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Today I saw this banner on StackOverflow

enter image description here

I had to make a huge mental effort just to get that the gray portal that holds the question text is in fact an Android device. The reason is it has proportions of an iPad-like tab - - very close to a square - but most Android devices are smartphones and smartphones have slightly different proportions - less square. Also the gray portal completely lacks Android-specific hardware buttons that make Android devices distinguishable from say mobile Windows devices (the latter have different buttons).

IMO the banner needs improvements. My suggestions would be the following (I myself lack drawing capabilities):

  1. make the thing more elongated (less square) - something like HTC Incredible S proportions
  2. add margins on the "top" and the "bottom" (if held in portrait orientation) as real smartphones usually have
  3. add hardware buttons
  4. change orientation to landscape so that there's more room for the text
  5. bring the "Android Enthusiasts" caption out of the device image - place it beneath
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    Is it meant to be an Android device? I always thought they were just holding up a noticeboard, other sites have a similar board with their sites logo in the corner for promotions? Also, hardware buttons are the way of the past!
    – GAThrawn
    Commented Jan 13, 2012 at 12:22
  • Not to mention that it seems every OEM had their own ideas about the order of those hardware buttons.
    – ale Mod
    Commented Jan 14, 2012 at 20:51

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It's not supposed to be a tablet. It's just a notice panel, like the one used on this site's header.

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    Okay, then I guess the major reason why I thought it was a tablet is the background color that looks more or less as a shut off scree. Perhaps changing the color would address that ambiguity.
    – sharptooth
    Commented Jan 16, 2012 at 6:40
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    @sharptooth Could be showing my age here, but it looks like a blackboard/chalkboard to me rather than a shut off screen. Why would you have writing on an off screen?
    – GAThrawn
    Commented Jan 16, 2012 at 13:36
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    @GAThrawn: I'm old enough to remember chalkboards - it's very unusual to see typeset captions on them and they never have any specific color - rather they are all in chalk traces.
    – sharptooth
    Commented Jan 16, 2012 at 13:41
  • @sharptooth: tablets doesn't have semi-transparent/translucent borders, and they shouldn't look flat like that.
    – Lie Ryan
    Commented Jan 30, 2012 at 8:28

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