Slashdot CSS Redesign Contest Update 577
A few weeks back I announced that Slashdot was throwing open its design to the readers. An individual will win a Laptop, and hopefully we'll all
win a Slashdot design that looks good. My Journal
Entries have chronicled dozens of entries since the contest began, commenting
on many of them. Today I share with you 3 of my favorites. These aren't
necessarily "Finalists" but I think these are some of the strongest
entries. First up is Michael Johnson's design,
second is Jason Porritt's entry, and third is a
design from Peter
Lada. The contest will end around the middle of next week. Entries can be
sent to redesign at CmdrTaco.net. Read my journal for extensive
commentary on the many entries, to see what stuff has been working and what
stuff hasn't.
Jason's design (Score:5, Insightful)
A feature I'd like to see: the year (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What was the prize? (Score:4, Insightful)
Idiots (Score:1, Insightful)
Poll ! (Score:5, Insightful)
CmdrTaco , Use the Poll to get User Opinion - If you really want it,that is.
Eh-Off the clock. (Score:1, Insightful)
As pointed out in the original story. Three weeks really isn't enough time.
Nice (Score:2, Insightful)
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
Re:Eh-Off the clock. (Score:2, Insightful)
Very true, especially for those of us who can't just take 3 weeks off from work to do the redesign.
Seconded - fonts are too small (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do we need a 'winner'? (Score:5, Insightful)
If most of this is hardcoded(I havn't checked), then the upgrade for web standards was pointless and whoever did it missed the point.
Re:When I actually get the fonts big enough... (Score:5, Insightful)
Great attempts, but hamstrung by client (Score:5, Insightful)
All three of these are valiant attempts at a Slashdot redesign. What hinders them is the Slashdot Coliseo wordmark and the goddamn stupid fucking green colour.
Which I gotta put on you, Taco. When clients do that to me (I am a graphic designer by trade), I know what I am getting into, which is a client who has nonsensical, nostalgic attachment to elements that simply do not work. That stuff doesn't typically end up in my portfolio.
Why don't you create a sub-category (for kicks at least) where the designers get free reign. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Re:Seconded - fonts are too small (Score:5, Insightful)
Important for visually impaired (but not blind) people, too. This is one of the biggest faux-pas out there.
Designers should also always use relative sizes ("larger", "smaller") instead of absolute sizes for fine print and large headlines.
I expect problems with 90% of the websites out there (including ones I've made, I'm sure as heck not perfect), but when you have a contest and expect some professional results, I think we should remind some of these entrants that there's a functional design philosophy as well as a visual one.
Parent poster is right (Score:5, Insightful)
Disclaimer: I design.
As such, I know it's not that these guys have no creativity. I am putting the blame on the client. Taco asked for little more than a fresh coat of paint on the site, and that's what he got. It would be nice if he was less constrictive and opened himself up to other ideas besides something that automatically constricted the contestants to have results almost exactly like the site you're looking at right now.
I also can't fault people for choosing the design simply because it's what a lot of other sites look like nowadays. But in a couple of years, when the whole "Web 2.0 Soft Gradients" thing loses its sheen, the site is going to look dated yet again.
I do think the finalists all have a strong, clear foundation on spacing and placement so the designs aren't bad. They're just not enough of a change.
(Take my criticism with a grain of salt as I haven't submitted anything).
Wow, big nothing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Great attempts, but hamstrung by client (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd love to see a completely re-done concept of a slash-type site, but it'd require a proof-of-concept at a lower level than just eye candy, unfortunately.
Re:Not too bad..... (Score:2, Insightful)
Collapsible Containers (Score:5, Insightful)
I think his design looks the best, but I like the collapsible containers that the other two have. In fact, I like them a LOT. If Mike's had the collapsibles I'd vote for him, otherwise I like Jasons. Peter's is just too green and flat. Sorry Peter!
Maybe I'm Missing Something, But... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not too bad..... (Score:3, Insightful)
That said all 3 were very nice designs. I'd hate to be the person picking out a winner.
What a bunch of crap. (Score:2, Insightful)
And taco, you are a retard and a douche for not hosting the entries. There's no copyright infringment excuse here, they entries have been submitted to be part of the site, you can host them on the site.
Evolutionary vs. Revolutionary (Score:3, Insightful)
A totally new Slashdot design would defintely be more interesting, but I would think that even if it was genius, it could hurt the site more than help it by driving away more users than it attracts. For example, a "revolutionary" design might be one that works great in Firefox, and purposely ignores obvious usability problems with IE. This could encourage lots of users to switch to Firefox, but I would expect lots of IE users would just stop visiting
Re:When I actually get the fonts big enough... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not the point! I've already set my browser up so it displays text at a comfortable size; The point is why the hell should your design mean I have to adjust it every time I visit slashdot? And put it back again every time I visit anywhere else.
