Add max-width to forum css
#1
Could you please adapt the css file of the forum to include a max-width?

#container {
margin: 0 auto;
padding-top: 3em;
max-width: 900px;
}

This will narrow the forum improving readability.

Regards,
Bart Otten
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#2
Fixed width is the devil. If people want narrow width, they can narrow the window their browser is in.
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#3
a max-width of 900px is also rather small these days. I agree that readability might improve, but we would get in trouble with skinners posting their screenshots on such a small width.
Depending on your browser there might be some addon to add custom CSS styles. But maybe I can make the max-width configurable in the user profile (or even easier do it all in the template via a cookie and JS). Will look at it if I have some sparetime, but I might forget about it, so drop a reminder.
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#4
(2013-03-12, 16:36)Ned Scott Wrote: Fixed width is the devil. If people want narrow width, they can narrow the window their browser is in.

So are textlines of 10 inches Smile Did you notice most websites are 'narrowed'? It all
has to do with usability rules. There are many 'so so official' sources about it, but I think this
one is good enough: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/74600...-a-webpage

Narrowing the browser seems a bad solution to me as I should resize my browser windows
JUST for XBMC forum (and one other I can think off). Most websites just restrict the width to a maximum.

@da-anda: temporary fix a max-width of 1500px? Would help me 1000px already and people should
not upload screenshots wider than 1500px as most people would not be able to see those screenies without scrolling Wink

Another solution can be a 'word cut' in PHP itself so the forum is actually 100% but text is just cut-off dynamically. As
I am doing now myself manual.

ps. This is how I see the forum at this moment.
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#5
Why would you have ANY browser window that wide?
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#6
1.) A long row with easy (one click) access bookmarks
2.) A lot of room when I open FireBug at the right
3.) Some websites use the extra space with additional info Big Grin
4.) Video's go wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide
5.) To not be disturbed by anything behind the browser window
6.) Because it usualy does not cause any trouble

Pick one or two Wink
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#7
If you're using a browser which support Stylish (which I'm assuming you do, having FireBug installed) - link here for Stylish for Firefox.

Install Stylish, click on the icon, and select "Write a new style", and copy/paste the below code into the box it gives you.

Code:
@namespace url(http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml);

@-moz-document domain("forum.xbmc.org") {

    #container {
        margin: 0 auto;
        padding-top: 3em;
        max-width: 900px;
    }
}
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#8
(2013-03-13, 18:20)ConfusedTA Wrote: blablabla

Tnx! Smile
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#9
I agree with fixed width is the devil I didn't buy a 27 inch screen to just have a forum take up 50% of my maximized window if you find stuff too wide then resize your window and it will be fine for all the sites you visit
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#10
We kinda came to that point already......

Usability has improved for me (imho), others don't like a max-width. Hope da-anda can build an option so people can have the choice. It won't matter for me anymore, but would be nice for other users who will use this forum with more joy cause a maximum
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#11
@BartOtten:

.....Could you please adapt your posts by removing all your added line breaks? It would certainly improve the readability of your posts when I size the width of my browser window to 600-700 pixels on my WUXGA monitor.

(2013-03-13, 02:59)BartOtten Wrote: Another solution can be a 'word cut' in PHP itself so the forum is actually 100% but text is just cut-off dynamically. As
I am doing now myself manual.

ps. This is how I see the forum at this moment.
(2013-03-13, 02:59)BartOtten Wrote: So are textlines of 10 inches Smile Did you notice most websites are 'narrowed'? It all
has to do with usability rules. There are many 'so so official' sources about it, but I think this
one is good enough: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/74600...-a-webpage
I would not be surprised if the real reason for using fixed sized areas in a browser window is ensuring that a branded background or some advertisement space will always be visible on a devices with a 16" or smaller screen.

The SO link you provide links to a survey that surveyed blogs, not community forums. These things just have different requirements..
I added a wikipedia link in this post to show that a very basic layout allows the user to get a comfortable read by either modifying the site's stylesheet or resizing the browser window; just because the layout is very basic. All text is formatted as blocks of paragraphs, meaning the browser will keep text together even if the dimensions of the render area change.

About your site: You do realise that a banner image of 590px heigh spans 64% of the screen estate on a very common 1366 x 768 laptop screen?
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#12
1.) i could but this discussion was kinda ended so I don't see the point
2.) I was asking for a max-width attribute so your comment about fixed-size is not valid
3.) I was planning to change it cause of that, but nobody cares for the stuff under it (according to the stats). Maybe some day I will work at it again but don't really feel like it atm.
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#13
easiest thing is to get a second display with 1280x1024 and move your browser window there - that's what I do Wink (working with two monitors is just sooo nice - having IDE on main window and browser with website being coded on the second screen).
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#14
While you buy the second one, take a 800x600 for legacy games and a 200" for movies hehe.

@da-anda: I work with two myBB forums, should I give it a try and submit the code?
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#15
@BartOtten if you have the time and like to give it a try, sure - but don't alter the main codebase - only use hooks or try to solve it via the template (JS reading cookie and setting css class to <html> or <body>). I'm unfortunately quite busy this weekend and next week is just horror.

Btw - our forum is in git - so you could even create a pull request if you like Smile
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc-forum
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