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Design of This Website (2021)

gwern.net

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Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#211

Post by leephillips »

gwern wrote: post #207
leephillips wrote: post #123

The content is and has always been interesting, so one can forgive the design, which I feel is poor and irrational in some ways. Poor because the line width is too long and the proportions are unattractive. Complex information that loads on hover can work offline, as in the sioyek PDF reader, when it’s fast, but is a terrible experience over the network. All that apparatus littering the text is distracting, but the i…

> Irrational because of such things as the fixed elements for site settings that only appear on the first page and fade out as you scroll down. If they're only intended to appear at the top, why give them fixed positioning? They have fixed positioning because they are not only intended to appear at the top. They can be invoked at any time by hovering over the faded-out sticky.

Ah, I see. Thanks for pointing that out. But one needs to know that there is an invisible widget (at least I see nothing at all there, after it has faded out) to hover over. I certainly had no idea.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#212

Post by chefandy »

tomcam wrote: post #183
chefandy wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... downvotes? Weird. There's other cool web archiving stuff out there too that's just the one I know about.

It went into the negative very quickly. For some reason “thanks for the reference“ must’ve come off as snarky, probably because I was too stupid to find it myself but others weren’t!

Psh. People. So judgy.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#213

Post by tomcam »

gwern wrote: post #200
jeduardo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some info about archiving here: https://www.gwern.net/Archiving-URLs Lots of jobs and scripts, plus usage of archive.org as well. It's an interesting read.

That page is a bit outdated because I am still finetuning the on-site archive system before I do a writeup. I still use archiver-bot etc, they're just not how I do the on-site archives. See https://github.com/gwern/gwern.net/blob/master/build/LinkArc... https://github.com/gwern/gwern.net/blob/master/build/linkArc... for that. The quick summary is that PDFs are automatically downloaded, hosted locally, and links rewri…

THANK YOU for scratching that itch.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#214

Post by PolygonSheep »

ManuelKiessling wrote: post #68
notafraudster wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your site is great (and minimalist) -- honestly, really really very good job. One note: in general there's a UX recommendation not to use flags when you mean languages. http://www.flagsarenotlanguages.com/blog/ I'm not exactly sure the best way to solve this for your blog. Maybe something like adding alt-text to indicate "German Language" and adding a parenthetical to the end of titles "(German)" or something?

Very good point, and I've thought about this a lot. Still not sure what the best solution is... there is also a "flag-mashup" of the Austrian, Swiss, and German flag, but that's looking weird, too. Maybe a combination: a small icon with the three flags in one row, and underneath, the text "German post".

Do the posts in German really need an indication that they are written in the German language?

Just from the title I can immediately see that "Die Metapher der Stadt für das Bauen und Betreiben von Softwareprodukten" is definitely not going to be in English.

I assume readers fluent in German don't need to be told that post is in German, the same way I don't need a little UK or US flag to know "March 2018 Book Recommendations" is in English.

If you can read the title and introduction you will immediately know which language its written in with no need for flags at all.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#215

Post by retSava »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #62
ManuelKiessling wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, that's not minimalism. gwern.net isn't either; I'd call that "brutalism" instead. THIS is minimalism: https://manuel.kiessling.net Precisely in the sense of "NOT a lot going on at all times". Just the content, presented pleasently. And importantly, it's not only minimalism in look-and-feel, but also technically: even a long post with an embedded image like https://manuel.kiessling.net/2021/05/02/tutorial-react…

The site you link is nearly identical to mine, only less visually-oriented (which I feel is excusable as my site focuses on visual arts, not programming). > Just the content, presented pleasently. Please explain which part of my site isn't just the content, presented pleasantly? > minimalism in look-and-feel, but also technically [...] weighs in at under 200 KiB The exact page I linked to [0] weighs 160 KiB, less tha…

I can add to antiframe's feedback, by saying that I agree with them. The text is rather hard to read to me (without repeating antiframe's points). Also, on the CV page, the text is going back and forth - first on the left side, then right, then middle, and there's pictures here and there that adds to the visual cognitive noise.

