New Homepage Feedback Round 3

[capt_taco]

This is much better than the first revision, but ... MAN, you guys are pushing the features like you've got some kind of compulsion. FEATURE FEATURE FEATURE FEATURE ok, I get it.

if it ain't broke ...

 

[Tamz_msc]

The third beta is much better. I really like it.

 

[dormantreign]

Why change it if it ain't broken?

 

[randomizer]

Why change it if it ain't broken?

Since websites generally don't break on their own, if nothing changed until it broke we'd still be reading hand-coded HTML sites built with tables.

 

[TeraMedia]

I hated the second beta because it didn't highlight visited links for news articles. That's been fixed in B3, which is great.

I still don't get why a mouse-over of a news title merely repeats the title? Why do you not include e.g. the first few lines of content from the news item (as you do with articles, for example)? Repeating the title makes the mouse-over less than worthless, even when you add the publication date and time. Instead, why not take the first non-bold paragraph (between the "p" tags in the content), up to a pre-set number of characters, and use that for the mouse-over?

 

[LordConrad]

Since websites generally don't break on their own, if nothing changed until it broke we'd still be reading hand-coded HTML sites built with tables.

True, but the current site is not outdated. It's displayed dynamically, it looks good, and it's very functional. I say let's leave well-enough alone.

 

[dalethepcman]

I like to look of Beta3, it even gives the same experience to Chrome Firefox and IE users.

 

[Axonn]

Wow! I'm surprised to see that Tom's actually listened to our comments on Beta 1. That version looked awful and the "Latest News" section had very few items / page. I definitely like this layout more! It has 20 Latest News items, just like the old version. And I like that it's on the left, like a lot of people said.

Good job! This version definitely looks better for me! I'm for Beta 3!

 

[Burodsx]

Much better! Beta 3 is now my default choice.

 

[striker410]

I must agree with the others. Beta 3 has finally won me over. There's still something a little off with the layout and the twitter feed just doesn't make sense, but it's much better. The thing I like most is the ribbon of featured articles. I just dig it!

 

[abbadon_34]

I still miss the version before the previous version ! Seems like every time the site changes it's for the worse.

 

[dormantreign]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This....Grrr 😛

 

[striker410]

^^ totally behind that layout. I'd make a few changes, like swapping the Tom's Guide Articles with the forum live feed, or moving the ads up (which is probably going to happen anyway >.>) and add a just a litttttle bit of white space above and below the Latest Articles (makes it feel a little more like the original/slightly more organized, at least to me) and then it would be the perfect page in my opinion. Great job Dormant!

 

[CyberAngel]

no, No, NO !!
Let us at least select which one to use

the best would be a web page that one can adjust
2 columns or 3 columns
which data is shown
where the data goes
colors, font, pictures, flash, etc..all adjustable
Maybe even a possibility to save layouts to Favourites (0,..,9)
so one could switch the layout using Ctrl+Alt & number keys
(Storing via Shift+Ctrl+Alt & number keys from 0..9)

 

[dbdarrough]

I like the look of Beta3 but here are my final 3 suggestions to make it better:

1) Move Charts above the Forum Live Feed. Charts are a major reason people come to this site or are referred to this site for the first time.

2) Move Featured Topics to the position of Discover From Our Other Sites right next to Latest News at the top. If these are featured topics, they should be higher up on the page instead of the middle right side and would fit in nicely with Latest Articles and Latest News.

3) Move Discover From Our Other Sites down so it is right below Featured Topics and move Vendor Voice Stories to where Featured Topics was originally on the right side.

By doing this visitors will see the Latest Articles across the top with Latest News, Featured Topics and Discover From Our Other Sites and Charts right below that. In this way, Tom's Hardware will be emphasizing the content that Tom's Hardware provides and the main reasons visitors come to your site.

Below that will be Forum Live Feeds with Vendor Voice Stories, Subscribing to Tom's Hardware options and Twitter along the right side. This groups the more user/vendor created content below the Tom's Hardware content. I also think these changes give the page a good flow. You shouldn't have to change the size of any of these sections much, just move them around.

I really think you are close and hopefully this won't drag on to Beta4, Beta5 .... As always, thanks and keep up the good work.

 

[kilo_17]

They should add something to attract people to fold for the Tom's team. 2 more cents from me :lol:

 

[dhvd79a]

it's ok but that big chunk of white space next to "from our other sites" column ruins it

 

[dbdarrough]

it's ok but that big chunk of white space next to "from our other sites" column ruins it

That is probably AdblockPlus or some other ad blocking plugin removing the ads. Normally it displays an ad there.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

YES it is blocked by adblock!

 

[jecastej]

My opinion again, the new layout is visually unbalanced. Information on the left, images on the right? It will cause more eyestrain to look at one side of the screen than the center just when this particular website opens, but I am seated to have both sides at the same distant. This is not an ergonomic choice. Besides in my opinion it doesn't look that good.

 

[fausto]

if choosing between the old and the new...i choose the old. this new layout is much too busy and requires scrolling just to see the main stories.

 

[skaz]

Original website layout looks fine the way it is.

If you must change it, at least leave the news in the center.

 

[sandrah]

I swear, Tom's Hardware is like the musical chairs of site layouts, every so often everything just moves around, nothing is better, just moved so you have to search all over to find what you're looking for, and all the beta's and "old" are worse than the much older versions from many years ago imo.

 

[JBrav]

I have to agree with sandrah on the musical chairs thing, but if I had to choose between Beta 2 and Beta 3, I would go with Beta 3. I think the layout is much better, and in time, will become familiar as with the original.

 

[mtrank]

I'm not sure I like it. I did some size tests...

IE8, saving to an MHT file...

Original site: 706,786 bytes
Beta 3 site: 944,220 bytes


Firefox 4.0.1, saving to web page complete...

Original site: 933,472 bytes
Beta 3 site: 1,064,002 bytes


it's getting bigger, using more bandwidth, longer to load, etc.

thanks.