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123

ugly font appears now in HTML version

  1. ontheliner
    Member

    Having praised the change to my Coraline dashboard's appearance a few weeks back - to a crisp clean sans font which makes the whole screen feel appealing - suddenly the font within the type-area of a new post has changed to an ugly unreadable font which cannot be skimmed and edited at a glance. Actually it's the same font appearing immediately below this Forum post as I compose it, following the words "Allowed markup:". You may say the half dozen words showing here look readable - but that font really does not work when you have a screenful of running prose full of HTML commands to edit. Why has the font changed in any case and can I change it back to match the dashboard's sans - or have I accidentally hit a wrong button?
    Shapersofthe80s.com

    The blog I need help with is shapersofthe80s.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    I am witnessing the change in font in the editor on my blogs too and disliking it -- yuck! I don't think you did anything to change it as we are both experiencing it on different themes it appears that Staff may have changed it. But I am not witnessing it here on the forum.

  3. timethief
    Member

    I'm really frustrated by this change. I can read the font in the Visual editor with ease. Thankfully, it has no been changed but the font in the HTML editor is a completely different story. I'm visually challenged and I normally use the HTML editor a great deal of the time. The font change is so terrible that I am being forced into using the Visual editor. Staff I beg you to reconsider this change please.

  4. thethoughtexperiment
    Member

    I am 100% in agreement with the two prior posters. The new typeface-style font in the HTML editor, to put it bluntly, sucks. Please, please change it back or provide an option for us to do so.

  5. ludusnaturae
    Member

    Previous font was in a "sans" style, and the new one is a "courier" or "mono" style. The new font type is thinner, and I'm not sure if it's also smaller( without changing font size). With this light grey, lighter?, the current font of HTML editor make really difficult to write in it.

    Given that staff is making several changes from the launch of the new look of admin pages, I hope this one is just a test or an intermediate step.

    New font type is a fine style, but it should be darkest, at least. And make it one point bigger may be also a good change.

    Pleeeease!

  6. prettierinpink
    Member

    I agree... http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/please-bigger-and-darker-fonts-in-html-editor?replies=8

  7. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    The new font is actually here to stay and part of the core WordPress Dashboard redesign, built on the feedback of millions of WordPress users.

    To share you thoughts and/or concerns on the current state of things, please start an idea thread at http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/

    You can follow along with future enhancements at http://make.wordpress.org/ui/ and some you may be interested in http://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/ as well.

  8. timethief
    Member

    @ludusnaturae
    To me this is not an issue of font size. I can adjust that in my browser but size is not an issue for me.

    My issue is readability. I can read the font in the Visual editor with ease and scan it very quickly. I could do the same using the HTML editor yesterday but not today.
    If I switch to the HTML editor I am witnessing all bold lettering SHOUTING at me. I cannot quickly scan this font and locate HTML errors I may have made prior to publishing a post today like I could yesterday.

    I have experienced many changes here at WordPress.com and although some have been frustrating none were an actual barrier to me using the editor in both modes -- this one is a barrier. :(

  9. ludusnaturae
    Member

    @timethief
    I agree, it's uncomfortable in every way.
    But we must endure, seen what @macmanx says. :(

  10. timethief
    Member

    @ludusnaturae
    This is to let you know I did read what macmanxx posted.

  11. ludusnaturae
    Member

    @timethief

    Of course, I suppose you did.

    Seems that all these millions of WordPress users have very good eyesight.

    This is my opportunity to renew the glasses, or perhaps to give up using the HTML editor, that seems is what they want.

    Regards.

  12. theauspicioussquirrel
    Member

    Ugh, I started writing a post today and could only write one word before I was stopped in my tracks and completely lost my train of thought because the font is so distracting. I do not like this new font AT ALL. I find it hard to believe that millions of users wanted courier or mono font while in HTML view. I feel like it's a punishment for wanting to write some of my own tags while I write rather than using the do-it-all-for-me visual view. Not a happy user.

  13. timethief
    Member

    @ludusnaturae
    macmanxx has provided the stock in trade answer we get every time a change occurs based on the feedback of "millions of WordPress users", presumably without the participation and feedback from the millions of users on this multiuser blogging platform. The reason I say that is because it appears that those who do have WordPress.org installs and who are able to use plugins can participate in in BETA testing, while WordPress.com users cannot install individual plugins and actively participate in the developmental stages. I am sad. :(

  14. auxclass
    Member

    Another great leap backward - the font is too small

    Not happy at all

  15. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    while WordPress.com users cannot install individual plugins and actively participate in the developmental stages.

    Actually, even though you can't install a development version yourself, you can participate via the overall process via the the two blogs that I mentioned, http://make.wordpress.org/ui/ and http://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/

    WordPress is an open source project, and everyone is welcome to share their opinions regarding its development and direction, just make sure that you share them in the right venue so things can be done about it. :)

  16. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    Also, just to add that the two blogs are merely the first place that you can get involved.

    There are also mailing lists, and of course Trac: http://codex.wordpress.org/Contributing_to_WordPress#WordPress_Development

  17. timethief
    Member

    @macmanxx
    WordPress.com is supposed to be a platform for those who do no need to code, and presumably do not not have technical backgrounds nor the ability to comprehend geek peak.

