I've tweaked things in the preferences pane

November 21, 2005 5:08 PM

For the first time since signing up I've tweaked things in the preferences pane. The main font is now Arial 12 and the minor font is Helvetica 10. It's kinda changed the way I look at the site mentally as well as physically. It feels kinda odd, almost a non authentic interpretation of the site. Is that weird (yes!)?Anyone have any thoughts on their own settings and related perception of the site? (Hope this is in the right section, not quite an AskMe thing)...
posted by brautigan to MetaFilter-Related at 5:08 PM (42 comments total)

I always set my prefs to 10pt/8pt which is actually 12px/10px. I defaulted all new accounts and non-logged in users to the way I view the site once but everyone complained.

I don't really like the huge default fonts, much too big.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:10 PM on November 21, 2005

I did the 10pt 8pt thing originally because it looked good but using it was such a break from the norm I upped it again.
posted by brautigan at 5:14 PM on November 21, 2005

Hmm... I've never thought of changing the fontsize. (If ain't broke...) but I just did, and I think I kinda like it! (the 10/8 combo)
posted by Robot Johnny at 5:16 PM on November 21, 2005

real men use comic sans
posted by keswick at 5:17 PM on November 21, 2005

and keswick uses monotype sorts!
posted by jessamyn at 5:18 PM on November 21, 2005

zing!
posted by cortex at 5:19 PM on November 21, 2005

I played with the fonts and font sizes once, and it did feel weird and unfamiliar, so I changed 'em back. There's something oddly...I don't know, comforting? About MetaFilter looking the way it does. I'm sure I'll have quite the disconnect when the full-fledged redesign happens.

I did poof around with my userpage though, since so many of the cool kids were doing it.
posted by Gator at 5:20 PM on November 21, 2005

at least i'm not a white girl with dreadlocks.
posted by keswick at 5:20 PM on November 21, 2005

Upside: The new headers seem to fit better with my new settings too..
posted by brautigan at 5:22 PM on November 21, 2005

Zapfino all the way.
posted by chrismear at 5:29 PM on November 21, 2005

I added underlines to all the links. It looks pretty ugly, but now I can tell when diffrent words link to diffrent links without mousing over them. (unless there's no space, which is rare).

After a couple of days, I got used to it.
posted by delmoi at 5:35 PM on November 21, 2005

I use Comic Serif. With dreadlocks.

Actually, I just switched to 10/8 just to see how it looks. It might make me have to do a bit more effort for <small> text, but that's probably a good thing. Time will tell.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:57 PM on November 21, 2005

Also: timezones on MeTa & AskMe! This side of Earth, I am over the moon. Thanks Matt!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:59 PM on November 21, 2005

Well, front pages anyway.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:00 PM on November 21, 2005

You all got me playing around. Switched to Garamond, 14/12 (I have a tiny computer and get eye fatigue, so hush).

It's prettier, but it'll take awhile to get used to it...
posted by kalimac at 6:01 PM on November 21, 2005

I use Comic Serif. With dreadlocks.

I've gone the whole hog and use Burqa italic. It's like having killfiles...for everyone.
posted by dash_slot- at 6:01 PM on November 21, 2005

I've gone the whole hog and use Burqa italic. It's like having killfiles...for everyone.

Dude, I'd totally reply if I could make out what you're saying.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:09 PM on November 21, 2005

I tried Garamond. And Couldn't Handle It. Font freak out.
posted by Uncle Glendinning at 6:25 PM on November 21, 2005

Anyone have a clue about getting rid of the new header on our profile pages?
posted by deborah at 6:52 PM on November 21, 2005

I always thought the default font and sizes looked childish, so when I first got my account I changed it over to 10 point Georgia. Kept it that way ever since. Looks mighty classy, too.
posted by Captaintripps at 6:57 PM on November 21, 2005

deborah: DIV#logo, DIV#topline, DIV#yellowbar, DIV#bottomline{display:none;}
posted by Gator at 6:58 PM on November 21, 2005

from the beginning of time i have used tahoma 9 and 8. viewing the site in its default font is a jarring experience as a result. lately i switched to ubuntu linux and i find that the winders tahoma font looks crappy and hard to read on this system, so i'm using something called bitstream vera sans 9 and 8 which looks pretty good to me.
posted by quonsar at 7:39 PM on November 21, 2005

