I'm happy when folks send me design ideas, tips, font suggestions, graphics, charts I could use, color combinations for fonts, links, background, pictures of their campus, pictures of kittens in an upside down grad cap, and so on.But there's no way I can make the blog look a certain way that will please everyone. For example, the most common complaint that comes in about the blog is about font size. At any given minute it is both too small and too large for people. If you find it too large or small, try pressing CTRL + or CTRL - on your keyboard. That often adjusts CM's fonts and graphics, as well as the fonts and graphics of other pages that open in your browser.
As for the color of things. It's going to vary. It's never going to please you all the time. The blog header is never going to please you all of the time. Sometime it will be a wondrous Sam Folkchurch design. And sometimes it will not. I've got one guy from the Midwest who does quirky photo collages of things, and he'll get some time next week as the header. Of course you may not like it. Or maybe you will. There's no telling. (Oh, and the current header size is 940px in width. If you submit something, use that size as a width. And the current header's height is 254px and that's a little too big. I'm shooting for 200px X 940px, personally. I mean, if you're asking.)
But just because you think a font or a color or a background is the right one, doesn't necessarily mean that the other people who view the blog feel the same way. Try not to impugn my good sense, intelligence, or taste when you send me an email about what the page should look like. Because I don't do the page for you, it's a bunch of yous out there, and it would be great if we could be a little more forgiving of Leslie K. today, because bull-headed daughter of mine is NOT going to spend all Christmas with the one who pushed her out into the world...no, no, she's got FRIENDS, don't I know she has FRIENDS, and some of them are going to San Diego, and am I too dense to understand that THESE are the best times of her life, and don't I remember when I was YOUNG?
Oh, dear, never mind.
But the fonts, colors, and so on. They're going to change, vary, and sometimes you'll like them and sometimes you won't. This is all.
Leslie K
If it makes you feel any better (it won't, but it's all I got) my PDD-NOS 4 year old is insisting that he wants celery and graham crackers, chopped up together in a bowl, with International Delight (French Vanilla) on top as a snack.
ReplyDeleteI'm so shamefully behind in grading that I offered two of the three ingredients just to get some quiet, but he rejects the idea of leaving the celery out. So as I type this, he's drumming on my head with measuring spoons and singing Centerfield.
I could care less what color you make the font. :)
Dear Miz K--I have a learning needs assment form that says I cn only have the font be orange and I know I should be able to change it but I cna't. Cn u pleez fix it for me?
ReplyDeleteMy behind-ness equals that of the Wombat, but I have no mitigating factors like child. (I do have my own NOS diagnosis, though! It's mine! All mine! Mwahahahah!)
Maybe I should drum on my own head with measuring spoons?
Once more, into the breech!
I don't get this at all. Why can't you just design it so everyone likes it. I mean, isn't this supposed to be MY page? This is such bullshit. :)
ReplyDeleteI feel for you on the daughter. Mine is coming home to pack for St. Bart's. I might get to see her for 12 hours...goodie.
Dear CM-ers,
ReplyDeleteBefore contacting Leslie K about something super-minor, ask yourself this: if I received this email, would I call the sender a fucking snowflake?
If the answer is yes, then SHUT THE HELL UP.
Really? Design? Be an academic and focus on the content!!
Love
AM
I'm gonna out myself and say that the previous design, with medium-light gray text on a white background, was almost illegible to my weak eyeballs. It had nothing to do with font size.
ReplyDeleteThis was not a design issue. It is a readability issue. So I complained, as politely as I could, and Leslie fixed it. Thanks, Leslie!
Those of you who have nothing better to do than complain about the graphics need to get a life. <raspberry>
P.S. I also return illegible papers to my students. I tell 'em up front that if they use HB pencils or light-colored ink on an exam and I can't read it, it gets treated as a blank exam.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I bitched yesterday about the font, too, about how it was suddenly too big and too BLACK. high contrast makes for a poor looking page. I'm sorry. White background and BLACK text? How incredibly dull. You must all by Kindle readers.
ReplyDeleteI want the page to LOOK good, not just be readable...ugh.
And it IS a VERY big font. I mean, what kind of monitors are people using. I've got a 32" flattie and the font for this page is GIGANTIC. Seriously.
But I won't bitch about it anymore. I thought you all wanted help making the page better.
Wow, wanna be a snowflake much? Blogs are for reading. I will never understand why people want things to look good that reduces functionality.
ReplyDelete"a bunch of yous" - one of mankind's more lingusticly advanced cultures uses the term, "y'all," or "all y'all" if there are lots of yous.
ReplyDeleteLeslie, go old school Black background, bright green type.
Maybe if we stop telling Leslie what to do, she'll stick around as moderator. That would be good. This is a service, no? And she's doing it for free, no?
ReplyDeleteYeah! Like Beaker Ben said: let's emulate an old monochrome monitor. Green in the US and, I think, Amber in Europe.
ReplyDelete@Leslie K: Unfortunately, dear Lois doesn't know how I was as a college student (not a snowflake, but a student with an attitude about anyone-over-30). Kal Jr came home yesterday and already started with his own snarkiness. I understand and can deal with it, but his momma? Oh FSM!
P.S. The page is fine as is.
