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Site Tweaks: Two Minor Improvements
16 January 2018
Every now and then we look at something that's been on the site for a while and think we can improve it a bit. Not significantly, but a bit. And we always find the challenge, small as it is, worthwhile.
Often this is just a matter of appearance. When we implement a feature, we spend the bulk of our time on the function itself, testing it to make sure it works efficiently and is actually helpful.
How it looks matters, too. Not just for looks but for function. But we have a site style that informs that look. So we're not far off base to begin with.
THE BREAKS
Still, the other day when we added our first Holiday to the Features index, we found the bold year breaks in the Full List a little less obvious than we'd like.
We could have added rules, like we do on for our obituaries but that would have been overkill. On the Obits index, there are only years in the Full List. But on the Features index they are a subsection.
The sections on that index are bold with gold dotted underlines. We didn't want to compete with that. But since the year subsections were already bold, the obvious move was to use our highlight teal color.
That makes the breaks obvious without making them obtrusive.
A PHRASE
Every since we implemented our button to send us a scoop, we've been annoyed with the restricted width of the button. To make Firefox happy, we had to limit the text to the almost clandestine phrase "Send Scoop!"
Who's Scoop? Somebody's dog? An intern, maybe? A plea for ice cream?
We didn't want to say, "Send a Tip!" because that might look like we're panhandling without a cardboard sign.
But "Send a Scoop!" just didn't fit using Firefox's default button styling.
So we finally just rolled up our sleeves and set the padding on the button to nothing at all. And that works fine in Safari and Firefox. We didn't test it in anything else so if you have an issue with it, send us a screen shot.
MINORITIES
Minor improvements like this matter.
First, they are indeed improvements. Second, they show someone's home here, tweaking things continually so you continue to have a better experience each time you visit.
And there's nothing minor about that.