Problems with the new design

[hansioux]

@Doraemonster

phpBB also respected the user’s preference and did not impose Arial upon everyone

Since I don’t use Windows, my default Sans is the beautiful and clean Ubuntu font. I understand people can change the font they want to use on the browser, however, in order to stop forumosa from using a Serif font, I have to disable the “allow websites to choose their own fonts” option. That setting gets applied to every website and not just forumosa. Some websites uses both to convey different points, and if I change my default Serif font to a Sans font, I’m not going to be able to tell the difference on those sites.

It would be great for discourse to allow us to select our own preference, but if it doesn’t, I think the default should be Sans, which is better on screen.

[Kowtow]

Darker font with this background works for me. A lot better than the white background.

Thanks for listening to us!

[Andrew0409]

Honestly here whats been my opinion of the new site, I hate it, oh actually I like it now and its kinda nice. Oh they changed it again, I hate it, oh you know what? I can get used to this.

[tempogain]

@Andrew0409

I can get used to this.

What? Time to change it again

[tempogain]

Sorry Andrew But trying out a kind of magentaish thing in place of the blue highlights.

[Doraemonster]

@hansioux

[…] in order to stop forumosa from using a Serif font, I have to disable the “allow websites to choose their own fonts” option.

Why? And what does this have to do with Linux? If anything it’s the browser you’re using that’s more relevant. You can simply set your favorite sans-serif font as your default serif font. Long time ago I’ve done the opposite when I decided that Caecilia works best for me in either case. Websites can still override this setting and use their own font. You don’t have to enable the setting you mention.

@hansioux

That setting gets applied to every website and not just forumosa. Some websites uses both to convey different points, and if I change my default Serif font to a Sans font, I’m not going to be able to tell the difference on those sites.

OK, so basically you dislike serif but only on Forumosa. That’s a different issue then. Still, who switches between serif and sans-serif for emphasis? I’ve only ever seen this done in Chinese text, and if that’s the case, then you can still have different font choice for the Chinese script. In Firefox there’s a settings option for this, in Chromium it’s provided by an extension.

@hansioux

I think the default should be Sans, which is better on screen.

On a reasonably high-DPI screen with a well-configured font renderer, serif fonts should look better. The preference for sans-serif fonts is a residue from the early days of computing, when serif fonts indeed did not look good on screen but things have improved since then. In print, nearly all books are typeset in serif for a reason.

I appreciate the font change because it lets me choose my own font. Whether the font is set to serif or sans-serif is less of an issue: if the majority and/or the admins opt for a sans-serif font, so be it. But you make it sound like there’s some problem with serif font being incompatible with Linux, while in fact the actual issue is just that your preference has not been accommodated.

[Charlie_Phillips]

@silly.putty

I like how the site feels more like the old forums now, but everything has become harder to read since the rest of the elements were only designed with a white background in mind. Needs more contrast.

And I’m against a serif font for text. Serif is reserved for titles while sans is used for everything else. I thought this was common knowledge.

Here’s an example of a site with a similar color scheme: https://english.stackexchange.com/

Bloody awful.

[Charlie_Phillips]

@JustifiedAndAncient

At the risk of creating a logical paradox, the best advice I can give about the visual design of a website is not to ask every user’s opinion about it. You’ll ask 100 people and get 100 contradicting opinions and end up with a mess. Someone needs to dictate it with an iron fist.

Yes.

[tango42]

The whiteness is blinding.

[hansioux]

@Doraemonster

And what does this have to do with Linux?

Because Windows have ugly legacy fonts as default, arial, times new roman, 新細明體 to name a few.

@Doraemonster

You can simply set your favorite sans-serif font as your default serif font.

…

so basically you dislike serif but only on Forumosa.

Yeah, like I said, to have it work on a website that selects a font, people would have disable the function to let websites choose its own fonts. On highly stylized websites, it isn’t desirable. Many stylized sites, even online news outlets, would use serif to signal a paragraph is a quote from text below or use it in other manners.

@Doraemonster

I appreciate the font change because it lets me choose my own font.

In the polling thread, 79% of forumosans prefers sans.

Serif vs Sans Serif on Forumosa

Continuing the discussion from Problems with the new design: poll After looking at this below, I may suggest we go back to Sans-serif [image]

If having most formosans manually set their default serif font to sans is not a big deal, how would the site changing it’s default to serif be more of a benefit to you? Doesn’t that really mean now the majority of the formosans have to live without the ability to choose their own fonts?

