You've been around long enough to know that SO tells you what you want—sorry, nowadays, they listen to you, then tell you what you want—and that mass user discontent is of no concern. — LSpiceAug 28 at 14:42
This new line spacing is awful. It's so similar to paragraph spacing that it basically turns every post into an airy wall of text. — 8bittreeAug 27 at 15:15
At least explain yourself if you're just gonna leave it at that! Given that every other reasonable change that would need 5 seconds of developer time needs to go through months of A\B testing just to be able to say "ah, not gonna be worth it", you don't get to make this linewidth change with sole explanation that, I don't know, because you can, to "disrupt the status quo" of proper line spacing? — Christian RauAug 27 at 15:25
Exactly that; a lot of software programmers change things just because they can.
I don't have an appropriate word to describe how messed up that is.
@Safdar If it happens once, and is quickly fixed when the vast majority of the user base says that it is a bad design, yes. But no, given the clear and long history of deliberate SE design flaws.
@user21820 My first reaction to the line spacing was to dislike it. I think that it is ugly.
However, there are a number of people on Meta SE who have pointed out that it makes the page more readable for a number of people with certain disabilities.
Frankly, I find it easier to read (I'm dyslexic; I have less trouble finding new lines when they are spread farther apart). I still think that it is ugly, and there is less content per screen, but things are more readable.
Of course, it would be nice if the SO overlords had said something in advance, and/or discussed this.
But, at the end of the day, I think that UI changes always piss people off, and then you get used to it.
@user21820: this is a change no one likes. But software development is driven by many more things other than common sense. They are fixing some of the issues which occurred due to the various changes they did, but I don't see that line spacing will be brought back to normal.
Bad design is a regular feature in many other fields, but in software this is easier to do.
@XanderHenderson: regarding your last sentence, the adaptability of human mind has been used to do all sorts of nasty things throughout history. There are revolts occasionally but majority adapts to the situation
@ParamanandSingh Of course, and this is potentially a problem. However, on the other side of things, every time the design changes, there is a vocal group of people who get very upset, but then they get used to it.
And, at least in the case of the line spacing, there is a reasonable explanation: it makes the site more accessible to some people (myself included, surprisingly enough!), and doesn't cause any real harm.
I'm not sure that I get the reason for change in the way that blockquotes are handled.
I did not find line spacing a major problem but it led to some other issue (reducing font size on mobile devices) and I was really pissed. The font size issue on mobile is now fixed so I am ok
(and for the record, I think that the extra line spacing is UGLY, but it does make the site more accessible; similarly, I think that OpenDyslexic is a terribly ugly font, but I use it on my ereader).
@ParamanandSingh Interesting. I don't use the mobile site.
@XanderHenderson And that's why good designers give the users a choice. If some people find it hard to read, they should have a setting to make it easier to read. Otherwise, as pointed out by some commenters, it just leads to it being harder to read for the vast majority of users.
And by the way, it's not true that people who find it ugly will just get used to it. If it doesn't go back to normal, people who have the ability will simply use a userscript to hack it back.
@XanderHenderson There is just too much whitespace before and after. For example take a look at this. The quote looks terrible (and reading is not helped by the excessive whitespace), and the bullet point 2 paragraphs later is not much better. Worst is when a displayed equation is in a quote, but I can't recall where I saw that horror.
My general belief is that the final is the thing that really matters. If you can prove that you know the material by the end of a term, then you have satisfied the requirements of the class.
Typically, if a student gets an A on the final, I will give them at least an A- in the class, largely independent of previous performance.
I understand the equity issues around this, but I have not yet found a solution which I think is better.
@user21820 I have that happen twice in the past. In one instance, the student opted for an incomplete, and took the final exam at the end of the next term.
Frankly, I am thinking very hard about adopting an oral component for all of my finals.
Give the students 5--10 questions ahead of time, with a week to prepare. Then, for each student, pick a question at random and see what they can do with it. I figure that I can sort the A, B, and C students in less than five minutes.
My biggest worry is one of equity: such exams are inherently more subjective, and institutions tend side with students when they are asked to perform acts of public speaking (even if it is one-on-one).
@XanderHenderson The only problem with that approach (giving questions ahead of time) is that the cheaters who have some rudimentary mathematical understanding can get others to solve their exam question for them and teach them how to explain it.
I personally saw some people like that who cheat on graded homework instead of actually doing it on their own effort, and simultaneously saw some others who were actually more mathematically competent hand in incomplete homework because they didn't cheat.
One way to defeat most cheaters even in this approach is to simply ask questions about their proofs (to figure out whether they really know the mathematics or whether they just got help).
But it still won't defeat the clever ones. For example, with my level of competency, if I wanted to cheat I could find the solution from the internet and fully understand the proof and nobody would be able to distinguish it from the case that I did it myself. But I have the very strong urge to get everything on my own, so it didn't tempt me. I suppose it's also relevant that I was already at the top so I had no incentive to do even better hahaha...
@user21820: cheating is something which should be handled early on in school. I was in 6th standard (age 11) and I was good at maths which helped me secure first position in class (apologies for boasting) , but was weak in another subject, say X, and I cheated in exam for X.
@user21820 :The teacher remarks in front of whole class : 'it is very strange that the topper of the class also cheats for this question. Had he left it unanswered he would still remain topper'. That was the only time I cheated in my life.
Needless to say the teacher caught my act by finding my answer too similar to that by another student.
And the answer was wrong. Had it been correct I would have been spared and the other student would have been admonished
@ParamanandSingh You're right; it should be dealt with early in school, kindly but completely fairly to non-cheaters. Then we won't have so much problems later on. And thanks for sharing your anecdote! It also helps if parents do not pressure their children to do well, but rather teach them to work hard and be contented with the results. If rewards were given for work rather than results, there would be less incentive to cheat.
