'inside the asylum', my ezine, now online...

[Asylum Steve]

If any of you have been hiding in the bushes near my house during the past five or so months (I can't prove it for sure, but I think at least one of you has been) and were wondering what all those strange lights, noise, and escaping smoke at all hours of the night were being caused by, it was me working diligently on my pet project, an online ezine (yeah, I know...that's redundant) titled inside the asylum.

Well, I'm happy (relieved?!?) to announce that it is finally ready for human consumption:

http://www.photoasylum.com/e_fall-cover.html

So, at your earliest convenience, I invite you to take a look. A decent monitor (1024x768) is highly recommended to enjoy it in its full glory.

Months in the making, 'ita' is a showcase for my recent (and not so recent) photography, graphic design, and marginally humorous ramblings. Hey, there's something here for everyone!

Beautiful women traipsing around in their underwear and bikinis (yeah, thought that'd get your attention)! A long, fun interview with actress Tanya Memme! Some of my amazing lighting and photoshop secrets revealed! A hint of a new gallery show! My spinal x-ray!

Ok, I'll admit that last one's a little wierd, but what else would you expect from me?

So, let me know what you think, and which parts you like the best! With any luck, I hope to make this a regular thing. Oh, and BTW, the interview for an upcoming issue will be with our own Photo John...

And yes, I know it's January. I'm too lazy to change the month. Besides, I officially released it this past weekend, which is close enough for me...

-Steve

[another view]

Just got thru it today - excellent job!

For the record, I would have voted for the long hair...

At page 3, the arrow wouldn't go forward so I went to the first article and came back to catch the pages I missed. Using Safari, being one of those darn Mac people.

[Asylum Steve]

At page 3, the arrow wouldn't go forward so I went to the first article and came back to catch the pages I missed. Using Safari, being one of those darn Mac people.

It's Sebastian's fault. He's my Safari code checker...

Seriously, I'm not sure what it could be. There are two links along the full height of each side of each page to go to the adjoining pages. Both of the page 3 to page 4 links work fine in IE...

Thanks for the comments...

[gahspidy]

Looks great Steve and very interesting and informative. Great job

[mjs1973]

It looks good Steve. I didn't get a chance to read it all, but I "thumbed" through it. Can you "thumb" thru an e-magazine? At home, using Firefox on a Win XP machine, everything looked great. At work, on a Mac usning Safari, not so great. The top of the page was duplicating itself on the bottom of the page. See image below. Also, on page 16, where you refer the reader the original image on page 12, the original image is actually on page 10.

I "thumbed" thru it using Firefox on the Mac, and everything looked good with one small exception. See the M in the second screen shot.

I'm not trying to be overly criticle, just thought you would like to know. I really like the idea, and I think it looks pretty good. I'm looking forward to reading thru it.

[Old Timer]

Quick thumb through and loved it. Going back for more.

[another view]

The top of the page was duplicating itself on the bottom of the page......See the M in the second screen shot.

In Safari, I didn't have the duplicate but did have the "M" thing happen.

Lock the doors and hide the valuables - heading down tomorrow...

[Asylum Steve]

I'm not trying to be overly criticle, just thought you would like to know...

Don't be silly. This info is very valuable to me. A lot of folks (and maybe future clients) will be viewing this on a Mac, so I want to get it right.

Think of it as a Beta...

I'm very sloppy with HTML code sometimes. The visual miscues you guys point out are most likely from tables that aren't configured exactly right.

And the page numbers of eveything kept changing as I went along (dang thing kept growing!), so yeah, I'll have to correct that reference to a previous page...

[Asylum Steve]

did have the "M" thing happen....

Guys, I redid the post production page:

http://www.photoasylum.com/e_fall-postprod.html

How does it look in Safari now?

[Asylum Steve]

At work, on a Mac usning Safari, not so great. The top of the page was duplicating itself on the bottom of the page. See image below...

Michael, one thing I noticed from your sceenshot of Tanya's Q&A (with duplicating bg) is the text seems much larger than on my IE browser. The paragraph that reads "I rise and shine" (third one) is exactly next to her left eye in IE.

On your screenshot it's much lower down. All the text being larger is forcing the table cell to expand at the bottom and the bg to duplicate. Not sure what I can do on my end to fix that...

[SmartWombat]

I use ctrl/+ and ctrl/- in Firefox to get the text size readable.
HTML is not PDF
You can not rely on the layout being exactly what you designed.

If your HTML is sloppy, I'm surprised that the layout stands up so well in different browsers and text sizes. You're doing yourself down there, Steve. I think it's good HTML to work so well.

