New News Page Layout

This is just an experiment - I'm not sold on it. The idea is that bigger news items dropped out of sight pretty quickly with the old format, while this one allows more to be seen at a glance. On the downside, it also makes it look a lot like every other news site on the web. The difference isn't as big as it appears at first - it's just that individual items are collapsed rather than expanded by default, in an attempt to make more room. Other than that, it's the same.
Anyhow, with the caveat that nobody likes change, let me know how you get on with it. It may stay, or it may go back to the old way. Switching it back is only a single click away!

 

[Nellisir]

OK, for some reason it suddenly made sense to me visually when I went back to it after my last comment. I still don't like it, but it wasn't as confusing at it was five minutes previous. This was one-column, btw.

The two-column format isn't really an improvement.

 

[Morrus]

I wonder if I'm seeing what everyone else is, because I hate hate hate it. I'm not seeing "more at a glance"; I've got some kind of rolling banner up top that's showing the bottoms of pictures, most of which are meaningless, and then one or two massive "boxes" below it. I have to scroll and scroll and scroll, and each item is in it's own box and frankly a real hassle. The last time the front page looked something like this I switched my startup page to the forums and didn't read the news page for a year or two.

Each article has been in its own box for months, apart from some summary articles I do which list things. The difference is simply that the articles are collapsed, not expanded, so you can see multiple articles rather than just the top one.

 

[Nellisir]

I'm still not sure how this is supposed to let you see "more at a glance" or stop things from dropping out of sight. I've only got two articles visible now; that's not more and they're going to drop away pretty damned quick.

 

[Nellisir]

Each article has been in its own box for months, apart from some summary articles I do which list things. The difference is simply that the articles are collapsed, not expanded, so you can see multiple articles rather than just the top one.

I guess I didn't notice the boxes before, just the articles. Now it's all boxes.

Edit: Can you put the posting date in the header? That'd be useful.

 

[Morrus]

I guess I didn't notice the boxes before, just the articles. Now it's all boxes.

The boxes are just smaller, is all.

 

[Morrus]

I'm still not sure how this is supposed to let you see "more at a glance" or stop things from dropping out of sight. I've only got two articles visible now; that's not more and they're going to drop away pretty damned quick.

Maybe there's a screen size element. I can see 6 visible articles, and can scroll to see 6 more instantly.

Before I could see one visible article, and had to scroll all the way down to see the second, and then way down again to find the third, and so on.

Here's my terrible attempt to explain how there are more articles visible now. The red box is a computer monitor. The grey boxes are the articles. Before (left) you could see half an article. Now (right) you can see 6 or so. Sorry for the rubbishy graphic!

Screen size depending, of course!

 

[Nellisir]

Maybe there's a screen size element. I can see 6 visible articles, and can scroll to see 6 more instantly.

Before I could see one visible article, and had to scroll all the way down to see the second, and then way down again to find the third, and so on.

Here's my terrible attempt to explain how there are more articles visible now. The red box is a computer monitor. The grey boxes are the articles. Before (left) you could see half an article. Now (right) you can see 6 or so. Sorry for the rubbishy graphic!

Screen size depending, of course!

View attachment 65179

In the right image, replace Article 1 with the header, and Articles 2-3 with the rolling banner. That's what I'm getting. (except it's two columns so I'm seeing two half-size articles). I'm seeing the same stuff in less space.

 

[Morrus]

In the right column, replace Article 1 with the header, and Articles 2-3 with the rolling banner. That's what I'm getting. (except it's two columns so I'm seeing two half-size articles). I'm seeing the same stuff in less space.

So you see two articles rather than the top of just one? Is it just the slideshow that's the issue?

 

[Nellisir]

So you see two articles rather than the top of just one? Is it just the slideshow that's the issue?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0kd6ke00jab5pud/Screenshot 2014-11-22 12.01.50.png?dl=0

Edit: Let me know if the link doesn't work; I got error messages when I tried to post it as an image.

 

[Morrus]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0kd6ke00jab5pud/Screenshot 2014-11-22 12.01.50.png?dl=0

Edit: Let me know if the link doesn't work; I got error messages when I tried to post it as an image.

You can definitely see more articles than before. You can see two! Before, you would only have seen one - the first one. And with a teeny scroll you can see another 4!

Anyhow, if you don't like it you don't like it! I'm not trying to talk you into liking it.