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29 Mar 2004, 23:56
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#1
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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PA text-only version now available for Opera/Mozilla/Firefox users!
*** 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
Last edited by Leshy; 11 Apr 2004 at 00:59.
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30 Mar 2004, 03:15
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#2
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Naked & Profane
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 357
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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)
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30 Mar 2004, 04:52
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#3
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edited for readability
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: for something...
Posts: 1,207
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
leshy is a friken genious....
although i personally have no need... and i dont use opera ;-0
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30 Mar 2004, 05:59
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#4
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Stolen
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Sweden
Posts: 487
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Leshy for president !
__________________
Who, me?
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30 Mar 2004, 06:35
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#5
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Quote:
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)
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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)
Last edited by Leshy; 30 Mar 2004 at 06:41.
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30 Mar 2004, 08:19
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#6
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used to register
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 979
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Then you can wipe your monitor and keyboard clean now Leshy
But very nicely done. Still not gonna use Opera ofc
__________________
R1: ??:?? | R2: 51:6 | R3: 37:12 | R4: 186:13 | R5: 13:17 | R6: 1:25
R7: 15:14 | R8: 34:4 / 52:10 ¤ | R9: 16:2 | R9.5: 34:6 / 41:6 ¤
R10: 2:2 | R10.5: 15:4 | R11: 28:8 | R12: 22:9
Damn, outdated and too lazy to edit, retired now
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Started playing again Still too lazy to update though
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30 Mar 2004, 09:35
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#7
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Connection Established...
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 149
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Quote:
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
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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.
__________________
R2/3/4 - Unknown (STF Webmaster/TU Webmaster/Armada)
R5 - 36:10:16 (Armada)
R6 - 32:16:13 (ViruS)
R7 - 26:3:14 (Infection LT/ViruS TO) (#364 planet, #34 gal)
R8 - 4:3:1 then 3:8:4 (ViruS TO)
R9 - 47:10:5 (ViruS Gaming Community (VGC) Tech Op)
R9.5 - 23:6:4 (VGC Tech Op) (#462 planet)
R10 - 5:2:3 then 5:3:1 (ViruS/Eclipse, #419 planet), Portal Coder
R11 - retired from PA
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30 Mar 2004, 10:25
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#8
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lolly roffle
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 5,514
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Do Opera pay you to promote their browser Leshy?
__________________
eXcessum
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30 Mar 2004, 11:14
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#9
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Nothing Is Forever.
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Fallen From Grace.
Posts: 475
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
nicely done leshy.
__________________
dead.
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30 Mar 2004, 11:18
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#10
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JC
Do Opera pay you to promote their browser Leshy?
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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
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30 Mar 2004, 12:52
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#11
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X$X
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Location: Location!
Posts: 293
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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.
__________________
R3 172:21:12 | R 4 136:8:5 | R5 30:25:12 | R6 11:5:1 | R7 40:25:17 | R8 30:1:5 | R9.5 36:10:14 | R10 1:5:9 Boldness of Helvetica
Proud to have been [YHQ] until the end of YHQ [VtS] until the end of Legion [Titans] until the end of Titans and |R6B| for Speedgames
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30 Mar 2004, 15:22
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#12
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The BOFH
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 463
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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.
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30 Mar 2004, 15:27
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#13
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Made of Twigs
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 5,459
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Leshy in promoting Opera shocker
Edit: pld ur constructors
__________________
If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor - James
It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am - Muhammad Ali
So **** y'all, all of y'all; if y'all don't like me, blow me! - Dr. Dre
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30 Mar 2004, 16:45
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#14
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy_r
Mozilla (and for that matter iCab) users can block images, which gives that same effect
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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
Quote:
For a less drastic solution, the "Arcade" skin was designed to be small and fast, for low bandwidth and/or small screen resolutions.
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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):
Code:
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
Quote:
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.
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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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stew
Leshy in promoting Opera shocker
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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.
Last edited by Leshy; 30 Mar 2004 at 17:07.
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30 Mar 2004, 17:00
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#15
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Eclipse High Command
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Eclipse
Posts: 1,144
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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
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We win together,
or we die together.
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30 Mar 2004, 17:28
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#16
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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
Last edited by Leshy; 30 Mar 2004 at 17:33.
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30 Mar 2004, 18:52
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#17
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Caveat Lector
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 3,038
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Leshy that's the coolest thing ever. Thanks!
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30 Mar 2004, 19:21
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#18
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Caveat Lector
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 3,038
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
you know I just bought and paid for opera just because of that
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30 Mar 2004, 19:26
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#19
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Caveat Lector
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 3,038
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
lol and it crashes moments after I enter the registration key!
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30 Mar 2004, 19:59
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#20
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
That's just it's way of saying thank you
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30 Mar 2004, 23:13
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#21
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The BOFH
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 463
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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.
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30 Mar 2004, 23:47
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#22
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Get Stuffed
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Cheltenham, England
Posts: 647
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leshy
*** UPDATE: It works in Mozilla/Firefox now, too! ***
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doesn't work in IE ;p
__________________
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I used to work for PA.. and all i got was this shit avatar
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31 Mar 2004, 10:07
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#23
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X$X
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Location: Location!
Posts: 293
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Quote:
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.
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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.
__________________
R3 172:21:12 | R 4 136:8:5 | R5 30:25:12 | R6 11:5:1 | R7 40:25:17 | R8 30:1:5 | R9.5 36:10:14 | R10 1:5:9 Boldness of Helvetica
Proud to have been [YHQ] until the end of YHQ [VtS] until the end of Legion [Titans] until the end of Titans and |R6B| for Speedgames
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31 Mar 2004, 12:00
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#24
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
Quote:
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!
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Compared to industrial, they all are
Quote:
If gifs were supported, it would have been much smaller.
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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
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31 Mar 2004, 16:32
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#25
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used to register
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 979
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
I hate you leshy, now I probably have to install Opera for speedrounds
__________________
R1: ??:?? | R2: 51:6 | R3: 37:12 | R4: 186:13 | R5: 13:17 | R6: 1:25
R7: 15:14 | R8: 34:4 / 52:10 ¤ | R9: 16:2 | R9.5: 34:6 / 41:6 ¤
R10: 2:2 | R10.5: 15:4 | R11: 28:8 | R12: 22:9
Damn, outdated and too lazy to edit, retired now
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Started playing again Still too lazy to update though
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8 Apr 2004, 08:47
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#26
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Caveat Lector
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 3,038
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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
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8 Apr 2004, 14:10
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#27
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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.
Quote:
and turn images off and show with alt attributes on and it works like a charm, and no extra css file is needed :P
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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
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9 Apr 2004, 13:35
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#28
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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
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11 Apr 2004, 01:10
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#29
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Mr. Blobby
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Belgium
Posts: 8,271
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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.
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14 Apr 2004, 21:00
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#30
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Caveat Lector
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 3,038
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
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
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16 Apr 2004, 11:22
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#31
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-Narcissus.Narcosis-
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 133
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Re: PA text-only version now available for Opera users!
I went and bought Opera 7. Using it for PA with the file you made Leshy. It really does rock.
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Couples Webcams
Last edited by TouRiQueT; 13 Sep 2011 at 06:56.
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