If I'm being honest...

[TechDog]

I just can't get my head wrapped around the new format. I really don't care much for it.

I much preferred the old one.

TD

 

[dhlucke]

Takes a little bit of time. You'll get used to it.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

What don't you like?

 

[steve_sa]

I just can't get my head wrapped around the new format. I really don't care much for it.

I much preferred the old one.

TD

You have a post count of 2, that means you did not spend much time at the old forums.... how would one know the difference unless one spends some time.

 

[pickxx]

I just can't get my head wrapped around the new format. I really don't care much for it.

I much preferred the old one.

TD

You have a post count of 2, that means you did not spend much time at the old forums.... how would one know the difference unless one spends some time.

SCUBA STEVE WITH THE SUPER COMEBACK OF THE YEAR!!

EAT THAT N00B!!!!!

 

[TechDog]

Not talking about the forums. I'm talking about the news page.

-TD

I just can't get my head wrapped around the new format. I really don't care much for it.

I much preferred the old one.

TD

You have a post count of 2, that means you did not spend much time at the old forums.... how would one know the difference unless one spends some time.

 

[TechDog]

Noob? I've been reading Toms Hardware for many years. I'm talking about the news page, not the forums.

TD

I just can't get my head wrapped around the new format. I really don't care much for it.

I much preferred the old one.

TD

You have a post count of 2, that means you did not spend much time at the old forums.... how would one know the difference unless one spends some time.

SCUBA STEVE WITH THE SUPER COMEBACK OF THE YEAR!!

EAT THAT N00B!!!!!

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Yeah, the news page is an awful lot like the THG main page in that respect. I can't blame you for not getting it. It's still got me confused. (Granted, that's mostly because I'm just not using it.) The old layout was a heck of a lot easier to comprehend, even if it wasn't all that great either.

 

[mrface]

youre such a n00b SP

 

[steve_sa]

Thanks for the clarification TechDog 😀 Then I would suggest that you provide some specific recommendations on improvements you like to see, as I don't think tg is going back to the old style.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

youre such a n00b SP

Yup. That's me. :lol:

 

[TechDog]

It's too, how do I put it... Segmented.

Kinda like trying to watch a 60" HDTV from only a foot away, if you catch my drift. Instead of a top-to-bottom scan, you're all over the place trying to see everything.

I prefer a top-to-bottom approach, with stuff in a chronological order. The old page (as was stated above) was not perfect, but it was far more of a top-to-bottom reading experience.

The current TH page has this "Can't see the tree's through the forrest" thing going on right now.

IMHO two of the best web pages on the Internet are hardocp and macintouch. Especially macintouch. Simplicity at it's best.

-Larry

Thanks for the clarification TechDog 😀 Then I would suggest that you provide some specific recommendations on improvements you like to see, as I don't think tg is going back to the old style.

 

[TechDog]

BTW... I've actually been around here for a while, just not a large poster. My previous profile has quit working for some reason and I had to create a new one.

TD

 

[slvr_phoenix]

It's too, how do I put it... Segmented.

I wouldn't say segmented so much as I would say chock full of everything, including the kitchen sink. There's just way too much competing for space with (seemingly) no logical space distribution by importance.

Kinda like trying to watch a 60" HDTV from only a foot away, if you catch my drift.

Or trying to watch a movie from the very first row. Everything is demanding equal attention without a clear and obvious place to look. There's just too much going on.

I prefer a top-to-bottom approach, with stuff in a chronological order. The old page (as was stated above) was not perfect, but it was far more of a top-to-bottom reading experience.

At least some manner of preference for importance and organization would be nice.

The current TH page has this "Can't see the tree's through the forrest" thing going on right now.

I couldn't agree more.

For example, what regular reader comes here daily to look at the following sections: Pick of the Best, Lowest Price Search, Site Search, Regulars, Highlights, Awards, Downloads, Most Wanted, Most Popular Computer Products, Forumz ticker, and Sponsored Links? While readers will use these things every so often, it's certainly not something that readers come daily to look for.

People come daily to read the articles. Period. So Top Stories, TG Daily, and Articles are the three most important features. By themselves they should take up at least 66% of the front page's layout, preferably more like 75%. If I did the math, I doubt they're taking up even half right now. (And I'd bet that whitespace alone is taking up close to 15-20%.)

The other tables can all be secondary pages opened from links on the front page. When readers want them, they'll look for them. It's okay to hide less-used features behind a single click off of the main page. You really don't have to flood the reader with it all at once.

Okay, so the Sponsored Links should probably go on the front page too, in a nice out of the way place like the bottom of the page, because that's probably part of the advertising contract. But that section definately isn't important to readers so shouldn't be too intrusive into the front page. A thin blurb at the top that can easily be scrolled past, or at the bottom where it can be ignored, preferably the latter, is what it should get. (Which it kind of has now anyway, but with the way the page is layed out, makes everything stand out too much and the important things not enough.)

And the Forumz ticker (Does anyone even use this? Do we have click count statistics?), if kept, should probably be more like a thin line across the top of the front page (or all pages?). That way it catches your eye first thing, but is easy to scroll past if you don't give a hoot.

But yeah, the main page should be like Top Stories in it's own thinnish line at the top, Articles, taking up massive amounts of room because it's the most important thing, underneath that (with room for descriptions under three of the titles, and maybe the top five or six titles per section instead of the top three), TG Daily in a much thinner column to the left or right of these two where the titles just run down like bullet points, and then a links bar for the rest of the features on secondary pages also in a thinner column to the left or right. Or if you want to get fancy, the links bar could be fused with the menu bar into a nifty Java pull-down menu or something to conserve a lot of space and feel spiffy. In fact, all of the existing menu bar categories (which look pretty much just to be the different article sections and a return home) could be dropped down from one menu item in this Java menu bar, probably taking the first column.

And another thing ... the layout is static. I've actually maximized my browser and there's TONS of wasted space because not a single column in the layout is dynamically sized. That should really be fixed too.

I think I'd organize one secondary page to hold Pick of the Best, Highlights, Awards, Most Wanted, Most Popular Computer Products, and Lowest Price Search all on the one page. I'd probably call it "What You Want" or something.

The site search, maybe you can squeeze that somewhere on the front page once the rest of the stuff is cleared away. But I think if you do that it'd be better to have a very small keyword search for that site only if you do that, and an advanced search with the different sites (and the different article categories, and maybe even date limits, subsearches, yada yada) on a whole page of its own.

And then another secondary page for the Regulars and Downloads.

So the main page would look something like this: