New Comments Page

[quinara]

So, here's the thing. I don't actually think the new comments page looks that bad. I think the border around the 'post new comment' box is too thick, but otherwise it looks to me like a fairly new-webby updated version of the old page, which I don't overly mind. [ETA: Although, the margins are soooo buggered. What is with that?? I thought new-webby design remembered that people tend to have widescreen laptops these days and margins are important! *sigh* ]

HOWEVER

Trying to use it for the first time, I've discovered that with my NoScript add-on enabled, I cannot actually use the post button unless I allow all the page to work - even though the only site I have unticked to disallow is facebook.net. (This isn't a particular problem with Facebook, but everything's unticked by default and I've never had a need to let facebook.net run, so I don't see why I should let it.) Even though it's only really because of the general paranoia brought on by using NoScript in the first place, I find it makes me twitchy that I can't see what site/script I'm allowing to run.

Also, I cannot get the stupid icon browser to work at all, even with allowing all the scripts on the page to run.

Generally, the whole thing is being a massive pain in the arse, so I'm going to try out only allowing comments on DW for a bit. I never thought I would, because I would far rather be dual platform for everyone's convenience and don't really care about having all conversations less than a click away from each other, but since my style and basic account mean I'm stuck with that stupid page on LJ, I would really rather avoid it as much as possible.

Yours grumpily, quinara (add me!! ;) ).

Comments

[ruuger]

Yeah, I don't think the new comment box looks that bad, but it just doesn't work at all for me either. And I've had couple of people on my f-list say that there's something about the colours and layout that triggers their migrane, so really bad move LJ :(

[quinara]

:( I don't actually mind animation when it's used well, but it's definitely having its negative side affect for me with the new comments: I find it far too flashy and feel like I have no control. Bring back push-buttons!

[bogwitch]

I don't mind it either and I haven't had any trouble at all. I can't remember if I turned off NoScript or not though (damn thing was bloody annoying, even if it meant well).

[quinara]

Yeah, NoScript is its own brand of irritating, but considering I surf on so few websites, I've got it pretty much comfily set up now, and in combination with AdBlock it makes surfing so much more pleasant than when I try on any other machine.

Plus, this has made me face the fact that I like my LJ layout most because of the high contrast, encouraging me to get on with sorting out my DW layout to something I find more pleasant to read, even if it's no longer a watercolour masterpiece. And quite pink.

[rahirah]

That's the thing - I don't actually care about the esthetics of the redesign. I practically never look at the site pages anyway. I look at my journal and my flist, which I see in my style. It's the fact that so far, it's buggy, has accessibility issues, and is missing several useful features that the old form had that I find dubious. Plus the fact that they beta'd it for a whole week. It just seems likely that they're going to bork up everything else in a similar fashion as they proceed to the rest of the planned changes.

[quinara]

Yeah. I have the problem that I don't have a paid account, so while I think it's possible that I could see my own comment pages in my own style if I twiddled with it, I like my own old custom Component style (mostly for reading my flist, which it's mainly set up for; I don't think it's particularly hot generally, and my skin-changer button stopped working when my account lapsed). Since I made that in the days of my paid account, I'm not entirely sure I could even get it back if I switched and decided I didn't like the new one. And I resent having to switch! I'm definitely not paying LJ to get past their mess.

[mad_brilliant]

They're looking into the icon browser issue. Also, they posted this:

"We will be making an S2 commenting style that mimics the display of the original/previous S1 commenting pages. This new style will retain the ability to use/display comment subject lines. It will also not have the display issue that arises for long threads in the current S2 customized comment pages, where long threads are very 'squished' (a few words per line, etc) -- threads will display as they did in the previous commenting scheme. We are aiming to have this available within a few weeks."

Not sure if that will help you, but it means I can go back to my original style if I wish. But I kind of like the changes, aside from the smaller font. So I might just keep it as it is now.

[quinara]

That might be good, but for me it'll mostly depend on whether you can apply it in conjunction with another style and whether basic users can use it. I really don't want to change my journal style generally, because I customised it a lot when I had a paid account and like how I've got my flist page looking! (A lot better and more navigable than on DW, annoyingly, which I'll have to look into at some point and sort out custom colours for...)

