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gorgonzola · Oct 12, 2001, 12:06 AM

www.macnn.com

We'd love to hear what you think!

Oct 12, 2001, 12:17 AM

Compliments to the designer.
Very nice and clean.

Julian

Adam Betts · Oct 12, 2001, 12:19 AM

Very nice design. I actually like it but the color choice is too fade, doesn't you think? It's very hard for me to tell the line between two news because the color on LCD screen is not very sharp like it is on CRT.

I really like the new design. Let's see what the other people think of it?

Oct 12, 2001, 12:30 AM

This is great. It's much easier to read the headlines. I remember the last time you tired to update and it was a nightmare. Good work!

Orange Luna · Oct 12, 2001, 01:58 AM

Wow what a roll this website is on. Good job guys! A couple of first observations.

[Note: I've tried this page on Netscape 6 and Opera using Windows (I'm at work)]

1. Nice logo, clear and clean. Look great on Windows though I can see why it might look too bright on a Mac.

2. The opinions section is a good idea.

3. Too busy with colors, me thinks.

4. This could Netscape and Opera error but the fonts are too small for the headline text.

Kudos

Matsu · Oct 12, 2001, 03:30 AM

Change is bad. My underwear is starting to get crispy. Ok, maybe some change is good. Actually the changes to the news page aren't so bad, but hardly as important as schanging my underwear. Why are you guys wasting time on this when you should be fully concentrated on the task of bringing AI back to life???

Captain Canuck · Oct 12, 2001, 03:31 AM

Well done! I find the main page to be cleaner and less cluttered than before. I like it very much.

Two small points that I think may come up: body text size is small (are you using -1?). Also, as another reader noted, I liked the quick links to specific discussion forums down the left side. I think these should be re-added. (e.g. links to all the OS X forums etc..)

Thanks for all the hard work. I visit the site daily, and am glad to see that you're actively trying to improve. (After that News Factor debacle, I was concerned.)

Captain Canuck · Oct 12, 2001, 03:48 AM

Two more quick points:

1. The colour bar behind the dates ("Thursday, Oct. 11") needs to contrast more sharply. I think it should be much darker.

2. The site used to respect my browser's font settings (Verdana default). Now the body text appears in Geneva. Style sheet?

gurman · Oct 12, 2001, 05:13 AM

Very nice layout, but the typeface as displayed in Netscape 6.1 is way too small. This is, on balance, a step backward to the user-unfriendliness last failed redesign.

Sorry to be so negative; the content is still well worth the visit, but no one should force the use of such small fonts.

Oct 12, 2001, 06:42 AM

Originally posted by Matsu:
Why are you guys wasting time on this when you should be fully concentrated on the task of bringing AI back to life???

Who said we aren't?

Excellent comments, guys. The fonts issues will be adressed. We're also going to setup CSS so that netscape users use a different sheet with larger text.

As for the color contrast, we're getting rid of the lime green and we will darken up the headlines a little for LCD users.

oliverlubin · Oct 12, 2001, 07:36 AM

site looks great.

few suggestions though, or comments rather.

that green bar has to go...there must be some other color that would work and not be so blunt and random. another consideration, change the default alink, vlink, and link colors to better fit in with the current scheme of things in the news pages. standard blue and purple does not really fit with your color scheme.

all in all, very nice, very clean!

Basharar · Oct 12, 2001, 07:48 AM

The FONTS ARE TOOOO SMALLLLL< MAke them larger as before PLEASE

Captain Canuck · Oct 12, 2001, 02:51 PM

Originally posted by oliverlubin:
another consideration, change the default alink, vlink, and link colors to better fit in with the current scheme of things in the news pages. standard blue and purple does not really fit with your color scheme.

Don't do this.
Using different colours for links, as opposed to the established blue text, purple, etc. is a bad idea because it breaks with the consistency of the standard Web interface. Web users are accustomed to links being certain colours. Don't try to invent a new interface paradigm just to match your sites colour scheme.