Look people - for pity's sake leave the default paragraph text size alone, and use only relative changes for everything else: I know my monitor and my eyes better than you do!
Re:When I actually get the fonts big enough... (Score:1, Insightful)
Could we please make the headlines the links? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not too bad..... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not too bad..... (Score:3, Insightful)
If you can unzip a file you can install firefox... and what IT department would complain about a user using firefox?
Re:Jason's design (Score:4, Insightful)
[Ok, I'm really going a little over the top here, but I somehow feel like this is my 15 minutes as an art critic.]
I really hate that "upper left corner" style of Michael's...where's the rest of the fucking box? Is there some kind of bit shortage where we need to conserve every last byte in transmission? Seriously though, the corner is little more than fluff and does little to enhance readability or make the articles "pop". 93 thumbs down.
Peter's doesn't render properly in Safari. The right column rams up into the search box. Surely this is a minor glitch that can be solved, but even if it were, I have to say the green dominates too much. The sub-articles are not visually distinct from the main articles. Overall, I feel more like I'm on a golf course, not looking at a website. 27 thumbs down for letting green dominate the scene and another 9 thumbs down for the sub-article snafu, for a total of 36 thumbs down. Clearly not as bad as the previous entry, and clearly nothing to earn it a single thumb up.
Re:I Agree ! with some work (Score:5, Insightful)
IE 6 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Big issue: Requires JavaScript (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Why do we need a 'winner'? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Great attempts, but hamstrung by client (Score:2, Insightful)
Redesign or re-design? (Score:4, Insightful)
When I looked at these three designs, no offence at all to the people who are doing them, but they look like what a client would be presented if they have a agreed upon a basic layout, and wouldn't a few different "looks" to choose from.
I actually think there is some pride and a lot usability in Slashdot's current look. It's not fancy, but it doesn't need to be (at all!).
I think Slashdot is wasting peoples time if we're just putting a new coat of paint on the car. We don't care how ugly you are Slashdot, we love your personality!
For the Grail Hunters (Score:1, Insightful)
If I would add any one thing to slashdot, it would be the ability for the body to expand past the cols, when the cols don't have anything in it. When you scroll down a ways, 40% of the screen is whitespace, which has to be bad design, though you might think it's cool because you only use divs. For an example of what I'm talking about, check this site [1fp.us]. Now, it won't validate, because it's displaying the full feeds of people who don't know how to write html, but it could look the same in xhtml 1.0 strict.
Now, Slashdot is better than some sites, where they can have up to 70% whitespace if you have a larger monitor. This site [blogsforbush.com] is aweful. The body of the messages don't expand with the browser window, and the politics and retoric suck.
The top of this one [insitemotion.com] looks great.
I like the post in the body of this one [bestweddingsource.com]...
Anyway, that's my two cents. Take it for what it's worth.
Headlines not bold enough (Score:2, Insightful)
Why you say? Because bolder text (to a certain point) is easier to spot. You should be able to see it instantly. Also, all text should be normal or above normal in size. Remember, many slashdotters are not below 30 and do not have perfect eyesight. Further, the contrast (in colors/text) need to be very big. (All three scores well on contrasts)
It is only logical that the most important text [the headline] has a size that matches it's high importance. Thus, the difference between the headline and the rest of the text should be substancial, and certainly BIGGER than all three "favorites". And the story text (second most important) should be bigger than all the other text, links, comments etc. The layout should always help, guide and prioritze for the reader. The reader should not need to waste time searching for the important information, the reader should know in 0,03 seconds what information to read first, second and last.
I also would like to ask one question: Is the time (posted) and name of poster really that important? Are they more important than the story text? If not, they should be at the end of the "story"-boxes, not at the top. Also, maybe a 50% increase in theme-picture-size be could be smart, easier to see. How about using actual pictures from the stories? (maybe a rights issue, I know, but it must be possible to get free use of a copyrighted picture in many cases). More: The text should not be in italic (ok, a few words are ok), because it is harder to read.
Also, to not alienate the readers, it may be smart to keep the original colors, so that not "everything" changes from one day to another. If wanted, change the color later.
PS: Do you see how much easier it is to spot bold text in my comment? That comfirms my first statement.
Please feel free to comment my comment!
Re:Jason's design (Score:4, Insightful)
Looks very slick.
My only complaint: as mentioned in other posts, the text does not resize in IE 6.0.28. This is a CRITICAL issue, so I wouldn't give it the thumbs-up until this is fixed. Hopefully, the bugs will be dealt with.