Dean's World

It looks pretty much the same except for the third column. I like the new font better. All bloggers may be forced to require registration for commenting if the comment spam accelerates.

Looking around in other threads, it appears that links embedded in comments are already enabled.

Still agitating for <h3> in titles in '04! ("The people... united... have never been defeated! The people... united... have never been defeated!" :)

Dean,
looks good, I like the easy to read font. I did have a problem registering, though - when I open comments, they come up in a smaller than full screen window. When I selected register - that window also came up smaller than full screen, and there was nothing there. I had to try several times before I thought to expand the window to full screen - then I was able to register.

Eek, sorry Dean, but I like the older design much, much better. The italicised Courier-like font appears right out of a History Of WebPages gallery, and it seens extremely cramped.
How are you going to be able to fit your longer posts? Your new design simply doesn't leave any room for the content.

I like the new font, easier to read. I prefer the old format so I don't have to continue to scroll and scroll. Also, when I post a comment, it doesn't register right away and often sends me to a "page not found" screen. When I log in, I end up on a blank page and not on the page I started at. I support change, however, and am willing to wait for the bugs to be led to another part of the yard.

I really like verdana in 10pt, not 12. I am not partial to italics, because my old eyes have trouble with it (especially with a Courier style font). Your links and titles in italic are very unreadable for me (they are very, very fuzzy), but I'm old and accept a certain amount of having to deal with things like this. Verdana in 12 pt begins to fuzz a little, because the line strokes are thin, leaving a ghost like presentation in larger point sizes. Also, because your italic links are in blue, on a blue background, they compete for space in the pixel sphere, creating dither (which I describe as "fuzzy" or "ghosting").

I really, really liked your old site. It was very easy on the eyes.

Courier, I was told (but this is old school maybe) or any specialty font like that, should only be used as emphasis. The rule for readability was always the "two typeface" rule. More than two typefaces and your readibility drops considerably. Readers associate certain fonts with certain things, but if you have too many, they are lost. You picked two serifs and one san serif (it looks like your links are in Arial italic, your body in Verdana, and your titles in the Courier family), plus you are competing with the fonts on your ads. Generally serif is used where there is more text (in the body) and san serif is used in titles ONLY. Courier, although more blocklike in appearance, is in the serif family, which doesn't look good in larger point sizes (headlines, etc.). Courier, because it has a rounded shape is more difficult to read (something about monitors being backlit and paper being front lit), on the screen (but it is way too many years since I learned that for me to remember the actual rule/reason and the correct technical terms to describe it). I know why people use courier style fonts, but I can't read them.

But this is all, as I said, old school stuff, back from typesetting days. There was a period where people reversed the rule (early '80s), using san serif in the body and serif in headlines (but they used bold stroke serifs so you didn't get dithering). It was quite radical at the time, but I think that is now passe, too.

New font is a bit painful and ugly, IMO, tho some mat find it easier to read. I'll get used to it, whatever it is.

Also, leading (horizontal space between lines) should be increased between post headings and first line of text.

Too much italics.

Leading between bottom of new posts and top of preceding post should also be increased.

Sorry it's all criticism, hope it's constructive.

Sorry to keep bugging you like this, but: Another thing you need to do is have the name of the post at the top of the comment window so we'll all have a better idea what we're commenting on. Often enough in the past, someone left a comment in one thread that belonged in another by mistake, and I fear that's going to increase unless you have the title of the thread at the top of the comment window as you did before. It was much better the old way. Thank you.

And, by the way, just to remind you: ARCHIVES!!!! Please.

It's a bit rough around the edges yet. Although I love Verdana, italics are a real bummer. The right sidebar needs to be wider, because it's messing up your blogads. I'd kill the Courier for the titles, make them H3 or H2 (I guess H3 is technically the correct choice). I've never liked the overline on a:hover (mouseover a link). If you took the italics off your blogroll, you could reduce its font size, to save space. I'm not sure you need two sidebars, it rather distracts. And I'm kind of disappointed that you didn't choose WordPress as your new blogging backend. Built in user registration!

The left sidebar could be cut by an eighth, perhaps as much as a quarter, and still have just about everything fit properly over there. You could then give that extra space to the center area. Keep in mind that the Center is why we show up in the first place...

Also, of course the fonts are a bit... odd.

I must say that I like the idea of what you are going for, but the execution is not quite there yet...

Why not stack the 'housekeeping' stuff (contact, subscribe, google link, archives, blogroll) in the left-side column under the box ads on the right-hand side? Neither of the side columns are more than about 1-2 screen pages in length. That would give us back the fine 2/3 of screen width display for the original articles, which makes them easier to read.

Another possibility is to use 1-2 separate opening screen pages for both the ads, blogroll, and the other housekeeping items.

I'm getting more used to the courier type face we get on the comments screen. But is there some way to bold it out a little more for the old-timers with their typically weak eyes?

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

Arnold Harris is right on. The middle aisle needs to be much bigger and the blogroll much much smaller.

Thanks Dean. I can now log in.

Would that be: Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping gun-loving selfish aesthete ?

I don't know you. And you cain't sign in as such.
Have you thought about: LWGLSA ?

When I registered here I used my name as such, the one on my birth certificate. I tried to add to that later on but was unsuccessful. So, I'll just go by my the name on my birth certificate, Steven Malcolm Anderson, without the descriptors, which were a response to a bit of persiflage that most people here have probably forgotten about anyway.

I notice that Tim the Soldier is now posting under his regular name, Timothy Snyder. I like that name. He is still a Soldier.

If anybody posts here under the name "Steven Malcolm Anderson", who is _not_ a Lesbian-worshipping gun-loving selfish aesthete, we'll all know he's an imposter and boot him out of here. I'm still who I am.