Thread Header

[alanmcorcoran]

Re-post moved from "Milestones" Text in jpg would be equivalent of "Thread Header" above which also looks bad on my setup.

http://www.postimage.org/aVfSamS.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVfSamS)

Okay, notice:

1) The "u" is lower than the "r"
2) The "r" looks weird.
3) The "n" looks weird.
4) The "g" looks weird.
5) The space between the "a" and the "c" in accessories is very tight, almost overlapping. The space between the two "c"'s is normal.
6) The spacing on the left and right sides of the "e" are cockeyed.
7) The "e" should be the same width as the "s" and the "c", but it's squished.
8) Take a look at the top line of the lower case letters in Houston. It's like a roller coaster.

In short, it's a sucky screen font. Looks very amateurish to me. As there are no other fonts that look crappy like this one, it really stands out.

[Dupo]

Here's what i see Alan....


http://www.postimage.org/aVk0rsA.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVk0rsA)

[Easy Rider]

Here's what i see Alan....


Yep. Pretty much the same here. Even at 200% magnification I don't see the crap that Alan does. The fact that it actually shows on a screen capture means that it is NOT the result of a faulty display (monitor) but probably a crappy font.......at YOUR end, Alan. :skeptical:

[IRingTwyce]

Something squirrelly with your graphics card maybe? Mine all look razor-sharp. Strange.

[alanmcorcoran]

Yes, the screenshot of yours appears to not exhibit the funkiness I see on mine.

At least one other person reported seeing the same thing as mine. Since I am in the minority and the problem seems to be mostly limited to me, I wouldn't worry about it. You should know that my philosophy about screwing around with the bike extends to my lappie as well: I run a straight up version of Windows XP Pro Version 2002 SP3, fully patched to the latest and (supposedly) greatest and IE7 7.0.5730.11 also on Auto Update.

I run a lot of Microsoft apps, and a lot of apps in general, but this machine is relatively new (think I got it in May) and I didn't transfer over or re-install a lot of the more esoteric stuff I had on its predecessor.

However, it's possible my machine is substituting some other font that does not use the same screen font as yours, perhaps generating the outline on the fly instead of using bitmaps or something. I think the style it is using is "Title" but I didn't research that part very carefully.

Another possibility is that this font doesn't have a natural size for 1280 x 800 and you guys are running a higher or lower resolution. I have a smallish lappie and setting the resolution higher or lower has other consequences I don't want to deal with.

Being in the business of providing web based software, I am aware there can be a lot of factors that affect color, size and appearance of pages. It's just a little weird that it's only this one font. There's a lot of different fonts on this site and the rest all render normally.

[Easy Rider]

Another possibility is that this font doesn't have a natural size for 1280 x 800 and you guys are running a higher or lower resolution.

Is it REALLY 1280 X 800 ?? If so, that IS pretty odd and I vote for that as the cause.

[alanmcorcoran]

http://www.postimage.org/PquNd49.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PquNd49)

[Easy Rider]

http://www.postimage.org/PquNd49.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PquNd49)

Like I said: an ODD resolution, maybe for an odd sized screen.
My card/monitor combination offers about 20 different settings......and that is NOT one of them.

[Dupo]

No not odd. Actually 1280x800 is normal for laptops with a 15" widescreen. I am running the same resolution.

Alan, is there a way that you can switch to 'clear type fonts' ? That might be the culprit. Google search on how its done.

[alanmcorcoran]

I'll give it a shot, manana and report back.

[alanmcorcoran]

Switched setting in Display to use "Clear Type" to smooth display fonts. Looks the same to me. I just clicked the OK button, I didn't reboot.


http://www.postimage.org/PqvksFJ.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqvksFJ)

[Dupo]

Hmm, unsolved mysteries strikes again.

I'm kind of at a loss why this is happening on your end. The .css calls for font-family: "Lucida Grande", Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; as the fonts used in the forum. They are system installed fonts that come with your OS.

[Easy Rider]

No not odd. Actually 1280x800 is normal for laptops with a 15" widescreen. I am running the same resolution.


Another case where I am behind the times, it would seem.

I got a brand new system about a year ago. It came with a "widescreen" monitor. I screwed with it for about 2 weeks, trying every possible (I think) combination of resolution settings, font sizes and magnifications. I just HATED it. Either it looked "stretched" or the fonts were so small I couldn't read them or something about it looked "weird". I ended up actually paying extra for a "standard" aspect monitor and was instantly happy again. :cool:

So..........I'm guesssing you are probably just stuck with it, Alan......unless you might want to try another similar resolution with a "standard" 1.33 aspect ratio. That would probably leave the sides of your wide monitor unused though.

