Did You Notice Something a Little Different?

Alma Q wrote: "I just noticed this reading the new comments and have to mention it: the fonts take a while to load every time I refresh the page. Basically most of the site flashes white for a while and cannot be..."

We are working on this!

Alma Q wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "When you edit a comment, there is no longer an indicator that the post was edited. Is this a bug, or a new thing?"

There is (at the top of the comment), but it's very small and..."

It's not showing up in Groups.

The font doesn't bother me too much, but the site has gotten brighter. It's like everything became bleached, I thought there was something wrong with my computer brightness settings for a moment. I'm finding myself having to turn the light down on my laptop actually.

Getting some time to used to it.... But I love the previous font. It's more friendly in the eyes.

The sans-serif font is difficult to read and the alpha-characters are too thin to see easily. I wish I could bold the font. The serif font is good and the extra kerning between letters is helpful.
The change to the page layout elements is fine although the blue used for live links doesn't stand out as much as I would like.

I love the overall look. Very modern and stream-lined and the flatness of the buttons makes them look more stylish and simple.

BUT.

The lack of borders in places makes it difficult to focus your eyes, and the shelf titles in reviews are just way too small (I can see them without zooming in, but I'm pretty sure people with worse eyesight would have to do that). I have to agree about the font as well. I wonder why this type of font is the new "it". First Listal, now Goodreads. It just looks patchy and brittle in the comments, and the font in the reviews is kind of weird, too (squished or something). Spacing seems to be off in both.

I also don't understand why in both cases people are trying to shoot complaints down. GR is asking our opinion, so aren't we allowed to do that? Yes, this might be a first world problem, but the thread is about the layout of GR, so obviously other things may be discussed elsewhere. Is this so hard to understand?

I have no doubt, though, that GR will stick with this layout, no matter how much criticism they get. It's here to stay, folks, so we just have to get used to it.

Leo wrote: "I'm finding myself having to turn the light down on my laptop actually. ..."

Where is that setting?

Gah, they should make this an optional change. Even though I understand there reason for making the attempt to improve the site, I preferred the prior appearance.

Suvi wrote: "I have to agree about the font as well. I wonder why this type of font is the new "it". First Listal, now Goodreads. It just looks patchy and brittle in the comments."

Gawker too, in their posts and comments.

It also bothers me somewhat that they have failed to address most of the many complaints about the new font and layout. I've only seen them respond to glitch complaints.

@Suvi ~ I don't mind the layout or even the new colors. But if it's now giving me migraines then I'm not going to just have to get used to it. I'll make a permanent move to BookLikes instead.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Leo wrote: "I'm finding myself having to turn the light down on my laptop actually. ..."

Where is that setting?"

On my macbook it's just a button on the keyboard...

Leo wrote: "The font doesn't bother me too much, but the site has gotten brighter. It's like everything became bleached, I thought there was something wrong with my computer brightness settings for a moment. I..."

That's the word I was looking for, Leo - bleached. I HATE this new design.
Could you perhaps introduce making this layout optional? I feel like someone is shining a torch in my face and the font is too spaced out between letters. Awful.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Leo wrote: "I'm finding myself having to turn the light down on my laptop actually. ..."

Where is that setting?"

It should be somewhere around the bottom section of your keyboard, near the arrow keys. I have to press the blue Fn (bottom left) and then press the arrow key with a blue sun on it. Not sure if all keyboards are the same, though.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Leo wrote: "I'm finding myself having to turn the light down on my laptop actually. ..."

Where is that setting?"

Go to control panel

I definitely prefer the new layout!

Personally, I like the changes - at least the majority of them. It'll take some getting used to, but that's fine. If I might make a suggestion: I would only ask that the users are perhaps given the option to change the font size or style back to the original version if they so choose. I don't have a problem with the new design myself, but reading through the comments, it seems like quite a few people do.

Maybe if the Goodreads team installed a link or a button or something that allowed the users to decide whether or not to keep the new design or change it back to the original version, it would be easier for people to accept the changes.

I must agree with some of what user Syc says, though: rudeness to the Goodreads team, or complaining about the new design just because it's different than what you're used to isn't right, either.

I personally can read the font okay, but I understand why some people don't like it. I like it a lot! Maybe you could have a variety of fonts to pick from in settings, so then everyone can pick what font they want to see on their screen. I like the change, but it's important that the change isn't problematic for too many people. Thanks! :)

A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) wrote: "@Suvi ~ I don't mind the layout or even the new colors. But if it's now giving me migraines then I'm not going to just have to get used to it. I'll make a permanent move to BookLikes instead."

Yes, that's what I mean. In every single case like this the website hasn't done anything about the font, so I'm afraid a lot of people will stop using GR :/ Sorry to see you go, let's hope things will change.

How do I go back to the old font as it was MORE READABLE to me?

Alma Q wrote: "I just noticed this reading the new comments and have to mention it: the fonts take a while to load every time I refresh the page. Basically most of the site flashes white for a while and cannot be..."

Yes on my browser (Firefox) too - this page loads first as small font, flashes, then loads as bigger font. My computer is older and rather slow so it is rather noticeable.

I tried this same screen on IE, FF and Chrome.

