I'm not joking: much of the light gray text on your site and your screenshot becomes literally unreadable when my LCD monitor is viewed at certain angles, not far off perpendicular; it becomes the same color as the background. My monitor may not be expensive, but it's not a cheapo, no-name one either.
I absolutely detest this current fad of thin, light gray text on white backgrounds. Instead of using high-contrast, easy-to-read text, people are using gray-on-white, white-on-gray, even gray-on-gray, and always with thin, narrow-stroke fonts and enormous amounts of whitespace.
And if it's hard to read indoors with no glare on a full-size screen, imagine trying to read it on a mobile device, outdoors, with sun/sky glare, or indoors on a reflective, glossy screen with fluorescent lights' glare.
I mean, look at the bottom of your page. One of the most important links on the page, the "Contact" link, is very light gray, thin text on white. When the cursor hovers over the bottom of the page, the links become slightly darker gray. And when the cursor hovers over a link, it becomes an even darker--wait for it--gray. You've effectively made the "Contact Us" link invisible.
And the screenshot of your product exhibits the same problems: the UI fades into the background to such a degree that it is difficult to see. This is bad enough when talking about a web page whose primary purpose is to look stylish, but your product's primary purpose is to be a usable tool. Are you trying to make the wiki equivalent of Das Keyboard?
Where do these fads come from?
For a good illustration of the problem, I just discovered this web site (which also lists HN as an example of the problem): http://contrastrebellion.com/
Thanks for the feedback. We didn't test the landing page under lots of different conditions yet, but we'll continue to make improvements. For example, I just deployed a new version with an improved contrast of the footer.
Regarding the product, themes and customizations will most likely be the best option to maximize the usability for each individual user. This way, users could choose high contrast themes if they are not happy with the default.
As for the general design question you are proposing, my opinion is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach that pleases and maximizes the usability for everyone. For example, making all text larger might increase readability for people with below average eyesight, but will punish users with normal eyesight by decreasing the information density. I think that adaptive design, which software can uniquely offer to some degree, is the only hypothetical solution. However, this is obviously limited by the context-awareness of systems in that it doesn't help that a system could automatically adjust it's font-size if it does not know the state of the users' eyesight.
Well, the footer is slightly improved, but what is arguably the most important link on your page--the one that lets potential customers contact you--is still at the very bottom of the page, on the fourth (4th) screen. According to the Nielsen-Norman group[1], anything below the first fold gets less than 50% as many eye-tracking hits, and by the time you get to the fourth screen, you're at basically 0%.
So the most important link on your entire web site is effectively still invisible. What message does this send to your potential customers? It's the Internet equivalent of leaving a message on an answering machine without leaving your phone number.
I don't understand how you can post this screenshot[2] and talk about information density. The information density of your current product is very low.
But the worst problem is the incredibly low contrast of your UI. Look at that screenshot again. Look at the links on the right side of the screen. They are barely readable on a full-size, matte monitor indoors. Now imagine someone using a glossy monitor facing a window during daytime. Imagine someone using a laptop with a glossy screen on a desk with fluorescent lights overhead. Imagine someone using a tablet outdoors. Might as well try to read a cloud floating overhead! The NN Group also has an article[3] about this, and your screenshot looks as bad as or worse than all of their examples of what-not-to-do.
Where are these professional "designers" learning to make these horrible mistakes? Why are they still employed in the field?
I am sorry to hear that you are upset with our current experience.
So the most important link on your entire web site is effectively still invisible.
Where would you like the link to be and how should it look?
I don't understand how you can post this screenshot[2] and talk about information density. The information density of your current product is very low.
What would you like to change exactly regarding the information density?
But the worst problem is the incredibly low contrast of your UI.
Would a high contrast theme solve the problem for you?
In general, I am more than happy to offer you a Skype/Chat session, where we could discuss the design in more detail. Feel free to drop me a line at bjoern@nuclino.com
Comments
I'm not joking: much of the light gray text on your site and your screenshot becomes literally unreadable when my LCD monitor is viewed at certain angles, not far off perpendicular; it becomes the same color as the background. My monitor may not be expensive, but it's not a cheapo, no-name one either.
I absolutely detest this current fad of thin, light gray text on white backgrounds. Instead of using high-contrast, easy-to-read text, people are using gray-on-white, white-on-gray, even gray-on-gray, and always with thin, narrow-stroke fonts and enormous amounts of whitespace.
And if it's hard to read indoors with no glare on a full-size screen, imagine trying to read it on a mobile device, outdoors, with sun/sky glare, or indoors on a reflective, glossy screen with fluorescent lights' glare.
I mean, look at the bottom of your page. One of the most important links on the page, the "Contact" link, is very light gray, thin text on white. When the cursor hovers over the bottom of the page, the links become slightly darker gray. And when the cursor hovers over a link, it becomes an even darker--wait for it--gray. You've effectively made the "Contact Us" link invisible.
And the screenshot of your product exhibits the same problems: the UI fades into the background to such a degree that it is difficult to see. This is bad enough when talking about a web page whose primary purpose is to look stylish, but your product's primary purpose is to be a usable tool. Are you trying to make the wiki equivalent of Das Keyboard?
Where do these fads come from?
For a good illustration of the problem, I just discovered this web site (which also lists HN as an example of the problem): http://contrastrebellion.com/
Thanks for the feedback. We didn't test the landing page under lots of different conditions yet, but we'll continue to make improvements. For example, I just deployed a new version with an improved contrast of the footer.
Regarding the product, themes and customizations will most likely be the best option to maximize the usability for each individual user. This way, users could choose high contrast themes if they are not happy with the default.
As for the general design question you are proposing, my opinion is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach that pleases and maximizes the usability for everyone. For example, making all text larger might increase readability for people with below average eyesight, but will punish users with normal eyesight by decreasing the information density. I think that adaptive design, which software can uniquely offer to some degree, is the only hypothetical solution. However, this is obviously limited by the context-awareness of systems in that it doesn't help that a system could automatically adjust it's font-size if it does not know the state of the users' eyesight.
Well, the footer is slightly improved, but what is arguably the most important link on your page--the one that lets potential customers contact you--is still at the very bottom of the page, on the fourth (4th) screen. According to the Nielsen-Norman group[1], anything below the first fold gets less than 50% as many eye-tracking hits, and by the time you get to the fourth screen, you're at basically 0%.
So the most important link on your entire web site is effectively still invisible. What message does this send to your potential customers? It's the Internet equivalent of leaving a message on an answering machine without leaving your phone number.
I don't understand how you can post this screenshot[2] and talk about information density. The information density of your current product is very low.
But the worst problem is the incredibly low contrast of your UI. Look at that screenshot again. Look at the links on the right side of the screen. They are barely readable on a full-size, matte monitor indoors. Now imagine someone using a glossy monitor facing a window during daytime. Imagine someone using a laptop with a glossy screen on a desk with fluorescent lights overhead. Imagine someone using a tablet outdoors. Might as well try to read a cloud floating overhead! The NN Group also has an article[3] about this, and your screenshot looks as bad as or worse than all of their examples of what-not-to-do.
Where are these professional "designers" learning to make these horrible mistakes? Why are they still employed in the field?
1: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/page-fold-manifesto/
2: https://www.nuclino.com/img/screenshot.png
3: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/low-contrast/
I am sorry to hear that you are upset with our current experience.
Where would you like the link to be and how should it look?
What would you like to change exactly regarding the information density?
Would a high contrast theme solve the problem for you?
In general, I am more than happy to offer you a Skype/Chat session, where we could discuss the design in more detail. Feel free to drop me a line at bjoern@nuclino.com