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Semper1775
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:49 am

gerbilspy wrote:
Damage, you were very brave to ask for comments! With your audience, you'll get a gazillion ideas....good luck filtering them! :)


And that is what I love about techreport the guys behind the curtain aren't uppity and ask us peasant folks for our opinions and actually respond to them. When I first found techreport I was looking up graphic card reviews and I was thoroughly impressed at the depth of the reviews and the writing. I was able to find what I was looking for right on the front page. The new layouts are nice and I think I understand Damage's post when he elaborated why the change. If it generates more traffic then all the better and gets the TR more credibilty then go for it guys. This is your baby so raise it how you see fit and hopefully it gives you good returns. Definately hopes it helps expand your using base.

The first redesign you put up was yes a bit cluttered but I think it was still an improvement over this one. The old skool one, I'm not sure if that was a joke or if you seriously considered doing that but I liked it, it was not flashy but flowed well. I mean it doesn't scream out, and I think you want something that screams out "Bookmark me now and go tell all your friends!" kinda thing right?
If I were to be compared to any of the disciples, I would be Thomas for seeing is believing...Don't just tell me the TRUTH, show me the PROOF...
 
Corrado
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:50 am

I like the OldSkool site, except for the review itself not being condensed. I don't like having to click on a headline to get to the summary of the article then another click to get to the whole posting.

Please leave an option to do only 2 columns instead of the very cluttered 3 columns. The amount of screen real estate that the ads take up may not have changed, but putting them all together on the side takes up more room to my eye. Perhaps you might even be able to offer an ad-free version to paying supporters?
 
Jigar
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:58 am

Some thing weired is happening at Tech report...

As soon as i click at the topic, it's asking me to download .PHP file :-?

See this ..

Image
Image
 
Flying Fox
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:07 am

Korr wrote:
Ads take up almost a 3rd of the page, and crammed on the right. It looks like an amateur hack.
SnowboardingTobi wrote:
1) I like how you basically clump the ads into a specific spot. Easier to ignore. :P
Also easier to find should you feel the need to click on something to help out. I also think the biggest money maker now will be that big Flash ad on top, which I don't think it can be shrunken to a smaller width. It's a necessity I suppose. We'll need to keep an eye on it though, most of those big ones chew CPU in FireFox like no tomorrow (The Inq has a lot of them).

I also prefer all the ads in "one column" than have them scattered left and right. Makes things harder to read. Personally I prefer 2-column layouts than 3-column ones. But considering the needs I suppose there is no choice.

SnowboardingTobi wrote:
2) I miss not seeing the full text for each news story. I understand the reason behind it though. Perhaps, if it's not too much trouble, you could make it so that a mouseover tooltip on each title would show a short blurb more of what's in there. Dunno. Or add a little AJAX so that clicking on a tiny button to the left/right of each title will expand the box and show a short blurb below each title.
++
This may actually make that column a bit more useful.

Korr wrote:
I understand the need for a new page, but if TR think a crappy design is going to win over content, they are in for a nasty surprise, in part because the new design sucks and it highlights the near vacuum of articles they publish.
Why not do what the others here and submit your design concept? ;)

danny e. wrote:
one thing that is a bit annoying about the new design (even though I am a big fan of change).. is that the ads take up basically a third of the space on a Fixed Width page.. it would be different if it wasnt fixed..
Yeah, a non-fixed width would be nice. I understand it is so much more difficult to do. But this could solve our width problem here, no? Seems like nobody wants to do non-fixed these days. :-? Too bad I don't see shrinking the 2nd column a bit either.

I'm in agreement with a techreport.com/news kind of page. Easy to type/remember URL and have more news in length. Newbies will be drawn to the new frontpage. Old timers can either click from a big news link from the front, or just go to the news page just for clicks. The news page can actually be in my preferred 2-column layout too? hehe </motive> :lol:
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king_kilr
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:16 am

Jigar2speed5095 wrote:
Some thing weired is happening at Tech report...

As soon as i click at the topic, it's asking me to download .PHP file :-?

See this ..



That generally means apache is misconfigured and isn't interpreting pages, congratulations you now have TR's source, not sure what it's good for though.
Damn the torpedoes , full speed ahead.

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lordT
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:28 am

Just out of curiosity, what CMS system does TR use for the beta site? Custom coded or otherwise?
 
zgirl
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:52 am

Too cluttered, white space makes the world go around.

Need to have some of the news comments there. That is one thing I liked was being able to see them at the same time.

The beige sucks. If I was to look at beige, I'll go visit my grandmothers house.

I would to the articles and news in two columns with a little more room between them. Place the other items at the top or far to one side.

Get a better color scheme.
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Flying Fox
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:21 am

z-man wrote:
The beige sucks. If I was to look at beige, I'll go visit my grandmothers house.

...

Get a better color scheme.
First thing I did was to click the A/A button to switch back to blue. ;)
The Model M is not for the faint of heart. You either like them or hate them.

