riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Here is my feedback: 1 - This navigational bar is way too large. Needs to be shrinked. The easiest way would be to make the Neowin logo smaller. We know we are on Neowin. 2 - Ive always hated these pictures in the previous design and now I hate them more now that they almost look even bigger. They make no sense at all. Are they up there based on hit count? Comments? Randomly? Staff pick? 3 - Ive picked the default view for my feedback. In the default view, all I see is 2 headers. I don't see any information about the article at all at a glance. In the previous design I could at least see SOMETHING. I think that is better than nothing. In the list view it is a bit better but still.... 4 - This is completely broken so I imagine it is a bug. No who posted the last post, when they posted, how many replies it has, etc....I ment this in the way that is would replace the minispy. 5 - Pointless as well. Under the more section, you have a chat on IRC section. Social media should be included there. Also in general everything feels way too big/in your face. Most people on this site are not blind. The font size needs to be reduced a lot. Or at least allow the font size to be resized. My suggestion: Why not make sections movable? You click on a section (ads could not be moved) and move it somewhere else making important content to YOU a priority. Ive seen sites that allow you to dynamically do this and I think it would be a huge improvement. SoCalRox 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharpGreen Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 feed.png Here is my feedback: 1 - This navigational bar is way too large. Needs to be shrinked. The easiest way would be to make the Neowin logo smaller. We know we are on Neowin. 2 - Ive always hated these pictures in the previous design and now I hate them more now that they almost look even bigger. They make no sense at all. Are they up there based on hit count? Comments? Randomly? Staff pick? 3 - Ive picked the default view for my feedback. In the default view, all I see is 2 headers. I don't see any information about the article at all at a glance. In the previous design I could at least see SOMETHING. I think that is better than nothing. In the list view it is a bit better but still.... 4 - This is completely broken so I imagine it is a bug. No who posted the last post, when they posted, how many replies it has, etc.... 5 - Pointless as well. Under the more section, you have a chat on IRC section. Social media should be included there. Also in general everything feels way too big/in your face. Most people on this site are not blind. The font size needs to be reduced a lot. Or at least allow the font size to be resized. My suggestion: Why not make sections movable? You click on a section (ads could not be moved) and move it somewhere else making important content to YOU a priority. Ive seen sites that allow you to dynamically do this and I think it would be a huge improvement. #4 actually provides more info in the current version than it did in the last, so I don't see why that's on your list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 #4 actually provides more info in the current version than it did in the last, so I don't see why that's on your list. ??? I just said that the previous version included who posted, number of replies, when they posted, etc. How does it provide more information??????????? Here is another suggestion: Below Community Activity you already have Trending Stories so it is a duplicate of the header. Why not move Community Activity to the header and put Trending Stories where Community Activity is? I think this would be awesome change and allow more information from news articles to show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timan Veteran Posted August 25, 2014 Veteran Share Posted August 25, 2014 Actually it did not. Here is the old one. Trending news is completely different than the top promos. Its only like that now, since we just now are tracking the trending news. MikeChipshop 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeChipshop Member Posted August 25, 2014 Member Share Posted August 25, 2014 ??? I just said that the previous version included who posted, number of replies, when they posted, etc. Err... no. But nice one for actually compiling your thoughts together rather than just going "It sux brah" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 Actually it did not. Here is the old one. Screenshot 2014-08-25 02.55.23.png Trending news is completely different than the top promos. Its only like that now, since we just now are tracking the trending news. I was comparing it to the minispy...Sorry I wasn't clear on that. This is what I ment (obviously excluding css styles which are broken): As you can see, the community posts regains its "mini spy" sort of view and you see the trending news/top promos/etc on the right. You make the community posts smaller and the trending whatever bigger. I think top promos is just pointless really. It serves no real purpose. Most of the news there isn't even remotely interesting. Err... no. But nice one for actually compiling your thoughts together rather than just going "It sux brah" I ment to compare it to the minispy, that was my fault for not making my post clear :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmniouS Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 The fonts, especially the headings don't look very good to me. The top section is from Chrome on Win 8.1 - the headings look choppy. The bottom section is from IE on 8.1 where the fonts look smoother, better compared to Chrome but still a little blurred: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven P. Administrators Posted August 25, 2014 Administrators Share Posted August 25, 2014 I was comparing it to the minispy...Sorry I wasn't clear on that. This is