PA text-only version now available for Opera users!

[Leshy]

*** UPDATE: It works in Mozilla and Firefox now, too! ***
Check here to see if your browser can hack it

Many people have requested a text-only version of Planetarion, either for bandwidth issues, or for speed, or whatever. This has never been a possibility from server-side, as it would require a lot of extra coding.

However, for Opera 7 users, a text-only version is already available! Considering this browser has the option to use custom stylesheets, I've been fiddling around with the default custom stylesheets and managed to find the way to turn the current PA interface into a completely text-only solution. No more distracting images, and incredibly fast page loading for when you have to make that tick in seconds.

Here is a screenshot of the new interface, and here is a Demo Version *bling bling*. The information on it is falsified in order keep my planet in some sort of anonymity, but it's all plain text you're looking at. And yes, the colours can be modified

It does not work in MSIE, because it has fk all CSS support, and for Mozilla and Firefox, it needs to be added server-side, as it normally does not allow you to use your own custom stylesheets, and I personally don't know a plugin that allows you to override server-side style sheet with custom ones, unfortunately.

So, how do you get it to work?

• Download or Open & Save pa-text.css
• In Opera, press Alt+P to bring up the Preferences menu and go to the 'Page Style' tab
• At the bottom, fill in the location of where you downloaded the stylesheet to (C:\pa-text.css, for example)
• Log into Planetarion, answer the bot question, and hit the little Author/User mode button next to the address bar

Also, as a plea to the developers of R11, please make sure that Planetarion reaches the browsers preferably in an XHTML/CSS solution that allows for more flexibility than the current table nightmare the code is

[nickhall]

or you could just click the picture of a camara at the top which removes images. thus giving almost the same effect (again tho you need Opera)

[Qdeathstar]

leshy is a friken genious....

although i personally have no need... and i dont use opera ;-0

[MotoX]

Leshy for president !

[Leshy]

Originally Posted by nickhall

or you could just click the picture of a camara at the top which removes images. thus giving almost the same effect (again tho you need Opera)

That will disable images indeed, but you will be stuck with placeholders for all the images. Which kind of defeats the point of a text-only layout :)

And sorry if it sounded a bit too enthusiastic, I was just fairly excited about finding how to do it yesterday evening :o)

[General Martok]

Then you can wipe your monitor and keyboard clean now Leshy

But very nicely done. Still not gonna use Opera ofc

[Yeggstry]

Originally Posted by Leshy

Also, as a plea to the developers of R11, please make sure that Planetarion reaches the browsers preferably in an XHTML/CSS solution that allows for more flexibility than the current table nightmare the code is

You'll be lucky - Karm and Mit both didn't code like that, in fact when I was working on the original newsletter I was told it didn't have to be XHTML/CSS valid, even tho I knew it could be done, plus I did it without tables. OK, it didn't work in NS 4.x, but who uses that now?? (I did make it at least readable in it).

There is one word for coders who dont use the latest valid standards - LAZY.

[JC]

Do Opera pay you to promote their browser Leshy?

[DarkAngel]

nicely done leshy.

[Leshy]

Originally Posted by JC

Do Opera pay you to promote their browser Leshy?

I'd be rich

At any rate, I'd be more happy if I could announce this .css file for all browsers, so that it could be added server-side. Unfortunately however, only Opera is the one to deal with it correctly, and which has the ability to easily switch stylesheets. I expected the stylesheet would work in Mozilla/Firefox as well, but it seems to handle a few CSS things fairly strange, I may have a look at that later.

And frankly, I'd rather use this .css file as an example of why PA should move to a CSS-based design (much greater freedom in customizing pages), rather than as an additional reason why Opera is great. It just seems the browser promotes itself again in this case

[Andy_r]

Mozilla (and for that matter iCab) users can block images, which gives that same effect, and can also be useful if (like me) you try to visit the portal with a modem.

For a less drastic solution, the "Arcade" skin was designed to be small and fast, for low bandwidth and/or small screen resolutions.

[GReaper]

Firefox can switch between custom stylesheets if the server provides them. A nice little icon in the bottom left hand corner appears if theres a different stylesheet to choose.

Just requires that whoevers coding it supports alternate stylesheets in the HTML.

[Stew]

Leshy in promoting Opera shocker

Edit: pld ur constructors

[Leshy]

Originally Posted by Andy_r

Mozilla (and for that matter iCab) users can block images, which gives that same effect

I have tested Planetarion with Mozilla/Firefox and images, turned off, but believe me when I say the effect is not the same at all

It does properly load in the menu links as text-only, but it still shows placeholders for the missing images. And on the PA main pages (where I think they are used as background images, rather than through <img>), those become big empty 625x625px blocks, effectively rendering the page as good as unuseable

For a less drastic solution, the "Arcade" skin was designed to be small and fast, for low bandwidth and/or small screen resolutions.

