Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Randy Brukardt]

[Sorry if you see this multiple times.]

Ada-auth.org has been refreshed with a new look. Hopefully, the site will no 
longer look like something from the Paleolithic era of the web. (Might still 
be only up to the Bronze Age, but this site is mainly for information, not 
looks.) Check out www.ada-auth.org.

The primary purposes of the redesign are:

* Get a navigation bar on each index and information page. Arrivals from 
Google et. al. can find out about the site this way;

* Better colors (no more pink and purple!);

* Make the pages more readable;

* Modernize the HTML markup (these pages originally were created with 
Netscape 3.0!).

The content is mostly unchanged, with a few corrections and rearrangements.

All bookmarks and links should still work (I didn't remove any pages, a 
couple have been de-emphasized).

I didn't change the look or workings of the version control system, actual 
documents (standards, AIs, minutes, procedures, etc.), the CPL, nor the 
photo galleries.

Tell me at agent@ada-auth.org if you experience any problems.

Randy Brukardt, ACAA Technical Agent/ARG Editor

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Niklas Holsti]

On 14-12-17 23:39 , Randy Brukardt wrote:
> [Sorry if you see this multiple times.]
>
> Ada-auth.org has been refreshed with a new look. Hopefully, the site will no
> longer look like something from the Paleolithic era of the web. (Might still
> be only up to the Bronze Age, but this site is mainly for information, not
> looks.) Check out www.ada-auth.org.

The look is nice, but I dislike very much that you require a wide window 
to read the text. IMO web pages should reformat themselves to the user's 
chosen window width.

-- 
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd
niklas holsti tidorum fi
       .      @       .

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Björn Lundin]

On 2014-12-17 22:49, Niklas Holsti wrote:
> On 14-12-17 23:39 , Randy Brukardt wrote:
>> [Sorry if you see this multiple times.]
>>
>> Ada-auth.org has been refreshed with a new look.
> 
> The look is nice, but I dislike very much that you require a wide window
> to read the text. IMO web pages should reformat themselves to the user's
> chosen window width.
> 

I agree with Niklas.
Webpages should adapt to the width of the browser,
not force the user to read wide paragraphs,
or even worse - to force scrolling sideways if low screen resolution


--
Björn

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Randy Brukardt]

"Niklas Holsti" <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid> wrote in message 
news:cfec3rFbqjmU1@mid.individual.net...
> On 14-12-17 23:39 , Randy Brukardt wrote:
>> [Sorry if you see this multiple times.]
>>
>> Ada-auth.org has been refreshed with a new look. Hopefully, the site will 
>> no
>> longer look like something from the Paleolithic era of the web. (Might 
>> still
>> be only up to the Bronze Age, but this site is mainly for information, 
>> not
>> looks.) Check out www.ada-auth.org.
>
> The look is nice, but I dislike very much that you require a wide window 
> to read the text. IMO web pages should reformat themselves to the user's 
> chosen window width.

It does, but there is a minimum width. I spent several hours on the 
navigation bar, but the only way I could get it to look right was to use 
minimum widths (which I had to make larger than I wanted so that they worked 
on the browser on my phone). Else pieces got split (worst being the search 
button and the search box) and it looked like a 5-year old had designed it. 
Plus it got way too heavy taking multiple lines leaving no room for the 
actual content.

Ergo, this is the best that I can do (at least without complicating the 
pages with scripting or HTML 5 junk).

I just checked this on my desktop, and it gets quite narrow (only about 1/2 
my normal screen) before the width gets fixed. I find the bigger problem is 
that it uses the entire width when the page is really wide, and that makes 
the longer paragraphs nearly unreadable. (My browser is typically full 
screen on my 24" monitor.) I decided not to fix that because I would have 
gotten even more complaints. YMMV.

BTW: I just noticed that the larger header graphic on the home page is 
forcing a wider than usual page. Would you still make this complaint on one 
of the other pages (like the ARG page, for example)? I don't expect anyone 
to spend much time on the home page (I took most of the real content off of 
it).

                                Randy.

