New AT: A Work in Progress

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• Jeff7181 - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  I posted too soon... I have more comments...
  
  Anand's Blog, Anand's Picks, etc. should be on a separate page, not the home page. This isn't Anand's personal web page is it? It's a hardware review and news site.
  
  I don't like that there's only 2 items in the "Latest News" section. Maybe if "Latest News" was articles from the past week it would be better.
  
  AnandTech Product Coverage is very THG. That's not necessarily a bad thing... I like the sub-categories. But instead of making that "THG-like" section at the bottom, make them drop down lists from the tabs at the top... similar to how nVidia has their's. Of course then you'd have to cut the number of tabs down so they fit in a single row along the top.
  
  Maybe it would be better to organize the tabs along the left side using buttons since there's so many of them. Then put the items that are on the left side on the top, since that's like, the basic layout of the site. like... Home, Forums, My AnandTech, About, Reviews, News.
  
  AnandTech just has too much content to jumble up a summary of every category on the home page.

• Jeff7181 - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  I still don't like how the search function works. I find it difficult to find old articles that I'm looking for. It would be nice if it was possible to get a complete list of all articles in the order they were posted.
  
  For example, just yesterday I was looking for Far Cry benchmark results and couldn't find the ones I was looking for... I still haven't found them, but I gave up and looked on another website.
  
  I wonder if there would be an easier way to search for benchmark results... like... put a "tag" on articles that have benchmarks in them to eliminate the articles without any testing done in them.

• Anonymous - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  This is a MacDate? Why the blue header?
  
  Looks like there are more things wrong than just the front page ;-)

• Keith - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  I think it is a mistake to start doing digital camera reviews. There are plenty of excellent sites already available. The resources used for DC reviews would be better put towards displays (CRT and LCD) and storage (HD, DVD, etc.)
  
  -Keith

• Cliff - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  Also, there's an issue of having to side-scroll on your blog comments for me in Firefox...anyone else having this one? It opens up in the normal window size, but the text does not wrap correctly.

• TheShniz - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  I'll back U up on the 56k Modem bit. While I do have broadband @ home, I more often visit Anand when I get 2 work each morning... which is @ DialUp speeds :'( It always took a good bit as U said 4 the front page 2 load as U C'mingly put everything but the logo @ the top in 1 enormous table (The entire table has 2 load B4 it would display).
  
  On the other hand, even tho I Blieve the new layout is a step in the right direction, I have 2 agree w/ every1 that the old layout was MUCH more practical & easy-2-use.
  
  I agree w/ the comparison 2 THG's layout as it C'ms so much more link driven than content driven. Aside from my depreciating care 4 THG, I don't agree w/ their layout either.
  
  News & Reviews R most important 2 me & deserve more real estate. The personal blog is a nice touch, but wouldn't B missed 2 much if it were moved down 2 the bottom. The linked table @ the bottom can B shrunk 2 'font size 1' 4 all I care as I won't ever use it.

• Phillip Doede - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  I've been coming to anandtech since 99 and it's always been my top choice by far for hardware sites. I think this new design marks the 1st time the site took a step back rather then moving forward. I'll address a few things that I think should be looked at, but they are just opinions.
  
  1. The tabs on the top of the site; there just seems to be too many of them. I'd try grouping some of that stuff together, as it is now it’s allot to look at especially considering allot of those tabs are empty or nearly empty. If you can get the job done with 10 of something rather then 20 go for the simpler of the two solutions.
  
  2. Others have said this, "Anandtech Product Coverage" is completely redundant and pretty much wasting half of the page.
  
  3. I'd rework the "latest review" section so it’s easier to see the new reviews, and associate a graphic with each headline so people can tell there is new content on the site without having to read all the microscopic text.
  
  4. Move "Anad's blog" and "Anand's picks" below the news or remove them all together. Also, maybe make it "anandtech's blog, were all the editors could comment.
  
  5. I also don't care for the new logo, it looks like something that was done up in about 3 mins.
  
  Those are my thoughts, I hope you find it somewhat useful.

• nick tsingas - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  I love your site.
  Best there is.
  As far as the new format goes, I think you're going backwards.
  The previous format was much cleaner, and more intuitive.
  Please don't change for the shake of change.
  
  PS Keep up with the good work.

• Jason Clark - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  Boz, it's easy to think that your opinion is the same as the millions of other readers, but in fact it isn't. Website loading speed is incredibly important, any good web developer knows this and designs for it. The old site had alot of tables, waste of bandwidth and caused the top logo to sit there for seconds while the rest of the page loaded, it was pretty bad. We did get complaints from people on 56k modems and lite broadband connections.
  
  

• mackintire - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link

  I agree with number 4.
  
  Additionally the Product coverage section occcupies way too much space.
  
  Overall the new site looks too ~busy~
  
  I do like the new fresh coloring