Hey JUCE fam, I was actually a huge fan of the previous documentation CSS styling on the website! Here are the reasons I liked the previous styling better:
1. Font
The font was much more readable than “Contax”, which in my opinion, looks like more of a stylistic font with its sharp edges and thin weight. It isn’t a font catered to being easily readable such as “Helvetica”. The weight of “Contax” is quite thin when not bolded which makes description text more difficult to read. Further, this has a negative impact for mobile users who may be using smaller screens. (I actually read JUCE Docs on my phone sometimes when not at my computer and I need to check some things I am thinking about.)
2. Colour Scheme
The old colour scheme was more easily readable because it had less harsh contrast between the background and text. I also enjoyed that it was a dark theme, making it easier on the eyes, especially late at night. The current scheme uses hard pure white with dark text making a harder contrast with a brighter overall look. This makes it harder to read for extended periods of time, especially in a night-time setting.
3. Consistency
The new JUCE landing page looks freakin amazing and beautiful. It seems odd the documentation looks so different. Why not keep a consistent look?
4. JUCE Brand Style
I know this may sound superficial, but honestly the previous styling was something that drew me to using JUCE in the first place. When I was an outsider to JUCE and first discovered it, I browsed the documentation, and when I saw the high visual quality of the documentation (along with the pristine content quality) I was immediately drawn into using JUCE. I thought to myself: “Wow, someone actually cares about how this documentation looks! I should use this library.” This was a huge surprise to me because most online documentation libraries for C++ that I have seen look old, clunky, etc. And JUCE looked fresh, polished, and professional. Outsiders will partially judge the quality of the content of a website based on its visual look. If newcomers see that a company cares about the visual and design, then they will assume the company also cares about the quality of their code. (I know that is dumb, but it is just a design principle.)
Summary
In summary, I strongly believe the previous documentation styling looked much better and provided a better documentation experience. It was definitely the best online documentation experience I have had. I would like to hear what others think about this. Thank you.
P.S.
I am aware that I can use the offline Doxygen documentation (which is great) and style it however I wish, but Google searches are great at helping me find things in the documentation, so I actually tend to use the website more.