what I ment (obviously excluding css styles which are broken): As you can see, the community posts regains its "mini spy" sort of view and you see the trending news/top promos/etc on the right. You make the community posts smaller and the trending whatever bigger. I think top promos is just pointless really. It serves no real purpose. Most of the news there isn't even remotely interesting. I ment to compare it to the minispy, that was my fault for not making my post clear :) What you are asking for here is a *new* feature. On the old design, there was a dropdown with a very short row of just six forum articles, that did not update realtime, we removed that and added in a sidebar with more forum posts, what forum it's in and a icon to update it without refreshing the page. So in essence everyone got more than they did with the old design. The titles can also be longer than the old way (in the sidebar) and the minispy only ever showed in the forums, that is where it will remain, because, my friend, the main page is not the forum, the forums are. The fonts, especially the headings don't look very good to me. The top section is from Chrome on Win 8.1 - the headings look choppy. The bottom section is from IE on 8.1 where the fonts look smoother, better compared to Chrome but still a little blurred: <img snipped> This is a Chrome issue. you may have to enable directWrite from chrome://flags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmniouS Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 This is a Chrome issue. you may have to enable directWrite from chrome://flags Good to know about directWrite, thanks. Hopefully it will be enabled by default in the near future or you'll get lots of people with the same initial impression that I had Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 What you are asking for here is a *new* feature. On the old design, there was a dropdown with a very short row of just six forum articles, that did not update realtime, we removed that and added in a sidebar with mopre forum posts, what forum it's in and a icon to update it without refreshing the page. So in essence everyone got more than they did with the old design. The titles can also be longer than the old way (in the sidebar) and the minispy only ever showed in the forums, that is where it will remain, because, my friend, the main page is not the forum, the forums are. This is a Chrome issue. you may have to enable directWrite from chrome://flags So combine them??? A very shot row of threads and make it update with a icon. And the titles can be perfectly long if its in the header. Those top pormo huge pictures have got to go ASAP. They really arent nothing intresting or mind blowing. And the main page is not the forum but where is the most activity? :rolleyes: The forums. Ads and forums should be the core focus of the front page because the news articles themselves, if at all intresting, end up being turned into a forum community thread topic that everyone can talk about. Some have already said that they are leaving the site because it looks like a copy/paste from other sites. You mentioned that this is a year in the making...Im having my doubts on that as other sites have looked like this long time before Neowin. I feel that applying the new look to the forums will be better (with some much needed tweaks of course) There is no orginality. The forums, 4 years later, still look OK and Neowin style. Raa 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambroos Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Good to know about directWrite, thanks. Hopefully it will be enabled by default in the near future or you'll get lots of people with the same initial impression that I had In the next major Chrome release it will be, should happen in a few weeks to a few months. People are used to it in Chrome, it's an issue with almost all webfonts. OmniouS 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i11usive Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Will the notifications be coming back on the homepage? That was a very quick way for me to see what was happening in the forums. Raa and Cosmocronos 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 Timan mentioned that everyone should make their own thread about feedback/issues/bugs/etc. so please do not thread hijack. :) Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven P. Administrators Posted August 25, 2014 Administrators Share Posted August 25, 2014 Good to know about directWrite, thanks. Hopefully it will be enabled by default in the near future or you'll get lots of people with the same initial impression that I had It should already be enabled by default but I guess they are still working on some bugs. I enabled it too, and after a long session the fonts sometimes get garbled. It now says "disable DirectWrite" in flags, whereas until recently it said "Enable DirectWrite" :p So combine them??? A very shot row of threads and make it update with a icon. And the titles can be perfectly long if its in the header. Those top pormo huge pictures have got to go ASAP. They really arent nothing intresting or mind blowing. And the main page is not the forum but where is the most activity? :rolleyes: The forums. Ads and forums should be the core focus of the front page because the news articles themselves, if at all intresting, end up being turned into a forum community thread topic that everyone can talk about. Some have already said that they are leaving the site because it looks like a copy/paste from other sites. You mentioned that this is a year in the making...Im having my doubts on that as other sites have looked like this long time before Neowin. I feel that applying the new look to the forums will be better (with some much needed tweaks of course) There is no orginality. The forums, 4 years later, still look OK and Neowin style. Sorry to burst your bubble, but the main page gets over twice the amount of unique hits than the forums :) Will the notifications be coming back on the homepage? That was a very quick way for me to see what was happening in the forums. Yes, as soon as a few important bugs are sorted out, that will be a priority. deadonthefloor, Neyht, theyarecomingforyou and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian S. Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Having just text at the top would be hideous, and as Neobond said forums does not equal front page. The pictures are big, but they are higher resolution than before. It will have more interesting stuff when Threshold arrives. Steven P. 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordcom Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 The reason I wasn't able to visit the site yesterday. I saw this coming. Overall I like this new design. Looks more modern now. +Anarkii, xrobwx71, Jarrichvdv and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 Sorry to burst your bubble, but the main page gets over twice the amount of unique hits than the forums :)You said it yourself: Unique hits. Who visits the site the most, that unique hit guy reading some article or members like Hum that post nonstop? There is a example of Neowin's new design done right: This is the version with ads. As you can see, I already see one news article and can read quickly at a glance some of the story. Only ONE featured story/promo/news/etc. You wanna make it interesting? Make it change/scroll thru every x second (that might annoy some but) or randomly pick one. One interesting article is enough. Right side, you still see other interesting stories (that would be the threads on Neowin for example. These have even less information than the one currently on Neowin) Here is the version without the ads. As you see the amount of information is now HUGE on 1920x1080. I wanted to show this version because change the location/size of ads can also influence information and/or ad clicks. I dont remember any Photoshop mockups of the new site a year ago shown to, for example, subscribers for a opinion before even starting to code/style. Neowin just did it behind the scenes and said a month ago, "Presto! Here you guys go!" Raa 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BooBerry Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 1. Slide in top menu annoying 2. Gradients are annoying 3. Top Part (Menu and Images) are too big 4. Needless zoom in effect when hovering over the top part images magicmike, zafum, MrPringles and 6 others 9 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timan Veteran Posted August 25, 2014 Veteran Share Posted August 25, 2014 You said it yourself: Unique hits. Who visits the site the most, that unique hit guy reading some article or members like Hum that post nonstop? There is a example of Neowin's new design done right: atad.png This is the version with ads. As you can see, I already see one news article and can read quickly at a glance some of the story. Only ONE featured story/promo/news/etc. You wanna make it interesting? Make it change/scroll thru every x second (that might annoy some but) or randomly pick one. One interesting article is enough. Right side, you still see other interesting stories (that would be the threads on Neowin for example. These have even less information than the one currently on Neowin) atnoad.png Here is the version without the ads. As you see the amount of information is now HUGE on 1920x1080. I wanted to show this version because change the location/size of ads can also influence information and/or ad clicks. I dont remember any Photoshop mockups of the new site a year ago shown to, for example, subscribers for a opinion before even starting to code/style. Neowin just did it behind the scenes and said a month ago, "Presto! Here you guys go!" https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1176305-responsive-neowin-update-mid-2014/ Look at when the thread was started :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1176305-responsive-neowin-update-mid-2014/ Look at when the thread was started :p That first post just includes a simple Photoshop mockup of ONE header and only ONE version. I doubt the entire design was thought up... Raa 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timan Veteran Posted August 25, 2014 Veteran Share Posted August 25, 2014 That first post just includes a simple Photoshop mockup of ONE header and only ONE version. I doubt the entire design was thought up... Well there are mockups throughout that thread. We'll take some of your feedback into consideration. Rgiht now we have a few performance quirks/bugs to work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 Well there are mockups throughout that thread. We'll take some of your feedback into consideration. Rgiht now we have a few performance quirks/bugs to work out.Thank you Timan. BTW, what are the min browser requirements? What I mean is can Internet Explorer 8 render the front page correctly? Or have you discarded that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fayker Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 At first, I like the intent to refresh the website. but perhaps it needs some fine tune.Heres a site that i personally like of its design and readability. Can serve as an inspiration for Neowin website refresh.http://www.polygon.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven P. Administrators Posted August 25, 2014 Administrators Share Posted August 25, 2014 The site is fully compatible with Internet Explorer 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
encarta Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 There is no way to reply to a comment if the browser width is less than 784px (replying also doesn't work on my Lumia 930). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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