[Meta, Poll] Adding a pop-up menu system to the top of the screen.

[Eternalknight]

So... why can't the people who don't like dropdown menus just...kinda...not...use it...? Why does it need to be switchable?

I think some people, the same that had trouble with the news ticker, will have trouble with this... I think.

 

[Sniktch]

I can do that sure; its what I do on the WotC site, for instance. But I also think it should be a sure thing that it doesn't impact anyone before just turning it on.

 

[Mark CMG]

So... why can't the people who don't like dropdown menus just...kinda...not...use it...? Why does it need to be switchable?

You should just throw it up on the site for a test run. People seem to be worried that it will do things that you won't know until it is in place. Give it a try, I say. *shrug*

 

[Morrus]

I think some people, the same that had trouble with the news ticker, will have trouble with this... I think.

Well, technical problems like that are something I would worry about more than people who just prefer not to use it.

I'm still on the fence about the idea, but it's the technical side which worries me - will it actually cause any problems for anyone? The last thing I want to do is make the site less useable, but if it's just an aesthetics thing, then I'm all for it.

 

[Eternalknight]

I like Mark's idea of just throwing it up for a test run. If it is causing problems, you'll soon know about it. Or how about a poll on the main page? You haven't done one of those in a while

 

[Oni]

I really like the one on the Dusk site. I'm all for it. I'll second the above opinion(s), try it out for a few days, see how it runs and what the community thinks after a hands on experience.

 

[Ashwyn]

It wouldn't affect me either way, but I want it to be optional or not be done at all.

 

[Michael Morris]

Yeah, the default page for the boards is index.php. I think the default page for the main site is also an index.php but in a different folder.

Things is... you can't have two index.phps in the same folder. The latter would overwrite the former.

More importantly, though, the index page of the boards (and of the main site) is dynamiically generated through use of an admin panel/templates system. You can't just edit the page "index.php" - there's nothing on it.

Ok. That answers my question.

 

[Michael Morris]

Well, technical problems like that are something I would worry about more than people who just prefer not to use it.

I'm still on the fence about the idea, but it's the technical side which worries me - will it actually cause any problems for anyone? The last thing I want to do is make the site less useable, but if it's just an aesthetics thing, then I'm all for it.

Some browsers (Known culprits include Netscape 4.x or earlier, AOL 4.0 or earlier, the original Mozilla, early versions of Opera) don't like JAVAscript - and I mean **really** don't like it. Netscape developed the original version with NS 2.0 and then everyone, particularly Microsoft, began piling things on until it became a mess. This got sorted out (sort of) about a year ago, but legacy browsers are still out there. This is the reason for the PHP code that checks for browser version. PHP is executed by the server, the browser is irrelevant to it's functionality - it will work every time.

Once the determination is made that the browser can handle the script, ONLY THEN will it be sent to the browser. Hence, if you are browsing these boards today with Netscape 4.1 and this change is made to the pages, you won't see the difference because your browser will never receive the code. By refining the "browser sniff" code we can eventually weed out the problem browsers.

 

[Michael Morris]

bump