The Feedback Corner

Thank you so much for all your hard work, Zach!
The site looks amazing and really different, in a good way. While it will take some getting used to, the new features are great!
Just one thing: some of the images look really washed out? I'm not sure if that's a glitch or intentional; for example, the one in the owlery. It's really throwing me off

feel this may be a good place to mention the new poll as its relevant to the new update, thank you for setting this up for us, Zach.
The poll's options feel a bit misleading, unfortunately, it doesnt mention why players could be uncomfortable with the background choice.

The question being put to you isn't whether you're for or against AI, with all the concerns and misuses that exist, but a specific choice: whether you think players should be able to choose to display these images depicting places, or not.

Despite this message, the inclusion of AI does in fact play a huge part in how your players interpret this decision and it feels convenient that this is not noted in the choices we are given. I'm sure we all understand that the backlash would not have been this great if the backgrounds were not AI.
I appreciate the thorough notes below the poll, however I cannot say that all players will take the time to read them before making their choice or are already aware of situation prior.

@zachary winslow, i was just curious if, along with the ones that exists (signature, typewriter, and cursive), add the new fonts to the [font] code as well? This is just so that we can use the different fonts in a mix rather than only one

Just wanna say the site looks especially beautiful in mobile!! The floo animation…the rainy backgrounds showing as the top bar….it looked amazing!

Lourine Hoax wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 15:45 feel this may be a good place to mention the new poll as its relevant to the new update, thank you for setting this up for us, Zach.
The poll's options feel a bit misleading, unfortunately, it doesnt mention why players could be uncomfortable with the background choice.

The question being put to you isn't whether you're for or against AI, with all the concerns and misuses that exist, but a specific choice: whether you think players should be able to choose to display these images depicting places, or not.

Despite this message, the inclusion of AI does in fact play a huge part in how your players interpret this decision and it feels convenient that this is not noted in the choices we are given. I'm sure we all understand that the backlash would not have been this great if the backgrounds were not AI.
I appreciate the thorough notes below the poll, however I cannot say that all players will take the time to read them before making their choice or are already aware of situation prior.

Lear posted a clarification! (Which may have come out since your post here.)

Basically: it's about the toggle switch; about everyone having the ability to choose whether they want to see BG images or not. And all that regardless of any qualms we may have about the AI issue itself.

If I understand it right, those of us who don't like the use of AI images can simply toggle them off in preferences, while allowing everyone else to make up their own minds (option 1).

About the vote : sorry, I thought the text was clear enough that we were talking about AI, especially since it was hard to miss (from both the post explaining why AI, and the dozens of pages of discussion since two weeks). I added it to the question (not to the answers, because I was worried it might reset all the votes). I invite us to talk about AI in the AI thread.

About the feedbacks: thank you very much! I will answer to everybody. I will implement some, and explain why I think I shouldn't or can't for others.

Zachary Winslow wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 16:44 About the vote : sorry, I thought the text was clear enough that we were talking about AI, especially since it was hard to miss (from both the post explaining why AI, and the dozens of pages of discussion since two weeks). I added it to the question (not to the answers, because I was worried it might reset all the votes). I invite us to talk about AI in the AI thread.

About the feedbacks: thank you very much! I will answer to everybody. I will implement some, and explain why I think I shouldn't or can't for others.

Thanks for the clarification!

Thank you Zach (and Colin for mentioning the clarification post, don't think it was up when I wrote my comment). I empathize with your current position because understand that not much can be done without resetting the vote at this point, which is disappointing, but I appreciate the consideration and clarification to mitigate for it.

First of all, I cannot respond individually to every message of thanks or encouragement, but please know that they truly mean a great deal to me and give me real motivation to keep doing more.

Thank you. I adore you all, and I am so happy to see that you enjoy it.

Aly Salinger wrote: 27 Jul 2026, 21:47 There are certainly going to be lots of opinions on both sides about the update, and I appreciate your candor and openness when it comes to the process behind the work. I look forward to the poll and to the future updates as well! Thank you for keeping the shaking owl

Is the new font for disability ease (e.g. a dyslexia font for instance?) or is it a purely aesthetic change?

