You might have already noticed that the WordPress theme has been changed here at Ghacks to a more minimalistic theme. I think the new theme combines an excellent design with good readability. The theme will be tested in the coming days to see if problems of any kind are experienced while displaying the new WordPress theme. This includes both factors that are experienced by the visitors of the website but also other factors like linking structure and monetization.
We would like to ask you to comment on the new theme and especially notify us if you encounter problems of any kind including page load errors, display errors and any other kind of error that is dampening your user experience. And we would of course like to listen to your opinion about the new theme.
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My first impression was, AAAH is this really ghacks?
Then I looked around, and I actually like this clean look. Maybe a bit too clean (text logo), but it is more pleasant to look at imho, I like it ;)
So far I prefer it. It’s less cluttered & visually smooth & very readable.
Just a few things though that I’d thought I’d mention :
1 – Concerning the page navigation at the base “Page 1 of 1,096 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 » … Last » ” it would be nice to have the page numbers css set to active & visited in a clear manner;
2 – Off-site links – I prefer off-site links to open in a new tab or window, but as I realize some users may not like that, perhaps an icon that displays that it’s an off-site link ?
(like on my site with external links);
Other than that, I like this theme.
Too bland.
Add some color to the header and increase the font size of the navigation bar text.
I like it – it is much easier on the eyes.
However – you might want to increase the size of your logo and change its color – it is barely noticeable.
Also, the navigation bar is too small and too blended in with everything else.
I like it. Nice, clean, simple.
Looks nice, I like it. A few tweaks I guess…like here on this page the Author, Published, etc is kind of breaking the look. The ad immediately below the post title is pushed down because of if
I realy like, so far, the cleaner outlook main only dislike is that the links are not so good visible. Maybay a outhor more brighter color?
Looks nice except that now all I see are the commercials.
The content disappears among them.
Much better! People are always talking about ‘Less is More’ yet few in web design follow that concept. More should.
Much Better now :D
Your new theme is good and more readable. White themes are always preferable. But I think this theme requires some tweaks like :
1. Logo is not visible at all.
2. If you add some design or color effect to header then it would be better.
3. Font size of ‘Related Posts’ heading is small. It should be of larger size so that readers can easily notice it and it is mixed with ad too. There should be a little more space between ad and related posts.
4. Font size of comment authors is also small.
5. Adding gravatar images to comment bar will be a great idea.:)
I hope you will make changes according to these points.
Better, but little too simple.
Please more space (look at picture’s link http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yIePNsW4E3ujdoT2bD9S4A?feat=directlink). Anything else looks nice and clear.
Wow, this is quite a big change for me and I have a few problems with it. Personally. I feel that it’s aligned too far to the left, so the webpage is a bit unbalanced and not very easy on the eyes. The simplicity is also too much that it is now on the bland and wordy side. I liked it better when the different posts are more distinct and well-defined, but that isn’t too much of a problem. The first point is a bigger issue for me.
Well I really did like the design of the last Ghacks and can’t complain about the new. I’m certainly one who thinks “less is more”
Looks ok to me
Looks good.. But very clean..
Also the sidebar needs a little tweaking..
Logo should be changed.. Overall not satisfied..
previous theme was better..
As of first use, I’m fine with the new theme, except for one item.
On my setup, the body text is flush with the left edge of the window. I find it unpleasant to read. My eyes like the white space of a left margin.
After your new theme has been in use for a while, make a call for more comments. I might have more to add later.
As a certified minimalist who usually prefers plain text on a plain background with no bullcrap, I should love this…but I don’t. The way it was before directed my eyes immediately to relevant content and kept them there. Now it just looks busy and I’m all over the place when I look at it.
Some kind of background shading for the link columns and margins might be a good idea.
HEY! Where did Comment RSS go? I depend on that function!
To add some critics to my first comment.
Although the Magatheme looks cleaner, this should be a starting point for something better.
The negative side of this theme is that the look and feel is so much broken with the old theme that new visitors who are prospective subscribers are probably getting confused, whether this really is the site they visited before.
The Ghacks brand is totally gone with this theme and without a logo with a strong image this theme might hurt your branding.
I think it is a good idea to incorporate some recognition points to the design so new visitors can see within a second that this is still Ghacks with a new design and not a totally other site. Maybe using your old header for a while is doing the job until you have a new logo which likely has the same font as before to hold on to the Ghacks brand as is still settled in the brain of your visitors.
I also miss contrast in this design. Everything is black/white except the ads.
For example http://www.skelliewag.org/ also had a very minimalistic design with lots of white and a bit grey and recently she also redesigned her website, but now with blue in it. This new design is still very clean, but looks a lot better and the look and feel of the site is improved considerably.
So although minimalism works, doing it too much doesn’t add any good to your branding.
Moreover, when you want minimalism it is not about minimalism as a good rule, but the reason why minimalism works so well. By overdoing it, you miss the point imho.
So I still like it, but as starting point, not as end product. and because the title is “testing…” you probably think that way too.
This is just way too much simple!
Add some colors so that we can differentiate between links and text..
I really don’t like the font, it hurts my eyes.
add a little grey to make the elements of the page more distinctable and it will be great. love the effort and willing to try new things
From the second i opened the page i liked it. Easy, clean, and even with the lack of colour and clutter, it looks much much more of a professional and authentic webpage.
Nicely done Martin and co.
I can’t resist to add another comment ;)
There is also a navigation error which was actually also in the previous design.
the global menu and utility menu are both in one place.
From an information architecture point of view it’s better to split them up.
So I suggest to put the links:
Email | Contact | Advertise
on the top right spot in the header as utility menu.
An example is www.noupe.com but a lot of other sites are also doing this well.
Maybe you can also put a big rss button and possibly other social network buttons just above your global nav and under the utility menu on the right side of the header. E.g. like done on this site http://colorburned.com to give another example.
By splitting up the menu you’ve also more room in you global nav and then it doesn’t hurt making the font in the navbar a little bigger.
Now I really need to stop commenting haha ;)
Heh, I didn’t even notice the new header before. It looks like a domain squatter logo.
Martin, your logo and header ad’s total width add up to 975px and on 1024×768 there is a (very few pixels) horizontal scroll bar
RG think I fixed it. Can you confirm?
Run into 404 two times trying to post a comment. But now all seems ok.
Yes, horizontal scroll bar is gone now, thanx
It’s still too “bright white.”
Could you maybe tone down the background color a bit. It’s mostly ok on a flat screen, but on a CRT it starts to drill your eyes out after a few minutes.
IMHO it’s also a little too bland. Add a little more drama and contrast to the pallet. It’s too McCarthy-era pastel. This one reminds me of a house from a 50′s sitcom.