i can see clearly now
…and it looks like shit.
Since the beginning of the blog, I’ve heard from time to time that our normal “ChaoticSoul” color scheme is hard to read. I’ve stubbornly resisted believing this because (a) I’m practically blind, (b) I can read it easily, and (c) it looks so damned good. Everytime I opened the page I saw a beautiful Guiness brown, with font the color of foam. A look that makes you want to sit down and share your secrets. This look makes me want to hide under a rock.
But I’ve heard from a lot of people that it’s hard to read, so I’m grudgingly experimenting with another look. This theme has some design features I like: easy to see who wrote which post, numbered comments, hierarchical pages (which I’ll exploit if we really go this route), way easier to hide from you when we feel like it. But, God, it’s ugly and boring as hell. What was once a cozy, seductive backroom of a blog is now a fucking waiting room with glaring light and mismatched furniture. But we can do something with the colors to make them less offensive and look less like every other blog out there, if we go this route. (In case you can’t tell, you can’t take this post at face value, since I’ve changed looks at least 3 times since this was written. Probably more if you’re reading this more than 3 minutes afte this edit)
So, will dark on white print make our blather clear? And if so, will that attract or repel readers? I’m betting repel. Prove me wrong. I’m not going to be able to take a bland aesthetic - it’s dischordant. It’s like easy-listening for your eyes. Something will have to give.
But tell me how you really feel. I did.
posted by what at 11:09 pm
I liked the old look better! never found it hard to read.
The black set up was very “classic” but I find this one much easier to read. The new header pic ROCKS. Now if the Title and “sections” would just retreat to their normal places (center and side-bar) …
goo, they can’t retreat. They can be both places, or just at the top. But I can make them look better if we go this route.
Thanks, mama. I miss my Guiness.
I miss the old one. I think making the font larger on the other look would go a long way to helping a lot of people (but not make it look like a hospital).
It’s the content, not the packaging, that keeps me coming back. I can go either way on the design, but I must admit I feel like lingering more now because my eyes aren’t straining. There’s a reason books were written black ink on white paper all over the world. You are doing a great job here, have a beer.
This is easier to read and, I might add, more inviting. I had a martini the other day that was a wonderful translucent lavender. It’s worth a try.
dear what..
i was out tonight with a friend from Spain, watching an amazing film that you would appreciate (if not love) called “Gypsy Caravan” - this is its first weekend in theaters around the U.S. and int’lly, and it’s an incredible celebration of Roma musicians from far-flung parts of the world who traveled and did a concert tour together about a year ago.. check it out whenever you can… quite extraordinary..
okay, so what? well, we went and drank a Guinness afterwards at a multicultural “Irish” bar here in Berkeley, and talked about music and blogs, and I mentioned this one…
then came the joy of arriving home just now at 2a.m., and opening my email to find your reply… after weeks of major eyestrain and frustration with your light font on dark background scenario, i had written you a truly heartfelt email saying how much i appreciate this place and its content, but that i could barely stand coming here cause it was so difficult to read everything as well as post here, even though aesthetically it ‘looked good’ on the surface…
well, lo and behold, your response said “i hate it, but you got your wish… at least temporarily…” so, now here i am, so easily thrilled, cause typing this post is SO DAMN QUICK: wow, what a cheap date i am!
and reading everyone else’s posts, and your posts, are all SO DAMN EASY!… literally and metaphorically, night and day… and even this ‘bolding’ will now show up, as soon as i hit “submit comment”, which was never possible in your previous schematic incarnation…
so, last but not least, as a serious aficionada of excellent hotmetalling and sweet-on-the-eyes graphics, i would ask you to consider that within the world of “dark font on light background”, that there are MANY variations on this theme you could play with, which might even be more satisfactory to your personal sensibilities and yet still be attractive to the multitudes of us who experienced the other version as a big pain in the ass, whom i imagine felt like i did but just didn’t have big mouths like me and didn’t say anything to you about it…
i ’suffered’ for a long time feeling the way i did without putting pen to paper — hands to keyboard– cause i was lazy… and frankly didn’t believe you’d be open to this transformational possibility, which i understand is a big deal in many ways… i seriously applaud you for being open to checking out new options, and hope that you explore many of them (i.e. “foam” or other ‘light’ color backgrounds, new cool fonts like this one, maybe ‘guinness’ or other ‘browns’ instead of this light black for the font color, etc. etc.)
anyway, the only problem i can see with this is folks like me having such a good time being able to finally see what they’re typing in their comments, that they don’t know when to stop, like me right now
p.s. “final” note on “how i REALLY feel”:
i disagree with calypso.. even in the past, when i made the font and the whole pages larger via the view mechanism with my browser, it still was hard to read and unpleasant..
i’ll be looking forward to seeing all the creative stuff you can play with inside of this new game… gracias again… and take care… LR
p.p.s. pls forgive the emoticon.. in my excitement, i got carried away, obviously! feel free to delete and substitute with a good ole exclamation mark.. i would do that myself if this were a ‘message board’ instead of a ‘blog’… (!)