It is indeed a typeface designed with accessibility in mind. Here is its official description: “Atkinson Hyperlegible, named after the founder of the Braille Institute, has been developed specifically to increase legibility for readers with low vision, and to improve comprehension.”

I am also considering adding the Luciole typeface, “a typeface developed explicitly for visually impaired people. Word massing, spacing, and letter structure: the concept behind Luciole follows a dozen specific design criteria to provide the best possible reading experience for visually impaired readers. Particular care has been taken in the design of numerals, mathematical symbols, and punctuation.”

However, I have not included OpenDyslexic, as its actual effectiveness appears to be highly debated. I can rethink this if someone needs it.

Aodhan Shaw wrote: 27 Jul 2026, 22:00I know that before this update, it was possible to toggle the bottom bar on and off. This no longer seems to be the case. I also see that you’ve mentioned it in your main post here. But I still have to ask, would we be able to get this feature back at all? I think the more users can personalize their experience in small, comfortable ways, the better. I also think it would be nice to include another tab or two if possible (perhaps make them a bit smaller to fit?) instead of needing to choose the third tab like we have to do now.

I’m sorry, but making such extensive changes to the interface would add significant complexity to both the codebase and its maintenance. Having different interfaces for different users has also led to quite a few bugs and mismatched expectations over time.

I’m trying to strike the right balance between allowing users to customize the site and maintaining a consistent experience that remains easy to support. In this particular case, the proposed changes would simply be too substantial. I also genuinely do not see how everything could fit into a bar at the top of the page. On a phone, every pixel is already used, and I didn't want to ultimately put everything in a "burger menu" like any random app.

Aodhan Shaw wrote: 27 Jul 2026, 22:00I have not experienced this issue personally, but some people have said that site text feels harder to read following this update. Is it possible to make this adjustable in our settings at a later date? Since I see we can already adjust text alignment (which is a neat feature).

Done, and I'll add more fonts in the next few days.

Lourine Hoax wrote: 27 Jul 2026, 22:20As a side note, I think the font is a bit difficult to read (though pretty) and that the previous one was more accessible/readable. This isn't urgent for me but I have heard several others mention it was difficult for them, just wanted to note that here.

Old and news fonts are available in preferences.

I have to confess that the fact that you use tiny, italic and colored fonts makes your post almost impossible to read for me. I'm considering adding possibility to display posts without italics, small text, or colours, for users like me.

Jake Morris wrote: 27 Jul 2026, 22:38 I do miss a little having a quick link to my Favorites on the bottom, but you did say you chose the 5 most popular options so if that's not as used as the others, then it makes sense.

I added the possibility to choose the third tab. I'm going to think harder how to display these pages, please give me a few weeks to have a good idea.

Zephyr Deakin wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 03:11 From experience, I have a general idea of the effort that goes into rewriting a live application incrementally instead of starting over. It's never easy because it means maintaining the existing functionality while also replacing parts of the underlying system and in doing so, avoiding any failure or downtime. It's no joke when I say it's a difficult balance to achieve.

Thanks (and thanks for the rest of your message)

Meyra Lancaster wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 12:08 Somethings I noticed, that is really a small thing (and if its intentional please ignore me):
it is raining inside the: Honeydukes, Hog's Head, St. Mungo's Hospital and in the Cauldron Bedrooms.
And its not raining in: City of London, West London, East London and Daily Prophet

I have given your administrators the option to select which locations can display weather effects. I believe this list needs to be reviewed to correct a few errors!

Julia Evans wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 16:00 @zachary winslow, i was just curious if, along with the ones that exists (signature, typewriter, and cursive), add the new fonts to the [font] code as well? This is just so that we can use the different fonts in a mix rather than only one

That is something I won't be able to do, for two reasons.

First, from a technical standpoint, in order for everyone to see the same font, I have to make their browser download it, since different devices and operating systems do not come with the same default fonts. Each font adds roughly 150 to 200 KB. Allowing everyone to use any font they want could result in pages weighing several megabytes, which is exactly what I am working to avoid.

