A graphic designer’s comments to me about Inuit Types
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Dear WordPress team — I looked all over and could not find another place to put this note. I know that there is an address for the theme group that actually has the ability to change codes (if they deem it advisable) but what is it?
At any rate, since this affects one Theme, I wanted to share my friend’s note to me about INUIT TYPES. She is a graphic designer running her own business in Manhattan and was reading my blog and decided to send me this all on her own. She works with a Macintosh but I am not sure which browser.
Here below is her email to me. What is the URL of the team that works with such reports? I accidentally just now sent it to SUPPORT, thinking I was in THEMES. I apologize for the double posting.
-LK
Lorna,
The side material that is white type on black boxes is VERY hard to read; the serif face is too thin/light/small to be in reverse and the fine lines drop out.
if i were you i would either change the boxes to a light color background and surprint dark text on top of it OR I change the font to a heavier one and would not use text smaller/lighter than “since november 14, 2008”. Even though the “About this blogger” head is probably a bigger point size, the font itself is ‘wrong’ for reversing because of the fine lines of the serif. Certainly the info below it is almost impossible to read.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Thank you.
In the very top paragraph I indicated my awareness of my previous accidental double posting:
I accidentally just now sent it to SUPPORT, thinking I was in THEMES. I apologize for the double posting.“
Thank you for the URL of that support team. I have sent them a copy of the post in question.
-Lorna
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There are now over 95 free themes on WordPress.com and, yes, many of them, if not all of them, are made by professional designers.
Finding the theme whose elements suits you is a personal choice. I personally love Inuit Types on my photoblog and don’t see myself changing it any time soon.
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I was not suggesting that anyone change their themes because it is so terrific looking on my monitor. I was just relaying what my friend, a graphic designer described what she saw on her , unsolicited by me.
I have tried out all the themes, and I wanted the features of Inuit Types. Leaving it for another theme would make me lose my little thumbnails and frankly, the layout that I love. But it’s all nil if viewers have a hard time seeing it.
(I still am using Inuit Types. Today I will send emails to my other friends and ask them for input. If they report what my friend reported, I will regretfully change themes. If they report differently than my friend the graphic designer, then I will happily stay with Inuit Types.
-Lorna
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@justjennifer
Hi there. As you know I’m visually challenged. Yes that means I’m bona fide “visually impaired” by the medical profession. Well I experience zero problems with the readability of the Inuit Types theme in the sidebars or anywhere else. I love using Inuit Types on my wordpress.com blog. My readers have not reported any difficulties when it comes to readability. In fact, I may choose to upload the wordpress.ORG version and run it on my install adter wordpress.ORG installs are upgraded to version 3.0. -
I’d have to say, that with the white text on the black background, I would probably not have gone with serif type – or gone with a serif typeface with wider stroke – and I would probably have increased line height as well.
I think many of the designers out there doing themes probably do not have a strong background in graphic design based one what I see while researching themes. That doesn’t mean that they make big mistakes on designs – they don’t – it is just that I typically find many small things. I have yet to use a theme on my self-hosted blog where I haven’t done some tweaking to the CSS for line height, or font size, or padding or margins, etc. Again, mostly little tweaks, but they all add up.
Inuit Types could use some tweaking, but I’m thinking about using it also.
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Inuit Types could use some tweaking, but I’m thinking about using it also.
WOO HOO! (She waves madly) If that means you are thinking of using it on a wordpress.ORG install and tweaking the CSS free of charge then you know where to find me. :)
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I certainly do, and if I end up not using it and you do, I would be more than happy to tweak it for you.
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As a matter of fact, perhaps I’ll put it on my test blog here and tweak it ahead of time so that you can see the changes ahead of time.
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Three scenarios in the images below. Download to your computer and then open them all up together on your desktop with the windows side-by-side and have a look.
The original showing text widget and recent posts widget with the serif font: http://flippintestblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/inuit-widget-original.png
Original serif font with added spacing between lines: http://flippintestblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/inuit-widget-line-height-18px.png
Sans-serif font with added spacing between lines: http://flippintestblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/inuit-widget-sans-line-height-18px.png
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In my opinion the principal problem is the extreme contrast of pure white on black. So I would probably change the bg of the theme to light grey or other light color, and use the same color for the widget text.
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Even when I did that, I still think the line spacing in the widgets is too tight. It just flies in the face of good graphic design. You need that whitespace between lines to help guide the eye from line to line when reading. Now some could say that widgets aren’t meant for main content, but we still have to read what’s in them otherwise there isn’t any point in having them.
I would suspect that in some cases designers will tighten up the line spacing in widgets to keep sidebars from getting too long (I know I have in some instances) when you add a bunch of widgets, but there is only so far you can go. I think Inuit Types went too far.
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@TSP
1. Actually I was not focused of font or spacing tweaks. However, I choose “Original serif font with added spacing between lines: “2. I have zero problem with the black and white contrast. I love it!
(The rest we can chat about by email as we are going to be working on the wordpress.ORG install and not applying any CSS changes to my wordpress.COM blog. )
Also this is lornakismet’s thread and she hasn’t indicated any desire to discuss getting the CSS upgrade.
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@tsp: Yes, I didn’t mean change the color instead of the line-height; I would also choose “Original serif font with added spacing”.
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Thanks to all for the great tips in this discussion. I’ve changed the background of my widgets to a lighter but still strong color (with CSS), but still have the white type. I totally love the serif font, but I can see the additional line spacing would help and may give it a try over the next few days. Thank you!
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@TT, I’ve downoaded the free version of Inuit and will do some tweaking on it this week as I have the time. I can also play with font weight a little and see what I can do about slightly fattening up the stroke on the serif font.
@panos, actually changing the background color from black to perhaps a dark charcoal grey might actually improve things. I seldom use either black or white in my designs. I prefer to come off of pure white and black just a touch as too much contrast is almost as bad as not enough.
@sandra, I believe I used 16px as the line height in the serif example with added line height.
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