With the glaring white background IE probably handles it the best and not as glaring. FF and Chrome are both still very glaring.

The fonts look faintest on Chrome and clearest on IE, FF falls in between.

I think the background glare needs to be toned down and the font size made much bigger.

Love it! So much easier on the eyes. Thank you Goodreads :)

Suvi wrote: "I also don't understand why in both cases people are trying to shoot complaints down. GR is asking our opinion, so aren't we allowed to do that?"

I don't mind people complaining about it, heck that's what the thread is for. What I do mind on the other hand is people being rude about it. You can express your disagreement without being rude to the team who's trying their best to modernize things a bit.

The progress bar and the notifications boxette are two different shades of brown. Is that intentional? It's jarring because they're about 2 inches apart.

I like it, but I don't understand why this can't be an option one can set in the account preferences. Wikipedia can do it, why can't you?

To be honest, these fonts are giving me a headache. I don't mind the reasoning but one of the fonts isn't working for me. Maybe find an open source font closer to the original font? I honestly didn't have a problem with the original look of GR, it was user friendly. If you want to do big changes like this please make it optional? I miss the gradient and the old color scheme..

It does fit the style of today

Thanks, I found the dimmer switch.

The green font color is too soft against all the white background, but that's my only complaint. Maybe make the background an off-white to offset all the extra space we have now? That might help those who are having issues with the glare.

The font is nice looking, but isn't bold enough.

Alyssa wrote: "Suvi wrote: "I also don't understand why in both cases people are trying to shoot complaints down. GR is asking our opinion, so aren't we allowed to do that?"

I don't mind people complaining about..."

True, rudeness is never a solution. I just feel like valid criticism is put in the same pile, and the fact that the team doesn't really respond to the issue of people getting headaches etc. from the font is a problem.

It's AWFUL!! Not so bad on phones, but on the PC?? OMG, I'm gonna go blind. :(

I do not like the format - 'If something isn't broke, don't fix it'. The pages just look faded - more difficult to see.

I haven't tried the site on a PC since the changes, but it's unreadable on a Moto X Pure, unless I max out the accessibility setting font scaling, which just makes other things weird.

Suvi wrote: "A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) wrote: "@Suvi ~ I don't mind the layout or even the new colors. But if it's now giving me migraines then I'm not going to just have to get used to it. I'll make a ..."

I've been here since 2010 and have tons of reviews here. I certainly don't want to go. BookLikes is great but has growing to do. However, I'm not going to put up with migraines. Since I'm not the only one complaining about the glare, headaches and general unreadability of the font, I'm hoping the GR Team will fix it. And why, for the love of Zeus, is the font so much tinier in the comment box?!

Nenia wrote: "It also bothers me somewhat that they have failed to address most of the many complaints about the new font and layout. I've only seen them respond to glitch complaints."

I think it's because it's two very different things. Glitches, they can fix it right away (or soon enough at least) by telling whoever is in charge of development to fix it. The whole font/layout complaint thing, they'd have to discuss it with the team or something.

I like it. I had to increase the size before. This new one is nice.

It is too hard to read and is already making me use the site far less.

I am not a big fan of the changes.

Dear Goodreads, I wear glasses, and my eyes prescription is already not so good. This font will make it even worse, I have to squint in reading the fonts. It's so small, and skinny, and unreadable. Please change it to the way it was. Not ALL changes are good.

all websites are just now being built for phones... meaning... they are turning big and ugly... I'm indifferent to your change... it's not that different to me

This font is terrible.

I really have no issues with the layout or even the color changes, but that font definitely does not enhance the readability of the site for me. I managed two pages of comments before I had to stop. And the font on my profile page is still really tiny.

Thank you for fixing the font rendering issue.

Now that one can actually read what is on the screen, a better test can be conducted to see if one likes the new look or not.

I still don't like the teal-ish green link color aesthetically.

Something about the star ratings in 'my books' looks blurry...like there's no border on the stars or something when you've made a rating...the yellow almost bleeds into the background. I zoomed in in my browser and the stars actually got a lot clearer so I think it's a size issue.

Also in 'my books', could the font be increased a smidge? I don't know if the font is smaller, or just the new font, but it's harder to read.

I'm not sure which element it is, but looking at 'my books', my eyes are getting tired after a few seconds. It could be a mix of the color and size.

The font in forums seems to be acceptable. Correction: there seems to be a discrepency in the '<< previous 1 2...14 15 next >>' link at the top/bottom of various forums. Most of my various groups the font in that forum is on the small side. In this feedback thread the size of font for the moving through various pages is fine.

I like the changes. Cleaner and crisper looking. You can't please some folks no matter what you do.

I like the other changes but the new font is very difficult to read.

Can you change it back? It's harder to read the pages, and the colors hurt my eyes. The old layout was WAY more aesthetically pleasing than this new one.

I much prefer this look! The flat look is the fad right now, and luckily I prefer it. I actually like both of the new fonts, especially the font I'm seeing as I type this, and the font on the front page.
Change is harder for some people than others, so it can't be expected that every one will embrace it, but I'm voting "YAY".

uuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhh yuuuuuuuukkkk I am dying this is horrible