Still working on the revised format for this blog...

Here's a brief update for those of you having difficulty with the "new look" of TYWKIWDBI.  I've received a variety of comments about the redesign, which is based on the "Picture Window" template from the Blogspot host, using a two-column body layout and a very wide central column.  The goal was to allow images to be large enough not to require a second click for viewing.  The wider column does change the text viewing a bit;  too wide a column necessitates more lateral eye movement (or head movement by those sitting too close to their screens.)  I did get one comment that the embedded text width is easier to read than the main body text, which I think is true.

The first group of serious complaints/concerns came from readers who encountered new difficulties in scrolling down the page.  As best I can understand (and remember I'm an English major trying to do computer thingies...), the problem apparently lies with the "background" image, which is this:

It came with the template, and seemed nice enough at the time (it looks like a rural Midwestern scene as viewed by a drunk driving on the wrong side of the road..), but the reports I received were that for some of you the image didn't scroll properly, so viewing the blog pages became a "jerky" experience.  One reader sent me the following screencap of how the image breaks up on his monitor:

The background image is totally irrelevant to the blog, as far as I'm concerned.  I would be willing to remove it and replace it with a solid color or a pattern, if that will enhance the viewing experience.  It's easy enough to try.

The bigger problem has appeared this past week or two with reports by several readers that the YouTube embeds are causing major problems.  I couldn't see the problem until someone finally told me they were using Safari.  So I shut off my Firefox and opened TYWKIWDBI in Safari, and found posts that looked like these:

For whatever reason, some of the YouTube videos lose their "anchoring" in the post and drift to aberrant locations, sometimes overlapping and obscuring textual elements and links.

Now THAT's a real problem.  I think we can all agree that the reasons people visit this blog (and the reason I compile it) is for the content, not the design, and when the content becomes inaccessible, then changes have to be made.  I'm still studying and trying to research why this is happening.  At first I assumed it was because I was changed the dimensions of the videos; with the wider column I have been able to change the standard width from 480 pixels to 640, and doing that without changing the vertical height specification, and at least in Firefox it seemed to work o.k.  But I just tried fixing the Chrissie Hynde/Pretenders "Creep" embed by putting in only unmodified original embed code - and it still winds up misplaced.

The problem may have arisen because I widened the central column, but you would think the Blogspot template could handle that minor tweak. 

I'm working on it/thinking about it as best I can, in between football bowl games and playoffs and winter household chores.  I'll redo the background image first, and see what happens.  But first I have to watch the Packers' play the Eagles...

Addendum:  A message at the Blogger Help forum suggests that the wandering YouTube problem is being encountered by many bloggers (see replies at the link), in strong association with Safari usage.