Did You Notice Something a Little Different?

This is something Krazykiwi posted in another group which I will paste; it may help some people? I'm not seeing a difference in GR font, although this did markedly improve for me the font appearance on several other sites which had undergone ugly redesigns recently.

------

This is a bit OT related to the site changes, but I wonder how many people have ever actually tuned their type for their screen? If you have any kind of vision issues or just don't like fuzzy text, it's really worth doing and it takes about a minute.

The OS has built in functionality as to how much and where it blurs the edges of curves in type, in order to achieve smooth curves. You can tweak it quite substantially to your personal taste. There's a built in tool in Windows and most X11 based Linux/Unix graphical environment) This is particularly important on LCD screens, where the sharp edges of lines in the text don't always align with the edges of the pixels on the screen.

In Windows: Open control panel, type "cleartype" into the search box (the name of the thing you're after has changed a little in various windows versions). You're looking for "Adjust ClearType Text" in Windows 10, or something similarish in older versions.
It will put up 6 different examples of type on the screen, you pick the one you find easiest to read, it'll adjust and put up another 6. After 2-3 iterations, it'll be done, and you may just find your screen is a lot easier to read, everywhere, not just GR.

On Linux it depends on your distribution, but searching for thee words "aliasing", "antialiasing", "subpixel", "hinting" or "opentype" in whatever control panel you are using, should find you a similar tool (I know for a fact there's one in at least one desktop, and has been for 15 odd years I helped write it :)

It's terrible! I can't read stuff properly now. They are affecting the eyes seriously. Please revert to the old style. PLEASE!! Or at least make it so it's a bit more thick like before !

Ok, after zooming to 150%, it gets barely readable. But I want the normal 100% to look readable. Please, can't we get a different look than this?

Lobstergirl wrote: "This is something Krazykiwi posted in another group which I will paste; it may help some people? I'm not seeing a difference in GR font, although this did markedly improve for me the font appearanc..."

Thank you! It did help with a few sites, just not GR :/

It's very ugly. Goodreads is for readers, the vast majority of whom have nostalgia for the good old days of paper and pen. We love Goodreads because while it's a website, it feels like a natural tool for organizing and sharing our love for books. Sleek and modern is not what we're here for. The old look was uniquely Goodreads, like a wood-paneled library. Now it looks like Facebook. If you're going to borrow from inferior social media sites, learn from their mistakes: people don't like format changes from social media sites! They just don't.

If you want to set yourself apart and really communicate that you love your users more than you love the bright idea for a new format, I suggest offering your users a poll on whether to keep it or go back to the old format.

I like it and find it much easier to read (on a macbook pro).

Annie wrote: "I like it and find it much easier to read (on a macbook pro)."

I wish I had a macbook pro. But I can't buy a new laptop just now to accommodate GR and GR only :(

Honestly I like the old look better. I think it made it easier to read and distinguish the different sections on the page. Its not going to stop me from using the site or anything but I do think it was better the way it was. I will say kudos to goodreads for actually listening to some common complaints and attempting to address them.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Thanks, that makes sense.

It does make the site seem cheesy though...like maybe they weren't willing to pay for good quality fonts... "

Lol, well open source fonts are generally good quality as well as free. ;-) In this case I think they made the wrong choice with Lato as I suspect it is causing many of the font complaints. They should have gone with Open Sans both for aesthetics and definitely for speed. I don't have anything bad to say about Merriweather but then again I don't have to use either of them.

M'rella wrote: "Annie wrote: "I like it and find it much easier to read (on a macbook pro)."

I wish I had a macbook pro. But I can't buy a new laptop just now to accommodate GR and GR only :("

M'rella, if you don't mind my asking what is your computer/browser platform?

I am trying out Open Sans as we speak. it looks too light against this background :/ I've been using arial, it's a margin better.

I am using HP with Windows 7 Home Premium
Laptop - HP Pavilion

Browser Chrome, but I've tried IE and FF with very little to no difference

Tal wrote: "Lol, well open source fonts are generally good quality as well as free. ;-) In this case I think they made the wrong choice with Lato as I suspect it is causing many of the font complaints. They should have gone with Open Sans both for aesthetics and definitely for speed. I don't have anything bad to say about Merriweather but then again I don't have to use either of them. ."

I'm having more issues with Merriweather (the serif font), which is paradoxical because this very blog instructs us it "was designed to be pleasant to read on screens."

Merriweather bold looks too fat and clunky in a lot of page headers; Merriweather nonbold, depending on its size, has Swiss cheese issues (tiny little gaps in it).

Lato, if you ignore its tiny size in many places on the site, is actually a very appealing font in small doses. However I find it hard to read in italic.

