Comments on: Whitespace: A Work in Progress

By: ben

ben — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 09:55:43 +0000

When I first saw this I thought it was cool, and the design is but I’ve decided I think the comments in a separate column is a bit rubbish.

I read the post, and then I have to scroll all the way to the top of the page to read the comments. Not particularly user friendly. Also the narrowness of the comments boxes makes the page far longer than it would be if the content was laid out in a ‘traditional’ way.

Of course it doesn’t really matter since you’ll probably redesign the site next week anyway :)

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 05:31:15 +0000

It’s a beautiful design, one of the first to really grab my attention right away since Garrett Dimons homepage.

My only problem is that as much as I love the design of the homepage, the comments on the side of the site is somewhat distracting from the content, and seems to distract from the flow of how I read the page.

By: maratz

maratz — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 18:18:20 +0000

A little bit late on the party, but the praise and props to both gentlemen.

By: sunshine

sunshine — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:24:29 +0000

I loved the home page before the addition of the silver shaded box around most recent and the header. The shading doesn’t do it for me as much. I can see that you’re highlighting the most recent but since the entries are in a linear format it was already fairly obvious (I thought) that the most recent was at the top. It would seem more helpful to just include the post date in that same fashion. With the shading on the secondary pages too my eyes keep getting pulled towards the top of the page even though there isn’t anything there that I need to be looking at (I know where I am and I know the nav is at the top so I can use it if I need it… I don’t need to LOOK at it all the time). Overall I think it just makes the site look more cluttered without adding any cool points for improved functionality.

The comment numbers make me happy although I agree with Mark that the date of the last comment would be useful information. Maybe as a tooltip for those that care to preserve the beauty of the huge number.

I also agree with most that the comments on the side aren’t so fun. I think it actually takes away from the importance of the conversation because now the comments have the same weight as your sidebar of miscellaneous stuff on the home page.

By: Mikkel Malmberg

Mikkel Malmberg — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:20:20 +0000

I too find this kind of design perfect for your site. Great job, Mr. CEO Scrivs.

While (almost) everyone has their comments below their posts, it’s gonna take a while to get used to this. But it seems to work ok I guess.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:44:11 +0000

Sweet re-design Paul ;)

This is about the third or fourth here at Whitespace this year!

I originally had this idea after the Asian Tsunami that after a redesign people auction their old design/templates for charity. Just with the frequency some people change their designs and with initiatives like the CSS Reboot where the old design is made obsolete it’d be a great way to raise cash for a good cause with some dormant pixels. Might be worth thinking about with the New Orleans catastrophe at the front of everyone’s thoughts ATM. I’m sure there’d be heaps of people wanting a genuine not so outdated Paul Scrivens design.

By: ivan raszl

ivan raszl — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:40:59 +0000

Great start! Congrats.

I’d like to know what happens if there are more than 99 comments. Would it bump the layout?

The major issue I have with such blogs as this one is that there is no way to jump to the latest unread comment. Also, there is no way to tell if there are new comments to a certain post, unless I remember the number of comments for a specific post the last time I read it. I think scrolling through all the comments and scanning to see if there is anything new is way too much to ask every time.

I have a much better system on creativebits where new comments are highlighted. It can also give a list of all the posts you participated in with the number of new comments for each and you can jump to only the new comments straight away. Once you start using such a system, you will start missing it everywhere.

The downside is that you have to register once so that the site can recognize you. Still I would prefer some kind of a solution to this major usability issue. Maybe cookies?

Ok, let’s see, I’m commenter 38. I’ll have to remember that number to see if there is any answer to my comment next time I come back.

By: Mathew Patterson

Mathew Patterson — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:15:30 +0000

Great index page. What happens when you hit 100 comments though?

By: Sebastian Schmieg

Sebastian Schmieg — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:43:14 +0000

All the cool people have sidebar comments, right? ;-)

Besides the comment form everything looks nice.

By: chet

chet — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 07:08:44 +0000

Here is my two cents, take it or leave it. I think what would be cool is to have the title/date span both columns to show the relationship the article and response. There should be 50/50 with some sort of visual indicator highlighting the artice. I would move the comments form over on the right and have the last 10 comments below the form. From there you could have a link to show the rest of the comments on another page.

I am also a big fan of doing the comments in desending order.