New look for Fantastic Posts

[Porphyria]

Greetings all,

We've come up with a new look for all the old and future FAQs that we do. 
Old ones will be converted, future ones will conform. :-) Please read this 
post if you are the editor of an old FAQ or expect to be writing one in 
the future. If you are the editor of an old FAQ, then you can pick what 
sort of color scheme/graphic look your old FAQ will get for the new site 
(see point I.1 below). For future FAQ writers, please just keep this info 
in mind.

Note: I'll be doing the actual HTML coding, so FAQ writers will just have 
to explain to me what they want based on the following options.

In the spirit of Dumbledore who lets his students sing the school song to 
any melody they prefer, we are letting the individual FAQ writers choose 
the color schemes or background graphics for the FAQs they do, while still 
instituting a familial resemblace from FAQ to FAQ. Here are the 
particulars.

I. What the individual FAQ editor can pick:

1. The color scheme, the option of a frame, the option of background 
tiling graphics.

I have provided several sample templates to give you an idea of how 
different each FAQ can look while still having the standard layout.

For the ultimate in understated elegance, you can have the whole 
background just be one color [or white], as in here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template3.html

Or if you, like me, feel more secure with a border wrapped around 
everything, you can add a contrasting frame as in here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template1.html

Or a frame with a tiled background as in here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template2.html

I have provided a selection of background tile-able images in a 
bound-volume theme, so there are ones that simulate parchment, vellum and 
fancy paper, and others that simulate leather book bindings. You can view 
them here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/graphics/

So you can have a paper-background as in this fibery one:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template4.html

Or for something more complicated, a combination of paper background and 
contrasting frame:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template5a.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template5b.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template5c.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP4GU-
FAQ/files/SampleTemplates/template5d.html

Note: These last four might not render the inner background on very old or 
non-standard browser windows, but they should still be legible. If anyone 
has any trouble seeing a decent layout on these samples, let me know.

Note on color schemes and link colors: There are 216 colors that will work 
on all color monitors. You can use a site like this to determine what 
looks good:
http://www.zspc.com/color/index-e.html
You can can also just tell me in plain English. Assuming you are not 
choosing background graphics, you can pick out any color pale enough to 
set off black text, with or without a coordinating frame. You can also 
choose coordinating link colors: generally an unvisited like should be 
bright but legible, a visited link should be darker and an active link (at 
the moment of clicking) should be very bright or contrasting.

2. The internal organization of the FAQ material.

Different FAQs will lend themselves to different means of organization. 
Some FAQs are primarily lists of posts, some are more paragraph/essay 
format. Some require lots of charts, bulleted lists and numbered lists, 
some don't. This is the decision of the editor. However, we do recommend 
that all new FAQs come with a Table of Contents at the top that can be 
coded to link to individual sections, and a Back to Top link beneath each 
section to get you back to the ToC.
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II. What will be standard on each FAQ:

1. The header: "HPfGU Fantastic Posts" which will link back to the new FAQ 
main page.

2. The footer: Which contains copyright information and my email address 
for reporting errors.

3. The font: I have added a style sheet so that all text will be in either 
Verdana, Ariel or Helvetica, depending on which the user has installed. I 
have picked Verdana as a first choice since it was designed for online 
viewing and I find it very appealing and legible.

All FAQs will have black text on a background pale enough for contrast.

4. The layout: Each will consist of a 600 pixel wide area for the actual 
text which remains centered on the page no matter how big the browser 
window. This way, people can maximize their windows and still be able to 
read the text comfortably. I did this since I find I need to have my 
browser window maximized to read the messages in webview or else they wrap 
funny and look cramped what with all the advertisements and navigational 
material framing them. So this way, someone can maximize their browser 
window and click back and forth from the FAQ to the messages and read 
everything easily.
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If anyone sees any potential problems with these, let me know. Thanks!
~Porphyria