The Bridge page background

[Cogito]

Stories in "The Bridge" section all display with white text over a full screen image of the earth.

It's a nice enough picture but I find this makes the stories very hard to read. Reading text over an image is hard enough to start with, but since the image isn't as wide as my widescreen monitor, the right hand quarter of the text displays as white text on a white background.

Could we change the background to a solid colour, pretty please?

[enterprikayak]

thx! I've pm'ed the right peeps.

[Cogito]

In my opinion, the hideous background in The Bridge section needs to be got rid of. I would go so far as to say that it makes The Bridge so difficult to read that it is practically a waste of time posting stories there - if that is the best we can do, we might as well delete that whole section and just put everything under the main section. In fact, given the rate of posting new stories, that might be the best option anyway. Again, only my opinion.

Who has the authority to decide what to do about this? Is there *anyone* still involved with the site who feels they have the authority to deal with it?
If so, what is the procedure for bringing it to their attention? Posting suggestions here in the forum doesn't seem to have achieved anything.

Assuming there is somebody who can deal with it and it gets brought to their attention, I would ask for a definitive statement about whether it's agreed that this needs addressing. Obviously I'm wasting my time if the person responsible has already decided they like it the way it is - bizarre as that would be - but at the moment the issue seems to be being ignored completely.

I don't want to seem ungrateful for the work going on behind the scenes to keep the site running. Far from it; I'm extremely grateful for the work of the tireless few who moderate the forums and post stories for us here. But I'm worried that there doesn't seem to be anyone else maintaining the site, and it certainly needs maintenance.

[panyasan]

I couldn't agree with you more, Cogito. I just clicked on one of the stories at the Bridge - and click away straight ahead. I can't read it. It hurts my eyes. I don't know if it had anything to do me wearing glasses or my computer screen, but this background makes it very hard to read a story.

I tried one more time, but still I can't focus on a sentence with those white letters against a busy blue background. The only solution is that I copy and paste the text into a word document.

It's not that I don't like the background. It's a wonderful, beautiful picture. But it supposed to be a background and stimulating to read the stories. Now I know the background better than the stories.

So I would strongly suggest a more neutral color: black letters against one color in light tint. So reading those great stories is possible, because the stories and their wonderful writers deserve it.

[Alelou]

Just piling on with a me too and hoping we have a here instead of a .

[Weeble]

><((((º> i don't like it either

[Distracted]

I've passed the message on again. Thanks for letting us know, everyone.

[Kotik]

They've been doing so for two years, Dis - see Cogito's initial comment in 2011 Talk about reaction time

[Distracted]

This situation, as I'm sure you know despite your joking, Kotik, has nothing to do with reaction times. When making changes on a website like this, it's obviously impossible to please all of the people all of the time. When this issue was initially brought up, a decision was made (after consideration of all viewpoints) to leave the background as it is. But if so many of you are still having issues with it, it's obviously time for a re-assessment. This is currently underway. The final decision, however, will be up to the site owner. Stay tuned for further developments.

[Distracted]

May I present the latest in a long line of attempts to please everybody... Please check out the link in the top upper right of every page on The Bridge. If you prefer easy readability to beauty, one click will get you there. If you prefer the pretty picture, you can have that too. Just don't click. You can thank our tech staff for this positively brilliant compromise.

Thank you, Tech Wizard!!

[Kotik]

Sorry, couldn't resist

Not the most elegant solution, but it sure makes it a lot more easier to read. Added credits can be earned by making the choice permanent at least for the session, so you don't have to click it again everytime you switch to the next chapter, but at least the choice is there now. Thanks for that

[Alelou]

Thank you so much, whoever gave us that option. I was finally able to read a story there without cutting and pasting.

[Distracted]

A new and improved background is now up in The Bridge. Let us know what you think.

[Alelou]

The color is too intense for me, but that easy-read background still gives me the white option, so I'm content.

Just a slightly more pastel version of purple or blue might work, though.

[Cogito]

Getting rid of that picture is a huge improvement, thank you.

Personally, I find that fluorescent purple tends to shout at me. I can live with it, but it's not as tasteful or as easy on the eyes as the colours in the other sections.