In response to users’ enhancement requests and in reaction to security concerns now our site is being noticed, this weekend’s site changes are as follows :
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- Some people have said they find the high contrast black on white too glaring. Users now have the option of running the site in “Dark mode”. You will see an switch option at the bottom of the sidebar and in the User Tips page to switch the site into dark mode. You can also use the keyboard Ctrl-Alt-D to toggle the mode.
- Several people have said the find there is too much padding and the headings are too large. The site style has been tweaked to remove some of the padding and reduce the font size of the blog post headings. I’ve tried to strike a balance between preserving the readability of the theme and making the layout more compact. If it doesn’t work for you let me know by commenting here.
- Some people have noted that Google hasn’t completely mapped the site yet. An XML sitemap has been added to support indexing.
- We have been subjected to a persistent spam attack on our “Contact Us” page from a bot traced to a data centre in St. Petersburg, Russia (and also from other sources). To help protect the site we now have invisible ReCaptcha on our feedback forms. Apart from the logo in the corner, this should have no impact on people using the forms.
All feedback on the site changes and any further enhancement requests, as well as offers to help, are welcome.
The avatars look great against the darker background!
Thanks John for all you (and others) have done (and are doing) for this site.
As a complete computer dinosaur, I am just so impressed with what you’ve all done. No complaints here.
I must say I think you have done a brilliant job! Spam attacks depressing and requested changes feel a bit like nit picking.
Several important steps forward, thank you.
I don’t generally like reversed colours, but these work very well.
I’m sure we’re all grateful for you and the team keeping us ahead of the troublemakers.
Hi,
I’m reasonably adept technically, and would be happy to help out with admin / modification jobs.
You have my email, drop me a note if you want to talk. I live in California, so 8 hours behind the U.K. most of the time.
Excellent. Thank-you! Will send you an email soon.
There’s a problem with dark mode (besides the visibility of the white asterisks I was using to adjust the vertical spacing; I found a code for a space that doesn’t get stripped out).
Some of us like to set off in red the letters used in a hidden-word clue. This code is not coming thru. I have one in the puzzle going live shortly. Must I use an underline instead (or also)?
I also like the way the script puts the clues in blue, although this isn’t seen in some blogs, and this vanishes in dark mode.
I’m sorry, but that’s just how dark mode works – all text is set to the Dark mode text colour. What I do with hiddens is, as well as changing the colour, capitalising the letters, which shows them whether coloured or not. It may be possible to modify the blog script to add a style setting for the clues that ignores Dark mode… I’ll add that to the potential enhancements list.