BootMetro: Metro style web framework

I don't know if it is because this is a design-based project and not a development project, but I don't understand why people are complaining about the complainers. Just as many people ask why someone did something a certain way - or why they'd do something at all - in threads based on programming projects and I think it is just as valid here.

In my experience on HN, there aren't enough quality posts on design. In fact, a lot of the most upvoted ones promote poor practices. I've stopped basing whether or not I go into a design threads on the upvotes, because some of the most beautiful projects I've seen have collected dust here, while others thrive despite their rampant shortcomings.

This is basic UI design in the form of basic CSS. You would be seriously hardpressed to find a more generic branding standard than one that relies on simple solid blocks and white text, something that can be pulled off in decades-old browsers, and here we have a website that a) illustrates a lack of understanding of the UI itself and b) a lack of understanding CSS, which makes up the framework.

Honestly if I worked in a studio that was doing work for Microsoft and asked a designer to create these web assets, I would send them back to the drawing board if this is what they presented to me. I think that's why you're seeing a lot of these "negative" comments. It looks and works like a last-minute homework assignment, especially for something where everything is already defined for you in public branding documentation and on Microsoft's own websites.

How am I supposed to say that without coming off as a jerk?

While critiques are awesome, those sorts of comments actually provide valuable insight.

Judging by frequency/consistency of topic, they can be used as a launch point for improving a product. They often include insight into what people making snap judgements (hint: we all do) think about your product/website/etc. While longer form critiques give excellent advice, short comments such as these provide a different take, which actually informs the critiques as well.

So nice to see the designers of HN come out of the woodwork. I feel like that's all my account here seems to be used for.

I think this might work well. It's an Adobe open source font, it was popular on HN a little bit ago.

http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/2012/08/source-sans-pro....

Well you don't have an email in your profile to contact you, but I have changed my mind on the font. Try this: http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Open+Sans

He still hasn't fixed the squished screenshot's obviously wrong aspect ratio, at least as of the time I am writing this.

Screenshots with incorrect aspect ratios are a huge pet peeve for me and while this may not be entirely rational, it is one of the big things I find myself judging someone's overall competency on when they screw it up and they are doing design-focused work. I'd rather have the whole page be written in Comic Sans but have the screenshot in the right aspect ratio because at least that's a choice rather than just shoddy work.

Of course, YMMV.

The agile/lean idea is not to have your users bug test your code! It's a technique for gathering feedback early and often in order to make sure that the requirements are sufficiently addressed. What you are describing is a shoddy work discipline which no self-respecting developer would even think of associating his name with.

More appropriately, one of the central pillars of agile is to be in a releasable state at the end of every sprint.

He might be blunt, but is correct. You only need look at the terrible fidelity of the back arrow being used to see that it's not had much care and attention.

On top of that almost every component skin has issues that make it feel not right, like the drop down menu having gaps in the horizontal rule margins.

And in general, I dislike the approach to online discussion that everything has to be positively spun. This isn't very good, maybe it will be soon or maybe never, why should we not be able to air a valid negative opinion?

> That's pretty rude.

He's entitled to his opinion and has the right to criticize whatever he wants, however he wants. If you don't like it, why not just move on.

Positive feedback is not the only useful type of feedback. If someone suggested, say, developing a new site on the Gopher protocol then the appropriate response is to tell them that it's a stupid idea, mainly because it is a stupid idea.

There is much more to be gained from emotionally disconnecting yourself from the fruits of your labour than it is to always, without fail be positive about everything. It is folly to pick yang over yin or vice-versa.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of people will have this emotional reaction to this project and not telling the author in order to protect their feelings is going to hurt their success in the long run.

I feel that being rude is insulting the person. Being honest is insulting the work (if one honestly feels that it is unworthy enough to be treated as such).

> Yes, yes you are. Or perhaps you meant "I am being a hater and a downer but I'm hardly having to put any effort into it".

A hater is someone who hates out of prejudice. For example, hating a celebrity because one is jealous of their wealth or think that they do not deserve what they have. I do not detect any prejudice here, just an honest reaction to something.

The most ironic thing about your post is that you mimic Grandparent's tone, which you yourself label as rude and throw it back at him. Surely a mature response is to respond in a way which you find acceptable, not simply stoop down to what you perceive to be a lower and, ultimately, unacceptable level?

On the contrary, it may include a lot more than that but it appears not to.

I tried to be constructive, but I honestly couldn't find a single good thing about this. The execution was poor, and the entire idea of making a 'framework' out of boxes with background colors is ridiculous.

I do apologize for the harshness, especially if it offended people, and I'm all for trying new things, but something like this should absolutely not be up on the popular page of hacker news. This is an amateur attempt at a framework that was very poorly done. Is that honestly deserving of more than 100 upvotes?

I appreciate CSS frameworks for taking some of the complexities out of tedious tasks. Without pre-built frameworks, I would still be using my own half-baked custom boilerplates. I agree with your sentiment about the direction of design. Am i the only one who is already sick of all the metro copies out there? I have never wanted to design a web site/app that looks exactly like another brand, e.g. Microsoft's Metro.

Thanks for the information and the link, that is a really cool site! I'll make sure to use it on future projects just to make sure I'm not completely screwing over color blind people.