Re: Patch for the new prototype PHP.net website: Solving the text overflow problem with long function names in the side menu

On 07/29/2011 04:18 AM, Wadim Grasza wrote:

Function names can be long strings with no spaces and tend to overflow outside of their bounding boxes when their in narrow columns such as the side menu. Generally, we want to avoid overflowing, so we put "overflow: hidden" style applied to their containers. This results in long function names being visually truncated and it's impossible to see them in their full length. This patch changes this behaviour, adding a simple style definition "element:hover { overflow: visible }" making the function names expand when the user hovers over them. It also buys them a little more horizontal space by decreasing the unnecessary left padding. -- Wadim Grasza http://plus.google.com/111329349733874507523/about

This is definitely a "patch" not a "fix" in my mind, because the root issue of truncation is a big usability failure. The patch should be applied while a better solution is discussed. Look at, for example, http://prototype.php.net/manual/en/function.connection-aborted.php in Firefox. The truncation of the function names in the menu makes it impossible to quickly find a function you may be looking for, and it prevents seeing & learning about other functions. Chris -- Email: christopher.jones@oracle.com Tel: +1 650 506 8630 Blog: http://blogs.oracle.com/opal/