How Big is That Circle in the Lower-Right on Your Screen?

Submitted by jabney on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 12:35pm

A few days ago (here in ye olde pre-1,000s days of caucus99percent) there was a fresh breeze known as "The Right Bar of Secondary Attention." Yes, for one short day, readers could pay attention to stories, articles, and stuff; before turning their attention back to the index.

That stopped.

So the index went back to its dominant left-filling role: that of being the utility room as the main entrance. And the space on the right - the big space to read in - was still usable. Sort of. You see, while the big space on the right side is empty for writing, the big space on the right side for reading is not so empty.

Two things are wanted in that big space: words and pictures. And indeed, you start with one or two things: words and pictures.

But soon, when you start sending the big space on the right in its downward journey toward the final "End" there is a third thing. And it is big. And it is round. And it blocks words. Big words. Little words. Words that are wanted - at least wanted by the writer of that particular phrase. And it is important. The drama of the phrase requires that its words need to be available - all the words.

That drama of the phrase - the climax often - is blocked by a big circle.

Meanwhile, the utility space over in the left bar is unused - at least during the reading.

So here are some ideas: change the circle into a tab: longer, but slimmer. Or move the circle over to the left bar. You may have your ideas. Please share.

Is this circle big on your display?

best, john

Tags: 
type-size
design
useable
opaque
small-changes
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Submitted by ghotiphaze on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 1:37pm

what you're talking about. Must be on edit of an article prior to publication here? I haven't seen it. Have you tried moving your thumb?

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

Submitted by JtC on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 2:05pm

It's the little gray button in the lower right hand side of the screen, when you click it it will take you back to the top of the page. It doesn't display until you start scrolling down.

It's turned off for mobile devices because it will take up too much room on the screen. If you're on a phone or pad you shouldn't see it.

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Submitted by ghotiphaze on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 2:49pm

My laptop fritzed so I'm stuck on a kindle fire for the foreseeable future.

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

Submitted by JtC on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 2:01pm

I made it slimmer, is that better?

One of the pitfalls of website design is conforming it to all the different devices that will be used to view it. It's difficult to have a standard when there are so many different hardware configurations, screen sizes, browsers, screen resolution, etc. It is impossible to make it so it displays perfectly for everyone, there are just too many variables. So the best that can be done is to try to reach a happy medium that fits most situations.

The "Return to Top" arrow sits quite nicely in the empty right margin on my monitor, it obstructs nothing, but again that can all depend on individual device configurations. There's no way to make everyone 100% happy. Have you tried reducing your screen size, on Firefox it's ctrl/-.

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Submitted by jabney on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 2:43pm

Thanks. 'Slimming' the (ex)circle is better. But it still blocks some of the words. And what is strange is that there is an unused margin to the right of the blob. (It's a pale blue that 'frames' to the right of the main user-text area.) If the blob could move over two or three letter spaces to the right, it would be better - in my opinion. And, yes, reducing the screen size does move the blob far enough to the right: but then I need a magnifying glass.

There's an app called "CamStudio Portable" that I've been wanting to try. I'll see if a video of my screen can be uploaded.

Thanks again
best, john

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Strange that a harp of thousand strings should keep in tune so long

Submitted by jabney on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 3:14pm

Sadly it looks like .avi files won't work - at least directly. Think Vimeo would work here?

best, john

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Strange that a harp of thousand strings should keep in tune so long

Submitted by JtC on Thu, 03/17/2016 - 3:18pm

I have run into the same problem as I use a high resolution monitor that in the highest res mode renders text so small that a magnifying glass is needed. But, there is a way to make your screen smaller so the circle doesn't affect it and also increase the size of you text so it's readable.

There are two ways to accomplish this. You can do it in your browser settings by increasing the font size. Google "increase font size+whatever browser you use" and you'll find directions to do it.

The other way is too increase the dpi size in you operating system settings. Google "increase dpi+whatever your operating system is" and you'll find directions.

Personally I use the dpi method, it allows me to get the max resolution from my monitor, which is a biggie for me because of the graphics work I do, and also adjust the text to a readable size. You can also use a combination of the two.

Try that John, it really does work and works well, and isn't that hard to do.

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