Check something out for me: TR v2.0

[Hance]

Update on a few things:

As you guys requested, the news page is complete, thanks to Steve and Cyril working overtime to deliver a new feature late in the game. It's linked from the front page, but here's the direct URL:

http://trweb2.techreport.com/news.x

Bookmark that puppy, set your prefs to blue, and party like it's 1999!

Also, the blog paging issue should be resolved, and a number of other outstanding bugs are squashed. Some of the issues you guys have noted are related to the process we're using to import old content into the new tools. Those things should be sorted out during the conversion.

Thanks to those of you have been helping with testing. Much appreciated!

Awsome. When I first looked at the new layout I didnt really care for it but after playing with it for a few days I really like the new layout better than the old. My only real complaint was the news story thing.

Ever thought of doing a download this article as a PDF ala ARS for TR supporters ? I would pony up a few bucks for it because I could take the articles with me and read them on the job when I have no internet access.

[SuperSpy]

Ever thought of doing a download this article as a PDF ala ARS for TR supporters ? I would pony up a few bucks for it because I could take the articles with me and read them on the job when I have no internet access.

++

[Fighterpilot]

The check prices section is way out of proportion in size compared to its usefullness IMO.

[FireGryphon]

Ever thought of doing a download this article as a PDF ala ARS for TR supporters ? I would pony up a few bucks for it because I could take the articles with me and read them on the job when I have no internet access.

++

Same. I would donate more money than the standard (optional) donations for a PDF feature. Of course, we could all individually make PDFs of articles, but that's not nearly as cool.

btw, the news page is great, even if the blog posts are down the page a bit. It's about 85-90% perfect, but that's good enough for me at the moment. Ever think of having a separate page for blogs?

[Kevin]

Ever think of having a separate page for blogs?

You mean like this?

[FireGryphon]

Ever think of having a separate page for blogs?

You mean like this?

Something like that

Will that get linked on the nav bar?

[Shinare]

Update on a few things:

As you guys requested, the news page is complete, thanks to Steve and Cyril working overtime to deliver a new feature late in the game. It's linked from the front page, but here's the direct URL:

http://trweb2.techreport.com/news.x

Bookmark that puppy, set your prefs to blue, and party like it's 1999!

Also, the blog paging issue should be resolved, and a number of other outstanding bugs are squashed. Some of the issues you guys have noted are related to the process we're using to import old content into the new tools. Those things should be sorted out during the conversion.

Thanks to those of you have been helping with testing. Much appreciated!

Wow, thats the money shot right there Damage! Thanks for doing that. I still wish it was blue theme by default. I surf anonymously and no private data is kept on my computers. Which means all the things on your site (as well as everyone else's) that stores things in cookies do not carry over. I believe this is the way of the future as even FF3 will have built in anonymous browsing where nothing is saved to the computer in the first place, much less deleteing them every time you close the browser.

[danny e.]

well crud.

i browsed to the "forums" link on the new site.
.. that fixed width is going ot be hard to get used to.

[titan]

Your latest review isn't in the Feature Articles list. Bug?

In regards to the news page, looks like the News archive link is fixed too. At least, it behaves as I'd expect it to. I'm really jazzed about the new site layout. Can't wait for it to be official.

EDIT: I should note, too, that the review is in the featured article window place thing. Just not in the list.

[titan]

well crud.

i browsed to the "forums" link on the new site.
.. that fixed width is going ot be hard to get used to.

I see that more as a feature. There are a lot of people who post items (e.g. photos, links) that are wider than my screen. This throws the rest of the thread out of whack which means I have to scroll left and right to read an entire post. That's annoying.

[Nutmeg]

Don't like it, its too busy and cluttered. Much prefer the old style.

[Usacomp2k3]

I really like that news page. I'd hug you, but you live thousands of miles away

[Kevin]

Your latest review isn't in the Feature Articles list. Bug?
<snip>
EDIT: I should note, too, that the review is in the featured article window place thing. Just not in the list.

If you read through the last few pages again I think there's a post where Damage explains how all of the recent articles get cycled through that spot based on what you've seen before.

[Damage]

Wow, thats the money shot right there Damage! Thanks for doing that. I still wish it was blue theme by default. I surf anonymously and no private data is kept on my computers. Which means all the things on your site (as well as everyone else's) that stores things in cookies do not carry over. I believe this is the way of the future as even FF3 will have built in anonymous browsing where nothing is saved to the computer in the first place, much less deleteing them every time you close the browser.

If you refuse to store cookies with information about your preferences and what you have already seen, the new site will still work for you. You'll just have to live with the default colors and not seeing newer items in the feature box rotation. That is your choice.

Let's be honest: storing a cookie about both of those things doesn't compromise your anonymity in any meaningful way. Tinfoil hats don't attract the chicks, either, so it's a familiar dynamic.

[titan]

Your latest review isn't in the Feature Articles list. Bug?
<snip>
EDIT: I should note, too, that the review is in the featured article window place thing. Just not in the list.

If you read through the last few pages again I think there's a post where Damage explains how all of the recent articles get cycled through that spot based on what you've seen before.

I read and understood that. What I'm saying is the review is in the rotation for that box, but it isn't in the feature article list below that box.

[titan]

Wow, thats the money shot right there Damage! Thanks for doing that. I still wish it was blue theme by default. I surf anonymously and no private data is kept on my computers. Which means all the things on your site (as well as everyone else's) that stores things in cookies do not carry over. I believe this is the way of the future as even FF3 will have built in anonymous browsing where nothing is saved to the computer in the first place, much less deleteing them every time you close the browser.

