Changes due to feedback on Neowin 5

[Shadrack]

That is really awesome that you guys took the time to read through suggestions and make changes. I like the changes. It did feel a little cramp, but now a lot better.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

I like this image :)

The site looks ok :)

yeah because there isn't any ads on it lol.... but you gotta come back to reality to understand that it isn't gonna happen like that

[+shift. MVC]

I guess the problem here is not the fact that there is an advert, but rather the placement of it wasn't done too well.

[backdrifter]

I guess the problem here is not the fact that there is an advert, but rather the placement of it wasn't done too well.

Agreed. My biggest concern is how one of the articles gets bent around the ad box, which really hurts my eyes. I can put up with the ad and its place but maybe it should be isolated from the chunk of text a little bit and stay by its own.

[Eric Veteran]

yeah because there isn't any ads on it lol.... but you gotta come back to reality to understand that it isn't gonna happen like that

I see a banner ad in the header and one on the right under the news filter.

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.

Can't you just make the auto-updating section NOT update when the mouse is over it?

[gigapixels Veteran]

Can't you just make the auto-updating section NOT update when the mouse is over it?

You still have situations where the link may disappear before you can get to it. You see a link but it disappears before you can even react and start moving the mouse to it; you see a link but even as you're moving your mouse over to the box, it disappears; etc.

It's just not a good idea when it comes to usability. I can't tell you how many times I've inadvertently clicked on the wrong link in the old version simply because it changed before I could get to it.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

But in the very very few occasions that does happen there is the "recent posts" link that used to be under the personalised section on the front page. And yes we could have used that (if it was still there but even that small section is now gone) but it is so much easier with an auto refresh.

I get it now that no matter how much we ask you are not going to add it back but still, its a very handy feature and I will miss it sorely, as mentioned I can put up with a crap advert in the middle of a page but that fro me was practical :(

[statm1]

I really like this change as well. It better separates the announcement/sticky/latest post from the rest of the posts and puts the ad in a better place IMHO.

As for all the updates that were done to finity. Thank you for every single one of them. As for the ads, I have never understood peoples discust with ads. On a page, it doesnt keep you from reading the articles, on Messengers the ads dont keep you from IMing anything, etc..

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

I see a banner ad in the header and one on the right under the news filter.

... I wasn't talking about that.. I haven't heard any complaints about that ad.

and that tiny 70x70px ad on the right hand side, hidden away at the bottom?

Yeah maybe we should go with that style, that suits everyones needs except the fact the bills wont get paid.

[Eric Veteran]

... I wasn't talking about that.. I haven't heard any complaints about that ad.

and that tiny 70x70px ad on the right hand side, hidden away at the bottom?

Yeah maybe we should go with that style, that suits everyones needs except the fact the bills wont get paid.

I was referring to a comment about someone else's mock-up, not the real site.

[FiB3R]

I really like this change as well. It better separates the announcement/sticky/latest post from the rest of the posts and puts the ad in a better place IMHO.

As for all the updates that were done to finity. Thank you for every single one of them. As for the ads, I have never understood peoples discust with ads. On a page, it doesnt keep you from reading the articles, on Messengers the ads dont keep you from IMing anything, etc..

I like this layout the best so far. As for the "Latest Community Activity" section, couldn't you just put a Play/Pause toggle button next to the refresh button? Everybody's happy :)

[.KICK]

You might want to fix the links on the buttons at the top of forum page, clicking on them loads up the url but just shows the main news page.

Example -

https://www.neowin.net/news/gamers

and

https://www.neowin.net/news/software

Both links load up but not what page its meant to!

[Timan Veteran]

Thanks .KICK, fixing those now.

[p858snake]

Justifying the text is currently being considered - but here's something you might not know actually, the justification algorithm is so very different between browsers! It astounded me when I looked into it that it doesn't work as nicely as, say, Word Processors - some browsers do it horribly. So yes we may choose to do this but only if we can have a fall-back for browsers whose justification implementation is, frankly, crap.

Yeah justification is pain, espically when there are multipul differnt types. eg:

Forced Justify - All lines inculding the last one (can look very horrible when theres only a few words on the last one)

{Left/Right/Center} Justify - Justify all lines execpt for the last one and format the last one as such.

I believe the current C.S.S. specs only supports forced =(

[ambiance]

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.

Brilliant! Doesn't push down ATW, creates a stronger border and makes the ad even more visible without distracting from the news posts.

[Calum Veteran]

Brilliant! Doesn't push down ATW, creates a stronger border and makes the ad even more visible without distracting from the news posts.

Agreed completely! It looks so much better & makes sense because the ad is even more prominent.

What do the developers & staff think? Neobond?

[Tech Star]

I love the design right now (I don't mind the ad at all), BUT for all those that don't like it what about this:

[Jase]

I love the design right now (I don't mind the ad at all), BUT for all those that don't like it what about this:

<snip>

Not really, the placement on the right is much more User Friendly. putting it in the middle is a distraction to the news posts.

I think its fine as it is now, Neowin staff have done an excellent job.

[FiB3R]

I think we should be able to drag them about, and put them where we want. Web 3.0 ftw :)

[Tech Star]

Not really, the placement on the right is much more User Friendly. putting it in the middle is a distraction to the news posts.

I think its fine as it is now, Neowin staff have done an excellent job.

Yes they have and I like the theme as it is right now. It's just a mockup for those that want change.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

I love the design right now (I don't mind the ad at all), BUT for all those that don't like it what about this:

<snip>

Wasted screen space.

[joker999]

Wasted screen space.

Hmmm if you click "< >" will use up these space.

But that picture look wrong.

[Kirkburn]

Wasted screen space.

Uh, you might want to:

#1: Read the initial post

#2: Click the <> button at the top right of the page, next to mail.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Uh, you might want to:

#1: Read the initial post

#2: Click the <> button at the top right of the page, next to mail.

Uh, I did read the initial post.

#1: I was replying to Tech Star's Post.

#2 :I used the <> button and it works.

Hmmm if you click "< >" will use up these space.

But that picture look wrong.

That rectangle with save, copy, print...should not be there.

[Crackler]

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.

This looks great! :yes: