I like the new design!

My only gripe is that the links in the left-hand column are nearly illegible on my Mac (resolution is 832x624). But I like the new color scheme a lot.

Anybody else have any comments?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Answers

Wow, you're quick! I'm still uploading.

I just noticed that I had an error in the style sheet -- I forgot to include Verdana in the font specs for those links you mention. I can also probably bump it up a notch. Try reloading to see if it's better.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Wow, really like it - especially the dinky folders on the left. Nice colours too

Your new forum doesn't like me though - it let me register confirmed my user name and then laughed at me. *sniffle*

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

It's a good look. I'm already nostalgic for the little girl cartoon. Can/will you still use that graphic from time to time?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

It's looking really good Beth, very well done.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Wow, looks great!

I don't know if you changed the font thing, but I'm on a Mac (1024x768 resolution), and everything is clearly readable to me.

I like the "open in new window" a lot. And the collapsing folder. Very cute and user-friendly.

Sara

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

I really loved the old design. :( It was a lot easier to use, and cuter, too. This one is a different feel. Not bad, but I just don't like change! I would be happy if you brought back the old version.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Loving the design; however, I have the same problem that Jennifer did. I'm on a Mac using Netscape 4.7 at 1024 x 768 resolution, and the links in the left-hand column are so tiny as to be illegible. (I've hit reload a couple times, too.)

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

The only thing I changed on the fonts was to specify Verdana as the preferred font for those teeny little fonts. If a Mac user will confirm that it's still illegible IF YOU HAVE VERDANA on your machine, I will bump them up another size. If you don't have Verdana, you'll see it in Helvetica or Arial, which is in fact very hard to read at that size on a Mac. I do highly recommend that you download Verdana; it's free and it's used all over the place. It's not the prettiest font in the world, but it's super easy to read on a computer screen, especially in small font sizes.

Go here to get Verdana, for Windows or Macintosh.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Okay. I bumped up the font. It's a little bit enormous on a PC, not the look I was hoping for, but it should be legible to everyone. If you still can't read it, send me your address and I'll mail you a magnifying glass!

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

It really is a size problem, because I do have verdana. It looks great on my screen now, except the line at the top about opening links in a separate window, which is still the smaller size.

Getting your page design to look good on every platform is a sisyphean task. That's why I don't even bother to try :)

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Yes, I intentionally left that part small, because it looks awful on a PC if it's any bigger. I don't even know if that script will work on a Mac, so call this a compromise.

By the way, I got that script from Fresh Hell. I need to remember to credit her for that.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Hey Beth --

You know -- my PC is set at 1024x768 and the fonts don't look too large to me at all ...

Then again, I have a bad habit of changing my settings down to 10pt Verdana as default:)

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

I'm actually finding the new design to be really...dark. I can see the links, but the whole page could be brighter. And I can't really tell what that picture is in the corner either. Do like the saying at the top though. Folder idea is cute, and good idea on the checkbox.

What's weird is that normally I hate frames, but your site got me used to them. Now I'm weirded out that there are no frames and I have to keep clicking back and forth!

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

I'm flabbergasted. In fact, my flabber hasn't been as gasted as this in quite a while. Compliments on a really nifty design, Beth. And that little form trick in the top left corner is just the coolest.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

Thanks, you guys (and Stijn, sorry about your flabber!)

For those of you who complained about the darkness: I lightened up a few images. I keep my monitor set at the default brightness level, but Jeremy turns his way down, and the page was really dark on his computer. (He also, for some reason, does not have a full color pallete with his snazzy new video card. I think he should get his money back.) I adjusted some things to make it legible on his computer, which should mean that it's viewable for the rest of you. If not, I don't know what to tell you at this point.

Especially since it now looks pretty washed-out on my monitor!

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

Here's the URL for a short and sweet javascript that allows you to create and serve up separate style sheets for mac and windows users.

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/98/35/stuff2a/code.html

I'm using it for a site at work and it's AWESOME.

cheers, gabby

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Gabby. I knew there was something like that out there. I'll play with that tonight -- oh, no, it's Buffy tonight. I'll play with that tomorrow.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

I really like it! Great job!

Most of all, I liked reading your HTML! What a hoot. "Template thingie because I'm so ungodly lazy" Great colors & fantastic that it isn't in frames.

