin. They are only trying to do what is best for everyone. So I suggest asking them about the Frictionmania search page idea. Would that satisfy your complaint Annette? Would you use it? Would many others use it for the trouble it may be to create the Drupal module for?
val
Have to agree
I've always felt that a story's title space on the front page should be relatively small. The larger the profile, the quicker existing stories "disappear" down the well. Besides that, for the user, it's just easier to see what's available at a glance or two when the story profiles are smaller. Perhaps a compromise could be reached, say a depth of about six standard lines for a snyopsis with a thumbnail pic, if provided, in the corner, set to its full size in the body of the actual story?
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
It depends on what you mean by 'down the well'.
They may disappear down the opening screen sooner, but not off the home page. At least I'm told it is set to 50 stories, not so many pixels.
I'm also a bit at fault, but I am not working with pictures in the title I have worked with.
I'm just adding a bit of color, and some alternate fonts to keep it form looking too much like a wide newspaper column.
The title blocks I've added are 3 lines, plus as much space as the synopsis takes, and I've not used any blank lines above or below, for the reason several of you have mentioned.
I also tried NOT to use blank lines between the lines, but have apparently been overruled.
Using my own thumb rules, I have not found problems with the 800x600 format, but when images are added, they are more fixed in size by being X number of pixels, and I see text slipping off the screen
It’s not given to anyone to have no regrets; only to decide, through the choices we make, which regrets we’ll have,
David Weber – In Fury Born
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
I like to use the RSS aka Live Bookmark link
That way I can see what's been posted recently without even coming to the main page if I don't want...works great with Firefox and I belive IE7 and IE8 both have it built-in as well..
Hugs
I Have Periodic Problems with the Width
I use 1400x1050 on my 14" laptop screen. Fairly frequently a story splash is posted with a format that doesn't compress (in width) requiring that I nearly fill the screen if I want to view the full page width. I like the pictures, graphics and teasers.
If you use Firefox, it's very easy to change view (graphics and text) or just text size (Firefox toolbar/View/Zoom/Zoom Text Only) which can reduce the splash window dramatically. All you do is hold a Ctrl key down and scroll the view or text size up or down with the mouse wheel. I usually just zoom text. It's really handy for reading stories .
Width problems....
I always fix width problems when I find them. Webkit browsers like Safari and Chrome are more sensitive to this and I use both Safari and Firefox to view the page since they show different sorts of HTML problems. I don't use IE since the different versions of IE each have different problems and there would not be an end to it.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
From some Editor's coments...
... It appears my complaint isn't really understood (or they don't care).
I actually LIKE a short blurb - in some cases they have caused me to start reading a story I might otherwise have skipped.
My problem is that this relatively new laptop (Dell D630) only has so much virtical space (900 pixels to be exact). And, at least one of the title "pages" is too large to display, even if I maximize my screen.
As the editors/managers of the site appear to believe these larger boxes are preferred and better for the authors, I see I'll have to live with them... More likely, I'll figure out some of the other interfaces and miss out on the teasers and cover pages entirely. *sighs* My loss, due to my limited screen real estate.
I expect I'll miss reading some good stories as a result, again my loss. I'm a single user, and it's more important for BCTS to cater to the majority. Sorry for bringing it up.
Images ---
In Firefox, and most sensible browsers (Opera is particularly flexible), you can turn off image loading temporarily, which brings down the total size of the blurbs considerably.
Puddin'
-
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
Hey, we care...
Edeyn Hannah Blackeney
Yes We do Care
what the authors and readers feel and want. But everyone has to understand that the BC Staff and BigCloset TopShelf is here for the Authors to display their works and the readers to read them. We strive to find the happy medium to balance both. We cannot satisfy everyone. Be we do try to innovate at members suggestions and incorporate what we can. We are human too.
And Edeyn... You are NOT on the lower end of the admin totem pole girl! You are my equal and in many ways superior to me. I can't run this site without you here. You are our site's most valuable resource. Don't put yourself down either. I am always looking up to you.
Sephrena Lynn Miller
BigCloset TopShelf
Do you always TELL...
The author that you've made a change? And explain to the author the WHY of the change?
I hope so, because otherwise it's LIKELY that an unsuspecting author might well blow away your changes. From some Admin's comments here, it appears that some of the changes are relatively minor. I might well not notice such a change, and would likely blow them away.
On several occasions in the past, Admins HAVE changed my stuff... And, none of them have notified me that they did it. The first time or two, I thought I was going crazy (not being aware that Admins did change/fix things, even in the body of stories). Modifying the header block, is typically more obvious - and it was changes here, that got me asking around. I was surprised that admins "corrected" authors typos and such. And, on one occasion (before I knew someone had "fixed" something, I blew it away, correcting something else I noticed (or a reader brought to my attention). I really don't like making EXTRA work for others, and since I try to keep my local copy in sync with what's posted prefer to make the corrections myself.
In general, I don't mind adhering to standards (If I can easily find them), even standards that evolve over time. I raised the issue originally, because I saw things changing, and they seemed to be changing in a way that reduced usability (at least for me). And, I've admitted that it appears I'm a minority of one. This is NOT my site, I'm just lucky enough to be able to post here, and have learned a lot being here.
