:: * The mod_perl box in the upper left corner is a way too big :) I think
:: Thomas' transparent mod_perl box is neat. Should be there, but not to
:: try to be too outstanding. There is not much added value to it once you
:: know you are on the mod_perl site and it distructs from the rest of the
:: content.

I agree that the box is too big, but I think it's naive to suggest that
there is "not much added value to it once you
know you are on the mod_perl site" - if this were a commercial site, then
I'd talk about branding and so on.  In this case, it's all about identity
and reinforcement.  I'd wager that it's one of the mst important elements of
the site but, of course, it depends on your point of view.

:: * The TOP^ link is not obvious that it's link. I think it'd be nice to
:: have it of the same style as [prev - up - next] widget, so it'll be
:: clear what are navigation widgets.
::
:: * The [prev - up - next] widget is neat but should be centered and
:: appear on the top as well. Before the table of contents I guess.

I strongly agree with both of Stas' points here.  From a useability point of
view, I'd also recommend that you don't deviate from standard link colours
(blue - unvisited, purple - visited) - navigational cues are critical to any
sites success.  Bruce Tognazzini, Vincent Flanders, David Siegel and the
irrepressible Nielson have all lectured widely as to why, so I don't think I
need to reiterate here.

Also, well done for including a breadcrumb trail.  Good show!  :-)

:: * Finally the font looks quite bad on mozilla/linux. There is not enough
:: vertical spacing and I guess there are better standard fonts, to make it
:: easier to read. I think Thomas' font selection was very good

I've found that <Font Face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica"> seems to be able to
render across most browsers/platforms.

:: which also means that the original Thomas' design problem wasn't solved
:: yet. If the page has a little or no content the content box will shrink
:: and look bad when you browse pages. And it'll move the left part of the
:: page closer to the center. Somehow we must make it fixed, so when you
:: flip between pages, the main parts of the page don't move.

This isn't a problem.  Use HTML's <Table>, use a fixed with for the column,
and set the main tables width to 100% (so that it will grab all available
space).  To prevent the table from "collapsing" when there is minimal
content, pad the table out with a series of non-breaking spaces (HTML -
&nbsp;).  Do NOT use the "invisible pixel" trick to pad the width out, else
you will end up with a display that's not totally scalable for different
window sizes and/or screen resolutions.  See the source of any page on the
WYPUG website (http://wypug.pm.org/) for an example.

:: I think that this problem can be fixed by making the 'where I'm in the
:: site' widget bar of a fixed size? Or is it a bad idea?

Bad idea - what happens at different resolutions?  Horizontal scroll bars at
low res and masses of whitespace at high res.

Jonathan M. Hollin - WYPUG Co-ordinator
West Yorkshire Perl User Group
http://wypug.pm.org/


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