Friday, January 16, 1998
As a long time reader (since NSD 0.06), I just wanted to let you know that I really like the new look. Keep up the good work.
Scott Markel - San Diego, California
Just got the latest NSD and wanted to drop you a note and say how much better the new look is - a big improvement! Thanks and keep up the good work - it is appreciated.
Ken Tullis
As a long-time subscriber to NSD, I just wanted to say I like the new framed interface. Same good information, nicer package. Keep up the good....
Tom Bradley
I opened my NSD today and was immediately amazed and excited about the new layout. The graphics give it a nice professional touch and now I don't have to scroll to start to see the bodies for the headlines. Great improvements!
Are you thinking about using some DHTML possibly?
Craig Riter
Kudos for the continued good searching-and-writing; brickbats for the wretched new design. The left-hand dead zone may be the most painful cliche on the Web at this point, and it's especially regrettable for a content-rich page like yours. Fully a third of my browser window is left blank and gray, and I have a big monitor!
Please consider a return to the more sensible HTML of years past.
Ray Davis
The new HTML version is very pretty, but takes forever to load, and is about half an inch wider than my (standard VGA) display. I have to slide left and right to read it all. Very irritating. Is there a text only option?
Mike Hodish
P.S. Love the content, always have.
No all text option, not since October. - LN
Congratulations and well done to your new layout.
Mich Nielsen - Copenhagen
Your new format if good, but too wide for my screen. I can't view in their entirety both the content list and the paragraph texts without using the bottom scroll bar. Is this intentional or a problem with my Netscape Navigator?
Donald Hirt - Paso Robles, California
I believe the NSD text is set to display at a (standard) width of 80 characters. With the left-hand margin frame, that might be a bit long for smaller screens. - LN
Your new frames-based format is nice, but it presents me with a problem that I have never learned how to solve. I hate needing to scroll horizontally, but no matter how small I make my fixed and proportional font sizes, I am left with the need to scroll to the right in order to read the main body of your e-zine. This means that I can not readily read the stuff at the left of the screen. This situation, which I face too often, is a major annoyance to me.
I may well be missing some Netscape Gold 3.0 technique that will resolve this, but if it is a common enough problem, I hope that you will revise your current format to do away altogether with the need for horizontal scrolling at the user end.
Steve Langford
Try reducing the size of the left-hand frame. It's a bit involved, but here's how:
1) Select "View Source" or whatever command you use to view the HTML coding of a Web page in your browser.
2) Copy the entire source code and paste it in a text processor.
3) Scroll down 25 lines or so until you find this text:
<TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=5>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN=TOP NOWRAP WIDTH="200" BGCOLOR="#C0C0C0">
<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=-1><B>BREAKING SURF</B></FONT >
<TABLE CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=5>
4) This codes for the width of the left-hand frame. Change "200" to "100" to reduce that frame in size, thus making more room for the NSD text frame.
5) Save the document as a text file with a suffix of ".htm" or ".html", such as "NSD401.htm" (NOT "NSD401.txt.htm" though; one dot only per file name).
6) Open your Web browser. In the "File" menu there should be a command like "Open File". Use this to find the modified digest on your hard drive and open it.
This should work, let me know how it goes. - LN
The fonts are under the control of the user, and may be non-proportional, so the text column will be different widths depending on what people have set in their browsers. What we did was to make the tables for the table of contents and the actual content fixed width, and we had to compromise on something which would give enough room for both to be readable with default fonts (which most people never bother changing). The design point is for a 15-inch monitor with at least a 768 pixel wide screen - basically what people are buying in droves now and what everyone will be upgrading to in the future. The user base will migrate to this and we won't have to change our look for a couple of years. Of course by then we'll be including HDTV video in every issue... :)
Basically, I know full well that we can't please everyone, so we try to look ahead to the future and guess where everyone is or is migrating to. - AB
Nice format!
Ralph Casillas
Your new format is very nice.
Jerry Marr
I have to confess that I haven't been reading NSD much lately. But I wanted to say I like the new format - Think it might be easier to read if you made the column narrower. I find it harder to read long lines of text across the screen. Other people I've talked with say the same thing.
Kristine Bucar
Just a brief note to congratulate you on the new format for the Digest. This really is superb! Applause to everyone involved.
Dafyd Martindale
It's very nicely laid out - the colors are very nice. The font size in the left column is just too damn small! Help us poor old eyes.
Jerry H. Good - 3357.0946' North, 11723.117' West
We set the font size in the left-hand column to be one size smaller than the main text body, which is your own default font for your browser. If you want it bigger, set your default one size bigger. - LN
Just wanted to tell you at Netsurfer how much I enjoy your Digest. The fun and pointers to good information are really valuable, especially considering that it would have taken me a lot of time to find it all by myself. I just received NSD 4.01; it now even looks like a newspaper! Keep up the good work and thanks!