You mean, no one else sees MeFi in Verdana 12pt? <sob>
posted by blue_beetle at 7:49 PM on November 21, 2005

Gator: big kisses for you!
posted by deborah at 7:49 PM on November 21, 2005

I personally use Wingdings and a little OCR A. The only thing I've had any trouble with so far is Unicode characters.
posted by loquacious at 7:55 PM on November 21, 2005

I've used Gill Sans for so long that when I accidently see the site in its default font, I get startled. Gill Sans has that whole refined air about it :)
posted by dhruva at 8:00 PM on November 21, 2005

why is that div named yellowbar, mat? what happens when you redesign again and you want the yellowbar div to be blue? please change your naming conventions to suit me tia.
posted by moift at 8:22 PM on November 21, 2005

also please use css variant hungarian notation dYellowBar
posted by moift at 8:24 PM on November 21, 2005

Thanks for fixing the Recent Comments Page!

(And I never looked back after switching to Garamond)
posted by loquax at 9:25 PM on November 21, 2005

Once a long time ago I changed the main page from blue to white. Is this sacrilege, not being on the blue any more? While this works for me, I have no idea how I did it or how I would change it back. It's certainly not obvious in the preferences.
posted by wilful at 10:05 PM on November 21, 2005

It's called 'plain text' as opposed to 'default' in the 'Select Theme' dropdown on your customize page, wilful. Don't think you could get a whole lot more obvious, but that's just me, perhaps.

*raises a slightly sarcastic eyebrow*

Aaaaaand I'll take this opportunity to beg for the 'plain text' preference to be propagated sitewide, just to be annoyingly repetetive.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:29 PM on November 21, 2005

For some reason, I've set mine to ITC Legacy Sans Std Book 11pt and Adobe Jenson Pro Lt Capt 9pt. For the longest time, I had my body font set to Georgia. In fact, I prefer that, so I'm going to switch it back.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:39 PM on November 21, 2005

I fiddle the site so it has black text on a white background and underlined blue links in posts (so I don't miss those ones where every word/letter points to something), plain blue links elsewhere. Also, all the navigation gubbins up top is made invisible, some of it replaced with accesskeys, and I think I maybe changed the width of the page to something thinner.

I'm sure this makes me sound like some sort of deranged usability disciple, but I swear just started out by getting rid of the colours because they give me a headache and then kept tinkering...

As for what this does to my impression of the site: er, I can read all your lovely words without my head and eyes hurting. Not from the light text on a dark background, anyway!
posted by jack_mo at 3:17 AM on November 22, 2005

Hm....I've not been a fiddlin' yet 'my comments' page now has text 4 times the size of Jaysue yet the other sites are (my) normal. Umm..?
posted by peacay at 3:39 AM on November 22, 2005

mathowie: "I always set my prefs to 10pt/8pt which is actually 12px/10px. I defaulted all new accounts and non-logged in users to the way I view the site once but everyone complained."

With the new header, 10/8 looks really much better. But I like to keep my browser at full screen (at 1280), so I end up with about 40 words per line, which is really quite tough on ol' brain.
posted by Plutor at 3:47 AM on November 22, 2005

Wingdings.

Very difficult to understand posts, however.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:06 AM on November 22, 2005

I browse in Palatino Linotype. It makes everyone seem so much more sophisticated.
posted by LeeJay at 6:15 AM on November 22, 2005

i'm too busy getting my brain around the concept "the best towels money can buy" to think about fonts.

but i did notice that live preview is kinda shouty in the green. is that a bug?
posted by andrew cooke at 9:05 AM on November 22, 2005

Take one for the team, cooke!
posted by cortex at 9:29 AM on November 22, 2005

I loaded a fontpack onto my computer from one of the other MeFites, and it fucked my browser's default, so I had to set it to enforce Garamond. When that happened, suddenly everyone seemed classier and nicer. I've kept it like that, and I get in fewer fights with all of you.
posted by klangklangston at 11:51 AM on November 22, 2005

again? my head still hurts.
posted by andrew cooke at 12:11 PM on November 22, 2005

There's no "my head still hurts" in team.
posted by cortex at 12:15 PM on November 22, 2005