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Design of This Website (2021)

gwern.net

221–230 of 261 posts

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I've done.

Why does it need a background image?

Because the artist requires it.

Websites exist to serve content. The author of this page demanded it have a background image.

Here's another page that doesn't:

https://hypertele.fi/b40bfc44ff8a22df

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think notafraudster might be suggesting that you're lacking self-awareness because you seem very defensive when it comes to your design decisions instead of really listening to people's complaints. Just as an example, I find right aligned text hard to read, no matter your rational behind it. Might be because I'm not used to it, but who is?

> Might be because I'm not used to it, but who is?

Exactly. Only one way to find out: Somebody try something different!

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Oh hey! The funny thing is, I originally contacted BeeLine for a quote but was refused one without an already-existing website. So I resorted to experimenting with right-justification.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yes, you're right. Consider this: you're up against millennia of development in writing and typography. People have tried a lot of different ways of organizing and presenting text. And I mean a lot. Different symbols, different fonts, different page layouts, different text orientations. There was even a long line of symbols spiraling on a disk, getting denser as it approaches the center. There's a good chance somebod…

Think about why left-to-right languages are left-justified.

It's because when you're writing by hand, you can't possibly know in advance exactly how long the line is going to be, so you have to start at the beginning and write until space runs out.

But now we have computers. We no longer write by hand. It's trivial to have the computer justify text however we wish.

So now we ask the same question again, which way should we justify text now that it is trivial to do it either way? To me, "do it the way it's always been done without question" is a non-answer that leads to exactly no evolution whatsoever.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Right but someone doing something different alone doesn't typically mean it is a better way. For every new better way there are an infinite number of new worse ways

Sure, but unless you're going to fund a study, this is the way we'll find out: Somebody crazy enough to experiment.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#226
post #175

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…

Your site is more "minimal" in that it has fewer text elements on the screen. But your site is much harder for me to read than gwern's. First, I hate dark background, white text; white background, dark text is much easier for me to read. (Note that gwern's site gives both options.) Second, your background image is a huge distraction for me, as is the weirdness of the non-image background at the top and on the right.…

> The upshot of all that is that I read the entire content of gwern's page. I didn't read more than a few headings of yours.

Unintuitively, this is a success for me! The headings clearly stuck out, you were able to quickly scan them and determine you didn't care to read the details. That's how I'd expect a minimal design page to work.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#227
post #2

It’s a truly distinct and amazingly designed website that I’m often not smart enough to understand. It’s a unique property on the Net, and that’s saying a lot these days. One thing I would like to understand more is the archive system (used to reduce the problem of dead links). Is there some kind of automated process to create local copies of the linked webpages, or is it done by hand using some thing like wget or cu…

There are plenty of rabbit holes to get into when it comes to web archiving, but for blog authors that just want to preserve a page referenced by their text, using a tool like SingleFile is a great first step.

https://github.com/gildas-lormeau/SingleFile

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#228

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…

That is some solid bullshit and is exactly the opposite of everything known in design theory and studies alike. Left-aligning text actually helps by providing a fixed start, so your eyes/brain know that they have to start left and a little bit lower. With your way it's exactly the opposite. Will save further details, doesn't look like it's worth the time.

Yeah. The dude is a Grade-A asshole. His site is complete garbage, yet he insists that it's amazing. I've never seen someone so confidently wrong in every single reply to criticism ever.

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#229

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…

https://ayazhafiz.com/cc My personal blog! Let me know if you like any of the stuff on it. And what I'm wrong about :)

I like it a lot! Very clean. Two observations:

There's a rather large blank space at the top, occupying significant vertical space. Since vertical space is most precious on all screen orientations, I'd consider cutting it.

The art on the 'visual' page looks very interesting, but clicking on them does nothing. At least make them links to the images themselves. The two with school buses are my favorites. I'd move them to the top to make the best first impression (though this is of course subjective! Place your best works first).

Re: Design of This Website (2021)

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The comment submit button has tabindex="-1", preventing keyboard users from submitting a comment. You can just hit Enter after typing your name. No need to select the button.

"Your name" isn't a required field and pressing Enter doesn't do that when the textarea is focused. Additionally, not everyone knows that's the default behavior for pressing Enter in a text input and it's common for forms to be implemented in such a way that it doesn't work.

> "Your name" isn't a required field

Oh snap you're right. Anonymous commenting is a requirement. An oversight! Will fix, much thanks.

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