Two days ago I asked if I should move some of the more advanced content to another blog. The result currently stands at 47% no voters to 41% yes voters with 12% saying they do not care. This reflects why the decision is that hard to make and why it takes so long to come to a decision. I’m currently feeling that a compromise in form of a blog redesign would please most Ghacks users.
The design should lay more emphasize on the various categories and provide RSS feeds for single categories or tags so that users could pick what they want to read. Before I give the start signal for the redesign I would like to ask you about your opinion once again. Not so much if the site should be redesigned but about what you would like to see when the new design goes online. Just add anything that you might want to see. Please keep in mind that the ads have to be there as this is how I make my living.
So, let me know about colors, new features and functions, design choices, fonts and everything else that comes to your mind. I cannot promise that it is possible to add everything there is a very good chance that the popular suggestions will be added to the site.
This is also a nice idea to link to example designs of sites that you like so that we can take a look at them. Fire away!
Related posts:
- Redesign Google Web Search with Firefox
- Ask The Readers: Moving Articles To New Blog
- Sourceforge Website Redesign
- Redesign your Google Calendar with a custom skin
- Stumbleupon Redesign Makes The Site Simpler And More Attractive
- New Free Magazine Subscriptions for Ghacks Readers
- Statistical Information About Ghacks Readers
- Ghacks Birthday Competition Roundup
Either a slightly larger fontsize – or a slightly narrower column width would be a lot easier on the eyes for some of your older readers.
Sites whose look I admire:
http://www.techsupportalert.com
http://www.donationcoder.com/index.html
http://www.smashingmagazine.com
hi
if you separate the RSS feeds to linux\windows, and\or if you separate them to too many feeds(subjects), can you leave one feed that includes everything you write (like now)?
cheers!
keep up the good work !
Yes a catch-all feed will always be available.
Very minor stuff:
-Title and other link colors are blue, change to something matching the background of the ad section, top menu or footer. That might also mean changing logo and header background color scheme.
-I suggest a new (maybe higher on the page) location for the search box.
-Finding a way to distinguish Popular Articles, Friends and Partner Sites from the Ads and Sponsors. What I mean is now I see Popular Articles below Ads and Friends and Partner Sites below Sponsors.
Put year on the date of blog post. (hard to tell if posts are old)
Make wordpress theme available to download.
Integrate with Facebook Connect.
(just one small thing that bugs me…plz get higher resolution pic for the header logo. Make it a PNG.)
Martin, I have been a fan of your site for a while now, I even make it a point to click an ad or two every once in a while to help out.
The addition of Linux articles secured your site as an everyday read.
But the number one thing that needs work is spell check /proofreading. Almost every article has errors in it. I know your not perfect, neither am I but you should really try to reduce the frequency of grammatical errors.
“I’m currently feeling that a a compromise in form of a blog redesign would please most Ghacks users. ”
That level of professionalism is what your site deserves.
Good luck and keep up the good work.
I haven’t replied for a while but I’m still reading :). Anyway why not use categories?
My opinion is you shouldn’t be asking readers about design. More stuff, better navigation, more feeds… Readers can tell you this but it’s all obvious. What hard is making those live, pretty and working.
1. Sum up why last redesign failed.
2a. Look for designers (or design studio) that works with WordPress and had designed for tech niche.
2b. Purchase (or less likely pick free) complex and functional theme, customize or pay for customization to developer.
I think you have clear task for redesign – improve visitor experience for increased range of topics. It’s now question of how to do it.
PS my personal tastes in tech blog design are those I have at my blog, taking in account my poor design skills :)
Well, seen as though there is rss idea then yer I agree with you. About an RSS for all feeds on the site.
I’m your daily visitor, please don’t look for cool design or new fonts, keep instead the layout simple and minimal, that’s something that really make ghacks different from the others. A new, well designed logo should be a nice thing
I agree with Dave, the articles need proofreading. Also, I think that the Ghacks logo should link to the homepage. “Firefox Tips” should be simply “Firefox”, and PLEASE refuse blinking banners. I do not use Adblock (I actually click on ads on sites that I like) so don’t force me into it.
I’d love to see:
1) Multiple RSS Feeds (for different writers or topics- like Lifehacker has).
2) Smaller right sidebar (not as wide). Maybe put half of the link on the left side of the page and half on the right?
