Oxymorons like "Constructive Criticism"
Paine Ellsworth
article to rec.arts.poems, rec.arts.prose, & misc.writing --
'Lo all --
the following was sent to a writer who solicited my opinion on
his Web site -- when i looked this response over, vanity set in
and i was compelled -- yes compeled (one or two ells, i can
never decide) -- to share my suggestions with everyone --
i have not included my new friend's(?) name, as i did not want
anyone to know who else to blame for the following dastardly
criminal acts that i have perpetrated on you <g> --
---------------------------------------------------
not sure why you sent me this, as i am not a professional critic --
yet i do know what i like -- so if you truly do not mind a little
"constructive criticism" (an oxymoron?), then here goes --
i could not even begin to read your first page due to the design --
you want to make your gentle readers feel at home, and that can be
very hard to do on the 'net -- your title page is brief and pleasing
to the eye -- i am refering to the first page of your first chapter --
first of all, it is imperative that you double-space -- we do this
with our manuscripts to editors so they can make notes where they
feel they need to cut or change something, and also because it is
easier for them to read -- easier on their tired, "i've read a
million things today" eyes --
secondly, i suggest that you use shorter pages -- instead of putting
everything on one html page, divide long works between two or more
html pages -- i have a 28.8 modem, and it takes over 30 seconds to
load your first page -- imagine how much time slower modems take,
and i know people who are still in the cave-man (below 10,000bps)
era --
last of all, Readers Digest many moons ago discovered what is
perhaps the most pleasing BACKGROUND color for reading:
a light, pastel green
your black on white format is just too hard on the eyes -- your
gentle readers will tire too easily and lay their computers
down and go to sleep -- some people have screen covers to help
this "syndrome," but not all -- here is my suggestion:
set the BGCOLOR in the <BODY> tag of each html page as follows --
BGCOLOR="#CCFFCC"
and for your own viewing, if you have a Web browser that allows
you to set custom background colors, try setting them to:
Red = 211 Green = 255 Blue = 210
these levels work for me -- i can stay on the Web or in UseNet
for hours without suffering from eyestrain -- you can experiment
to get just the right levels that make you most comfortable --
for, in my opinion, the best browser on the Web, squick your
mouse on --
hope this helps! --
BEST as always to you and yours!
--
Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth
news:---.Every.revolution.was.first.a.thought.in
news:---.one.persons.mind.-Ralph.Waldo.Emerson
Lars Eighner
In our last episode <33B0D2...@worldnet.att.net>,
the lovely and talented Paine Ellsworth <ron.le...@worldnet.att.net>
broadcast on rec.arts.poems,rec.arts.prose,misc.writing:
|article to rec.arts.poems, rec.arts.prose, & misc.writing --
|
|'Lo all --
|the following was sent to a writer who solicited my opinion on
|his Web site -- when i looked this response over, vanity set in
|and i was compelled -- yes compeled (one or two ells, i can
|never decide) -- to share my suggestions with everyone --
|first of all, it is imperative that you double-space -- we do this
|with our manuscripts to editors so they can make notes where they
|feel they need to cut or change something, and also because it is
|easier for them to read -- easier on their tired, "i've read a
|million things today" eyes --
There is no reliable way to double-space in HTML (the markup language
of web pages) except with <PRE> which will put the material in
a nonproportional font and will not allow lines to wrap in accord
with the window size and resolution that the viewer is using.
I'm the biggest advocate of Courier (a nonproportional font)
for manuscripts because it does make editing easier. But web
pages are not manuscripts and are not supposed to be edited.
Most graphical browsers give the user the ability to chose
the font that is most comfortable for him or her. If the
type on a page is too small for you to read comfortably,
chose a different type style or size: that is what this option
in your browser is there for. HTML was designed to allow the
viewer to control essential aspects of the presentation.
|
|secondly, i suggest that you use shorter pages -- instead of putting
|everything on one html page, divide long works between two or more
|html pages -- i have a 28.8 modem, and it takes over 30 seconds to
|load your first page -- imagine how much time slower modems take,
|and i know people who are still in the cave-man (below 10,000bps)
|era --
Good advice.
|last of all, Readers Digest many moons ago discovered what is
|perhaps the most pleasing BACKGROUND color for reading:
|
| a light, pastel green
|
|your black on white format is just too hard on the eyes -- your
|gentle readers will tire too easily and lay their computers
|down and go to sleep -- some people have screen covers to help
|this "syndrome," but not all -- here is my suggestion:
|
|set the BGCOLOR in the <BODY> tag of each html page as follows --
|
| BGCOLOR="#CCFFCC"
Most graphics browsers allow the user to select the background
color he or she finds most comfortable and, if so desired,
to override the specifications in the document's body tag.
