Been out all day, just got back and I see there is much feedback! []/w3timages/icons/laugh.gif[/]
OK... so lets see...
BillD, I think you are right and wrong on one thing. Yes, it is harder to read text when it is very wide. But I find that when people have big monitors, or simply big resolutions (like mine at 1024x768) they never, or hardly ever maximize their windows. They size them to a readable size. My dad for example, has a monitor that is twice as big as mine, but when he opens up Netscape, the program only uses half the screen. People size their windows as they like it. I have my IE maximized, but always with the Favorites left panel eating good part of it, making the page smaller, around 700pixels. That is... I have it sized to what I can easily read. I often look at newbies who sit almost for the first time on a computer, this is one of the first things they learn how to do, believe me. You yourself say you use a "relatively narrow browser window". My point is, everyone sizes their window to what they find readable. This type of design simply allows you to really chose your own size.
One thing to have in mind, is that this design (unless I missed something) does not make you have to scroll horizontally. I even resized it to 400 pixels and it looks good. My site is designed at 600px, the left side just eats a lot of space. In any case, with this design you will have less cases of scrolling horizontally (as when someone pasts a script, long text, big picture, etc) because you have more room.
Anyway, your most convincing comment is your point number 4: "Top headings create a gap between messages...disrupt the flow when you are reading". This has got me thinking, you obviously dont want to disrupt the reading... and I guess maybe for this what we need is more feedback. Though I am wondering if though there is more space between posts once you have seen a few posts it will continue disrupting, or if this disruption only happens when it is new to you. I think I could as well after a day of use, "mentally ignore" the haders, it might just be the thing of getting used to. Though I would like some more feedback on this.
>Regarding MTO's B8 which people seem to like, the fact that there is no horizontal line or color variation between the "Posted by" section and the body makes it hard for my eye to find the beginning of the body textYes, agreed. But that is the same design as B7, that effect might only happen one in every 200 posts when there is an attachment since it takes one more line getting near the body. Does this effect happen as well in B7?
As for you suggestion of a picture in the body with aligment, I tried that, it actually looked quite good. But then I thought that in practice we wouldnt like it. It is not really part of the post, sometimes people like to put a picture and.. no, doesnt seem right. Or like when you do a drawing with text, it can get cut once the pic is over. As I say, it looked great, but not really practical.
So, I guess there is room for more feedback. []/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/]
Mateo Byler
CruceDeCaminos.com