Jakob Nielsen wrote about this in "Designing Web Usability." In studies of goal-oriented Web site visitors, non-standard link colours hampered their ability to find the information they were looking for (see pgs 62-64). And remember that all Web users are goal-oriented, particularly visitors to a news site such as MacNN.
null

cteselle · Oct 12, 2001, 04:04 PM

did the site revert to the old design? I saw the new one last night, and right now (for me at least) it is displaying today's news in the old format...

strange...

cteselle · Oct 12, 2001, 04:05 PM

just saw on the main page:

(We've temporarily reverted back as we work with some design and technical issues behind the scenes. We'll be using your comments/suggestions to improve the layout/design. Look for the new design sometime this weekend. --The MacNN Staff

nevermind...

gorgonzola · Oct 12, 2001, 07:48 PM

Yes, we've taken off the new design for a few days in order to address some of the layout and page design issues that seem to be overwhelming (the fonts are too small, people don't like that green bar, and people want the direct forum links back on the main page seem to be the top 3), and it'll be back soon.

Please stay calm about this new design. We are not NewsFactor, and we are listening to our reader feedback very carefully, and are trying to address the issues as quickly as possible. We're not going to force anything on anyone; just keep the feedback coming.

zac4mac · Oct 18, 2001, 08:19 AM

I like it. Clean and uncluttered.
Still wish I didn't have to turn on cookies and Java, but I have to get my MacNN fix so I deal with it.
Still have trouble accessing replies to news items using Netscape 4.78.
Good job everybody, thanks.

Zack

ARENA · Oct 18, 2001, 08:50 AM

Good! I like it! It was time for a redesign...maybe the Mac OS X section could be a little redesigned now? ...maybe not.

gumby5647 · Oct 18, 2001, 11:22 AM

looks good. Time to focus on AI now!

gorgonzola · Oct 18, 2001, 05:33 PM

Originally posted by ARENA:
Good! I like it! It was time for a redesign...maybe the Mac OS X section could be a little redesigned now? ...maybe not.

Yes, that will be up in a few weeks also. It'll be very similar to the new main MacNN design but with a few Aqua highlights. It'll look really nice.

As for AI, "Workin' on it, workin' on it..." =)

B.I.L · Oct 18, 2001, 06:44 PM

I like it, though it is still weird to see headlines on MacNN. I'm used to just skimming the articles... headlines ruin the suspense. But they are good.

My gripe is that the little yellow stripe that connects the logo to the news tab doesn't show up in OmniWeb. It does show up in IE 5.1 (but in IE the main column gets messed up after the NF box, which is worse). Don't know whether it is your fault or OW's, but it is ugly.

Also please implement the new top banner tabs thing across all pages that have tabs as soon as possible....

ghporter · Oct 19, 2001, 07:22 AM

My compliments on the new design. It is simpler, easier to understand and (gasp) more intuitive. It strikes me as much more "Mac-like," too. Good job and thanks.

blizzard · Oct 19, 2001, 05:16 PM

The direct link from the home page to "OSX Developer" forum seems to be broken.

gorgonzola · Oct 21, 2001, 11:31 PM

Originally posted by B.I.L:
I like it, though it is still weird to see headlines on MacNN. I'm used to just skimming the articles... headlines ruin the suspense. But they are good.

My gripe is that the little yellow stripe that connects the logo to the news tab doesn't show up in OmniWeb. It does show up in IE 5.1 (but in IE the main column gets messed up after the NF box, which is worse). Don't know whether it is your fault or OW's, but it is ugly.

Also please implement the new top banner tabs thing across all pages that have tabs as soon as possible....

(1) We knew some people liked that, so we implemented Classic mode. There's a link on the main page, so the news shows up without headlines. You can bookmark that page so you don't have to click on the link each time.

(2) I'll have the designer rework the code. Clearly two bugs there (spacing and the yellow bar).

(3) The Team site should be updated very soon. osx.macnn.com and reviews.macnn.com are being redesigned as well, so the new nav bar at the top will probably show up along with the rest of the upgrades.

reader50 · Oct 22, 2001, 04:07 PM

The news page performs strangely in iCab. The news content column seemed narrow to me. So I widened the browser window. Instead of the news column widening to take up the new space, the ad columns on either side widened. The news content remained the same width.

Also, below the NFN links box, the content boxes do not seem to fit right. And the main news column becomes extremely narrow.

[Edit]
Actually, on further tests, the main column did widen a little. But when the window is widened beyond the minimum width, the main content should get the entire benefit.

[ 10-22-2001: Message edited by: reader50 ]