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Site Redesign – Feedback

Cullen Roche -

You’ve probably noticed the ever changing landscape here over the last week.  I decided to redesign the site before doing a server upgrade thinking that a lighter template would reduce server load.  Then I ended up doing both.  So you’ll notice that the site runs a lot smoother and faster.  It will also eliminate the server errors I was getting because I was too lazy to move the site to a dedicated server.  That’s all been resolved.  Anyhow….

What do we like about the new design?  I like that it’s lighter and smoother looking.  It’s similar to the old format, but cleaner in my opinion.  You might have to clear your browser cache or a lot of the formatting will look like grey on grey which is not cool.

The comments are now Disqus (which could be temporary).  Disqus is 10X more dynamic than the embedded comment system and requires no extra user effort (you can log-in as a guest or if you prefer a social media or email you can use that).  I don’t see the downsides, but I know people might have thoughts there.

I could shift it back to the old format in 10 seconds so if everyone hates this new format then it’s no problem switching back since I have the new servers running.  So let me know what you think and thanks for the feedback!  As you can see, my weekend is off to a fun start thinking about this silly blog….Sigh.

29 comments
  1. SS

    I like it. Definitely much cleaner looking. I don’t love Disqus, but I could get used to it.

  4. royerd

    I like the Disqus, but I would think a black foreground type would provide better reading contrast

  5. Willy1964

    I object to the words “Practical views on money & financial markets”. It’s more one C. Roche’s “biased view from the US”.

  6. jt26

    Like the cleaner look, but agree that grey on light blue is tough (esp. in a bright setting). Except for FT Alphaville, the “standard” is text on white/off-white background and color on the edges (top/bottom, sides, section banners, logo etc.). FTA compensates by using a darker font.

  11. royerd

    Main content is: #313131 that is a very dark grey. I could be simply #000 which is black. It’s a subtle but noticeable difference.

  13. Matthijs

    Like it. A lot cleaner and a better reading experience. Bigger fonts is also better (even though cmd+ would take care of that in the previous design).

    The contrast is fine for me #333 on light grey. Maybe the contrast differs for people who do have the text-shadow support in their browser and some who don’t (IE7, IE8 and IE9 don’t support that).

    What happened to the forums?

  15. royerd

    yes, that makes the body text up top crisper, darker. The comment text is #42474A And that too you might consider #000 but I can read it fine as is.

  16. DRR

    For a sunshine guy, you designed a site that’s has a too many shades of blue/grey which presents a calming, almost sleepy aura. Try toaccent with green-the color of money$$$$. Take a look at the Barrons/Ameritrade click icon!

  17. nate

    Comments seem ok but main text has strange (white?) shadow effect that is tough to read.

  18. Willy1964

    – Personally, I like the latest design more. Perhaps contrast still could be increased a bit ? The background a little more lighter ?

    – When someone has registered with e.g. Disqus then one should be able to use thosethat nickname/web ID. If a poster REALLY don’t like it then he/she also can use the “anonymous” ID.

    – I still think that MR is only a approximation of the economic/financial reality. I still consider the notion that the FED determines interest rates to be complete bolderdash. It’s simply a matter of Supply & Demand. The US is still the senior economy and the USD is the senior currency and that means the US enjoys “Exorbitant Privilege”. But the exorbitant privilege isn’t unlimited. It’s simply the size of the US Current Account Deficit (CAD). And the CAD consists for say 70, 80% of the US Trade Deficit (TD). But since early 2012 the overall trend of the TD is “shrinking”. So, the CAD and the “Exorbitant Privilege” is shrinking as well.

    GOOGLE the words “Exorbitant Privilege” or
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w–Pv8edD6M

    Willy2/Bond Vigilante/Mr. Market

  19. Joe

    It’s cleaner, more modern, lighter, and a little more spaceous than I like. putting a little more content on each screen on the home page and a little more contrast, and weight on the font in the articles would be appreciated. But that’s quibbles.

  25. lessismore

    I do not see, perceive, or experience how discus is an improvement. Ditto+ for any of the social media mediators. Color scheme is nice, but readability is low as others have said.

  27. Tom Brown

    I like that there’s an indication of which article each comment is on in the recent comments box. Previously I’d suggested that some information about who the comment was in response to would be good, but I guess now that you’ve got disqus it’ll email you when you get a comment response (if you want).

    I’ll have to see how it works before passing judgement 😉

    A few days ago you had more than five recent comments in the recent comments box… I thought that was a good idea… but again, now that we’ll be notified I’m not sure that’s so important. I guess more space is being taken up with the title of the article the comment is on, so that’s probably limiting the number a bit.

    OK, I’ll let you know what I think after I try it out a bit more! Ambitious changes… that’s for sure! It does seem to be faster… which is a big improvement.

  28. Tom Brown

    I like the font size. I don’t have any trouble reading anything. 😉 does not result in an icon of a wink face… 🙁 … too bad about that, but I’ll try to cheer up about it 🙂

    My brand new comment didn’t show up in the recent comments box for some reason.

    I think you should give it a few days and collect some more feedback before making too many changes again!

    Overall, it looks promising.

Comments are closed.