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Stack Overflow redesign?

I know this is of little consequence, but why can't/don't we have a CSS theme or UI that looks better?

It's great already (thanks @Jin) and it doesn't distract you at all, but I still feel that pang of jealousy when I visit sites like Programmers or Math or English or Ask Ubuntu.

Is the reason that it'll take too much time for such a trivial (by trivial, I refer to the perceptible gain, NOT the task of creating a new UI) or non-consequential thing?

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  • 1
    Ouch, somebody just kicked a designer in the shins. ;)
    – Bart
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:37
  • 8
    I'm so happy this place is free from the freaking visual clutter with which every other new-ish website would seem to strive to substitute its actual content.
    – GSerg
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 9:35
  • 4
    I'm with @GSerg here. Right now a huge portion of the screen is given over to actual content, and the rest is given to common tools and useful meta information. This is a good thing.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 15:54
  • 1
    I'm a fan of Jin's work too, but to be fair, SO and the other original sites were designed before Jin joined the team.
    – Pops
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 18:37
  • @PopularDemand Oh... Sorry
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 18:41
  • Funny that you're asking for better CSS, yet keep making posts look worse by adding these useless [tag:status-xx] tags. Please explain why you think that helps?
    – Arjan
    Commented Sep 8, 2012 at 16:40
  • @Arjan I said I'm sorry. Please don't stalk me. [tag:...] being worse than than text-only ... is just your opinion.
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 8, 2012 at 17:12
  • True, it's my opinion. But what is the answer to my question?
    – Arjan
    Commented Sep 8, 2012 at 17:18
  • @Arjan You mean why I think that help? I don't know. I just like having more semantics added to info. Also, it displays a nice dropdown that gives a brief description of the tag...
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 8, 2012 at 17:23
  • @Arjan ??? (Wasting chars to bypass minimum char limit)
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 10, 2012 at 17:18
  • Do you want me to repeat I disagree? (And who needs a description of feature requests or bugs?)
    – Arjan
    Commented Sep 10, 2012 at 17:20
  • @Arjan Fine w/e. I'll stop converting everything into custom markup (I don't want a flamewar, please...
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 10, 2012 at 17:32

1 Answer 1

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Is the reason that it'll take too much time for such a trivial or non-consequential thing?

Three points:

  1. It's not a "trivial or non-consequential thing" to change the design for a site.
  2. There's only one full time designer - Jin - working on the whole network. Other designers are hired on an "as needed" basis - but only when there's a specific need for external design input.
  3. Most people are happy with the design of Stack Overflow. Yes, there are a couple of annoyances, but the site as a whole doesn't need a new design so it's a low priority.
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  • 1) By 'trivial', I meant as in the gain from it, NOT the task of creating a better UI
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:48
  • 2) Oh, so the other sites had hired extra designers or something?
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:48
  • 3) Yes, I agree. The current one works well and is non-distracting. Just felt a pang of jealousy on visiting the others...
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:49
  • Thanks for the answer. Would you mind editing it to reflect my reply to 1)?
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:50
  • @YatharthROCK - editing it how?
    – ChrisF Mod
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:50
  • See my edit (Why does SO impose the 'minimum 15-char comment' thing again?)
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 8:53
  • @YatharthROCK So you know that it'll be a non-trival amount of work, for a trivial gain. How does that support making this change? Oh, and as ChrisF is saying in his answer, redesiging the UI will have an enourmous impact on the end user, whether positive or negative. It's not likely to be trivial. (or even positive, for that matter; change is bad)
    – Servy
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 17:52
  • @Servy Oh well, I guess you're right. I barely notice the UI and that's a good thing...
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 18:07

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