[tempogain]

Is that a Ubuntu setting in particular Hansioux? I haven’t noticed the issue in Mint Cinnamon.

[hansioux]

@tempogain

Is that a Ubuntu setting in particular Hansioux? I haven’t noticed the issue in Mint Cinnamon.

It’s a firefox issue. I actually don’t mind Serif that much, but I just don’t think asking people to change their default web browser serif font to sans is the perfect solution.

[Doraemonster]

[quote=“hansioux, post:70, topic:154628, full:true”]
Yeah, like I said, to have it work on a website that selects a font, people would have disable the function to let websites choose its own fonts.[/quote]
How so? Not “people would” but only you would, if at all, because for some reason only you want to have different font preferences just for Forumosa.

@hansioux

Many stylized sites, even online news outlets, would use serif to signal a paragraph is a quote from text below or use it in other manners.

And when they do that, they use the browser’s default fonts? That would be Taiwanese websites written in Chinese only, right? Then there are separate setting for Chinese and Latin fonts in Firefox or, if it’s not enough, browser extensions that can help, for example Tampermonkey.

It’s perfectly fine to have your own preferences, just don’t claim that a font change at Forumosa forces you to disable customized fonts for all websites because it’s simply not true. The issue seems to be that you have an ugly default serif font set in your browser’s preferences but don’t want to change it for some reason and instead expect the websites you visit not to ever use it. I don’t really understand what you’re trying to do but it’s a client (browser), not a website issue and I’m sure it can be easily fixed in the Settings, about:config, userContent.css or with one of the numerous extensions. Linux, if anything, offers more room for such customizations.

This has steered way too off-topic so I’ll stop at this but it’s just worth pointing out that none of this has much to do with the new Forumosa. If sunlight is too bright for you then wear sunglasses instead of trying to dim the sun.

@hansioux

In the polling thread, 79% of forumosans prefers sans.

Back on topic, I just hope the admins can at some point decide this and other issues in a dictatorial manner, according to their own preferences. Otherwise, we’ll have never-ending discussions and design by committee.

It’s not 79% of Forumosans but 79% of the 16 people who bothered to vote in the poll, by the way.

Edit: and it’s down to 69% now.

[tempogain]

We will But there will always be room for discussion about it, and the possibility of trying new things based on it, and for other reasons. That process has led to some interesting things here that were at least worth trying, and may well stick.

[Dynaflow]

Whether we are moaning about, whinging about, delight in and/or enjoying the new design, let’s all give the admins respect for staying contemporary in our digital era. I was over at the Dave’s ESL Cafe forums the other day and they are so 2006 that it is a bit of a drag to look at them.

[tango42]

Can we get a dedicated button at top of screen for “Latest”? It is the button that I use constantly.

Can we get a dedicated button at top of screen for “Go to top” of thread instead of need to scroll?

It would help to show page number on threads. I typically remember how many pages I’ve read and can click directly to the end of that page instead of scrolling up to see what I’ve missed.

[tempogain]

@tango42

Can we get a dedicated button at top of screen for “Latest”? It is the button that I use constantly.

Clicking on the large or small Forumosa logos at top will do this, or the Triple Bar icon and the Latest link. Something I also noticed now is that there are keyboard shortcuts–there’s a list linked to at the bottom of the Triple Bar icon dropdown. “g,l” is the Latest shortcut.

Can we get a dedicated button at top of screen for “Go to top” of thread instead of need to scroll?

The thread title does this in one click.

It would help to show page number on threads.

Pages aren’t implemented in Discourse, it’s all “infinite scrolling”. The navigation tool on the right side of the page, or at the bottom right of the screen on mobile or zoomed views on desktop, is there to help in getting around.

[GooseEgg]

If you are logged in when you look at the Latest posts front page, you will occassionally see colored circles with number in them. They indicated how many unread posts there have been since your last visit and clicking on the circles takes you to the first unread post

[Dragonbones]

My apologies if this has been answered, but I haven’t been able to stay up to date lately. When I click on a thread like Typhoons after a parentally induced absence, I end up stuck in a very long cycle trying to scroll to the bottom of the page to see what the latest posts are. In fact, I could keep clicking for several minutes, and still not reach the end. So typically I give up. Help would be appreciated.

[tempogain]

On a desktop, you should see a scrolling tool to the right of posts that will help you get right to the end of things. On a cell (or magnified views on a desktop) there’s a smaller set of buttons at bottom right that accomplishes the same thing–here I this thread it reads “80/80” at the moment. On a cell myself at the moment, when I get home I’ll try to post a link or some pictures.