Dear what,
I don’t post much, but do enjoy reading. Please go back to the original format, if you are so inclined. It was easy to read and aesthetically pleasing. The white background is glaring and looks like every other webpage out there. However, it’s YOUR BLOG. You need to do what makes YOU happy. This is not a democracy and not a message board. Please remember that.
Thank you,
- AmyH
P.S. - The new header does indeed “rock.”
I’m with Guinness on this one. It’s the content that is my draw. I wonder if we can do a wide black border or something. I actually had the same issue with a Website of mine a few years back. I love the feel of the black but people seem to have a lot of trouble fishing out the text. I did try the thing of increasing the size of the text. Some folks liked that — some did not. In the end what I think we want here is a place that truly invites people to explore the content — a place that makes it easy to stay.
From an artistic chair the first design had my vote hands down. Clearly though the legibility issue is real for too many of the fold to ignore it. I say - let’s go with the black type on the white background but let’s explore what we can do to frame it in a thick black frame. I’ll be thinking about this.
I am torn. I loved the look of the black (well, maybe brown, but it looked black on my monitor) background. So cool and deep and interesting. I always highlighted everything I wanted to read, so that it became dark on light. This is indeed much easier to read, but not very funky. This dark on white may possibly not be as likely to attract… but more likely to retain?
Dunno.
Like AmyH says, your blog, your call. I’m just happy you’re here doing what you do.
Bring back the old look — so much cooler. Coolerer. Whatever. It had a warm, artsy feel and never found it hard to read.
The old look was much more aesthetically pleasing but did wear on my eyes just a little.
The new look is better for reading at work. It’s less obvious to bypassers, that I’m not doing what I should be. Did I just admit that?
I miss the ‘intimate’ feel of the brown / black. Way cool and not like anything else I’ve seen. This look is kinda sterile.
But it’s your place …. we don’t have to like the curtains to like the conversation in the room.
Think the old look was absolutely beautiful, but this is definitely easier on the eyes (for me!) It is, though, pretty antiseptic - especially when compared to the other rich color. I’m hoping you can “futz” around with it a little, so you feel good about it, but still have it so readable! I know nothing about how any of this is accomplished - but it seems like some type of a border would help the sterile look. Whatever you come up with is fine, but thanks for asking!
I loved the old look. Very cool.
I’m reading your feedback for what will or will not make it comfortable for reading and posting. No offense, but don’t bother with the suggestions on the aesthetics of this place. One thing I’ve found (to my surprise) is that I have pretty strong feelings about what I like and don’t, so if I stick with this, I’m not going to have trouble figuring out what I can live with. Honestly, we looked at some versions of light before you people were aware we were here. There are ones far less ugly than this, but it’s easy to change color details, harder to add in some of the functional features.
So keep reading and commenting.
Loved the original look - it was very sophisticated and still inviting, but you are the holder of the keys and, anyway, your content is what keeps drawing me in.
KimLoree - love your confession! You have a lot of company with that, I’m sure.
If I remember, it was like moonlight in a whiskey glass at midnight. That might have been asstral. I’ll get back to you.
I liked the chocolate. Who doesn’t like chocolate? This is, however, easier to read and of course isn’t that what it’s all about (besides the music).
deb- having first persuaded ass to the dark-side (and it wasn’t easy), I figured everyone else would be a push over.
We’ll see. Too bad theme isn’t left as a choice to the reader, as it is on some msg boards. Too bad life isn’t like that, in general.
Still don’t have a feel for how many people just have monitors that make the dark one impossible and how much of it is aesthetics. I have some sympathy for throbbing heads and burning eyes, but none for taste differences, of course. that’s the whole point of taste
The aesthetics are none of my business — I totally agree.
I had no trouble reading the posts with the black. I have a really good monitor -even though my eyes aren’t worth crap. Also in the still quiet of my own mind where I can hold opinions on things that are not my business I will add — I love the old look but will be glad to be here no matter what clothes you choose.
another 3 cents:
liking today’s new experiment, after last night’s white starkness.. like the difference on the home page font and color, with the font and color here on the comments page… interesting contrasts..
very much like the borders, the boxes, etc. - again, will continue to look forward to seeing new variations that you play with in the coming days, while you figure out what works for YOU… (with ’some’ of us in consideration…)
p.s. i had left one ‘old’ dark page open and revisited it last night for a while, to compare (to what?) and try to figure out what was going on for me.. i realized that i did love that chocolate brown and ‘foam’ color mix, but just wish it could be switched…
it’s all cool.. thanks again..
