Did You Notice Something a Little Different?

not bed

It's wonderfull!

The background white seems softer now but the font is still difficult to read, hazy, blurry.

So, will Goodreads change the website back or will they have an adjustment option for some of us who have issues with it?

It looks cleaner for me so it's OK.

I love the new fonts and the way you've made my book titles stand out on my author dashboard. Great! I'm confused by those who claim it's harder to read. I think it's far easier to read on my iPad.

Normally my preference is for websites to stay the way they are unless there is something WRONG. There was nothing wrong with Goodreads before, but there's nothing wrong now. Compared to the atrocious "updates" made to Tumblr, various Google products, and Windows itself, this is glorious sameness. As long as you aren't making anything worse I'm grateful.

The new font is difficult to read and I hate the blue color. At least go back the to the more appealing hunter green! It's easier on the eyes.

Dianna wrote: "I love the new fonts and the way you've made my book titles stand out on my author dashboard. Great! I'm confused by those who claim it's harder to read. I think it's far easier to read on my iPad."

Again, you're confused because we all have different machines/browsers/eyesight/whatnot, so what looks good to you, doesn't look good to others. The majority of users (I've read every single comment in here) thinks the changes have made the site less accessible, actually making some people sick etc. A lot of us also use GR with a PC, which GR team has seemed to have conveniently forgotten.

Nikita wrote: "So, will Goodreads change the website back or will they have an adjustment option for some of us who have issues with it?"

I'm guessing no on both accounts. GR has showed several times that they don't truly care what users think by implementing "improvements" and ignoring the feedback.

Tal wrote: "
If your browser was blocking web fonts you should not get that delay or out of ..."

Yes. It's enabled.

i don't think that making the font bigger will change things. the font is too thin, make it bold or something.

Scarlet wrote: "The new layout is terrible. PLEASE change it back to the previous one or at least give us the opportunity to chose between the "old" and the "new" layout!"

I agree! If you aren't going to change it then give us an option to.

I was taught that sans-serif fonts are more readable onscreen, particularly for body text. Is that incorrect? I don't like the kerning either, but I guess we'll all adjust.

There are a number of browser add-ons that can make websites more readable, the main one being OpenDyslexic.

NO. DO. NOT. LIKE.

The new colors don't provide enough contrast. The miniscule sans-serif font is much too difficult to see.

Thanks a lot, web site designers with huge monitors and perfect eyesight.

I like it.

It's definately better! Fresh colors, readable font, simple and clean. Don't know why u haters hate... (actually we all know why)

Good job, GR, thanks for the improvement!

Barry wrote: "Dear Goodreads,

By now it should be fairly obvious that the majority of users on this site STRONGLY DISLIKE the new layout. Please revert it to the old one, or at least make it an option that can ..."

AMEN BROTHER

I haven't read through this entire discussion to see if anyone else has posted this, but the link colors and text colors are not colorblind-friendly. I spent about two hours trying to export my collection before I realized that "Your export" was actually a link, and not just text.

Why does it still hurt my eyes so much?! All this white and the fonts' size..

I can't stay on Goodreads for even a short period of time, it gives headaches right away! And I'm currently with the page zoomed to 150% on Firefox (on windows). It still hurts. I was just reading a book and I visited other sites. No eyes hurting, no headaches. I come here, BOOM!

Like I said some days ago, this is absolutely counter-productive for a site who focuses on reading, writing, searching for new books which involves more reading... What about the background being less white, and more pastel or something? Cream, pearl or some still light but not as striking to the eyes (personally, I never use white on my mobile reader).

And really the fonts are too small (then big in the comment box). Did you make a deal with some optical brand so we'd all need glasses? Please, do keep trying to improve the site and not set us backwards...

I like it!

Email from the GR team regarding this, haven't tried yet to see if any of this works:
Here's what our developer team recommends to ease your reading experience on the site:

Enable Windows Cleartype
They should make sure to enable "Cleartype", which is a Windows font smoothing option. Instructions here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...

