Now some time has passed since the new layout has been introduced. In the first days some minor changes had been made, maybe initiated by that thread.
But I didn't notice any layout-improvements for at least a week, now. It seems that SPOJ admins or whoever is responsible for that are satisfied with the actual state and that the actual state will be the final state (at least for a longer time).
I don't know, if the new design looks "cheap" as some users posted. Maybe. But one fact, that also has been mentioned by others, is: It is not functional!
And that's what I expect from a good website, especially one like SPOJ. I do not use (and like) SPOJ, because I want my aesthetic sensibilities to be satisfied.
What I want and expect - and I think that's what most SPOJ users want - is:
- [color=#008000][b]ergonomic layout[/b][/color], i.e. enough contrast and readable fonts to grasp the needed information in a minimum of time
- [color=#008000][b]usability[/b][/color], i.e. find what I'm searching for and do what I want to do in a minimum of time and intuitively
The old SPOJ layout satisfied most of these two important aspects, the new one does not.
Reading a problem description has become strenuous because of small, difficult to read fonts with a lack of contrast. I did not solve a new problem since the new layout was introduced. And one reason for that is: Reading the problem pages is too strenuous - independend from its content.
Looking at the status page - I do that from time to time, just looking what happens - is strenuous. Looking at the old layout, a few seconds where enough just to get all information I was interested in: Who, what problem, what runtime, what language? Looking at the new layout, it is more strenuous and takes somewhat longer. So I do not like looking at the status page any more.
And, last, but not least, there are still inconsistencies with the marking colors for older AC submissions. The old color scheme was clear and functional:
dark green for new AC submissions, lighter green for older AC submissions orange for all others. Now older submissions sometimes appear in dark green, but mostly without extra background color just with a lightgray background.
And: The "see all comments" link is sill missing - Francky pointed that out in that thread.
So, I still have hope, that the web designers are still working. The target should (must!) be: function first, design follows.