This is in fact, not true. The Arcade skin may have a minimalistic look, but as for bandwidth, it is one of the largest skins. Using the Opera info panel, I just checked the overview page with each of the different skins activated, and these are the results (sizes all in bytes):

Skin            Page Size     Inl. Elem. Size
---------------------------------------------
Industrial         13.999             467.465
Green Eye          14.050              75.414
Arcade             14.000              70.403
Silver Moon        14.060              68.845
Green Fusion       14.056              67.082
Stargate           13.996              65.861
Blue Planet        13.998              62.139
Red                13.996              59.270
Dark Blue          14.001              52.146
Black              14.003              45.742
Dark Red           13.998              39.924
Text-Only CSS      14.047                   0

Originally Posted by GReaper

Firefox can switch between custom stylesheets if the server provides them. A nice little icon in the bottom left hand corner appears if theres a different stylesheet to choose.

Just requires that whoevers coding it supports alternate stylesheets in the HTML.

The problem is that Mozilla/Firefox doesn't get along well with the style sheet I wrote, and still loads the menu graphics. I presume it doesn't like swapping the images for their alt text. Additionally, I prefer being able to have your browser swap the author's stylesheet for your own custom one, rather than a few preset ones.

Originally Posted by Stew

Leshy in promoting Opera shocker

Actually, it was not my intention to promote Opera. It's just the only browser I've been able to get it to work with.

Edit: Reading up on CSS attribute selectors, I see no reason why Mozilla shouldn't be able to handle them. I may fiddle some more later on tonight and see if I can get it to work there as well.

[Razorback]

the 12 customers bothered about it will be really thankfull.

Tho great work Leshy, u were always a smart guy and now a feckin rich smart guy!!! :P

[Leshy]

Well, that was embarrasingly easy. A very subtle yet Mozilla-deadly error on my part. Check the opening post, it's fixed now and contains a link to the same overview page as in the screenshot, so you can check it out for yourself.

Now if only IE did not have crappy CSS2 support

[s|k]

Leshy that's the coolest thing ever. Thanks!

[s|k]

you know I just bought and paid for opera just because of that

[s|k]

lol and it crashes moments after I enter the registration key!

[Leshy]

That's just it's way of saying thank you

[GReaper]

All thats needed now is something like...

<link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="pa-text.css" title="plain text style" />

And Firefox users should be able to switch easily. But would the creators actually implement a good idea? Probably not.

[Karmulian]

Originally Posted by Leshy

*** UPDATE: It works in Mozilla/Firefox now, too! ***

doesn't work in IE ;p

[Andy_r]

Originally Posted by Leshy

This is in fact, not true. The Arcade skin may have a minimalistic look, but as for bandwidth, it is one of the largest skins.

Well, technically it IS true, since I did design it that way, I just didn't succeed - the problem is that I only compared it to 'industrial' to see if I it was small - d'oh!

If gifs were supported, it would have been much smaller.

[Leshy]

Originally Posted by Andy_r

Well, technically it IS true, since I did design it that way, I just didn't succeed - the problem is that I only compared it to 'industrial' to see if I it was small - d'oh!

Compared to industrial, they all are

If gifs were supported, it would have been much smaller.

Well, even a one-time 70kB download isn't that much of a problem, really.

The main reason why I prefer text-only mode, is because the graphics aren't given fixed sizes in the code, causing the screen to redraw frequently as images are loaded in, which is a bit annoying. In text-only mode, pages load as good as instantly for me, which I must say I kind of like

[General Martok]

I hate you leshy, now I probably have to install Opera for speedrounds

[s|k]

Oh, if you're using mozilla, or firefox, you can just download this amazing extention for webdevelopers:
http://www.chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/

and turn images off and show with alt attributes on and it works like a charm, and no extra css file is needed :P

[Leshy]

Originally Posted by s|k

Oh, if you're using mozilla, or firefox, you can just download this amazing extention for webdevelopers:
http://www.chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/

That is actually a very nice plugin. Especially the 'Replace Images with Alt Attributes' in this case should do what the Opera .css file mainly does, and it seems to have several other features that Opera also has standard stylesheets for.

and turn images off and show with alt attributes on and it works like a charm, and no extra css file is needed :P

On the other hand, you need a plugin. So whether you download a plugin or a CSS file isn't too much of a difference. I personally prefer the CSS solution as it allows you to customize the settings yourself, and because it can be applied serverside if needed - you don't have to rely on people installing plugins.

Still, I'm getting this plugin for my copies of Mozilla and Firefox

[Leshy]

Just tried out that plugin with Firefox 0.8

It's good for development, but for actual usage, it's a bit annoying. Unfortunately it comes as a toolbar rather than a menu item, which means it takes up valuable screen space. Additionally, it still displays the image outline when replacing them with their ALT attribute, which is a bit of a shame. I do like the way it can do several other things, so I might port those to Opera through CSS

[Leshy]

And fixed for Firefox now as well, although at the cost of some bandwidth, as this fix does require for the menu images to be downloaded, although they are not displayed.

[s|k]

Yeah, it's pretty cool, also I think PA did a great job coding the site since it works so well without the images. I bet it works great in lynx, all it needs is a "Skip menu" link. :P

[TouRiQueT]

I went and bought Opera 7. Using it for PA with the file you made Leshy. It really does rock.
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