All critiques welcome...

I've redesigned my entire web site with the goal of it being an XHTML
eReader. I want to present, for display and print, very good to
excellent typography. Of course, this implies very good standards
compliance. So, I've targeted IE 6, Mozilla, Netscape 7, FireFox 1, and
Opera 7. I have not been able to view my pages from a Mac in months.
OBTW, XHTML 1.0 and CSS2 is the level I'm employing.

Any and all input is welcome and hopefully I can get this site somewhat
stable so I can concentrate on developing more content and less juggling
of XHTML and CSS. ;-)

The design is basically in two sections. The first section is the
'catalog' pages that are intended to provide quick access to the 'books'
or 'documents' as it were. I went for the look of a leather-bound cover
to contrast the catalog with the content.

The second section is the documents themselves which are designed to
give the look and feel of a book in portrait and sometimes landscape
mode. These content pages are there primarily for reading; so I have
given a lot of attention to readability.

The navigation pages...

http://RichardRPlourde.home.comcast.net/

You may want to examine this document in particular for my treatment of
equations, footnotes, and figures...

http://RichardRPlourde.home.comcast....elativity.html

Thanks in advance...

Rich

SeaPlusPlus wrote:

The navigation pages...

http://RichardRPlourde.home.comcast.net/

The leather-book-cover-like texture behind the yellow text needs less
contrast within the textures. Darken it, too. Even if the red-green
texture is at low saturation, the idea of putting complementary mixed
colors behind text makes me a little queasy. Maybe you should try to push
the colors more just to greens or just to reds.

Validator
Error
Target: http://richardrplourde.home.comcast.net/
Please, validate your XML document first!
Line 1
Column 1
Content is not allowed in prolog.

All of which makes it sound worse than it is -- it really isn't bad.

SeaPlusPlus wrote:

I've redesigned my entire web site with the goal of it being an XHTML
eReader. I want to present, for display and print, very good to
excellent typography. Of course, this implies very good standards
compliance. So, I've targeted IE 6, Mozilla, Netscape 7, FireFox 1, and
Opera 7. I have not been able to view my pages from a Mac in months.
OBTW, XHTML 1.0 and CSS2 is the level I'm employing.

Any and all input is welcome and hopefully I can get this site somewhat
stable so I can concentrate on developing more content and less juggling
of XHTML and CSS. ;-)

The design is basically in two sections. The first section is the
'catalog' pages that are intended to provide quick access to the 'books'
or 'documents' as it were. I went for the look of a leather-bound cover
to contrast the catalog with the content.

The second section is the documents themselves which are designed to
give the look and feel of a book in portrait and sometimes landscape
mode. These content pages are there primarily for reading; so I have
given a lot of attention to readability.

The navigation pages...

http://RichardRPlourde.home.comcast.net/

You may want to examine this document in particular for my treatment of
equations, footnotes, and figures...

http://RichardRPlourde.home.comcast....elativity.html

Thanks in advance...

Rich
Last year, I did some similar work. http://swnews.net/besant-yoga/1-6.html

It has controls and access to the contents at the top of the page. I wasn't
entirely happy with how the controls intruded in the top of the page, but the
project was fun.

One thing I noticed about your site was you specified utf-8, but used html
long-hand 'entities' such as “ and — . Utf-8 character set supports
displaying those characters exactly as you key them in, “ ” — as long as you
have a text editor that supports utf-8. I think you could do your footnotes
with text-decoration: none; and the reader would still figure out they were
linkage.

mbstevens wrote:

The leather-book-cover-like texture behind the yellow text needs less
contrast within the textures. Darken it, too. Even if the red-green
texture is at low saturation, the idea of putting complementary mixed
colors behind text makes me a little queasy. Maybe you should try to push
the colors more just to greens or just to reds.