Gerbils unite! Fold for UnitedGerbilNation, team 2630.
 
king_kilr
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:24 am

lordtottuu wrote:
Just out of curiosity, what CMS system does TR use for the beta site? Custom coded or otherwise?


I believe it is called ja.zz although the only info I can find about it is that it was used by shacknews, not a peep about it otherwise.
Damn the torpedoes , full speed ahead.



AMD X2 4200+, Asus A8N-E, 3GBs of RAM, 7900GS
 
Kevin
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:33 am

king_kilr wrote:
lordtottuu wrote:
Just out of curiosity, what CMS system does TR use for the beta site? Custom coded or otherwise?


I believe it is called ja.zz although the only info I can find about it is that it was used by shacknews, not a peep about it otherwise.

ja.zz is the comment system. lordtottuu is asking about the "content management system."
Being right doesn't matter if no one listens.
 
Damage
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:44 am

lordtottuu wrote:
Just out of curiosity, what CMS system does TR use for the beta site? Custom coded or otherwise?


The CMS is custom-coded by Mr. Roylance. It's tailored for our needs and lets us do crazy things like the sections and archives with ease.

I'd like to throw out a few other clarifications, for whatever they're worth.

First, we could *really* use some help with testing the new site. That is, after all, what I was asking for when I started this thread, and we do need your assistance on that front, if you don't mind. Thanks to those of you who have take the time to browse the site, click through articles, try the features I've requested, and posted some test comments. More--with more browsers, if you use 'em at all--would be appreciated.

Second, the "oldskool.x" demo was simply a poorly hacked attempt to show approximately what a dedicated news page might look like. It would not replace the front page. This feature is rising to the top of our to-do list, since many of you would like to have it. I can't tell you when it'll be ready, though--pre-launch or a little afterwards.

Third, I understand the innate need felt by some to act like expert critics on web design and The One True Way to do things, and we're willing to listen to concerns and suggestions, but you all should know that we're pretty well past the stage of making major revisions to the design before launch.

In a related point, some of the design feedback is really unhelpful. Comments like "Spend some money" (we did, tremendously) or "Get a new color scheme" (We spent hours extra to allow you to click that blue-switch icon) are pointless and rude. I'm sure my remarks won't achieve the impossible goal of raising the lowest common denominator in an Internet forum, but sometimes a guy has to try.
Last edited by Damage on Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Scott Wasson - "Damage"
 
titan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:47 am

Flying Fox wrote:
SnowboardingTobi wrote:
2) I miss not seeing the full text for each news story. I understand the reason behind it though. Perhaps, if it's not too much trouble, you could make it so that a mouseover tooltip on each title would show a short blurb more of what's in there. Dunno. Or add a little AJAX so that clicking on a tiny button to the left/right of each title will expand the box and show a short blurb below each title.
++
This may actually make that column a bit more useful.


I should point out that I do like that when you click on a news article it also includes the comments. That's something that a plethora of other sites do and was wondering when TR would get around to that too. Obviously, the major block here is having all the articles posted in full on the front page. This makes more sense.

I love that A/A feature too. I didn't realize what it was there for until you mentioned it Fox. Anyway, still haven't found anything else wrong technical -wise.
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Scorpiuscat
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:55 am

I dont like it, its does look to cluttered and its just not TR.

Please say it aint so :cry:


P.S. Are you planning on moving to phpBB v.3 for the forums?
All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct - Carl Sagan
 
krazyredboy
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:56 am

I am certainly not critical of anything you do to your website, as I have loved it for over 5 years now, I can only say one thing:

"Uh, I'm wit you fellers..."

/end southern accent.


I like the new layout. I think it will prove to be more effective in the long run and that's what you really have to consider. I believe the extra visual goodies on the screen will intice significantly more viewers to your content, and will probably supply you with many more followers...

hmm...followers, hey, I think I get it now...you...are building an army...Aren't you? Oh, I knew it. You guys are more awesome than I thought...and I put a lot of thought into it.

I look forward to the change and that is my 2 cents worth.
 
Swampangel
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:56 am

Re: scrolling with middle click problem:

Middle-click scrolling works fine in Opera 9 and IE7 on comments pages. With Firefox, it works if you click anywhere outside of the actual comments. Outside the central column or over the article text works fine.

Edit: however, in Opera, when I middle-click to stop scrolling, I can no longer select text or click on any links that are outside the comments area. This includes titlebar links, article links and ads.
Last edited by Swampangel on Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
flip-mode
Grand Admiral Gerbil
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:57 am

WOAH!!! :o

I just started clicking the article links at the top and now I'm LOVING the new scheme. Love having the side by side presentation of articles and news that are related to each other.

FWIW, I really like the front page just having news headlines and not the full news text.
 
titan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:00 am

Scorpiuscat wrote:
I dont like it, its does look to cluttered and its just not TR.

