Changes due to feedback on Neowin 5

[Rob Veteran]

We label the ads in line with industry recommendations so I'm not so hot on the idea people will accidentally click on them if they don't wish to. And if they do wish to, well, then the ads are serving their purpose and are relevant to the user base.

[Ricardo Gil]

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.

They all seem wise choices imo.

[Timan Veteran]

Its not perfect, but you can now toggle the site (fixed = default) and have the site be semi-fluid, it'll expand it a tad big larger. (button is where the rss icon used to be in the navigation bar)

[DavidM]

Thanks for trying to improve the site. It's a great site as you can see I've been here for a while, just not very vocal. I can see why people are complaining about the square ad, but since I cannot afford to subscribe I have to accept your need to make ends meet. I realize this site uses a lot of bandwidth and the new server was not free, nor is the time you guys put into the site. So, thanks for everything you do.

I have just two questions -Will "headline view" ever make it back? -Will the articles get sorted like before and color coded?

Again thanks for the time and effort you guys have pit into the site.

[DreadBoat89]

i find these a bit strange in their placement...

imo, only announcements should go before these, not post articles.

[Rob Veteran]

imo, only announcements should go before these, not post articles.

The current rationale is that these promos separate either announcements / sticky news items, or they separate out what's the 'latest' news story on the site.

[Mike]

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.

agreed, which is why the tabs on the previous skin used to **** me off. Even if you hovered the current selected tab it'd refresh the links! Not to mention hovering over the main tab used to replace the userbar with different content :p

Is there a chance of the latest activity area getting some +/- links like the bbc's site so we can add more posts to it ourselves? Currently i'm removing the whole activity block and inserting the latest forum activity block from the forums below the header so i can have more posts shown as well as more info :p

[Jase]

Ahh more changes! :) Excellent work Team Neowin.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

very nice (Y) I love the stretching addition

[Lasker]

Does anyone feel that these two links should be posted in the large bar on the top? That large bar is too big for something that does not need to take an entire space side to side.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Does anyone feel that these two links should be posted in the large bar on the top?

I'm inclined to agree. Putting those two links up there whilst making the GUI Olympics banner smaller would make more sense than the current solution.

[Axel]

Its not perfect, but you can now toggle the site (fixed = default) and have the site be semi-fluid, it'll expand it a tad big larger. (button is where the rss icon used to be in the navigation bar)

Lovin this option :)

[anonymous_user]

So is the width setting remembered on my account, on a cookie, or...?

[Steven P. Administrators]

So is the width setting remembered on my account, on a cookie, or...?

It was when we tested it, so yeah *runs*

[Rob Veteran]

So is the width setting remembered on my account, on a cookie, or...?

I coded it to work on a cookie basis.

[anonymous_user]

So which one is it? :ermm:

[BrewNinja]

I dont post in the forums really, I only come for the news...have for many many years. I actually came into the forum to see if anyone else hated the placement of the ad. So everyone saying its just vocal people is wrong. I understand the purpose of the ad, but the placement is horrible. At least if your going to have it in the middle of the page, dont put articles next to it.

The new theme looks nice, but its too cramped. There is a lot more information in such a small space. I would be interested in seeing what the majority of users are using for resolutions, cause it would be nice for it to be expanded out a bit.

[Rob Veteran]

So which one is it? :ermm:

Already replied. Cookies.

[Geranium_Z__NL]

No. No macs!!

haha just kidding

[Eric Veteran]

It's still got the combination of shocking blue and thin fonts. I can't read it without eye strain. I've changed my Neowin bookmark to the forums now, so the badly placed ad isn't helping. :(

[Steven P. Administrators]

I guess a combination of us really needing to cover costs and a massive change away from what we've had for the past 8 years will get some getting used too (or not if people find it so bad they go elsewhere).

We have to move with the times, many large sites do the same as we are doing now with the news.. It hurt our revenue a lot that we posted full articles on the main page and like I've said elsewhere we've had change in order not to buckle under the dwindling revenue and strain.

[Richard Hammond]

(Y)

Its still in the middle of the page just set to the right.

[Mike]

^^ looks a *lot* better to me (Y)

although, not too sure on 2 ads next to each other :p

[Lasker]

(Y)

Its still in the middle of the page just set to the right.

That's perfect, Neobond take a look at this design, I think it makes more sense and looks much greater!

[Ricardo Gil]

That's perfect, Neobond take a look at this design, I think it makes more sense and looks much greater!

Yes it does, but will it make as much revenue? Isn't "middle page" pricier for advertisers? Anyone? 'Cause it does look much better.