I'll work on the contrast of the colors some more but I think if it
looks the same as gold leaf looks on bound leather it'll be fine. After
all... I'm only trying to emulate the real world. ;-) If it looks like
crap in some cases then I'll work those quirks out. but... I don't want
it to look like a cartoon either just so that it is absolutely
positively not in the least bit challenging.

Validator
Error
Target: http://richardrplourde.home.comcast.net/
Please, validate your XML document first!
Line 1
Column 1
Content is not allowed in prolog.

All of which makes it sound worse than it is -- it really isn't bad.

It all validates... XHTML 1.0 and CSS the error you see is because the
validator has an issue with the bytes at the begining of the file in
question. BUT THE BYTES ARE LEGIT. SO... I'M in the <don't care> mode.
The CONTENT SHOULD BE ALLOWED in the prolog.
I put a file up there in the root which doesn't have the bytes it's
validatecss.html intended to throw all my css files at it and see what
'sticks'.

this should make you happy... for css... here...

http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/v...lidatecss.html

this should make you happy... for xhtml... here...

http://www.htmlhelp.com/cgi-bin/vali...p;spi der=yes

Thanks again...

Rich

Allen wrote:

Last year, I did some similar work. http://swnews.net/besant-yoga/1-6.html

I'm not including controls on the site. I rely on the user to choose the
font size with his browser. Internet Explorer, for example, TEXT SIZE
smallest, smaller, medium, larger, largest... and the page should scale
with the font to present aproximately the same amount of text, words,
sylables, whatever you want to measure... per line.

One thing I noticed about your site was you specified utf-8, but used html
long-hand 'entities' such as &ldquo; and &mdash; . Utf-8 character set supports
displaying those characters exactly as you key them in, “ ” — as long as you
have a text editor that supports utf-8. I think you could do your footnotes
with text-decoration: none; and the reader would still figure out they were
linkage.

I used the longhand entities because they are somewhat human readable in
any editor and makes a lot of sense in equations when I use things like
&minus; or &radic; or frac12;.

I'm not exactly sure of what you mean about my footnotes.

Thanks, again...

Rich

SeaPlusPlus wrote:

I'll work on the contrast of the colors some more but I think if it
looks the same as gold leaf looks on bound leather it'll be fine. After
all... I'm only trying to emulate the real world. ;-) If it looks like
crap in some cases then I'll work those quirks out. but... I don't want
it to look like a cartoon either just so that it is absolutely
positively not in the least bit challenging.

http://www.alistapart.com/d/imagemap/example2.html
Notice how that, even though there is mottled textures in the background, he
keeps it from behind the text.

mbstevens wrote:

http://www.alistapart.com/d/imagemap/example2.html
Notice how that, even though there is mottled textures in the background, he
keeps it from behind the text.

I'd read that article a long time ago... I'll revisit it to see if it
allows what I want.

Thanks, again...

Rich

In message <1uydnczhuquFqmncRVn-pA (AT) comcast (DOT) com>, SeaPlusPlus
<SeaPlusPlus (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> writes

I've redesigned my entire web site with the goal of it being an XHTML
eReader. I want to present, for display and print, very good to
excellent typography. Of course, this implies very good standards
compliance. So, I've targeted IE 6, Mozilla, Netscape 7, FireFox 1, and
Opera 7. I have not been able to view my pages from a Mac in months.
OBTW, XHTML 1.0 and CSS2 is the level I'm employing.

Any and all input is welcome and hopefully I can get this site somewhat
stable so I can concentrate on developing more content and less
juggling of XHTML and CSS. ;-)

The design is basically in two sections. The first section is the
'catalog' pages that are intended to provide quick access to the
'books' or 'documents' as it were. I went for the look of a
leather-bound cover to contrast the catalog with the content.

The second section is the documents themselves which are designed to
give the look and feel of a book in portrait and sometimes landscape
mode. These content pages are there primarily for reading; so I have
given a lot of attention to readability.