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Randy Brukardt]

"Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote in message 
news:m6t3qn$7v5$1@loke.gir.dk...
...
> Ergo, this is the best that I can do (at least without complicating the 
> pages with scripting or HTML 5 junk).
...
> BTW: I just noticed that the larger header graphic on the home page is 
> forcing a wider than usual page. Would you still make this complaint on 
> one of the other pages (like the ARG page, for example)? I don't expect 
> anyone to spend much time on the home page (I took most of the real 
> content off of it).

Seemingly before I got this back from the cla server, Adam sent me a hack 
that does help the home page. I'm unconvinced that the other pages need it 
(they shrink to much narrower in Firefox, they get pretty unreadable if much 
narrower), and I don't want to spend another 2+ hours changing pages and 
[especially] tools (a lot of these pages are generated by tools, so there 
are a lot of Text_IO.Put_Lines that have to be changed to adjust stuff). So 
I'm not going to change any of the other pages for the time being (I'll wait 
to see if there are any other changes suggested at a minimum.) More comments 
welcome.

                                     Randy.

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Niklas Holsti]

On 14-12-18 03:00 , Randy Brukardt wrote:
> "Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote in message
> news:m6t3qn$7v5$1@loke.gir.dk...
> ...
>> Ergo, this is the best that I can do (at least without complicating the
>> pages with scripting or HTML 5 junk).
> ...
>> BTW: I just noticed that the larger header graphic on the home page is
>> forcing a wider than usual page.

Yes, I noticed the same, after sending my whine.

>> Would you still make this complaint on
>> one of the other pages (like the ARG page, for example)? I don't expect
>> anyone to spend much time on the home page (I took most of the real
>> content off of it).

But it's the first page one encounters... first impressions, you know...

> Seemingly before I got this back from the cla server, Adam sent me a hack
> that does help the home page.

I think it is OK now. You are perhaps using a large character size than 
is usual today; perhaps reduce it by a couple of points? Would help with 
the window width too.

-- 
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd
niklas holsti tidorum fi
       .      @       .

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Björn Lundin]

On 2014-12-18 00:32, Randy Brukardt wrote:

> 
> I just checked this on my desktop, and it gets quite narrow (only about 1/2 
> my normal screen) before the width gets fixed. I find the bigger problem is 
> that it uses the entire width when the page is really wide, and that makes 
> the longer paragraphs nearly unreadable. (My browser is typically full 
> screen on my 24" monitor.) I decided not to fix that because I would have 
> gotten even more complaints. YMMV.


The paragraphs resizes nicely now.
I rather read many short lines than few long lines.

--
Björn

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Luke A. Guest]

Needs work on the colours. Blue, green and yellow? Shouldn't mix blue and
green, it's not as bad as blue and red though.

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Britt]

On Thursday, December 18, 2014 8:32:36 AM UTC-5, Luke A. Guest wrote:
> Needs work on the colours. Blue, green and yellow? Shouldn't mix blue and
> green, it's not as bad as blue and red though.

Well, I like the colors and "large print" text.

- Britt (who sometimes wears green shirts with blue pants and yellow shoes)

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Randy Brukardt]

"Britt" <britt.snodgrass@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:c2a169a6-12de-41d2-9df5-16a35ec457f6@googlegroups.com...
> On Thursday, December 18, 2014 8:32:36 AM UTC-5, Luke A. Guest wrote:
>> Needs work on the colours. Blue, green and yellow? Shouldn't mix blue and
>> green, it's not as bad as blue and red though.
>
> Well, I like the colors and "large print" text.

Right. You're never going to make everyone happy. Besides, I have no idea 
why anyone would think that green and blue don't work together. They work 
together a heck of a lot better than green and purple or blue and brown.

I did try to make the blue a bit more greenish, but that's hard if one tries 
to stay within the set of "web colors" (which you have to when using GIFs). 
Monitors don't tend to be that accurate in color reproduction anyway.

> - Britt (who sometimes wears green shirts with blue pants and yellow 
> shoes)

<Grin>.

