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New Features in the Ayn Rand Lexicon website

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DArcMattr

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Hello, I'm David Arceneaux, web developer working for the Ayn Rand Institute.

I want to share with you some new features of the Ayn Rand Lexicon site. I have made a recent behind-the-scenes site restructuring that will allow me to more easily add in new utility features.

It is now possible to link directly to individual quote blocks. You'll see there's now a "Link to this entry" link below every entry. Copy that link, and you'll be able to use that to point directly to a section. Before, if you wanted to refer to some quote by Ayn Rand about Emotions in a discussion about "unconditional love", where you want to refer to the 5th entry, you can target that section directly: http://aynrandlexico...ns.html#order_5

It's now possible to "Like" and share each section block on Facebook. Other social media sites are forthcoming.

There is now a Quote of the Day page.

As projects at work allow, I will add in new features over time. I may even remember to announce them here.

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Hello, I'm David Arceneaux, web developer working for the Ayn Rand Institute.

I want to share with you some new features of the Ayn Rand Lexicon site. I have made a recent behind-the-scenes site restructuring that will allow me to more easily add in new utility features.

....

As projects at work allow, I will add in new features over time. I may even remember to announce them here.

Thank you, David, for adding the new features to the online Lexicon as well as for announcing your modifications here. I like what you've done and look forward to seeing what else you do with the Lexicon, a great online resource.

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Hi. Those updates sound handy. It is rather convenient to have you here asking about the lexicon right now since I recently noticed a problem on the website and wasn't sure where to report it. A few entries seem to contain the wrong quotes. I don't recall what the other ones were, but the fallacy of frozen abstraction for example contains a duplicate of the quote about Freud from the previous entry in the lexicon. If this could be fixed, that would be greatly appreciated.

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David,

I noticed something after your announcement, when I checked out your changes, and just now in order to confirm it:

When I load (or reload) the Lexicon home page, the floating menu selector to the left -- the "box" with the red, rounded cornered, rectangular background which contains the topics, "About the Lexicon," Ayn Rand's Works," etc. -- first loads expanded and then snaps or contracts to its minimized size.

Perhaps that is what it is supposed to do, be visible like that, expanded while loading, but I thought I would mention it.

I'm on a G5 Power Mac (non-Intel) with OS 10.5.9 viewing the Lexicon using Safari 5.0.6.

I also checked it out with Firefox 3.0.12, and I see the same thing.

Edited by Trebor
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When viewing the lexicon index with either of my Macs using Safari, only the entries in the left column show up (I know that there are more entries in a righthand column because I sometimes view the site using a non-Mac). For example, on the Mac that I'm currently using to post this message, the index listings for "M" end with "Middle Class" -- I'm not seeing headings that I know should be there, like "Modern Art," "Mysticism," etc.

Anyway, good work, David. Those are some nifty features that you've added.

J

Edited by Jonathan13
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@Jonathan13, what version of Safari are you using?

I have tested this against version 5.0 and 5.1 running on Windows, plus the versions of Google Chrome that have been in play over the last 3 months--Chrome shares many moving parts with Safari, you see.

In the meantime, I will change the content overflow rules for pages that have 2-column lists like on the Conceptual Index and Lexicon Index pages.

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When I view the page in Chrome, the resolution looks off. The type is larger than usual and the photo of the book is pixelated. Just FYI, I love the other changes.

And I just wanted to thank you and the others at ARI who are responsible for making this book available online. I use it and link to it often on my blog. I will especially enjoy being able to link individual quotations!

~Jenn

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When I view the page in Chrome, the resolution looks off. The type is larger than usual and the photo of the book is pixelated.

Do you have your text size set to something other than medium? You can check this buy going to Options > Under the Hood > Web Content > Font Size. I have the body text size set to work off the base text size that users can choose, but to look optimal under the medium setting.

Aliasing methods vary between browsers, and I'm well aware that parts of the book image will appear blocky in certain browsers, particularly the border. I have also been aggressive about trimming filesizes of the images I use on the site, and that image is at the threshold of JPG-compression induced graininess.

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Is this the correct entry, in the Lexicon, for Volitional?

"The so-called visual arts (painting, sculpture, architecture) produce concrete, perceptually available entities and make them convey an abstract, conceptual meaning...."

From my copy of the book itself, under "Volitional," there's:

"Volitional" means selected from two or more alternatives that were possible under the circumstances, the difference being made by the individual's decision, which could have been otherwise." [Leonard Peikoff, "The Philosophy of Objectivism" lecture series (1976), Lecture 3.]

That and only that.

Edited by Trebor
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  • 2 months later...

I developed the site against Safari 5+, and current Google Chrome--both browsers use the same layout engine, WebKit. The problem you're describing involves a styling feature that Safari 4+ is supposed to handle, but seems to have been implemented buggily. If you could mail a screenshot to me, I can better understand your problem here.

I see that Safari 5.1 is the most recent version of that browser. If you're not able to upgrade, because of your OSX version, then you could use Google Chrome, which is automatically kept up to date, and has most of the same browser DNA.

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  • 7 months later...

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