The navigation pages...

http://RichardRPlourde.home.comcast.net/

You may want to examine this document in particular for my treatment of
equations, footnotes, and figures...

http://RichardRPlourde.home.comcast....elativity.html

Thanks in advance...

Rich

Just a few comments:

(a) The site suffers from a 'flash of unstyled content' for all pages
when using IE6. In other words, when you go to a new page, for about a
second the page can be seen without the stylesheet being applied. This
is caused by using @import to reference the stylesheets.

Inserting a reference to a basic or empty stylesheet (without using
@import) prior to the existing ones should cure this.

(b) You've concentrated on display and print -- but what about speech?

Three suggestions:
i. With the poems (and possibly other cases) the anchor needs to be on
the heading, otherwise the first thing that a person hears is 'return to
top'.

http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP01X.JPG (49k)

ii. Check the punctuation
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP02X.JPG (56k)

iii. Set the alternative text to 'null' to prevent them being spoken
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP01X.JPG (49k) and
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP04X.JPG (48k)

(c) Some of the pages could do with more space between image and text:
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP03X.JPG (47k)

(d) More testing?
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP07X.JPG (29k)

All-in-all, it's a very attractive site -- although some people would
argue that the use of a serif font and right justified body for screen
display is not a good idea.

Regards.

--
Jake

jake wrote:

Just a few comments:

(a) The site suffers from a 'flash of unstyled content' for all pages
when using IE6. In other words, when you go to a new page, for about a
second the page can be seen without the stylesheet being applied. This
is caused by using @import to reference the stylesheets.

Inserting a reference to a basic or empty stylesheet (without using
@import) prior to the existing ones should cure this.

I had heard about this 'effect' before and didn't remember the solution.
Thanks, I'll make that change RSN. ;-)

(b) You've concentrated on display and print -- but what about speech?

Three suggestions:
i. With the poems (and possibly other cases) the anchor needs to be on
the heading, otherwise the first thing that a person hears is 'return to
top'.

http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP01X.JPG (49k)

Well... I REALLY want the "Return To Top" to be displayed at the top
right above the header to separate it, absolutely, from 'content'

I'll search for a workaround to clear this up... after all... I use this
all over the web site and want it to be right!

ii. Check the punctuation
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP02X.JPG (56k)

Excellent point, I'll check if there are typos in these... I'd like to
know if you can tell me if there is software that I could use to
"LISTEN" to my site to hear where I need to fix things?

iii. Set the alternative text to 'null' to prevent them being spoken

http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP01X.JPG (49k) and
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP04X.JPG (48k)

Right, I guess, in the poetry and the catalog menus the graphics are
superfluous so the listener needn't be be 'bashed' with irrelevant material.

(c) Some of the pages could do with more space between image and text:
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP03X.JPG (47k)

I agree I had more left margin on the 'FloatRights' in there and IE was
throwing-up all over the place so I need to get this correct
cross-browser. notice how graphic isn't aligned on the margin defined by
"Return To Top" all the time???? ARRRGHHH!!!

(d) More testing?
http://www.gododdin.demon.co.uk/ng/RP07X.JPG (29k)

I agree with the "more testing" comment... ;-)

I've had fits with that double image I'd created for the hometown page
just as much as I did with the images for the poetry. Again, I'll
straighten this out with a solution which can be used all over with an
eye to the future when more is added to the site it will be added
seamlessly. That's the plan anyway. Perhaps, possibly, smaller images to
start with linked to the full sized one; then again, possibly not.

All-in-all, it's a very attractive site -- although some people would
argue that the use of a serif font and right justified body for screen
display is not a good idea.

Thanks a lot for the comments and compliments I have tried to make
simplicity be the watchword for the site... simple but elegant... ;-)
The site isn't about those graphics in the poetry and hometown sections.
I could just as easily rip them right out if they are going to clog up
the works. The reason for the site is in the other sections; the books
and documents are what I want to celebrate with the 'look and feel' they
deserve. I want them to be approachable and effortlessly readable. I
want the site to present this material with typography which will allow
a visitor an environment which is conducive with reading the whole book
on my web site. I want them to find that they can comfortably get into
'a zone' and zip right through the material be it a murder mystery or
physics thesis. I plan on placing more public domain fiction as well as
treatments of many other topics.

