So What’s New?
Comments: 21
A new look but hopefully that same old feel. Here are some things that somehow got done over the last few days:
- 2-column layout – because I didn’t want to be the last person in the world to give it a go
- Strictness! – relocated to a different doctype: the code should validate as strict XHTML 1.0
- Archiving – better directory structures and file naming
- Comments – comment previews and remembering info should be working
- Search – now MT-native
- Templates – better use of MT tags throughout
- CSS – I wouldn’t say optimised exactly but there’s less of it
- Fonts – a warm welcome to the Lucida typeface, making its appearance in the style sheet for the first time (Grande for OS X, regular for others; don’t worry if everything’s still Verdana)
Still getting server errors on complete rebuilds, so be on the lookout for 404s and wonky links. There’s a stray octothorp keeps popping up (you’ll know it when you see it). It’ll be weeded out on rebuild. Where the CSS gets perhaps most adventurous, watch out for the jumping form items in the gecko rendering engine (IE doesn’t seem to get ‘em dancing). It’s just a step to the right…
As always, bug reports, general impressions, thoughts, feelings and wildly bigotted opinions are most welcome and appreciated.
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Posted to MetaStuff • 2002.10.18 (Fri) • 03:05
Comments
Posted by Tomas 2002.10.18, 04:47
Nice facelift, Jeremy. Looks great. It’s still verdana to me, I guess because I’m not on a Mac? If you prefer it in a san-serif, may I suggest the Georgia typeface for the PC-users?
Posted by jh 2002.10.18, 13:29
Most Windows users will still see Verdana, which is a shame because Lucida Grande on Mac OS X is a revelation (at least I think so). Regular Lucida is there because according to this Codestyle.org survey, Lucida trumps Verdana on Unix machines 90+% to 66%.
A month or so back I bumped the font size and leading to 11/15 because there just seemed to be no escaping anti-aliasing in recent browser releases, and 10px type can look a bit clotted. Verdana is a superb bitmapped font but, like most others, it can’t survive a shoddy anti-aliasing. 11px is acceptable, and while the 15px line height is just a bit too much, it’s better than 14 given that the style sheet is heavy on big x-height fonts.
Turns out Lucida Grande anti-aliases very well at most sizes, so for them that’s got it, there it is (still not totally thrilled with the way letterspacing is getting done in OS X but we’ll get there). The line height is still 15, and still a bit too much. Short runs of text look a bit gapy, but anything over half a dozen lines starts to come together. Given the proportions of the layout and some generous right-hand padding in the main column (still to find its way into the individual archives, I notice), it makes for a decent looking page perhaps. (Confession: I’ve only tested everything under OS X, and only with current releases of Chimera, Mozilla & IE!)
A serifed style sheet is in the works, although why anyone would want to use it is beyond me. I was never really happy with the old one so need to try to find the best combination for the new design. Georgia, you say? First on the list to try.
Posted by Mike 2002.10.18, 14:57
Looking good! I like the two-column layout for your site. I think it makes it look a little bit cleaner. I like how you bumped the stuff on the bottom of the page up onto the right. The archives are easier to navigate now too.
Also, is there a place where I can download Lucida or any of Mac fonts mentioned in TTF for free? I figure it was worth a shot…
Posted by Scott 2002.10.18, 16:11
Looks great! envy. Well done.
Posted by jh 2002.10.20, 00:00
Scott — Thanks for the kind words, but let me give you a quick lesson in envy. I was going to send you this privately, but I don’t mind wearing my influences on my sleeve. ;-)
Take a look at this first sketch (26K GIF) of the new design. I so wanted to use that Naples yellow, but who was I kidding? It’s yours and in my mind always will be.
Mike — One tradeoff with the two column layout is the way the page loads: you often see through to the background while waiting for the second column to load. I tried a couple of different ways to get around this but nothing’s really making a difference. Just have to live with it.
As for the fonts, I don’t know of anywhere that provides downloadable versions of Lucida (a commercial font, though licensed in all sorts of ways to various companies). Verdana and the other Microsoft fonts are still available, however, even though MS has discontinued its web typography program. I haven’t found download links for all of them, but you can get Verdana in Mac and PC formats here:
Posted by Christopher Walker 2002.10.20, 10:50
Beautiful. I’ve seen a lot of sites switch from using colour to using white everywhere, but very few sites have switched back. It looks fantastic, and I am truly jealous.
Posted by jh 2002.10.20, 12:51
Wow. Thanks, Christopher. The excess of white was starting to look a bit too much like an Apple.com product page, wasn’t it. ;-)
Posted by nick 2002.11.28, 15:28
Hey, I like your site. Stumbled upon it while looking for the Lucida Grande font for the PC. Any ideas where I can get it?
Thanks.
Posted by Suddha Satta Ray 2002.12.24, 15:24
Where can I download Lucida Grande for Windows ?
Posted by kursk 2003.02.07, 18:44
Ya, where can we DL Lucida Grande for windows ? T__T
Posted by jh 2003.02.07, 23:46
Read the comments above, folks. Lucida is a commercial font — you can’t download it anywhere.
Posted by dav 2003.04.08, 08:08
Lucida is available at some “Xp into Mac” styles. Where peaple try and make their desktop turn into Mac OS X
Posted by PyroDraconis 2003.09.15, 12:33
It’s not the whole family, in fact it’s only two variations.
But better than naught.
Posted by PyroDraconis 2003.09.15, 12:36
By the way, my last post was about the Lucida Grande family.
It’s only the Bold, not the Regular.
should’ve said that in the first place, hehehe.
ciao
Posted by n3Xt 2003.11.13, 17:11
Posted by omfg 2005.05.10, 12:26
omg, i stil cant get lucida grande, damn frustrating guys,
Posted by Spike 2006.03.22, 19:34
Liking the site :) For those who want to download the Lucida font, go to http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~gordeon/fonts.html#downloads
There is a zip file in the downloads…..
Posted by aka Wombat 2006.04.27, 08:19
thnx 4 the link Spike :) works beautifully!
BUT THERE IS NO BOLD OR ITALIC! OMG SO CLOSE!
Posted by aka Wombat 2006.04.27, 10:12
but anyway Lucida Sans is Lucida Grande, so i dont need some version that says Lucida Grande to be satisfied. i checked out the Unicode version Lucida Sans and it BLOWS. dont use that version.
heres a nice link with the designer talkin about it :: http://lostinjapan.groth.hm/archives/2005/09/a-note-about-fonts
Posted by aka Wombat 2006.05.01, 07:06
omg - the Lucida Grande thing im so over it already, mac fonts can stay with mac- as they were intended. i’ll be satisfied with the new cleartype fonts on any web site i develop. and Vista users are gonna be laughing at MAC and their BLURRY style passing as “clear” - hey there has to be some benefit of using something less than windows- 1 font, i can live with that.
last time I checked mac G5’s in any test raped PC’s blind. So I wouldnt get too arrogent.
I’ll never get Vista. Not until I’m forced to.
Most instable windows yet.
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