I am one that had a hard time reading the blog with the original color scheme. It was just way too dark for my eyes to get accustomed to it. I think you’re onto something though with using a dark background and a white or very light font color. Although, I, too, can get away with having this screen up at work, it’s your blog. The content is good, that’s all that really matters, but I do find myself wanting to stick around longer. Thanks for asking!
what about the other one? the one with the blue. really i think that is better than this shit.
we’ll make this one blue, if we don’t go back to CS- color is easy to change, function is hard.
don’t worry - no way are we staying with this color scheme
I posted an option for increasing typeface by the user on the new thread. Sorry and good luck.
Here’s the “blue one” asstral is talking about. If you were here when we first surfaced, you may have seen this before. Same functionality as our usual.
If we go to the dark type on white, I’m thinking something along this color, but overlayed on one of the two hideous white ones we did earlier today, for the sake of the numbered posts, hierarchical pages, etc. And of course, settle on some banner with more interest.
one-and-a-half-cents:
current blue-grey (or is that ‘gray’)
class act.
This is not bad. And if you select “larger” from the “View” menu… pretty good.
I do like this photo much better than the other… although TH is not primarily known as a guitarist…
It might be more convenient having numbered posts, ‘though.
Thinking I’ll change the banner from time to time.
I don’t totally hate this look, but it seems a bit conventional and girly, mostly because of finding font colors to go with banner pic.
Numbered posts aren’t an easy in - for now, I’d need to go with a theme that already has them and redo a lot of the look to get a tolerable color scheme. May happen someday, but not instantly.
I’m missing the guitars on the side, but they just don’t look good with this. Pictures in general don’t look good with white backgrounds.
I loved the chocolate, but found it difficult to read. Have you considered (I skimmed the comments so this might have been suggested already) keeping the old color but increasing the font just a tad? It was, and still is, actually, the 5 (ish) point font that made reading difficult I think, not so much the color.
But I’ll read either way. Do what feels right. I do agree with you that this white is a little flourescent light-y…
The font size thing is tricky. It seems to be monitor or browser related. I did a test a few weeks ago of a larger font version on one reader who found it difficult, but the larger one was less aesthetic - looked like a pre-school reader (not verbatim).
But maybeTomorrow, I’ll run that theme again with a larger font, just to get input from a wider pool, since we’re trying lots of things. I’ll let this one ride out the night.This is a little bright, huh? Howsa bout a light grey? The brown was a.o.k. w/me…you did try a grey once, right? Hopefully, I’m not losing my mind and did see that once….that worked too….yep…dim the lights please….(especially if you like them dimmed)
As long as you are taking suggestions? A tad larger print, only if possible…..
I like earthtones, but I’m sure that the final design choice will be accepted by all.
Just don’t go all “Jackson Pollock” on us!
Didn’t have a problem with reading the original color scheme but on occasion when I was tired the size of the font was an issue if I didn’t change my settings. I loved the look and the atmosphere it created.
but This ? . . well . . it makes me feel rather like a white mouse on an enamel lab table under a floodlight . . uncomfortable !
Please, lets have numbered posts. That way when you delete one all of us who were too lazy to quote a persons words “correctly” will look foolish when the numbers all off.
That is all, thank you.
If you’re watching, you’ll see that the font is now 13.5% bigger than before. I’ll let this ride awhile, then do the same with our old theme and see what happens.
For those of you with size issues, is bigger better? Does this do it for you?
Bigger does it for me -
h1, h2, h3 {
font-family: ‘Trebuchet MS’, ‘Lucida Grande’, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 1.2;
font-size: 1.6em;
}
but thats just me - i might reduce the line height in the body on the posts and make it closer to what it is in the comments. i might also be anal retentive.
Clearly retentive, baby. Whether anal or not, only you know.
But thanks. I can see there will be an endless supply of things to dink with to avoid all useful (and othewise) work.
i’m with goo.. bigger, better…
(p.s. what about guinness-colored font on a light-creamier-colored background? did you ever try that? i do like the blues, however…)
I’ve decided I’m only trying easy things for now. Between work and graduate school, it makes sense to save any major overhauls for finals week, so I can really screw up my life.
I hope you’ll get credit for this blog as your Master’s thesis! (or even better, doctoral disseration
)
As you can see, we’re back to our warm brown look, but trying it with larger font and more prominent color for links. For the chocolate/guinness lovers among us. We’ll live with this for a day or two. For those of you who found it hard to read before, tell me how it works with the larger font.
