New Site Layout

[Michael]

Well, I hired an outsider to design a new layout for the main site. Been working on it for quite some time now.

And now it is live.

If you run into any problems with it, please list them here and post screen shots where appropriate.

Thanks.

(This has nothing to do with the Forums, the Forums have not changed....)

[SeaFox]

Wow. This new design is nice. Real clean and the colors are much more uniform compared to the old one.

I do notice the occcasional glitch, like on short articles, the bottom bar with the copyright line is drawn right at the bottom of the story, bleeding over the sidebar on the left.

Also, when I block the ad bar the bar leaves a gap now where the ad was when it collapsed before to keep the layout neat.

[manav]

Wow, the site is great. It looks more winxp'ish ;) Just kidding. Nice work michael!

[TheZodiac]

Wow this is like MOBILEBURNER RELOADED....... (cool music plays)

:)

He. Be. Good.

[justop26]

I really like the new design, colors, fonts...! Nice work! :D

[commedecargons]

It's nice....... but lacks that mobileburn oldskool feeel...... i tot u said u'll never gonna be changing the color themes in mobileburn? :rolleyes:

[fabarati]

*being carson in "queer eye for the straight guy"* It's absolutly fab darling, absolutly fab

[commedecargons]

are my english dat bad ?? ????? wats the swedish guy talkin bout? hehe........ still, ???????? :confused: :eek:

[fabarati]

you really don't know? ooh, i find them extremly funny. 5 gay men make slobby a straight guy into an overall nicer and CLEANER guy.

ps. this post will probably only survive for a very short while, after i get scarde of being banned and delete or change it.

ok so i changeed the post. i chickened out ok? i need this forum. i'm addicted to it. i will not be banned.

[JoN]

It looks unfinised!! The idea is sound, but it needs to be cleaned up, edges smoothened and navigation improved.

[leobag]

big improvement - things don't need to be cleaned up

[JoN]

big improvement - things don't need to be cleaned up

Look, i love the site aswell as you. I visit every week. I reccomend it to friends that need info, over other site like Mobile Review. I LIKE the new layout, it would be nice to browse on a mobile handset.

I see how it is now, and i say it needs some cleanup around the edges.

I like to see outside of the blinkers of loyalty!!!


EDIT: After taking a good look at the site, i withdraw the comment of "unfinished". I guess i was just shocked by the lack of colour, the old eyes get used to that after a while. But my last sentence above still stands strongly, as a general rule.

Good Work Michael and co. :)

[Viipottaja]

I like the layout but I must say I do _not_ like the font type. It is to me much harder to read in longer articles than the old font was.

[Tenzin Jinpa]

When I stumbled on this site I thought it was a great site......Now it is fantastic.

[Sid]

I like the layout but I must say I do _not_ like the font type. It is to me much harder to read in longer articles than the old font was.
We are working on this. I'm finding the readability a bit difficult too...

[shaheen]

im here for the phones and forum, not the layout, but its faster to load and guess thats a plus

[mundets]

I disagree with the issue some people have with the font readability. I find it more visually appealing and easier to read than the old one.
Two issues though:
Get rid of the phone browser on the left side. Move it back up to the main menu.
Secondly, move the ad space on the left side to the bottom. It's too intruding right in the middle of the list of stories.
All in all, nice work! I like it very much.

[Michael]

I do notice the occcasional glitch, like on short articles, the bottom bar with the copyright line is drawn right at the bottom of the story, bleeding over the sidebar on the left.

Also, when I block the ad bar the bar leaves a gap now where the ad was when it collapsed before to keep the layout neat.Yes, aware of the problem with the bottom bar. IE issues.

As to the ad area, the ads were never intended to be blocked, so there is no need for the area to collapse. Those ads are how I make my living, you know....

[Michael]

It's nice....... but lacks that mobileburn oldskool feeel...... i tot u said u'll never gonna be changing the color themes in mobileburn? :rolleyes:No, I don't believe I ever said that since the color scheme has already changed multiple times.

I might have said something about not getting rid of the yellow in the last layout, which was true. I kept the yellow with that layout.

New design, new colors.

[Michael]

I like the layout but I must say I do _not_ like the font type. It is to me much harder to read in longer articles than the old font was.My guess is that you are running your monitor(s) at a very high resolution like Sid?

