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OckhamsRazor
OckhamsRazor
Join Date 09/2003
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A couple of JU blogging tips (Not about writing)

stuff I noticed this week

August 17, 2007 12:52:22 AM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I've dabbled in html a long time, and it's just been dabbling. Enough to be dangerous - just enough. But that has been a good thing for me here at JU, because it has enabled me to manhandle the interface when using the cute little buttons above the edit window result in things that aren't exactly what I want.

My wife has been out of town for the last week, and so I've spent more time here than normal. And in the course of that time, I noticed a couple simple things I could offer that might be helpful. And not to embarrass them, but to make sure they see this, these two tips are for straniera and Texas Wahine, respectively,but they apply to many, I am sure.

TIP 1. Keep users on your site when they click one of your links.

I was reading a post straniera wrote that had links, and I clicked one of the links and it whisked me away somewhere off of her blog. Well I didn't want that...I wanted to see the link in a new tab so I could flip back and forth between her reference and her blog. You can force this issue by NOT using the "link" button. I'll show ya how. Observe this "link code"



Using the above template, which you will type in like you see it (but changing the URL obviously), you can make links that open the link in a new tab (or in some browsers' case, a new window which is still better)

The http://www.yourlink.com part is whatever URL you are linking to. the target="new" part is what makes it open in a new tab or window. Nifty, yes? And by doing it this way, you can use your own text as the link instead of it just saying Link all over the place. (That's not a real link...don't click it

Tip 2: Dealing with images

Texas, I noticed that the USO pictures you posted are quite large, and if you've got a really big monitor running a high resolution, you won't notice any problem. These days, the most popular desktop resolutions range from 800x600 to 1280x1024. These numbers represent pixels on your screen.

The first picture on your recent blog about your hubs is 1215 pixels wide and 1204 pixels high. The height is manageable, because we're all used to scrolling down a lot when reading blogs and replies. But the width...that can be troublesome. Here's why.

Even on my desktop resolution, which is 1280x1024, the picture would fit fine on my screen...if that's ALL I was looking at. But when we're on the JU site, part of your screen resolution is taken up by the blog navigator which is either on the right or left in a column. And that means the actual viewing area of our blogs is a good bit less than the 1215 pixel width of that photo. So when you put a picture that's too big for the viewing area, what it does is add a bottom scroll bar and now not only to people have to scroll up and down to read, they also have to scroll left and right. And a further problem is that all replies that come after will use that same oversized width, so when reading replies, you'll also have to scroll back and forth.

The good news is, you can force that picture to shrink in your blog without changing the original picture at all. Again, you'll need to manhandle things a bit and not just use the Image button above your edit window. Check out this little bit of html code.



If you enter your images into your blog using this method, you can force the width and height of them like I have done here. It's as simple as adding the little width and height arguments and plugging in the dimensions you want. NOTE: In this example, I'm entering a picture that is 800x600. That will not always work, and it won't work for the picture you have. Why? Well it's about what they call "aspect ratio".

If you don't keep the aspect ratio the same as the original, you'll either get a picture that's shorter and fatter than the original (which will stretch your hubby into a dumpy fat guy) or it will make the picture taller and narrower turning him into a giant string bean. After he returns safely home and has been treated to your home cooking for several years, you can use this to your advantage, but now let's keep him looking normal.

I just right-clicked that first picture and chose "properties" to see the dimensions. For reference, I repeat, it is 1215 wide and 1204 high. The simplest way to make it smaller without dealing with a calculator is to just divide both numbers by 2. This would be width=608 (I rounded up) and height=602. Here's the result, and as an added tip, I'll make clicking the picture link to your blog, but that's another lesson



Offered to help, and humbly so, I hope these two tips will keep users on all of your blogs and keep them from stretching out of shape. (The blogs, not the users )

Love,
Ock
blogging
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OckhamsRazor
Texas Wahine
Join Date 08/2004
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Reply #1 August 17, 2007 1:37:07 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Thanks. This is useful stuff.

I usually (well, maybe not usually, more like sometimes) make my pics smaller so they don't cause problems, but I was feeling lazy yesterday. Haha.

Sorry. (There's not really a good "sorry" smiley.)
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OckhamsRazor
Texas Wahine
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Reply #2 August 17, 2007 1:41:36 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
BTW, I realize laziness is not a good excuse for being inconsiderate. I really do apologize.
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OckhamsRazor
OckhamsRazor
Join Date 09/2003
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Reply #3 August 17, 2007 1:46:37 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Oh stop...it isn't inconsiderate...I didn't know if you knew you could do that, and I've seen it before (from others, and not just on JU). It's for all who might not know.

