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Site Feedback Needed

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Sun Jun 05, 2005 at 08:35:26 PM EST
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Bump: Monday is the last chance to weigh in.

I've been working on making TalkLeft more readable. Mike Ditto has been helping.

If you go here, you will see what the new site would look like.

What do you think?

Update: The justified text is now gone, by acclamation of commenters. The issue now is the size of the center column and whether it should be fixed or adjustable. I've already made the color changes to the block quotes. Thanks for your comments and keep them coming.

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    Site Feedback Needed | 33 comments (33 topical)
    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:18 PM EST
    To clarify my earlier comment, the left frame with links/ads requires a lot of scrolling on my PDA. I believe there is a way to alleviate this without changing the way the site views in a standard web browser - auto detection, etc. On standard computers, I prefer the smaller text. My laptop doesn't allow for resolutions higher than 1024x768, the larger font size will make reading Talk Left like looking at an 800x600 screen: very annoying. I suggest that if others are having a hard time reading the equivalent of 10pt type and smaller text sizes in their browsers to adjust their screen resolution downwards rather than require the rest of us to adjust upwards.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:19 PM EST
    I'll add a positive, I believe everyone appreciates the color outline for blockquotes.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#1)
    by MikeDitto on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    Keep in mind that the test page shows the changes as they would appear on the front page only. When we roll out the changes, it will affect all of the other pages in a similar way--but right now links off the new test front page take you to pages with the old style.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    Overall it's an improvement, but for me (Safari, with a 1024x768 Browser window) the text is too wide across the screen to read comfortably. I like the current scheme of having a fixed width column, but make the column and text bigger with a maximum regardless of window size. At full screen (1280x1024) reading the text takes a significant about of scanning and that can be tiresome.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    Don't like it. The current view is easy to read, like a newspaper column. On a laptop computer there's very little eye movement involved in reading a line of text. With the proposed new view the eyes must constantly move from side to side. Gives me a headache.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#4)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    I like it but the text is a little to wide, but it's great work, thank you.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#5)
    by MikeDitto on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    The idea is that you can set your own size by resizing the window. When it's fixed in size, there's no flexibility there for reader preference. I can try setting a maximum width though, so that there is limited flexibility but not the extreme on the upper end. I already have a minimum width.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    I like the new type size, but the text area for the posts does seem a bit wide for comfortable reading. I didn't know to resize the window until I read these comments. Resizing made it perfect. But will other readers figure this out?

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#7)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    The vertical stretching in the new form makes the bordered quotes too long and wordwrapped to read easily. The larger text is nice. -BigTex

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    I like the flexibility of the new design. Keep up the great work.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    The idea is that you can set your own size by resizing the window.
    Exactly why I like it. With the old format I have lots of empty white spage on the right side, unless I resize. But the size I have my browser default to is the size thats best for most of the sites I visit. The larger font is nice, but my eyes are aging, so that's mostly on me.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    Personally, TL, Blagh would be lurking at your site if he had to use telephonic dial-up with a Tandy 1000 - But it looks fine, shouldn't even notice after a couple days (except for those who find the larger print easier to read... Go TalkLeft!!

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#11)
    by Linkmeister on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    I've got a heckuva lot of white space on the current page over on the right, so I'm in favor of the new version. The font size could be smaller without harm, from my 54-year-old perspective.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    Looks good.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#13)
    by Domino on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    If we, as users, want to have a larger font, most browsers have a "make text bigger" feature. I believe with a smaller font (or back to the original font) that more copy can be fit into less height. Could you eliminate some of the "MORE" sections? Anytime I can see the whole post without hitting a link, it is easier. The boxes as sized on the new version could be wider, but I have no complaints since you keep the quotes short.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    I like, fills the screen, font is larger and easier to read. B

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#15)
    by jen on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:42 PM EST
    I find it much easier to read. Nice!

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#16)
    by stoic on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    Ah, the blogstyles template. I know it well. You can see two different iterations of it at... here and here The second is a complete reworking. Let me know if I can help

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    The site looks great as it is now but the new theme looks good too. Personally I would leave the current theme, it looks much "neater".

    Before you make any changes you should remember that most people visit a blog for its content rather than its theme.

    Good luck.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    I'm sorry, I really do not like the larger print and wider margins. It looks cluttered. My two cents.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    I should add that I access the site both on a laptop and a PDA. It would be nice to see the site better adapted for use in the browsers common to PDAs.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    just keep up with the great blogging and information. I could care less how its presented, its the content that matters! thank you TL!

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#21)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    Nice.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#22)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    I am also saddened by the fixed text width. I like a nice small window so I don't (cough) get caught reading blogs at work, and Original Recipe TalkLeft fits that better.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#23)
    by mattd on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    Eek - please don't fully justify Web text, especially in short-width columns like here. The bigger the text, the fewer characters per line, and the more the browser has to widen the spaces between words to make the justification work. This may actually be what people are complaining about when they say it's "harder to read." I have my window at a "normal" width, about 800 pixels (no, I do not let a browser window take up my entire desktop, and any site that demands it gets less attention from me), and at that width, the blockquote text is far, far too narrow to support full justification with characters that large. You generally need more than 80 characters per line for justification not to strain the eyes; at this window width, the blockquoted text is about 30 characters per line. I like that the page has no fixed width, but if the lines can be short now, the text must be ragged or it's too hard to read and most people won't even know why. They'll just find it "uncomfortable" or "cluttered" or something.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    I like it. The larger font size helps for these tired old eyes. And the resizing is a nice touch too.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:43 PM EST
    I'm using Mozilla on Windows 2000 and the new site will not even load and display with it, so I'm not for changing anything.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:44 PM EST
    I like it. Easier to read. More attractive to the eye. Another one of those rare instances when Jim and I agree on something.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#27)
    by Mreddieb on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:44 PM EST
    I'm a disabled Vet and the improvement is great for me and folks like me who have reading difficulties. Thanks Ed Beckmann

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:45 PM EST
    Love it. You can always scale down. The large empty space at right has been distracting, at least for me.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:45 PM EST
    I'm with Matt on the justification. It makes it very hard to read. In general, justification only works when you have really fine control over the word and letter spacing -- and you need a good desktop publishing program and lines that don't move. In short, works on paper, not online. Now that I've gotten the criticism out of the way, though, I like the new font and type size and line spacing -- very nice.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:45 PM EST
    I have to agree that the justification is discomforting, other than that, the format is great. Thanks for all the work Ditto.

    Re: Site Feedback Needed (none / 0) (#33)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:49 PM EST
    If you'd asked me, not that you would, I'd have said it was fine as it was. But, then, I'm conservative.

    Site Feedback Needed | 33 comments (33 topical)