I don’t see any mistakes that would make the LW version difficult to read.
On LW, the body text font is not fully opaque (color: #000, opacity: 0.87 in CSS), which (given how text rendering works in browsers) makes it harder to read than HPMOR.com’s text (color: #222; opacity: 1.0)
To navigate to a specific chapter (not just “the next chapter” or “the previous chapter”), on HPMOR.com you had only to select the chapter from a drop-down menu; but on LW, you have to click on the “HPMOR” link at the top, then scroll down
This “HPMOR” link often doesn’t even appear (a bug?), leaving you with no apparent way to navigate to the contents
HPMOR.com had a widget that let you toggle between a narrow and a full-width body text column, for readers who preferred different layouts; LW has no such thing
HPMOR.com had a widget that let you toggle between light and dark mode; on LW, the dark mode toggle is hidden inside a submenu (I bet many people don’t even know it exists!)
HPMOR.com had a Fan Art page which was linked from the top navigation bar; no such thing exists on the LW version (is the fan art archived somewhere other than archive.org?)
The “More Info” page on HPMOR.com, which had a bunch of interesting links and info, seems also to be missing from the LW version
(These deficiencies are, in my experience, quite typical of such content migrations.)
P.S. I said that the change “replaces a better experience with a worse one”, which is a much more general claim than any particulars of typography. But notice that you assumed that I was talking about only the narrow typographic sort of problem! This, in my experience, is also typical. Understandable—but typical.
IMO those issues are all very minor, even when summed.
color: #000, opacity: 0.87 on a #fff background works out to a hex of #212121, which has a contrast ratio of 16.10. This is well above the WCAG’s minimum requirement of 7 for body text and is rated as five stars and “super” by https://coolors.co.
I’d imagine that there isn’t a large user need where they start off on one chapter and need to quickly and easily navigate to a new chapter that isn’t the next chapter. When a user has a specific chapter they want to read I think they’re probably coming from elsewhere. But even if they weren’t, clicking the “HPMOR” link and then scrolling down isn’t too difficult.
My impression is that other sites that are also used primarily for reading also don’t provide this option. Medium is an example and from what I gather is considered to provide users with a great reading experience. To me, this points pretty strongly towards it being at most a minor issue.
Same as the above. Plus I bet that users who care a lot about dark mode have browser extensions installed that they can reach for when needed.
I could see an argument for the lack of fan art being more than “very minor” but personally I’m very bearish on it.
IMO those issues are all very minor, even when summed.
Is that relevant? Imagine that we were discussing the replacement of a ramp with stairs. This has a very minor effect on my experience—is that enough to conclude the change was benign?
color: #000, opacity: 0.87 on a #fff background works out to a hex of #212121, which has a contrast ratio of 16.10.
You absolutely did not understand what I wrote, which had not the slightest connection to any contrast ratios. Please reread.
I’d imagine that there isn’t a large user need where they start off on one chapter and need to quickly and easily navigate to a new chapter that isn’t the next chapter.
Why would you imagine this? I have done this regularly when using HPMOR.com.
Medium is an example and from what I gather is considered to provide users with a great reading experience.
Considered by whom? Medium offers one of the worse reading rexperiences on the web.
I bet that users who care a lot about dark mode have browser extensions installed that they can reach for when needed.
This is not even remotely true. Such browser extensions do not (and, given the way that browsers work, cannot) work well (or, increasingly, at all). In my experience, most people who “care a lot about dark mode” in fact just do not use websites that don’t have a dark mode. (Also, dark mode is, at this point, common enough, and the implementation techniques well enough known, that users simply expect it from a well-designed website.)
I could see an argument for the lack of fan art being more than “very minor” but personally I’m very bearish on it.
This boils down to “I, personally, don’t care about this, therefore it doesn’t matter”, which does not work as a rebuttal of a claim that not having the thing in question is a worse user experience than having it.
On LW, the body text font is not fully opaque (
color: #000, opacity: 0.87in CSS), which (given how text rendering works in browsers) makes it harder to read than HPMOR.com’s text (color: #222; opacity: 1.0)ETA: A demonstration of why this is bad
To navigate to a specific chapter (not just “the next chapter” or “the previous chapter”), on HPMOR.com you had only to select the chapter from a drop-down menu; but on LW, you have to click on the “HPMOR” link at the top, then scroll down
This “HPMOR” link often doesn’t even appear (a bug?), leaving you with no apparent way to navigate to the contents
HPMOR.com had a widget that let you toggle between a narrow and a full-width body text column, for readers who preferred different layouts; LW has no such thing
HPMOR.com had a widget that let you toggle between light and dark mode; on LW, the dark mode toggle is hidden inside a submenu (I bet many people don’t even know it exists!)
HPMOR.com had a Fan Art page which was linked from the top navigation bar; no such thing exists on the LW version (is the fan art archived somewhere other than archive.org?)
The “More Info” page on HPMOR.com, which had a bunch of interesting links and info, seems also to be missing from the LW version
(These deficiencies are, in my experience, quite typical of such content migrations.)
P.S. I said that the change “replaces a better experience with a worse one”, which is a much more general claim than any particulars of typography. But notice that you assumed that I was talking about only the narrow typographic sort of problem! This, in my experience, is also typical. Understandable—but typical.
IMO those issues are all very minor, even when summed.
color: #000, opacity: 0.87on a#fffbackground works out to a hex of#212121, which has a contrast ratio of 16.10. This is well above the WCAG’s minimum requirement of 7 for body text and is rated as five stars and “super” by https://coolors.co.I’d imagine that there isn’t a large user need where they start off on one chapter and need to quickly and easily navigate to a new chapter that isn’t the next chapter. When a user has a specific chapter they want to read I think they’re probably coming from elsewhere. But even if they weren’t, clicking the “HPMOR” link and then scrolling down isn’t too difficult.
My impression is that other sites that are also used primarily for reading also don’t provide this option. Medium is an example and from what I gather is considered to provide users with a great reading experience. To me, this points pretty strongly towards it being at most a minor issue.
Same as the above. Plus I bet that users who care a lot about dark mode have browser extensions installed that they can reach for when needed.
I could see an argument for the lack of fan art being more than “very minor” but personally I’m very bearish on it.
Same as the above.
Is that relevant? Imagine that we were discussing the replacement of a ramp with stairs. This has a very minor effect on my experience—is that enough to conclude the change was benign?
You absolutely did not understand what I wrote, which had not the slightest connection to any contrast ratios. Please reread.
Why would you imagine this? I have done this regularly when using HPMOR.com.
Considered by whom? Medium offers one of the worse reading rexperiences on the web.
This is not even remotely true. Such browser extensions do not (and, given the way that browsers work, cannot) work well (or, increasingly, at all). In my experience, most people who “care a lot about dark mode” in fact just do not use websites that don’t have a dark mode. (Also, dark mode is, at this point, common enough, and the implementation techniques well enough known, that users simply expect it from a well-designed website.)
This boils down to “I, personally, don’t care about this, therefore it doesn’t matter”, which does not work as a rebuttal of a claim that not having the thing in question is a worse user experience than having it.