December 06, 2005
Experiment
Thanks for the feedback on my formatting experiment. I've reverted to the familiar template and will take all your helpful suggestions under advisement.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 06, 2005
11:10 PM | Email This
1. Woo-hoo. Style change.
Headlines should be strikingly different from the text of the story. Different color than the gold perhaps? Go back to black.
Or use a larger and different type of font.
2. Mebbe you can add pictures of the contributors shot in unrealistically staged locations like us newspaper jackals do:-)
Could generate a contest about what local areas Stefan, Matt, Marsha et al should be standing in front of.
Just idle scribbling.
3. Much more compact...
Like not having to scroll down 60 or 100 inches to see something written two days ago.
Smaller articles don't get mixed up with 1500 word essays from Rosenberg (just kidding Matt).
From my page design eye, just need something to differentiate individual stories a smidge better.
Thanks again Stefan. I'll let everyone else chime in:-)
4. I agree. Bold black headlines would be better.
5. Yeah, I like the more condensed format, but definitely change the headline color so I can see where they are at a glance.
6. I like the condensed format for the blog entries, but can you change the way the comments are displayed when I click the "headline" to see the full story? It's easier for me to read them quickly when the words don't go all the way across the monitor's screen. The narrower display in the regular comments box is easy to scan quickly. Is it just me? Don't say it's so.
7. A little more contrast on the headline.
8. I, for one, prefer the old way.
9. I like it, it's more compact and easier to see more articles, but it does look too crowded. I liked the black too! Whatever you do to it, I will visit numerous throughout the day!
10. It will be better if you add a line break after the headline.
11. Agree with Scott M.
12. Another vote for ScottM's suggestion.
13. Also, perhaps you should change the color of the headlines to help differentiate them.
14. Since I only have modem access to the internet (DSL not available) the new format will be a lot slower for me. Normally I read every article, but probably will skim what is shown and and skip most of the hidden material. It's too slow to pull it up one at a time.
15. Way too succinct!!
Igor
16. With the Orange Revolution now a distant memory, perhaps a change in the color of the banner across the top? Methinks instead of orange, perhaps a good color scheme would be Crimson and Gray (go cougs)? :-)
R
17. OK, it looks good now, but you shouldn't have the links to the full posts open in a new window.
18. I too prefer the old way as long as they are only 3 or 4 paragraphs long.
Sorry Matt, however IMO, your topics are too long for the lst page. Perhaps you could provide a link to click on for the rest of the article.
19. That looks good.
Randy, consider yourself flamed for suggesting Crimson and Gray, Sound country is Dawgville, no flea bitten cats allowed. :-)
20. I HATE CHANGE!!!
But remember, I'm just a backwards, redneck, inbred, toothless, barefoot, Bible-thumping, double-wide living, NASCAR loving, moron.:)
21. Looks great. I think the headlines are outstanding enough, in caps and bold blue. Lots easier to peruse.
22. Looks a little too scrunched. You could condense the old way a little bit to save space, just not to the extent the 'new way' is.
23. btw, Stefan has passed his 3 millionth hit on this blog. Maybe it was noted elsewhere, and I perhaps missed it. But if it hasn't been, congratulations Stefan!
24. Stefan,
Allow a few more lines of text with each post, maybe a good ceiling would be 10.
Next question: how does one apply to be a contributor?
25. I've always been a fan of the layout concept behind
Slashcode. Short summaries with the "read more..." button bringing you to the full story as well as the threaded comments (in the same window). They've also got the little graphical indicators of category, which is cool, but I noticed that categories disappeared here a long time ago. I'd vote to bring them back, if that were on the ballot here, as it were.
26. I do not like.
You need at least two paragraphs before should go the the expanded section.
I think your site states will reflect the change negatively quickly (although it would be masked by the post-election and holiday slump).
27. I like it. Remind your contributors that posts will have to be front loaded so readers will be enticed to click more.
Why do some posts have a double line with Stefan Sharkansky. Look at "Dirty Deeds" and "public Records Reform." That double sign-off is a little distracting.
28. Maybe for some of the advertising banners, maybe you should have a punch (insert favorite liberal name here) kind of like the "Punch the Duck" and "Knock out Osama" ads they have on other sites :-)
Although I still like my contributor's photo idea...
29. I prefer the "old" style of what happened when you clicked on [more], which didn't open a new browser window. This new way creates browser clutter quickly. Also, more than 2 lines would be a much better lead to the story.
30. Yeah, Stefan, if you did not stop to celebrate 3,000,000, or pat yourself on the back, you should.
In this season of thanks, I want you to know I really appreciate all of your hard work.
Cheers.
31. What happened to the links, etc, to the right? Maybe it's just my browser (Netscape), but the right side is now all white space, while the links are all at the bottom.
32. Micajah @ 6:35 p.m. is right. When you do newspaper layout, you always keep that in mind designing the page. It's easier on the eye to read narrower columns instead of all the way across the page! 5 to 6 inches across for the main copy block is just about right for a blog. And headlines should be larger and in a different font than the article. My two cents. Have fun redesigning!
I'm sure whatever you decide we will still visit!
33. I don't like how clicking [more] opens it up in a new window. I liked the old way of the article just expanding. Other than that, I would put the headlines in a slightly bigger font and/or put a little more space between the articles, and that's about it.
34. I like the old style better. Bring back the links too.
35. Stefan,
On formatting. Where are you going to put, and how are you going to format those advertisements on where to find and go out on dates with other 'democrat singles in your area'? How about down at the bottem left corner underneath a dark brrr... blue back ground.
G
36. Maybe two clicks to get into an article. First click is to a main page with topics summarized and linked. The second click is to the topic.
37. Can you put a time on the latest post so we don't have to keep count when looking for new comments?