Font, Speed , Inboxes and Deej

[Boston Guy]

It's 3:55 pm EST on Tuesday, Nov 12th. I'm connecting through a very fast connection to the Internet but the Message Center is so slow as to be virtually unusable: For example, it took more than 2 minutes to load the "Lounge" main page. I presume that this is because the new server is not online.

 

Please let us know when the new server comes online so we can let you know if the site is still slow.

 

Other notes:

 

1. The font being used to display the pages now is not a particularly good one. I understand that it's probably the default, but I presume you can still choose other fonts and I recommend that you do. The blue used for this font is not entirely clear against the white background. Additionally, the font seems smaller than what I was used to. If it's the same size, perhaps that's an optical illusion caused by the color. Regardless, it seems small and much harder to read -- enough to make me not want to look at the site for very long at a time.

 

2. The content of the inboxes has been lost. I had a couple of long messages that I hadn't responded to because of my recent illness, but I was intending to respond to them at length. Since the inboxes have now been wiped clean, responding to those who corresponded with me becomes impossible. Is it possible to recover the lost messages? If not, is it possible to restore the old system to a separate server for a short period -- say a day -- so people could have a chance to go copy their messages? You post a URL that would connect to that old version of the system with a notice that it would only be available for 24 hours or some other limited period of time.

 

3. Deej: The pages are loading so slowly that I've had time to observe them carefully. I've noticed that the icons are all loading slowly and seem to be being refreshed each time. This seems a bit strange. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks. Rolling out new software is always a joy... :-)

BG

[Guest bottomboykk]

Have you clicked on the collapse thread link? As everyone's been saying, that's the secret to speeding up. I did that early on and have had no difficulties with speed since then.

[Guest bottomboykk]

P.S. I do agree that the font needs to be bigger. I think that alone will make the contrast better, with the corresponding thicker lines in the font.

[Boston Guy]

Yes,it's faster if you collapse the threads. However, that makes the whole Message Center less friendly -- lots more clicks to see what's going on. My preferred approach, by far, is to have full threads showing.

 

BG

[Losgatan]

I agree that a larger font size would be better. I've temporarily reduced my display resolution to make things readable.

[+ Charlie]

I, too, am finding the blue much harder to read. Please note that many of the regulars here have rather old and tired eyes.

[Guy Fawkes]

I wrote a php module to import the messages from the old message center. Your messages should be back online.

 

:+

[Guy Fawkes]

I've modified the style sheet so that instead of using absolute font sizes to use relative font sizes. You should now be able to control the size of the fonts with your explorer "View" options.

 

I've tested against, Windows IE, Mac IE, and Max Chimera.

 

:+

[Boston Guy]

>I've modified the style sheet so that instead of using

>absolute font sizes to use relative font sizes. You should

>now be able to control the size of the fonts with your

>explorer "View" options.

>

>I've tested against, Windows IE, Mac IE, and Max Chimera.

>

>:+

 

Thanks for restoring the inboxes and playing with the fonts.

 

The difficulty with using the View options is that you either have to change them every time you come to M4M or experience changes in the way you view every other site.

 

Honestly, it does feel a little better this morning but I don't know if that's my memory playing tricks or if it really is better.

 

I still suggest playing with the color scheme if possible or somehow making the font a little bolder. I would never have guessed that brown was a good choice but you guys really did hit on a good combination that was easy on the eyes when you changed the fonts on the previous version.

 

BG

[marc anthony]

>>I've modified the style sheet so that instead of using

>>absolute font sizes to use relative font sizes. You

>should

>>now be able to control the size of the fonts with your

>>explorer "View" options.

>>

>>I've tested against, Windows IE, Mac IE, and Max Chimera.

>>

>>:+

>

>Thanks for restoring the inboxes and playing with the

>fonts.

>

>The difficulty with using the View options is that you either

>have to change them every time you come to M4M or experience

>changes in the way you view every other site.

 

Well, I did as suggested, and used the View option to change the font to the "Larger" setting. BG is correct, it did vastly improve the readability of the M4M site, but also (of course) changed the font of almost every other site I look at in IE (a few must not allow the font to change).

 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MADE!!!!!!!!

 

I shoulda done this years ago! It is now much easier to see all sites.

 

So for every other shortcoming the new software may have... for me it is a winner already, as it has improved my entire netsurfing experience!