A brand new [H]ard|OCP

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haiku said:
I don't see why I can't work boobs in somehow. Here's an idea: The ads are all at fixed sizes and before they load, you'll only see black bars. I'll set a background to the black bars that is a dynamic feed of random jessica alba pictures. So before the page loads, the site will be peppered in jessica alba.

1. users win because, hey, jessica alba
2. advertisers win because people are already looking at those parts of the page when their ad loads
3. Kyle wins because he can up his cpm price on ads.
4. I win because I am getting paid to put up jessica alba pictures.

I'm worth every cent huh kyle?
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You know, somewhere in there is some solid logic.
 
Consider this my cry of outrage about the fixed width decision. What's the point of me running in 1280 x1024 if I'm just going to get two big black bars on either side of the site for my trouble?

The shack's dynamic layout works great. You know if you get a static layout Kyle, Steve's going to taunt you about it every day.
 
When you start a subscription based version without ads, can't we just have all the freed up space filled with Jessica Alba then? :cool:
 
starfury6 said:
Or maybe subscription options? Keira Knightley, Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson... :)
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This may possible be the best idea since the invention of the transistor.
 
I like the new layout alot. I'm not sure I understand dividing the site into 4 version though.
 
PerfectCr said:
Can we use a more readable font for the headlines and headings? Something not so "futuristic"? Plus, do people at actaully come to [H] for Enterprise news?
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I sure as hell would. I was excited when i saw that section would be included. The quality of all their other reviews gives me high hopes for that section.
 
I like the current one just fine. Except for the black background and light-colored text, makes it hard to read and burns into the retinas. Maybe offer different color stylesheets for people who have difficulties with the color scheme.
 
Trauma!

it was bad enough when it changed a few years back.

we'll get use to it though.

p.s. i cant see what it looks like cause shacknews is blocked here at work.
 
I like the font. Easy to read.

Layout is nice too.

Does this mean more reviews? :)
Go go Reviewzor!!!
 
Well, I read through a good majority of this thread thus far, and I think a change is a good thing for this site. Also, alot of good points brought up to explain things alot better with all the changes.

However, I'm not sure if this has been addressed yet (probably has, and I overlooked it), but with the [H] tabs (Enthusiast, Consumer, etc.), I'm thinking those would look better under the buttons (Archives, Search, Contact, etc.). Also, you have a button for [H] gaming, why not one for [H] clan?

I understand if this is all still very preliminary, I just thought I would throw out some suggestions after taking a second (or probably third or fourth) look.

And yes, I found myself trying to clink the links on that .jpg as well :D
 
I love the way the new site is going to look, but I have only 1 question.
Where is the [H]ard Folding link? It would be awesome to see the link right next to [H] Forums, Archives, SEarch, COntact, Links, [H] Gaming section right above the 4 featured arcicles tab.

Change that, and the new design is flawless! :p
 
Calavaro said:
Will there be any cross section "rivalry"? [H]Consumer posts review of the latest bloated Dell system, then [H]Enthusiast get hold of said machine to disect and put in a toaster? Then gripe about the lack of upgradablility, and subsequently proceeds to change the whole system. So in the end the only thing "Dell" is the logo :p
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LOL, have you read our systems evaluations? They ain't exactly chopped liver...
 
PerfectCr said:
Plus, do people at actaully come to [H] for Enterprise news?
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[b said:
Calavaro[/b]]
Will there be any cross section "rivalry"? [H]Consumer posts review of the latest bloated Dell system, then [H]Enthusiast get hold of said machine to disect and put in a toaster? Then gripe about the lack of upgradablility, and subsequently proceeds to change the whole system. So in the end the only thing "Dell" is the logo :p
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the fact alone that someone's segmenting the market like this, if they pull it off, is really unseen at this date and time. there are several sites sure, that go breifly into one segment or another, but nothing that i've seen that covers all and deeply
 
cefoskey said:
looks like THG when they changed about a year ago
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Well if you are talking about the content being jumbled onto one page for 8 sections of "reviews" and then spread about 4 columns wide on something that in no way uses the same colors or scheme even, I agree with you. Wait.....I think you are insane. ;)
 
blvdKing said:
I like the new layout alot. I'm not sure I understand dividing the site into 4 version though.
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The four areas will hold content specific to that area. That way you will not enterprise server reviews and GTA III hacks sharing space on one page. Now if all we had was chocalate and peanut butter, the solution would be obvious. ;)
 
I like it. I think it will be a great expansion and it looks pretty good. I have a slight issue with the sharp edges on things like the tabs on top and what not. Makes it look...I don't know, it just doesn't rub me the right way. But thats it...I guess I just prefer a smoother look.
As far as content sounds like a great plan. I enjoy how [H] has expanded to include everyone. No need to just appeal to us extremes....not really good business either:p
I am looking forward to the change.
 
boo sheit .... new design not any better than old.. if anything worse.

not easily readable,
poor navigation
colors and fonts still suck
some questionable sections... eg - enterprise.
the one long page format worked for me...

i still love hard ocp tho and will continue to come.
 
tk421_tt said:
boo sheit .... new design not any better than old.. if anything worse.

not easily readable,
poor navigation
colors and fonts still suck
some questionable sections... eg - enterprise.
the one long page format worked for me...

i still love hard ocp tho and will continue to come.
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You damn guys need to stop being so wishy-washy and really say what you mean! ;)

Seriously, thanks for the support and the to-the-point opinions.
 
