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New Web Site Design
42 Comments
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Hi guys! Welcome to the new web site design! I know…we have been talking about a new design for a long time now but, we have been working hard on it the last few weeks and it is finally ready for launch (at least as far as we can tell! 
). We hope you enjoy the new design and some of the new features that it brings. Our goal was to create a site that is constantly changing and up-dating thus making it more interactive. If you are really scared…just select the Blog option on the top menu bar and it might feel a little more comfortable! Let us know in the comment what you think.
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We’re seeing weird issues with Safari and IE 7 that we didn’t see before going live. We’ll continue working to get this fixed. Please let us know if you’re having issues.
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Very nice work Mr and Mrs Porter.
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Nicely done, but this is gonna take some getting used to, just like Facebook, but in a good way.
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Looks real good on Firefox, but looks unorganized on Safari 4 beta. Keep up the good work!
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Brooke on March 21st, 2009 10:04 pm:
Yeah, we are working on that…ran into some technically difficulties!
Very clean – I like it! Looks great in Safari 3.2.1 and Firefox 3.0.7
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It looks good in Safari 4 right now. Only thing that I think might be an issue is that the first time I loaded the new design it took everything under the “Recent” heading 5+ seconds to load (maybe even up to 10). Until those three articles loaded I thought I was at some spam site because there were just blue links everywhere (typical of parked pages).
Now that I’ve visited the site it only takes it a second to load everything under “Recent.” Just thought I would point it out so you don’t lose any visitors.
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Douglas on March 21st, 2009 10:52 pm:
Thanks for the info!
Most problems are cleaned up now. Thanks to Adam our old programmer! Let us know if you find anything else.
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I dont like… sory…
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It looks GREAT!!!
I love the update! The other one was just so bland! For a second I thought I had gone to the wrong site
-Cooper
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Dude.. the design is plain boring and so 5 years ago.
you could have found a better designer then that.
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i dont like the design at all. Good thing i go into the mobile version because only by looking at this “new site” it gave me headaches.
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This is much more organized and professional looking in my opinion.
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I love change and this looks to be yet another piece of proof that change is good.
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Hi. If its not a problem, please add polish language to translate
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I don’t know …
I think the ads are ridiculously huge and right in the middle of where you’re trying to read…
It might be me, but I think its a bit too cluttered. I like the added touch about the Apps on the bottom, but its a little messy looking all around.
Works great on GoogleChrome by the way!
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nice change, look good on Opera 9.63—
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looks pretty neat. Keep up the good work.
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Okay. initial first impressions:
1) I agree with Kyle, the “recent” items on the homepage takes too long to load. The rest of the page is there almost instantly. This does look odd and if I didn’t already know the site, I might not stick around long enough to see any real content.
2) I think the advertising is relatively unobtrusive, though I think making your “Featured Video” appear above the advert panel on the right would make it more of a feature. At the moment I have to scroll down the page to see it.
3) I don’t like lists of links, I never have. So all the stuff on the homepage below “Recent” is an eye sore to me and very boring. I’m never going to trawl through a list, if I don’t see what I want on the homepage I’ll just search for it.
4) If I click on a menu item that has a drop down list, I go to a dead page. For example, clicking on “Mod” just loads an ugly page that lists the items in the drop down section. Likewise with “Hack”, “Media” and “More”. However, “Applications” and “Accessories” don’t do this though and take me to a proper page, much better.
5) The forum doesn’t fit in with the new design.
Generally excellent though and the above is meant as constructive criticism. Overall it’s great!
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Douglas on March 22nd, 2009 9:22 am:
Thanks for taking the time to give feedback. I’ll try to respond to your comments.
1) you’re right, this is the biggest problem we’re having, it wasn’t that bad when only we were using it but when the whole site transitioned it’s slow. Our programmer, Adam, is going to make them load dynamically meaning they only load once you click the tab.
2) I’ll be honest, the ad is “above to fold” to bring more profit, but only on the homepage. On individual article they are between the article and the comments. We attempted to make them “unobtrusive” but visible. Obtrusive would be huge square ads in the article like most news sites.
3) We intend to redesign those lists on the bottom of the homepage with icons and a little more spaced out. So I agree with you here.
4) would it be better that they don’t link at all? I agree with your frustration here too.
5) it is on the list to fit in the site.
Thanks for your feedback!
Luffer on March 22nd, 2009 10:47 am:
I don’t know how to reply to your post, so I’ll just reply to mine instead
1) Sound like that should fix the problem. All the testing in the world can never account for the sheer demand on your database and server once it goes live. It’s an understandable teething problem and good to hear a plan is already being formulated to cure it.
