Information Security's updated site theme is live!

Question

UPDATE - We've pushed this live for everyone now. Thanks to those who took the time to give feedback. Please do know, being live doesn't mean we can't address further changes for you! Write an answer if you find anything that needs addressing.

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As part of implementing the new unified themes across the network, we're gradually rolling out updated site themes for each site. As of today, we have enabled your updated site theme for testing.

If you can't see it right now, that's by design! This is a very early test implementation of your design and we need your help finding issues with it before we make it live for everyone permanently. So, keep in mind, there will be things that need fixing! We'll address those things as we can.

If you'd like to review it, here's how:

How do I enable it?

Click here and check the "Beta test new themes" option. This will turn on the new theme for all sites that have one in testing, including this one. Here's more info on how to opt in. You can uncheck the box to revert to the older theme until the site is live for everyone. Note, while turning it on is immediate, it will take a few minutes to revert to the old view - but it will go through!.

What type of feedback do we need?

On this post: Bugs related to this site's design elements

Please help us look for issues/bugs related to the theme design and how we have mapped the old theme to the new. This needs to be done within the limits of the new unified theme.

This could include colors of sections of the design or text, problems with JavaScript add-ons (if applicable), the logo or top banner appearance or other artwork.

You can also feel free to ask questions about the new layout if you're unsure how to navigate it.

On Meta Stack Exchange: General concerns about left nav or theming

There are some things that are definitely changing everywhere and can't really be adjusted on a per-site basis. A few of them include:

• Top banner is shorter in height, so some artwork has to be adjusted along with some logos.
• Left Navigation is active everywhere (but can be collapsed into a menu by visiting your site preferences - instructions here).
• Responsive layout is active, which lets the site adjust as browser widths change - no side scrolling (some pages haven't been updated, yet, though). For now, if you prefer the scrolling, you can disable this by clicking the "disable responsiveness" link in the footer.
• Many site elements including tags and voting arrows are standardized across the network.
• This site uses a Serif font but common elements across the network (headers, sidebars, buttons, tags, queues, etc) are now sans everywhere.
• Link underlining is active. In an effort to make links more visible, they are now being underlined.

If you have concerns or issues regarding the left nav or the overall approach we are taking to theming, then this Meta Stack Exchange post is the right place for feedback.

As I mentioned earlier, there are some unique design elements like voting arrows and tags that are being standardized in this process. Keeping these custom elements makes our ability to maintain the sites too complex and, while we're very sad to see them go, we're in a difficult position of needing to make the site designs work together so that we can continue to address feature requests and bugs that will make your Q&A experience better. This is addressed in a Meta Stack Exchange post if you want more detail.

What new themes?

If you're like, "What the heck are you talking about?", then you should read the Meta Stack Exchange post entitled Rollout of new network site themes (and maybe the posts it links to for the full background). To follow along with the rollout of these new themes, go here.

Thanks so much for your constructive feedback!

Oh, Who am I?

If you don't know me, I'm one of the Community Managers here at Stack Exchange. I'm here to listen to your input and convey it to our Design team for responses and fixes to bugs. I'll do my best to respond to your concerns and explain whether changes we've made are bugs that can be changed or if they're by design and why.

Answer 1

Answer 2

status-completed

I think the red and blue lines on the top right side are to dominant. In the old design, they were faded into the bakground, but in the new they have very bold colors that sort of don't work with the theme.

I think giving it a 50% opacity or so would do the trick:

Answer 3

I'm pretty new to Information Security. When I first joined, I was intrigued by the design, and looked up some of the history and discussion about it; it was cool.

When I want back on to the site, not knowing that the theme had been changed, I was wondering what those red and blue lines off to the side were for. I didn't know if they were buttons, or just odd decoration, or what. It was only until I clicked on this link that I realized a theme change had been made, and those lonely lines were what were left of a background and theme that used to have much more of a coherent impact.

I have four things to mention:

1. The lines off to the side don't look good. They don't make sense, and they seem out of place.

2. By changing the theme, you may have lost some of the meaning of the symbols. It would be good to make sure that the meaning that is the most important is still there. Does the lion and shield actually use the blue lines "defense" lines to hold off the "attacking" red lines? Or are the threats of the world just kinda off to the side, somehow magically being defended?

3. The theme no longer seems to carry throughout the site. I know that this is probably how all of the new themes are going to be, but I will really miss feeling like I was on a completely different site when coming to the Information Security page, due to the huge impact the theme had on so much of the page.

4. Thank you for being open and willing to listen to your users. While I may critique, I greatly appreciate that you're trying to make the site better, and I'm very glad that there is a place for us to give you feedback.

Answer 4

The "Track your next badge" thing is hidden behind the profile tabs.

Old:

New:

Answer 5

The site is now very responsive.

However, it is now some kind of glossy that completely does away with the rather impressive lion / blue theme. This was a banner, currently it is an overly stylized icon.

In the original banner the Lion was defending against the red lines using the blue lines, which made sense. These lines were both understated as well as fundamental to the design. The lines also nicely broke the otherwise flat page. They added some texture to the page that wasn't there otherwise. The current design is just that: flatter than a pancake.

I'm understanding why this community is less than impressed with it; they original was one of the most lauded SE designs that were around. Currently that design is gone, and it is replaced with the minimalism shown by a generic glass office building with a single logo designed by a advertising firm and some lines just to make it somewhat more enticing.

As you can tell, I'm not impressed.

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Here are some ways of making the banner better:

1. move the logo back to the middle;
2. put "information" at the left side and "security" at the right side instead of both to the right;
3. have the lines go around information and security (or gradually make the blue lines less opaque) and put the red lines to the left and right again;
4. add some texture back to the "banner" to make the site less glossy / flat.