Changes due to feedback on Neowin 5

[Steven P. Administrators]

- Added poster info and comment count to main articles and Around the Web

- Increased spacing between articles, so it doesn't look "cramped"

- Added toggle option to increase the width of the site

- Added padding around the articles so they appear less cluttered/tight

- Fixed PM indicator back to red and centered the number (applies only to less than 10 unread PM's)

Edited October 16, 2008 by Neobond

[darren89]

thanks for the update.

[redeemed]

Thanks Neobond, and also thanks to all the staff who worked on the original Finity and this update :)

[-KJ]

Nice changes. I would like to see some more horizontal padding (widen the layout a little bit) but that may just be me :p

[Raa]

Thanks for the changes, still more to go IMO, but i'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Oh wait, I paid that's right :p

[White Cuban]

thanks, but please move the ads from middle of page, ithink i will enable adblock again for that page unless it will get moved, it makes reading hard. and is extremely invasive.

[Antaris Veteran]

I have issues, not with the redesign, but with so many people moaning about the ads. I'm a subscriber too, but I didn't subscribe to Neowin to get rid of ads, in fact, its not even an option. So why are so many people, Subscribers included moaning about the ads? They help maintain this awesome service that Neobond and co offer, at no additional cost to the end user.

Many websites will pack a design out for max advertisement space, but Neowin maintains a strict policy of control when it comes to ads. If you switch on your ad blocker, you are infact hurting this site's ability to continue and grow and keep providing the level of service which for me, thus far has been brilliant.

I subscribed to Neowin because I want to support it. It's my #1 destination on the internet. I want it to continue as much as possible. All this sensless moaning about ads is just a bit too pedantic.

[+Ryster Subscriber²]

I have issues, not with the redesign, but with so many people moaning about the ads. I'm a subscriber too, but I didn't subscribe to Neowin to get rid of ads, in fact, its not even an option. So why are so many people, Subscribers included moaning about the ads? They help maintain this awesome service that Neobond and co offer, at no additional cost to the end user.

You're missing the point. No-one is moaning about "the ads". Many of us accept them as a necessary evil. What we're moaning about is the single new ad obtrusively placed slap bang in the middle of the page.

[Veedems Veteran]

You're missing the point. No-one is moaning about "the ads". Many of us accept them as a necessary evil. What we're moaning about is the single new ad obtrusively placed slap bang in the middle of the page.

That ad in the middle brings in more revenue and allows Neobond to turn off intellitxt on the front page, thus speeding up it's load time.

[Panacik]

I have issues, not with the redesign, but with so many people moaning about the ads. I'm a subscriber too, but I didn't subscribe to Neowin to get rid of ads, in fact, its not even an option. So why are so many people, Subscribers included moaning about the ads? They help maintain this awesome service that Neobond and co offer, at no additional cost to the end user.

Many websites will pack a design out for max advertisement space, but Neowin maintains a strict policy of control when it comes to ads. If you switch on your ad blocker, you are infact hurting this site's ability to continue and grow and keep providing the level of service which for me, thus far has been brilliant.

I subscribed to Neowin because I want to support it. It's my #1 destination on the internet. I want it to continue as much as possible. All this sensless moaning about ads is just a bit too pedantic.

Dont like the moaning... dont read the comments. Simple really.

Those who dont like the ad's, which seems to be a majority of people, are bringing up a genuine point about the poor placement of one single ad... so you cant exactly say, 'if you dont like the ads, dont come here', can you.

That ad in the middle brings in more revenue

Or drives new people away from Neowin... take your pick.

[Veedems Veteran]

Man, I complained a lot about the ad, but since they moved everything else out of the middle (affiliates and such) and left only the ad, I really don't think it's that big of a deal.

[LOC Veteran]

Anyone else getting odd issues with the main page rendering in Chrome? I'd like to believe I'm not the only one seeing jumbled up stuff here and there. It could just be my system I suppose though.

[Rob Veteran]

Anyone else getting odd issues with the main page rendering in Chrome? I'd like to believe I'm not the only one seeing jumbled up stuff here and there. It could just be my system I suppose though.

Screenshot please :)

[Panacik]

Man, I complained a lot about the ad, but since they moved everything else out of the middle (affiliates and such) and left only the ad, I really don't think it's that big of a deal.

Unfortunatly for you, you are just one of a small majority who DONT mind the ad. The larger majority dislike it and feel it is intrusive to the text around it.

[Timan Veteran]

Unfortunatly for you, you are just one of a small majority who DONT mind the ad. The larger majority dislike it and feel it is intrusive to the text around it.

Thats hardly the case, its just a few "very vocal" users who are griping about the ad.

[Rob Veteran]

Unfortunatly for you, you are just one of a small majority who DONT mind the ad. The larger majority dislike it and feel it is intrusive to the text around it.

