Evernote, located in Redwood City, CA, and directly on the 101, is a bit north of the tech companies that dot Silicon Valley and far south of those that have headquarters in San Francisco. In other words, Evernote isn't exactly on its own in terms of tech-oriented neighbors that it competes with for talent.
Hey, author here. You're right, this could be more clear. The takeaway is supposed to be that it's not as though HQ is in Cleveland or Cincinnati where there's a lot less competition for tech jobs - but I can see how the wording is weird!
Stop with the gray text on the white background. On the device I'm on I can't make out the text well enough to read comfortably, so I bailed. And realistically I won't come back to the article on another device later on.
I understand the sentiment (and we'll be improving the overall contrast issue), but just saying the font should be black doesn't help anyone. White is still the overwhelmingly most popular background color for text online, and nobody is doing black text on white; this also becomes uncomfortable for many readers. We(I) made some guesses about what looked good on our test devices, and it turns out the general consensus is it should be a little heavier and a little darker. Certainly not black, though.
Although with proper line spacing and font size and a lowered contrast the effect is diminished. People tend to lower the contrast too much or don't set a comfortable line spacing.
The problem?
Most people don't read their own site often enough.
One thing I've used to great success is to detect pixel density and bump up the font-weight for those users. CSS snippet:
.co-m-text-light {
font-weight: 500;
}
@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.3),
only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 13/10),
only screen and (min-resolution: 120dpi) {
.co-m-text-light {
font-weight: 300;
}
}
And this is a problem because devs in SF don't want to commute south and devs in the Valley don't want to commute north? I really doubt this is in the top 10 reasons Evernote is (apparently) failing.
Yeah, weird wording - apologies. I'm trying to make the exact opposite point, in that you can go 10 mins in any direction and be at another large tech co.
If you check Glassdoor, though, you actually will see people complaining about the commute to Redwood City! (Though this is not factored into my post at all, I just find it an amusing anecdote as someone who has never had a < 60 min commute)
I thought what it was saying was the talent pool they're competing for is sapped both by SF-based companies and Valley-based companies. But rereading it that doesn't make sense either...
Comments
What on earth is this trying to say?
Evernote, located in Redwood City, CA, and directly on the 101, is a bit north of the tech companies that dot Silicon Valley and far south of those that have headquarters in San Francisco. In other words, Evernote isn't exactly on its own in terms of tech-oriented neighbors that it competes with for talent.
Hey, author here. You're right, this could be more clear. The takeaway is supposed to be that it's not as though HQ is in Cleveland or Cincinnati where there's a lot less competition for tech jobs - but I can see how the wording is weird!
Stop with the gray text on the white background. On the device I'm on I can't make out the text well enough to read comfortably, so I bailed. And realistically I won't come back to the article on another device later on.
Agreed, see http://contrastrebellion.com/ . We can't all be on the highest contrast screens and have perfect eyesight. The font should be black.
I understand the sentiment (and we'll be improving the overall contrast issue), but just saying the font should be black doesn't help anyone. White is still the overwhelmingly most popular background color for text online, and nobody is doing black text on white; this also becomes uncomfortable for many readers. We(I) made some guesses about what looked good on our test devices, and it turns out the general consensus is it should be a little heavier and a little darker. Certainly not black, though.
See also: http://www.ironicsans.com/owmyeyes/
Although with proper line spacing and font size and a lowered contrast the effect is diminished. People tend to lower the contrast too much or don't set a comfortable line spacing.
The problem?
Most people don't read their own site often enough.
I wrote the entire code base; I look at it, use it, and read posts every day.
We're in beta and weren't expecting the post to be widely read, so we are still tweaking things. Appreciate the feedback.
One thing I've used to great success is to detect pixel density and bump up the font-weight for those users. CSS snippet:
They should have just said, "just South of Oracle".
And this is a problem because devs in SF don't want to commute south and devs in the Valley don't want to commute north? I really doubt this is in the top 10 reasons Evernote is (apparently) failing.
Yeah, weird wording - apologies. I'm trying to make the exact opposite point, in that you can go 10 mins in any direction and be at another large tech co.
If you check Glassdoor, though, you actually will see people complaining about the commute to Redwood City! (Though this is not factored into my post at all, I just find it an amusing anecdote as someone who has never had a < 60 min commute)
I thought what it was saying was the talent pool they're competing for is sapped both by SF-based companies and Valley-based companies. But rereading it that doesn't make sense either...
Same. I Thought the implication being that EverNote doesn't need to care about competing employers because of the distance.