New front page redesign feedback!

[Phil Nickinson]

As you've probably noticed, we've tweaked the front page again. OK, much more than a tweak. And while it's still a work in progress, it's also fewer ads. Faster load times.

But we want your feedback. So please leave your feedback here! Don't be shy. Don't worry about our feelings. (Because believe me, we have feelings about things, too. )

And as always, thanks!

 

[stevovr]

Big blocks, little blocks, blocks of shop android, zero consistency, personally not feeling it

 

[persim]

Big blocks, little blocks, blocks of shop android, zero consistency, personally not feeling it

I completely agree.

Sorry, but this looks bad. There is no constancy. Posts look like they are just random all over the screen.

 

[AldousSnow]

Agree. I honestly thought this was a mistake. Or that a college intern was in charge of the redesign. No consistent flow...so scattered.

 

[anon(394005)]

I agree with all of the above. It looks and feels like a hodge podge of things thrown together. I also don't care for the autoloading of more articles once you hit the bottom of the page as it renders a computer keyboard "End" key useless. It also complicates navigation where if you click on an article that auto-populated then click the back button you are not returned to the exact same area. Instead you have to start scrolling again to get more auto-populated articles while you try to remember where you had left off. You can work around that though by opening said article in a new tab instead leaving the original tab at its existing location. On that note it appears auto-population is broken using Internet Explorer 11. The page just ends with no way to see/load older articles. Strange as it works normally on your sister site Windows Central that already made the change to the new format a week or so ago.

The only positive I'll give you is the site does load quicker.

 

[bertoid]

Not a fan. I really dislike the autoloading of older articles. Definitely makes navigation to older articles frustrating. And all the accessory ads are now inline and not off on the sidebar. That feels force-fed and stinks. None of the "popular discussion" links are relevant for me, so that's just added annoyance.

All-in-all, just way too jumbled up with this approach for me. At least clicking on the news tab makes it more like the old layout. Please keep that intact for us old curmudgeons.

 

[stevovr]

The other annoying thing, given the impact the main page has on everyone was the fact that although I knew the change would have been announced somewhere you really had to go and look for it in order to have an opinion and comment. Almost like you were afraid to announce but knew you had to.

 

[anon(386684)]

It's awful. It was fine the way it was before it was changed. Please change it back, it feels less welcoming now, you can barely see any stories on the front page.

 

[rguisewite]

It is a thousand times more difficult to read. My eyes have no idea where to look when staring at the home page. Faster loads are always nice (although I haven't really noticed much of a change on a decent internet connection), but it is a complete cluster... I found myself just pulling out my phone to read articles.

 

[run1fast]

Quote Originally Posted by stevovr View Post
Big blocks, little blocks, blocks of shop android, zero consistency, personally not feeling it

Agreed. Very hard to read and have my eyes focus on anything, much less a specific article.

 

[CharlieL3]

It doesn't matter if the page loads faster if you have to waste the time you've saved looking for the stuff to read.

 

[Kramit-da-frog]

Not a fan. I really dislike the autoloading of older articles.

^^ especially bad when it fails to load 'automatically' so I'm stuck with the most recent unless I go clicking around looking for the list of current articles.

Seriously feels like a facebook rip-off that happens to simply load 'posts' which happen to be AC articles, and that's not a good thing.

 

[zerospace-net]

Feedback on the new page layout? In a word: UGH!

I realize that the actual articles line up vertically (so they're in a column on the page), but with the ads of varying sizes, it looks like someone tried to make a badly arranged collage into a web page. Throw in some ads without borders or any other visual cue that there's a break in the page content and I find my eyes are unable to stay focused in any one spot. A badly arranged collage might be cute for a personal site, maybe, but for something that's trying to feed news to a large audience, yeah... no. Definitely not working for me. FWIW, I hated the old page, too -- but that was because there were just too many ads and the page took forever to load. The old layout cleaned up a bit (e.g. remove some of the ads!), would have been fantastic.

I don't care for the auto-loading of older articles, either. Sometimes you just want to see the end of the page! There was once a time when websites would put extra links at the bottom of every page that were actually useful (sometimes MORE useful than their actual navigation menus), so I STILL find myself attempting to scroll to the bottom of these endless pages.

 

[Knightstalker]

^^ especially bad when it fails to load 'automatically' so I'm stuck with the most recent unless I go clicking around looking for the list of current articles.

Seriously feels like a facebook rip-off that happens to simply load 'posts' which happen to be AC articles, and that's not a good thing.

Having the same issue on it failing to "auto load" more articles... just left with the loading symbol... :-\

 

[Modra]

The new layout is horrible. Everyone before is spot on with their dislikes. Also, I know Shop Android is an important revenue stream for the site, but do I need a half page ad for a sale on my 24" screen. I've bought items from the shop before. I don't need a half page ad on my screen. Put the ads back on the right side of the screen and leave them out of the news stream. Same with the forum discussions. I come to the site for android news. I go to the forums for discussions. Just keep it simple.

 

[ajnevares]

Swing and a miss

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Having the same issue on it failing to "auto load" more articles... just left with the loading symbol... :-\

That should be fixed now.

Also, booooooo ad-blockers

 

[mavsguy842]

Agree with above: disjointed, hard to focus, etc. KM said Web stats are very positive, but it does NOT pass the eye test.

It needs to be designed so my eye can easily follow the content as I scroll, not bouncing around left, right, and center. Different heights, images sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes full-width below the headline, sometimes above it. Won't someone take a stand and say "this is better, we're doing it THIS way?"

I mostly like the articles continuing to auto-load, but lists of article titles are easier to find just the article I'm looking for when I made a note of it to come back and read a day and a half ago. That's the least of my concerns honestly.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[persim]

I find myself not wanting to visit the site anymore. The front page is extremely difficult to read and focus on.

I really hope you guys reconsider this layout as it appears to be loathed across Mobile Nations.

 

[tdizzel]

I agree with what everyone else is saying. I don't even know what I'm looking at anymore. And why are the pictures for some articles and ads bigger? Are those the really important ones? Its just a mess now.
When I look at the front page, all that comes to mind is Cersei Lannister's walk:
Shame. Shame. Shame.(ding-ding-ding)
Shame. Shame. Shame.(ding-ding-ding)