Volume 10 Issue 12 Current 2005

As of September 2001 the RPG Times underwent a site re-design, with the goal of producing a more magazine-like layout and feel, as well as simplified navigation and a significantly reduced workload for those who handle the coding of the monthly articles. While the site will be undergoing continuing refinements for some time, we are fairly happy with the new layout.

However, in order to simplify the site code for the technical staff, and to easily achieve the look we wanted, we were forced to utilise some of the newer web technologies, most notably Cascading Style Sheets (mainly level 1, but possibly some level 2 features). The result of this is that some earlier browsers may not view the site as it is intended to be viewed. The two pages most affected are the cover and contents pages, the former more so than the latter.

We have made the decision to drop prefered support for all browsers below version 5.01 for Internet Explorer, and below version 6.1 for Netscape. We have been examining the browser statistics for rpgtimes.net for some time, and the vast majority (some 92%) of our readers use one of these browsers or newer.

The majority of the site should be viewable to the remainder of our readers with little or no difficulty - Netscape 4.7 has shown almost perfect reproduction of the site, and Internet Explorer 4 is redirected past the cover and directly to the contents page, after which there are no significant issues.

In addition, we have recently tested the site under Linux (RedHat 7.2),and found no notable problems under the following browsers: Mozilla 0.9.2.1,Netscape Navigator 4.78, and Netscape 6.2.

We apologise to any readers who are unable to view the site correctly, but we believe the time has come to let the Internet move forward, and considering the two major browser vendors produce completely free browsers - the system requirements of which have changed little since the 4.0 days - we believe we have made the correct choice.

If you are having difficulty viewing the site on a 5.x or higher browser, please contact us and tell us the following:

• your operating system and version;
• your browser and version;
• what the problem was and where on the site it occured.

E-mail this information to us at rpgtimes@rpgtimes.net and we will investigate the problem.

We hope you enjoy the new site, and look forward to having you back every month.

The RPG Times Staff