Did You Notice Something a Little Different?

No offense to the Goodreads team, but I don't like the changes. The colours don't match and the letters are hard to read. I liked the old version much better. Please change it back!

What was the point of getting rid of the ability to make text boxes wider?

I'd also appreciate the inclusion of half stars but as for the new look, please change the stark white background to a buff or off white. The contrast of the new font against the white is really hard on the eyes so I doubt I'll spend as much time browsing.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Why change the stars from red to orange? Did you learn from Martha Stewart that orange goes better with teal or something?"

I hadn't noticed that. That is really ugly. And the orange with the teal is even more ghastly.

But I could live with ugly if I had to. Although why they'd want to make the color palette less attractive than it was before I cannot fathom. Might make sense if the change improved contrast and legibility, but the opposite is true.

Very awful. Just looking at it for a bit and I have a headache. Tiny, ugly, and extremely hard to read!

Serena wrote: "The colors I can live with (although they are not my favorites) but the fonts are very, very hard to read. Overall, I am not impressed."

That blueish green is too neutral, it's lighter than the old green and it blends in too well with grey as well as current font. It might look better if a little darker, but it looks cold, too :/ Just don't understand what was wrong with the old green, u know *sigh*

noticed it right away and LOVEd it right away. ^___^
fonts and stuff are looking good on my screen and the colors are more pleasing to my eyes now.
it'll probably take some time for me to find the preview links, but it's worth it.
Nice job guys.
p.s. I just Love the blue-green color. it looks modern. that previous old school green was kinda in my face lol

lol, it's funny how many people complain. If this had been the layout the whole time nobody would think anything of it. And weeks from now this will be the new normal.

I think it is the color, but I find the new font hurts my eyes as much as several of the other comments here.

Richard Reviles Censorship wrote: "I'm so happy the Ugly Green Button is less hideous that I don't mind anything else at all."

Mine looks the same.

Karla wrote: "Oh JFC, the flailing dramatics from you Goodreads paleos is making me root for every bullying you (possibly) got in high school. I've been here since 2009 and adaption is how the internet rolls.

W..."

Must be worse than I thought. I'm completely missing the Goodreads request to scorn those who offer honest feedback. Was that in the serif or sans-serif font?

It's too bright. The font is actually harder to read. The cleaned-up layout makes it harder to tell where the different sections begin and end. The dark turqouise color is strange, but ok, I can live with that. The tiny font and the glaring background are definitely the worst. Can I opt out and go back to the old version?

Lysistrata wrote: "Eeesh, the entire update looks *hideous* while using a browser. Terrible contrast, blurry letters, odd spacing... Time to tinker with Chrome's font overrides!

It's a shame, because the smartphone ..."

The smartphone version does look good, but it has limitations that make it only a good option for some things, not so much for others.

Truly hate. I can't read a thing :/

I don't like it, at all. I hate that it doesn't look unique anymore. Please change it back. (Although you won't.)

Suzy wrote: "Seeing comments that there is a difference between how this shows up on Chrome and IE, I opened up both. (I use Chrome as my default browser.) The look is completely different! They both have reada..."

I was wondering why Chrome looked NOTHING like the "after" picture posted above. I really hope Goodreads notices your comment.

Wendy F wrote: "lol, it's funny how many people complain. If this had been the layout the whole time nobody would think anything of it. And weeks from now this will be the new normal. "

Might be true, if it weren't for the fact that the font is so small on the feed it's incredibly difficult to read, and less contrast makes trying very hard on the eyes.

Other areas aren't so bad, and it's not bad from a smartphone or tablet.

So, I'm guessing those that don't have a real issue with the change either spend most of their time in other areas rather than reading the Feed, or are using a smartphone or tablet, or both.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Mine looks the same."

Mine also is the same ugly green overly large eyesore.

I like the simplification so far. However, the Lato tyepface looks quite small on the updates page and other places (tags, links, etc.); you guys should increase the font-size as well as font-height. I'm on Firefox, btw.

I like it overall. The links on the left-hand tool bar stand out more and look "cleaner."

But the general font on the page will take some getting used to. Some of the letters look like they have pieces missing at first glance... like the tops of e's and s's.

Right now I have a 200% of zoom in my screen and I READ ANYTHIIIING.

Looks nice but the print is too small!!!!l

I don't like it at all; why does everyone have to change what works! CHANGE IT BACK!!!!!!!

It's horrible and so hard to read. Give us the option of changing back!

Tonya wrote: "I don't even notice a difference. But I also don't pay attention to little details."

Well great, I guess you are GR ideal user then.

The text is a lot harder for me to read now. :-(
I miss the old font. Much easier to read!
And as someone with vision issues, having an easier to read font nice to have!
The other font was crisp, bolder and easier to read. This one is thin, faded in areas and a ghost of what the other used to be.

Anyone notice that the book summaries are now way more descriptive?

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Yes, and I hate it. This is horrible. Please return to the previous version. GR has now become very difficult to read."

I so agree. Ick, even when I type it looks weird. change it back! at least for those who want it to be changed back. It looks like the stuff I see on the Goodreads app on my iPad.

Cassidy wrote: "How sad is it that I didnt even notice? I'm not that observant"

Well as long as you don't work for the FBI or Homeland Security.

Lobstergirl wrote: "What was the point of getting rid of the ability to make text boxes wider?"