    I have visited those sites. I repeat the Dashboard changes we WordPress.com users have experienced were not and are not available to WordPress.com bloggers to BETA test and provide feedback on as there is no FTP access to our blogs and we cannot install plugins.

    Opinions that are not based on actual testing cannot possibly be as valuable as the feedback from those who have had the opportunity for hands on testing. I see a huge gap here a technical and geek speak gap that I cannot cross-over.

  18. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    I understand your concerns. Please be aware that we just use WordPress here, we don't make it, so this really isn't the best venue to express your concerns.

    Future design changes are discussed via http://make.wordpress.org/ui/ and http://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/ and screenshots are often included or linked to. The level of "geek speak" is not too terribly high on them, so they represent probably the best way to follow UI development and share your thoughts along the way.

    Another good place is http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/ but that's more WordPress development in general, not really UI-specific.

  19. timethief
    Member

    @macmanxx
    I also apologize for not comprehending this forum not the correct venue to discuss changes that impact my blogging. I have made myself a note and hung it above my computer to remind me that when are introduced they are here to stay. They are part of the core WordPress development process built on the feedback of millions of WordPress users and once deployed -- feedback is futile.

  20. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    Feedback is never futile on an open source project. If you're concerned about a change that has already been made (as is the case here), please post an "idea" thread at http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/

  21. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    @macmanx: Instead of the nebulous "Dashboard redesign, built on the feedback of millions of WordPress users" (which doesn't tell us anything about the HTML editor font in particular), could you please tell us why you (plural) consider this font an "enhancement"?
    Also, the Excerpt field and the text widget field are designed for HTML too. Why weren't they similarly "enhanced"?

  22. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    Why do I consider it to be an enhancement? Well, I wasn't involved in the development this time around, but I like the font itself as a more visual indicator that I'm in the HTML editor vs. the Visual editor.

    As for the widgets, it was possibly an oversight, possibly intentional, that I can't say. As mentioned above, we don't make WordPress here, so this isn't really the best place for these kind of questions.

  23. ontheliner
    Member

    Hi macmanx - I'm appalled to read all the above. It's a truisim that designers (both in print and online) never read the slabs of grey the rest of us call words. But this change of typeface in the HTML editor is a blunder of the first order for those of us who work with words for a living.

    This new typeface - in fact it doesn't deserve the name of typeface because it breaks all the fundamental rules of readability - can be neither scanned horizontally nor skimmed vertically. It has clearly never been kerned, which is a fundamental technique for helping letters to hang together into familiar word forms. Instead, it demands to be read letter by letter, rather than word by word or phrase by phrase, as if we are children running our fingers along the line. Adults do not read that way.

    WordPress once enjoyed the reputation of being the host of choice for serious-minded bloggers. But this scribble of a typeface is an all too visible symbol of so much that is illiterate about the web - the Comic Sans syndrome.

    Macmanx, since you declare this change to be "here to stay", please tell me the name of the "scribble" typeface so I know what I'm talking about in the forums you are banishing me to. And also the name of the excellent sans face all round it in the rest of the dashboard furniture.

  24. ludusnaturae
    Member

    And there was nothing about such an important change in the announcement on wp.com blog:
    http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/just-write/
    Good night!

  25. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    ontheliner, The new HTML editor font is Consolas.

    ludusnaturae, if we covered every individual change, the post would have easily crossed into "too long to read" territory.

  26. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    Sorry, the question was "why you (plural)": I didn't ask why James considers this an enhancement, I asked why WordPress considers this an enhancement.

    And you understand that when some users complain about a change, telling them that "this isn't really the best place for these kind of questions" isn't a very satisfying or convincing reply. Makes the "millions of WordPress users" argument all the more dubious.

  27. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that everyone is welcome to follow along with and participate in the development of the core WordPress software, but this specific forum is not the place for that.

    The developers of WordPress do not monitor the forums here, they have their own venues to monitor, and those have already been listed in this thread.

    I'm not trying to "banish" anyone, I'm just encouraging you folks take your concerns to the venue where they can be acted upon by those with the powers to make the changes you're hoping for.

  28. groksurf
    Member

    Add my "no" vote to the list. The new font definitely makes the HTML editor harder to use.

    And there's another irritating change to the HTML editor as well: when you highlight text and use the button tool to make it a link, the page context changes so the cursor's edit position shifts to the bottom of the page rather than staying where it was. That's very disorienting as well.

  29. justjennifer
    Member

    Curiously enough, serif fonts are supposed to be more easily read than sans-serif fonts. Perhaps a different serif font/weight could be considered.

    personal opinion/
    Since WordPress.com is the beta test field for features being introduced into the standalone version of WordPress.org, feedback here should be expected and encouraged, especially since the users here also are part of those "millions of WordPress users" mentioned above. In fact, if I remember correctly, about 50% worth.
    /personal opinion

  30. ludusnaturae
    Member

    It's supposed that we all, WordPress.com users, are a mountain of ignorance.
    Feedback from us for WordPress software development isn't useful, even for simple stuff as readability of fonts in UI.

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