Re: Banner

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2000, James Purchase wrote:

> As for the font issue, I really don't understand the problem (or the issue).
> I know that on the mock site I used MS Trebuchet and made a big deal about
> "readability", but that has more to do with text fonts in small (8 - 10
> point) sizes on a computer monitor (there are only so many pixels to go
> around to create smooth curves). 

On the final site, I incorporated MS Trebuchet as the font for all the
headers (backing back to the default sans-serif font set by the browser if
not available), but set the body text to Times New Roman or the default
serif font for the browser (in that order).  MS has Times New Roman listed
as one of their "web fonts", so that should deal with the readability
issue. 

> I assume that the text overlaying the banner graphic is a graphic
> which is also part of the image. Text rendered as a graphic doesn't
> have to show the problem of "chunkiness".

But it does have the problem of me wanting it to be in the consistent
font as the headers for the rest of the site.

> Microsoft only makes it's
> web fonts available in MS Windows and Apple Mac formats, nothing in
> Type 1 (Postscript). Are you saying that there is a font server for
> Linux which will take a Windows format font and display it on a
> Unix/Linux computer?

Yes, there is an extension to the X11 font server that can render TrueType
fonts.  So it was a matter of realizing this was already built-in to my
Red Hat Linux distribution, pointing the font server to the windows
partition font directory //win95/windows/fonts (on my system), and running
a quick utility that identifies all the fonts.  So I can now use any
TrueType font in X (and interestingly, now all the headers have switched
from helvetica to MS Trebuchet when I use Netscape on my main dev system).

> Again, the banner looks good. I'd prefer that the artificial aquascape used
> was a different one, but I'm not going to sweat it - if someone from the
> group has a better one, let them come forward.... or do we really need an
> artificial aquascape there - couldn't you just use another rockscape or
> aquatic garden image?

I'd like to go for something contrasty.  I didn't even want to use the
second garden image; would have liked to have had a paludarium.  But  I'll
keep looking for something better.

> Are you going to leave the menu bar as is? i.e. "boxed"? (Not a criticism,
> just a question)

The "little boxes"? Planned to keep them.  Thought it was different.

> It might look better if there was another blank line between the menu bar
> and the beginning of the body text of the welcome message.

For all the pages, or just the welcome?  I'll tweak this when you're done
with the Resource changes.

> On another note, I liked your idea of a FAQ to handle questions like the
> ones I received privately from a former list member.

Oh, I almost forgot.  We got our first electronic entry yesterday!!! He
figured out everything (including sending a certified check from
Singapore), except that he was supposed to send two or more images, and he
didn't do a planting plan.  What will we do if someone only sends one
photograph?

  - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com

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