I AM WITH YOU on that one 100%!

Harder to read

Just as I was wondering if the profile pic on the top corner has always been round, there was the "Notice Something Different?" --good to know I'm not going crazy...


I, personally, like the Lato font, although I can see why people find it harder to read. The Merriweather is quite meh though. Aside from that, I'm all in favor of the disappearance of the gradients that I didn't like much.



Now, the actual update I'd love to see would be to be able to zoom in/out on the publication year stats cloud thingy, because when you have on your shelves books that were published centuries ago, the most recent ones are all piling up on one spot, and it's impossible to distinguish anything...

Ursa wrote: "I like the simplification so far. However, the Lato tyepface looks quite small on the updates page and other places (tags, links, etc.); you guys should increase the font-size as well as font-heigh..."

In addition, the book description/summary section looks really dense with Merriweather. It's readable on the discussion page though. Well, it is for me. I can't speak for other readers.

I love the font, but it's rather small. I prefer the old layout.

Huh. Well it's different. But I think it's just that the fonts are a bit harder to read. But I guess will get used to it.

And the new link color is pretty, but I don't think it provides enough contrast.

The longer I use Goodreads, the more tired my eyes get. The background seems to glare now and the font needs to be larger, more crisp. The font types and colors are great...! I'm still in favor of change, just with a little tweeking.

Dianne wrote: "The background seems to glare now "

Yes, that's it.

I think I'm getting a little bit used to it, but the background is too bright and I miss the boxes around the titles that separate the text from the background...

for those of you... with bad eyesight... use firefox.. and make the default font cooperplat gothic bold.. it works fine for me..

I seem to be in the minority, but I like the new look. It's much cleaner and more modern. I do, however, think it might be a good idea to allow people to choose whether they want to use the new or old format. Every time you make a change there will be those who liked it better before.

Syc wrote: "In Tumblr, people (mostly teenagers) say a lot of things when there's something new on the site or update but man, most are like "oh the reblog button is now placed below, let's remember this sht cause only us can now remember this, new users wont." You know things like that. At least most Tumblr users are open to changes, to improvements."

Precisely. Whenever there's a change on Tumblr, some are complaining about it just, you know, to say something... and a week later, everyone forgot about it already anyway. And to be honest, the "rude" ones I think they actually don't mind, they're mostly trying to make a funny post that will get reblogged in mass...

I think it looks nice. The font actually really does it job. Makes it look pretty appealing. Will take some getting used to I'm (overall) but I like the change.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Why change the stars from red to orange? Did you learn from Martha Stewart that orange goes better with teal or something?"

The new color palette that we are using consists of complementary colors, which should enhance the overall design.

Gobbledygook.

Now that the font is fixed, I don't hate it. But the bright white background is still an issue.

I don't mind the other changes but this particular font used in the body makes it harder to scan the text and I find myself skipping over it entirely. I thought the rule was sans-serif for screen reading?

Eddie wrote: "for those of you... with bad eyesight... use firefox.. and make the default font cooperplat gothic bold.. it works fine for me.."

and how do you do that?

Alexandra wrote: "Complete waste of money - author should be ashamed of themselves!"

^^^This^^^ TOTALLY THIS!

Thank you so much for breaking my eyes goodreads. It's okay though, I might actually get some of my life back now since I won't be able to spend as much time on here without getting a migraine. Just think of all that extra reading time I'll have if I'm not socialising with my friends on here upping your traffic levels :o)

I can't even read it without using a zoom & I sure as hell can't look at this glaring white screen for more than a minute without cringing.

I do love the way you continuously break the things that were already working but don't give us any of the improvements we've been begging for for years. What about a feed that actually shows all of our friends updates rather than just whichever random friends it feels like displaying today? Or perhaps the ability to edit status updates, it's not like we've been desperate for that.

well, background color wasn't changed. I compared the background's color to the old one and it's the same white - it's all the other changes that cause the background seem too bright. There is just not much now to 'distract' our eyes from the white.

Maybe try to make the fonts bolder?

Ok so I prefer the old version because I personally liked the different areas having the banner colors it helped differentiate what you could focus on quickly. Example in the photo it shows "readers also enjoyed" in the banner type box, in the new version this is remoed even for friends who've read it. My eyes don't automaticall SEE this quickly. While it does look cleaner it is more difficult to see it quickly. I dislike that my friends names in my update feed doesn't look like a link, and doesn't even look clickable. That is an issue for a nonavid user. I dislike the color scheme. I preferred the sepia, red and brown colors, those complimented the yellowish whatever color the banner is better than this blue. They really don't go together. At all. Changing the stars to Orange is just weird, and I do dislike the flat appearance of the buttons. Those I can deal with however. the font in the text box is small and only slightly larger when posted. Honestly a design change could have waited, or could have been beta tested in the community at various stages and asked us rather then out right changing it. There are many other things we, the users, would have loved to see. The background does appear brighter even if it hasnt actually changed. The colors of the app version 3.1.10(304) for iPhone (or 3.2 (316) for iPad) are decent and do compliment. That is what the website should be modeled from as far as colors.

Love it! Love the new font! So much better. Don't know how I feel about the colors... but I'll probably get used to it! There are better things to get work up about.... (looking at all those first worldies saying how much they hate it.... get over yourselves!!)