The bar on the right also has two icons that doesn't seem to do anything (save, next).

Finally, as a non-native english speaker to another, I respectfully add that the tone of your comments come across as a bit confrontative, which together with seemingly strongly held opinions and seemingly not very open to feedback, makes me hesitant to engage in this discussion. Perhaps you are not aware of this, so I just wanted to in the most best-meaning manner I can point it out to you.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#216

Post by hypertele-Xii »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #156
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see design elements that don't serve the usability of the website Every single thing you listed has a purpose. > the background image is a blurry gradient of colors magenta and orange, angled off-axis. In other words, the complete opposite of the page contents: Sharp black and white precisely-aligned text. The purpose of a background is to contrast the foreground. Mission accomplished. > the colour of the toolbar…

> your eyes have an easier time picking the correct next line. Are you saying that right-aligned text is easier to read? Are there any studies on that? If that's the case then why isn't everybody like HN for instance already right-aligning their content?

Not aware of any studies, but I wrote a book experimenting with different typographical structures and this was my own conclusion.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#217

Post by gnicholas »

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…

Other commenters have mentioned BeeLine Reader as a way to achieve the same visual tracking benefit that you aim to achieve with right-alignment.

I'm the founder of BeeLine Reader and wanted to mention that we have a JS widget and I'd be happy to provide it to any HNer for free. Over the years, several HNers have put our tech on their websites (examples here [1]), and we've even worked with a YC company (Insight Browser [2]).

Feel free to contact me (info in profile) if you're interested in trying out BeeLine Reader on your website.

1: https://thegradient.pub/has-ai-found-a-new-foundation/ https://wildcardpeople.com/what-is-a-wildcard-person https://jaack.me/cleanmymac-x/

2: https://insightbrowser.com/collections/reading

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#218

Post by gnicholas »

notacoward wrote: post #120
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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/

I just did the "challenge" at BeeLine and they are not using right-justified text or even mentioning it. What "similar device" are you talking about?

BeeLine founder here! I would guess that parent is referring to the fact that BeeLine assists with visual tracking during line transitions, and having a ragged edge (as opposed to justified) helps with this also. I've not seen people use right-justification as a way to achieve this, but the general consensus is that line transitions are easier when there's a ragged edge instead of justified text.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#219

Post by hypertele-Xii »

antiframe wrote: post #182
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The site you link is nearly identical to mine, only less visually-oriented (which I feel is excusable as my site focuses on visual arts, not programming). > Just the content, presented pleasently. Please explain which part of my site isn't just the content, presented pleasantly? > minimalism in look-and-feel, but also technically [...] weighs in at under 200 KiB The exact page I linked to [0] weighs 160 KiB, less tha…

> Please explain which part of my site isn't just the content, presented pleasantly? I'm not the person you asked, so forgive my jumping in here, but I feel I have a helpful answer. Design serves function. The function of a website with text is to be read. Your site's design is hard and unpleasant to read. Here's what made it difficult for me to parse and read your page: 1. The title looked like a banner offering a n…

> The title looked like a banner offering a newsletter or cookie preferences

That's a problem with other sites though isn't it?

> My astigmatism makes dark on light a strong preference for me

You can find accessibility-enhancing browser extensions. I use one for the exact opposite myself, to turn bright sites into dark ones. Can't account for every disability.

> It is also reminiscent of poetry which felt out of place

Great! My site has lots of poetry. Not out of place at all.

> The text in the comment box was too low contrast to be comfortable

Thanks, I've suspected this to be the case. Will address.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#220

Post by hypertele-Xii »

bradley_taunt wrote: post #107
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I think that’s rather dismissive when said content is simple text in the browser.

Content is not simple text in this case. My site is designed for visual arts and experimental literature, including poetry.

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