Alex Spinder
Your new 1998 format of the Web version of Netsurfer Digest looks very pretty on the screen but unfortunately does not print well. Printing from Internet Explorer 4.0 on A4 paper results in the loss of text at the right hand margin. Maybe you could re-think this one?
John Bauch - London, England
Just wanted to let you know that I enjoy your Digest and I really like the new format. Keep up the good work.
Patrick
Hi there. Just wanted to send congrats on the new format. Very fine layout and of course, the finest Web zine available. As a three- (or four, I can't remember which) year subscriber, I think your tome just gets better with time. Sometimes its important to give people feedback on a job well done.
David Callahan
Just wanted to congratulate you on your new "look". The page is one of the best I've seen and I've seen lots!
Jerry
Like the Digest, very much dislike the new format. It is harder to read, and I miss having a list of links to the reviews at the beginning of the Digest.
Don Strong
I just wanted to let you all at NSD how much I am impressed with the new look of NSD. Congratulations!!
Joshua Tagg
I liked your old page layout - it used up the width of my screen. Now I cannot see 30% of the text, there is a horrid grey bar down the side of the screen, and the articles are no easier to jump to. Apart from this the contents are still very good.
Gerry Draper
I just got the latest issue of NSD today and I have a brief comment: I like the new design but it doesn't fit on a 640x480 screen. Not all of us have hi-res monitors or Win95. Please look into this. Thanks.
Jason Montgomery
Oh dear. I totally enjoy NSD but your new look is giving me problems on my 15-inch screen. The links on the left cut off the text on the right and since I can only scroll vertically on Netscape's mail window I only get parts of the entertainment. Guess I'm just an old fashioned guy and you are heading for the future.
Fredrik Ivetorp - Malmo, Sweden
I dislike the new layout. For some guidance on page dimensions, check out http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/pages/safe_area.html.
I unsubbed.
Rob Whyte
The final tally is 13 unqualified love letters; nine complaints about frame size, proportions, or scrolling; and three miscellaneous complaints. I think it has been a moderately successful transition.
In addressing the main complaint, I looked at the style sheet mentioned above. It states that a 640 pixel wide screen needs a layout no larger than 535 pixels for printing and 595 pixels for onscreen viewing. Our chosen width is 200 for the leftmost frame and 490 for the text frame. Reducing the left frame with the method above will get NSD within the limits of the 595-pixel constraint for online viewing. Paring that frame further to 40 pixels will make it look atrocious, but should allow the text frame to print fine (I didn't test this). And if you're reading it on paper, the clickable headlines aren't all that useful anyhow.
Were I in this situation (and I was not too long ago), I'd just scroll, myself.- LN
Just finished reading NSD 3.40 and thought I would reply with a compliment. I am always glad to receive the "Net news" in such concise form. The links save me time and the news keeps me informed of the latest and greatest - well, sometimes not so great - events on the Net. It's quite refreshing after filtering and deleting the daily spam. Keep up the good job.
Bcesco
For what thanks can we render to God again for you. For all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God. Beloved!
John and Kathleen Stewart - Orlando, Florida
I just want to let you know that NSD 3.41 was excellent, with many fine sites of very different types. Keep up the variety. With the Web so clogged with new sites, it's good to know I can count on NSD to find some of the better Web pages.
Richard Dibon-Smith - Toronto, Ontario
I just wanted to tell you that I had to unsubscribe because my mail service won't read HTML but I still love your newsletter and I read every issue from the Web site! So don't take it personally, OK?
Gwenel
Just wanted to say thanks for a great newsletter. Keep up the good work.
Chris Ward-Johnson
I think your site is just the greatest! Keep it up.
Douglas Fagg - Tampa, Florida
You guys have the greatest surfers guide on the Net. Period. It's got pointers to great content, and it's free of Yahoo's Pick's blatant commercial advertising. In other words, you actually *do* your homework.... ;-) I respect and admire that.
Jay Batson
Your e-zine is very, very good. I am in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and every week I look at your electronic magazine, which is very interesting with excellent address. For example, when Lady Di died, the information was exactly what I wanted. Pardon my poor English.
Ricardo Hermelo - Buenos Aires, Argentina
I subscribe to several online newsletters (I don't have time to surf the Net everyday, all day) and I just have to tell you that NSD is the best one I have found. It is informative and useful. It brings highlights of the Web to my computer. Great job!