This option is available for a reason.
|
|and for your own viewing, if you have a Web browser that allows
|you to set custom background colors, try setting them to:
|
| Red = 211 Green = 255 Blue = 210
|
|these levels work for me -- i can stay on the Web or in UseNet
|for hours without suffering from eyestrain -- you can experiment
|to get just the right levels that make you most comfortable --
|
|for, in my opinion, the best browser on the Web, squick your
|mouse on --
|
| http://home.netscape.com/
For speed, accurate parsing, and reading ease, move up to
today's lynx -- now with DOS and WIN 95 ports. See
http://lynx.browser.org/
for more information.
--
Lars Eighner= http://www.io.com/%7Eeighner = http://www.crl.com/%7Eeighner =
12550 Vista View #302 (210)979-7124 eig...@crl.com eig...@io.com ==
San Antonio TX 78231 alt.books.lars-eighner "At better ISPs everywhere"=
============================================================================
piranha
[header trimmed; i don't crosspost to groups i don't read.]
In article <33B0D2...@worldnet.att.net>,
Paine Ellsworth <ron.le...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
[we're talking about a web site here]
>first of all, it is imperative that you double-space -- we do this
>with our manuscripts to editors so they can make notes where they
>feel they need to cut or change something, and also because it is
>easier for them to read -- easier on their tired, "i've read a
>million things today" eyes --
i despise double-spacing when i don't have to edit things.
it's much _harder_ on my eyes because the way i speed read
depends on a certain range of proximity. i also don't like
justification unless a good proportional font is used and
the justification is well done; often words are much too
far apart to read comfortably.
there is no reason at all to double space on a web page --
nobody's doing any editing.
if you don't like the font somebody is using, you can set
up your browser to use whatever font pleases you more in
whatever size you can read easiest. i tend to prefer sans-
serif fonts for myself, which is probably somewhat unusual.
>secondly, i suggest that you use shorter pages -- instead of putting
>everything on one html page, divide long works between two or more
>html pages
this is good advice.
>last of all, Readers Digest many moons ago discovered what is
>perhaps the most pleasing BACKGROUND color for reading:
>
> a light, pastel green
maybe for reader's digest. i wouldn't like that at all --
but again, you can set up your browser to display whatever
colour scheme you prefer, so you are not dependent on the
web page designer's good (or questionable) taste. i would
really hate it if every web page designer put up a light
pastel green background now that reader's digest has spoken.
(since when has reader's digest become a source for web
design? what am i missing by never picking up this maga-
zine for people with really, really short attention spans?)
>set the BGCOLOR in the <BODY> tag of each html page as follows --
>
> BGCOLOR="#CCFFCC"
>
>and for your own viewing, if you have a Web browser that allows
>you to set custom background colors, try setting them to:
>
> Red = 211 Green = 255 Blue = 210
umm, that doesn't translate to CCFFCC -- you want red = 204,
green = 255, blue = 204.
-alix
------------------------------------------------------------------------
please help fight spam -- http://www.cauce.org
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dick Harper
Lars Eighner eloquently wrote a lot of smart things in misc.writing
which I snipped, and 1 with which I disagree.
> There is no reliable way to double-space in HTML (the markup language
> of web pages) except with <PRE> which will put the material in
> a nonproportional font and will not allow lines to wrap in accord
> with the window size and resolution that the viewer is using.
<P>Of course there is.</P>
<P>The simple act of ending _every_ bloody line in the doc-</P>
<P>ument with paragraph codes will force double spacing on</P>
<P>almost every browser. Of course, this is a pain in the</P>
<P>butt for the poor HTML coder, but in the absense of</P>
<P>universal acceptance of style sheets, this method does</P>
<P>work.</P>
--Dick
Jan S.
On Fri, 27 Jun 1997 02:02:09 GMT, in article
<33b32666...@news.together.net>, Dick Harper (rbha...@together.net)
says...
<quibble>
Ahem. Not really. If a user like me comes along and sets the font size large
enough, and if you've left your lines too long, they'll wrap.
Not that you left them too long above, of course, but we glasses-deficient
forty-somethings tend to think about large font sizes a bit too much.
</quibble>
Seriously, for those who need a little bit more space between the lines (I am
one, but I have an appointment with the optometrist Real Soon Now), there is a
typeface called Trebuchet, available for free download at the Microsoft site
<http://www.microsoft.com/>, which has plenty of leading(?) space and makes
for a nice, pleasant, spread out paragraph. Not double-spaced, but much
easier on some folks eyes (e.g., mine).
Their Verdana typeface is also good -- a little more compact than Trebuchet.
And they're both free (free is good).
--jan