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Design of This Website (2021)

gwern.net

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Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#131

Post by maleldil »

julvo wrote: post #52
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…

Comparing Gwern's to your website is really interesting. I'd argue, Gwern's website is a good example of minimalist design, whereas the website you posted is the opposite. To me, minimalist design is as little design as possible (Dieter Rams). All design elements need to serve and enhance usability/functionality of the product. That doesn't mean that the total functionality of something needs to be minimal. E.g. you…

> Gwern's website is a good example of minimalist design

It's not. It's black and white and grey, which makes it look cleaner than the other one, which is a mess of colours, although I think that's on purpose. But it has a lot more going on on. Granted, most of it is at the top of the page (which is a _mess_) and the rest is okay, but the way some of the links are presented (with the icons) bothers me a bit too.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#132

Post by pSYoniK »

It feels quite busy after claiming minimalism. Also, not a huge fan to see Disquss being used and a bunch of JS just to serve static content. Seems like most of the things us humans do - a cacophony of contradictions. Like the simple color scheme though, so points for that.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#133

Post by epolanski »

sdevonoes wrote: post #116
epolanski wrote: post #90

I like the design, but semantics and accessibility aren't great. We have lists implemented like divs, navs like divs, lack of appropriate attributes, aria labels and few other things. That's not great considering there's basically only static content without interaction. Articles speaks about optimizing for performance but will still attempt to load 150kb of analytics library and doesn't handle fallback fonts and fon…

> We have lists implemented like divs, navs like divs, lack of appropriate attributes, aria labels and few other things. Since I don't use accessibility tools: how big of a deal is this for people who do? I try to keep my personal website lightweight, but I think I also use `div` for almost everything.

For this particular website the impact isn't tragic, you can navigate, but you cannot navigate efficiently nor you can figure out well what and where you're navigating to.

In short, it's usable but not perfect, the sidebar should be a nav rather than a div to convey it's where major and meaningful navigation is found. It's not easy to figure out without the visual feedback that those links are different than the others on the website.

There's also lack of a "skip to content" and similar menus that would help into consuming the content. The dialog popups also lack the same usability, they would benefit of clearer aria-labels on the links.

Anyway, I don't think it's a tragedy, again, it's usable, but given that the author lists accessibility as one of its 4 rules and yet it's not really a pinnacle of accessibility, despite the lack of dynamic content and interaction is not great.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#134

Post by notafraudster »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #102
notafraudster wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You legitimately can't say I didn't warn you.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#135

Post by iamacyborg »

unmole wrote: post #127
iamacyborg wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Looking at the regressive nonsense that professional designers seem to push, I have no trouble believing that is in fact professional design .

Professional designers have the same problem professional developers do, or really, any profession.

Too many people trying to reinvent the wheel without learning the fundamentals.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#136

Post by arc-in-space »

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.

Difficult to address?! Just don't do it! Observe the website you are on right now: no fixed topbar. Perfect on any device.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#137

Post by [deleted] »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #106
mdoms wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#138

Post by marvindanig »

I like the formatting adaptation on this page! Especially, the micro-formatting of each indented paragraph and its subtopic. This technique is applied heavily in print books and technical journals (long dense form) even today, where each accent on the "structured text" adds on to the groove of line-tracking on page. Looks great, works great on print.

However, online scrolls are terrible at long-form. And that's because scrolls animate in a direction that's orthogonal to the reading direction. A vertically animating scroll rips apart our ability to read along a track. Meaning, no line-tracking. Since scrolling itself works against the grain of saccadic perception, animating structured text vertically only adds on to that difficulty of reading online.

I mean, as long as the web is a scrolling paradigm, a poetic structure would work better since its ragged left and right edges would help people track their position on the story better.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#140

Post by ramblerman »

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…

This is tongue in cheek right? I mean just the colors to begin with, and then the hardly readable buttons on the right. Right aligned text, and the background that screams for your attention more than the actual content....

I mean maybe its rendering strangely on my work computer (forced to use edge), but it's pretty bad.

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