That Realign Thing
Note: To view the changes made to tumbledry, you may need to do a hard refresh. To summarize that link, it’s Ctrl+Shift+R in Firefox, Ctrl+F5 in Internet Explorer, and Command+Shift+R on Macs.
As I cryptically mentioned a couple of posts back, there was a realignment going on at tumbledry. Not a redesign, oh no. Those are rather a bit more costly. Anyhow, the seeds for this evolution in design were planted back in April. You see, I sometimes diddle in photoshop as a way of getting my creative side out (and as a homework break). So, I put together a horizontal grid with a vertical grid and started plunking tumbledry elements in. Thus, this is a realignment in both the vertical and the horizontal sense. Vertically, I have finally found my rhythm, with an 18px baseline. Notice how the horizontal pieces of text (it works best on the front page, I’ve been lazier elsewhere) line up nicely, even with the gaps between images, etc. (This trick is slightly broken on Internet Explorer. Curse you, Internet Explorer.) Oh, and you’ll find the line lengths are quite short. So, you only have to read about 10 words per line. This has been shown (by a few studies) to maximize comprehension. Here’s the idea: the human eye has an arc through which it moves (comfortably). This allows you, at a set distance, to comfortably scan a certain horizontal distance without moving your head. Having to move your head back and forth requires considerably more brain work, and slows down reading comprehension. Restricting the width of the line keeps your eye within its comfortable arc, minimizing head movement and maximizing comprehension. So I think/hope this evolution will serve us well.
Horizontally, the column width upon which tumbledry is based has been shortened up to 120px. Eight of these columns results in a 960px wide layout, which is pretty standard (it comfortably fits on most monitors). Plus, I really like the proportions that this 120px thing provides. I especially like the front page split: 50/25/25%.
Oh, and a final thing. Links are now chronologically interpolated between journal posts. So, you’ll get more of a stream-of-consciousness feel on the front page. I think the links were getting abandoned at the bottom of the page before… now, we can all share in link excitement. As usual, questions and bugs in the comments!
Comments
Nils
First, I like the new layout on the main page, it looks really nice. However, I think you may want to reconsider or tweak the layout on other pages, like the archive pages that display only one journal entry. There is about half of the screen that is blank on those pages and I think TumbleDry is more efficient than that. Second, I’ll be home for a week on Sunday. We’re hanging out.
Alexander Micek
Hey yeah, I see what you’re saying, Nils. I’ve been thinking about pushing the comments over to the right so they can run parallel to the journal entry. This would simultaneously fill that gap and allow commentators to reference the journal entry, etc. as they typed.
Nils
I think that would be a novel idea Alex.
Richard Roche
looks nice, the comment link being on the top of the entries seems a bit odd, but i can deal with that
Alexander Micek
Ahh yes, I noticed the change, too! lol. If it bugs me enough, I’ll change it. Or just add a thing like a ‘#’ or a ‘*’ or a ‘{o}’ at the end of the entry, that can be clicked to go to the comments.
Dan McKeown
Question, how does one get back to the main page without having to go back? Is there a simple link? When I tried to click on the logo at the top it only gave me options to check out journals, photographs, & archives. Perhaps it is simple and I just cannot seem to find it, oh well.
Alexander Micek
Ha! Finally something I have good news for. You can click “journals,” which takes you to the main page. I might make the “tumbledry” itself clickable, but that might cause confusion—the friendly surfer will be thinking “I can visit these separate sections… and then go tumbledry?” We’ll see.
Nils
Alex, it has become too hard to distinguish “links” from “journal entries” and it has even become difficult to distinguish between the comment button for the current/previous/next journal entry. It seems kinda detached. Just a couple more things to chew on while you iron out the details of this “realignment”.
Alexander Micek
Exactly! Links and journal entries are now meant to be nearly indistinguishable. The idea is, these things run in chronological order, regardless of type. So, if one month I have a lot of things happening that require journals, the website reflects that. If another month (maybe I’m doing research, etc.) has a lot more links, then the ratio of journals to links reflects that. Plus, this way, nothing gets too stale on the front page.
I do agree with you on being able to tell which comment/tags were related to which entry. So, I tightened up the vertical spacing to be a little more logical.
The solution to the other problem (having somewhere to click on to comment when you are done reading a full journal) is still being brainstormed.
Alexander Micek
Ok, added a smudge of text at the end of journals so you can link into the comments, etc. for that journal. Sure beats scrolling! Sorry about that.