There are no words in the English language I could scream to drown you out

[sovay]

So I got home to discover the latest code push from Dreamwidth has effectively broken the site for me. I left a comment to that effect. It does not look as though my comment will make a difference.

I understand accessibility is complicated. This journal and DW in general was one of the few things in my life right now that did not cause me active pain. It was in fact rather sustaining. That has just sharply ceased to be the case. I have no idea what to do. I left LJ for DW. I had planned to stay here until they turned out the lights because I trusted them not to hurt me. Now my eyes hurt. I am a text-oriented person who cannot comfortably interact with the text-based form of social media which is very nearly the whole of my life online. There's nowhere to go from here. (I can't even think about the effects on my Patreon.) I am tired of being a person whose needs are disposable. I am very, very, very not happy.

[edit 2020-07-26 1:21:00] I have temporarily reverted to the old style because the alternative appears to be verging on a migraine. And perhaps in a year the horse will learn to sing.

Comments

[sovay]

I'm so sorry! It doesn't look different to me, but I use the bare-bones Lynx style everywhere that my custom style doesn't cover.

Thank you. I think part of the problem is that I don't have a custom style: I themed my journal in Refried Tablet because it was the closest to my beloved LJ design and then my site skin is Tropospherical Red and I view all pages in original style. It was the simplest, easiest layout for me to read and now it appears to be have been non-negotiably smashed up. I've never gotten eyestrain from DW before. I'm in active pain right now. I'm writing with the screen partly closed so as not to make it worse. I have no idea what the devs even did to make that happen, but it's not cool.

If you switch to the old style and send me a screenshot of what you want it to look like, I can try to make a custom style for you. (And I'm sure I'm not the only person who immediately thought of doing that.)

That is extremely kind of you. I believe you did something similar for me once when LJ went sideways. I have to say that any situation that gives me flashbacks to LJ going sideways does not fill me with confidence for the future.

[rosefox]

If Refried Tablet still works for you, you can at least make it your default sitewide.

[sovay]

If Refried Tablet still works for you, you can at least make it your default sitewide.

It kind of doesn't, is the problem. Right now it's less painful for me to read than the code-pushed default, but that's a low bar: I have traditionally found it ornamental but not ideal for reading my own posts or conversing.

[rosefox]

Gotcha.

The best I can suggest is to install the browser extension Stylus, create a style for *.dreamwidth.org, and put these two pieces of CSS code into it. And then maybe keep an eye on style_system to see whether someone builds a good alternative—I've just posted there asking for recommendations of suitable replacement styles.

[sovay]

And then maybe keep an eye on style_system to see whether someone builds a good alternative—I've just posted there asking for recommendations of suitable replacement styles.

Thank you very much.

As noted somewhere else in this threaded but nonlinear wilderness of comments, I am now leaning heavily toward reverting to the old style because otherwise I will not be able to interact with this site without migraines. (I didn't think I had visual triggers, but I have to say that is what feels like it's coming on.) If so, do you mind if I still send you screenshots? I'm not sure they will be of the best quality, but they should at least demonstrate the right ratio of text to space to WTF.

[rosefox]

Please feel free to do so! And if reverting to the old style is a stopgap, at least it will stop the gap until something better can be done.

[sovay]

And if reverting to the old style is a stopgap, at least it will stop the gap until something better can be done.

Done. Thank you.

I think I am going to stare at some words on paper for a while now.

[rosefox]

Brilliant idea. Best wishes to your head.

[sovay]

Best wishes to your head.

Thank you! I read a novel and do in fact feel better.

[phi]

Please send me screenshots of how you want it to look too. I can't promise to make a style that will work, but I could use a better distraction than sudoku from the screaming horrors of the world.

[sovay]

I can't promise to make a style that will work, but I could use a better distraction than sudoku from the screaming horrors of the world.

Thank you so much.

*hugs*