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Did You Notice Something a Little Different?
UPDATE: Thanks for all the feedback! For those of you who were having issues with blurriness, we have good news: we pushed out an update this afternoon that improves the sharpness of the font for users who were affected. We’re monitoring all the comments and will keep you posted on any further updates.
If you’re a frequent visitor to Goodreads, you've probably noticed a few tweaks we’ve made to the fonts and colors on the desktop site today. Our goal with these small-but-important changes was to consolidate and refresh our visual styles and lay the groundwork for some design improvements that we’re planning in the future.
What’s different?
To enhance the readability of text on Goodreads, we’ve adopted two new open-source fonts. Lato, our sans-serif font, was designed by Warsaw-based designer Łukasz Dziedzic (“Lato” means “Summer” in Polish). Merriweather, our serif font, was created by Eben Sorkin and was designed to be pleasant to read on screens.
To make it easier to scan the page for information you need, we’ve touched up and modernized the design of common page layout elements like section headers, tabs and links.
To simplify and modernize our visual design, we’ve reduced the number of link colors we use, removed gradients from buttons and the site navigation, and applied a more harmonious color palette to interactive elements such as buttons, stars, and links.
Before:
Comments Showing 1,001-1,050 of 3,113 (3113 new)
I agree, the letters are too slender, the text is difficult to read, like the resolution is all wrong. Not a good idea. Please, stop tinkering with stuff that works!
The bright white background is rough on the eyes. The font size is too small and harder to read. Please adjust that or just revert to the older version please.
Does anyone know any other book collecting websites that are similar? I may just have to abandon the site. I'm still having issues with nausea trying to read this font. I know I'm in a minority with my particular eye problems, but the only way I can read this is to shut one eye completely. I've already increased the magnification as far as I can without having to scroll back and forth on the screen but this is a disaster for me. And now, while typing this, I'm getting dizzy.
Casceil wrote: "I hate it. It is harder to read. I know I am not the only Goodreads member with "older" eyes. I would bet the decision to make these changes came from people under 40, who have no clue how much har..."You're probably onto something here.
The font the comments are in is objectionable on the grounds that it is blurry and difficult to read. I do find the blue to be aesthetically pleasing. As such, my opinion regarding this change is mixed.
No. I don't like it. Give the option to change it back please! It's a dreadful font to read when you are sitting in a dark room with a bright computer screen. This bugs me a bit too, but I can't enlarge the typing space the same way as where I like it to fit most of the page. Now I have to do some serious scrolling if I ever do some major posts.
Emilija wrote: "Sooooo nice. Love the new layout."what new layout?
Even though I have HD screen in my laptop and reading the serif font is really hard on my eyes: it's too slender, lines are too thin (I noticed a trend that I hate). Combine it with stark white background and reduced contrast (now the letters are melting) and I don't want to spend another second at this site. The design team know nothing about accessibility.And when you write a comment, the sans serif font is even smaller and crammed up.
The more I'm reading, the more my eyes are feeling the strain.As I'm on gr every day for several hours, running a couple of groups etc, this doesn't bode well.
And why has my profile pic turned round in the header? Hate that with a passion.
And I hate what's happened to my profile page - very, very ugly. You say clean and modern, I say amateurish and unprofessional.
Hope whoever authorized these changes didn't get a bonus!!!!!!
Would much rather changes to the site actually benefit the members, like the re-read option we've been waiting years for.
Please let us have an option to switch to a different font (or just the old one). It's not easy to read compared to the old font. With that said, I do like how the headers are capitalized though.
AWWWW, I FRICKING LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS FONT, SO MUCH, IT'S SO CUTEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i wont lie, just reading the updated comments on this thread is giving me a headache. good job on breaking your functionality gr *thumbs up*
HORRIBLE FONT CHOICE!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE CHANGE BACK, IT'S CRAZY HARD TO READ. OR AT LEAST MAKE IT BOLD OR SOMETHING. SHEESH!
I mean, it's okay-ish. I don't really mind the new style you guys went for, but the font is just a tad too small for my liking. At the very least, increase it some. Please?
The font is hard to read, it's very skinny. The bolded font is easier to read but even zooming in it is hard to read the font. Therefor I do not like the font.
In the 20 minutes since I commented above I have developed eye strain and a headache from looking at this site. I'm having to lean in and focus extra hard to read the font. And the background feels really bright. I'd love the option to use the old font/screen.Oh well, I've been thinking I spend too much time on GR anyway. Guess the "new improved" one will put an end to that. :(
I like this comment font and the new colors are nice, but the teal hyperlink text looks too small and square in places and is difficult to read.
Is it just me or is the background TOO white and bright ?!
It looks like they've fixed something re the broken-up font in the last few hours, but the bright-white background is still massively problematic and eye-straining. And even when the font works properly, it's still kind of small and skinny and hard to read. Not sure if that's just because of the too-bright background or because of the font itself. Either way, my eyes hurt from squinting.