If that doesn't help, the next thing to try is:

Disable Chrome extensions
- In Chrome, from the menu bar, choose "Window -> Extensions".
- Make sure the "allow in incognito" option is turned off for every extension listed.
- Open a new incognito window using "File -> New Incognito Window"
- Try browsing Goodreads in the new window that opens, and see if the site looks better.

I also just wanted to let you know we've released a fix for this issue and would like to know your feedback about how it's displaying after following the steps above.

I actually like the change.. I think the font looks pretty.

I don't like change. I can't say if I don't like it because it's beautiful but I don't like change or because it's ugly.

Still gross. Lipstick on a pig.

I really like the change, and I rarely do when famous websites give themselves a makeover. Nothing wrong with the previous version, this is is just as good in my view.

Actually I dont like it . this changes dont work,believe me!

I did notice (yesterday afternoon) that the 'splintery' rendering issue was improved. I appreciate the fix which cleared up the eyestrain (although as I'm typing this sentence and reading this page right now, the text--while not painful-- looks like text on an old command-line CRT monitor).

Showing us two images for side-by-side comparison is very helpful. Thanks Emily et al. Good job too, on moving all the feedback to a prominent position on the site.

Now, as odd as this sounds to my own ears when I say it, I have to say that the old site design is more fun. It makes no sense but the slight 'untidiness' was actually intriguing. One's pupils would 'bounce all over' looking at this-or-that-item. It rather looked like the way a personal bookshelf should always look: hegemony of different book covers, book thicknesses, book sizes. It was lively and spry.

Giving all fonts equal weight and stripping out the serifs under this new scheme (or whatever else was done) just feels antiseptic. It feels like reading the tiny, rigid, soulless instructions on a container of Advil.

But as you say, its laying-groundwork for other design changes in future so...oh well.

p.s. my favorite web font is 'Garamond'. Now that's an elegant font

I don't like it, tbh :/

Aisling Zena wrote: "Email from the GR team regarding this, haven't tried yet to see if any of this works:
Here's what our developer team recommends to ease your reading experience on the site:

Enable Windows Cleartyp..."

I tried both of these (already have Cleartype enabled) and went to an 'incognito' window - neither help.

The changes that were rolled out (as noted in the update in the original post) ... I can't see much difference. The font still looks blurry to me. It's too thin, the contrast isn't enough, and the letters look unfinished. Additionally, I think because the font is so much thinner, the background looks MUCH more white. It hurts my eyes now. Even Amazon realized that reading on a white background isn't preferred and gives the options to change that on their Kindles. I know that GR has said that the background color didn't change from the previous version, but there's *something* in this update that's making it seem more white - and it doesn't really matter if it changed or not, the fact that it seems whiter means that it's more straining to the eyes.

Main point - the font is still not easy to read. I'm really thankful that GR is listening and trying to do updates to make it better, but it's not quite there yet. Please keep trying to make it better. I love coming to this site, and I don't want to hurt while I'm here.

Using latest stable version of Chrome on PC

Why??? It was perfect. Now it's ugly, too small, unreadable, etc. :/

Aisling Zena wrote: "Email from the GR team regarding this, haven't tried yet to see if any of this works:
Here's what our developer team recommends to ease your reading experience on the site:

Enable Windows Cleartyp..."

Why should I spend my reading time doing web site cleanup? I retired from that 10 years ago.

Love it. Easier to see, read, and identify what's what.

Feliks wrote: "my favorite web font is 'Garamond'. Now that's an elegant font "

Garamond is beautiful! I always use that for sending letters. I don't know about using it as a web font though.

It's much harder to read the site now, without clear headers and line breaks. With everything on the same bright background, with few visual clues as to where one set of information ends and another begins, it's overwhelming. Those breaks are important in typesetting because they tell you when information is changing and give you a chance to absorb it. What you've done is the visual equivalent of one large, dense paragraph of text and it's tl;dr.

M wrote: "Aisling Zena wrote: "Email from the GR team regarding this, haven't tried yet to see if any of this works:
Here's what our developer team recommends to ease your reading experience on the site:

En..."

Exactly! Goodreads changes the design and then suggests how users can fix it. Doesn't make any sense.

