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Author Topic: The NEW LuLa Look  (Read 20376 times)

Isaac

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The NEW LuLa Look
« on: October 09, 2013, 01:17:39 am »

Seems to commandeer the physical screen size which messes-up because even when the web browser window is "full-screen", the OS can restrict the browser window to part of the screen to allow for side bars (Mozilla Firefox on Ubuntu).

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Paul Sumi

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2013, 01:27:11 am »

Ditto with Firefox 24 on a Windows PC. The browser doesn't resize the window to fit the screen.  Tried emptying the browser cache with no effect.

However, works fine on my iPad and Safari with iOS 7.02.

Paul
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Photo Op

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2013, 02:51:47 am »

Let's "see". The previous design had space for three ads along the top. Now there's seven "ads" with space for more along the side. Wonder why they went to this design? Oh ya, visitor readability.
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alain

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2013, 02:55:05 am »

just sucks

It took me some time after I discovered that there should be a top navigation bar (because there where some pics of the homepage on the home page!).  The top navigation needs javascript even to be visible and this is disabled by me for very good security reasons.
Such a top navigation bar is perfectly possible without javascript.


When I go to the shop (to buy the new c1 tutorial) I just get a blank page with a lula banner on top.
You probably want the customers to allow a extra unknown third party to run javascipt on there computer.


Alain

 
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Jim Pascoe

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2013, 03:24:29 am »

Much prefer the white on grey. Generally an improvement as far as I can tell.

Jim
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Robert-Peter Westphal

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2013, 03:36:35 am »

Hallo,

I really like the new design as far as I can judge after clicking around for some time.

What I found is that, to my knowledge, is hat a 'back to Lula' button at the shop is missing. You have to use the backspace key to come back to Lula.

Robert
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john beardsworth

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2013, 04:00:25 am »

A big improvement. Much easier to read now each line isn't 24 inches wide. Orange+red+gold+LIME+green text looks a bit garish (using Frontpage, eh?), but overall a welcome change.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2013, 04:02:17 am by johnbeardy »
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Rhossydd

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2013, 04:03:43 am »

Much easier to read now each line isn't 24 inches wide.
Ever thought of resizing your browser window ?
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john beardsworth

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2013, 04:15:10 am »

Well-designed sites don't force one to do so.
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Rhossydd

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2013, 04:15:53 am »

White on grey is definitely nicer to read and an improvement.

However the decision to put the advert bar on the LHS is a poor one.
I never see adverts because of the browser I use, so it's just become a big waste of space. The irony is that for a site devoted to photography, where composition is so important, it just looks a terrible design now. At least when the empty space was confined to the top of the page the overall layout remained elegant when no ads were showing.

One step forward, two steps back.
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Manoli

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2013, 04:19:57 am »

Much prefer the white on grey. Generally an improvement ...

+1
But would add a suggestion that the layout would have a 'more natural feel' if the ads were on the right hand side.
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pcox

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2013, 04:39:20 am »

I don't speak for Kevin and the crew, but restricting the content to a certain width is very common (my own site does this). It ensures readability at any browser size. From a design perspective it's very hard to make a website look well when the content can be pushed and squeezed to fit every conceivable window width. Instead you pick one width that will fit comfortably on even the lowest common screen resolution and stick with that.

I think the new design looks very well and is a great improvement over the old one. Of course there's some time needed to get used to it, especially if you've been reading the site for years and know the old layout intimately.

Good job guys!

Cheers,
Peter
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ripgriffith

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2013, 04:50:08 am »

I'm sorry, but this new website has all the flaws (your pet-peeve, Michael) of a new camera that was designed without  the input of a photographer or, in this case, the viewer.  Not to put too fine a point on it, it sucks!  It doesn't adjust to screen size, it is difficult to navigate and, as was mentioned in other posts, requires javascript, which many of us have disabled for security reasons.  Finally, to be hit in the face with such overwhelmingly aggressive ads makes me want to immediately go somewhere else.  This is very sad for me, because LL was, until today, my go-to website after checking my emails in the morning. Without some rather quick firmware changes, I might  have to find something else to read in the mornings with my coffee. :'(
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caerphoto

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2013, 06:10:28 am »

As others have said, the fixed width of articles is a major issue. It's great that it doesn't expand to ridiculous sizes when the browser window is wide, but it's a problem for windows that are less than 1280 pixels wide too. Having a design that scales to narrower widths would also make it work better on iPads etc.

