Flora, Doll and Gabriel by John Vernon

8 posts / 0 new

Topic locked

Tue, 2006-10-10 21:41

Hi John

I'm a fair way through your story and enjoying it. Just wanted to use this forum to ask you something (your profile says you're not accepting emails). Do you think you could post your story chapter by chapter? It's very long to read all in one go - I think the length on screen might put people off.

http://www.abctales.com/node/556940

Tue, 2006-10-10 22:59

alan_benefit

Hi Lou, Just a suggestion - though you probably already know it. If I see a really long piece that looks good, I usually copy and paste it into Word, then either increase the font size or print it off. I just can't read the ABC font for too long without my eyes feeling like they're going to explode!

Tue, 2006-10-10 23:41

2Lou

Hi Alan, yes thanks for that. I think I will print it off. It's just when you open a piece and that little scroll button on the right becomes a tiny, tiny little dot... and you've got your editor's hat on... and there's the temptation to flick to a smaller story.... (Damn, used up my elipsis for the month. Or is that elipsi...?) ~ www.fabulousmother.com

~
www.fabulousmother.co.uk

Wed, 2006-10-11 20:42

alan_benefit

Yeah... I know some of my posts have been rather long. Do you think there should be a word limit for instalments of longer pieces?

Thu, 2006-10-12 11:13

tcook

We've often considered such a thing - I don't think it's a good idea. We rely on the common sense of our users at many stages - and surely it is common sense to break up a very long piece into sections. I accept that newcomers might not think of this - but they'll soon get the idea. I'm quite happy that people want to post books chapter by chapter - or even very long pieces in one huge chunk. At least it will mean that those who get to the end are really enjoying the xperience! As for the font on ABC and its ease to read I'm interested in your views. We took a long time in deciding the font, size, width and style and the one that we have was the easiest to read by a long chalk. However, if you have other suggestions then we may have missed a trick and we'd be delighted to take a look at them.

Thu, 2006-10-12 11:35

alan_benefit

It probably depends on the individual, Tony. I'm sure it's fine for a lot of people - and my eyes could probably use a test, too! I find gazing at the screen for too long with anything to be a bit of a strain. When I'm writing. I have the font up to point 12 with Verdana, then the page up to 130% to fill the screen - so the font by then is quite big. Partly, though, it's also to do with the medium. Staring at a monitor for hours on end is always going to be a strain. That's why I'm happy to copy, paste and print stuff that looks like it might take longer than 10 minutes to read.

Thu, 2006-10-12 11:56

markbrown

Alan, try changing the text size in your browser. If you're using Firefox, it's CTRL and - and =. I can't remeber what it is in Internet Explorer. I've never know what it is in Safari. Increasing the text size works, but the results depend on what browser you use. In Firefox, the text overlaps the right hand side Nav bar, which pushes the column down I remember asking about this when the current site was being developed, but knowing nothing, I was cruelly laughed at by the oh-so clever technical man. The text still overlaps. Cheers, Mark

Thu, 2006-10-12 12:07

alan_benefit

Hey, yeah... that's a whole lot better. Thanks a lot, Mark.

Topic locked