Would be a nice plus for me.

Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Thomas

And what I understand is that page design includes three factors: location of the objects of the page; color (background, text, white space); and typography (typesize, typeface).

So, when I first see a page, I just let it wash over me. Then I use the design factors to analyze why I had a good experience or a poor one (or something in between).

Your original new page design was all right fo me upon first viewing, but your latest revision (Ver1.1?) is far more powerful. Kudos. And thanks, too, for both the others’ comments and your openness to welcome them.

In Ver1.1, I like:

The black text on the white background in the body of the articles. That combination offers the greatest readability for people like me with limited eyesight.

In the Comments, the alternating white and light blue backgrounds for consecutive messages. It’s easier to see where one message ends and the next begins. And the light blue background you’ve chosen is excellent in keeping the contrast between foreground and background. Good accessibility here.

In the Comments, the separation of the content from the header into two separate cells. When the body wrapped underneath the header, it was harder for me to read. Now with all the left margins of the bodies in the same row, my eyes go smoothly through the text.

The left margin of the page. It was really bothersome to me when there was no margin. Very jarring. Thanks for the change.

In the Responses section, the separation of personal responses from trackbacks. Since the trackbacks are of no interest to me, this grouping serves me well. And those who want to view trackbacks can easily find them.

The width of your columns. The two left columns break at 800 px, perfect for an 800×600 resolution. Although 1024×768 is, I believe, the most common res, I need to use 800×600. Pages that extend content more than 800, v.g., 815-820 px are a pain to read because of all the horizontal scrolling back and forth to see each line. You’ve neatly avoided that problem.

Anyhow, those are some of the things I like about your new format. I’d like to offer you some suggestions for tweaks, but I’ll have to do that later. I’ll send you another message.

With the current theme, text advertisements are displayed and Internet Explorer does not crash with an older mshtml.dll file.

When the older theme was being displayed, ghacks.net could only be viewed in Internet Explorer 6 with SP1 (maybe others) with an mshtml.dll file from late 2006 or newer (I do not remember specifically what was the minimum file version). Windows XP with Service Pack 1 users would not normally have an mshtml.dll file capable of correctly rendering ghacks.net in the past. I speculate that older mshtml.dll files could not correctly handle all types of text advertisements.

a next button is needed at the bottom of the page and the size of the page numbers can be increased… =)

Like the theme. Definitely an improvement in terms of readability.

I like distinctive layouts because I always know where I am without having to look to the top of the page. This morning I felt sort of – lost in (white) space : )

Odd how these things affect us, isn’t it? I used to spend hour and hours at Download.com. But since the change to their site, I seldom spend more than a minute or two. I like the colors but they also changed the text spacing, took some of the things that made it worth going there for.

I’d really like to see something more homey tomorrow – or the next time I drop in.

The old design had 3 columns though it looked because of the black background like two columns. This should be really a 2 column design, since the “Links” take up very small space and could be easily placed just above the “categories” below the “Popular Articles”.

Or alternatively like a few people have said, break it up with some colour (and shades of grey are colours ~grin~).. A nice 10% grey bar down the side would allow the extra 2 columns (or 1 if its a 2col design) to be fully distinguished from the real text. The eye is then drawn to the Cleaner spaces (the white background). Also the Headings on each post might be better served being a diff colour like old design. Even if its a Dark dark navy blue.

Something else tou might like to try is having only “Home, T-Shirts, Free Magazines, Contact, Advertise, RSS” in the main menu bar. Then have the categories as.. umm.. Areas either under the main bar (in a diff colour) or if keeping the 3 column look.. Maybe as Bold Areas of Interest up top of 3rd column with “Links” under it.. This will allow you to enlarge the font size slightly and not be as busy in the menubar.

Just my 1.25 cents (2 cents aint what it used to be anymore ~g~).

No matter what, the Content is what makes GHacks great.. and that has not changed.. Keep writing fantastic pieces!

now like most things, after a while the new logo will set in and we will get used to it, but some continuity is useful in making everyone recognize the place and feel confortable. in other words, nothing wrong with a new logo and banner — but do consider that you don’t want to be changing the core symbols of the site too many times or it will lose its recognizability.