But there is obviously something very wrong happening because I have serious eyestrain and headache which I didn't have before these fonts were rolled out. Not being a font expert I can't say why I have eyestrain and headache, but literally hundreds of other people do as well. We can't all be imagining it.

I guess Times New Roman is very unhip and uncool, but it is so easy on the eyes.

Maybe we are all using wrong computers?

M'rella wrote: "I am using HP with Windows 7 Home Premium
Laptop - HP Pavilion

Browser Chrome, but I've tried IE and FF with very little to no difference"

So you've disabled web fonts in Chrome and/or FF and you don't see an improvement? That's odd.

I preferred the old font but I am in love with the new teal/blue-ish coloring. Although it was a little odd, everyone will get use to it as we have with Facebook and the new Google logo.

I settled on Chrome and I use a Font Settings add-on, which I've had for some time now, to get buy.

Never, never SHOUT WITH ALL CAPS!!!

Example: READERS ALSO ENJOYED and ABOUT LAUREN GOFF.

I always prefer serif to sans serif, so I am not happy with the font I am typing this comment in--will it change to serif when I press "Post"?

PS I don't want to disable web fonts. I want to see what's happening with this. I switch FS on and off or try out new fonts readers suggest here.
Fine tuning the fonts through control panel helped a little, but the uglie on GR is still ugly.

M'rella wrote: "I settled on Chrome and I use a Font Settings add-on, which I've had for some time now, to get buy."

If your browser was blocking web fonts you should not get that delay or out of focus effect you mentioned above. The screen cap you posted above, was that with the font manager add-on enabled?

Love! So pretty and simple. I really like the new fonts and the blue colored links. Very nice⭐️

The font isn't bad but I don't care for the new color scheme.

I like the new layout and removal of gradients, but I'd like to see an option to use the old fonts.

I take it back... I don't like the new font either.

I'm getting used to it! :)

Left the GR, went and watched youtubes for awhile, my headache went away.

Apparently I will have to cut back my time spent on GR by 90%.

I see no different, huh?

Wait, i like green! Bring back my green

Looking again... I don't understand why blog postings are in tiny little sans-serif font while the comments on them by users are in a larger serif style. That doesn't make any sense at all. The blog posting has become much less readable. (And this blog posting by GR staff looks different from regular authors' blog postings.) FWIW, I mostly use this site on a desktop machine with a full-sized keyboard. The only thing I ever do on the mobile GR app is update reading progress and occasionally wrestle with the on-screen keyboard to comment, briefly.

The font is horrible.

Amo la nueva apariencia <3.

Changes still suck!! I used to spend time here for hours, I guess now I just have to come back here just 1 or 2 times and not stay here more than 10 minutes. Thanks Goodreads for showing your middle finger to users. I really feel loved.

M'rella wrote: "Maybe we are all using wrong computers?"

Seems so!

I like it! :) Especially the color...

A simple poll would be illuminating if anyone dared to post one!
Seems most people are not just disliking the change but getting headaches because of it. Not seen any word whether this matters to anyone though, any chance of those who choose to get an option to revert to the old-style format?
Would think health concerns would get a little more reaction than a 'me no like' and some move to help matters.

Downloading patches and disabling things should not be necessary to view a popular site. It means it's not geared towards it's actual users.

I don't mind it. I'll get used to it :)

I might get used to the font & colour of the links, but the headache/watering eyes?

Nope, not going to get used to them.

Meep wrote: "A simple poll would be illuminating if anyone dared to post one!
Seems most people are not just disliking the change but getting headaches because of it. Not seen any word whether this matters to a..."

There is one!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

It seems to be a small change, but it looks so much better now. I really like it.

Paraphrodite wrote: "
There is one!
..."

Thanks, hadn't seen it :)

This is way better than the previous one! Good going! :)

Finally! Looks great! :) I was looking forward to more modern look on Goodreads.

Well GR I already have the site at 170% zoom so that's why do not many issues but yeah all good here in India. Legibility good, layout good, site better.

Keep On Reading folks.

I'm getting used to it, it just takes a little bit of time. I think it's an improvement.

Still getting headaches from the new layout :/

I don't like the new look. Hurts my eyes. I have zoomed my screen for GR at 120% and yet still, gives me headaches and nausea if I stay too long. The font is too narrow. And I always have headaches after spending time on GR.

Liked the original design, the new design makes the GR website look very unfamiliar.

I find the regular font blurry, too. Everything in blue is fine on my end, I like that font. It's sharp and clear. The black font, not so much.

Are you going flat, goodreads? There's nothing wrong with going with the trends, i think it looks good.

Izu wrote: "Are you going flat, goodreads? There's nothing wrong with going with the trends, i think it looks good."

Except for the too bright background, of course.