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

[yhlee]

Oof. I'm sorry they broke the site for a lot of people, and I hope they make it an option to put things back.

[sovay]

I'm sorry they broke the site for a lot of people, and I hope they make it an option to put things back.

Thank you. There seems to be an option to revert temporarily to the old style, which I am afraid of taking because then I will get used to reading and commenting like a normal person who isn't squinting and wincing with eyestrain and then a month or two down the line BAM I will lose all ability to interact with the site and this time there will be no fixing it. I don't want to leave DW. Literally there is no other form of social media that is attractive or healthy for me. I am feeling very driven off. Even the comment box is not easy for me to look at!

[asakiyume]

What's it doing for you? For me--as I type this (I'm on a desktop)--it looks **larger** than usual, and it seems as if it's put the typeface to Currier, although I know from the last comment I made that once I hit post, it'll appear in a different font.

[kathmandu]

Sympathies. And crossing my fingers that there will turn out to be still some combination of styling that will look how you want.

[pameladean]

Oh, no! Everything looks exactly the same to me; I guess when I log out and log back in all will be chaos and horror.

P.

[sholio]

Oh no, I'm so sorry! :((( That's awful, and I hope you're able to get some kind of fix that will put it back how it was for you. They should at least have that as some kind of site-skin option for people; it's bizarre to me that they don't.

[rosefox]

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.

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.)

[sovay]

What's it doing for you?

The outer page of my journal looks more or less as it always has. When I look at a post itself, the font of both the post and the comments has increased in size in a way that I find simultaneously crowding and full of too much white space: it interferes with my natural method of reading, which is in blocks. Headers, usernames, and other supplementary text also look outsized and disproportionate and something about the color balance has subtly shifted in a way that I don't know I could pin down without hexadecimals but seems to be giving me eyestrain. It's not just upsetting me because it looks different. It's physically painful and I can't read just by glancing at a screen as I am used to. It reminds me of neurological tests run on me as a child. [edit: I recognize that sounded unnecessarily ominous. Some of them were IQ tests whose results I have never been told, some were psychological tests, some were sensory processing. These changes feel like someone is trying to give me a visual and/or reading disorder. They have at least succeeded in giving me a headache.] [edit edit: And horrific mood effects, apparently.] The comments box has gone deeply weird.

[kore]

Oh no, I'm so sorry. I love your posts here.

I have no idea if this is helpful, but I am trying to see WHAT they did -- I can see it when reading other peoples' journals, but my own and my flist look the same? Anyway, what I have under My Account/Display is the "Show my journal's entry pages in my chosen style instead of the site skin" checked, and then "When viewing entry pages (including yours), use this style: My own style." I also have the DW CSS for blocking certain topics or users which I think also forces everything to my style. I view everything in either my own style or light, because I can't read the site otherwise. I think I can see some of the changes occasionally (font size, font, background colour??) and they look AWFUL.

Anyway, you are absolutely right with people needing REAL accessibility and our needs not being disposable, and this sucks. //hugs

[kore]

Mine looks the same, but I haven't logged out or closed my browser for a while and I also view everything in light, otherwise the various designs strain my eyes. I am dreading logging out and finding unusable styles.

[sovay]

Sympathies. And crossing my fingers that there will turn out to be still some combination of styling that will look how you want.

Thank you.

[sovay]

Everything looks exactly the same to me; I guess when I log out and log back in all will be chaos and horror.

It may be fine for you! A number of journal styles seem unaffected. My posts have always been the absolute default original style Tropospherical Red because it was easiest for me to read and now it is not. I was logged in at the time. I reloaded the previous post for comments and within ten minutes my eyes hurt.

[sovay]

That's awful, and I hope you're able to get some kind of fix that will put it back how it was for you. They should at least have that as some kind of site-skin option for people; it's bizarre to me that they don't.

Thank you. I am upset that there is no option to revert permanently to the previous style. The temporary reversion feels like a snare and a delusion and way too much like the sorts of stunt Facebook and Google pull. [edit] I went for it anyway, because the changes hurt too much.

[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]

Oh no, I'm so sorry. I love your posts here.

Thank you. I really don't like the idea of having to close down. I am isolated enough as it is. On the other hand, for the first time in my life being on the computer is making my eyes ache, quite badly. I really wanted to write about another movie tonight and it is not happening and I feel betrayed.

Anyway, what I have under My Account/Display is the "Show my journal's entry pages in my chosen style instead of the site skin" checked, and then "When viewing entry pages (including yours), use this style: My own style."

See above to pameladean and rosefox: I believe my mistake was in using the site skin because it was the easiest thing for me to read and now it is so, so not.

I think I can see some of the changes occasionally (font size, font, background colour??) and they look AWFUL.

Is the comments box also ginormous Courier for you, or does it look normal in your style?

[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.

[kore]

I believe my mistake was in using the site skin because it was the easiest thing for me to read and now it is so, so not.

Well, FUCK.

I think it looks normal to me, it looks like this? This is automatically in my own blog style -- screenshot here https://kore.dreamwidth.org/file/70211.png

[kore]

This is what it looks like in "light"....yeah, this looks bad

https://kore.dreamwidth.org/file/70809.png

[kore]

I think unfortunately the person in the change comments who said "Changing your site and not listening to feedback and insisting that users need to fix it themselves is the TUMBLR METHOD OF SITE DESIGN" hit the nail on the head. Also, I'm personally fucking sick of everything being pushed for mobile design. I don't look at ANYTHING on mobile except a couple of game apps.

[kore]

Oh yeah, I think the Tropos styles got really fucked. Apparently the purple one is now the GLARING dark high-contrast purple it was originally designed as??

[sovay]

I think it looks normal to me, it looks like this? This is automatically in my own blog style -- screenshot here

Yeah, allowing for the difference in styles (and the addition of the HTML drop-down menu), that looks like a normal comments box to me. Mine . . . does not look like that.

[sovay]

I think unfortunately the person in the change comments who said "Changing your site and not listening to feedback and insisting that users need to fix it themselves is the TUMBLR METHOD OF SITE DESIGN" hit the nail on the head.

If I wanted to be on Tumblr, I could have been unhappy years ago.

I don't look at anything on mobile, period. The pandemic forced me to get a talkie window, otherwise known as the iPad which I use strictly for Zoom. My phone flips open.

[sovay]

Apparently the purple one is now the GLARING dark high-contrast purple it was originally designed as??

That sounds unpleasant.

I am beginning to lean toward the temporary reversion even though it feels like setting myself up to be hurt worse down the line because I think the alternative at this point is a migraine.

[kore]

Yeah, plus, MAYBE if they get enough comments, they'll come up with at least some workaround for people that isn't just "temporary reversion we will yank back." I mean they have to get some inkling that they're pissing off their oldest text-based non-Tumblr non-app users here. (Not that DW has an app. I think they're doing this because so many people complain about mobile view, and keep nagging for an app.)