The load time is no different for either mode. It does render the narrow mode but switches the graphics and layout size with javascript immediately upon load. The narrow and wide banners are in your browser cache already. No other images are required for either mode; that is, they're already there on the page.
Right next to the Log Out link underneath your name - upper right corner of the page. You only have to check it once, it'll remember your choice after that.
BTW, the whole point in this effort is to make the site a bit more graphically appealing to new visitors, with the hope they'll like it and stick around.
Ahh, that's a little bit better. Thanks for the quick reply. And I like the choice of burgandy color and not the bright scarlet for the borders. Good job guys.
Denny, I like the look but would rather go back to fluid. I really don't care as much about how pretty the banner is compared to how easily I can manipulate multiple pages on my screen. I play a lot of online poker and usually keep a couple games going on the right of my screen and a very narrow Blazer board on the left. Now, it just does not fit. In the end, I applaud you for trying to make the site better, but prefer the fluid setup.
We're discussing what it takes to go back to a fluid layout. We do want to change the top bit of the pages. As they were, there was a tiny banner/image on the left and a big black bar to the right of it. That's wasted space, above the fold, and I thought it was ugly. It originally allowed us to put an ad banner up there, but the ad placement we now have is better, IMO.
I would like to add that although I prefer the old style, if this is what it takes for you to earn for the site, then so be it. I do enjoy coming here and think that the site should get whatever money it can.
We'll never be anything like what BBF's become. We put up a couple of ads on a page to generate a few bucks, but it isn't our sole reason for being. VerticalScope is a former magazine business and they're in the business of running WWW sites to maximize their profits. We're technically in business (e.g. an LLC) for liability protection. VerticalScope runs a network of WWW sites, sells hosting services, and has a staff of employees to pay. S2 is entirely run by volunteers. The owners of VerticalScope don't post on their own sites. As you can see, the owners of S2 are consumers of our own service (e.g. we all post here). VerticalScope has a lot of overhead to cover, we have virtually none (just hosting and professional fees). It drove me nuts to see VerticalScope complain to its users about how much bandwidth they use, or how they won't implement some feature because it uses more bandwidth. At S2, it drives me nuts to see people host avatars or signature graphics at photobucket or some other image hosting service; we have image hosting built into vbulletin and if it costs us a few dollars more for the bandwidth, so be it. It sure would make the site pages load way faster, since our servers and bandwidth are superior to those other services and all the content would be coming from one place. We've never asked members to contribute $.10, and I don't think we should. At BBF, the premium membership program was implemented with good intentions. People realized that the founders were paying the costs of the site out of their pockets and offered to pay to use the site. The program generated a fraction of the costs, but promoted a kind of solidarity between the owners and the posters. When VerticalScope bought the site, they were originally going to axe the program but realized it was a way to generate a few extra dollars off the posters so they kept it. More activity and members are a good thing for us. We look at the analytics for S2 and see that there's plenty of opportunity to gain more members. Improving the look of the site is something we can do to help that along. It's something we should do from time to time so the look isn't stale. I'm not here telling you that we're going to have this new look, here it is, you're stuck with it. I made this thread so that however the site look is changed, you have a say. It's a collaboration between all of us.
If that's the whole point, you've missed the point with this whole fixed width thing. Random visitors will come to this site because they want high quality Blazer content. Deliver it, and quickly. Who gives a fuck if it's fixed width or dynamic? You can design something with a dynamic layout that's good enough to get people to focus on content. Now, you might argue it's up to end users to write good stuff so that it appears at the right time when visitors show up. However, what if you use some of that wasted (IMO) banner space at the top to feature the top 5 posts of the week? Threads that were so insightful/controversial/interesting, that they'd immediately captivate somebody browsing to the site for the first time. It'd have the added benefit of giving regular posters an incentive to come up with a really great thread idea. I'm thinking something along the lines of how Digg.com operates. I have no idea how to execute this idea at this moment. I'll think about it a little. Anyway, my main point is that although I don't have access to your Google analytic account, I really doubt bounce rates, new visitor returns or average time on site will be impacted one bit by fixed or dynamic widths. Don't believe me? Run Google website optimizer on your site and I bet you find the same thing.
BTW--Although I prefer a dynamic width, I'm not passionate. My bigger beef with this (and pretty much most) forums is that I have to scroll below the fold to actually see real content. You force me to see the header with the RipCity logo. Then you force me to see a navigation bar I never use. Then you force me to see a banner ad (if I don't use adblock). Then you force me to see currently active users. Then you force me to see the OT and Landing Pages. Then you force me to see Announcements. Then I FINALLY get to fucking see if Hedo Turkoglu is a Blazer. And people are bitching about the purple bars on the side? Who gives a fuck. I come to this site to find our if Hedo is a Blazer. And you put a bunch of crap in my way that I have to scroll through every damned time.
I don't think anyone is taking it personal. We are voicing our opinion so that Denny has more information with which to make decisions. He posted this thread to elicit thoughts, not just to get blind approval. Denny is a big boy and can handle the criticisms. All of us want this board to succeed, god knows we have been through enough forums already. And I for one actually like Denny (what I know of him from this site) so I would rather help him earn a buck then some impersonal forum/media corporation.
Actually that last pixel is a black border, but the black is too similar to the burgundy to tell the difference
