New Homepage Feedback Round 3

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jpishgar

jpishgar

Splendid
Overlord Emeritus
Jan 5, 2010
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We're finishing up integrating your latest comments and feedback on Round 2 of our Tom's Hardware homepage revamp, and the next iteration should be visible sometime next week. Once Round 3 is available for preview next week, we'd like to again encourage you to provide your feedback and clear, constructive comments on it here in this thread.

Thanks!

Note: Thread will open for commentary once the latest version is live.
 
I have to say that when this website redesign started I was very skeptical, especially after the first Beta version, which was horrendous. However, after these subsequent revisions, the website has come a long way. Even after Beta 2, I preferred the original home page, but Beta 3 is now the one I like best.

Why the change? First, Tom's listened to its users, changing the layout, adding links (rather than a drop-down) to get to the different categories of latest articles, adding more stories per page to the latest news section, and (I think) adding more entries to the forum feed. The charts have been rearranged by everyone in the forums, but they are eminently accessible in a readable row at the bottom now, a very easy location to find.

Second, the new layout is clean. Information is accessible. News and the forums are prominently displayed. Yes it is a drastic change from the original, which displayed a TON of information because of the various "sections" on different aspects of computing (GPU/CPU/Storage etc). However, the SAME information is present on the new page, despite being much smaller (shorter? cleaner?) because instead of being spread out all over the page (tons of scrolling) it is now accessible through a single click, which DYNAMICALLY changes the home page. Being able to click on each category and get an instant display of those articles is key for me. The layout for all sections is now the same because they use the same "Latest Articles" box which makes scanning much easier for me. And if I don't want to look at graphics articles today, i don't have to click on it and can just skip over it.

Overall I think Beta 3 is great effort by Tom's, and you have at least one reader who will no longer be disgruntled if the latest Beta becomes the final release.
 
I really like the Beta 3 and have only one more suggestion to make it perfect. Move the Charts section above the Forum Feeds instead of below.

The Charts are very popular and one of the main reasons I refer my friends and colleagues to this site. Because The Charts section is small, moving it above the Forum Feeds instead of below the Forum Feeds will allow users to still see both yet for many new users that want to determine which video card to buy, etc., the Charts sections is more easily seen and accessed.

Because the Charts and Forum Feeds are the same width, it should be easy to do. Other than that change I really like the Beta 3 format. I like the length and amount of Latest News. I like the new Latest Articles layout with simple links to the different categories rather than a dropdown. I would love to see the Featured Topics section be extended down a little longer to see more topics but that isn't a big deal.

Overall Beta 3 is definitely my favorite. It is easy to read and logically organized. Hopefully you'll think about simply moving the location of the Charts section above the Forum Feeds. Thanks for listening.
 
way better! good job. i loke the new forum thread. i would like to see the topics in the top right where the blank space is though like the old page.

and maybe the tom's hardware awards that are at the bottom right of the original page in the blank spot
 


I think you are seeing blank spaces because you are using some sort of adblock plugin.
 
The 'Latest News' section is much better than the previous iteration. However, I think Tom's has a decision to make. If they want to stay with the width being optimized for 1024*768 screens, they need to make the top section of the page work with a 1024*768 screen as well.

As a user of a 1024*768 screen on a regular basis, screen real estate is very important. I'd prefer to see only 3-4 "Latest Articles" in exchange for moving the news up into the space on the left of the "Latest Articles" section.

Charts could then go under the news section, and the forum feed, which doesn't seem all that 'live' could be extended to match the bottom of the Twitter feed.

Even without these changes, I would say it is 95% as good from a 1024*768 standpoint, and better from a 1920*1080 standpoint.

If Tom's wants to stay optimized for 4:3 screens at 1024*768, the website should be appealing to them as well, otherwise you should utilize more horizontal space.

Just my $0.02.
 


I would have to respectfully disagree with narrowing the Latest Articles section to move the News section up. It is nice being able to see the last 6 articles at a time instead of only 3 and it is optimized width-wise for 1024x768. It also allows room for the links to different Latest Articles Categories, which is also nice. I also think that having these side by side would make the site busier at the top of the page instead of the clean look Beta 3 currently has with only the Latest Articles across the top and the News directly below it.

I think it is always easier to scroll up and down a little with the mouse wheel rather than side to side within a section. That's my $0.02.
 
Thing is, with the current layout at 1024*768, I can only see 3 Latest Articles anyway. Also, I would prefer a hover menu, rather than a series of links. Since most of my browsing @ 1024*768 is done on a laptop, the mouse wheel is a bit of a non-starter.
 
Beta 3 is brilliant. I do agree with moving the Charts up above the Forum Feed. (Forum Live Feed is a bit redundant of a name though...) I also have to give a huge thumbs up to the Tom's Hardware team for listening to their readers. The community on this site is why I am here! Good job guys!
 
are you guys no longer linking to the torque report? i really liked it.

it might just be me, but i liked 'latest news' in the center.

i think too that 'featured topics' should be moved up to the same level as 'vendor voice stories'.

i'd like to see 'charts' moved higher.

otherwise, it's better than the other two beta's.
 
I still prefer the old over this, but it's still better than the other two.

Move Latest News to the center.

This is still too crowded.
 
This is a huge improvement over the previous betas, and I would say it is roughly as good as the original (thus I wouldn't be opposed to the switch any longer). Good work.
The twitter feed still seems completely pointless (it just cycles through rephrased news article titles, even though the titles themselves are 2" away). Honestly, as a non twitter user, I would like to see some of the more interesting tweets you guys receive and send, provided they aren't just senseless reproductions of your existing content. If I could see some of the best tweets of the PC hw industry of the day for instance, that might be cool.
Also, the whitepapers section seems pointless. I doubt very many people come looking for that kind of thing on Tom's hw, maybe it would be better suited to the upcoming IT Pro site. You could swap that with the featured section, or get rid of it entirely to buy some breathing room.
 



looking better but... KEEP THE NEWS COLUMN IN THE MIDDLE!!!!!
 
I don't mind this at all. I still don't like the Twitter feed but I'm happy its been moved so I don't need to be bothered by it.
 
Much better than Beta 2. I agree with a previous user to move the charts above the feeds.

I still think there needs to be a way to draw people to the main focus of tom's hardware, which are the review articles. The horizontal layout of them just kind of makes them blend in to the rest of what's going on.

think about someone brand new to the site. Would they even realize that the "Latest Articles" is the main thing on this site? I think not...but maybe.

As Steven Covey would say, "The main thing, is to keep the main thing the main thing." Users should first be directed to the review articles. that is (or at least used to be) Tom's main thing.

I still think you all could spend less money on a new website design and focus on reviews. I find myself having to look at other sites to get a balanced view of products. Maybe it is your writers.

anyway, the site looks better than B2, but only marginally better or not as good as the current site.
 
Very nice! Especially now that the "Deals and Coupons" have a section dedicated to them and are separate from the news. All that's missing now I guess is still the latest articles for each category i.e. Graphics, Motherboards, Processors, etc. But still, nice job Guys! 🙂
 
I like it, but one thing I'd like changed would be the breaking news. I liked it better when important news was highlighted red, not what it is now, an arrow pointing to it.
 
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