Lots of folks are complaining about the small dialog section in the middle and the waste of space due to the column of advertising on the right. Here is a tip to solve the issue. IE7 has a very nice zoom feature in status bar (bottom right of your web browser). Use that tool to set the image at 125% or 150% and the advertising is pushed off the screen to the right and you get almost a complete display width of forum dialog. I am fairly sure that the latest version of Firefox has a similar feature. This forum layout is the perfect place to use this feature and solve a problem for yourself.
To those, “Lots of folks…” If that’s your most serious problem, you don’t have any.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Yep, that, does it.[8D]
Cheers
Bruce
I discovered that if you go to about 150% and then Zoom-In a couple of times you will completely loose the images at the right of your screen.
With FireFox, you press CTRL + as many times as needed to get the screen size you like. If you overdo it, press CTRL - to recover.
A strange thing I have noticed with IE7 is that after enlarging the screen to 125% the page links are one number off; i.e., to go to the second page I have to click on number 3; for page 3 click on page 4, etc. This seems to be more a problem with the screen enlargement than the forum software, though because if I go back to 100% screen size the page numbers are right…
I use a mouse that has a scroll wheel so I hold down the control button, turn the wheel and thus size the screen to fit my monitor or however it is comfortable for me. So far Windows has remembered this for this website and it’s the same when I visit again. Very easy problem to correct.
JaRRell
Y’know, back in the '50s people were constantly writing to MR to complain about the advertising content! They never seemed to realize that without advertising a publication would cost a fortune to purchase. (Besides, are you interested in trains or not?) I don’t suppose managing a website is any different: you’ve got to pay for the publication somehow, without charging the readers for it!
Well feed me corn and watch me grow! That helps alot! Thanks
Never knew that was there, helps with reading the smaller text also!
Maybe the size of the ads could go down for subscribers. Be another bonus. I subscribe to MR & Trains, and usually get all the special issues (and Classic Trains) as well.
Thanks for that tip. I never knew you could do that, and here I thought I knew what I was doing. But then, I’m also someone who not only understands why there are ads on these web sites, but enjoys them. I like seeing what’s new, what’s available, and at what cost. So they don’t bother me one bit.
Tom
For me, the issue is not so much the right hand column (for reasons which may be apparent [8D]) but the amount of header stuff at the top of the page.
I have huge monitors yet still have to scroll down quite a bit to even get to the forum threads.
Craig,
I’m using a 22.5" wide screen monitor with my display at 1680x1050 and I can see the first post on the page when I pick a thread. Maybe your resolution is set too low…[2c]
Don Z.
Thanks Don
All monitors are set to max res.
On the 30" and 22" widescreens I can see a number threads.
It’s on the 21" CRT monitors that I have the issue. The are set to highest resolution but once you factor in the toolbars on the browser plus two separate headers (one for trains.com, one for mr.com) at the top of the page, that’s a lot of real estate taken up.
I could hit F11, but I am trying to multi-task! 
Craig
3T:
That’s true, but there are two opposing forces at work here:
-
Don’t sweat the small stuff (as you correctly state).
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Problems tend to grow to fit the available tolerance.
I suggest a quick look at an old copy of POPULAR MECHANICS, and its current heir, which NUKEES has renamed POPULAR ADVERTISING INSERTS.
I really like the 1960s MR covers, with little more than a title, a price, and a photo. It’s almost artistic-like. Our present-day periodicals are so “busy”.
(Of course, then you look at 1960s RMC, which looks like the back pages of a comic book. 
)
That is a cool hint but it doesn’t increase the amount of information available on the left hand side of the screen. It just makes it bigger. That is my real issue. Reading the messages makes me feel like I am reading a column in a news paper rather than “letters” from other forum members.
There are other issues as well, just give it time, you WILL hear the be-hitching. Some things I really dont like:
I really hate the narrow dialog box.
Partial titles on the main Trains.com forum page because that big lump on the side eats up 1/3 the screen. Its very hard to know what the heck someone is talking about when you look at it and it reads “Can someone sh…”
Smaller images due to the decreased width alocation in the dialog box, so far they dont enlarge when clicked, like the old forum did.
Smaller text in the now smaller dialog box is harder to read
I have to go to the main Trains.com page to see the Active Topics, or the My Discussion topics, then they are even smaller partial titles due to width limits, old forum they were part of the header at the top.
I know most of these have ways around them, but the point is that I shouldnt have to do all these go arounds, the point of an upgrade is to make something easier to use, not harder.
I await to see what tweeks are forthcoming.