Hi,

In an effort to improve the readability of the online docs, I've instructed Claude to create various CSS styles for the documentation.

You can view the 3 which I retained here:

https://www.freepascal.org/~michael/docs-demo/docs/

I'd like to sollicit some feedback on which is considered the most readable of the three: book, compact or modern.

Note this concerns only the latex-style manuals, not the reference documentation - that is generated by another mechanism (which will also be updated)

Note that only CSS changes are involved, so no 'structural' changes.

Michael.

I'd like to sollicit some feedback on which is considered the most readable of the three: book, compact or modern.

Book style

Sven

On 2026-09-09 12:47, Michael Van Canneyt via fpc-pascal wrote:

Hi Michael,

.
.

Obviously, it's matter of subjective preferences. Personally, I prefer the compact version except for the square buttons at the top and bottom of the content pages - those links look better in both the other styles (i.e. with rounded edge or no edge at all). What I especially _dislike_ about the book style is that the references to specific constructs aren't so easily distinguished from the surrounding text - see e.g. the "MyType" type name at the bottom of
https://www.freepascal.org/~michael/docs-demo/docs/book/ref/refsu108.html#x251-27700016.6.4 (brown compared to black text around it) versus the same on https://www.freepascal.org/~michael/docs-demo/docs/compact/ref/refsu108.html#x251-27700016.6.4 or
https://www.freepascal.org/~michael/docs-demo/docs/modern/ref/refsu108.html#x251-27700016.6.4.

Just my 2 cents

Tomas

Compact. Only one that isn't incredible narrow. Webpages should not dictate how much of my screen I want to use.

In "book style" (among being the narrowest) the navigation is tiny.

Modern has slightly nicer navigation buttons, but I miss the bold left side of the boxes for code.

Compact. Only one that isn't incredible narrow. Webpages should not dictate how much of my screen I want to use.

In "book style" (among being the narrowest) the navigation is tiny.

Modern has slightly nicer navigation buttons, but I miss the bold left side of the boxes for code.

Op 9-9-2026 om 12:47 schreef Michael Van Canneyt via fpc-pascal:

Modern then compact and last book because I don't like the font.

p.s .Please leave the original CSS in SVN for CHM use in case MSIE6 compat engine used for the html help viewer might not interpret more modern CSS(3?) correctly.

Could you try to test it, here is the original HTML:

https://www.freepascal.org/~michael/html-modern.zip

You don't need to pack all files, some would be sufficient.

And we're using git, not SVN.
I know you long for old times past, but alas... ;-)

Michael.

Compact. Only one that isn't incredible narrow. Webpages should not dictate how much of my screen I want to use.

In "book style" (among being the narrowest) the navigation is tiny.

Modern has slightly nicer navigation buttons, but I miss the bold left side of the boxes for code.

Michael Van Canneyt wrote

I'd like to sollicit some feedback on which is considered the most readable of the three: book, compact or modern.

No preference over these three,
but I would prefer a higher contrast.
(ie, pure white background and black, not grey text)

Cheers,
Peter

I like the doc updates. Nicely done!

Instead of having to pick one, would it be practical to give a CSS switcher to allow folks to pick the layout they like best?

tnx.

g.

I updated the colors of the compact theme, so it is in line with the new site's primary colors (slighly darker blue, darker letters), and made the buttons rounded.

Michael.

Nice work!

I prefer Compact.

Many thanks

Mike

On Wed, 9 Sept 2026 at 11:47, Michael Van Canneyt via lazarus <

Gene Buckle wrote

I like the doc updates. Nicely done! Instead of having to pick one, would it be practical to give a CSS switcher to allow folks to pick the layout they like best?

Excellent suggestion. Implemented, see this version:

https://www.freepascal.org/~michael/docs-demo/docs/switch/

Requires some javascript, but someone who has javascript disabled will simply have the default (compact).

The chm will not have the switch.

Michael.

9. září 2026 19:05:02 SELČ, Michael Van Canneyt via fpc-pascal napsal: .
.

I updated the colors of the compact theme, so it is in line with the new site's primary colors (slighly darker blue, darker letters), and made the buttons rounded.

Thanks!

Tomas

That turned out great!  It would be nice if the TOC was a 25% column on the left and the content a 75% column on the right, but that's a me thing - it really is good enough as-is.

Thanks!

g.

Martin Frb via fpc-pascal kirjoitti 9.9.2026 klo 16.03:

Compact. Only one that isn't incredible narrow. Webpages should not dictate how much of my screen I want to use.

+1

Why is the width limited? My browsers are able to use all the available window space if you don't limit it artificially.

On a positive side these pages allow me to use Ctrl_+ and Ctrl_- to adjust font size. There are pages in the net that don't allow it.

Juha

A simple biological constatation resulted in a general agreement:

Reading across a long stretch strains the eyes more than reading across a shorter stretch.

On a positive side these pages allow me to use Ctrl_+ and Ctrl_- to adjust font size. There are pages in the net that don't allow it.

Now that it is possible to have any CSS style applied, feel free to submit a CSS style to your liking.

Also an option:
I have a style editor plugin in my browser which applies styles of my choosing on any site. I use it mostly to hide ads, but it can also be used to override the default page style.

Michael.