Fixed-width forum layout option

[Noivern]

Right now, the pages on the forums are designed to vary by the window size. This is fine and works well for most purposes.

However, when your browser window size gets too narrow, everything will be forced to wrap into the cramped space, causing severe layout issues such as leaking post content, misplaced shortcut buttons, and so on.

And don't even get me started with some smartphones. Some often just fit them within the minimum size required without taking into account the shortcut bar. The result? A mess.

I would like the forums to implement a fixed-width display as an option, perhaps to force a 1024 or 1280 width.

Although this will require the user to scroll horizontally if the window size is too small, it will also prevent layout issues. It also helps with most smartphones and other Internet-enabled devices that can zoom in and out in real time.

Your thoughts?

 

[Kavidun]

Agreed, when I'm on YouTube or iPlayer watching a video while browsing, on vB3 AND vB4, the shortcut bar overlaps everything. Heck, I can't even ACCESS the Bar on my User Page.

 

[Soulweaver]

Tab overflow is caused by insufficient window width but fixed-width sites are really counter-intuitive with either wasting space with margins or adding horizontal scrollbars. I don't want to go with this idea, I believe we can come up with something else instead.

 

[Noivern]

Tab overflow is caused by insufficient window width but fixed-width sites are really counter-intuitive with either wasting space with margins or adding horizontal scrollbars. I don't want to go with this idea, I believe we can come up with something else instead.

Umm... it's not just for computer web browsers. Right now I'm using a smartphone where I can zoom in and out with ease. I find the mobile skin to be lacking and it also doesn't work properly on my phone or the DSi. I should be able to navigate the site properly and see the site in whole while zoomed out, but it doesn't let me because it hit the page width limit too early - less than 800 pixels.

And it's not just tab overflow - post contents spilling over, anyone? Dealing with a horizontal scrollbar is not a great thing, but it's what happens when we use a fixed-width layout.

Remember, this is suggested as an optional option, which should not be set as default, and if possible, be on a per-device/browser basis.

 

[mini-chan]

I agree.

On my phone, I am unable to press the "new posts" button, and the mobile layout is rendered useless due to the zoom-in feature.

However, I believe that maybe there could be another option, such as modifying the mobile layout to work with most mobile devices, instead of just low-tech ones.

 

[evkl]

What phone/OS are you using?

 

[Noivern]

What phone/OS are you using?

Actually, it's a Samsung Wave. Also the DSi and 3DS.

The shortcut bar is the big issue.

I have experimented with IE9, Chrome and Firefox with somewhat low window widths, and... well, it ain't pretty. 1280 pixels barely fits the whole page. 1024? No dice. And 1024 is pretty large...

Not that it matters - this will fix display issues with full-screen browsers that default to minimum zoom at an less-than-ideal size.

 

[Archaic]

Sorry, but we can't do a fixed-width forum layout as an "option". We'd need to create new versions of every skin, and quite frankly that's a serious pain in the arse that would impact us in a few other things.

We certainly can and should work on fixing the mobile style a bit. Removing the logo that's currently sitting on it will help. And in the future, we'll have our own Android/iOS app (for now, we're compatible with Forum Runner and Tapatalk, if you already have those).

 

[Noivern]

Sorry, but we can't do a fixed-width forum layout as an "option". We'd need to create new versions of every skin, and quite frankly that's a serious pain in the arse that would impact us in a few other things.

We certainly can and should work on fixing the mobile style a bit. Removing the logo that's currently sitting on it will help. And in the future, we'll have our own Android/iOS app (for now, we're compatible with Forum Runner and Tapatalk, if you already have those).

Hmm... Maybe fixing the mobile style will work better in the long run? I think the logo is the big issue. Maybe replacing it with a smaller and simpler logo will fix display issue on a lot of devices. Besides that, maybe some layout reordering is in order.

When I said "fixed-width forum layout"... um, so vB4 styles doesn't like it? Maybe I can understand.