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Topic: Web Site Enhancements (Read 9032 times) previous topic - next topic

Web Site Enhancements

New front page looks sharp!
Nicely done!

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #1 –
The new "front door" looks very professional and has even better support for all resolutions. Also, it looks about the same in Internet Explorer and Netscape, but Opera cannot seem to understand that the little text should be in Arial and not Times New Roman, but this does not matter since Opera holds very little of the browser share.

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #2 –
Yes, this new look is simply great :)

Considering Opera, it may be as little as Lynx (which is really useful for visually impaired persons), it should be taken into account. WWW means WorldWide Web after all, not WorldWild Web, unless Redmond takes it over.
Considering the font aspect, though, I suspect a bug in Opera ;^P

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #3 –
Can I add a voice of dissent? I really liked the previous version. This new format seems too messy to my eyes.

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #4 –
 
Although I appreciate Joy's nosthalgical (sp?) dissent, I agree with the lot this time. :þ

The new look is very nice, clear and effective.

FWIW
 

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #5 –
Marsu, usually I am with you on this position, but microsoft does have 97% of the browser market... Little Opera is at, I think, 0.4%, and Lynx is not even on the chart. (This is at C-net.) It truly is the World Wild Web, and microsoft has one even though the other browsers are better...

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #6 –
Francis -

While I (sadly) have to agree, I think there's hope for us all with the recent release of Mozilla 1.0. There are rumours that AOL will be using a Mozilla build for their packaged browser (replacing IE), also several other companies have committed to using distributions based on this technology. Not to mention that it will hopefully reclaim for Netscape the credibility it lost by hanging onto the 4.x engine throughout the browser wars.

Long live the Lizard! :)

Fred

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #7 –
Well I heard that AOL would use their own Netscape as their AOL client way back when the news that they took over Netscape was rather new. It hasn't happened. This shows that they don't have enough faith in their own product to use in their ISP. I also found out that AOL owns Winamp by looking at the source! What is even more shocking is that the latest version of Netscape does not have the latest version of Winamp...

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #8 –
Oh, and long live the lizard. It sure is better than the flag of the Microsoft monopoly.

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #9 –
As a NWC regular, I like the new look. BUT: I suggest that NWC enhance the layout to direct potential new customers more firmly to those things that might be most relevant. Or, is it just that I easily get lost?

Speaking of browsers: Lately, I have been massaging the HTML on my own web pages, and using a little DHTML driven by JavaScript. Man, oh man, the cross-browser differences are driving me nuts! Not to mention cross-platform differences with what is ostensibly the same issue of s single browser. Worse, networked clients (such as at libraries and universities) may have certain functions disabled with unpredictable results. Sadly, I am actually reading instructions.

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #10 –
Robert, you may be interested by the site best viewed with any browser, especially the campaign page.
Also tools to check it (many other exists, efficient and free) at AnyBrowser.com.
At Delorie which is particularly good at this checkings, you'll even be able to see how Lynx sees your pages without having Lynx!

Joy: I had the same sensation some time ago when the index page changed (not this time, the previous one). It took me some days to get used to it, and finally found it better.
I think this time I got used to it much more quicker :^)

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #11 –
NWC: My remarks about the new entry page layout were motivated by the fact that many pages have some sort of index in the left column, with the important content filling space at center. Thus, I am conditioned to look FIRST at center when coming to a new page. I would only look to the left if I intended to navigate the site. The new NWC page format has (for new customers) the most important stuff at the left.

Marsu: Not being a programmer, I shy away from pages that use any of the following words: compile, Borland, Perl, C++, Unix, beta, and any words that indicate that the average reader may be under age 30.

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #12 –
Follow-up, regarding Lynx: I got the program in a pre-compiled Win32 version (normally, I would be expected to compile the C++ myself!). I attempt to install it. (NWC users, be patient, I will get around to you.)

The Lynx README file says:
"Notepad is a text editor program in Windows, normally found on the 'Start' menu under 'Accessories'. If you do not know where it is, use the 'Find File' option from the Start menu."

Notepad is used to edit a batch file (Lynx is a DOS program). This requires the user to know that DOS path names are not necessarily the same as the path names used by Windows. Well, all right, I knew that.

