Item539: PatternSkin left bar is so much padding that we have lost 4-6 characters for the menu

PatternSkin left bar is so much padding that we have lost 4-6 characters for the menu

I have checked 3 different installations - two of my own and trunk.foswiki.org and all 3 places this causes trouble.

It is important that when upgrading the same skin should hold the same character width

Looking at the style sheets it seems the same #patternSideBarContents is defined twice.

First by itself

Then in a group of 4 others.

If I assume this is a mistake and remove it from the group and leave the definition where it is defined on its own then I get back exactly the same number of m's.

I am convinced this is not a design choice but a plain mistake. If not - then please - before reverting what I check in - make sure that you can create a bullet in left bar with the text

• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 A B C D

without the C or D going to the next line.

• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 A B C D E

should let E go to the next line

Then we are safe and compatible.

-- KennethLavrsen - 22 Dec 2008

(from Japan)

no, it is not a mistake to have the extra padding. It is there for balance, so is useful whitespace, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_space_(visual_arts)

I have also tried to find a balance in the padding when having the side bar at the right. If we need to be compatible I prefer to patch the 'twiki theme' only.

-- ArthurClemens - 26 Dec 2008

I am going to reapply my fix.

It was not just thrown in but done after many many hours of testing.

You cannot steal 6 - I repeat SIX CHARACTERS from the left bar so make USELESS WHITE SPACE because you think it makes better balance.

It turns the default skin into useless shit that even fails to show the default texts in the left bar withour wrapping lines in some of the languages.

We cannot ship a skin that cannot even show the standard left bar links in the languages.

I am reapplying the fix I did. It does not harm the look. Please do not revert bug fixes that I have spent hours on.

Having a TWiki theme that works and a Foswiki theme that sucks is not an acceptable solution.

• KennethLavrsen - 26 Dec 2008

I feel bad about reverting other people work so I find it needed to argue why I did it.

Please look at the images below. They show the problem

and with my fix note that you get proper display of the menu.

And you have to be an absolute fanatic to claim that there is not enough white space between menu and content or between left side and menu text. There is still as much or more than we have had for years.

So there is no doubt that our default skin has to be fixed.

If you insist on more white space - add more width for the left bar but maintain that it must have space for "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 A B C D"

• KennethLavrsen - 26 Dec 2008

I am not going through the argument of the left bar width today. That is a repeating discussion as old as pattern skin. And since the beginning it is common use to bash the skin author for this. It is also common use to bash the skin author for a bad looking skin, although that are sometimes other people. I don't find either discussion motivating nor effective.

-- ArthurClemens - 26 Dec 2008

I prefer to make the side bar wider.

-- ArthurClemens - 26 Dec 2008

If the discussion is old then why keep repeating the mistake??

The wider left bar is fine. I could have done that also instead of reverting but I did not dare touching too much.

I am happy you have fixed this even though you are away.

The change missed the beta 1 but that was a matter of timing and not because I did not want to include the wider left bar

I am sure I will release a beta 2 in 3-4 days. The wider left bar with extra white space will make the release

• KennethLavrsen - 26 Dec 2008

If the discussion is old then why keep repeating the mistake?? - this is the opposite: before, it was urged to make the left bar smaller and smaller.

• ArthurClemens - 28 Dec 2008