Also, Arial, really? There's much better choices available these days with webfonts. Arial is just ugly and hard to read, and neither it nor Helvetica were designed for use in body text.

I also have issues with the CMS, because there's a lot of inline styling that doesn't need to be there, but this is more of an under-the-hood thing that most people won't even notice. Stuff like:

<span style="font-size: 12pt;">

should not be there. Also, '12pt'? This isn't print, fonts shouldn't be sized in points on web pages. Use pixels, ems or percent sizes.

FWIW I disagree with the complaints about requiring JavaScript to use the menu. It's fine to require it, and practically every site in existence does the same these days. Disabling JS in one's browser is more trouble than it's worth, for dubious security 'benefits' that nobody can seem to provide actual examples of.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2013, 06:31:10 am by caerphoto »
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john beardsworth

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2013, 06:39:26 am »

Also, Arial, really? There's much better choices available these days with webfonts. Arial is just ugly and hard to read, and neither it nor Helvetica were designed for use in body text.
I don't think that's a big worry. But Michael has a Creative Cloud subscription, so a font from the Typekit service might look better.
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caerphoto

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #15 on: October 09, 2013, 08:02:24 am »

I don't think that's a big worry. But Michael has a Creative Cloud subscription, so a font from the Typekit service might look better.
I disagree. The typography is absolutely fundamental to the experience of reading articles, and to use such a reader-hostile font speaks ill of the site, and furthermore implies, rightly or wrongly, that this aspect wasn't even given any attention, that the designer just used Arial/Helvetica because it's the default.

edit:
Lest I sound overly negative, I do think the background is a significant improvement over the light-grey–on–black.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2013, 08:10:30 am by caerphoto »
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Manoli

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #16 on: October 09, 2013, 08:12:40 am »

... and furthermore implies, rightly or wrongly, that this aspect wasn't even given any attention, that the designer just used Arial/Helvetica because it's the default.

And probably the cheapest (from a licensing point of view)
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john beardsworth

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #17 on: October 09, 2013, 08:31:34 am »

Michael has access to TypeKit fonts through his CC subscription, so it may not add any cost. While Arial/Helvetica work perfectly well, it wouldn't take much effort to use something more distinctive.
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michael

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #18 on: October 09, 2013, 09:21:35 am »

Thanks everyone for your comments. They are appreciated, even when we disagree.

The redesign of the site was done over a long period of time, with a lot of thought and planning. We looked at current web technical practices as well as design idioms. We wanted to primarily add now capabilities (look beneath the surface and you'll see whole new navigation and publishing engine), plan for future products, (our new streaming video and subscription service, which just went live) and also address reader's past requests.

Importantly, we also wanted to update the look and feel while also keeping the site's familiar colours and design ethos. Not an easy task.

Now to some specific points. Fonts? The font is the same font that we've been using for 14 years. Helvetica. Easiest to read, used by the vast majority of sites.

Ads on the left? Well, we decided to move them from the top and had two choices. Left or right. We chose left. Some people don't like it. If we put them on the right, my guess is that there'd be those that would complain about that as well.

Animated ads? We've had them for years. Ads come and go. Some are animated. Some aren't. Look at all the major sites. Most have animated ads. They're designed to catch your eye. Sometimes they're annoying. But they pay the bills.

Speaking of ads, We only accept advertising from products and companies associated with the photographic industry. Many peer sites accept ads from anyone. We also don't put ads in the middle of articles the way others do. We do the best we can to respect our readers while still accepting the reality of paying the bills and keeping advertisers happy.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, even if we don't accept all of your suggestions, we appreciate the feedback.

Michael

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jdgagne

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Re: The NEW LuLa Look
« Reply #19 on: October 09, 2013, 09:29:02 am »

The home page looks like a 1990 chrismass tree web site type design. At the time people started to do web sites to push zillions of messages. What an advertising mess. I would say some photography composition rules could apply here to...

The menu on top is the cleanest idea.

My 2 cents

JD
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