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Design of This Website (2021)

gwern.net

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Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#101

Post by hypertele-Xii »

duckmysick wrote: post #94
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's explained on the linked page, under 'typography': > When your eyes read to the end of a line of text, they have to jump to the beginning of the next one. Left-justified text causes all lines to start at the same vertical, making your eyes sometimes miss the jump and begin reading a wrong line. This is why you're sometimes reading the same line twice by accident. By right-justifying instead, the left edge of the…

> By right-justifying instead, the left edge of the text is made varying, and your eyes have an easier time picking the correct next line. Is there any research done on this? > You actually experience physical pain? No. It slows down my reading and it makes it difficult to understand text.

> Is there any research done on this?

BeeLine [0] claims to be backed by research and employs a similar device. Seems to be a new idea, and I wanted to experiment.

[0] https://www.beelinereader.com/

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#102

Post by hypertele-Xii »

notafraudster wrote: post #66
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's explained on the linked page, under 'typography': > When your eyes read to the end of a line of text, they have to jump to the beginning of the next one. Left-justified text causes all lines to start at the same vertical, making your eyes sometimes miss the jump and begin reading a wrong line. This is why you're sometimes reading the same line twice by accident. By right-justifying instead, the left edge of the…

Hey dude, I just want to give you some feedback as an outside observer. You advanced your own website as somewhere between a solid execution and an ideal for minimalistic design. Virtually every reply you've gotten has been some variation of "Wow, I don't much like this design". You reply to each of the replies insisting you're right and demanding people explain to you how you're not. People are taking time out of th…

Anyone who submits critical feedback must be prepared to receive critical feedback in return. I'm not sure what you're saying. This is a discussion forum. Discussion unavoidably demands participants to take some time to participate.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#103

Post by hypertele-Xii »

bradley_taunt wrote: post #88
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on what you find superfluous?

(Not OP) But I would point out the “fixed” elements used for the top and bottom bars eats away a large amount of real estate for users (I’m using an iPhone SE for reference) Just my two cents.

This is a completely valid issue and difficult to address. I've been testing on my phone, and my phone admittedly may have a screen larger than average. Some devices just aren't suitable for some types of content.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#104

Post by mrob »

The design is bad because it uses full justification, which hurts readability by making all the lines the same length, which weakens the visual cues for vertical position, and makes the spacing between words inconsistent.

But I don't really care, because the site works correctly with Firefox's Reader View, which is better than any custom design because it always looks the same.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#105

Post by hypertele-Xii »

enriquto wrote: post #69
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Black, white, magenta, and orange. That's a lot to you? It's very few to me.

you only need two colors: background and foreground

That would be the absolute extreme of minimalism, yes. But it's a never-ending rabbit hole. I don't really need a website, either. So the absolute extreme minimalist website is one that doesn't exist.

To me, colors are important. I'm a visual artist. The minimal amount of colors to me is an additional two to your two. It's not arbitrary, I didn't just go crazy with colors, I settled on exactly four because I couldn't reduce it to three.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#106

Post by hypertele-Xii »

mdoms wrote: post #83
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's explained on the linked page, under 'typography': > When your eyes read to the end of a line of text, they have to jump to the beginning of the next one. Left-justified text causes all lines to start at the same vertical, making your eyes sometimes miss the jump and begin reading a wrong line. This is why you're sometimes reading the same line twice by accident. By right-justifying instead, the left edge of the…

The right align is absolutely horrible and in no way improves readability. The fact that your website is literally the only one I've seen in multiple years using that style should have been a clue.

To every new, better way there is always someone doing it alone first.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#107

Post by bradley_taunt »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #103
bradley_taunt wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Not OP) But I would point out the “fixed” elements used for the top and bottom bars eats away a large amount of real estate for users (I’m using an iPhone SE for reference) Just my two cents.

This is a completely valid issue and difficult to address. I've been testing on my phone, and my phone admittedly may have a screen larger than average. Some devices just aren't suitable for some types of content.

> Some devices just aren't suitable for some types of content

I think that’s rather dismissive when said content is simple text in the browser. Easy solution: don’t use fixed navigation - it is a very bad UX pattern for content/informational websites. That’s why scrolling exists. I assure you that users don’t require access to your menu 24/7 when reading through your website.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#108

Post by iamacyborg »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #105
enriquto wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you only need two colors: background and foreground

That would be the absolute extreme of minimalism, yes. But it's a never-ending rabbit hole. I don't really need a website, either. So the absolute extreme minimalist website is one that doesn't exist. To me, colors are important. I'm a visual artist. The minimal amount of colors to me is an additional two to your two. It's not arbitrary, I didn't just go crazy with colors, I settled on exactly four because I couldn't…

> So the absolute extreme minimalist website is one that doesn't exist.

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what minimalistic design means.

If you've identified that you need a website, minimalism would be paring that down to the core essentials and ensuring it has everything it needs, but nothing more, to suit its purpose.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#109

Post by duckmysick »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #101
duckmysick wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By right-justifying instead, the left edge of the text is made varying, and your eyes have an easier time picking the correct next line. Is there any research done on this? > You actually experience physical pain? No. It slows down my reading and it makes it difficult to understand text.

> Is there any research done on this? BeeLine [0] claims to be backed by research and employs a similar device. Seems to be a new idea, and I wanted to experiment. [0] https://www.beelinereader.com/

Interesting. I saw the Beeline Reader before and their method is different in a way that doesn't negatively impact my reading. Their grayscale palette is actually fun and unobtrusive enough that I forget it exists after a while.

Also, their text is left-aligned.

If you're up for more experiments, try a line highlighter that follows a cursor, like so: https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/05/06/hacking-readabi...

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#110

Post by iamacyborg »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #34

For a site that lists its #1 principle as minimalism, it sure has a lot going on at all times. Multiple menus all over the screen, many different kinds of links with distinct underline and icon suffix, popups within popups that reinvent OS window functionality, historiated initials, graphical horizontal divider with hidden links, a recommended articles carousel, and a very (visually) busy comments section. Minimal it…

> professional minimal design

I can hear a million professional designers spinning in their graves at your claim.

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