OK FREEPERS! 7 Days ago FRee Republic had a make over, how do you like it so far?

4/6/2002 | TLBSHOW

[TLBSHOW]

7 Days ago FRee Republic had a make over, how do you like it so far?

Last Saturday free republic changed to beta format for it's web site design and the crowd went mad. Many loved the new site design and others hated the new site design.

Now that the dust has settled and a week has passed. How do you like it now?

This is a question and opinion thread. Thanks!

[Dales]

If you know how to use cascading style sheets, the version of FR that is now up at beta.freerepublic.com can be set to use a style sheet that you develop, and you can basically change all of those things you said you don't like.

[Dales]

http://beta.freerepublic.com/perl/login

[VA Advogado]

Thanks Dales. I will check that out.

[sweetliberty]

Hi Palo. Always glad when I can help.

[avg_freeper]

There are two things that I have problems with now.

1. When I go to My Comments I can only see a partial list of my posts. There is no link to more... posts. I have to log out and then do a find in forum to get access to my earlier posts.

2. I wish that they could reduce the number of lines of information under each post to two lines instead of three like this:

Right now a post is followed by:
To Recipient
From Poster
Date Time #i of N

It would save lots of browser space if it was:
[To Recipient] [From Poster]
Date Time #i of N

Other than those two issues I like the new format.

[Dales]

Actually, there is a way to do this for you on the beta site. It isn't that difficult, although if you aren't familiar with cascading style sheets, this may seem strange to you, and the way to do this isn't documented well yet. But here goes.

1. Log in to the beta site here.

2. Right click this following link and ssave the file to your hard drive: http://beta.FreeRepublic.com/css/normal.css

3. Open that file using wordpad or some other text editor.

4. Find the section near the top that starts with:

   BODY 
   { 
   

5. Make it look like this:

   BODY 
   { 
        BACKGROUND-COLOR: ivory;
   }
   

   Or choose some other color that you like for your background.

6. Save your changes to that file.

7. Go to this link here.

8. On this page, there is a browse button. Click it, and then navigate to find the saved version of the file you just edited. Then click upload.

9. Then go to this link. On this page, enter the following in the text box:

   /perl/css

   Press the update button.

There, you now have FR with the background of your choice. This may seem like a lot to go through to change something like that, but if you know how to use cascading style sheets, it allows you to basically control tons of the way pages look on Free Republic.

I kind of like the style sheet I am using. If you want to see what FR looks like for me, then take the following and save it to a file on your hard drive (call it something like dales.css) and then follow the above directions, except instead of uploading the version of normal.css you edited, upload that dales.css file. Follow the rest of the directions and voila!

Also, on the link given in step 9 above, there are a few options for stylesheets that John has provided that you can choose instead, and there is a link to reset your stylesheet to the normal look. Anyway, here is my sheet for those who are interested:

/*
 * Sans Serif
 * ------------
 */

A {
    text-decoration: none;
}
 
BODY 
{ 
    BACKGROUND-COLOR: #d1eeee; 
    BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; 
} 

BODY.menu B {
    font-family: "Arial Black";
    font-weight: normal;
}

BODY.menu .content A:link, BODY.menu .content A:visited {
    color: #779;
}
 
 
DIV.text BLOCKQUOTE 
{ 
    margin-left: 10px; 
    margin-right: 10px; 
    PADDING-BOTTOM: 1%; 
    PADDING-TOP: 1%; 
    padding-left: 1%; 
    padding-right: 1%; 
} 

.header {
    padding-bottom: 5px;
    border-style=outset; 
}

.title {
    font-size: 110%;
    padding-bottom: 3px;
}

.title B {
    font-weight: normal;
}
 
.thread { 
    border-style=outset; 
} 
 
.sb { 
    PADDING-BOTTOM: 1%; 
    PADDING-TOP: 1%; 
    padding-left: 1%; 
    padding-right: 1%; 
    border-style=outset; 
} 
 
.msg { 
    border-style=outset; 
} 

.meta {
    font-size: 90%;
}
 
.meta B { 
    font-weight: 500; 
} 

.text { 
    margin-left: 15px; 
    margin-right: 15px; 
    PADDING-BOTTOM: 1%; 
    PADDING-TOP: 1%; 
    padding-left: 1%; 
    padding-right: 1%; 
    border-style=inset; 
} 
 
.msg .nav, .thread .nav, .meta {
    margin-left: 15px;
    margin-right: 15px;
}

.nav A:link, .nav A:visited {
    font-size: 90%;
    color: #009;
}

.deleted {
    padding-left: 5px;
    padding-right: 5px;
    padding-top: 10px;

    border-left: thick solid red;
    border-right: thick solid red;
    background-color: #ffcccc;
}

[Rowdee]

Put another mark in the "I don't like it column".

Getting around from forum to forum is a 'bitch', a real time waster. As is the load times. I'm not crazy about having a number of windows open....it is too detracting.

With a wide screen monitor, I feel like I'm watching ping pong going across one long line after another. I preferred the old mail room.

On the positive side, the god-awful polling was moved from a place of prominence; and all the left-hand sidebar commotion was eliminated.

Bottom line--I don't believe it makes a heck of a lot of difference what we like or dislike...we either get used to whatever stage of like or dislike we're in OR we move on.

[white rose]

Since you were kind enough to ask, I still think the "mini-forums" are a lousy idea.

[Dales]

When you log into the beta site, and you bring up any of the article listings or your self-search, find your screen name in the upper right hand corner. Click on it. You will get a page that includes a link to "My Subscriptions" that lets you set which sidebars are in what order, as well as how many articles can appear in each individual sidebar.

[umbagi]

I love my style sheets, my pretty style sheets.
They make my Freeping more fun this way.
You'll never know, John, how much I love them...
Please don't take my style sheets away!

u

[HairOfTheDog]

I loved last Saturday's release, with the Blue border and the flag! - it really had a lot of class.

Happy that John will be giving us the option to set it that way, and also the option for people to see the no frills version if they want. For me, I appreciate the work and heart that went into it, and look forward to having the flag, and the left-side menus back.

Haven't been in the new Beta Today... but yesterday's colors (which I understand will be customizable in the future) were too bright for my tastes...

[billybudd]

I know, I did that, but this is the old design and it's not very convenient. I don't understand why there isn't a log off option in the new design.

[palo verde]

Hi Dales
thank you for your informative post
I appreciate it
Love, Palo

[palo verde]

rofl rofl
your posts are makin' me laugh
you are funny, Fred

[blackbart1]

I like it very, very much. It just takes some getting used to but as another FReeper said the bells and whistles are great. Thanks John & Jim

[palo verde]

you are sweet
I love new forum, but I appreciate this thread
I have all same questions other posters are askin'
and I learn from the posts
Love, Palo

[BigWaveBetty]

I think I was gone for most of the worst of it, but it works just fine for me. Don't like being stuck in the cheese hole though. ;-)

[Dave S]

Love it. Things I hated are gone. New features I love. Its great.

[pt17]

As Stanley said to Livingston, Safari sagoodi."

[sistergoldenhair]

anything to say?