[zellieh]

It won't have comment subject lines available for anon users, and possibly not for basic users, so that could still bork a lot of the fic memes, unless the owners/mods manage to find a work-around. It's not clear if, if the owners/mods use the new "old" style, that means that anons commenting to those memes will have the subject line option in the comment box. ::scratches head::

Oh, LJ. ::sighs::

[verity]

The whole thing is awful. I have custom comment pages so I haven't had to deal with it on my journal, but, um, I'm really not digging being trolled by zhzh. *sigh*

[quinara]

*nods* I try to let LJ's various bits of silliness wash over me, but the odd one sticks. I can't even remember whether it was Strikethrough or what that made me decide they wouldn't get any more money from me, but that was one. This is another.

[shapinglight]

As you probably noticed, I don't like it. Hated being forced to change my comfy old S1 layout that I've had for years. But I couldn't stand the new comments page. It just looks horrible, and if it's any indication of what the other changes which they haven't told users about are going to be like, will ultimately make LJ pretty much unreadable.

Also, I have to change the look of my DW journal too. I seem to default to pale blue all the time, and I don't even like the colour that much.

[quinara]

Yeah, I saw! (Meant to comment, but I still hadn't used the page, so I didn't know what I thought of it! Too much driving around doing Christmas things etc.) I feel like the essentials of the aesthetic aren't that different from old LJ, but I really, really don't like the functionality of it. Maybe it'll bring in a new generation hungry for comments, but it really doesn't gel with what I want from a journalling experience.

Hee! Yes, I don't really think of you as pale blue. I should have realised long before that I was finding mine hard to read. I much prefer a higher contrast grey-on-grey - and brightly coloured links (which sink back into the main text once you've visited them).

[shapinglight]

I'm not really sure what I prefer, to be honest. Will try and hunt down a DW layout that's like my current LJ one, which I quite like now, provided I get to keep the old comments page.

[shapinglight]

Okay, changed it, though have to say I'm not madly keen on this one either. It's the best of a bad lot IMO.

[quinara]

Have you played around with the customising options? You can play around with the colours and fonts and things...

[shapinglight]

I did look at it, but my head threatened to explode. Maybe later?

[quinara]

Heh! It's always useful with that sort of thing to keep a tab open with the options you had on it originally (so open two tabs of the customisation page and then fiddle with the second one, save changes and look at your page to see what's happened). Then you can always revert it with one click of 'save changes' on the first options page.

[shapinglight]

Good idea, especially as I'm already beginning to dislike this theme I've chosen.

[zellieh]

The changes they haven't told us about yet are over here: http://manonon.livejournal.com/6816.html Manonon (who is just a user, and nothing to do with LJ) took the prototype page posted in Russian at Tema's LJ and translated the pages into English.

The design is...weird. I keep getting Geocities flashbacks. For something that's meant to be new, it feels quite old-fashioned. I just want to say, "Tema, old fruit, Geocities 1995 called -- it wants its' frames back."

We've just moved to smartphones and tablets and netbooks ... and you're ADDING extra wasted space to your pages? Really? ::raises Spock eyesbrow at LJ:: "I find your ideas illogical."

[shapinglight]

Thanks for the link, and sorry I didn't get back to you earlier to say.

[kazzy_cee]

I haven't seen any difference apart from a very few Lj layouts. Apparently S2 layouts are much better, and communities are more likely to be affected.

I actually don't mind the comment thingy as it seems to be much quicker to post a comment on it than the other method and my broadband appears fast enough to allow my icons to load very quickly.

I'm using chrome with the Lj add on (which I adore for speed!)

[quinara]

Yeah, I think it's been fine in quite a lot of places, but it just so happens that it seems to want to crap out on me and the way I've got things set up (I've had to deal with the site pages for comments ever since I let my account lapse, and I like reading my flist on my LJ layout too much to be happy changing it). I can't even get the icons to act like they're loading, so it's impossible for me to use anything other than my Why Bird default (I only have six icons over there, after all, so I was anticipating being fine with the icon browser). :(