Organizing layouts

[denise]

We've been talking a bit about how the Select Style page should be categorized and laid out as we get more and more styles added (and OMG, I am loving the styles that we've been adding!), so it is time to discuss how we should categorize things.

afuna and I have already been talking about a few options, but I wanted to throw it out to the community at large to see what you guys think first, before we talk about what we've been thinking, to see if anyone has any great ideas that we would have missed!

To that end, a poll:

Poll #1158 Layout choice

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 313

View Respondents

When looking for a design for your journal, how do you expect to be able to browse/select one?

View Answers

By color family
171 (54.6%)

By color contrast
37 (11.8%)

By font size
23 (7.3%)

By base layout
282 (90.1%)

By header image content
66 (21.1%)

By something else (explain in comments!)
15 (4.8%)

Discussions, ideas, pros-and-cons, and other thoughts go in the comments. :)

Comments

[ratcreature]

What I would love to have once there are many layouts is some sort of search engine where I can check what options I need/want and then get a list as result.

[kerravonsen]

Seconded!

[denise]

Well, the good thing is that thanks to our new version of the S2 core, every layout should support pretty much every feature -- one of the major goals of our S2 overhaul is that we didn't want anybody to be forced to pick between features and aesthetic.

[janinedog]

Just as a thought, if someone wants to come up with tags for each theme, it'd be pretty easy to make it so the search box on the page can search them. That was something we were going to do on LJ back when the customize page was re-made...it just never happened, because no one wanted to come up with tags. But right now, we have metadata on the themes for designer (and layout and theme of course), so adding tags would be pretty straightforward, if that was something that people would find useful.

[piranha]

oh, yes! tags would be awesome.

[ratcreature]

I don't mean so much the features as aspects of the look. Like the number of columns, colors, etc, what you now want to sort by, only that I don't have to pick one and then browse through a lot, but can check some boxes and whittle things down on more criteria at once. Also maybe smaller things, like for example to have your icons on the left rather than the right, in two newish layouts I have tried so far I had to add CSS to position it there. So where to put your icon is not a "feature" that all have, but some do.

[av8rmike]

If there's a small change like user icon position that you were able to effect through Custom CSS, then that should be the kind of thing that should exist in all layouts. If you can remember which ones didn't allow you to change that (or other things), you should probably file a Support request so we can get that information into Zilla.

[ninetydegrees]

+1

[starwatcher]

.
Some of us, though, need 1-2-3 directions in words of one syllable, and a prominent link where we can find them.

Example: I experimented yesterday with the 'drifting blue' because I liked the layout and figured I'd just change the color. (I have a thing for yellow/green; my page just doesn't look 'right' any other way.) Despite clicking every customization button on the page, I could not find a way to change the colors.

*shrug* not worth a support request; for your info only. I just went back to my original.
.

[yvi]

Both Drifting and the style you are using now should be customizable in their colors at the same page: http://www.dreamwidth.org/customize/options?group=style What difficulties did you encounter with Drifting? Were there no options on that page?

[starwatcher]

.
My problem is, I'm so clueless I don't know what I don't know, y'know? <g> Either I didn't find that page, or didn't recognize the options. (Dreamwidth is so well-thought-out that I don't assume the options just 'weren't there'. It's far more likely that I simply couldn't find them.)

Thanks for the direct link; I'll try again this weekend. Right now, it's back to making schedules. Ugh!
.

[yvi]

Heh, from your color theme I was assuming you had used that site to change it. And if you have any questions whatsoever, please just ask at Support: http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/ . We will be happy to help you.

[starwatcher]

.
Well, I probably did it there... but I don't pay attention to URLs when something is working. (Or when they're not, for that matter.)

I know support is always happy to help; they've been very gracious with each request I've made. But I also know that more styles are coming down the pipeline, so I'm not anxious about it. I haven't yet found the "perfect" layout for me. When I do, if I can't impose my color scheme by hook or by crook, I'll yell for help.

But while I'm here, it occurs to me... we can select a color for links, but I'd love to select different colors for 'name-links' on my reading page, links in the message, and the 'go-to' links at the bottom of the post. (Edit, reply, etc). I know this isn't the place to make the suggestion; where should I put it?

On the other hand, maybe we already can, but I don't recognize where the possibility is. I can't always figure out which description matches which thing on the page.

Anyway, it would be a nice feature, if you'd kindly point me toward the right place to make the suggestion.
.

[yvi]

we can select a color for links, but I'd love to select different colors for 'name-links' on my reading page, links in the message, and the 'go-to' links at the bottom of the post.

That sounds good! I don't think that's in the wizard yet and I am not sure whetehr it can be done via CSS, but you can certainly suggest to add it. The suggestions generator is this way: http://www.dreamwidth.org/site/suggest.bml :)

[starwatcher]

.
Thanks. I'll pop over there and do it.
.

[kyrielle]

Sure could, as long as they were given different classes. It might take some styles adjustment, but given classes, yes.

(...yes, I have been beating my head on CSS - not very fancy CSS, I suspect, but CSS - in my day-job this past week or two, does it show?)

And I'd love to see it done.

[katarik]

IAWTC.