Changes due to feedback on Neowin 5

[Jase]

Among the rotations are specific versions for Windows support (this one), Mac support and Linux support. It's part of an advertising approach to show the community aspect is not just for Neowin.

It rotates! I just realized this! Well done! (Y)

[Denis W. Veteran]

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.

And if that large ad means Intellitxt is gone for good, keep it. (Y)

The stretch button's a good idea but when the page first loads it always loads the 'expand' button image even if the page is set to automatically expand on load.

[Lt-DavidW]

Much improved!! It's starting to look really nice now.

I still suggest simplifying the dropdown arrows beside 'control panel', 'main', and 'irc'. See example:

Edited October 16, 2008 by Lt-DavidW

[Mike]

But one of the beautiful things about the web is that each of us are free to wander off and create our own technology news site, just as we like it. Thus, we don't need to waste time posting images of how sites we visit should be.

and one of the beautiful things about life is that we are allowed to voice our opinions which is exactly what "richard" did, he didn't say to change it to how he had it, he just gave his opinion on what he likes better in an image instead of writing it down

I am no Neowin expert of course, but my understanding is that it's always been about technology and relaying technology news to the masses. To make this happen, revenue is needed.

if you read through the ad blockers topic you'll see the staff views that neowin isn't like other sites because the ads are/were done in a way so they weren't in the way. With the new skin there is now an ad directly in the news article area of the main page, not to mention the ad after the first forum post for guests.

If the majority of the page was consumed by ads, I could begin to understand your stance, but it's nothing like that. I'm afraid this argument will forever remain a mystery to me.

Did you miss the period where news articles had 1 ad in the header, 1 just below on the right and one at the bottom of the very short page? 3 ads in one screen space = imo, a lot.

[Jase]

Much improved!! It's starting to look really nice now.

I still suggest simplifying the dropdown arrows beside 'control panel', 'main', and 'irc'. See example:

why?.. it suits the menu very much.. simplifying it would kind of ruin the whole concept of the menu.

[Lt-DavidW]

Much improved!! It's starting to look really nice now.

I still suggest simplifying the dropdown arrows beside 'control panel', 'main', and 'irc'. See example:

why?.. it suits the menu very much.. simplifying it would kind of ruin the whole concept of the menu.

The small circular dimples behind the arrows don't add anything. Removing them makes the menubar look sleeker, in my opinion at least.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

Then get done for fraud mass clicking is not allowed as far as I know.

I don't mean sit there one day a month and click 30 times. I would have to say a large majority of neowin users use adblock. It sucks that it effects neowin too, but it helps out on a lot of other web sites.

If everyone clicked ads that interested them, I think neowin would make a little more cash.

[»X«]

This whole ad issue is a double edged sword. However isn't there an easier option?

Keep the ad where it is, add more, etc BUT anyone who subscribes should be able to browse Neowin ad free. And before you all complain, it could be done right.

I for one would gladly pay, say $3/4/5 per MONTH to use this website, no quarms. Anyone who doesnt pay, puts up with the ads, end of. Since once alot of people subscribe, you don't get another boost of subscriber money for a whole year. Making a monthly option would increase income for Neowin, give people no ads etc. Perhaps add a third option.

Don't subscribe = Ads

Yearly = Ads, Blog, Badge

Monthly = No ads, Blog, New badge(?)

There would be a hell of a lot more subscribers if the removal of ads was in the package too. I would be the first to sign up with this one, I can promise you that.

[Richard Hammond]

Id pay a dollar or two monthly to get rid of ads i despise them.

[FiB3R]

I hadn't bothered complaining about that ad, because so many people had already mentioned it. And that it was such an obvious thing that needed fixing, I though it was a given, that it would be being moved. It's right in the middle of the bloody page!

[shakey_snake]

I for one would gladly pay, say $3/4/5 per MONTH to use this website, no quarms. Anyone who doesnt pay, puts up with the ads, end of. Since once alot of people subscribe, you don't get another boost of subscriber money for a whole year. Making a monthly option would increase income for Neowin, give people no ads etc. Perhaps add a third option.

Don't subscribe = Ads

Yearly = Ads, Blog, Badge

Monthly = No ads, Blog, New badge(?)

There would be a hell of a lot more subscribers if the removal of ads was in the package too. I would be the first to sign up with this one, I can promise you that.

• First off, that is really going to hurt their relationship with their advertisers.
  
