PlanetCatfish.com

Hi Jools,

Minor point, but to bring it to attention in case it's part of a bigger problem:

This morning I awoke to find the PCF home page looking different in its column distributions on my phone and on my computer. The new format allows the Forum updates to be moved to the right side of screen, which, as you can see in the image added, can mess up the title for the section.

Cheers, Eric

Hi Eric,

Yes, I am reformatting everything to have a list on one side of the screen and panels on the other (when viewed on a big screen) or everything the width of the screen on a small screen (mobile/phone). Planet has an unusual userbase (you can say that again, ) in that we have a lower than average percentage of mobile users and a higher than usual percentage of folks with big old screens. We're about 60% mobile and 40% big screens of which about half are large.

So, we need a consistent tight design for our many and frequent mobile users and a lovely big expansive design for our desk-based faithful that spend ages on the site. Simple to say, harder to make work mostly because I've never held much truck with the concept that it makes a big difference. But I am probably, in fact almost certainty, not right...

I think what you are seeing is not fully refreshed however - it should look like this:

What would be helpful is if you notice issues with the reformatting then do post here. I've not yet really attacked the species, genus etc pages in the cat-elog. I am currently focussing on articles.

Jools

The vertical frame that used to appear on the right side of the page is now on the left side. That is the frame used for donations, breeding reports etc.

Besides the odd wrap-around of the header for the forum (which was my original observation), now I see that the dark gray zone for the Cat-eLog and Shane's World cuts through the list on the left of Latest Donations. I saw the same if I refresh and a different list is displayed on left. Looks kinda funky cutting through the list like that.

Still a minor point.

Cheers, Eric

On a whim I checked my Chrome to see if it was up to date. I was running Version 88.0.4324.146. I got the latest upgrade (Version 88.0.4324.150) and now my PCF homepage looks fixed: (unless Jools edited the code in the last half hour or so).

Either way, looks much better!

Cheers, Eric

Th above image is reversed. The info down the left side has been on the right side of the page since my first visit to the site. It has changed in the past week or two.

TwoTankAmin wrote: ↑08 Feb 2021, 22:46Th above image is reversed. The info down the left side has been on the right side of the page since my first visit to the site. It has changed in the past week or two.

Hi TTA,

I think the flip of the tall column from right side of page to left side of page was intentional on Jools' part as he works to make PCF more compatible both with mobile devices and with desktop computers. As he said elsewhere, the population that hangs out here on PCF seems to be a little more archaic (my word, not Jools') in its preferential use of desktop computers in a day and age where mobile devices increasingly dominate the marketplace.

Cheers, Eric (as I type from my 8-year-old laptop anchored to a docking station with a free-standing keyboard, mouse and separate 23" screen, LOL)

Jools wrote: ↑06 Feb 2021, 09:41Planet has an unusual userbase (you can say that again, ) in that we have a lower than average percentage of mobile users and a higher than usual percentage of folks with big old screens. We're about 60% mobile and 40% big screens of which about half are large.

Not to make myself seem more stone-age than necessary, FWIW, even on my cell phone, I have my web browser (Chrome) set to display websites in "desktop" mode rather than "mobile" mode. THAT'S how much I prefer the appearance of a desktop-formatted website.

Cheers, Eric

TwoTankAmin wrote: ↑08 Feb 2021, 17:57 The vertical frame that used to appear on the right side of the page is now on the left side. That is the frame used for donations, breeding reports etc.

Yup, that's the plan. Cheers,

Jools

bekateen wrote: ↑08 Feb 2021, 23:39Not to make myself seem more stone-age than necessary, FWIW, even on my cell phone, I have my web browser (Chrome) set to display websites in "desktop" mode rather than "mobile" mode.

Ha! That, Eric, is unusual but not everyone has:
or eyeballs!

Cheers,

Jools

All my life I have read from left to right. Now I get to read from the middle. Why not start at the bottom of the page and we can read up as well?

Not sure I follow Chris? The newest content is on the left? I’ve missed something.

Jools

This is what I see now. The vertical frame on the left was always on the right. The Recent activity was always on the right. That vertical frame changes from Donations, to breeding reports etc. The newest posts should be located on the far left side

Yup, that's it - that is how it should look (on a computer screen). As we read English from left to right, the stuff that changes (and you can control, if logged in) moved to the left. However, I think you can switch it all off via the UCP and so the forum updates would appear on the left. Hope that makes sense!

Cheers,

Jools

I can eliminate all the info that would normally appear in the vertical frame. There is no way to retain that info and have it display on the right side. So the solution is for me not to see any of at all or to see it in what I consider to be an unwanted format.

I guess I do not need to see breeding reports, donation info, wish lists etc.

TwoTankAmin wrote: ↑11 Feb 2021, 19:24I guess I do not need to see breeding reports, donation info, wish lists etc.

Gotcha. You can turn these on and off individually in the UCP / profile info page, here. I don't know if that helps, but it's my intention that all of this becomes fairly configurable. I tried it out, and I think it does what you are looking for? Screenshot below.

Jools

Yup, that is about how it looks to me now, as long as I log in. I often visit and read w/o logging in and in that case it looks as it does in the default screen.

OK, well, this: https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/re ... _posts.php might be a better home page for you? Always meant to link that in somewhere from the front page.

Hope that helps,

Jools