Comments 1 to 17:

1. James Wight at 13:35 PM on 11 October, 2010
   The new design isn't displaying at all well in my browser. I don't know how to paste screenshots here, but the header image is not long enough and repeats on the right side of the screen. All the text is centred which looks really garish. The thermometer is not displaying properly either - the bottom is sort of separated from the top.
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   Response: That would be because your browser is loading the cached version of the style sheets. I've renamed the style sheet filenames to sidestep the whole caching issue - should be fixed for you now.
   
2. Joe Blog at 13:38 PM on 11 October, 2010
   James Wight at 13:35 PM Mine was too... now its fixed :-)
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3. DarkSkywise at 14:19 PM on 11 October, 2010
   Slight aestethic problem here ... in the Arguments, the light red boxes, light green boxes, images and text all used to have ± the same basic width and now they're all different, which looks a bit like the pages aren't fully done yet. :') Or are we still looking at a Work in Progress?
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   Moderator Response: If you're using Firefox (like me), hold down the left SHIFT key and hit your browser refresh button to fix. Mine was looking funky until I performed that action.
4. pdt at 14:43 PM on 11 October, 2010
   I like it.
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5. adelady at 15:12 PM on 11 October, 2010
   Me too, looks good.
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6. DarkSkywise at 16:53 PM on 11 October, 2010
   @ Moderator: How did you know I was using Firefox? ;P Anymoo, it worked :D but would it be possible to either give the center column a predetermined maximum width or create the right column before the center column? It now goes like: Left column, ENORMOUS center column (yes, I have widescreen) all the way up to the right, lots of movement, right column stealing width to squeeze in, still more lots of movement, ahhh... finished! Even though I *do* love SkS, the page buildup has always been a bit on the slow side (in fact SkS made me change from IE to FF, because in IE the country flags on top of the pages.... appeared.... kind.... of.... one.... by.... one.... which was a bit annoying), and imho it would look a lot better if the center column gets built without all the movements (i.e. after the right column). Don't know if it's HTMLwise possible, though. ;)
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   Moderator Response: Firefox is to IE what color TV was to black and white: a vast improvement in experience and enjoyment of the medium. Once the initial transition/learning curve is over, you wish you'd done it years earlier.
7. DarkSkywise at 16:55 PM on 11 October, 2010
   PS. with "predetermined maximum width" I mean: predetermined maxiumum FIXED width, so that the center column is already the right size before the right column gets built.
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   Response: The centre column already did have a fixed width (I increased it from 520 to 600 pixels in the new design so the centre didn't look swamped by the surrounding margins). However, I've added a few extra constraints in the code so hopefully the columns will display at the right width even while the page is still loading.
   
8. Paul D at 19:23 PM on 11 October, 2010
   Design wise it is much better. The mobile phone apps weren't the sort of thing that had a higher level of importance than arguments and other info. So shifting them to the left gives a better balance.
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9. CBDunkerson at 19:31 PM on 11 October, 2010
   I've always used the highest resolution the computer can handle, so the change makes the SkS layout now look less like it was designed to fit under a postage stamp. Glad to hear that the 'no more than 800 pixels' web page standard is finally dying. For the right column... I'd suggest that might be a good place for some of the 'hidden' / 'lost' pages. The one that I always have trouble finding is the page where you can put in sort conditions like 'peer reviewed', 'skeptical of AGW', and 'within the last month' to get a list of submitted links. I've found that a good way to keep up on the latest research... when I can find it. Also, the comments policy is linked by the comment box, but nowhere on the main page. I know there have been other pages I've seen once or twice and then lost track of.
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10. newairly at 20:33 PM on 11 October, 2010
    Maybe my eyes are not what they were, but I view the pages in a slightly enlarged view (Firefox). When I get the centre column in new format at the size I used to use the right column overflows the screen unless I scroll over. That does not worry me if I can be sure that there is nothing that I need to be aware of on a normal basis.
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11. Doug Bostrom at 20:58 PM on 11 October, 2010
    Mentioned only in case it elicits a "me, too!", the smartphone and twitter info is bleeding off the right side a bit here when running 1024x768. All good at 1400x1050.
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    Response: Hmm, the width is now 1050 pixels. I might shave 30 pixels off the middle column just to bring it in under 1024.
12. mbayer at 23:02 PM on 11 October, 2010
    The header background is being repeated horizontally for about 20 pixels. See http://i52.tinypic.com/2njvpk2.png and note the mouse pointer which indicates where the repetition starts. The header, http://www.skepticalscience.com/images/header3.jpg is more than 1024 pixels wide. The 800x resolution is used by about 1-2% of users worldwide, while the 1024x resolution by about 20-30% (decreasing, but still most popular). You may want to optimise for 1024 pixel width. Depending on the CMS you use, you could add support for mobile users, such as with http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-pack/
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13. muoncounter at 23:03 PM on 11 October, 2010
    Nice new look. Does the increased central column width allow images wider than 450px? I second CBD's suggestion re comments policy, which needs to be up high. There's plenty of room in the right column (I'm not a big fan of twitter feeds on the front page). Would some form of advanced search or comment search be possible? By topic, date range, commenter all come to mind. With all the thread jumping to stay on topic, finding where a conversation went after it started can become a chore.
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14. Paul D at 02:11 AM on 12 October, 2010
    The 800 px wide screen has been dying a death for a few years now. The BBC abandoned it some 2 years ago or so. 1024 is the new bottom end. I agree with mbayer it would be a good idea to optimise for 1024.
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15. David Horton at 10:19 AM on 13 October, 2010
    John, you might want to add some feeds from relevant/interesting sites as I have done on my blog. It would be a service to SkS readers wondering if there was something new up at, say, Deltoid, and a quick pathway to check it out.
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16. actually thoughtful at 11:29 AM on 23 October, 2010
    So I am one of the chumps still using an 800X600 display. Good news is it looks great, so long as I can ignore stuff in the right column. Can the comment editing box grow to roughly the same size as the commments? Pretty minor point, but wider is nicer. Thank you for this work, and more importantly, all the work to present our climate knowledge so effectively.
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    Response: Good idea re comment box. Done!
    
17. actually thoughtful at 11:39 AM on 23 October, 2010
    Right margin ideas: 1) Data! Current CO2, current rate of increase, current avg. temperature/30 year avg temperature, current ocean acidity, current Arctic ice extent, etc. 2)Dashboard - kind of speedometer graphs showing where we are and where the danger zone is. Basically tchotkes that highlight why so many of us are concerned/panicked about our future.
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