936976 - MDN redesign has too much empty space.

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(developer.mozilla.org Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[Alex]

What did you do?
================
1. Enable MDN beta redesign
2. Go to https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/XML
3. Scroll down to bottom of page.


What happened?
==============
The page looks unbalanced and has too much empty white-space.  The page header and footer in particular lead to excess vertical space.

Additionally, despite the redesign's apparent empty space, the page seems less organized due to the lack of separation of page elements.  In the new layout, the page content and surrounding elements bleed into each other.

What should have happened?
==========================
The new MDN layout should avoid such common design pitfalls.

Is there anything else we should know?
======================================
I recommend the page background be a different color from the footer, such as on https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/search?q=Mozilla.  Also, the head of the page should consume less vertical space.

Comment 1

[Alex]

Please don't simply dismiss the excess white-space a feature or a conscious design decision.  It isn't necessary for page elements to occupy so much space.  The footer alone takes up three times as much space as it needs.

Comment 2

[Alex]

Attachment: New Layout Screenshot

Comment 3

[Alex]

Attachment: Classic Layout Screenshot

Comment 4

[John Karahalis [:openjck]]

Making this block bug 910513 so that we consider it for the redesign. We even have the following link which sets this automatically.

http://mzl.la/mdn-redesign-feedback

Comment 5

[ali spivak]

We're going to make this a blocker. Wen eed to mark up the design with some notes about where it is most important to reduce the space. I've created a wiki page where we can work on this: https://wiki.mozilla.org/MDN/Development/Redesign/Whitespace

Comment 6

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

Is this ready to take?  Who created these comments?  Are they qualified to to modify spacing (i.e. will the noted modifications be consistent throughout the site)?  The "Giant empty space" comment is hopeless -- what if the page has a long title?  What do we put there instead?

Comment 7

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

Ready to go, Ali?

Comment 8

[ali spivak]

We met with Sean  this week. He's going to loop back around with David and take a look at the CSS - he agreed it looks like the spacing seems off from the "increments of 12 pixels" formula he had planned on.

Comment 9

[ali spivak]

checking in to make sure David has had a chance to check with Sean on this. We probably should evaluate if it is still a blocker...

Comment 10

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

I've reached out without getting a response.  I'll try again today.  Not a launch blocker, IMO, as it will be quick to fix and it doesn't cause any harm.  Just my opinion though.

Comment 11

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

Sean sent around an email just not reiterating what he said in the meeting; that spacing is per spec.  Where do we go from here?  Doesn't seem like this should be a blocker.

Comment 12

[Māris Fogels [:mars] (please needinfo)]

Moved to the post-launch list.

Comment 13

[ali spivak]

Footer whitespace was reduced.