Hmmm... not a fan of the redesign. Too much white negative space, and the font seems harder to read.
/curmudgeon
I agree. I liked the old site. But I'm a creature of habit and not one for change. I'm comfortable with familiarity and the old site was easy to navigate and worked fine. Don't mess with something that was already awesome.
I remember the first time I came to the site with that new design, I thought "Wow! This is one of the most well designed sites I regularly visit." I liked the grey, I liked the tabs on the top for navigation. It was just superb. That happened sometime within the last 12 months.
Why in God's name do you change something you just reworked?
For the lazy ones, I decided to take some pictures. Click on them if you want the full size.
What I said in my previous post:
I am going to cite a Windows news site because it has a somewhat good desktop layout of the website, but I want to mention it ESPECIALLY for the mobile view of its website and forums. I can live with the new AppleInsider front page, though some tweaks would not hurt, but I am really wishing a a great mobile view.
So, back on the subject, on your iPhone or iPad, head to Neowin.net. You will see what the mobile view is really good. You can individually scroll sideways the news title if it is too long without scrolling the whole page left or right, and the advertisements are located at the bottom. As for the forums, it is pretty much the same thing. A full desktop layout on an iDevice is way too much.
Front page
Front page: individually scrolling title names without scrolling the whole page
Front page: the advertisement at the bottom
The article
The article: the comment section and the advertisement at the bottom
There is way, way too much white for this theme. I loved the gray of the previous one because it was much easier on the eyes. I am a daily lurker of this website and an occasional poster in the forums but with this theme, I'll be curtailing my viewing time. It isn't worth it.
Old vs New - look at the wasted space on my MacBook, and how many fewer articles I can see. From 11 articles to 3 articles!
This is my view. AI used to be the only good news format site left, now it looks terrible like all the others.
Why is it so hard for website developers figure out that every display made today is WIDESCREEN? The new format is better suited for 1996 when everyone still used 800x600 displays.
The main problem for AI with the new layout is that it practically forces you to aggressively use ad blockers or it's utterly unreadable. It still sucks without the ads displayed, but at least it's not completely unusable. So, although the intent seems to be to generate more ad revenue with the new design, the result will likely be the exact opposite. AI, you've just hit the wall of unintended consequences.
I'm not going to comment on the new design yet. Sometimes it takes time to see what is good and bad after something familiar changes. One first impression that is probably worth sharing is that while I work through my normal tabs, passing by AppleInsider, the headlines do a much poorer job of grabbing my attention. I'm reading less from the website. It might be contrast related.
What I want to know is how a new redesign of an Apple-oriented website failed to include HiDPI graphics for even the main logo.
I used to like visiting this site as I could easily read the headlines without scrolling. Now it's just a pain in the ass and difficult to look at.
I'm obviously not the target audience so I'll be moving along... This is actually a good thing as I was getting really sick of all the lawsuit news items.
The weight of the body copy font is too light. It's very difficult to read. It's difficult to read on my retinal macbook and nearly impossible on an iPad 2. Readability is something that can't be sacrificed for design.
the front page of AI looks so..generic and spam-like..and, could you fit any more elements onto the pages in general?
I am beyond disappoint.
What's with the design ethos of this Apple-related site? Shouldn't less-is-more be the highlights of any print-design..either digital or physical?
This community isn't the only place to find intelligent discourse around Apple products; but, it's formerly old-school and formerly hyper-efficient layout certainly made it highly accessible.
Now...now there's just so much cruft everywhere.
I'll be moving along..and forgetting my account password.
Too bad. This site is the single-oldest site I've been coming to since..1999 I think?
I'm afraid I have to side with the naysayers. The new design is terrible from a usability standpoint. I won't say that I loved the old design. It wasn't "from the 90s" as someone claimed, but certainly not a great layout. Still, all it needed was to be tweaked. Change the fonts, increase padding around text, just minor changes like that. Otherwise, it was easy to navigate. But as usual nowadays, it seems that when somebody decides to change a site layout, they throw out the baby with the bathwater.
You are basically saying - you like it because it looks totally different on your screen because you use ad blockers...
Which basically also admits that without ad blockers it is a horrible new design...
Sorry, friend, that is not what I'm saying. I like the new look. That is simply my opinion. I am not trying to change anyone else's opinion. I merely tried to note that with ad blockers there is inevitably going to be more white space, but I prefer that to all those ads. I expect the AI folks will take all the feedback and eventually make adjustments, but I very much doubt that they will go back to the old look.
Sorry, friend, that is not what I'm saying. I like the new look. [...] I merely tried to note that with ad blockers there is inevitably going to be more white space, but I prefer that to all those ads.
That is fine. Of course everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it.
I don't think the new look is bad in general. Yet I do think that it is a rather terrible choice for a news site. It misses the point completely. News should be the main content. And as has been demonstrated by RonJanson and others, the actual ratio between news and 'fluff' has been tipped way too far towards the 'fluff' side. To the point that this is no longer a news site IMHO but rather a 'fluff' site.
That is fine with me too. I will just leave this place and get my Mac news someplace else from now on.
Comments
The first column is almost completely empty. What a waste of screen space!!!
Please, go back to the previously layout, two colums instead of three. Please.
PS
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikepro
Hmmm... not a fan of the redesign. Too much white negative space, and the font seems harder to read.
/curmudgeon
I agree. I liked the old site. But I'm a creature of habit and not one for change. I'm comfortable with familiarity and the old site was easy to navigate and worked fine. Don't mess with something that was already awesome.
I thought the other layout and design was GREAT!
I remember the first time I came to the site with that new design, I thought "Wow! This is one of the most well designed sites I regularly visit." I liked the grey, I liked the tabs on the top for navigation. It was just superb. That happened sometime within the last 12 months.
Why in God's name do you change something you just reworked?
For the lazy ones, I decided to take some pictures. Click on them if you want the full size.
What I said in my previous post:
I am going to cite a Windows news site because it has a somewhat good desktop layout of the website, but I want to mention it ESPECIALLY for the mobile view of its website and forums. I can live with the new AppleInsider front page, though some tweaks would not hurt, but I am really wishing a a great mobile view.
So, back on the subject, on your iPhone or iPad, head to Neowin.net. You will see what the mobile view is really good. You can individually scroll sideways the news title if it is too long without scrolling the whole page left or right, and the advertisements are located at the bottom. As for the forums, it is pretty much the same thing. A full desktop layout on an iDevice is way too much.
Front page
Front page: individually scrolling title names without scrolling the whole page
Front page: the advertisement at the bottom
The article
The article: the comment section and the advertisement at the bottom
The Forums
The Forums: the advertisement at the bottom
The Forums: reading a discussion
The Forums: replying
Also, the columns are fixed width, rather than floating columns!!!
Why is the column layout not adapting to available screen size, as it was before???
Unbelievable.
PS
There is way, way too much white for this theme. I loved the gray of the previous one because it was much easier on the eyes. I am a daily lurker of this website and an occasional poster in the forums but with this theme, I'll be curtailing my viewing time. It isn't worth it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomChaos
Old vs New - look at the wasted space on my MacBook, and how many fewer articles I can see. From 11 articles to 3 articles!
This is my view. AI used to be the only good news format site left, now it looks terrible like all the others.
Why is it so hard for website developers figure out that every display made today is WIDESCREEN? The new format is better suited for 1996 when everyone still used 800x600 displays.
The main problem for AI with the new layout is that it practically forces you to aggressively use ad blockers or it's utterly unreadable. It still sucks without the ads displayed, but at least it's not completely unusable. So, although the intent seems to be to generate more ad revenue with the new design, the result will likely be the exact opposite. AI, you've just hit the wall of unintended consequences.
The fixed width columns are just fine IMHO. The main column should be wider though.
But overall it's a terrible new layout. Way too complicated and filled with stupid redundancies.
One word: Horrible !!!
The site actually doesn’t look too bad on the iPad(3) in portrait. But not so great on the Mac.
To clarify what I don’t like about the design I highlighted the "actual content" in blue in the examples below.
iPad(3) Portrait
Safari Mountain Lion
iPad(3) Landscape
What I want to know is how a new redesign of an Apple-oriented website failed to include HiDPI graphics for even the main logo.
I used to like visiting this site as I could easily read the headlines without scrolling. Now it's just a pain in the ass and difficult to look at.
I'm obviously not the target audience so I'll be moving along... This is actually a good thing as I was getting really sick of all the lawsuit news items.
The weight of the body copy font is too light. It's very difficult to read. It's difficult to read on my retinal macbook and nearly impossible on an iPad 2. Readability is something that can't be sacrificed for design.
Wow. So much disappoint.
the front page of AI looks so..generic and spam-like..and, could you fit any more elements onto the pages in general?
I am beyond disappoint.
What's with the design ethos of this Apple-related site? Shouldn't less-is-more be the highlights of any print-design..either digital or physical?
This community isn't the only place to find intelligent discourse around Apple products; but, it's formerly old-school and formerly hyper-efficient layout certainly made it highly accessible.
Now...now there's just so much cruft everywhere.
I'll be moving along..and forgetting my account password.
Too bad. This site is the single-oldest site I've been coming to since..1999 I think?
Really don't like it.
First time when I saw it I was thinking it's wrong site.
It's much harder to digest info right now.
I was coming to this site usually every day but now I have to force myself to do it that much I don't like new look.
Old one was conservative but in a really good way.
New one looks like a total average junk and no personality at all.
Sorry guys but it's not working for me and I'll moving out.
Too bad
BTW why to change something good especially if new is bad? New not necessary always better and last Ai is good example!
At least darken the background... I also feel like it's incredibly cluttered now, plus it seems as though there are a ton more ads.
I'm afraid I have to side with the naysayers. The new design is terrible from a usability standpoint. I won't say that I loved the old design. It wasn't "from the 90s" as someone claimed, but certainly not a great layout. Still, all it needed was to be tweaked. Change the fonts, increase padding around text, just minor changes like that. Otherwise, it was easy to navigate. But as usual nowadays, it seems that when somebody decides to change a site layout, they throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hobBIT
You are basically saying - you like it because it looks totally different on your screen because you use ad blockers...
Which basically also admits that without ad blockers it is a horrible new design...
Sorry, friend, that is not what I'm saying. I like the new look. That is simply my opinion. I am not trying to change anyone else's opinion. I merely tried to note that with ad blockers there is inevitably going to be more white space, but I prefer that to all those ads. I expect the AI folks will take all the feedback and eventually make adjustments, but I very much doubt that they will go back to the old look.
Quote:
Originally Posted by waybacmac
Sorry, friend, that is not what I'm saying. I like the new look. [...] I merely tried to note that with ad blockers there is inevitably going to be more white space, but I prefer that to all those ads.
That is fine. Of course everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it.
I don't think the new look is bad in general. Yet I do think that it is a rather terrible choice for a news site. It misses the point completely. News should be the main content. And as has been demonstrated by RonJanson and others, the actual ratio between news and 'fluff' has been tipped way too far towards the 'fluff' side. To the point that this is no longer a news site IMHO but rather a 'fluff' site.
That is fine with me too. I will just leave this place and get my Mac news someplace else from now on.
Till then.
The front page looks like the inside of Ally Sheedy's purse in the Breakfast Club... Leave a couple tools inside the toolbox, yeah?