More importantly, however, this is also an issue of accessibility and reading comfort. Typography is not merely decorative: it is the gateway to the content, and many people, myself included, are highly sensitive to font choices.

Allowing authors to freely switch fonts within the same message would mean imposing their visual preferences on readers, potentially making some texts tiring to read, difficult to decipher, or even completely inaccessible to certain people. From an accessibility standpoint, readers should, whenever possible, be able to choose the font and text size that work best for them, rather than having those choices imposed by the author.

Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 15:37 A thought that has struck me so far is if it would be possible and sensible to add «friends» under the adress book? It is the only thing that in my opinion doesn’t quite belong on the list it has been placed.

Yes, I'm considering to do it, but also I wonder if it shoudn't be a "tab" in the address book. I'm thinking about it.

Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 15:37 Would this be a viable option for button number two as well? It was a good idea to place unread messages there, but might it be possible to chose «latest messages» as well as the rest of the list?

You are not the only one who got the idea and I'm going to do it.

Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 15:37 What I have noticed so far is that when I enter the Gryffindor common room, I need to go to the top of the page to find the rest of the rooms. Only when I have entered one of them do they show up in the dropdown on the left. I have no mind for coding and how a website works but on first look it seems a bit confusing. Would it be possible to once we enter a common room that the dorms, ooc, and HoH room appear in the menu? Know that I fully understand there might be challenges with this that I have not thought of.

That is how the new menu is designed to work. However it requires that the admins moves forums accordingly, somethings they couldn't do before the update. I'll talk about it with them

Aodhan Shaw wrote: 27 Jul 2026, 22:00 Since we already have the floo system in the bottom left that requires clicking, and can easily transport us to where we need, is it possible for the top left navigation to have hovers again? I find it easier to navigate that way, and others I speak to share this sentiment.

Ilya Voronov wrote: 28 Jul 2026, 13:41 but i do want to second the hover design suggestion for the top nav, the floo system is a nice addition for bigger jumps, but getting around within the nav itself takes quite a few more clicks now than it used to. i think bringing back the hover could help trim the click count, three-click rule and all

The hover menu did have one advantage (which is what led me to build it in the first place): on desktop, it made it easy to quickly browse through the different locations.

However, it also came with many drawbacks. Its behavior became inconsistent on touchscreens, where hover does not exist and items are often difficult to target. It was also difficult to implement without making the menu extremely inaccessible. With the previous menu, you had to move the mouse very precisely from right to left, and even I did not always manage it successfully. It was also complicated to code.

In addition, when moving from one location to another, the hover menu could not show your current position without forcing you to go through every level again. The current menu, by contrast, takes you back to where you left off.

Most importantly, once the menu no longer uses several columns, hover is no longer a viable option. It would inevitably mean returning to cascading dropdown menus that open to the right. That raises a number of issues concerning the possible number of levels and the length of the menus, whereas one of my goals was also to give your admins complete freedom in how they organize everything.

I hope these different reasons show that I have given the matter a lot of thought. That said, with the current interface, shortcuts, and search feature, I have tried to make it possible for you to reach any destination as quickly as possible.

With that said, I still have quite a few smaller requests to address and bugs to fix, so I have plenty to work on over the next few days. Please feel free to keep sharing your feedback.

Wow Zach, thank you so much for the thorough updates and answers. That makes sense on the hover, I understand now.

I didn't notice we could customize the third option on the menu. That is awesome! Do you think having the ability to customize the second one is at all possible? Or is that just too much customization? I can understand why Floo, Owls, and Search should be pinned.

I just changed to My RP for the third option (thank you!) which is my most used but I also just liked a shortcut to favorites because I would use that for threads that I didn't post in but nevertheless wanted to follow the discussion. I know when I was on the indexing team it also helped a lot with things like tracking the threads I needed to follow. Then again, I can understand if that's not a common use case! Unread messages is the one I don't use but you mentioned it's the most popular page on the whole site which I didn't even realize! So like I said I see why you gave us the options that you did, and I can certainly understand if you think that too much variety leads to too scattered an experience.

Anyway, I love the update, and think the site feels great.