Yury Berson
I have to disagree with your take on the Microsoft decision (NSD 3.40). Sure, Microsoft was told to stop threatening people, but they received no punishment for their actions to date. The damage is already done. They have flagrantly abused the consent degree conditions, and they were only told "Don't do that" - no fine, no punishment, no restitution to those who were hurt by their actions.
Other than that, great newsletter. The others out there say the same things as you folk, but take way too much space to do it.
Maurice Hilarius - Edmonton, Alberta
This is just a preliminary legal action. The real brawl is just starting. The injunction is only in force until the issue is resolved in court, which could easily result in all sorts of sanctions against Microsoft. Not that I expect them to get hurt in the long term. They may be forced to pay a few million in fines and agree to be good boys in the future.
The bottom line is that there is too much money invested in Microsoft by Wall Street to really allow the situation to get out of hand. They'll fight as hard as they can legally, then reach some sort of deal that let's them get on with making money, which is what everyone involved really wants (yep, even the government - they want a robust economy, after all).- AB
I have to ask. Is there a site that will allow you to redirect spam mail to its original sender(s)? I've been getting a bit of spam from time to time, and I'm getting fairly fed up with it. Is there nothing that the caped crusader can do?
Batman
This can't really be done, since most spammers use either fabricated or pirated e-mail addresses to send their e-mail. Sometimes, one will use a real address, but it's usually buried in the header. I don't know of software that will automatically dissect it out. - LN
I am a UK MSN member and have recently begun using their version 2.5, which includes Explorer 4 and Outlook Express. It's all very fine and dandy when it's possible to connect. At present, that is about 5% of the time; the rest is spent staring at the "connect" box whilst MSN fails to validate my password. Microsoft tells me they are aware of the problem but can't say when it will be fixed. I think this is dissappointing from an ISP that claims to be the best, and I wonder if you have been met with similar comments from other frustrated users ? Does Netsurfer have a favorite ISP?
Hugh Snape
Yes, but it doesn't help you out. :) Arthur and I tend to go for the smaller ISPs. You get more attention and because they are smaller, their problems are more manageable. When I lived in San Jose, I used Netuser.com. In Montreal, I use Dsuper.net (which I have to admit has been gagging somewhat on my 56.6 kbps access). While either of these ISPs is a heck of a phone call away from you, you might check out your own area for one of the smaller operations. - LN
In a response to a letter (NSD 3.40), Arthur wrote, "You are free at any time to create your own site which reflects your values for just about no cost. In fact, I would encourage you to do so since I strongly believe in the marketplace of ideas. The good ones will ultimately triumph."
If by that you mean good ideas inevitably triumph, I disagree. Two examples, based on hearsay: in VCRs the Beta system was beaten by VHS, though the prevailing view was that Beta was superior. Likewise, I have heard Windows is not an especially good operating system, while the Macintosh (among others) may be superior. From such examples I deduce that the idea which triumphs is not necessarily the good one but the most persuasive one, the most successfully marketed one. The sizzle triumphs over the steak.
Steve Walker - Warrensburg, Missouri
The key phrase is "ultimately triumph". It's only a question of time, and in fact, both of your examples perfectly illustrate my point.
Beta vs. VHS was a technology, marketing, and financial resource allocation triumph. The VHS camp had better execution of good capitalist ideas. In the final reckoning the good idea behind Beta was that ultimately the consumer will want a better picture. Well, sure enough some years down the road we're getting a better picture with DVD and HDTV. I'll agree with you that good technology does not always triumph, but that's different from saying that good ideas don't - technology is much more complex then just an idea, being constrained by the pesky demands of the material world.
Windows vs. Mac especially is a perfect example of my statement. The Mac came out with the good idea of the windowing user interface, Windows copied that precisely because it was a good idea which worked and which people liked. Similarly, DOS/Windows had a batch file language from day one, something completely missing from the Mac in its first incarnations. The Mac was supposed to be the equivelent of a blender. You push the buttons and it does what it does really well, but it was harder than hell to customize. But the idea that you want to write your own scripts for the computer was too good, so the Mac got first Hypercard then AppleScript. In both cases the good ideas ultimately were adopted.
I firmly believe that good ideas will eventually evolve to dominate our cultures much as perfectly adopted biological forms do. Natural evolution is never without blind alleys or backsliding, so I would certainly not expect the evolution of memes to be any different. The world is littered with bad ideas that for a time dominated the thoughts and practices of good portions of humanity but were swept away by better ones. Or rather I should say better adopted ones. My favorite examples are communism and disco. :) - AB
I am using Explorer 4.01. Everytime I click on a link in NSD, a separate copy of Explorer opens. I don't believe this happened until now. Is this supposed to be the way it works? I prefer only one copy of my browser running at a time, and it is a pain to close each copy.
