Home page adjustments?
The boxes on the right side of the new home page design look like they should be closer together, to me, rather than lined up with the various sections of the left-hand text. Especially when the page is a comfortably narrow width, the Groups/Contribute box ends up too far down. -- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com
David Abrahams wrote:
The boxes on the right side of the new home page design look like they should be closer together, to me, rather than lined up with the various sections of the left-hand text. Especially when the page is a comfortably narrow width, the Groups/Contribute box ends up too far down.
Yea, it's been mentioned before... And I was just waiting for an excuse to change that. Guess Doug's changes qualify as an excuse :-) -- -- Grafik - Don't Assume Anything -- Redshift Software, Inc. - http://redshift-software.com -- rrivera/acm.org - grafik/redshift-software.com -- 102708583/icq - grafikrobot/aim - Grafik/jabber.org
I don't know whether this has been mentioned and/or discussed previously, but I think it would be better to stick with the default font styles both for the text and more importantly for the links in the new home page design. Although the alternate font styles and colors to some extent make the home page prettier, I find that they actually make it harder to read and use. The default font style is generally one in which text is easily read by the user while still being small enough that a large amount of text can fit on the screen at once. A custom font, such as the one selected for the normal text in the new design, may display either smaller or larger than the user would like. I find that the custom link styling is a greater problem. The black text with a light blue underline is far less effective at identifying a link than my default link style, both because it does not stand out from the rest of the text as my default style of blue text with a blue underline, and also because I am not as familiar with it identifying a link as I am with my default style. Furthermore, some of the links (such as in the right-side boxes) do not even have an underline, which makes them even less identifiable as links, and some non-link pieces of text appear to be links because of the styling. For example, the headings in the right-side boxes are in blue text with a blue underline and change color when the mouse is moved over them, a style that is commonly used only for links, and similarly, the "Revised 8 May, 2005" notice at the bottom right is in the same style as the links on the left side, and even changes color when the mouse is moved over it, but is not a link. Less strongly than in regards to the text styling, I also suggest that the left and right margins currently filled by gradient images be eliminated, since they take up space and don't really improve the appearance of the page. -- Jeremy Maitin-Shepard
Jeremy Maitin-Shepard wrote:
I don't know whether this has been mentioned and/or discussed previously,
You could find out ;-) By doing a search on the list archives. And yes it has been discussed. But I'll briefly reiterate some of my previous responses below.
but I think it would be better to stick with the default font styles both for the text and more importantly for the links in the new home page design.
1. There are no universal defaults in web browsers. 2. It is not possible to accommodate user preferences, preferences are different than defaults, without abandoning design. 3. The best way to accommodate the broadest set of user preferences is to make it possible for users to either turn off the design. Or to generally make it possible for the users specialized browser to display the page as they wish or require. [snip]
Less strongly than in regards to the text styling, I also suggest that the left and right margins currently filled by gradient images be eliminated, since they take up space and don't really improve the appearance of the page.
1. Many other people disagree, and see the shadow gradients as and improvement. Some of them publicly said so, others mentioned it to me privately. 2. Yes, for many people it does take up more room than really needed for the effect. But it hard to accommodate a wide range of uses with bitmaps. 3. Because of that, the next design, after the current release, doesn't have the left-right shadows. The next design is also not just a face lift as this one is, but also a structural content redesign. -- -- Grafik - Don't Assume Anything -- Redshift Software, Inc. - http://redshift-software.com -- rrivera/acm.org - grafik/redshift-software.com -- 102708583/icq - grafikrobot/aim - Grafik/jabber.org
participants (3)
-
David Abrahams -
Jeremy Maitin-Shepard -
Rene Rivera