The majority of commenters, sure. What about all those who genuinely don't care enough to comment? As for your post 10, don't think you're not being listened to - we wouldn't be having this dialogue if you weren't. We just disagree.

[LOC Veteran]

Screenshot please :)

Nah it was my system. The page just wasn't loading all the way for some reason. I updated to the newest nightly Chromium build just now and all is well. :)

[+StevoFC MVC]

Honestly, I hate the ad too. But if that little square box is what keeps Neowin here, then throw in a couple more. After a week or 2 I'm sure I will be used to it.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Will the auto refresh of forum posts be re-enabled on the main page? I have asked this at least three times in the main thread but it seems to have gone un-noticed. There was a mention that you want to move away from it because of usability and (I think a joke) that mouse manufacturers will gain more money because of the extra clicks?

When it's on the site, for me at least, is infinitely more usable. Reading the other comments in the main thread it seems to be a feature that is wanted too. I don't want to have to "click" to check each time, nor refresh the whole page, this is a step back imo and was one of the few things on the front page I used a lot. Surely not having it creates more bandwidth as people will be constantly refreshing the whole page rather than just waiting and see new posts?

Just my tuppence worth.

I really like the new design, and can even forgive the ad and the huge amount of redundant space (50%) on 1920x1200 monitor, but please reconsider the autrefresh, or even as I mentioned in the other thread add it back as an option like you did in the last skin.

[Rob Veteran]

Autorefresh I disagree with and I'll talk about it here since you ask again.

It's a usability nightmare and as part of my real-life job I researched into industry papers about this kind of thing - if users go click on a link and find it suddenly moves just as they're making the journey to it, it's frustrating - I hate it myself and it's happened a lot before on Neowin.

Secondly, you don't have to refresh the page - just click the little refresh icon on the box itself to load the feeds again.

Thirdly, doing AJAX interaction with Javascript on a timed basis, specifically when the page itself may not even be the active tab, is pretty bad in terms of browser memory usage unless it's a core feature. For something that is a peripheral feature where we have an alternative (one click to refresh just that area) I see it as a bad trade-off.

Fourthly, and though it's not something I necessarily agree with it's something that is a suggestion made to web developers - once the page is loaded it's typically not a good idea to 'phone home' - certain more paranoid users have suggested on a wider industry level that any kind of timed request to the server when the page is by all intents and purposes idle is both unnecessary and not a good use of the browser environment.

As I say, number 4 isn't something I hugely agree upon but I wanted to let you in to my thought process on this feature - it wasn't disabled out of laziness.

Edited October 16, 2008 by Rob

[Sir Topham Hatt]

I would have preferred "that ad" to be in the right hand side where the "around the web" seciton is. Even if there is a whole side of them I wouldn't mind, it's a shame they break the news page, but yes, the inteli text was awful!

However, I am not the owner of the site, make the changes that need to be done to keep Neowin alive and I am sure I will live! :)

[gnuman]

I complained about the IntelliTXT links being green as it doesn't fit the whole decor though... Although the forum colours should be updated to match the front page as the blues are different color.

I know IntelliTXT adds a lot of load time but making them blue links would look better. I'm surprised he didn't go with the Amazon ones with the amount of products being talked about here :)

[Smigit]

if users go click on a link and find it suddenly moves just as they're making the journey to it, it's frustrating - I hate it myself and it's happened a lot before on Neowin.

I agree that used to irk me. I mean it had it's uses, but a manual refresh seems to get the desired result quicker anyway and it'll mean I don't have links I want to click disapearing. I've lost topics I thought looked interesting because they disapeared just as I went to visit them and sometimes I just don't have the motivation to then go do a search for it.

[Rob Veteran]

I agree that used to irk me. I mean it had it's uses, but a manual refresh seems to get the desired result quicker anyway and it'll mean I don't have links I want to click disapearing. I've lost topics I thought looked interesting because they disapeared just as I went to visit them and sometimes I just don't have the motivation to then go do a search for it.

:) You understand. I get that some people will disagree with my thought-process, which is fine, but I'm glad to see you are actually living proof of what I mean.

[Panacik]

Thats hardly the case, its just a few "very vocal" users who are griping about the ad.

Meh, i would say its only vocal users who actually bother to comment either way (against or for the ad). The others just cant be bothered to comment.

The majority of commenters, sure. What about all those who genuinely don't care enough to comment? As for your post 10, don't think you're not being listened to - we wouldn't be having this dialogue if you weren't. We just disagree.

Exaclty, they just dont care to comment either way.

I dont think we are not being listened to mate. Im sure we are, otherwise we wouldnt be in this thread having this discussion :).

My other thought is, that the reason that ad is going to generate extra revenue, is because people may accidently click on it rather than click on it, because the ad has something they genuinly wanted to look at...