So, I guess - to any Admin/Editor that reads this. Please tell me when I muck up and don't follow teaser block standards (even if you have to fix it). If you don't tell me, I can't get it right the next time, and I'm likely to accidentally overwrite your fix quite by accident.
I do
When I make a change, if it's anything more major than an obvious typo, I either PM the author or I make an announcement that I changed it as I did with the RTF for Teacher's Pest.
Yes, it's the best idea to tell the authors when there's a change so they don't undo it accidentally, but the problem occurs when they promptly go and undo it because they refuse to follow the rules. Now, the VAST majority of people aren't silly like this. But there are a few that we've told MANY times that we've made a change to bring it in line with the rest of the site, and even if it can't be detected, these few will go and change it back just to be contrary. The types of changes I mean are HTML coding changes, that do NOT change the content of the story.
We just will NOT do that. The content of the story is not ours to change. The code surrounding it to present it on the site, we MUST change and cajole it into working correctly now and then.
Look & feel
While I expect there are many who appreciate the extra attention on their story's presentation, I think any alterations to what the author posted should only be done with the prior permission of the author. Some changes are necessary to preserve BC's formatting, of course, such as closing errant html tags or correcting formating that screws up the page, and Erin and co. have every right to make those changes as soon as the need is discovered. But changing fonts and colors, that should be left to the author to approve or disapprove. The author may have been trying for a certain look and feel, altering the fonts used and such may mess that up. That's my two cents.
KJT
"All lies in jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"
The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Smaller story teasers
I don't read many stories here, most don't appeal to me. But I prefer the smaller story ads, preferably with no photo or drawing. It makes it easier to quickly scroll down the home page to see if there is something I'd like to read. The big covers on the home page make my scrolling finger tired!
Mr. Ram
BC Home Page
The BC home page works pretty much the way I intended it to work and people use the capabilities I have provided.
A page that is simply a listing of titles with short codes and brief synopsis works if all the stories are being posted by one person or a small group. That method has the problems that Crystal and Sapphire are having to deal with, and to a certain extent FM.
BC is designed to allow authors to post their own story and design how the teaser for their story is going to look. I assume the right to control those teasers to a certain extent and Sephrena and Edeyn and Holly and a few others help me do that. We do try to make sure teasers are not too tall or too wide for the screen and the minimum screen I'm assuming for most people is 1000 wide and 760 tall. This is based on info gathered by the server on the HTTP requests from browsers.
So. BigCloset is the BIG Closet. A place where there is room to do things besides a small narrow allowance for a simple synopsis. There are the Shortcuts and 3+Days and RSS feed listings for simpler things but the front page is where we let authors have the room to present their stories the way they want to present them with as much room as we can reasonably provide.
Most modern browsers have settings to suppress images if those are really bothersome but I'm a very visual person and I designed BC to be visual. Other sites have their look and feel but this is BC's and it's always been designed to have this kind of look as much as I could provide with the tools available.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
You do this all the time, an observation.
Erin,
You say you are open to suggested changes at BCTS, but more often than not dismiss them, saying that things are fine the way they are.
Your signature says, "Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact." Maybe you should give it a closer look.
Mr. Ram
Actually,
I have made numerous changes to BC in just the last couple of months based on suggestions. That doesn't mean I follow all suggestion. Nor does it mean that when I reject a suggestion that I haven't considered it and spent time thinking about it.
Following this suggestion would put a burden on someone, probably me, to either hand code such a page or enforce new restrictions on posting or custom code some sort of module that would do a poor job of sorting teasers that are too long. To make BC look more like other sites.
I don't need the extra work, I don't want to restrict authors more than I have, and I don't think it's possible to code such a module that would be worth using. As it is Sephrena and I spend a half an hour or more each day, each, policing the front page and keeping it reasonably neat and presentable, with occasional assistance from Bob, Edeyn, Holly and other editors.
I gave a detailed justification for my decision in my previous post, after thinking about it for most of a day. That was giving the idea the benefit of the doubt. BC is designed to work the way it does because this is what I can do with the tools and time I have that pleases me sufficiently to keep me working on it now for almost seven years.
Yes, I make changes from time to time and I look at suggestions and give them due consideration. This suggestion seems to me mostly to be a reaction to a lot of new authors coming in and trying out what sorts of things they can do with BC's set up. They haven't all adjusted to the norms here, yet.
And I have been making adjustments during this period to how things work and what standards I set for what is allowed in a teaser. They may not go as far as some people like in that direction but this is what we have so far. I do have some ideas on more things to do but there is a long list of such stuff that needs doing around here.
The last four months have mostly been taken up struggling to keep up with the growth of the site. I'm tired.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Now that's the kind of reply I like to hear!
It's a pain in the butt to change it, I can accept a response like that.
I don't like the front page of Big Closet, but I understand your reasons for having it. :)
Mr. Ram
Just utilize the "Newest 100" list, GEEZE!
So simple that I doubt any of you that are complaining about story covers even thought of it. Part of any complaints are finding solutions, and the solutions are two-fold on this site. One, the "Quick Picks" that you can't miss for crying out loud. And, two, "The "Newest 100" list that is one click away.
Geeze folks, think about it.
Giggle, giggle...(comment said in a soft voice and very respectful to boot)
Angel
"Be Your-Self, So Easy to Say, So Hard to Live!"
"Be Your-Self, So Easy to Say, So Hard to Live!"