Maybe a little OT, but I am hoping that you fine folks aren't affected by Rita. Houstan should be safe, but I'd imagine you have family and friends all over Texas. Ya'll be careful.
 
dekard said:
Maybe a little OT, but I am hoping that you fine folks aren't affected by Rita. Houstan should be safe, but I'd imagine you have family and friends all over Texas. Ya'll be careful.
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um, just a liiittle bit OT, lol. ;)

anyway, the change seems good. I don't think it'll affect our day to day goings-on much though, except by apparantly reducing loadtimes. yay! People adapt to just about anything, so all these nay-sayers will be quiet once the change is actually made.
 
Russ said:
um, just a liiittle bit OT, lol. ;)

anyway, the change seems good. I don't think it'll affect our day to day goings-on much though, except by apparantly reducing loadtimes. yay! People adapt to just about anything, so all these nay-sayers will be quiet once the change is actually made.
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What can I say, at least here I know they will read the message and my well-wishing will go to its intended source.
 
That sure looks great, my one thought is consider shrinking down all the summary info at the top (ie featured articles, latest articles, etc). I don't know about most people but I check the site a few times a day and I just want to check the news. If I have to scroll down a bunch it is more of a hassle.

Plus I usually check the news from my laptop which runs at 1024x768 so when I first load the page all I see are advertisements and reviews I don't care about.

Overall design however looks really great and I'm excited to see [H] expanding and dividing up in such a way.
 
Looks nice, the only thing I'd really like to see is a discussion link per story that links to a forum topic for that story.
I know it's no small undertaking, but it would be nice to have.
 
One obvious question that hasn't been asked yet, when can we expect this new site go live?
 
Morley said:
LOL, have you read our systems evaluations? They ain't exactly chopped liver...
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Oh, there is nothing wrong with your writeups at all. Thats not it.
If you are going to keep the [H] roots, then yeah, "toaster it".
Or teach various exotic animals to get in there and remove CPU, RAM or something else similarly small. :)
 
I like the new design, alot. That being said I do have a couple of questions. One, it seems like pretty much everything for the new design was already decided upon and cemented. Things like the color scheme, the placement of adds and other things, even the fixed width. If that's the case why are you really asking for input on the new design? Why not have two or three proprosed designs with (maybe) slightly different color schemes and placement and maybe even one of those that's not fixed width? I would think user input into a new site design would be more useful if that input could actually change things from what's proposed. Then again, I am definitely no expert when it comes to site design for a site that supports peoples families.

Another question for haiku. I like that image sprite thing you did with shacknews. Is there someplace that has a tutorial or write up on how to do this because I would really like to try it out and see how it works?

Keep up the good work. I think the new site will rock.
 
KYLE,

First of all I applaud you for the effort you took in making high requirements for advertisers in your ad space. this makes it better for us.
I now am a advid firefox user. ( you know what that means)
I was wondering if we could get A link to say "the EGG" under the links page where you guys could still get credit. so we could go thru a posted link. I hope you understand waht I'm saying

thank you for all your hard work in the past
~Chad
 
Paithar said:
One, it seems like pretty much everything for the new design was already decided upon and cemented. Things like the color scheme, the placement of adds and other things, even the fixed width. If that's the case why are you really asking for input on the new design? Why not have two or three proprosed designs with (maybe) slightly different color schemes and placement and maybe even one of those that's not fixed width? I would think user input into a new site design would be more useful if that input could actually change things from what's proposed.
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We ask for feedback to see a general tone of response. For example it was pretty unanimous that the featured article list was too many links deep and should be shortened. We're really not in the business of creating several designs and making this a community decision. I know that sounds harsh, but there are strict brand standards and a clear vision that we want to stick to, and if we let too many voices be a part of that, it will only slow down progress.

There is never going to be 1 solid solution that pleases everyone. Given that, it's more important that Kyle is pleased and the rest of the [H] staff is pleased. It's never a bad thing to put it in front of people, but we aren't asking "what should we change" so much as seeing how people respond to it. So far it's been very, very positive. If you consider with Shacknews which has a more vocal community than [H], about half of the people hate the design and half like it. It seems with this that the upper 80% of replies like it quite a bit, and that's awesome. I'm really really happy with the response so far.
 
mashie said:
One obvious question that hasn't been asked yet, when can we expect this new site go live?
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It hasn't been asked yet because it was answered on the very last line of my original post that started the thread. :rolleyes:
 
haiku said:
We ask for feedback to see a general tone of response. For example it was pretty unanimous that the featured article list was too many links deep and should be shortened. We're really not in the business of creating several designs and making this a community decision. I know that sounds harsh, but there are strict brand standards and a clear vision that we want to stick to, and if we let too many voices be a part of that, it will only slow down progress.

There is never going to be 1 solid solution that pleases everyone. Given that, it's more important that Kyle is pleased and the rest of the [H] staff is pleased. It's never a bad thing to put it in front of people, but we aren't asking "what should we change" so much as seeing how people respond to it. So far it's been very, very positive. If you consider with Shacknews which has a more vocal community than [H], about half of the people hate the design and half like it. It seems with this that the upper 80% of replies like it quite a bit, and that's awesome. I'm really really happy with the response so far.
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One consistent comment I hear in the later half of the thread is a desire to see more of this type of web design.

I hope you do not neglect the needs of your visitors.
 
I like the new design alot. I can't wait for the subcription option to take away the banner ads. The filter at work likes to block them.

Nice to see one of my favorite sites expand.
 
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