Update 6/22: Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Looks like the votes, including email and IM (Hi K.T.) are 12 to 5 for the first version. Which means most of you are going to be somewhat disappointed soon. Sorry! I think the new design going to be EXTREMELY difficult for me to code, too, but I have a few neat little tricks that are going to make it super spiffy—and readable, I promise.
p.s. Ianiv—hold down the Shift key as you use your scroll wheel—it does horizontal scrolling, too.
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i think we both like the horizontal one best (although, they're both cool). i like the horizontal scrolling for a change. and the last time i opened it, it filled my screen from right to left - that was cool.
Posted by jason at 6:20 am on Jun. 21, 2005
Horizontal has it, for the entries anyhow. It just feels so much more accessible and each one gets it's own clear share of my attention. Re: 'title', the wooden blocks have a great connection with 'unvarished' but I noticed two things - 1) lack of contrast between letters and background so it took a moment to figure out what it said and 2) the second syllable (varn?) went unnoticed originally because it's dropped and my mind was trying to process 'unished'. Trying floating it above the others, not below?
It filled my screen from side-to-side also, which is nice.
Can't wait to see the finished product.
Posted by Mom at 6:51 am on Jun. 21, 2005
Oops! Looks like I posted that last one twice (you can delete one, right? I guess I got impatient because I didn't notice the twirling pinwheel showing that it was loading.
Anyhow, looked again and definitely was more at ease and interested in the horizontal version. Could you put the wooden blocks vertically at the side of the hoizontal version? Fool around with the colour? e.g. your name -- brown on brown, hmmm.....
Posted by Mom at 6:58 am on Jun. 21, 2005
Version 1, Proto2, Hands down.
Hands down, with a solid thwack sound on the table. The lumber stamp thing is solid gold!
I'm not adverse to a horizontal version of that, but I think blogs as a genre of website are confusing enough already
The wood graphic has got to stay, one way or another.
I like the Version 1 -- it's like a magazine style, yes? Even though I like the novelty of Version 2, it'll wear off quickly. I agree with "Mom" about the accessibility of version 2- it seems easier to read with lots of "white space".
Just my humble opinions.
Posted by Norlinda at 9:08 am on Jun. 21, 2005
I prefer the proto2 layout. My problem with proto3 is that I cannot scroll using the wheel on my mouse, I need to go find the scrollbar and actually use it (horror!).
These are both "front pages", which are kind of specialized and also will never be seen by any of us RSS reading maniacs. We will, however, click through to the interior pages, so that's what I'd be interested in seeing.
That being said, I like the different-ness of proto3, although the side scrolling is a bit offputting.
I'm with Ianiv on this one: definitely like proto2 better. proto3 is sort of interesting, but busy (distracting from the content), and the horizontal scrolling, while a novelty, wears thin really fast.
Proto 2 fo sho. Eminently usable. To echo comments above, the neato factor on the horizontal design will wear off. Plus the 2x4s are a nice touch on 2.
One small detail: can you darken up the "home|about|contact etc. links at the top? they're a bit hard to see...
You can scroll right easily by holding down the SHIFT key and using your scroll wheel. (Firefox users trying this will end up jumping to old Web pages until a) Firefox releases a fix, b) they change their settings like so.)