As far as the serif font, I think it is fine. Daily I read the NY Times
online and I find their use of the Times Roman font unfortunate (it was
designed for print NOT display) and they've, also, set it too small. I
know my use of Georgia is correct for display and the size is bigger and
better along with more correct letterspacing and linespacing. OBTW,
"Times Roman" is specified for print, which is, again, the correct use
for it. Although, I still need to tune the print stylesheet.

I really know that there will be trade-offs all around but I am shooting
for the best presentation of the material that can be expected. Sans
serif is NOT the best for the display of prose. If they (the user)
don't, won't or can't tolerate a serif font they can specify whichever
they like and they will always get their choice rather than my "font
suggestions". They just select a 'sans serif' font in place whatever
they would have gotten when 'serif' is specified. Am I not right in
this??? Besides, if I had selected a sans serif font it would probably
be Verdana which was specifically designed for display and looks
great... but everybody 'cries' IT'S TOO BIG ! ! ! WAAAAAHHHH ! ! ! ;-)

Thanks, again, for all your help...

Rich

In message <ctOdnUCc4crO7GvcRVn-1A (AT) comcast (DOT) com>, SeaPlusPlus
<SeaPlusPlus (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> writes

jake wrote:
[snip]

I'd like to know if you can tell me if there is software that I could
use to "LISTEN" to my site to hear where I need to fix things?

Download for a 30-day free trial:
http://www-3.ibm.com/able/dwnlds/index.html#hpr_trial

[snip]

All-in-all, it's a very attractive site -- although some people would
argue that the use of a serif font and right justified body for screen
display is not a good idea.

Thanks a lot for the comments and compliments I have tried to make
simplicity be the watchword for the site... simple but elegant... ;-)
The site isn't about those graphics in the poetry and hometown
sections. I could just as easily rip them right out if they are going
to clog up the works. The reason for the site is in the other sections;
the books and documents are what I want to celebrate with the 'look and
feel' they deserve. I want them to be approachable and effortlessly
readable. I want the site to present this material with typography
which will allow a visitor an environment which is conducive with
reading the whole book on my web site. I want them to find that they
can comfortably get into 'a zone' and zip right through the material be
it a murder mystery or physics thesis. I plan on placing more public
domain fiction as well as treatments of many other topics.

As far as the serif font, I think it is fine. Daily I read the NY Times
online and I find their use of the Times Roman font unfortunate (it was
designed for print NOT display) and they've, also, set it too small. I
know my use of Georgia is correct for display and the size is bigger
and better along with more correct letterspacing and linespacing. OBTW,
"Times Roman" is specified for print, which is, again, the correct use
for it. Although, I still need to tune the print stylesheet.

I really know that there will be trade-offs all around but I am
shooting for the best presentation of the material that can be
expected. Sans serif is NOT the best for the display of prose. If they
(the user) don't, won't or can't tolerate a serif font they can specify
whichever they like and they will always get their choice rather than
my "font suggestions". They just select a 'sans serif' font in place
whatever they would have gotten when 'serif' is specified. Am I not
right in this??? Besides, if I had selected a sans serif font it would
probably be Verdana which was specifically designed for display and
looks great... but everybody 'cries' IT'S TOO BIG ! ! ! WAAAAAHHHH ! ! ! ;-)

Yes, I think that Georgia is a good choice for these pages (it's my

number one choice for a serif font) and gives the screen image that
'printed' look. The line spacing looks about right, too.

Verdana? That's my number one choice for a sans-serif font .... but then
again, my system is set up so that Verdana at 100% looks ..... well
...... normal.

regards.

--
Jake