Wider Screen?
 

Is it just me, or have the FT forums screens been widened? When checking the forums, I see all except the "views" part on the right side of the screen, unless I move the screen at the bottom, with the sliding bar.

Anyone else notice this, or is it my browser, but it's not happening on any other website that I visit. Seems like the whole FT page, except for the home page, has shifted a bit to the right.

bj-21.

I Might Have Found the Answer.
 

Okay, this is just a guess, but I noticed on the home page for FT (Welcome to FT), that page is centered. However, when looking at the forums, and individual threads, I noticed that the large SPG.com banner ad at the top of the page pushes across the top of the page, and appears to widen it, as the FT logo is also to the left of the ad. Could this be the problem? Is it possible that the ad is so long across the top of the page, that it pushes the page wider than it should be? Just a guess on my part, but.......

bj-21.

The ad position at the top of the page can serve either the older style 468x60 banners as well as the new larger leaderboard banners at 728x90. The leaderboards will cause the template to stretch, though, which is probably what's causing the issue you mention.

Great so is there a cure?

Thanks Dan, I thought that the larger ad might have been the cause. But it's making FT a bit cumbersome (at least for me) as now when I get to the bottom of each forum page or thread, I have to move the page to the right to use the "Go To" dropdown box to continue, or scroll back up to the top of the page each time to continue in the same forum.
I noticed that one of the smaller ads at the top of the page (the one about finding your IQ) left the page centered as usual, but most forums and threads having the much larger SPG.com ad on the top and side really moves the page over, about a full column. Not easily useful for ease of reading, as some of the threads also seem to be stretched over to one side.

bj-21.

We've got a site cleanup/redesign in the works, so the leaderboard issue may resolve itself when we switch over.

Look forward to it ^ ^ ^

what are all these ad banners you people keep talking about? I don't see any ads at all on FT??

LUCKY

No really, what are you all talking about?

jcrb,

There's a large SPG.com/Amex ad at the top of each forum page and thread. Its length causes the page to widen, making the right side of the page unreadable, unless we use the slide-bar at the page bottom to move the page over. If you're not seeing the ads, perhaps you have some kind of popup or ad blocker, so you may not be seeing what the problem is for us.

bj-21.

P.S.--Dan, I hope the site cleanup/redesign isn't too long in coming. Having to move the pages from side to side to see the complete messages, or to get to the "Go To" dropdown box at the bottom of each page shouldn't have to be necessary.

yes with a little help from myefre I figured out the source of my "problem" with not seeing any ads....... it wasn't caused by a popup or ad blocker, the cause was much simpler. If anyone wants to know how to fall victim to this "problem" just send me a PM and I will let you know how to join me in "suffering" from it.

(since FT generates revenue from those who do not suffer from this "problem" I am not going to post on the board how to cause said "suffering" :D)

jcrb---PM'ing you. I'm getting dizzy moving the pages from side to side.

bj-21.

Please do fix this: it really detracts from FT's usability and usefullness. (My naive question is why the ad banner isn't variable width compatible with reasonable screen settings, but I'm sure there's a good reason.)

FWIW, I've got a 16" monitor w/800x600 resolution.

Bump.

Is there a timing on the fix ? I am getting dizzy too !

Back to Normal Page Size
 

Smaller ad at the top of the page = screen size now back to normal.

Thanks, FT. :)

bj.21

We have a graphic artist working on some things, and when that is done we'll start to implement.

Thanks for your patience.

I went on a 3 week vacation to Alaska just before this thread started.

When I got back a week back, and to this day, the screen is "wide" just as blackjack-21 outlines. I did not touch or adjust settings in that time.

So thanks John for advising a "fix" is on the way - look forward to reading of the implementation date, and I'll bookmark this thread for update advices. :D.

I do not mind at all viewing banner ads if it pays the bills, but when it makes reading the screen very tough, there needs to be a balance found. :)

It isn't just me...yipee!
 

Being a non-techie, I thought it was something I was doing wrong. But knowing everyone else is having the wide screen problems too makes me feel better & I too look forward to it going to back to normal. Cheers.

Okay, I'm going to be in the minority and say I've not seen a difference in how my screen views either at home or on work pc. Wow, it's kinda nice to be in the minority on this one!

It looks like they're working on it. On some screens the ad at the top is much smaller and scrolling right isn't necessary.

The fix can't be soon enough for me.

Mary

Ad blockers can stop the display of the ad, but it doesn't necessarily solve the horizontal scrolling issue.
At the top of the page I am viewing right now, there is the 125 x 87 flyertalk logo to the left, then a 728 x 90 ad in the middle, then the flash ad on the right margin. Since Mozilla can block non-flash ads, I was able to get a white space where the ad was, but it was a 728 x 90 white space, which meant I still had to scroll horizontally.

(BTW, I changed my screen resolution to 1024 x 768 and the page displayed fine. I hope this isn't one of those situations where the site designers were using 1024 x 768 and assumed everyone else would see the site OK because they saw it OK. 1024 x 768 isn't a good choice for those with less-than-perfect vision and those with small monitors.)

................

I might try your suggestion about Opera. These horizontal scrolling is driving me nuts!
Is there a hope that someday somehow FT techies will solve the problem?