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Comment by DreamScatter | Hacker News Reader

The new web design layout on GitHub is awful and has less accessibility.

For example, the repository languages used to be at the top center of the page, while now I need to scroll past the bottom of the screen and find the information off centered in an awkward place.

The stars and other top bar links are off centered in an awkward way for the mouse and the eyes. Also, the profile tabs are less accessible because followers are now on the other side of the screen instead of in the convenient tab location.

Please contact GitHub with your feedback if you also think it's less accessible design.

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Oh man, they've made it way harder to quickly evaluate the state of a repo, which has always (for me) been about 90% of the appeal of Github. Moving releases out of the tab list hurts, too.

Does it also feel "heavier"/slower to anyone else? Like there's more JS running or something? That'd already gotten a little worse but I hope it's not trending even farther into feeling "webappy". Ew.

I wouldn't consider any of your criticisms as being "less accessible".

To take your example of the languages, the new design is more accessible. It has a clearly labeled heading, and I can see the names of the languages are being used without clicking on the bar. The old design has no hints that the striped bar (or in the case of `linux`, grey) is supposed to be informative. We're all just used to clicking that bar if we're curious.

It's clear they've optimized the layout around productivity, and making it more approachable to new visitors. Everyone has their preferences, and new designs are always tough to get right for everyone. "Less accessible" is the wrong way to phrase your criticisms, though.

They could have left the languages in the same place where it was before. Now it requires extra input and mental effort to find the languages section. This is definitely a step backwards.

Not complaining about the design of the new languages section, but the layout is just completely terrible and useless.

I would regularly wow people by showing them the language feature existed. It was obfuscated in the old layout and now it's readily available without any additional clicks. Yes, my eyes have to scan to the side now, but to call it "completely terrible and useless" is ridiculous. More users will discover this feature now that it's been moved and made visible.

I have to disagree with you there. Previously, I had to click on the tiny strip before I could see the languages. Now it is available right away.

For a new visitor, this is infinitely better because it is clearly labeled. For returning users, the only hurdle is getting used to the new location (which is made easy by the clear heading).

You could argue that project languages are more important than the contributors and should be placed above that content. Regardless, it is clearly a step forward.

I rarely found the list of languages useful, and never really appreciated the description and the "stats" bumping down the list of files and readme, which are arguably much more important than the former. I think moving the secondary information to the side is a bit better use of space and visual hierarchy.

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