New [php] tags hyperlink vote

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Moderator: General Moderators

What should we do with the new hyperlinks to php.net in the

Code: Select all

 tags?

Poll ended at Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:35 am

Leave them as they are, they're useful
11
50%
Change the color back to blue but have them bold
3
14%
Change the color back to blue and underline them
4
18%
Have some sort of a toggle so that users can disable them
3
14%
Get rid of them all together, they're pointless
0
No votes
Something else (please tll us)
1
5%
 
Total votes: 22

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Chris Corbyn
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New [php] tags hyperlink vote

Post by Chris Corbyn »

Seems we have some differing opinions on the new

Code: Select all

 tags.  What do you think we should do with the hyperlinks on the documented function names?  Do you find them useful? :)

Voting ends in 5 days (Friday 10th).

[syntax=php]$foo = 'bar';

function say_it_twice($str)
{
    return str_repeat($str, 2); //Documented
}

echo say_it_twice($foo); //Not documented[/syntax]
Last edited by Chris Corbyn on Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:06 am, edited 2 times in total.
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jayshields
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Post by jayshields »

Great idea linking them. Many other sites do that. I was going to suggest it.

I'm not fussed about styling, functionality is more important.

Well done :)
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shiznatix
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Post by shiznatix »

i like em. very useful i must say. the color is obvious link color so it works out. go team.
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

although I know it's a bit of work, allowing the colors/style to be chosen would help satisfy all the people. I think everyone, from those that don't like the coloring at all, to those would like the code in a slight different set of colors, to guests that aren't registered at all.

I do believe the default should stay this way, or maybe bold, or even background color (say yellow?) the links to really make them pop. At least that would benefit guests and newbs likely the most.
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

Bolding the link might bring attention to it without carpping out the style of the highlighter. I would agree that making the links stand out is a necessary feature, but I think we would also want to keep the look and feel as clean as possible.

Either way, the fact that this feature is on this board is a definite improvement and will be a helpful tool to a lot of developers.
d3ad1ysp0rk
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Post by d3ad1ysp0rk »

I wish you guys had used a css class for styling them instead of style="blah" in the a tags. Now I can't use the Web Developer's Toolbar to edit the CSS on the fly to check the differences and what looks best.

Not a big deal, but now I have to just guess what may look the best ;)
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

that's actually due to how the original phpbb mod works. I'm hoping to bring the mod more inline with what we had with mine.
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

Do you think there would be any benefit to using GeSHi? I believe this application stemmed from the original code highlighting feature found in phpBB. GeSHi also supports multiple language formats (HTML, CSS, Javascript) which are also included in a lot of questions and answers around here.

Just thought I throw it out there.
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

geshi implementation is being debated (somewhat) amongst the moderators at the moment. It was part of an overall solution I suggested, along with making preparing for new languages a bit easier.
Roja
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Post by Roja »

feyd wrote:I do believe the default should stay this way, or maybe bold, or even background color (say yellow?) the links to really make them pop.
A background of yellow would make me want to vomit. :)

Thankfully, the poll so far leans towards leaving it as-is.
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Jenk
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Post by Jenk »

With a whopping 4 votes.. hardly conclusive that the entire forum wants them.

I've voted for toggle, but would have voted for "leave as links and blue but with no text decoration".
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Post by Roja »

Jenk wrote:With a whopping 4 votes.. hardly conclusive that the entire forum wants them.

I've voted for toggle, but would have voted for "leave as links and blue but with no text decoration".
Agreed, just commenting on early results.

Having toggle in the choices may just confuse the situation.. I've got no issues with having a toggle available. The question was what to do by default.
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shiznatix
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Post by shiznatix »

a toggle with a default as is would be best. dont throw that toggle thing in a users face right off the bat as to not confuse them.
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

Jenk wrote:With a whopping 4 votes.. hardly conclusive that the entire forum wants them.

I've voted for toggle, but would have voted for "leave as links and blue but with no text decoration".
There was a "Something else" option ;)

Have you actually thought about the practical implementation of having hyperlinks that look the same as the rest of the text? It's a well known usability no-no... 8O

Here you go... what you're saying is just as silly as trying to find the link in this text:


There's three hyperlinks in there... good luck :P

http://w3style.co.uk/phpdn/usability-no-no.html

EDIT | Now compare it to: http://w3style.co.uk/phpdn/usability-better.html
Last edited by Chris Corbyn on Sun Feb 05, 2006 4:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
josh
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Post by josh »

They should stand out in some way, when they first went live they were just bold I think, that looked just fine to me. Aesthetically pleasing, fits the colors for function names most editors and the official documentation uses, and still functional. I also think bold stands out as a link then a non-standard purple-like color.
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