New Design

Love it? Hate it? Issues with it? Let me know and I will bend the ears of the PtB on FtB.

I can tell you the first thing I’m rattling cages about is this bloody sans serif font. Otherwise, it’s just a matter of getting used to the new look. At least so far. I mean, the Amazon Silk browser doesn’t seem to utterly despise it yet, and Silk’s a whinger, so hopefully it will work out…

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New Design
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20 thoughts on “New Design

  1. 5

    Centre alignment on article titles and descriptions on the front page instead of left is ugly.

    Log in prompt doesn’t show up on blogs that don’t absolutely require login to comment, so I got stuck in the “are you an imposter?” thing with no way to log in until I went to Pharyngula.

    Oh, and on the topic of serifs: It’s also an accessibility issue. I know people with dyslexia and visual processing disorders, and they find serifed fonts much easier to read. If you don’t want to do a serifed font as the main font, maybe have it as an accessibility skin that people can choose to apply.

  2. 8

    I agree with ischemgeek on everything. I also noticed (when I ran over to Pharyngula to log in!) that PZ has a serif font for his posts, so apparently this setting can be overridden.

  3. 9

    And did you notice that the Home page article titles aren’t centered in the column? It gives them a sort-of random placement look. Not good.

    Serifs, of course of course. Maybe Baskerville, or Century Schoolbook even.

    I’ve already posted on Ed’s blog about these nits.

  4. 10

    Add me to the list of pro-serif folks. I already commented about it over at Ed’s, and it appears he wasn’t even aware of the difference between serif and sans-serif. I directed him to Wikipedia.

    Also, why is font size in the comment entry box significantly smaller than in comments and posts?

  5. Zme
    11

    1) Serifs
    2) Home page center borking
    3) Horrible grey borders
    4) Previous/Next article links should be larger, same color as other links and both before and after each article.

  6. 12

    Please date the main posts. (Local time and time zone are nice but less important.)

    I’ve seen a box with the date in it on some FTB blogs but not on others, so I’m guessing that it’s something that’s up to each blogger.

    Maybe I’m lazy, but I don’t remember titles, and I’d rather not have to read a chunk of a post to determine whether I read it yesterday.

    Thanks.

  7. 13

    Dana, the “older posts” link at the bottom doesn’t seem to work properly to page back through recent posts, but instead seems to engage the search blog function. The Archives do work, though!

  8. 15

    Is it just me, or does anybody else see the problem with the lettering vanishing behing the blog header?

    As for log-in, it’s been at the bottom of the page on the right on all FTB blogs I’ve visited tonight.. You’re just not looking hard enough :-)

  9. rq
    16

    1) Font
    2) Previous/Next Post links should be larger/more visible (the pale grey makes them hard to see)

    I’ll have more when I take a better look around!

  10. 17

    I find it interesting that
    (a) the “Message: *” textarea (where comments are entered) is a microscopic sans serif font;
    (b) the preview of the comment is in a slightly larger serif font, matching the font of the “Notify me of followup…” checkbox text which follows; and
    (c) the comment, once submitted, is in an even larger sans serif font.

    I also notice that your comments have a line spacing that’s larger than Ed’s, but your paragraph spacing is just as borked as Ed’s is. Looking at the source, it’s obvious that the blog software is corrupting paragraph and line-break tags: I reported it on Ed’s blog yesterday. Today, I see that it’s corrupting the HTML differently. The only substitute for paragraph spacing I can find is something I noticed in another FTBlog:

    <blockquote></blockquote>

    which makes the funny box just after item (c) in the list above.

  11. 18

    One more thing: Could the links to previous/next posts be in a larger size and more contrasting colour? Cripes, I have no vision issues so long as I’m wearing my glasses, and I can barely see them. I shudder to think what it’s like for someone with a visual impairment.

  12. 20

    Hi Dana! A serif font like PZ’s choice of Georgia makes a huge difference to how nice the blog looks like. (I’m addicted to Goudy myself.) And I rather like it that you can apparently make your authorial byline all sparkly.

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