Trouble reading the MIs

Discuss Scott McCloud's current online comic project. Be sure to check out <a href="http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi.html">the latest improv</a>!

Moderators: Scott McCloud, Moderators

Locked
Allen

Trouble reading the MIs

Post by Allen »

Is my computer the only one that has so much trouble reading the Morning Improv? I'm talking specifically about the larger panels. My MI screen is split into three windows (which I can't shrink or enlarge), and the window with the comic in it doesn't show the entire image when the pictures (as in Monkey Town) are reely big. Not only does this hurt the flow of the story and enjoyment of the art, but in the circular panel with the words around it, I had to become a mouse jockey to read the whole thing. THAT was a pain in the you-know-what. Is there a solution to this? I'd like to get the full impact of Monkey Town.

Thanks. :D 8) :evil: :roll: :P :-? :( :-? :oops: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: 8) :) :( :P :roll: :evil: :x :cry: :D :P :oops: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :wink:
Rip Tanion
Reinvents understanding
Posts: 635
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 4:47 pm
Location: The Riptania Sky-Palace in da beauuuuuutiful Bronx.
Contact:

re: Trouble reading the MIs

Post by Rip Tanion »

First of all, Scott is using a frame page, with three different, non-resizable frames. The top is static and includes the title bar, the left side is scrollable and contains the MI menu, and the right is the main frame containing the comic. Some of Scott's comics were meant to be scrolled horizontally, but I believe Monkey Town was meant to be scrolled only vertically. I had no trouble fitting all the panels in the frame without the need for horizontal scrolling, but my screen resolution is set to 1024x768. If you have to scroll both vertically AND horizontilly, you probably have your screen set to 800x600 or less.

Try increasing your screen resolution to 1024x768, and you should have no problems.
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
User avatar
Greg Stephens
Forum Founder
Posts: 3862
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact:

Post by Greg Stephens »

Actually, 1024x768 with the sidebar turned on for the browser (I like my bookmarks to be visible all the time) isn't even enough for the full width of Monkeytown's bigger panels. It would be nice if all web pages were designed for the exact pixel dimentions that my browser displays normally, but that rarely happens. Most of the MIs fit within my browser window nicely. For comics (such as Delta Thrives) that simply don't fit properly and look to be a good read, I will alter my screen resolution and browser size accordingly, but I suspect I'm not in the majority on this count.

One easy way to try to get more viewable browser space in modern browsers (say, version 5 and up for many of them) is to hit F11 to go to full-screen mode.
Good morning! That's a nice tnetennba.
Rip Tanion
Reinvents understanding
Posts: 635
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 4:47 pm
Location: The Riptania Sky-Palace in da beauuuuuutiful Bronx.
Contact:

Post by Rip Tanion »

Hmm, I forgot about the different browsers and browser settings.

If you use IE, have your browser window fully maximized, and turn off any side menus, like I do, then Monkey Town fits perfectly.

I don't know how it fits on Netscape. I can't stand Netscape. I ain't a fan of Bill Gates and Microsoft, niether, but Internet Explorer is one of the few exceptions where I feel Microsoft has the superior product.
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
Scott McCloud
The one and only
Posts: 293
Joined: Wed May 23, 2001 7:00 pm
Contact:

Post by Scott McCloud »

That's odd. You can't resize the windows? I use both IE and Netscape and I can resize MI on both. Hmmm...

Anyway, here's a solution. Select the MonkeyTown window and hold down the mouse until you get a pop-up menu (PC users can tell us if this is different for the PC). Then select "Open frame in New Window" or somesuch. Then you can resize the MonkeyTown window to fill your screen.

Sorry about the troubles. Didn't size that one very well, I'm afraid.

:(
Wikkit
Consistant Poster
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Iowa
Contact:

Post by Wikkit »

I have my monitor at 800x600, and I really disliked having to scroll in the tiny frame. I don't really like frames, either.

Thankfully, Scott doesn't bother naming his base files index.html, so you can get directory listings. Go to

http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/

and just go straight to mi-17 and mi-17.html.
User avatar
Greg Stephens
Forum Founder
Posts: 3862
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact:

Post by Greg Stephens »

Scott McCloud wrote:That's odd. You can't resize the windows? I use both IE and Netscape and I can resize MI on both. Hmmm...
That's because you're using a Mac, right? The same versions of the same browsers behave differently on different platforms. We discovered this anomoly at work one day with our own web application. In order to make sure that all frames are resizable, you should check all of the framesets to make sure that none of them have the NORESIZE attribute, because on some browsers that freezes the layout of all the frames displayed.
Good morning! That's a nice tnetennba.
Rip Tanion
Reinvents understanding
Posts: 635
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 4:47 pm
Location: The Riptania Sky-Palace in da beauuuuuutiful Bronx.
Contact:

Post by Rip Tanion »

This is why designing a graphocentric (is that a word, or did I just make it up?) web page can be a nightmare. Nothing looks the same from browser to browser, platform to platfom. I dream of a day of universiality, when a web designer running IE on a Windows PC, won't have to worry that all his hard work will be for naught when viewied with Netscape on a Mac. I just wonder if I'll see it my lifetime.
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
User avatar
Greg Stephens
Forum Founder
Posts: 3862
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact:

Post by Greg Stephens »

Rip Tanion wrote:I dream of a day of universiality, when a web designer running IE on a Windows PC, won't have to worry that all his hard work will be for naught when viewied with Netscape on a Mac. I just wonder if I'll see it my lifetime.
Yeah, that would be nice. In the meantime, people who are serious about web design (mostly meaning just those people who make a living based around it) should be aware of and endorse the Web Standards Project. Whereas I think webcomic creators shouldn't necessarily be bound to these sorts of concerns, they should be aware that if they code for as many browsers on as many platforms with as many screen resolutions as possible, they'll get a larger audience and also promote good web design through their usage of such.

Having said that, it's very difficult for independant creators to be able to test a given web design in all of those combinations. Often the best we can do is simply test in a few browsers on our own computers and hope it's not going to blow up on someone else's.
Good morning! That's a nice tnetennba.
Locked