Today, instead of getting the discreet 'Mail' link in the top menus, I'm getting a large, intrusive envelope symbol.
Is this a deliberate change or have my settings gone awry?
AJ
Today, instead of getting the discreet 'Mail' link in the top menus, I'm getting a large, intrusive envelope symbol.
Is this a deliberate change or have my settings gone awry?
AJ
Is this a deliberate change or have my settings gone awry?
It's a deliberate change. A slightly smaller version shows up on my iPhone, and I waited until I got to the office to see if it's the same behavior.
ETA: It's probably for those emoji types that can't tell time on an analog clock.
On desktop it could be half as big as it is to make it less obtrusive. Same size as in every forum post should be perfect.
Interestingly enough, when reading a story, the old mail link shows up, instead of the envelope.
Interestingly enough, when reading a story, the old mail link shows up, instead of the envelope.
Well spotted!
AJ
It would still be a bit strange, a graphic link in a row of verbal links, but the same size as in the forum wouldn't be so obtrusive.
I have yet to see what it looks like when I have mail. Perhaps I should be a complete saddo and mail myself ;-)
AJ
It would still be a bit strange, a graphic link in a row of verbal links, but the same size as in the forum wouldn't be so obtrusive.
The 'switch to mobile view' has been an icon for a long time now while the rest are text links, so an icon besides text is nothing new. Over time maybe more will be replaced with an icon. The advantage of icons is that they usually need less space. In the already crowded top lines a welcome space saving. The 'disturbing' fact is that there's a huge size difference between the view and mail icons/
The envelope is also confusing in another way because most sites use the envelope icon to direct to the contact page for the site, not a mail system as SOL offers. Now you have the envelope and 'contact' next to each other. It's a difficult problem to solve with the number of menu items. A possible solution would be with a fluid design where if the page width decreases below a threshold the menu is replaced with a hamburger icon that shows a vertical menu when clicked. For SOL such a solution will probably mean a too huge rewrite.
(To see how that works check the ReaderInfo.net site on desktop and shrink the browser window width. Before the menu line is in danger of spreading over two lines the menu will change to a hamburger icon that expands to a vertical menu when clicked.)
Maybe we can suggest icons for the other links.
Help could become a ? icon. Contact a dialog bubble.
Not sure what could be used for My Account and Sign Out.
Authors/Editors 📝 or 🖊 or 🖋
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These are emoticons and thus very small, ctrl++ will show them a little bigger. The choices are much wider if you can use svg/png but those don't display here.
The 'switch to mobile view' has been an icon for a long time now while the rest are text links,
I can't speak for users who access the site from devices other than mine, but I find text links a lot simpler to operate than icons. Although the 'switch to mobile view' text pops up when my mouse hovers over it, I don't get any text when hovering over the envelope (which looks a lot better now Lazeez has shrunk it).
I'm aware of a few sites that maintain two interfaces, one icon-heavy with all sorts of gimmicky stuff, and one often described as a simple interface (for simple people like me).
AJ
I'm aware of a few sites that maintain two interfaces, one icon-heavy with all sorts of gimmicky stuff, and one often described as a simple interface (for simple people like me).
Such cases usually have both a toolbar (icons) and a menubar (text). If done right you can set a preference to see either none, both or just one of the bars. Some only offer a toolbar but with the option to display text under the icon.
Newer designs nowadays are often designed with a mobile-first interface, meaning rather large icons for the touch interface on phones but when displayed on a larger device the interface expands/changes to make a better fit for those. So the interface flows depending on the size of the available screen space. This way avoids the need to maintain multiple interfaces. Imagine having to maintain separate interfaces for a large site for phones, tablets, and desktops.
What you described as two interfaces is not very common. Generally it means that the 'simple' interface just hides most of the 'gimmicky' functions, not a completely different interface.
It should have a text description when you hover the mouse over it like the envelope does in a Forum post. All the other links on the top of the home page are words.
When a person gets mail, I think the word "mail" used to turn yellow to let them know. What happens now to notify someone they got mail (other than an email)?
What happens now to notify someone they got mail (other than an email)?
The envelope turned yellow and it had a big 1 in it for me.
On the Home page using Safari/iOS, the new icon is significantly larger than the other banner icons, which is more than a little distracting. I like the cleaner icon more, otherwise.
On the Home page using Safari/iOS, the new icon is significantly larger than the other banner icons, which is more than a little distracting. I like the cleaner icon more, otherwise.
Firefox on Win10 and I see the same thing. Agreed on liking the icon other than it's relative size.
I wish the new icon on the desktop mode was half the size it is because it makes the whole banner double the depth, and even when there is no mail the sheer size imposes itself on the eye and districts from the rest of the page. The old text did as it should and vanished into the background, except when highlighted in yellow, so by cutting this icon size in half the same result will be achieved.
I wish the new icon on the desktop mode was half the size it is
wow, that was fast. I just refreshed the pages and the icon has shrunk to a manageable size. I like the new version.
I replaced the 'Mail' link with an icon because it seems people fail to see it when it's a word. I get asked almost daily, how do I check my mail.
When I uploaded the change to the site, I had only viewed it on my test machine and it looked ok. I had to take care of some business, so I didn't immediately verify it on the site. It was huge.
I've modified things and now it should be more manageable.
The LEET and Txt Gnratn have been destroying the spoken word for years, and now they don't recognise the written word, so they have to have images - we'll be back to using only hieroglyphics soon.
Yes, the current icon is nice, thank you.
The LEET and Txt Gnratn have been destroying the spoken word for years
From 2006 ;-)
AJ