I can't believe you did it all in one weekend! I've got my domain name and journal, but haven't popped everything into HTML & a layout that makes me happy - and its been 2 months! And I'm a web developer for a living! (which, on second thought, may be why I haven't done it over the weekend. too much like work!)

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

I don't load images, as a rule, so my impressions tend to be skewed. _And_ I use netscape. Netscape 3.01. On a Mac. Come on, do you _care_ any longer what I think ?? :)

It actually works pretty well on my machine. My only problem is that the text in the main portion seems to have no margin on the left side -- the gray sidebar ends and the text of the main white block begins right up against it. It'd be easier to read if there were a little buffer space around the text in the main cell. I have no idea if it looks that way in anyone else's browswer, of course.

I hate frames. Everyone hates frames. I have to admit, though, I sorta liked your frames, if only because my archaic equipment probably can't render more sophisticated arrangements properly.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

Judy, the margins are set in the style sheets, and your browser doesn't support style sheets. I can't use the tables to set the margins because it screws up other stuff (mostly in Netscape, oddly enough). Sorry about that.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

Does anyone know whether the drop-down menus are specific to IE, or will Netscape 6 understand them? (The folks at Netscape are so embarrassed that they've skipped version 5.)

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

I like the design! I hate you for doing it in one weekend (says she who can't decide on a design after months and will probably just pay homage to someone else's), but I like it! I like all the cool features too.

I guess the margin thing is why the widths of the intro page and a journal page are different? It was very disconcerting to go between these two pages quickly. You are not allowed to ask why I was flipping back and forth so quickly.

On the links page, I didn't realize that the headers like "About Weblogs" or "Crime and Punishment" would bring up submenus because my cursor remains an I-bar instead of becoming a pointer. Then I accidentally clicked and brought up a submenu. Just FYI. (I'm using IE 5.0.)

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

That's why I put "MSIE Users: Click on the headers for a drop-down menu" at the top. Guess it wasn't clear enough!

As for the margin changing thing, it shouldn't be doing that. I probably have a table screw up somewhere. I'll look at it tomorrow. (Again, tonight is Buffy. The whole page could go up in flames and I wouldn't deal with it tonight.)

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

It looks good!

I agree that it's kind of dark. I don't know if it's how I have my browser set up, but the links barely stood out.

I'd gotten used to navigating with the frame so after I post a response it feels like I have to do a lot of clicking to get back where I was. And, I don't like the way the margins are different from the journal page to the forum, but it's not a big deal.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

I can't even tell you how happy I am that you no longer have those frames. Hooray! My subscription works now. For Mac users with MSIE, if you can upgrade to 5.0, the font sizes are closer to the way they appear on PCs. It makes the Web a whole different place, it does.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

For the longest time, I could not for the life of me understand why every damn journal out there was in 8pt Verdana -- what, did *everyone* have better eyes than I do?

Then I realized that the pages appeared different on PCs than Macs. Finally, with IE5.0 I get to see what everyone else sees. >insert obligatory Microsoft thrash<

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

But IE is so monumentally annoying. It makes it harder for me to do certain things, I hate how it does idiotic things with clicked-on links, it's slower to load (yes, I do have 5 for those who are wondering), and at times it just outright stops working to go back to other pages.

I still love Netscape. Even if the latest version (btw: apparently they felt that version 6 was such a leap from 4 they felt another number change was necessary. Um, ok.) crashes several times daily ('course, most things do on my computer), it's still less of an annoyance. And I avoid getting ripped on by Linux users.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

Oh, my God! I just downloaded IE5 for the Mac, and suddenly I can read everything on the Web again! For years, I've been like "why does everybody make their web page display in 6-point font??" Everything is bigger now! Oh thank God! I can see!

And Beth, the nifty little dropdown thingy on your front page works now! And, there's so many cool preferences that I can set that Netscape does not offer me! I can tell it not to play sounds! I can tell it not to animate GIFs!

Did I mention that everything is bigger?!?

My God, I think I may just have become a convert. *shaking head*

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

Jan -

don't get too happy. Microsoft has disbanded the IE for Mac team and is discontinuing development of IE for Mac.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

It does, of course, help if you get your information from places other than MetaFilter:

http://www.maccentral.com/news/0005/11.ie5.shtml

The rumors of IE for Mac's death = greatly exaggerated.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2000