Somewhere in between Love And Hate It ! To be honest, I loved the one before much much better. I guess it's a complete and absolute NO from me and I think you should change it back to the basic. This one's killing my eyes !!!
OK I stand by the book blurbs/pages being a disaster, but the group discussions & threads look good.But I'm still sitting here with a headache/eye strain which isn't good at all.
Whoever picked the green of the UGB must have naked pictures of all staffers, because apparently the ugly green is here to stay even when every other color gets changed.
The font sizes are so inconsistent I have to zoom up or down every time I go to a different site page.
Mirabelle wrote: "[insert melodramatic overreaction to change here]"Troll. Other people are having real problems with visibility and readability.
No, please, I hate the font. My eyes hurt a lot trying to read it. Its giving me a headache and with how much time I spend here I don't want to be hurting all the time.
I have no problem with the font but find the pale colors hard to read. Making them darker for better contrast sure would make things easier on these old eyes.
Hi, GR Customer Care!I don't have issues with the change in font or font color. But font size is way TOO small that it's difficult to read the text (my computer screen is set at 100% zoom, by the way) and I can't reconcile the fact that the font size in the "My Quotes" section is made a lot bigger than the ones in "My Updates" or "My Friends' Updates" section. I wonder why, when mostly it's the updates the users first check out on every time they log on to this site. It's a trifle matter, I know, but it still feels weird seeing this inconsistency on the new template--sorry, I think it's the OC in me :-)
Also, would it be possible if you could create a button or link where we can see/expand the updates' history on our personal wall? Could you allow us to see all the updates we've made and not just the recent ones?
Thanks!
I'm on a PC using IE and zoomed at 130%. This is standard for me. I checked it on Chrome and Firefox and that's even worse! I have been on for over an hour trying to adjust to this hot mess and I now have a massive headache! The font is way too small, the letters too skinny, the screen too bright and that blue is hard to read, esp. when sitting on a blue message bar! When the blue shows up in other places, it blends in a little too well so there's hardly any differentiation. Awful! Plus when you click on "add book/author" it now looks so boring and plain. God only knows what other things have changed that I won't like. Oh, and I hate the round avatar and orange stars. Ugh.Guess I'll go invest in some magnifying sunglasses and stock up on Ibuprofen.
Not a fan of the font changes. At all. Especially on the book pages. When I saw it, I thought the site was just being wonky, as per usual. I think it's harder to read, and the reviews look like the font is faded or something. I don't know. It doesn't look vivid; it looks like there's a slight blur and is actually causing me eye strain. I agree with the person/people above who said if you were going to implement changes, I'd appreciate a half star option much more than changes that make reviews more difficult to read.
It's not terrible, but I liked the previous style better. If I have too get used to it I will, but I would prefer that you change it back please. Thank you.
I like the new changes, makes things smoother and easier to read and it looks wonderful
Sorry to say, but it gives me a headache. I don't see me using it much anymore. It's too wonky.
I like it. I'm reading it on a PC desktop monitor. I haven't looked at it on my Kindle fire yet. I wonder if some who are unhappy with the font are having that trouble on other devices?
I find it really difficult to read and it doesn't look as good as the previous style.
I like the font, and the colours are less harsh as well.But if you are going to make adjustments, can you please allow us to rate books with half stars!
I'm liking it so far. It looks clean and beautiful! Good job, Goodreads-team! ;)
Too hard to read! That font is my only issue. Other than that, love the changes!
The type faces are fine, but the default size is VERY small. On Firefox I have to increase the size about 3 steps to make most of it readable. :(
J.D. wrote: "This is not workable, by any stretch of the imagination. The default size of the sans font is too small to read comfortably on any page I've seen it on (note: I have perfect vision -- I can't imagi..."Thanks! I will do that fix. I hate this right now. My poor eyes.
Just amazing how GR is consistently good in fixing things which are not broken instead of fixing things which are...
Ugh the background is very white, with the bright colors of the stars and the small and horrible blue font it's making my eyes strain a lot.
So Goodreads.. when are you going to let us decide between the 2 formats instead of having you make a compromise? ?? I mean..... this is a big disappointment, I need to know whether i need to transfer my reading lists to another site or not...Utterly unreadable text for those with bad vision. squinting gives me headaches..
The font is to small and not dark enough
The changes don't enhance readability. They are actually harder on the eyes. I loved the neutral tones and heftier font from before because it was soothing on the eyes, especially for those of us who are on here frequently. Please reconsider these changes for the sake of everyone's eyes.
Ugh! Why do you feel the need to fix something that's not broken? Really don't like it. So unpleasant to read. My eyes hurt.
Horrible! Users should have an option to revert to the previous format
Rick wrote: "Does anyone know any other book collecting websites that are similar? I may just have to abandon the site. I'm still having issues with nausea trying to read this font. I know I'm in a minority wit..."You might try out www.Powells.com . They have book blogs, short stories, and a market.
Excellent ideas!