Please say it aint so :cry:


P.S. Are you planning on moving to phpBB v.3 for the forums?


What makes TR TR is the content.

At first I was a little not liking the new site, but now that I've been playing around with it I'm growing accustomed to the new layout. I even like it now. Just give it a chance.
The best things in life are free.
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Guy 1: Surely, you will fold with me.
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Cuhulin
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:02 am

I think the picture on the upper left is simply too large. It dominates the page, rather than allow the content to do that.

Other than that, I think it is a good format.

cu
 
lordT
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:16 am

I wish TR used a little more drop downs. Even a little more JS.

This just might be me but I liked it when the blog posts and forum threads were shown at the top. Having them at the sides fairly cramps things.

Also, I think I found a bug.
Image

Edit: On a Win XP box running FF 2.0.0.6
 
Swampangel
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:20 am

On the comments page, there's a small block -- I assume it's for the Manufacturer/Model/Price info you have on article pages -- that doesn't show up right. All on WinXP.

http://image.bayimg.com/eagjpaabb.jpg
http://image.bayimg.com/fagjfaabb.jpg
http://image.bayimg.com/fagjiaabb.jpg

Edited to links to be less obnoxious. :P
Last edited by Swampangel on Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
 
titan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:21 am

Cuhulin wrote:
I think the picture on the upper left is simply too large. It dominates the page, rather than allow the content to do that.

Other than that, I think it is a good format.

cu


That's more to make it more apparent what the most recent big thing is. Easier to navigate for newcomers.


Damage, in the comments sections.....never mind. I thought it was a bug. It's the drop down box in the comments section. I though it was covering something up because there are brackets around it. Then I looked on the old TR and realized it wasn't so. Anyway, can those brackets be removed?
The best things in life are free.
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Guy 1: Surely, you will fold with me.
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titan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:23 am

Swampangel wrote:
On the comments page, there's a small block -- I assume it's for the Manufacturer/Model/Price info you have on article pages -- that doesn't show up right. All on WinXP.
{Images}


That missing item loads fine on my Firefox 2.0.0.6. It is the manufacturer info.
The best things in life are free.
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titan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:25 am

lordtottuu wrote:
I wish TR used a little more drop downs. Even a little more JS.

This just might be me but I liked it when the blog posts and forum threads were shown at the top. Having them at the sides fairly cramps things.

Also, I think I found a bug.
Image

Edit: On a Win XP box running FF 2.0.0.6


I hate drop down menus! :evil:

I don't have that problem on my PC. I'm using the same browser. Maybe a server glitch?
The best things in life are free.
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Swampangel
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:30 am

titan wrote:
That missing item loads fine on my Firefox 2.0.0.6. It is the manufacturer info.

It loads for you on both the article first page and the comments page? It loads on the article page for me but not on the comment page.
 
titan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:33 am

Swampangel wrote:
titan wrote:
That missing item loads fine on my Firefox 2.0.0.6. It is the manufacturer info.

It loads for you on both the article first page and the comments page? It loads on the article page for me but not on the comment page.


Aha, so it is missing from the comments page.
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Damage
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:37 am

titan wrote:
Swampangel wrote:
titan wrote:
That missing item loads fine on my Firefox 2.0.0.6. It is the manufacturer info.

It loads for you on both the article first page and the comments page? It loads on the article page for me but not on the comment page.


Aha, so it is missing from the comments page.


Quite intentionally.
Scott Wasson - "Damage"
 
titan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:05 pm

Damage wrote:
titan wrote:
Swampangel wrote:
titan wrote:
That missing item loads fine on my Firefox 2.0.0.6. It is the manufacturer info.

It loads for you on both the article first page and the comments page? It loads on the article page for me but not on the comment page.


Aha, so it is missing from the comments page.


Quite intentionally.


But as Swampangel is pointing out a placeholder is there on the comments page. That's what he was highlighting.

So, the box is there, but there's nothing in it.
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Damage
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:08 pm

Ah, yeah. That's actually the remnants of the TR logo we've used forever. We have to deal with those somehow. It's on the list. :)
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king_kilr
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:16 pm

Hrm, this is just me thinking out loud, but it would be very awesome if comments were actually a forum thread, so if I commented on an article it would really just be an alias for a forums thread, not sure if its possible, or worth it though.
Damn the torpedoes , full speed ahead.



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Damage
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:18 pm

Guys:

I posted this on the new site in a comments thread, but it probably bears repeating here:

The feature box will rotate various interesting bits through. It's not written yet, but we'll apply some logic to show you the oldest thing you haven't yet seen in the rotation first, which will generally be our last big review. Then you'll get newer news stories of note after that. One way we'll keep the site fresh is working this box like mad.

This feature is working on a simple rotation basis now. Reload the front page a few times by clicking the TR logo and you'll see it in action.
Scott Wasson - "Damage"
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