I find the site easier to read now, like many others.

The problem with the big browser widths is that wide columns of text are much harder to read than narrow ones. That is why newspapers have columns.

A fixed width site design would have dealt with this issue handily, but the peanut gallery voted otherwise.

What I might do is put some control in where you can increase the font size if it doesn't suit you (not that you can't already do that with your browser).

[Michael]

Get rid of the phone browser on the left side. Move it back up to the main menu.
Secondly, move the ad space on the left side to the bottom. It's too intruding right in the middle of the list of stories.
All in all, nice work! I like it very much.The Phone browser in that position will increase overall page views. It appeals to a different kind of user, the type that wanders in from Google or places like that.

As to the ad in the middle of the sidebar, it is meant to be intruding. That is why it has the best click rate on the site, and that's why I've gotten a real revenue boost from it. So far only US/CA advertisers have bought the spot, but I'd like to get Euro and APAC sponsors there, too, hence the "advertise here" bit that you folks outside of North America see.

It stays because it works. Again I have to stress that this is a business, not a hobby.

[Michael]

I changed the site's font back to Verdana. That, according to Sid, makes it much easier to read.

The font is wider and uses more space in general, that much I can see, but I don't notice it being any easier to read.

I'll let it stay with Verdana unless I come across problems elsewere later on, which I don't expect.

[Jose_R.A.M]

i thought the site broke when i saw it, cos sometimes when my computer plays up the site shows up strange....But its really really cool and soo much easier to use. I like the home button.

One thing i wanted to suggest forum wise, i dont know if its already been stated, havent checked, anyway

this rep power thing, or reputation. I think it can be best put to use if u make some kind of user reviews section like eopinions.com. I really like the interface of their consumer reviews. The rep power would like, allow the "distinguised to review" on the consume reviews section, or be named top 500, 100, 10 user reviewer or something like that. number 1 reviewer of course would be michael .......should really be doing coursework and oxford interview preparations .....procrastination....

[huiben]

congraduation on the new layout.. it is very clean and impressive... i will definitely visit mobileburn more often... (make it twice a day.. ahaha)

i am sure other will enjoy it

ben

[DaninChina]

Michael, the redesign seems to help the site load up more quickly, which is appreciated. Nice job!

I like the "PDA version" feature; it's a nice option to have.

2 minor questions:

1. Any reason why the site title when running a search is "mobile.burn.com search (mobileburn)" ? Is this a legacy from back when the site was www.mobile.burn.com?

2. Since you've gone with a Grey/white/maroon color scheme, the yellow and black flame icon that appears in the tabs of tabbed browsers looks a bit unusual. I don't mind the yellow & black, but it would be a nice touch to have it match with the rest of the site.

[Michael]

Michael, the redesign seems to help the site load up more quickly, which is appreciated. Nice job!

I like the "PDA version" feature; it's a nice option to have.

2 minor questions:

1. Any reason why the site title when running a search is "mobile.burn.com search (mobileburn)" ? Is this a legacy from back when the site was www.mobile.burn.com?

2. Since you've gone with a Grey/white/maroon color scheme, the yellow and black flame icon that appears in the tabs of tabbed browsers looks a bit unusual. I don't mind the yellow & black, but it would be a nice touch to have it match with the rest of the site.Where are you seeing mobile.burn.com? In the PDA version? The PDA version has been around for a long, long time - it just wasn't very prominent on the site.

As to the color scheme change and watermarks and such, yes, I do plan on changing them eventually. If somebody wants to take a crack at a new icon for the browser, I'd appreciate it. I think Sir Chris of Dover did the last one, if I am not mistaken.

I'll eventually get to a new watermark. Not sure what I want to do. Never really liked the current one. If anybody has any ideas for that, I'd be interested in that, too. I'm thinking about going to something neutral in color, maybe just text. Dunno.

[DaninChina]

mobile.burn.com - this is just in the title bar area of the search page that displays at the very top of the browser window - all you should have to do is delete the extra period in the "title" area in the HTML. Very minor issue, very easy fix.

If I haven't described it clearly enough, I'm attaching a picture too.

Just wondering - As far as the PDA version of the site goes, do you have software that automatically reformats it for you or do you have to manually copy every change you make to the website to the PDA version?

[Michael]

Done.