• Secondly, subscribers are here more, have more page loads, and use more bandwidth.
  So for pay-per-show ads (like the huge one in the middle of the front page that is so egregious :rolleyes:), removing ads for a subscriber hurts more than any regular tom-dick-and-harry.
  
• what you are essentially suggesting is that Neowin should transfer some of their revenue stream from a relatively dependable source (ie page-loads) to an undependable one: people's good will. That's nonsense from any business perspective.
  Especially when people's "good will" is in direct competition with other solutions for an ad-free neowin (ie ad-blockers) that many people run anyways.
  

[Rappy Veteran]

This whole ad issue is a double edged sword. However isn't there an easier option?

Keep the ad where it is, add more, etc BUT anyone who subscribes should be able to browse Neowin ad free. And before you all complain, it could be done right.

I for one would gladly pay, say $3/4/5 per MONTH to use this website, no quarms. Anyone who doesnt pay, puts up with the ads, end of. Since once alot of people subscribe, you don't get another boost of subscriber money for a whole year. Making a monthly option would increase income for Neowin, give people no ads etc. Perhaps add a third option.

Don't subscribe = Ads

Yearly = Ads, Blog, Badge

Monthly = No ads, Blog, New badge(?)

There would be a hell of a lot more subscribers if the removal of ads was in the package too. I would be the first to sign up with this one, I can promise you that.

New packages were discussed a long time ago I am not sure where that stands now tho.

[»X«]

what you are essentially suggesting is that Neowin should transfer some of their revenue stream from a relatively dependable source (ie page-loads) to an undependable one: people's good will. That's nonsense from any business perspective.

Especially when people's "good will" is in direct competition with other solutions for an ad-free neowin (ie ad-blockers) that many people run anyways.

Not really. Surely having a monthly fee as well as what they are doing? IF "good will" fails, they have exactly what they have already to supply income. Its not instead of, its as well.

[+shift. MVC]

New packages were discussed a long time ago I am not sure where that stands now tho.

I heard those options aren't completely eliminated yet. They just haven't been discussed a lot lately....

[Reacon]

Can someone care to explain just what the hell "intelli-text" is? I keep hearing "The new ad allows Neowin to turn off intelli-text on the front page". What is intellitext?!

[Eric Veteran]

Can someone care to explain just what the hell "intelli-text" is? I keep hearing "The new ad allows Neowin to turn off intelli-text on the front page". What is intellitext?!

Irritating green double-underlined words that pop up ads when you point at them.

[Rappy Veteran]

I heard those options aren't completely eliminated yet. They just haven't been discussed a lot lately....

Yeah they were on the back burner

[Reacon]

Irritating green double-underlined words that pop up ads when you point at them.

Oh gawd... I HATE those. But I seemed to have missed the intellitext that was supposedly on Neowin 4

[megamanXplosion]

I like the widescreen toggle and the greater spacing—much better. It still feels a tad cramped, but now I can visit the main page without feeling claustrophobic.

[mdtaUK]

I had a quick idea on placement of the advert, and separating the announcement/top story/sticky etc. The advertisers like to have their box ads above the folder higher up on the page, so, why not combine those image feature links, and the advert. The lower stories aren't obstructed, the advert is still centred, and you have space for one additional feature image.

[bmdixon]

I am starting to like the new style a bit more now, but i am not keen on the ads..

Having said that, i am not actually seeing any ads most of the time (i have neowin whitelisted in adblock), just a blue box... The only one that occasionally shows is the top one... Do i need to whitelist anything else?

Looking forward to seeing the forum style :)

[QuietStorm21A]

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.

Well if you put it like that i totally agree and thank you guys for a great new look much appreciated.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I am starting to like the new style a bit more now, but i am not keen on the ads..

Having said that, i am not actually seeing any ads most of the time (i have neowin whitelisted in adblock), just a blue box... The only one that occasionally shows is the top one... Do i need to whitelist anything else?

Looking forward to seeing the forum style :)

Do you use noscript?

It blocks the ads from showing up as well I believe.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I had a quick idea on placement of the advert, and separating the announcement/top story/sticky etc. The advertisers like to have their box ads above the folder higher up on the page, so, why not combine those image feature links, and the advert. The lower stories aren't obstructed, the advert is still centred, and you have space for one additional feature image.

i honestly like this idea i think that it looks rather nice and if people are going to complain about an ad then this would be a nice solution.. .. however honestly in my idea there is nothing wrong with the current design i like things the way that they are.

[asusfreak]

I like this image :)

The site looks ok :)