The time you are wasting worrying about this would be better spent riding !! .....says one who now has his bike put away for the winter. :cry:

[alanmcorcoran]

Nah,

Got to do something when I am in the office. It's not a big deal. Some of us computer types like to explore these things like some of you guys like to eff with your carburetor. Since it's not an issue for 90% of the people visiting, it's not worth pursuing.

[Dupo]

desktop widescreens usually run at 1440x900 for normal operation. if you had it at anything else without having clear type fonts enabled, it probably looked like ass.

[alanmcorcoran]

I think it's pretty much set to what it was set to when it came in the box. You can see from my previous post, with the current driver, I don't have an option to set it any higher. I've had this model for so long (I actually replaced a very similar version in May) that I'm not really sure the screen is a "wide screen." It is a smaller notebook screen (13.3") on a Sony VGN-SZ645. Not sure if it's true anymore, but my past expereince is, there's basically one resolution that the LCD's are built for and the rest of them look various degrees of crappy. I didn't have the clear type on until you suggested it and I don't see any significant difference. Again, this is only one font out of many and is a very small part of the site, so I suggest we drop it and move on.

[Dupo]

Actually i was responding to Easy ... when he said about his LCD monitor looking like butt and changed the resolution. I should have quoted him.

Clear type should have made a difference Alan. It smooths fonts so they dont look so blocky on a LCD display. There was a big difference for me when i enabled it on my desktop LCD.

[Easy Rider]

desktop widescreens usually run at 1440x900 for normal operation. if you had it at anything else without having clear type fonts enabled, it probably looked like ass.

There were 2 distinct problems, both with the supplied "factory" settings:

1) Text displays and similar looked very good; crisp and sharp.......and teeny tiny. Couldn't reliably read them except with my "close up" reading glasses, about 12 inches from the screen. Totally unacceptable.

2) That gives an aspect ratio of 1.6 vs the old standard of 1.3. I quickly found that most things with a graphics display were stretched wide. Made a beautiful young lady look fat. Again, totally unacceptable. :biggrin:

Trying to solve #1 invariably resulted in something "hanging off" the screen. It appeared that solving #2 would require changing the settings or getting new drivers for a lot of software. I eventually gave up.

Oddly enough, I have found NOTHING that is a problem with my "old" setup. Once in a great while I have to scroll horizontally but that's a very minor inconvenience.
Not too surprisingly, "old" folks often have different requirements......and less patience for tinkering with things. :)

[Sarris]

V7 24" widescreen w/ Nvidia video set to 1680 x 1050 res. The site is gorgeous.

:bow: :2tup:

EDIT: Typo on screen size. Is a 24" widescreen not 26"

[Dupo]

26" wide .. im drooling.

Easy, its understandable. New LCD's do run at a crisp sharp resolution .. and if you are used to running the older monitor resolutions that are easy to read .... then go to 1440x900, it does look teeny tiny and takes some major adjustment to get used to. I get it.

I've always been prone to high resolution myself, so going to LCD and laptop resolutions was an easy step.

[music man]

First of all Money bags...OOps I mean Sarris, A 26" widescreen, I hate you :biggrin: . Second of all way off topic but I don't see how You guys, (in this case Easy Rider), in the north can stand to own a motorcycle, and have to put it away for months at a time, I very rarely go more than a few days without riding my bike somewhere, it would drive me crazy.


Back on topic, Alan, buy a new computer :neener: . I am not having the problem you do either. :??:

[Easy Rider]

Re-arranged your post a bit. Hope you don't mind. :biggrin:

, Second of all way off topic but I don't see how You guys, (in this case Easy Rider), in the north can stand to own a motorcycle, and have to put it away for months at a time, I very rarely go more than a few days without riding my bike somewhere, it would drive me crazy.



I hate you :skull:

[music man]

Don't Mind at all my posts usually need someone to re-arrange them :2tup:

[alanmcorcoran]

Back on topic, Alan, buy a new computer

That IS my usual solution to a misshapen font, but, at least one other person has reported the same problem, so it's quite possible it is not my computer.

[mrlmd1]

I wrote that I saw what you saw, but not really. I see what Dupo sees - The font on my screen is full, sharp, accurate (Mac OS X), but what I should have said is that when you printed out the same header, I could see what you were seeing. Fuzzy, incomplete letters, etc. So, it's your machine. Maybe you can't get off the bike and you are staring at the laptop through the top edge of your windshield?

[alanmcorcoran]

Probably an artifact of my screen size and resolution. Haven't tried working the lappie on the bike - but it is riding right there on my back!