Buy or build

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

(Hmmm . . . Jobst has been politely asking me via email to please use
tinyURL for the long addresses I fling about in other posts because
some posters have to copy and paste four lines together just to see
what nonsense I'm talking about. So I'll try to tinyURL long addresses
as penance. I'll start right now . . . Oops, Sheldon's site may have
background logos, but it has nothing but short, sensible URL's.)

I prefer the long version.

* I want to see the URL the writer cites.
* With this news reader I click on the URL and focus
changes to my web browser and it attempt to load the page.
* I really do not like the idea of an intermediary in this
transaction.

So please continue to provide the original expanded URL.

--
Michael Press

Quoted message said:

On 30 Jun 2006 05:58:07 -0700, "Brian Tkatch"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

One thing about that Sheldon Brown site, however, is that the
background many times makes the text difficult for me to read. Well, i
just highlight it to read it, so it's ok.

B.

Dear Brian,

Some day, web-page designers will look at a book or word processor
screen and notice the advantages of a blank background.

Until then, we have to deal with the fuzz and clutter of
something-or-other logos that make it hard to read what we're
interested in.

It's unlikely that anyone would guess what the logo is on this page
unless they scrolled down to the explanation:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/

Of course, a clearer design on the background logo would only make the
text even harder to read.

To be fair, the background isn't that bad, but your comment reminds me
just how low my standards have sunk. Like the apocryphal frog in the
pot on the stove that fails to notice the water temperature slowly
rising, I've gotten used to web-page backgrounds that make it hard to
read their own text.

Switch back and forth from the link above with its endless logo
background to this one with its plain desert yellow for a good
comparison:

http://sheldonbrown.com/home.html

Much easier to read.

Or look at this large new section:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/

No wallpaper pattern of bicycle wheels, just a blank khaki background.

(There! I've vented my spleen and lashed out with unprovoked fury at
Sheldon Brown! That'll teach him to provide an enormous free resource
of wonderful bicycling stuff for the likes of me to enjoy! I should
have worked in something about burning the Harris site to the ground
to get rid of that logo, but probably someone would fail to read
Sheldon's explanation of the logo and take me seriously.)

(Now I'm filled with remorse. What can I do to make up for savaging
Sheldon's innocent logo? I could hit the delete button and not send
this post . . . Fat chance.)

(Hmmm . . . Jobst has been politely asking me via email to please use
tinyURL for the long addresses I fling about in other posts because
some posters have to copy and paste four lines together just to see
what nonsense I'm talking about. So I'll try to tinyURL long addresses
as penance. I'll start right now . . . Oops, Sheldon's site may have
background logos, but it has nothing but short, sensible URL's.)

Carl Fogel

Thanx for the reply. 🙂

I also don't mean to complain about the free resource. Well, actually i
do, it does bother me. But i don't mean for the complaint to cause any
negativity for the (gracious) provider, just to vent some frustrations,
however slight, as they are worse to bottle up, and perhaps, even the
provider would accept it as constructive criticism, and be thankful for
the honest comment.

B.

Michael Press said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

(Hmmm . . . Jobst has been politely asking me via email to please use
tinyURL for the long addresses I fling about in other posts because
some posters have to copy and paste four lines together just to see
what nonsense I'm talking about. So I'll try to tinyURL long addresses
as penance. I'll start right now . . . Oops, Sheldon's site may have
background logos, but it has nothing but short, sensible URL's.)

I prefer the long version.

* I want to see the URL the writer cites.
* With this news reader I click on the URL and focus
changes to my web browser and it attempt to load the page.
* I really do not like the idea of an intermediary in this
transaction.

So please continue to provide the original expanded URL.

--
Michael Press

Personally, i prefer seeing both. The "real" URL, so as i have control,
and a short one too, should i want the convenience.

B.

Quoted message said:

David Damerell said:

Quoting Brian Tkatch <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

One thing about that Sheldon Brown site, however, is that the
background many times makes the text difficult for me to read. Well, i
just highlight it to read it, so it's ok.

Better Web browsers allow you to suppress most Web design.

Dear David and Brian,

Ha! I just noticed my note to look into this.