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with the snow....the background with the buildings reminded me of the winters at Northeastern Ghetto Tech, the filthy snow on the ground and the crumbling brick rowhouses not occupied for twenty years.
ReplyDeleteWe should thank Leslie K for doing a fine job as moderator, and remind her that there's no way to please everyone. This is something all teachers should remember: particularly when being yelled at by an incompetent department chair who seemed to think they should, and then complained about how to raise student quality...
ReplyDeleteP.S. Second to Dr D, the page is fine as is.
high contrast makes for a poor looking page.
ReplyDeleteYou probably think that the ideal combination is a black background and dark red text.
Blogs are about communication, and communication is served by what makes the content clear.
I mean, what kind of monitors are people using. I've got a 32" flattie and the font for this page is GIGANTIC. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteOh, we just use what comes with our desks, like most peons. It never ceases to amaze me how people think their own level of tech is what everybody has, or needs.
Introvert Prof...YOU are the one who NEEDED the font changed. Looks like the staff here jumps for you.
ReplyDeleteBut god forfend I should say something about design that makes the page a nice place to visit.
What kind of world do you live in where READABILITY is the only concern. Aren't there any fucking aesthetes out there? Sheesh.
Wondrous designs? Aw, shucks! All y'all are so sweet. :) Want to be on my tenure committee, Leslie?
ReplyDeleteWill: I consider myself *some* kind of an aesthete, and I love me a good design. But we have to pick our battles. For my part, I concede that however elegant gray blocks of text can look on screen, on a site with large quantities of text, legibility wins.
This link (via webpagesthatsuck.com) offers a good argument on the subject:
http://www.wowwebdesigns.com/power_guides/ever_heard_of_contrast/
Hey-Seuss Marimba...I often read this blog on my 'droid and I figured out how to adjust the font/readability all by myself. Don't let the petty stuff get to you, Leslie K. Things are just fine.
ReplyDeleteI am glad I don't have "behind-ness" like Blackdog and Wombat, though...sounds contagious
I like things to look nice. I hate to admit it.
ReplyDeleteWhy would people complain about something that's free?
ReplyDeleteLeslie, I'll invert your problem (my kids are 6 and 2 so they're a long way off from being that kind of snarky): my mother, who's retired, can't be bothered to come out to see her daughter and grandchildren for Christmas. Too busy working in her greenhouse and packing to move to her second house (in April). She came out two years ago when Thing Two was born (12/19--how's that for timing?) and the trip from western Washington to Wisconsin was just too much of a pain.
Happy Holidays, Leslie. I think the blog is freakin' fabulous and I don't care what you do with the design, as long as the funny/sad/eye-rolling-in-sympathy stuff keeps coming in.
I am in favor of legibility over design, along with Sam. And, frankly....hellfire, damnation, and CHEETOES, people, don't you have other things to do besides kvetch about the site design? I have papers. Complaining students. Essays of my own to write. Wonderful colleagues who have good ideas that mean more work for all of us. Planning for BOTH my overload courses to be in ONE eight week term, which will leave me insane at best. A family situation that leaves me very grateful that I live five states away from its epicenter. Two dogs of my own, plus foster dogs. Downed trees in my yard. Complain about the site? Never crossed my radar, and I am amazed that it crossed anyone else's. Leslie, you do a fine job in my book. Keep on!!
ReplyDeleteAesthetes, perhaps you could offer your services, for free, to Leslie K. and become CM's web designers.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Leslie K., thank you, thank you for keeping us on the air and loosely organized, and for dealing with snowflakey emails from readers and correspondents. For whatever it's worth, I, too, tend to think that genuine concerns about legibility (not just font size, but things that are harder to adjust, such as color/contrast) are worth passing on, politely, but that just about anything else should be out of bounds. Like others, I come here for the content. Sometimes I enjoy the aesthetics (including, of course, Sam Folkchurch graphics of any kind), sometimes I don't, but so it goes; I know that whatever is there will change in a day or a week or two, and then again, after a suitable interval.
ReplyDeleteOr, as one of my pastors says when calling for a vote on an issue that has involved a bit too much discussion about details peripheral to the central question, "everyone in favor of the motion, say 'aye.' Everyone opposed, say 'I'll devise and implement a better plan'." The "ayes" tend to carry in such situations.
CC: ...too much discussion about details peripheral to the central question, "everyone in favor of the motion, say 'aye.' Everyone opposed, say 'I'll devise and implement a better plan'."
ReplyDeleteI'm so stealing that for my next meeting that insists on Robert's Rules of Order.
Leslie: Put this in the blog FAQ. It is a modification of something I send my students when final grades are posted.
ReplyDelete"Any requests for site re-designs or changes to font, color, or graphics will be politely ignored."
Leslie, tell'em, "Fuck y'all."
ReplyDeleteI like the bridge background....reminds me of the old Simon and Garfunkle song.
ReplyDeleteBTW I would just like to add that I came up with the "from the ashes of Rate Your Students" subtitle that appeared on the header early on.
From Fab on June 24th of this year....
ReplyDeleteThe new layout is beautiful and legible too... Thank you so much for your time, effort, *and* patience... My sincere gratitude.
ReplyDelete