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Improving readability - alternative presentation?

  1. wordstodeeds
    Member

    Hi all,

    Recently a few of my readers have written to me about issues they are having with reading my blog (I used the Chateau theme). Others have said they really like the theme. Can anybody suggest how I can offer an alternative presentation for those having trouble?

    Best wishes
    Juliette

    The blog I need help with is wordstodeeds.com.

  2. justjennifer
    Member

    It looks like you changed the body font with the Custom Design Upgrade. In Chrome 19 the body font on your site is cramped. In IE9, it's readable.

    I really can't suggest how to offer an alternative presentation. Perhaps it is possible to note something in the CSS stylesheet, but that is beyond my abilities.

    I'll tag this and have it moved to the CSS Customization forum, where you may be able to get some Staff assistance.

  3. wordstodeeds
    Member

    Thanks Jennifer. I have tried to contact the Theme designer, but for the moment to no avail.

  4. justjennifer
    Member

    Contacting the theme designer won't help in this case, since all the themes on WordPress.com are adapted to work with the WordPress.com environment.

  5. designsimply
    Staff

    In your first message, you said readers wrote to you about issues reading your blog, but you didn't say what the issues are. What did they write you about specifically?

    justjennifer indicated she thought the body font was cramped. I checked http://wordstodeeds.com/ and I see that you selected the Sorts Mill Goudy font. You might consider increasing the body text size on the Appearance → Custom Design → Fonts page or, if that doesn't help, another alternative would be to try selecting a sans serif font such as Museo Sans or Droid Sans to see if your readers like that better.

  6. designsimply
    Staff

    Hopefully, the advice above helped! I'm marking this thread as resolved. Please change it back to unresolved if you find you have additional questions to post into this thread.

    Cheers.

  7. wordstodeeds
    Member

    Thanks very much designsimply. I don't know why, but I wasn't notified of your first message. I will try what you suggest, and also wait for the Staff assistance as Just Jennifer recommended.

  8. timethief
    Member

    @wordstodeeds
    designsimply is Staff. Note the silver background patch behind her username and the "Happiness Engineer".

  9. wordstodeeds
    Member

    Thanks timethief. Sorry to be dumb.

  10. wordstodeeds
    Member

    Just to be more specific - the issue is simply reading. The readers that have complained say that the font is difficult to read.

  11. thesacredpath
    Member

    If you try @designsimply's suggestion on font size and that does not improve readability for your viewers, then your next step is to choose a font that is more legible. It is always a delicate balance between form and function.

  12. timethief
    Member

    I am visually challenged. If size is an issue for your readers then we can all increase or decrease font size on any site we viist on the internet. I use keyboard shortcuts to increase or decrease font (text) size on sites I visit http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/01/19/how-to-change-font-text-size-in-your-browser/

    If you want my feedback then the original font on the Chateau theme was more readable than the font you are using now.

  13. justjennifer
    Member

    Again, in IE9 the body font you've chosen is readable, in Chrome 19, however, it's cramped. So a lot depends on which browser your visitors are viewing your site in. Both designsimply and tsp suggested increasing font size, though I don't wonder if that won't create other problems, but it's worth a try.

  14. wordstodeeds
    Member

    Hi everybody,

    Still trying to resolve this issue for my readers. :-(

    I tried increasing the font size, which doesn't seem to have helped judging by reader feedback.

    Today I have changed the body text font to Museo Sans as suggested by Designsimply. It *seems* to look better in a range of browsers - I might run a reader poll when the issues below are resolved.

    Also I have chosen to display the archives in their short version and would like the titles to appear in italic.

    I would like to change the Accent#1 color (a sort of greenish gold) for something else - it does't show up on all browsers. The "Colors & Backgrounds" customize section says "Drag-and-drop to swap colors" but I don't understand how that works.

    Also about color, I think displaying the post body text in a darker grey would be good for improving readability, but I don't know how to do that.

    I suspect all of the above requires lines in the "Customize CSS" sheet?

    Finally, my blog will not display at all in IE6. According to a friend with some website knowledge, this is to do with an issue in the "Leader" html as regards browser instructions.

    Thanks in advance to all!
    Best wishes
    Juliette

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