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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.
  • 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.

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  • but .. but .. you moved my cheese! ~ :p ~ I'm okay with it. It's different but a little more hip. Class top-badge on the user page seems like it could use a little more rounding to be consistent with the rest of the page, along with the post scores and badge counts. That's just nitpicking, I'm overall okay with it all.
    – jcolebrand Mod
    Sep 18, 2018 at 21:50
  • "Link underlining is active." makes me very sad. It looks like we're trying to make the link stand out as important, whereas in reality, it's simply a reference most of the time.
    – Hannah Vernon Mod
    Oct 11, 2018 at 17:16

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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Now a separate discussion: Suggestions for a better headline graphic

ERD-style decoration

Before:

enter image description here

After:

enter image description here

Crow's foot (or transitioning to IDEF1X) would have been arguably more in keeping with the topic:

enter image description here

Can the bare empty circles be changed to something more idiomatic?

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  • I'm not entirely sure how that works with the "buttons" on the left
    – jcolebrand Mod
    Sep 18, 2018 at 21:59
  • @jcolebrand Oh I'm not saying the connectors should go anywhere else, just that they could be more reminiscent of an ERD diagram.
    – Paul White Mod
    Sep 18, 2018 at 22:01
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    I completely agree with this request. While —personally speaking— I really like and appreciate the overall redesign, the header/heading decoration does not seem to hold a close relationship with databases. As it stands, it reminds me more of a circuit diagram or something of the sorts, so I would very much like it to be more database-representative, and I hope they can change it. I think that the Crow's Foot connectors option would be very suitable. Maybe retaining some of the boxes portraying entity types would also be worth to consider.
    – MDCCL
    Sep 19, 2018 at 16:15
  • I'm not sure this can be changed now but if one of y'all could mock up an example of what might make sense for this (maybe in a new question?), I can show it to the design team and they can work on something for this, maybe after the sites are all rolled out? My first concern is having text in the shapes that will confuse users into thinking they're links the way they are now, are you suggesting the boxes still be empty but be rectangles (or diamonds or ovals) with the decorations on the ends of the connecting lines?
    – Catija
    Sep 19, 2018 at 19:26
  • @Catija It's about the terminators. We'll knock up some ideas in a separate Q & A. Please remember though we are database people, not artists 😃
    – Paul White Mod
    Sep 20, 2018 at 3:47
  • @PaulWhite A rough sketch or outline that the design team can work from is all I need! I'm not a database person (or an artist), so I'd hate to do either but knowing what looks "correct" from the start will help our designer get something that will look correct rather than looking like a circuit diagram or random lines and circles. :D
    – Catija
    Sep 20, 2018 at 3:50
  • I'd be a bit wary of introducing a lot of relational database concepts into the design (ie, not all databases are relational)
    – markp-fuso
    Oct 6, 2018 at 22:30
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Thanks Catija.

I think it would be handy to have a one-click navigation back to the main site from the meta page in the left nav bar:

enter image description here

If you think that is a good idea, maybe even add a link to 'Meta' in the same place on the main site — but only for users who are logged in and have a certain rep perhaps. We want to encourage the meta use and awareness, without confusing new users of course.

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  • 3
    I think it'd be good to have... I like users moving back and forth between Main and Meta ... my opinion isn't universal, though. :( Once the full site rollout is finished, we'll be adding a lot of content to the left nav pane, though, and rethinking which links live there. Maybe I'll be able to convince them of the value. :D
    – Catija
    Sep 19, 2018 at 13:23
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    @Jack It would be even better if we could customize that area with links we visit often e.g. other sites, chat rooms, help centre entries ...etc.
    – Paul White Mod
    Sep 21, 2018 at 13:00
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User name breaks weirdly in search results

Before:

enter image description here

Now:

enter image description here

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Site title is too small

Old view:

enter image description here

The site title "Database Administrators" seems a little lost now (compared with nearby text):

enter image description here

Can the text be scaled up a bit within the standard space available?

Perhaps to make it the same height as the blue stacked cogs logo:

enter image description here

Comparison with SFF:

enter image description here

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  • 3
    Yes, the site title for DBA.SE and DBA.meta.SE definitely has to be larger than what we have now.
    – John K. N.
    Sep 19, 2018 at 5:44
  • 2
    @Catija The font size increased, but the box around the text is only very slightly larger, so it looks a little cramped. Any plan to address that? Maybe it's just my eyes.
    – Paul White Mod
    Oct 4, 2018 at 11:41
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    I agree. The box could be larger.
    – John K. N.
    Oct 4, 2018 at 12:28
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ERD Elements

Instead of having the ERD circles hanging in the air, they could link up to the top bar, the side bar and the question section:

ERD Elements Thin (incl. Larger Title)

DBA SE Redesign ERD Elements_Thin

ERD Elements Thick (incl. Larger Title)

DBA SE Redesign ERD Element Thick

ERD Connectors Without Linked Objects

The ERD connectors that don't have any linked objects could be eliminated altogether.

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  • 3
    This is a good suggestion, though I would still like to see more ERD-ish terminators.
    – Paul White Mod
    Sep 19, 2018 at 7:08

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