Just joined this site, really like it, would like to discuss how to make it easier to use and reduce site strain · 24
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Hey there! I've migrated from reddit and from what I've seen so far I think I would really like it if this became my main site. Everyone here seems really thoughtful and nice so far, so I thought I would at least give my opinion of what I think of the site layout so that it might be better in the future :)
The first thing I notices was that the body font was very small. This make it a lot harder, for me at least, to read through long posts without straining my eyes. If you look at other text dominated sites (for example, the New York Times and other newspaper sites), they have all increased their font size to around 14px or 16px to alleviate this problem. Also, because of the large amount of white space on Hubski, I don't think this would have any negative effects on usability.
For an example of this, the post title font size and author font size on the feed only differed by 1px (13px and 12px). I changed the the title to 16px which I think was a significant improvement.
I also changed the color of the header to a light grey which helps dictate the flow of the page, helping the user to more quickly distinguish between the static menu of the site and its content. I also changed the a:visited attribute to a lighter color so it is easier to tell when links have been visited.
That's all I got for now, but if this gets a good response I would be happy to keep suggesting things!
thenewgreen · 1223 days ago · link ·
Hey pianite, first of all welcome to Hubski! Glad you found us. Secondly, I appreciate your feedback. We've been at this for close to five years now and because of that, it can be very difficult to see the site with fresh eyes. Feedback like this is crucial, so thank you. It's one thing to say, "I don't like x" but it's a whole other thing to provide ways you think you could improve "x." -Thanks. I like the design ideas too, insomniasexx, have a look. Thanks again pianite. Let me know if you have any questions about the site.The first thing I notices was that the body font was very small
-You should have seen it when we first started. mk likes small font. He thinks it correlates to intelligence -Just kidding. Kind of.
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Hey, thanks for the reply! I can totally sympathize with stuff getting hard to look at after a while. I'd be happy to fiddle around with it for a while as I get to know the site better to see if I can come up with some other new ideas. I'm glad you like it!
insomniasexx · 1223 days ago · link ·
I agree with your comment about font size. I actually have a semi-custom stylesheet that I serve via stylebot to get my font size bigger because Hubski is pretty much unusable on a 27" monitor. mk loves his small fonts though. He likes it dense. I gave up that fight ages ago. I do like distinguishing visted links though. We should definitely do that. Also, using cmd/crtl + on your keyboard will increase the size and won't break Hubski (unlike some sites) - just an FYI.
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insomniasexx · 1223 days ago · link ·
Yeah we need to refactor the css first. It's still css and 5 separate sheets for each theme. It's been added to for 4 years. It's not optimal in any way shape or form. If you feel like having a go, you can pull it from inspect element. That's all we got. ;)
user-inactivated · 1223 days ago · link ·
I too think this site could stand to have a slightly bigger font. I have to zoom in to 110% to make the text readable for myself. Might I just say as an aside though, that using the "Office" style for this site on a 15" CRT Monitor makes it look gorgeous.
coffeesp00ns · 1223 days ago · link ·
Have you tried some of the other aesthetic options? I use Spring, personally, though many love Dark, and a few like Ugly. I suggest playing around with some of them in your "Settings" page. I kind of like your grey header, though I think if you used it you would have to change the colour of the font on it for "feed,chatter, global, tags, community, badges"
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Oh my god... I didn't even realize there were other themes, oops haha. I guess I should have looked through the site more before posting something like this. I'm currently using the spring theme which I think provides a bit better contrast. And yeah, I agree with you on the grey, looking at it again now it probably should be a few shades lighter. What do you think of the font size?
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coffeesp00ns · 1223 days ago · link ·
I definitely have to up the font size on Hubski, personally. Well, actually I just zoom in on Chrome.
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not_damn_dirty-ape · 1223 days ago · link ·
I think pages would be really helpful for browsing more than the first 30 links without scrolling down past more a bunch of times.
For what it's worth, I like your redesign. My only complaint is that the grey you chose for the header reduces the contrast with the elements that are only a slightly darker shade of grey (the links on the right and the two little wheels on the left).
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