Steven Merley
This isn't what it's supposed to do. Is it really opening a new copy or is it only opening a new window? Either way, we don't code that in NSD. It's something your browser is choosing to do all by its lonesome. - LN
Laurie is correct. I know that Netscape has a preferences option which sets how new links are opened up - in the same window or in a new window. I'm fairly sure Explorer has the same option. You just need to change it there. - AB
I sat here looking at my screen for at least half a minute while my brain replayed some of the gripe articles in your letters to the editor. I am totally amazed at some of the comments. Amazed, hell - I'm blown away. It is somewhat evident that you guys are professional "ducks" - the water just runs right off. Guess you have to be - like many door-to-door salesmen (oops, "salespersons"). After so many doors hit you in the face, you either leather up, or blow away.
My praises go to you and your company for a well executed e-zine. I have been receiving NSD for a bit less than a year, and I have saved every one of them. In fact, I use them as research material. Thanks for good work, the diversity, and the simple presentation. It works, so don't fix it!
Edward Hudgeons - Albuquerque, New Mexico
PS: By the way, could you next time, if its not too much trouble, please send me two copies - one in Braille, and the other in Swahili. And take the ad at the top and put in the middle, that way my short wife could see it better. The only other tiny suggestion would be to make the print a little bit smaller? I plan on getting a bigger monitor next year, but for now, I have to put butcher paper under my 14-incher so that if I scroll the thing too far, I can catch all the letters that fall off. So far I've been real lucky - but I worry. Oh, and if you put out future issues in layers, I could probably use those to line my bird cage - right now they are just too thin! :o)
Yep, the headline was his own. - LN
I enjoy and appreciate your work, and I know it's perhaps picky, but can't you please use a spell checker? I found two misspelled words in NSD 4.01 without even looking for them. It's a small thing, perhaps, but it detracts from the otherwise professional impression. Thanks for the good work.
Bruce Ammerman
Because I am not a hacker, it is useful to me to read your Digest. You invest the time to look for things on behalf of your readers and you share them with us. I both enjoy and appreciate you work and will continue to read your offerings.
In the January 12 edition, I found two spelling errors. One in the paragraph about Lunar Prospector, and the second one in the following paragraph about Prodigy Video. The first one misspelled vicissitudes. The second one misspelled unwarranted.
If spelling were difficult to accomplish, I might be more tolerant. But all you have to do is remember to click a button. If I had not done so, i.e. clicked the button, this message to you about the correct spelling of vicissitudes would have contained an error on my part.
Also, today's Morning Edition on National Public Radio carries a story about the Department of Defense and its invasion of the privacy of a sailor who has an America Online account on which he discussed homosexual matters. The sailor is being offered an honorable discharge. I look forward to more Web discussions of privacy issues.
One more comment. I have met many homosexuals over the years. Not a single one of them has expressed any interest in what I do in the privacy of my own bedroom. Why should I, and the rest of the world, manifest such interest in what they do?
Karl Johnson
For NSD 4.01, I was away on vacation. Our substitute editor lives in eastern Ontario, and she was dumped on by the recent storms. She managed to get what she did (i.e. all of NSD 4.01 except Breaking Surf) out to our base in California before she lost power.
Breaking Surf is always written and added last to any issue. Because I was unavailable, and our sub-editor was without power, we just mailed it raw. I generally don't use automated spell checkers. - LN
What kind of people are attracted by sites like yours? Try editing your mouth, then find a job that better suits you... like cleaning toilets. Other than that, you may not be the worst character I've come across, but you are still a jerk.
I.M. Mean
Last time I got a letter like this, the guy later apologized 'cuz he was drunk when he wrote it.... - LN
Don't hold your breath, just hold your tongue. Good-bye, and good luck to you.
I.M. Mean
No, really - what distresses you so? - LN
I think you should try to be more lady like, even if it is out of style today. Your replys were nicer than I expected. If you changed some of the wording on your Web site, I think you would attract more people.
I.M. Mean
Not sure my wife would appreciate my being more ladylike.... What wording do you mean? Can you be specific? - LN
You are full of surprises.... Let's forget about it. I'm probably older than you are and we spoke a lot differently not so long ago. Say hello to your wife.
I.M. Mean
Guess what? You said earlier that people who send you nasty letters usually are drunk and apologized later. Well, I did have a drink, but.... Anyway, I took another look and it turned out that the trouble came not from you, but from one of the sites you listed. This is not easy, but you have my apology.
I still think you should drop that "CrashSite". Have a nice day, and I'll have another drink....
I.M. Mean
Your station sucks.
Dave Price
Heh heheh heh. He said "sucks". - LN
Address your letters to
editor@netsurf.com.
Letters and signatures edited for clarity and brevity.