Thanks for continuing to ask for comments as you dance around with this…
sooooo.. IF you are going to stick with this light on dark scheme, the larger font size AND different links color works better, (but is NOT great for me at all)..
however, the smaller font size –which I’m finding here when posting comments–
and it also appears to be used for all previous posts on the home page when you scroll down past the “newest” (larger font) blog post–
does not work for me personally, cause it appears to be the same as before…
If you could make ALL font the LARGE size, that would counter-balance for me the real strain of reading light font on dark background.. I’m afraid that light on dark will always be NOT user-friendly for me and lots of other folks, unfortunately..
I DO aesthetically-speaking LOVE the Guinness/dark chocolate color— I just wish you would use it as the font color (and/or large side borders color) — on a background which is cream/foam color…
That’s my 9 cents for the day!
LaRosita, this would look like some kind of preschool hooked on phonics learn to read site/cupcake if what was to format it this way. I say buy one of those magnifying glasses and stick it over your computer screen like a visor! Then you could even read the site while visiting a neighbor. Ha.
Ok I am liking this larger font. And I feel that the color thing might be something people just are either used to or not. Perfect example: the iphone keypad was bothering me because I was used to a blackberry but now that I’m used to the iphone i don’t like the blackberry keyboard anymore.
My advice to all who don’t like this color scheme, sit in a dark room, drink Guiness beer, get used to it.
Great advice, asstral. But then, sitting in a dark room drinking Guiness is good advice for most things.
We’ll sit here with the “easy print” version for a day or two and then see. If this page gets you too morose, visit a tour page or the cover bag - it’s great as a photo backdrop.
Does your iPhone do screen shots? I want to see what we look like on an iPhone. I had to change my homepage to something boring just to control my buying urge.
Yesss! So much better now!
ass—-.. PLEASE send me a case of Guinness here to my hovel in Oakland, CA, so i can drink away these headaches which i’m STILL getting from reading this light font on dark background!
The color scenario is the concern for me, not the size, altho of course bigger IS better in this particular situation (the censors wouldn’t allow my stories about the contrary…)
The issue for me (and others, i know) is how my eyes start to hurt and i start seeing double when i look for more than a minute or two at this color scheme (and I even have a big beautiful MacBookPro screen!)
so dear ‘what’, please don’t forget about those of us who would LOVE chocolate text on a nice foamy background… if you never try that out, we’ll understand, but it will be with some degree of sad resignation.. thanks, no matter what…
and take care, LRT
I picked my name so I can be Ass the 2nd. I’m not a begging man but today I come within one-tenth of begging. Please keep the dark motif. It sets the mood. I think it makes even average posts sound great and great posts send you into the cosmos of “ASTRAL” (note the one ‘S”) revelry. It is a classy look. If LaRosita simply highlights each page with her mouse or trackball as she gets ready to read it might help her a lot. I work at the computer for a living and I use drugstore glasses that are 3.00 — (REAL STRONG) I only don’t use prescription because I lose them like yesterday’s news and it starts to be prohibitively expensive to replace all the glasses I lose. So LaRosita and others -I am in sympathy with your frustrations but personally I think the look and feel of this site is perfect for the content. I’m in advertising and the packages says a lot. I think the addition of this larger text should be more than enough compensation for those who have trouble seeing.
So I close by saying — there is not enough Guinness to make that other look work, or any permutation of it work as well as the look you have with the dark? Yes, compared to what?? Compared to this lovely dark cave that makes you want to listen to some good music!! Keep the dark == come on — just say ‘YES’!!
You know, there’s nothing wrong with being a begging man. Just saying.
If the voting is still going on I like the way it is today. 7/13
Do I have to be a member to vote?
There’s no voting and no members. I’m just trying to get a feel for what works, hopefully finding a way to keep the look I like but make it more accessible to the people with monitor issues. I may do a poll to get a more precise read on what people are thinking, but it’s won’t be a majority rules kind of thing - I’ve got to be able to live with it. I will continue to dink with font color and size in different places, and I’m strongly thinking of bringing over the guitar header I used on the blue version. Not my fault that guitars are more photogenic than harmonicas.
Ever so happy to be off that laboratory table !
LaRosita
if the color scheme is your issue for reading then have you tried just highlighting the text as if you were going to copy it ? ?
try it - it becomes a very nice soft green with white lettering
Can’t say that I’m likely to give up this look, but for all of you telling LaRosita to highlight, that’s browser and/or monitor dependent how well that works. When I highlight, I get the same color font we have now on a light blue background - much harder to read than the original.
okay, i’ve changed my highlighting color from its normal yellow, and when i highlight stuff here, it’s then greyish-white (or whatever this is) text on light blue background… which is about the same difficulty.. i tried other highlight colors, but they’re all bad..
i’ve also increased the text viewing size, which helps.. but again, it’s not the size issue so much..
okay, i give up.. i’ll just deal with it and have flashing white afterimages when i’m done reading this blog every day… talk about suffering for art