feedback greatly appreciated

W

windandwaves

rf said:
That white on black is very hard to read. I had to significantly
enlarge my font size.

Why fixed width?

Hi Richard

Thank you for your feedback.... Design is important here so therefore there
is fixed width. For font-size, try CTRL ++

Thank you again

- Nicolaas
 
R

rf

windandwaves said:
rf wrote:
Thank you for your feedback.... Design is important here so therefore there
is fixed width.

OK but I don't really see any need for it. Minimum width perhaps (which is
already dictated by the top graphic) but why a maximum. Once I increased my
font size there were not may words per line in the two column layout.
For font-size, try CTRL ++

That's what I *did* (see above). The point is that I already impose a
minimum font size of 16pt (my favourite reading size) and I should not have
to *significantly* increase it from that. The text is simply hard to read.
If your client wants white on black then use a better font, or bold or
something?

The light grey on black (the navigation) is particularly crook.

Just my opinion though :)
Thank you again

NP
 
T

Tony Cooper

Hi Richard

Thank you for your feedback.... Design is important here so therefore there
is fixed width. For font-size, try CTRL ++

I agree that the text is difficult to read because of both color and
size. You may feel that the design is important, but I feel that it's
important that I not have to bother with extra steps to read a web
page.

I don't understand how design can be more important than readability
if you actually intend to present something for people to read.
You'll have a nice looking web page that no one bothers to read.
 
D

dorayme

From: (e-mail address removed)
Is it harder to read that black on white?

Yes. There is proof. There was a 1976 study done showing that
reaction times to warnings in white on black were significantly
slower than black on white. And RF and I and a lot of folk find
it more difficult. I know it looks nice sometimes and I do it
myself for menu items and other things. But when folk are
expected to actually read a fair bit of text it is a very bad
idea. Try to make it easy for users... it is our job to try to
think nice design and easy for most people to use...

dorayme
 
D

dorayme

From: rf said:
That white on black is very hard to read. I had to significantly enlarge my
font size.

Why fixed width?


I agree with Richard, it would be a great improvement to go black print on
white in the content box. You might then consider a border around the pics,
see what it looks like. I can understand you might not want to leave the
fixedness of the content width because then it would mean significent
redesign. It is reasonably ok this, considering it is not too wide or too
narrow for most people. (The bottom box with the right aligned "who is most
acclaimed actor... looks a bit empty and strange...)

dorayme
 
A

Andy Dingley

windandwaves said:

Skinny white text on black - just a bad idea. It's not too bad on an
LCD screen but this colour combination depends more contrast than a CRT
is capable of delivering. Don't do it. If you must do it, then it needs
to be a font with thick strokes (which you can't reliably select over
the web) or a large font size.

Old studies supporting "light on dark" as the ergonomic choice were
based on monochrome phosphors and fixed character generators (or
vectors). They're no longer relevant for today's displays.

If you put the font size up to a point where the strokes are readable,
then the skinny columns become a problem. You really do need a
dynamically sized pair of columns here.

To deal with the top image, then either just centre it and sit black
space either side (that's already what you're doing anyway). Or else
(and rather better) split it into two layers. Make the Maori eye-candy
image much wider and set it as a repeated background just in case (I
have a 3000px wide screen) then float the text and logo over the top,
either as text (best) or as a transparent image.
 
J

Jonathan N. Little

dorayme said:
Yes. There is proof. There was a 1976 study done showing that
reaction times to warnings in white on black were significantly
slower than black on white. And RF and I and a lot of folk find
it more difficult. I know it looks nice sometimes and I do it
myself for menu items and other things. But when folk are
expected to actually read a fair bit of text it is a very bad
idea. Try to make it easy for users... it is our job to try to
think nice design and easy for most people to use...

Without question, white on black is far more difficult to read, but
hopefully without starting a flame war here, let's consider the content
and intended audience here. A website for a television show,
entertainment industry. Yes, about history, but not an academic tome, or
mission-critical news, or dry engineering specification. A styling
choice with a 'fresh' look. I think he avoided the error many make when
using light on dark of using a serf or ornate font, nor did he
artificially constrain its size. Set the body to 100% and refrained from
absolutes in px so you can bump up the text size even in MSIE.

I will say though, you are pushing the limit with the home page on the
amount of text per page if you are going to go with white on black
theme. Breaking into columns with an ample cutter helps a lot to keep
legibility, which you did. Image and style integrate well I think.

One bit I do see as a problem, if you stay with the white on black
style, in your menus having the 'visited' links go charcoal grey does
make them very difficult to read, especial with such lightweight small
text. I would suggest either increase font size, or weight, or color to
contrast a bit more, or a combination of these to improve legibility.
Maybe use white for your normal color 'unvisited' links, a light gold on
hover akin to your 'main' graphic buttons and for 'visited' use the
light grey that you are now using for your 'unvisited' menu links now.

I do like you site, good thematic styling.
 
G

glittlemore

Hi there,

I've had a brief look at your site and took into account the comments
made about the black on white.

I think this would be made easier on the eye if you simply break your
long paragraphs down into smaller chunks and leave a larger space
between one paragraph to the next!

Just a thought - hope it helps.

Gemma
 

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