I'm going to add my couple bits worth.
Summary: I prefer v2 apart from line length; a max might be better.
I'm reading on a laptop with a fairly large display (1920x1200), using
Chrome.
On Fri, 11 Aug 2023 18:33:03 -0500, mich...@mlpdesign.com wrote:
[snip]
> What's Changed in v2:
> ====================
[...]
> - Removed all web fonts (just system defaults now)
I can't tell if I like the system fonts better than the custom ones,
because they're not equal in size, so there are too many combined
differences to be sure.
> - Increased the line-height>
Specified in ex? Or something else?
[ ...]
> - Increased font-size (and specified it in 'em')
The overall change in font is much better for me. I recognize that
small and fancy seems to appeal more to those with a twenty-year old's
eyesight (20:20), but my eyes are presbyopic and larger fonts appeal
much more. Using em to specify relative sizes also means that my
default choices are consulted, and I like that.
> - Removed the max-width of 840px (now full-width)
Not too happy about this, though; it's definitely harder to track lines
as long as they end up being (I can solve that myself by narrowing the
window, of course, but I usually can't be bothered). I've found it
useful to specify line height in ex, and max width in em. For sites
with large blocks of text in paragraphs, setting the max width for p to
somewhere around 50-60 em tends to make the text fit the eight to ten
word English standard (it's maybe a little generous, but I find it
avoids the problem of lines so long one gets lost somewhere between
left margin and right).
> For what it's worth, here's my thoughts about the new design:
> ============================================================
> Readability: Readability is significantly worse in v2 vs. v1
I will defer to other's sense of style, but for readability I have to
strongly disagree; at least within my setup v2 is much more readable
and (importantly, I think) gives more deference to my preferences on
default sizes and font choices.
> - Line Length, by making the line length unlimited in width, it makes it
> extremely difficult to read body text. Reason being, your eye needs to
> track to the next line. The rule of thumb is, the longer the line length
> the bigger the line-heigh needs to be. When the line length can be
> unlimited long, it's difficult to set an appropriate line-heigh which hurts
> readability.
Agreed. I think you ought to restore a max, also specified in em, with
a corresponding line height in ex.
>
> - Colors, the more colors that are present, the more distracting a website
> will become. That's ok if it's a marketing website, but a site that's
> primarily
> documentation - you want to reduce the color palette down to only 2 (3 max)
> colors. This is why technical manuals are mostly created in grayscale,
> because color very much distracts the eyes and makes it more difficult to
> read body text. I feel like v2 color palette, which are peoples ask
> to revert
> to the previous color palette causes that. (And I still haven't revert to
> all of the openbsd.org colors)
I'd kind of like to see a v2 with your typographically-selected colors
for text blocks restored (that is, mostly grayscale, so black on white
(or dark gray on cream, for that stylish effect, perhaps) in the light
theme. It might, though, be worthwhile to maintain project team's
colors for highlights and headings and accents and things. I dunno.
Amy!
--
Amelia A. Lewis amyzing {at} talsever.com
Money can't buy happiness, but poverty can't buy *anything*.