[readingr]

Nicely done Steve, an excellent piece of work. Tanya sarcasm came over loud and clear

Roger

[another view]

Guys, I redid the post production page:

http://www.photoasylum.com/e_fall-postprod.html

How does it look in Safari now?

That did it! I also checked the arrows on page 3 and they work. I did try all of them before but none of them worked. Did you fix it or did I just imagine it? :aureola:

Baaah, computers - they'll never catch on...

[mjs1973]

Michael, one thing I noticed from your sceenshot of Tanya's Q&A (with duplicating bg) is the text seems much larger than on my IE browser. The paragraph that reads "I rise and shine" (third one) is exactly next to her left eye in IE.

On your screenshot it's much lower down. All the text being larger is forcing the table cell to expand at the bottom and the bg to duplicate. Not sure what I can do on my end to fix that...

I adjusted the size of the font on my dispaly, and it fixed the problem. The M on the other page looks fine now too.

[Asylum Steve]

Quick thumb through and loved it. Going back for more.

Thanks OT. Love that avitar...

[Asylum Steve]

You can not rely on the layout being exactly what you designed...

Yep. problem is I'm trying to use web text as much as possible (instead of making all the text graphic images). Which means, as you rightly point out, that how a viewer configures their browser will become a factor in how the page lays out and looks.

You're doing yourself down there, Steve. I think it's good HTML to work so well.

Well, what I mean is my code is not always compliant.

Hey, much like me...

[Asylum Steve]

Nicely done Steve, an excellent piece of work. Tanya sarcasm came over loud and clear...

Thanks Roger. FWIW, Tanya loves the piece, and has blogged on both her official web site and mySpace pages telling everyone and linking to it. She also wants to use the artwork from the interview on her ms page, but we have to figure out the details.

She has a good sense of humor, so I knew I could mess with her a bit. My favorite line is the French Canadian toast one...

BTW, her mom got involved (a story too long to get into here) because I wanted to know Tanya's time of birth to use on the postage stamp cancel artwork. So, that's an inside joke.

At least it was...

[readingr]

Thanks Roger. FWIW, Tanya loves the peice, and has blogged on both her official web site and mySpace pages telling everyone and linking to it. She also wants to use the artwork from the interview on her ms page, but we have to figure out the details.

She has a good sense of humor, so I knew I could mess with her a bit. My favorite line is the French Canadian toast one...

BTW, her mom got involved (a story too long to get into here) because I wanted to know Tanya's time of birth to use on the postage stamp cancel artwork. So, that's an inside joke.

At least it was...

So pleased that you can keep a Secret - Note to self - Don't tell Steve secrets :lol:

Roger

[opus]

I'm not sure if you'll be able to see this or not, but I took a screenshot to try to demonstrate.

The top right arrow works for me in safari if I click it *just right*.

The bottom right arrow doesn't work. It looks like, according to your code, that the arrow wants to take you to page "toc", which is where we already are. (see status bar, also popup yellow thingy next to the arrow )

[Asylum Steve]

I'm not sure if you'll be able to see this or not, but I took a screenshot to try to demonstrate.

The top right arrow works for me in safari if I click it *just right*.

The bottom right arrow doesn't work. It looks like, according to your code, that the arrow wants to take you to page "toc", which is where we already are. (see status bar, also popup yellow thingy next to the arrow )

Actually, there's nothing wrong with the page code. The "arrows" are not links. Rather, there are two "strips" along the left and right side of each page which link to the previous and next pages.

IOW, you can click on either side of the screen at any spot near the edge, and it links to the adjacent page, not just the top or bottom where the arrows are.

The link to the TOC on all the pages is the text on the bottom left inside the asylum and the text on the bottom right december 2007.

I do admit the table box with the TOC link "bleeds" a bit onto the arrow graphic (the TOC page is the only one with the arrows inside the pencil line border like that), which might cause some confusion. I'll have to tweak that I suppose. I should also disable the TOC links on the TOC page. That's a no-no...

So, what do you think about the mag itself?!?

PS, I fixed it. Disabled the TOC links...

[Asylum Steve]

Looks great Steve and very interesting and informative. Great job

Thanks Gary (he said with a bump!)

[freygr]

Asylum Steve, Great work. I hope your head still fits through your doors.

[Asylum Steve]

Asylum Steve, Great work. I hope your head still fits through your doors.

Thanks. No problem with my head. I have french doors... :lol:

[opus]

So, what do you think about the mag itself?!?

It's visually sumptuous. I haven't taken the time to read it all through (unless I can take it into the bathroom with me, no magazine has much chance of getting read all the way through ... ) but I loved the feature about learning your photoshop tricks and I look forward to future issues.

[Asylum Steve]

I haven't taken the time to read it all through (unless I can take it into the bathroom with me...)

That's why the laptop was invented...