But upon starting Lynx, it immediately stops. Why? Lynx must be able to connect to a starting URL. My laptop is not connected to the Internet. I want to open a local file. But how? There is no place to enter a file name, and the program itself has stopped.

Eventually, having a lot of time on my hands, I open the lynx.cfg file (not using Notepad, becuase the file is too large). Reading through the large commentary, I find that if I wish to start Lynx with a local file, I can do so, by editing the configuration file, and entering the complete local path in UNIX format.

So let me get this straight. I'm supposed to be so dumb that I can't find Notepad, but I'm supposed to be so smart that I can edit a configuration file in UNIX format?

I finally got Lynx to run and open a local file. But the only help file is on-line, so lacking connectivity I had to figure it out myself.

Now to my point, regarding all programs and helpful remarks from users, including this NWC forum:

We, the regular users, know what we are talking about (usually). But it is difficult for us to get into the minds of newer users, especially if they do not use terminology in a precise manner. There is another forum thread, currently active, in which I user simply inquired about placing an accented vowel. But the question was misunderstood. No doubt I myself have responded to questions, not understanding what the question was.

I recall a rather lenghy thread regading transposing instruments. That is, for those of us who do not play an instrument other than voice or piano, what is the meaning of a Bb brass instrument?

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #13 –
That is, for those of us who do not play an instrument other than voice or piano, what is the meaning of a Bb brass instrument?

Good point. A Bb instrument is simply one that sounds a Bb when it plays a written C.

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #14 –
"A Bb instrument is simply one that sounds a Bb when it plays a written C."

... but only if you are playing in a brass band.  Otherwise it's a little less simple.

For example, a Bb tuba (more properly a double Bb tuba) is so called because its fundamental note (the note produced when the column of air is vibrating in its simplest mode) is a Bb whereas an Eb tuba has a fundamental note of Eb because the tube it is made from is shorter.  In a brass band, these instruments would play from parts where a written C would sound Bb on the Bb instrument and Eb on an Eb instrument.  Because this would correspond to the fundamental note, the fingering would be the same and the same applies for all other WRITTEN notes.  So, having learnt the fingering for one instrument, a brass band player should know the fingering for all the others.  You would have to write a D for the Bb instrument and an A for the Eb instrument to get them both to play the note C as a piano would.

But elsewhere - in an orchestra for example, the part is written for tubas at the correct pitch so if the composer wants a C he or she writes a C.  Orchestral players often use a C or an F tuba (funamental notes are C and F respectively) rather than Bb or Eb.

Then we come to trumpets in orchestras.  Normally all the parts are played on a Bb instrument - its fundamental note is a Bb.  But the parts are written for instruments in E, A, F, C or whatever.  An orchestral trumpeter has to be a dab hand at transposition.  Originally, I understand the parts were meant to be played on differently pitched (valveless?) trumpets but the valved variety is now pretty well universal and you only need one rather than a set.  In brass bands and most other situations they are always treated as Bb (transposing) instruments.

Horns are generally pitched and written for in F - a written C sounds as an F.

Coming back to the original question "what is the meaning of a Bb brass instrument"? Probably the most technically correct answer is "one that produces a Bb as its fundamental note".  However, the complicating factor is that the term is also widely used to mean an instrument that sounds a Bb when a written C is played - but that would rule out a Bb trumpet playing a written C in a part marked "trumpet in E".

Until I took up the tuba myself, it all seemed very confusing.  I hope I haven't added to Robert's.

Stephen

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #15 –
Oh no, I've unchained a monster!

Before this message thread turns into a discussion of tubas, I would refer forum readers to the existing threads on the subject of transposing instruments. Think of this as a tuba ligation.

Besides, as others in my choir are quick to point out, I often sing Bb when the written note is C.

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #16 –
Robert A.,
LMAO!

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #17 –
I tried to play the tuba in A Flat but the people downstairs complained.

(attempt at humour that probably doesn't cross the Atlantic too well)

Stephen
 

Re: Web Site Enhancements

Reply #18 –
I think that joke would have difficulty crossing a puddle!