Looking down, I see that I'm wearing a blue/green/white shirt right now. It 
can't be that bad of a combination. :-) The green is more bluish than the 
site header, but otherwise it's pretty similar.

                                  Randy.

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Randy Brukardt]

"Niklas Holsti" <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid> wrote in message 
news:cfff3fFjouvU1@mid.individual.net...
> On 14-12-18 03:00 , Randy Brukardt wrote:
>> "Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote in message
>> news:m6t3qn$7v5$1@loke.gir.dk...
>> ...
>>> Ergo, this is the best that I can do (at least without complicating the
>>> pages with scripting or HTML 5 junk).
>> ...
>>> BTW: I just noticed that the larger header graphic on the home page is
>>> forcing a wider than usual page.
>
> Yes, I noticed the same, after sending my whine.
>
>>> Would you still make this complaint on
>>> one of the other pages (like the ARG page, for example)? I don't expect
>>> anyone to spend much time on the home page (I took most of the real
>>> content off of it).
>
> But it's the first page one encounters... first impressions, you know...

Not really. More than 70% of visitors come from a search engine, and land 
wherever; 20% more come from links from other sites (again landing 
wherever). I suspect most of the remainder are coming from bookmarks or 
links in e-mail. (Well, a lot of them are undetected bots, and no one cares 
what they do.) Few come directly to the home page; that's the whole reason 
for doing this overhaul so people can get to the other pages no matter where 
they start from.

>> Seemingly before I got this back from the cla server, Adam sent me a hack
>> that does help the home page.
>
> I think it is OK now. You are perhaps using a large character size than is 
> usual today; perhaps reduce it by a couple of points? Would help with the 
> window width too.

It appears to be the same size as the news sites that I typically frequent 
these days. And it's the same size as the old site. I think it might look 
bigger because sans-serif fonts tend to look bigger than serif fonts. (In 
the RM, I had to adjust the sans-serif font down by 1/2 pt to make it 
balanced when they appear in the same sentence.) I see that I don't actually 
set a font size for the normal text; it's using the default size for your 
browser (which should allow users to enlarge or shrink it with browser 
settings).

Still, it does look a bit large (especially if the Veradana font is used). 
Perhaps I need to set the font to 90% as it is in the RM.

                                         Randy.

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Simon Clubley]

On 2014-12-18, Randy Brukardt <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote:
> "Britt" <britt.snodgrass@gmail.com> wrote in message 
> news:c2a169a6-12de-41d2-9df5-16a35ec457f6@googlegroups.com...
>> On Thursday, December 18, 2014 8:32:36 AM UTC-5, Luke A. Guest wrote:
>>> Needs work on the colours. Blue, green and yellow? Shouldn't mix blue and
>>> green, it's not as bad as blue and red though.
>>
>> Well, I like the colors and "large print" text.
>
> Right. You're never going to make everyone happy. Besides, I have no idea 
> why anyone would think that green and blue don't work together. They work 
> together a heck of a lot better than green and purple or blue and brown.
>
> I did try to make the blue a bit more greenish, but that's hard if one tries 
> to stay within the set of "web colors" (which you have to when using GIFs). 
> Monitors don't tend to be that accurate in color reproduction anyway.
>

The only comment I would make about the colours is to ask if the yellow
on green header might be a problem for people with colour blindness or
other vision issues.

I just tried using a text mode browser (links) and the home page does
display very cleanly indeed however within links.

Would it be worthwhile adding a sentence along the lines of "This is
where you will find the Ada Issues database." to the Ada Rapporteur Group
text ?

The phrase "Ada Issues" is not mentioned at all on the home page.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world

Re: Refresh of Ada-Auth.org

[Randy Brukardt]

"Simon Clubley" <clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote in 
message news:m74dmi$4lf$1@dont-email.me...
...
> Would it be worthwhile adding a sentence along the lines of "This is
> where you will find the Ada Issues database." to the Ada Rapporteur Group
> text ?
>
> The phrase "Ada Issues" is not mentioned at all on the home page.

Arggh. I simplified the text down to one paragraph, and probably left the 
wrong information. I'll fix it.

                                      Randy.