3) Multiple color schemes so users can choose which they like best? The themes would be similar but maybe have like red, blue, green of the same kind of theme. Example: Your banner, comment submit button, links and headlines are blue, but a 2nd version of the theme could have a green banner and submit button and a 3rd ver would be red, etc.
I agree with the grammatical errors. And I would like links to automatically open in a new tab. As far as the look, I find the current font and colors hard to read. I have zenbe email and I love those fonts and colors. See their link… http://www.zenbe.com/welcome
Categorize, don’t move.
After all, some of what you feel is _advanced_ may not appear so to some of the geeks who frequent your material. And some of it may seem overwhelmingly advanced to others.
Tag ‘em! Put tags, categories, whatever ya wanna call ‘em, on the posts, then *maybe* provide alternate links to ‘em. Be careful on that *maybe*, though.
For instance,
*Linux, advanced
*Mac, advanced
#Web, advanced
*Windows, advanced
*Linux
*Mac
*Web
*Windows
or something similar could indicate the complexity of a particular article as well as applicability to my needs of the moment.
Larger font would be nice for us old farts, and a narrowing of the text area would increase readability. Say, about 1-1/2 times the width of the Adsense blocks, but that’s just a horseback opinion.
Don’t think moving parts to a different blog would be a goo idea … your judgment as to what would go to an _advanced_ blog might differ considerably from what your readers might think.
Oh, yeah … don’t change just for the sake of change Lots of folk like you just the way you are .
I follow you through RSS feeds (In Thunderbird). It would be nice if the feed items could display the number of comments so I have an indication of whether there is something worth clicking the link to open it in the browser.
Even the first /last(?) ‘n’ comments would be useful to me.
And again i say i like the colours, i like the font. When you realy want to split it up maybay you can make one tab with the tshirt, free magazine, mobiles, contact.
it’s the content that matters! anyway keep it simple and easy to read. Some blogs in your partner / friend list have stopped updating since a long time (webinterdit for eg) try to find new ones
Martin, your site is a daily read for me as well, and I like the content and the info that you provide.
You need to remember that this site is your “personal” blog/tech site. The people that keep insisting on spell checking need to remember that as well. You are not in some 100 story building typing this stuff out on network of servers that can do all this stuff for you. Those small spelling errors make this site make it a little more “human” to me. Its also amusing to me to see that the people that are asking for grammar/spell checks are using incorrect grammar themselves. You could type everything on this site in cellphone text message grammar and I would STILL love this site!
As for the site layout? All I can say on this is, use the “K.I.S.S.” method. (Keep.It.Simple.Stupid) You need to remember as well, that not all people like change. What ever you decide, keep up the good work most of all, and THANK YOU for the site.
Thank you Martin! for being there for us.
Ditto Genesis. I too, am a long time daily reading old fart! I have no problems with either the functionality of your site as it stands, the font or, an occasional grammatical error.
Your read has helped me with many issues and given me many new things to think about and/or try.
I am as grateful to you as I was to Fred Langa for all his years of intuitive informations (beginning with Windows magazine).
The only change I could be grateful for would be (but, not necessary, I’ll read you anyway), is automatic link changing to a new tab.
Whatever your decision, I’m sure it will be just fine. You have done so well so far. Glad to see you escalate and prospering.
Thank you, again Martin.
Dave says:
But the number one thing that needs work is spell check /proofreading. Almost every article has errors in it. I know your not perfect, neither am I but you should really try to reduce the frequency of grammatical errors.
It is ironic that Dave who sits in judgment of Martin’s grammar
commits the glaring grammatical error of using your in place of you’re.
Martin’s first language happens to be German. His command of English
is superior to many tech writers whose native language is English.
Grammar and spelling are hardly a problem on Ghacks and any
occasional error is often attributable to differences in the
manner of expression between German and English.
In point of fact, Martin has a rare ability to concisely
cut to the heart of technical issues and express with
great clarity what readers should look for and know.
Doing this in English for a native German speaker
is all the more impressive and appreciated.
Hi
When you do a search on your website you only get back five results per page, with the beginning of each listed below the title. Maybe you could have a page listing each by their title alone. That would make skimming through them for the right article much quicker.
Either that or have an archive page with each title listed. I think the titles themselves describe the articles well enough for someone to browse through them and know what they contain.
Something similar to http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux/.