ij_siteschemes
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About this journal
IJ_siteschemes is where everyone involved in designing site schemes for IJ can exchange notes, documents and ideas. Membership is currently moderated, so please leave a comment for branchandroot if you'd like to join in.

September 2015
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Black 'n' White First Draft

Hi guys.

I finished the first draft of the black and white edit.

The CSS file is here if you want to take a look.

Before and after screengrabs.

I've tested it on sidebar & dropdown... I don't think I've forgotten anything, but if I have, please give me a holler. Also, any feedback or comments or anything would be good, as it's just a first draft... maybe less grey, more contrast, or anything else that comes to mind.

Bye for now.

Comments

I like it - I wouldn't mind even less gray, because apparently I'm in a minimalist phase when it comes to web layouts, but it's nice as is, too.

horizontal dropdown quirks

Hey. So, in anticipation of the monochrome scheme, I've been working on that horizontal dropdown you and a few other people wanted. And I can do it, but there's a problem.

The menu is too big!

There are too many items in it, and by the time you hover on "Journal" the sub-menu is stacking up two deep already. "Site" acts like a vertical dropdown unless you've got a really wide screen. You can get a rough idea of how it looks here at my mock-up site.

I'm averse to reducing the number of menu items, and it would be a serious PITA codewise too, so I'm not sure this will be useful enough to release as a regular site option. I can certainly provide the patch that will make it work, to be used in Stylish or any other browser style override, but... *rumples hair* What do you think? Should I ask Squeaky to put out a site-wide poll, asking how many people want this, and whether they'll put up with the quirks? Or should I just post the patch?

Re: horizontal dropdown quirks

If it's a pain in the ass code-wise, I'm not sure it's worth it, but personally, I'd love a simple layout with just a few links - you know, Lynx, just more relevant links :o)

The stacking definitely isn't pretty, and I don't see myself using it; would rather stick with Lynx, then.

If [info]squeaky was willing it might be interesting to see how many are interested in what - e.g. polling for which links people find the most relevant.

Would it make sense/be possible to only have one row of links, and that one left-aligned? That would give more right-side space for the horizontal menus (but links would probably still need weeding).

My thoughts, and I don't know how many others want it enough that it's worth considering. I'll also be honest and say I'm a creature of habit, and what I really want is something very much like XColibur - I love the simplicity of it.

P.S. If you know: Will Tweak and Tweak sayings figure on the B/W work scheme(s)?

Re: horizontal dropdown quirks

*nods* Okay; I'll float that with Squeaky--the possibility of a pared down menu for one scheme. I expect that will have to wait a bit longer, in the crush of site growth, but I'll be sure to ask.

I'm thinking no Tweak or Sayings for the B/W, since this is supposed to be more pared down too!

Re: horizontal dropdown quirks

Ok, thank you. (Either way, definitely gauge interest before putting a lot of work into it - I'm sure you need a break soon from all the work with the siteschemes :o) !)

I quite like that! The grays let you keep the black borders for definition, which gives the whole thing a nice, finished look. What about making the menu headers light gray and making the links white, though? The headers need more definition, I think, and that would keep the links distinct from them.

I went with the light grey I used, what do you think?

I was thinking it's awful close to the white (it's #eeeeee) and it might look a bit busy... do you think I should switch it to the midtone grey (#a1a1a1) used in the menu?

Yeah, I think you're right; for this option a smoother texture is better. Let's go for the midtone grey.

Oh, and I meant to mention, since this one is supposed to double as a text-only option, let's go with:

#tweak-pic { }

to just take the pic out, and

#journal-title { margin-left: 102px; }

#journal-title h1 { margin: 0;
padding: 20px 0 0 0;
font-size: 160%; }

#journal-title a, #journal-title a:visited { color: #383838;
text-decoration: none; }

and

#tweak-says { display: none; }

Seems like that will work well with the texture of this layout.

Made the changes, they look nice!

I've got the latest css file linked above (I just overwrite).

Excellent! I think we're good to go on this one, then. I'll fire the sheet off to Squeaky.

Awesome! Do you want to give it a cool name .. and if you are okay I would like to install it along side the other site schemes we already have.

I'd kind of like to tweak the header a bit first, so it's text only.

LOLOLOLOL, ok I think all the tweaks are taken care of now.

I've just been calling it Monodramatic... if you can think of something better, feel free to rename it.