I don't mean to pick on Dev. I like Dev.
I'm a lurker and I've only written one post on here before, but trust me, we're best friends.
But this ...
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This was a really great read. Will take this all into account.
Like the way how Ben is always the first to comment on the LEGENDARY posts of DEV. :-D
I spend a lot of time here 😋
I'd like to be able to collapse comment threads. I keep thinking the little chevron will do that, but it doesn't.
THIS. The chevron is a perfect example of I should know what it does in here by now but I never do and try to collapse with it every. time.
I agree - this is a perfect example of a potential UI improvement.
Both sticky navbar and the reaction bar make it almost impossible to use spacebar for scrolling. :(
The sad part is than is it fixed by using flexbox instead of absolute positioning...
Shift+space to move in the other direction too.
I knew about the spacebar, but this changes everything. 🤯
Here's a weird idea...what if we were to make use of a vertical toolbar that forever lived on, say, the left side of the screen on "desktop" resolutions? We have more horizontal real estate than vertical.
I do like some things "following me around", because I don't want to have to scroll up to the top after every article, much less "roughly halfway but not quite almost though" to find the reaction buttons. Yeah, I know we have the
Homebutton, but I'm lazy (we'll call THAT what it is!)But maybe if all those actually useful things, plus a "back to top" button, lived on a handy left-side vertical toolbar, it'd work better?
Neither had floating toolbars for the first 20-30 years of the internet.
Wow, never knew about it before.
Great article and to be honest even my mobile browser ruins my experience. Look how much screen I lose...
thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i...
thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i...
Yes, it's standard browser behavior which has been around for ages :)
all three of the items(search, top right info and action bar) should just migrate over to the side when scrolled. though, the action bar would be fine at the very bottom of the articles.
a dark mode is equally important.
This kind of layout may be good for mobile readers (because their vertical orientation), yet sadly not computer readers. Often times I feel the same for my browsers. I like to access my tabs & address bars easily but I don't want them to block like 10% of my screen height (without fullscreen), which easily gets worse with top/bottom bar websites. I hope someone would reinvent the wheel and make browsers (websites too) with vertical bars.
Great article and I'd go farther, almost nothing should stick in place when I scroll the page, it should all scroll together.
The search bar and the buttons with it shouldn't stick to my screen when I scroll, it's basically acting like a piece of tape over my screen hiding content I actually want to see.
Those feed panels on the right side shouldn't stick in place either, as that just forces me to scroll alllllll the way to the bottom of the article, past both the content and the comments, to actually read the "More from Author" list of articles.
While being the only cadidate for good use of absolute positioning, the left side button panel still causes problems. When I click the ... more buttons button, the bottom of the tooltip is lost off the screen. If the panel wasn't absolutely positioned, I'd simply scroll the ... near the top of my screen so the whole tooltip has room. However, the design choice of fancy over practical denies me that option.
By a quirk of sizing and spacing and the amount of text in the footer, if I scroll to the very bottom of the page, past content and comments, the ... moves up just enough that I can see the Report Abuse link. If there was less text in the footer or one more Share to button, there would be no way for me to see the Report Abuse option. While this is obviously a bug with tooltips, it wouldn't actually be a problem if the left panel wasn't stuck in place.
So there we have three examples of absolutely positioned elements and all of them cause problems while not providing any real benefits beyond aesthetics.
I don't know if absolute positioning rises to the level of needing to be Considered Harmful, but it's definitely a foot gun that many webdevs seem to love firing at themselves.
Absolute positioning: just don't do it.
I believe the action bar was at the bottom of the article in the early days of dev.to but when they changed it and I honestly couldn't find it for a couple of days even though it was right there in front of me at the bottom of the screen.
Good Post, Well done.
And that's the reason I have a square monitor :)
Great article!
I especially agree with getting rid of the fixed search bar and pushing the "Write a Post" button to the right side of the screen. I think it greatly adds to the reading experience.
Great read. Looking forward to your next post. :)
Good stuff! Here's my solution: dev.to/detunized/dev-zen-mode-user...
=)
great article bro, keep it that way!
I am that dude with flipped monitor :)
But I still use phone to browse dev.to
He is right you know.