Changes to FastMail - Page 3

earlybird · 11 Mar 2020, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junkle

Could we trouble you to show us how this would be done? I've installed Stylish, but don't really know where to go from there. Thanks!

I'm sorry I misspoke, you should be always using Stylus https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/styl-us/ and NOT Stylish. Stylish was bought a while ago by an adware company and is now a spyware addon. Remove it again, install Stylus (it's open source and actively developed).

After installing Stylus:

1. Browse to Fastmail and log in as normal.

2. Click on the Stylus icon in the toolbar (green S). Click on the link "www.fastmail.com" below the text "Write a style for:". A separate editor window will open with a text input. Type the aforementioned HTML into the editor and click the Save button. You can change the style's name to "Fix Fastmail Font" if you want. The change should be active immediately in the Fastmail window/tab. Zoom in/out to gauge the new look. You can switch sans-serif with any other font name (if the name has a space but it inside quotes as in "Myriad Pro") and try them all out (by clicking save). If you have a working setup, just close the editor window. Stylus will activate this style every time you visit www.fastmail.com automatically. You can edit it any time later; just visit www.fastmail.com, click the Stylus icon agian and the edit button next to the style sheet's name. The editor window will let you know if you mistyped and give you hints how to fix it.

stanmocek · 11 Mar 2020, 12:52 AM

I noticed the change today. Makes the web page appear unpleasantly blurry in Chrome. Like others, I thought I had accidentally changed a setting.

It's disappointing to hear that Fastmail is not responsive to allowing a preference.

Junkle · 11 Mar 2020, 01:16 AM

Earlybird, thank you so much! It's very kind of you to post that; it's very straight-forward. What a difference that makes! It's back to normal!

stanmocek · 11 Mar 2020, 01:23 AM

Earlybird, works very well in Chrome, also. Thanks!

chickadee · 11 Mar 2020, 04:45 AM

The mobile version of FastMail for Android phones--I'm not referring to the app--was perfect or nearly so. I repeat, "was." Would someone much smarter than I explain to me why it was necessary to change the FastMail interface. I'm serious, I really don't understand. I'm gobsmacked.

canton7 · 11 Mar 2020, 04:58 AM

On a high resolution 2736x1824 monitor, scaled to 200%, the new font looks great. It's crisp and smooth.

On a standard 1920x1080 monitor (at 100%), it looks large and blurry, and quite franky awful. The individual pixels of the anti-aliasing are really obvious, and they completely remove the crisp shape, making it look blurry, ill-defined and hard to read.

I suspect the devs at FastMail are all rocking new high-resolution monitors, and simply aren't aware of how bad the new font looks on 10-year-old hardware.

M4rk4y · 11 Mar 2020, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misc

They did. Everyone had the chance to test it on beta.fastmail.com and provide feedback.

But we weren't told about the opportunity. I don't log in to beta just on the off-chance of discovering new proposed change.

M4rk4y · 11 Mar 2020, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canton7

On a high resolution 2736x1824 monitor, scaled to 200%, the new font looks great. It's crisp and smooth.

On a standard 1920x1080 monitor (at 100%), it looks large and blurry, and quite franky awful. The individual pixels of the anti-aliasing are really obvious, and they completely remove the crisp shape, making it look blurry, ill-defined and hard to read.

I suspect the devs at FastMail are all rocking new high-resolution monitors, and simply aren't aware of how bad the new font looks on 10-year-old hardware.

I agree, although the hardware hardly needs to be 10 years old. The vast majoriy of laptops being sold today are "normal" resolution. And long may it remain so while applications remain unable to scale up to cope with the minute pixels on high-res screens.

More pertinently, we are paying for this service (and in many cases paying a lot) so we pay their salaries so we really should have the right to demand that they should be aware of what we're using.

misc · 11 Mar 2020, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M4rk4y

But we weren't told about the opportunity.

They announced it on twitter: https://twitter.com/fastmail/status/...544107522?s=21

Junkle · 11 Mar 2020, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misc

They announced it on twitter: https://twitter.com/fastmail/status/...544107522?s=21

Does anyone else see the irony in an email provider making these announcements over twitter?

Not all of us are on twitter, and that's quite by choice. I see they've got all of about 10k followers --- not beyond 100k for sure. Obviously, the loss of a few users would hurt. What a chance to take.

That said, if they're all running high-end hardware over there, thinking their font choice was in any way decent, they must be rolling in it! This debacle reminds me of the old question, "Has anyone ever worked with a person whose only real, marketable skill is to interview better than anyone else?" Apparently, whoever owns this tragedy was that person.

Here's another fun discovery. My android device is set so that updates are NOT installed automatically; I choose what, and when. Here I was thinking I was safe, but, lo and behold, as I went to use the fastmail app on said device, I discovered it had been updated without my authorization and despite my express wishes. They actually pushed the update through. What the heck is going on over there??

Alas, more change for change's sake. It goes to show: Many businesses can never provide the perfect product because, for the sake of self-preservation, they must always change it --- um, "improve" it --- thereby increasing the probability of screwing it up.

