Heads up - we're about to introduce a wee (it's really not that big) site update...

[JustineMumsnet]

Morning folks,

As some of you pointed out at the time, the new navigation bar we introduced a little while back on the desktop site sits a little uncomfortably with what goes underneath it, design-wise.

So today we're introducing a little refresh of the rest of Talk. This update is also a bit closer to the mobile version, which it currently clashes with, so those who frequently switch from desktop to mobile will get a less variable experience.

If you use Mumsnet solely on mobile or tablet: as you were! Nothing’s going to change for you.

For desktop users, the functionality is unchanged (except for the addition of a threads I'm on button on the left hand side) but the fonts will look a little different.

We realise that any change can be difficult (and not necessarily welcome!) but please do give it a few days, as very often, we find, things like this just take a little getting used to and soon enough you've moved on and won't remember the difference.

As ever, we’re really keen to have your feedback, though, so do post below with your thoughts (we’re confident that you will ). Also, if anyone fancies getting involved in the testing of this kind of stuff, do shout, we're always looking for volunteers.

We’ll switch everything over in the next hour or so - let us know what you think! We’ll keep this thread stickied in Site Stuff and Active Conversations throughout at the day.

Justine

I guess if you use an iPad you're stuffed as there are don't seem to be fixes like font changer.

It's not as clear and readable as it used to be and TIO, Active conversations and in a thread are all different font sizes. It's ridiculous.

soup yes that's me.

I have turned the brightness very low, which has helped a bit. But I tend to pop in and out of MN so everything else on t'internet looks crap.

I have been considering that I spend too much time here, so this may be the time to give it up.

The paranoid cynic in me is saying maybe this has been MN's intention all along, to weed out some of us old gimmers with poor eyesight and improve the demographic for the advertisers.

Oh how ironic, there is an advert for contact lenses on the RH side.

Now we know what the plan was!!

I find the increase in font-weight works. I can read it just fine now, without having to increase my browser zoom. Thank you.

with font changer for chrome you should have an option that says something like 'global settings' you can change this for each website you use.

wish safari had an option like that :(

just to add though, we really shouldnt need to be adding third party extensions just to use a website that was perfectly fine a couple of days ago. Still no word for those of us that are VI.

Was just about to say the same - you can change settings per site you look at. So 'No settings' for everything else and customise for mn. Pretty shit that you have to now play about with everything else just to be able to read this one site.

But mn looks really amateurish now - fonts all over the place and the My Mumsnet etc icons at the top now have tiny images in them.

Somehow on Firefox, I managed to change the font on other sites without affecting MN at all. On IE, I was able to change it, but the site display was a jumbled mess.

Did anyone contact FrannyMumsnet about being a VI tester? I've 'only' got monocular vision so don't count as officially VI.

I abandoned the font changer as it changed all my other websites too, even if I changed the global settings, the font would change if I refreshed the page.

Sorry am crap at downloading installing things so my vote is please change the font back OR darken it as its too pale . After 5 mins I can't read it and am straining eyes. Not fussed about the page style but am anither one who will be popping in less ...sorry !!!

Ah - figured it out now.

Also finding new font difficult to read. And the site is now taking ages (well, seconds) to load each page on an iPad.

The size of TIO is ridiculous.

I've left it a few days, as suggested, but it's still doing funny things to my eyes.

I have to frown to focus on the body text. It's pale and a bit blurry and seems to float on top of the background. I have to look at each word rather than taking in sentences at a time.

I have wrinkles enough already thank you < dignified >

I stayed off the site for 24 hrs and say again : it's better than it was at first, but is still difficult to read.
Also the OP on a thread is no longer a different colour, which for me makes it even more challenging to try to follow a long thread.
I'm not changing all my browser settings just so MN is easier to read but subsequently fucks up other sites.
HQ seems to have gone very quiet on this issue, so I'll come back in a couple of days to see what's happening.

Thank you all. These are good questions and we are continuing to work on this. Threads I'm on/watching/started aren't right for some people and we're working on a fix for that. We've also been investigating alternatives and recruiting volunteers to help us test our options.

You're correct that one of the challenges is finding a solution which renders legibly across all the different operating systems and browsers. Roboto did very well in our cross-browser, cross-device tests for the greatest number of people but it's hard to predict or replicate every set up out there and every person's own particular vision characteristics which is why some of the best testing is with real people on their own systems.

We'll be setting up tests after the weekend and we're keen to include as many users with different needs as possible. If you'd like to be involved please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]

Please tell us:

• what your vision is like
• what main way(s) you use Mumsnet Talk (phone, desktop/laptop, tablet)
• what system and browser you use (PC/Mac, Chrome/Firefox etc)

Thanks again

Roboto did very well in our cross-browser, cross-device tests for the greatest number of people

I don't understand how this can be the case when it is showing at least 3 different sizes/weights depending on where you are looking. I'm using standard Safari on an iPad so nothing weird.

I've turned Font Changer off now as it was messing with all other sites. This one has definitely improved in the meantime.

Agree SoupDragon. I also use ipad safari and the desktop site. It is really disconcerting movng from one font/size to the various different ones, depending on which bit of the site one is trying to use (Active, TIO, actual thread etc)

As someone up there ^^ (sorry, can't remember who) said, it makes the whole site look really amateurish.

And, although the font in the actual threads is no longer so tall and spindly, I still can't read it while wearing my varifocals so have to take my specs off and close my right eye (the one with astigmatism) to read at all without feeling sick.

still shit. head ache and nauseas

Thanks for replying, JessicaMumsnet. I was beginning to think that MNHQ had flounced, and joined tech support in the local gin-joint.

At 125%, I can read the site, more-or-less.

If making the site almost unreadable is what Justine calls "a wee change", I hate to see what a major change looks like. Unless she meant "wee" as in "taking the piss", in which case I understand.

Hello again,

Those reporting different sizes would you mind clarifying a little? We know about TIW/TIO not being quite right in some situations and we also agree that topic titles as seen on active or talk home could do with being bigger but are there other instances you want to flag?

Sorry to be a pain but if you could also add screenshots to illustrate and tell us your browser and kind of computer/device it really helps us track down any bugs.