This site has been up for a while, but I'd like to know what you
all think of it, both good and bad. The URL is:

http://www.bookstacks.org/

The one thing I'm not thrilled about is the hit counter, which
some people like, and some probably think looks amateurish, but I
wanted something at the bottom of the screen.

Thanks for any input!

Ian
--
I told you we should have
tried this in Antwerp, Flargen.
(Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
http://www.bookstacks.org/

Ian Rastall wrote:

> This site has been up for a while, but I'd like to know what you
> all think of it, both good and bad. The URL is:
>
> http://www.bookstacks.org/
>
> The one thing I'm not thrilled about is the hit counter, which
> some people like, and some probably think looks amateurish, but I
> wanted something at the bottom of the screen.

Doesn't bother me at all.  Much less intrusive than most counters.

I don't see much of a point to the whole switcher idea, even if you
*had* advised the visitor that the main header must be clicked.
(I had to read the source to even see it.)  The changes it makes don't
seem to do anything interesting.

Have a look at this:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/
...and use an unordered list for the nav.
The <table>
then <tr><p><a>...... for each entry
is not the right way to mark up this kind of thing.

I don't understand the need for a page to link to itself:
<link href="http://www.bookstacks.org/" rel="Home" type=
"text/html" />
...perhaps someone can explain it -- I've never run across
this usage.

It just seems as if you're doing a lot of stuff to make
a simple, attractive page complex and hard to maintain.
--
mbstevens
http://www.mbstevens.com

Ian Rastall wrote:

> http://www.bookstacks.org/

BTW, You're providing a fine service.

In alt.html.critique mbstevens wrote:

> I don't see much of a point to the whole switcher idea

It's to imitate Adobe Acrobat/Reader, and to accomodate people
with small monitors, large resolutions, or large type. This makes
a real difference with plays / poems, where lines get broken
where they shouldn't be.

> even if you *had* advised the visitor that the main header
> must be clicked.  (I had to read the source to even see it.)

I advised to click on the logo, but it could be made clearer. The
font changes are probably superfluous, but I decided I didn't
want to stick someone with a font they didn't want to read in,
and it didn't take more than a few lines of code.

> Have a look at this:
> http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/
> ...and use an unordered list for the nav.

One of the things on my to-do list. It's part of making the site
more accessable (sp). (The other is getting back to a <div>
layout.)

> I don't understand the need for a page to link to itself:
> <link href="http://www.bookstacks.org/" rel="Home" type=
> "text/html" />
> ...perhaps someone can explain it -- I've never run across
> this usage.

That's for Opera. Other browsers may end up using those <link>
tags, but right now only Opera does, AFAIK.

> It just seems as if you're doing a lot of stuff to make
> a simple, attractive page complex and hard to maintain.

It's no harder to maintain, since everything complex is in one
header file that I use SSI to include. But I see your point. The
problem is that online books are dying a slow death, and I'm
trying to think of ways to make the experience more user-
friendly. (I also wanted to try writing some JavaScript.) <sigh>
I think I may take your advice and prune some of that out.

Ian
--
I told you we should have
tried this in Antwerp, Flargen.
(Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
http://www.bookstacks.org/

In alt.html.critique mbstevens wrote:

> BTW, You're providing a fine service.

Thank you. I appreciate it. :-)

Ian
--
I told you we should have
tried this in Antwerp, Flargen.
(Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
http://www.bookstacks.org/

Ian Rastall wrote:

> It's to imitate Adobe Acrobat/Reader, and to accomodate people
> with small monitors, large resolutions, or large type. This makes
> a real difference with plays / poems, where lines get broken
> where they shouldn't be.

Here it might be better to just use links of normal font size, and prune
things like "William Shakespeare" and "Edgar Allen Poe" to Shakespeare
and Poe.  No one will get confused.  Link sets can also be used
top-and-bottom instead of at the left.  Not everyone is going to have
JavaScript turned on to use the switcher.

> I advised to click on the logo, but it could be made clearer.

I see it now.  But like most people on the net,
I don't read! (Nielson pointed this out about navigation instructions.)
Reading content is a different crocodile, but few people will stop
to read long introductions with instructions about navigation.

> That's for Opera. Other browsers may end up using those <link>
> tags, but right now only Opera does, AFAIK.

OK.
I've given up hacks, and haven't been keeping up.


> problem is that online books are dying a slow death, and I'm
> trying to think of ways to make the experience more user-
> friendly.

Breaking things up with an occasional small illustration is something I'd
like to see more often. (I notice you're using Tenniel's illustrations in
Alice.  Good call.)  And IMO the best typography has less to do with being
able to switch than with getting the face to reflect the kind of content.

In alt.html.critique mbstevens wrote:

> Ian Rastall wrote:
>
> Link sets can also be used top-and-bottom instead of at the
> left.

I may go back to that. It looked too plain before, with one div
for the header, and the text underneath it in another div. But it
would solve a lot of problems.

> I've given up hacks, and haven't been keeping up.

The Opera nav bar is very useful. There are other parts of the
site with links for the table of contents, previous, next, first,
last, etc. I hope more browsers adopt it.

> Breaking things up with an occasional small illustration is
> something I'd like to see more often.

That's a good challenge ... to find a simple illustration to add
some life to the site. All text is a little too severe.

> IMO the best typography has less to do with being able to
> switch than with getting the face to reflect the kind of
> content.

I was leaning toward Bookman Old Style. Georgia was nice, but
slightly wrong for a book.

Thanks for your comments. They're giving me lots of good ideas.

Ian
--
I told you we should have
tried this in Antwerp, Flargen.
(Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
http://www.bookstacks.org/

Ian Rastall <idrastall@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote:

> http://www.bookstacks.org/

What a great page :)

Good work and good luck on your endeavor!

The Doormouse

--
The Doormouse cannot be reached by e-mail without her permission.

mbstevens <NOXwebmasterx@xmbstevensx.com> wrote:

> BTW, You're providing a fine service.

I agree ... wonderful!

If he created mp3's, too, of each book as read aloud .... no, the bandwidth
would cost far too much for any person and many small groups to afford.

The Doormouse

--
The Doormouse cannot be reached by e-mail without her permission.

In alt.html.critique The Doormouse wrote:

> If he created mp3's, too, of each book as read aloud

I went so far as to buy a microphone to do just that, and
discovered two things: one, the bandwidth would definitely be too
much, and two, I'm not a voice actor. :-) Some sort of VoiceXML
solution might work, one day.

A more immediate problem is using CSS to provide better support
for screen readers and voice browsers.

Ian
--
I will not weary you with descriptions of quiet,
similar, uninteresting days,--days of sleep,
and pipes, and coffee. (Sir R.F. Burton)
http://www.bookstacks.org/