• Registered: 2008-02-06
  • Posts: 4

Topic: Observations/questions from new user, mainly on presentation

First of all, thanks for punBB to all people involved! :-)

I?m new to punBB, I?m trying the latest beta of 1.3, and I have a few observations/questions:

Default theme. One of the things I like most in version 1.2 is the default theme. I find the theme of 1.3 more lively -- that is not a bad thing! :-) -- but not as space-efficient.

Monospace font for the code tag. In the CSS the order is: 1. Andale, 2. Lucinda, 3. monospace. In my Windows machine I don?t have Andale, so Lucinda is used. Lucinda may be the best font for the Windows XP console, but I think it is not the best option for a browser. Why specify a monospace font at all? Users particular about their monospace fonts can define one in their browser.

Default set of BBCode. Would you please consider adding ordered and unordered lists to the default set? I think that a point of useability can be made for ol and ul and their BBCode implementations: they make lists, well, more readable, and easier to scan quickly. :-)

Variations of smilies converted to icons. Is there are a reason not all variations are converted? E.g.:

Spaces inserted to avoid parsing.

: ) and = ) but not :-)
: P but not :-P, tongue, and :-p

Thanks for reading!

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: Observations/questions from new user, mainly on presentation

demetris wrote:

Monospace font for the code tag. In the CSS the order is: 1. Andale, 2. Lucinda, 3. monospace. In my Windows machine I don?t have Andale, so Lucinda is used. Lucinda may be the best font for the Windows XP console, but I think it is not the best option for a browser. Why specify a monospace font at all? Users particular about their monospace fonts can define one in their browser.

Because code should be displayed using a monospaced font. Have you ever tried programming using a proportional font?

Andale might not be available in Windows anymore, but it it in OSX. It's good that you brought this up though because I would like to add Consolas to that list. It's a new font in Vista, but it's one of the best monospaced fonts I've seen.

demetris wrote:

Default set of BBCode. Would you please consider adding ordered and unordered lists to the default set? I think that a point of useability can be made for ol and ul and their BBCode implementations: they make lists, well, more readable, and easier to scan quickly. :-)

This is on the todo list already.

demetris wrote:

Variations of smilies converted to icons. Is there are a reason not all variations are converted?

I guess we could add some more variations. We'd rather not though, because we all hate "graphical emoticons" big_smile

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

3 Reply by demetris (edited by demetris 2008-02-13 09:48)

  • Registered: 2008-02-06
  • Posts: 4

Re: Observations/questions from new user, mainly on presentation

Thank you for your answers. Now I like punBB 1.3 even better! :-)

Rickard wrote:
demetris wrote:

Monospace font for the code tag. In the CSS the order is: 1. Andale, 2. Lucinda, 3. monospace. In my Windows machine I don?t have Andale, so Lucinda is used. Lucinda may be the best font for the Windows XP console, but I think it is not the best option for a browser. Why specify a monospace font at all? Users particular about their monospace fonts can define one in their browser.

Because code should be displayed using a monospaced font. Have you ever tried programming using a proportional font?

Andale might not be available in Windows anymore, but it it in OSX. It's good that you brought this up though because I would like to add Consolas to that list. It's a new font in Vista, but it's one of the best monospaced fonts I've seen.

Is "monospace" not enough to display a monospace font? I?m just asking -- I?m not a web designer! :-)

Here is what I get on a Windows XP machine by removing "Andale Mono" and "Lucinda Console" from Oxygen.css, and leaving just "monospace":

IE6, default settings, Courier New is used
Opera 9, default settings, Courier New is used
Firefox 3, Consolas specified, Consolas is used

About Consolas, I agree -- it is an excellent font. However, it may be a bit dangerous, because it looks hideous without ClearType (it has been specifically designed for ClearType).

A 5th observation I forgot about before:

No background colour is defined in the CSS. It doesn?t look good if the user has defined a background colour other than white (either for the browser or globally for the desktop).

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: Observations/questions from new user, mainly on presentation

demetris wrote:

Is "monospace" not enough to display a monospace font? I?m just asking -- I?m not a web designer! :-)

It's a matter of taste I guess. I loathe Courier New and that's what most people will get unless we specify a particular font.

demetris wrote:

About Consolas, I agree -- it is an excellent font. However, it may be a bit dangerous, because it looks hideous without ClearType (it has been specifically designed for ClearType).

Yes, but I believe ClearType is enabled by default in Vista?

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

  • Jansson
  • Former PunBB Developer
  • Offline
  • From: Sweden
  • Registered: 2003-01-06
  • Posts: 856

Re: Observations/questions from new user, mainly on presentation

Rickard wrote:

Yes, but I believe ClearType is enabled by default in Vista?

Yeah, seems to be the case. At least for my installs.

  • Registered: 2008-02-06
  • Posts: 4

Re: Observations/questions from new user, mainly on presentation

Rickard wrote:
demetris wrote:

Is "monospace" not enough to display a monospace font? I?m just asking -- I?m not a web designer! :-)

It's a matter of taste I guess. I loathe Courier New and that's what most people will get unless we specify a particular font.

People can define another font if they don?t like the default one in their systems. This is what I do, for one: in my browser and in my text editor in XP I use Consolas. I think the best choice in the spirit of punBB would be to leave this to the user or to the forum admin -- if I understand correctly the spirit of punBB; you can correct me here. :-)

Rickard wrote:
demetris wrote:

About Consolas, I agree -- it is an excellent font. However, it may be a bit dangerous, because it looks hideous without ClearType (it has been specifically designed for ClearType).

Yes, but I believe ClearType is enabled by default in Vista?

Consolas may be present in non-Vista systems, since it comes with the MS pack that adds OOXML compatibility to Office 2000, XP, and 2003: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta … BB74CD1466 -- and with one of the office viewers (the PowerPoint Viewer, I think). -- Since many people hate ClearType and do not enable it, I?m not sure how this would play out... That?s why I?m saying it may be dangerous specifying Consolas in the CSS.