In an attempt to widen the comments section, modernize the site’s functionality, etc I am experimenting with some new formatting. Please leave feedback. We can switch back very easily, so DON’T PANIC!
Again, perhaps this is because I am simply the sort of person who is never, ever content to leave a room alone and must rearrange regularly. Think of it that way. Think of yourself as the critics responsible for letting me know what an idiot I am to mess with a good thing.
Erik Kain
Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.
We had a recent outage due to ongoing problems with the latest WordPress update. We were also forced into some theme changes. Some of these changes are temporary and some are probably not. We apologize for the inconvenience.
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To be blunt E.D. anything that’d cost us the “Gift of Gab” bar on the left would be a disaster in my books. It’s invaluable for tracking conversations in the comments section.Report
E.D. North is absolutely correct!Report
As is my esteemed colleague Mr. Cheeks.Report
Thank you Michael…could we possibly dump the tangerine? It’s difficult to read and you’ve upset me enough with these liberal ‘changes.’ I’m conservative you know.Report
Done.Report
This is more pleasing to the eye and provides for the easier reading of the comments themselves, though. Perhaps some third option is available whereby a small section could be provided to indicate where new comments have appeared? Perhaps without the short previews of what each comment says, which tend to cut off mid-sentence anyway?Report
I agree with both comments about comments: that the gift of gab sidebar is missed, but that these comments are easier to read. For whatever reason, I also like the general feel of a 3-columned layout for this site better than the 2-columned.
One more thing that may put me in the minority: while I like the larger font size for an individual post + comments, something about the way it looks on the main page is throwing me off a little bit. At first I thought it was simply the size/how long it takes to scroll from post to post, but I actually now think that it has to do with the formatting of post titles: the font sizes strike me as a little too close together — and I was partial to the old typeface of the titles. Or maybe I’m just curmudgeonly.Report
So I see “gift of gab” is already back: so never mind about bringing it back, but (and this goes back to the 3-column thing) I kind of miss it’s formerly more prominent place. Then again, with everything I say, keep in mind that I’m the type to prefer the clunky and inefficient to the sleek and effective and liked if the former is what I’m used to.Report
Aesthetically the old format was among the most pleasing of any website I’ve ever seen. Were it not for the fact that the site happened to end up with superior content I’d say that format would have under any other circumstances – i.e. merely above-average or worse content – been be the best feature of the site by far. I never had much problem with the comment formatting – it was kind of distinctive, though I don’t dispute it could be improved. But not at the cost of ugly black rectangles stretching across the page. IMHO. I’m an aesthete at heart, I guess.
We have to go back, Kain! We have to go BAAACK!Report
This new format isn’t bad, but I dislike relegating the “off the cuff” section too far down the page.Report
I’ve got mixed feelings about the layout, but I do like the little bio that appears after your name there. I think that feature should stay on posts; not so much because I want people to know about me, but because we’ve got lots of new people posting and I keep forgetting about their backgrounds.Report
I’m not a fan of the change.Report
Made some changes. What do you think?Report
Much better.Report
Closer, but the left column is still indented which seems to make the smaller type in the peripheral columns necessary. Can we go back to the previous font size for the L&R columns? Also, not liking the yellow-orange either, but I’m sure that’s just one of many alternatives.Report
Can we expand the columns? The center looks squished.Report
It’s a small thing, but not loving the light yellow being used with small print. Makes it hard to read.Report
Can we change the link color from yellow to anything else?Report
Agreed. I like the old color scheme.Report
Okay, I could be missing it, but where do I log in to post? Admittedly, y’all might be trying to tell me something here, but I can’t see a link where anyone could log in to post.Report
Looks like we’ve both been cut, Rufus.
More seriously, are there any unseen benefits to this new layout? I think I prefer the old version better.Report
It is very hard to read the pumkin colored words. They kind of remind me of bad dubbing for foreign movies.Report
The new format is garish, especially in “the gift of gab” area where all those avatars are visible. But garish everywhere.Report
It looks like the URL got accidentally delinked from the header image.Report
can someone bring me a cup of tea?Report
Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many other readers are in my situation. To the extent possible, I don’t let Web sites choose their own fonts, font sizes, or color schemes for links and other tidbits. Subject to that, the layout at this time is worse than the old one. The center column in particular incorporates far too much white space, which is a particular problem with lengthy comments. Can you tighten things up?Report
The comments look good, I’d say this is an improvement in the readability department. This design brings the content into focus in the single page view; however, on the home page the whole thing seems like kind of a mess.
The previous version was better at creating a more easily understood visual hierarchy, while the home page now seems more cluttered and too tightly spaced. It’s chaos. Need more order. Barring that, why not increase the layout width and font-size of the previous theme?Report
Looks like you added the left column to the single page view while I was typing. I might have to rescind the single page critique now. It’s chaotic as well.
But you’ll never make everyone happy; personally I’m frightened of change.Report
Can we get rid of the gift of gab and off the cuff while in a post?Report
I go back and forth on this (for Gift of Gab, anyway). On the one hand, it would make it look smoother if you got rid of all of that. On the other hand, I do use that to surf from one post to the next wen new comments are made.Report
A few minor things. First, could you make it so the logo is a link back to the homepage? That used to be the case and it’s something I use a lot to go back. Not that I can’t get used to clicking on Home instead.
Also, the gravitar is hovering over the words “Leave a Reply” above. Penny-ante stuff, but thought you should know.
Substantively, my smartphone does not like the new layout nearly as much as the old. I don’t know why, but it loads up slower and choppier than before.Report
We’re definitely planning to get the logo link back ASAP.Report
I really like the formatting as of the time of this comment. The picture of the trees above “Off the Cuff” goes well with the color scheme, and it looks cool, but I’m not sure how it fits with the theme of the blog.Report