M wrote: "Why should I spend my reading time doing web site cleanup? I retired from that 10 years ago."

Amen! It is ridiculous that this overhaul forces us to either install plugins or change settings when previously we had no problems at all with this site.

My preferred browser is Safari, but I had to start using Firefox in order to be able to download the Stylish plugin with GR corrections.

I'm curious about the people who are struggling. I have never once had an issue reading or navigating this site on either layout, whether it be on mobile or desktop. However, I am almost always using OSX or iOS, with google chrome. I have not seen what this renders as on other browsers/devices.

Goodreads staff, perhaps you will find this interesting if not helpful? (I did not attempt to look at your code, I was just brainstorming.)
https://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/fon...

Users: Perhaps this will help in the interim while Goodreads investigates? There are similar extensions for firefox as well. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/de...

I finally installed Stylish (on Chrome) with the "Goodreads fix" and that's LOADS better. I can finally go back to 100% zoom instead of 125%.

Still, Goodreads, can you fix this? I'd rather not have a million 'extensions' on my browser when the site should just work.

Not sure I like the sound of this: ...lay the groundwork for some design improvements that we’re planning in the future.

Just don't screw it up, people!

Its too bright! My eyes!

Please do NOT use serif fonts, especially for long articles. Or have a settings option to change default serif fonts to sans-serif. Although serif fonts are better for reading comprehension in printed material on paper - on-line san-serif fonts are considerably easier to read.
http://www.scribe.com.au/tip-w017.html

I like the color change, but the heading bars (behind "Genres" "Friend Reviews" etc.) should be brought back. They helped delineate the sections so your eye doesn't get lost on the page.
It might not be a cleaner look, but it helps the viewer find the information they're looking for, which is more important.

Aisling Zena wrote: "Email from the GR team regarding this, haven't tried yet to see if any of this works:
Here's what our developer team recommends to ease your reading experience on the site:

Enable Windows Cleartyp..."

ClearType is enabled on a vast majority of Windows installations by default. It's not a problem with ClearType, it's not a problem with some extension making the fonts seem blurry (just to make sure - tried the incognito window trick and no cigar), it's the problem of the font and, most likely, the color combination making the font blurry.

Other websites that have webfonts enabled (e.g. Boing Boing! - also using a free font, Libre Baskerville) do not show up all choppy and with missing Unicode characters that default to system fonts or blank squares. They are nice and legible, because they use proper fonts that antialias nicely and have proper Unicode support.

Not sure why it's so hard to accept that it's not the users, it's the font.

The sans-serif font is fine. The serif font, on the other hand, which was supposedly "designed to be pleasant to read on screens", is TERRIBLE. Of the many websites I go to regularly, it's the worst one I've seen.

This is just no fun at all. Who decided they are the absolute ruler of Goodreads and can make us all suffer just cause they made a bad design decision.

Regsly wrote: "What about the background being less white, and more pastel or something? Cream, pearl or some still light but not as striking to the eyes ...."

THIS. Why assume that everyone is using a tablet? Those of us with widescreen monitors are experiencing snow-blindness.

I personaly like the cleaner feel, but the lack of dividing colors for sections does make it difficult for the eyes to focus, especially when the content itself is still a bit cluttered, especially on the Author Dashboard, where there is a lot of information to take in.

The background being stark white seems to be what is causing most of the issue according to the comments. Perhaps that is something that you might be able to offer to personalize? Maybe offer everyone a choice of background themes with a handful of neutral colors? (Think the options one has on the kindle app to make the page white, sepia, inverse, green, etc...)

Of course, I am aware that this would be a massive undertaking and tis a suggestion only. ;)

The fix has made it less blurry, but the serif font still strains my eyes more than the old one. If I had to guess, I don't think the fonts are set to true black, but rather a slightly lightened black and it's making it blend in with the white background. So, nope, still not really fixed.

The font and color choices cause more strain while reading, and combined with the original background white was an assault. I don't like it. I understand you have your own motivations.

Thanks for freeing up hours of my time to do something else. This was the kick in the pants I needed to cut back.