What a mess.

hans2010 · 11 Mar 2020, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M4rk4y

More pertinently, we are paying for this service (and in many cases paying a lot) so we pay their salaries so we really should have the right to demand that they should be aware of what we're using.

The following may be a good way to go about that (strength in numbers...):

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyNicoll

I raised a ticket. I dare say that FM might not say anything helpful. But everyone who dislikes the change should raise a ticket. It's the only way that FM will actually know that those who don't like the change don't like it.

Junkle · 11 Mar 2020, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hans2010

The following may be a good way to go about that (strength in numbers...):

... and to that point, I posted my response to my ticket that I raised. It might be helpful if others do the same --- if they feel comfortable, of course.

M4rk4y · 11 Mar 2020, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misc

They announced it on twitter: https://twitter.com/fastmail/status/...544107522?s=21

Bwahahahaha! Seriously! Well I suppose if it's good enough for Donald "The Duck" Trumpington it ought to be good enough for the rest of us.

M4rk4y · 11 Mar 2020, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hans2010

The following may be a good way to go about that (strength in numbers...):

You're quite right of course and I will raise a ticket when I get a moment. I will say that they have already fixed the most horrible issue (which makes me wonder if it was actually intentional) in that the bold font is not as bold+black+squishy as it was. Thanks to whoever posted the link to the Proxima Nova page so we could see what the various styles look like. They may have toned it down from Black to Bold, or something.

Incidentally, going back to the lack of notifications, has anyone else given up following the blog since it stopped being simple and chronological? I find it unusable now. I don't want big friendly pictures, I want informative text. It is supposed to be a technical blog after all, not (profanity redacted) Facebook.

Junkle · 11 Mar 2020, 09:07 PM

Alas, the font is still a drunken stumble backwards for me. I repeat: What's wrong with re-enabling the old font? I suspect there are now more than a few bruised egos over there --- or maybe just one --- since they've dumped their precious cash on this horrible font family, and now they're staring at having wasted their money completely. There's nothing more effective at making people dig in on their bad decisions than being swiftly and justifiably called out on them.

The bigger and more mature among us would say, ooops, yup, goofed, money's gone, better just "suck it up", as I was advised I should do with their bad decisions.

As I commented in my ticket response to the response I got from them this morning,

"Based on the feedback from our valuable customers, we have made further changes to the fonts. And I hope that helps."

... I advised them that how they respond to this will speak volumes of them. I also reminded them that we should more generally look at font selectivity as those of us who can't deal with tiny fonts --- we'll probably all join that group eventually if we haven't already --- have a valid point, and these folks shouldn't be marginalized.

If you haven't already done so, please open a ticket with them.

11 Mar 2020, 09:07 PM	#45
Junkle Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 29	Alas, the font is still a drunken stumble backwards for me. I repeat: What's wrong with re-enabling the old font? I suspect there are now more than a few bruised egos over there --- or maybe just one --- since they've dumped their precious cash on this horrible font family, and now they're staring at having wasted their money completely. There's nothing more effective at making people dig in on their bad decisions than being swiftly and justifiably called out on them. The bigger and more mature among us would say, ooops, yup, goofed, money's gone, better just "suck it up", as I was advised I should do with their bad decisions. As I commented in my ticket response to the response I got from them this morning, "Based on the feedback from our valuable customers, we have made further changes to the fonts. And I hope that helps." ... I advised them that how they respond to this will speak volumes of them. I also reminded them that we should more generally look at font selectivity as those of us who can't deal with tiny fonts --- we'll probably all join that group eventually if we haven't already --- have a valid point, and these folks shouldn't be marginalized. If you haven't already done so, please open a ticket with them.

11 Mar 2020, 12:52 AM	#32
stanmocek Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 46	I noticed the change today. Makes the web page appear unpleasantly blurry in Chrome. Like others, I thought I had accidentally changed a setting. It's disappointing to hear that Fastmail is not responsive to allowing a preference.

11 Mar 2020, 01:16 AM	#33
Junkle Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 29	Earlybird, thank you so much! It's very kind of you to post that; it's very straight-forward. What a difference that makes! It's back to normal!

11 Mar 2020, 01:23 AM	#34
stanmocek Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 46	Earlybird, works very well in Chrome, also. Thanks!

11 Mar 2020, 04:45 AM	#35
chickadee Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 81	The mobile version of FastMail for Android phones--I'm not referring to the app--was perfect or nearly so. I repeat, "was." Would someone much smarter than I explain to me why it was necessary to change the FastMail interface. I'm serious, I really don't understand. I'm gobsmacked.

11 Mar 2020, 04:58 AM	#36
canton7 Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 1	On a high resolution 2736x1824 monitor, scaled to 200%, the new font looks great. It's crisp and smooth. On a standard 1920x1080 monitor (at 100%), it looks large and blurry, and quite franky awful. The individual pixels of the anti-aliasing are really obvious, and they completely remove the crisp shape, making it look blurry, ill-defined and hard to read. I suspect the devs at FastMail are all rocking new high-resolution monitors, and simply aren't aware of how bad the new font looks on 10-year-old hardware.