2) Of course, and that’s totally understandable. But in my humble opinion you would be better to have the featured video as a more prominent item on the homepage. Put the advert higher up on the other pages. Not the other way around.
Web surfers like videos and they will account for a much high click rate than text articles. I think you’ll find you will get more exposure to ads on other pages if the content is the main focus of the homepage. Many people don’t bother to scroll down when they visit a page, so the chances are they will miss your video altogether.
3) Yes, icons or something to just break up the list is what’s needed here. I don’t have answers to the problems and many sites do resort to lists. So it’s a common problem. I just know I don’t like them
4) I think it would be better if the menu headers could link to all the “Mod”, “Hack”, “Media” and “More” articles respectively. If that’s not possible I would opt for not linking them to a page. The current behaviour of the menu makes the site look broken because I’m expecting to see, “Hack” articles, but instead get a list of categories under “Hack”. What’s more, that list doesn’t do anything, I can’t follow them as links.
5) Good to hear, one step at a time!
A final note, again just a personal thing. I would feel more comfortable if the blue header bars tied in with the dark menu bars at the top. Also if possible, make the buttons under the “Recent” section bigger, or make them look more like tabs. I didn’t realise they were there until just now.
regards
I like it.
It’ll just take some getting used to, but that applys to most things any way. 
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i dont mind the new design,
however the first thing i thought of when i seen the new site was………
ads
they suck.
I see you added a sneaky one between the content and the top bar.
i understand you would like to make money but comon…. i HATE it when i click the wrong thing n get an ad. it just annoys me.
i see myself doing that and i dont think i will bother coming to the site… ill just stick to the RSS feed.
everything between the top n the bottom bar seems fine however the black bars kinda seem lame… (check the image) http://i41.tinypic.com/2evxa29.png
I hope you read this and understand that i am unhappy with these things.
Feel free to email me.
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Douglas on March 22nd, 2009 9:25 am:
No need to email. I can respond here. Those ads below the nav bar were always below the previous design. Feel free to stick to RSS feed. The site has other updated info and you can always bookmark the blog page instead of the homepage.
i liked the “older” design… it was much more “apple-like”. but is you changed it, then i guess, it will just gonna take some time to getting used to it in its new appearance…
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Its been working fairly well on safari 4 beta. First load took a good 15 seconds to load. One small complain is that the recent, forum and comments etc. tabs load all at once which takes 5 seconds to show any articles, since they are all loading at once. I don’t mind it, but newcomers to your website might be impatient.
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I see a number of sites going to this list of links format and I must be honest, I don’t like it. I believe in the “fewest clicks as possible” rule. Having a brief summary in the first few sentences with a link to the article… sort of what you had… allows the reader to be teased and follow the thread.
If I have to click to read, I probably will not.
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the old way was much simpler and easier to navigate. it looked a lot better too. i hate how people change just for the sake of change. just like facebook
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I’m not liking the new look. Everything below the fold is worthless. Only 3 articles on the home page. After jail breaking my iPhone, the articles are what drove me to the site.
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It’s hard to use just like the new facebook, oh well
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Slick design by the way! Page load time is significantly slower
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how do i search for articles, i want to find some info on sbsettings, specifically how it affects battery life and performance on a 2g iphone
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Douglas on March 23rd, 2009 6:57 pm:
Search is at the very top right of the website.
iLove my iPhone on March 23rd, 2009 11:35 pm:
Its covered by an ad banner and is inaccessable no matter what i do
One way to look at it is going from the simplicity of the iPhone and other Apple products to the constant frustration of Windows.
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i really enjoyed it better
it was more colorfull too bad!!!!!!!!!!!!111111
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i really enjoyed it better before
it was more colorfull too bad!!!!!!!!!!!!111111
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Crap Cracp CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!11!1111oneoneone!!11!!1!1!!!
Sorry but I was scared when I saw the new look
Bring the old one back please
Or make it optional
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Haha, ok, it will take some time to get used to but I like the site (that’s not what I’m laughing at). What I’m laughing at is when I went to
Mod>Custom Icons>Doom>
Then I clicked on one of the images, for some reason it took me to apple. Maybe this is supposed to happen in which case, “I never heard anyone laughing.”
Cool website btw!
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im going to be real honest the other one was much better it just looked neater and easier to navigate
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In two words. I hate it. The previous design was much more friendly looking. This one is just too cluttered.
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