In Internet Explorer, click on tools, internet options, general,
accessibility. Then check the "ignore colors" box. Sheldon's logo
background is ruthlessly censored:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html

In Mozilla Firefox, click on tools, options, content, and colors.
Then uncheck the "allow pages to choose their own colors" box, refresh
the page, and Sheldon's page reappears with its background as pure as
the driven snow.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Wow, thanx for that.

In Mozilla, i just found it under Edit\Options which brings up a
screen, then Appearence\Colors which has section labeled "When a web
page provides its own colors and background" where the second option
ignores the page.

Now its much easier to read! Unfortunately, other pages are ugly 🙂

B.

Quoth "Brian Tkatch"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

One thing about that Sheldon Brown site, however, is that the
background many times makes the text difficult for me to read. Well, i
just highlight it to read it, so it's ok.

and Carl Fogel:

Quoted message said:

Some day, web-page designers will look at a book or word processor
screen and notice the advantages of a blank background.

Until then, we have to deal with the fuzz and clutter of
something-or-other logos that make it hard to read what we're
interested in.

Hey, it seemed like aa pretty cool option back in 1995 when I did it!

Anyhoo, I've revised the graphics, though with a bit of reluctance
because some of the older photos were designed with a background
designed to blend into the beige page background.

I've uploaded everything at the top (sheldonbrown.com) level and the
sheldonbrown.com/harris (harriscyclery.com) level but some of the files
at lower levels will not have been uploaded yet, despite my having done
a global search/replace on my local copy.

Unfortunately my FTP software (Transmit) doesn't show dates for changes
in files below the level being displayed, so I always wind up missing a
few subdirectores whenever I do a major revision.

Sheldon "Aims To Please" Brown
+-------------------------------------------+
| Ah, but I was so much older then, |
| I'm younger than that now. |
| -Bob Dylan |
+-------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

if one does not build
one does not know
the pleasure of the side pull brake
for exampull

Sheldon Brown said:

Quoth "Brian Tkatch"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

One thing about that Sheldon Brown site, however, is that the
background many times makes the text difficult for me to read. Well, i
just highlight it to read it, so it's ok.

and Carl Fogel:

Quoted message said:

Some day, web-page designers will look at a book or word processor
screen and notice the advantages of a blank background.

Until then, we have to deal with the fuzz and clutter of
something-or-other logos that make it hard to read what we're
interested in.

Hey, it seemed like aa pretty cool option back in 1995 when I did it!

Anyhoo, I've revised the graphics, though with a bit of reluctance
because some of the older photos were designed with a background
designed to blend into the beige page background.

I've uploaded everything at the top (sheldonbrown.com) level and the
sheldonbrown.com/harris (harriscyclery.com) level but some of the files
at lower levels will not have been uploaded yet, despite my having done
a global search/replace on my local copy.

Unfortunately my FTP software (Transmit) doesn't show dates for changes
in files below the level being displayed, so I always wind up missing a
few subdirectores whenever I do a major revision.

Sheldon "Aims To Please" Brown
+-------------------------------------------+
| Ah, but I was so much older then, |
| I'm younger than that now. |
| -Bob Dylan |
+-------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Wow. Thanx for the change. 🙂

I'm still reading the site, slowly but surely. Just read about
front-brake braking, and as is expected, scares me almost too much to
try it, but i'll try the methods mentioned as to watch the lift on the
back wheel.

B.

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Brian Tkatch said:

I'm still reading the site, slowly but surely. Just read about
front-brake braking, and as is expected, scares me almost too much to
try it, but i'll try the methods mentioned as to watch the lift on the
back wheel.

Practice at low speed in safe conditions such as parking
lots and quiet neighborhoods. Learn the limits of your
system.

--
Michael Press

Brian Tkatch said:

One thing about that Sheldon Brown site, however, is that the
background many times makes the text difficult for me to read. Well, i
just highlight it to read it, so it's ok.

Try a little javascript with that:

http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html

--

John ([email hidden])

John Thompson said:

Brian Tkatch said:

One thing about that Sheldon Brown site, however, is that the
background many times makes the text difficult for me to read. Well, i
just highlight it to read it, so it's ok.

Try a little javascript with that:

http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html

--

John ([email hidden])

Good site.

Thanx!

B.