Besides, you don't necessarily want to edit down your original pictures thus changing their resolution.
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OckhamsRazor
Texas Wahine
Join Date 08/2004
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Reply #4 August 17, 2007 1:49:50 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Haha, well, it is inconsiderate in that it's very annoying for people to have to deal with scrolling on the bottom and all that.

Huge pictures bug the piss out of me so I really shouldn't be inflicting them on others.
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OckhamsRazor
OckhamsRazor
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Reply #5 August 17, 2007 1:56:49 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
well now you can keep them whatever size they are and just force them to display smaller No graphic editting required (which is something I hate doing.)

JU could use a few more features, but it's free, so I don't expect it. Like those code examples are pictures I had to make, because if I had tried to type that in, it would have tried to convert it into what it means.
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OckhamsRazor
cactoblasta
Join Date 04/2004
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Reply #6 August 17, 2007 4:24:22 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Doesn't your browser automatically reduce the size of the pics to fit the page? I thought that JU did it automatically!
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OckhamsRazor
OckhamsRazor
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Reply #7 August 17, 2007 4:47:16 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Doesn't your browser automatically reduce the size of the pics to fit the page? I thought that JU did it automatically!


I'm using Firefox, and no - at least my Firefox does not. Unless there is some setting I don't know about, which is possible.
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cactoblasta
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Reply #8 August 17, 2007 5:42:02 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

I'm using Firefox, and no - at least my Firefox does not. Unless there is some setting I don't know about, which is possible.


I use Firefox 2 for mac and it does it. Maybe it's a version difference or an option somewhere or other.
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Jythier
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #9 August 17, 2007 7:38:06 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I was looking at Tex's page earlier and could only see the left half of the pictures, so I didn't know who was with Horatio Sanz...
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OckhamsRazor
Chaos Manager
Join Date 06/2005
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Reply #10 August 17, 2007 9:16:12 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
If you visit the pages through the forums, rather than the blog page itself, JU will resize the image and you'll get the "this image has been resized" bar across the top of it. I think this is what Cacto's referring to. It's part of the forum code, but not the blog code, if you catch the distinction.
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OckhamsRazor
Texas Wahine
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Reply #11 August 17, 2007 2:51:55 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Jythier: Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

I'm really sorry I posted big ass pictures! Geez.
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OckhamsRazor
Moderateman
Join Date 11/2004
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Reply #12 August 17, 2007 4:07:50 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
(Citizen)Texas WahineAugust 17, 2007 14:51:55


Jythier: Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

I'm really sorry I posted big ass pictures! Geez.


stop it! I was very please to see the picture of the famous dudes that got to meet Adrian, but then I have a 19 Inch monitor and my resolution is 1280/768 right now { I have the option to go higher or lower} so I had no problem with viewing them, face it tex you cannot please everyone.

Good advice ock bTW
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MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #13 August 18, 2007 9:33:40 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
If you visit the pages through the forums, rather than the blog page itself, JU will resize the image and you'll get the "this image has been resized" bar across the top of it. I think this is what Cacto's referring to. It's part of the forum code, but not the blog code, if you catch the distinction.


Exactly.
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OckhamsRazor
OckhamsRazor
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Reply #14 August 18, 2007 2:42:53 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Ah yes, I've seen that resize thing in the forums. I was referring to the original articles. I reply there because I've often had responses munched into the void when replying via the forums.
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MasonM
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Reply #15 August 18, 2007 3:20:20 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Ah yes, I've seen that resize thing in the forums. I was referring to the original articles. I reply there because I've often had responses munched into the void when replying via the forums.



On JU? Nooooooo! I couldn't even imagine.

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OckhamsRazor
lifehappens
Join Date 07/2004
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Reply #16 August 18, 2007 4:15:02 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Thanks for posting the codes. I know I'd like to use them but I just never bothered to figure them out. And my pics...I'm guilty of the too big pics too.
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straniera
Join Date 12/2005
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Reply #17 August 18, 2007 6:13:14 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Wow Ock, that was really useful stuff! Thank you so much for sharing. And I am totally stoked that you read my blog AND don't want to navigate away from it.

Being new here there is a lot I don't understand. Why are things different when you enter from the forums as opposed to the individual blogs? I have noticed that the comments are much easier to read and make when coming in from the forums. They look totally different on the blogs themselves!
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OckhamsRazor
OckhamsRazor
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Reply #18 August 19, 2007 5:52:30 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
And I am totally stoked that you read my blog AND don't want to navigate away from it.


Well of course. There's something to learn from everyone! And sometimes, hard questions to be asked. But that's the fun of thinking. It breeds more thinking
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