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Stop Being an Idiot

orderedlist.com

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Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#31

Post by webwright »

orderedlist wrote: post #7
edw519 wrote: post #6

Nobody likes the unfamiliar. Then why is your blog dim white letters on a black background? The first thing my reptilian brain thought was that this was some kind of left-brained new-age artistic fluff. But it's not. You have important points to make. So do your readers (and back button pushers) a favor and practice what you preach. Combine your artistic tendencies with a more familiar, more functional white backgrou…

I'm teaching you that different interactions are ok. Unfamiliarity isn't wrong, it's just different. People get used to it, and often times prefer it. Consider my site your education on different contrast ratios. You did, after all, read the post.

He's teaching you that reading white text on a dark background is actually harder to do and strains the eye more. Consider his comment your education on the usability/readability of different contrast ratios (a pretty well-reasoned post on the topic here: http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200608/light_text_on_d... ). And consider my comment your education on how your tone can be annoyingly preachy and smug.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#32

Post by jsz0 »

FYI your site doesn't work too good in Safari or Chrome. Very slow scrolling. Something about the background image I suspect. Works fine in Firefox though.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#33

Post by jrockway »

n8agrin wrote: post #9
edw519 wrote: post #6

Nobody likes the unfamiliar. Then why is your blog dim white letters on a black background? The first thing my reptilian brain thought was that this was some kind of left-brained new-age artistic fluff. But it's not. You have important points to make. So do your readers (and back button pushers) a favor and practice what you preach. Combine your artistic tendencies with a more familiar, more functional white backgrou…

There is a difference between unfamiliar and unconventional. Text rendered in a white font, in a language I can recognize is familiar. Text written in Klingon, rendered in dingbats is unfamiliar. In my mind the designer _should_ be unconventional, while remaining familiar. Ever see a condo development? How boring are all the houses, lined up and all the same? I would hate the web to be the same way.

I would hate the web to be the same way.

I would like that. Then I could use the extra gigabyte of RAM that the code to handle these cases uses for something else.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#34

Post by tsally »

I always yell at people who blame themselves for not being able to figure out a technology, whether it be the UI of a program or the physical interface of a device. People tend to assume stupidity on their own part; instead, I tell them to blame the designers. After all, most people would blame the manufacturer if confronted with a car that was hard to use. Interesting how simple interfaces (a wheel and two peddles) are expected in some areas and not in others.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#35

Post by orderedlist »

Daniel_Newby wrote: post #25
orderedlist wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm teaching you that different interactions are ok. Unfamiliarity isn't wrong, it's just different. People get used to it, and often times prefer it. Consider my site your education on different contrast ratios. You did, after all, read the post.

I didn't read more than a few lines. White on black gives me a full-blown migraine. Many other people also seem to find it literally painful to read, not merely unfamiliar or jarring. Consider me your education on different contrast ratios. ;-)

Dark text on a light background (on screen) gives some people migraines too. This scheme is my preference, has always been, therefore it's what I make for my own site. Feel free to use your preference for your own.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#37

Post by teye »

Vindexus wrote: post #22
teye wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would this be flagged/downvoted? Tufte says it better, says more about it, and gives awesome examples.

Probably because your comment lacks information. "Tufte rehashed" tells me nothing. Who is Tufte? Is that a company? A person? A blog? What's their link? Is it just an inside joke I don't get? Just adding context and links to your comments would make them more useful.

Good call. Thanks for the feedback -- will keep that in mind next time I'm tempted to post a one-liner.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#38

Post by gprisament »

warfangle wrote: post #15

Stop reinvinting the wheel. Don't be an asshole and replace the browser's scrollbar with one of your own. Especially when the scrollbar you invent doesn't work in Chrome.

I find "Don't reinvent the wheel" to be a terrible idiom. Think about the wheel for a moment. Is the wheel on your bike the same as the wheel on your car, or on a train, or an an airplane? Of course they're all different! The wheel has been reinvented thousands of times, and we're better off for it!

Yes, it can be worthwhile to borrow successful concepts from other disciplines. But in many cases, the concrete implementation NEEDS to be reinvented in order to apply the abstract concept to a new purpose.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#39

Post by justinph »

marilyn wrote: post #17
rauljara wrote: post #3

I agree with the author's point, but I really wish there were some examples. It's one thing to say that you're against stupid, boring interface design. I think we could all agree on that. But I bet we'd have a slightly harder time agreeing on just which interface designs are stupid/boring and which are simple/elegant.

I'll throw out an example: The Drupal admin interface is an example of stupid/boring, while the Wordpress admin interface is an example of simple and elegant. Anyone agree?

I'd agree. WordPress has gotten where it is by doing two things: making it easy to use, and keeps adding useful features that work, more or less, pretty well.

The quality of the code behind WP is very different discussion, but I'd say you're right.

Re: Stop Being an Idiot

#40

Post by tokenadult »

marilyn wrote: post #17
rauljara wrote: post #3

I agree with the author's point, but I really wish there were some examples. It's one thing to say that you're against stupid, boring interface design. I think we could all agree on that. But I bet we'd have a slightly harder time agreeing on just which interface designs are stupid/boring and which are simple/elegant.

I'll throw out an example: The Drupal admin interface is an example of stupid/boring, while the Wordpress admin interface is an example of simple and elegant. Anyone agree?

I can't agree at all about the WordPress admin interface, which I use to run the website of my nonprofit (because that is what was set up by someone else). It's a very annoying interface and one I hope to replace as soon as possible--although I acknowledge I am still shopping for what to replace it with.
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