If you refuse to store cookies with information about your preferences and what you have already seen, the new site will still work for you. You'll just have to live with the default colors and not seeing newer items in the feature box rotation. That is your choice.

Let's be honest: storing a cookie about both of those things doesn't compromise your anonymity in any meaningful way. Tinfoil hats don't attract the chicks, either, so it's a familiar dynamic.

In addition, why not put TR in the exception list so that you don't have to "suffer" with the default color scheme.

[Damage]

Your latest review isn't in the Feature Articles list. Bug?
<snip>
EDIT: I should note, too, that the review is in the featured article window place thing. Just not in the list.

If you read through the last few pages again I think there's a post where Damage explains how all of the recent articles get cycled through that spot based on what you've seen before.

I read and understood that. What I'm saying is the review is in the rotation for that box, but it isn't in the feature article list below that box.

If the review is up top in the big feature box, it's not duplicated in the articles list below. That's a feature, not a bug.

[titan]

Your latest review isn't in the Feature Articles list. Bug?
<snip>
EDIT: I should note, too, that the review is in the featured article window place thing. Just not in the list.

If you read through the last few pages again I think there's a post where Damage explains how all of the recent articles get cycled through that spot based on what you've seen before.

I read and understood that. What I'm saying is the review is in the rotation for that box, but it isn't in the feature article list below that box.

I just checked again and it's in the list now.

[titan]

Your latest review isn't in the Feature Articles list. Bug?
<snip>
EDIT: I should note, too, that the review is in the featured article window place thing. Just not in the list.

If you read through the last few pages again I think there's a post where Damage explains how all of the recent articles get cycled through that spot based on what you've seen before.

I read and understood that. What I'm saying is the review is in the rotation for that box, but it isn't in the feature article list below that box.

If the review is up top in the big feature box, it's not duplicated in the articles list below. That's a feature, not a bug.

Okay, that makes sense. Just checking.

[Aphasia]

Here are some bugs i found. And i havent seen them mentioned, but i didnt read all 8 pages to the last letter.

Im using IE7 on XP-sp2 and no cookie refusals unless its 3rd party. Most things work fine, no real layout errors except the ones below.

First, when i put the comments system over to thread-mode, it can be changed back via the small drop down dialogue, and it also always says flat, even though it shows thread mode. And no matter what you select it doesnt seem to change from thread mode once its there.

Also, If i go into the comments sections and klick the small front-page link in the comments bit, it goes back to the front page, but if i have viewed and selected a comment further down in the thread, it gives me a small version of the front page below the article summary. That is, the front page opens only in the comments section and doesnt revert the whole page.

Whats also odd is that i managed to switch back to flat mode, but only in the small options link with the settings dialogue. But it doest take hold of the filters choices. And it also still doesnt revert to full page viewing and restricts the nestled article/comments to lie below the larger main article. These bugs is the same in either color-mode.

All in all, i like the new site-design, although my personal opinion is that the main page can look abit cluttered, depending on the articles and adds shown. Some parts that may allieviate it would be an article column that could be a tiny bit wider and the add-column a tiny bit smaller. But i like it better than sweclockers as you have a centering option while sweclockers always pull out to the left, which is annoying on widescreen. Reading the articles, the new format works just fine.

The new multiselectable Filter content/tags is a really neat feature. It improves findability immensely. Also, IMHO, the more stories news-link is more then enough to get a short-hand alike a new-old-look design.

The first look was oh, horror, but that because im so used to the old design, but when actually thinking on it, i like the new one better. Still, reading your rationale made things very clear, and gave a really positive spin on the whole redesign. I do freelance work for a photography magazine and we've been through a name change and several layout redesigns. There are always complaints, but as long as there is a vision, openness and thought behind everything. It's really always a win-win situation.

So, great work Damage(and the rest of the staff of course).
Thats my 2... hmm, 5 cents worth.

[FubbHead]

I have a question, and maybe you've brought it up somewhere.. But is the "news column" width sized to fit that small TR/NewEgg ad?

edit: err, the systems guide logo

[FireGryphon]

Don't like it, its too busy and cluttered. Much prefer the old style.

That's what the new "News" page is for: us old timers who like a clean arrangement of news without all the annoying visual clutter. The News page is going to be my new homepage. (still wishing for hot threads and blogs at the top though!

[Wajo]

As long as we eventually get a wide-screen version, I'm really liking the new design.

I think that Damage and co. asking us what we think about the new design speaks volumes about their commitment to the community. If it was any other site they would just make the change and be done with it. Keep it up guys ^^

[gratuitous]

Argh... forum poll questions (and the result bars) are now center justified. (imo) This makes them more difficult to read. Could you re-set them to left-justified?

And correct me if I'm mistaken, but the front page font has gotten smaller, too. My old tired eyes are having a hell of a time reading it. Don't suppose this can be re-sized?

[derFunkenstein]

Hmm, it appears that the tan/blue choice isn't tied to your forum profile. Kinda wish it would since I browse from about 5 different machines between work, home, and wherever, but it's easy enough to rectify...

Makes sense, since it won't force you to make a forum profile if you don't want to, tho...

[danny e.]

i find the forum width limit even harder to swallow then the fixed-width site.

[Usacomp2k3]

The forums really don't take to the fixed-width too well. Especially with the first column looking really ugly when people have long locations. This really is going to take some time getting used to. Does the trweb2 server now have the old style for those of us that don't like having our screen space wasted?

[derFunkenstein]

Just improving the chances someone will see this, and other people can try it out and let me know if I'm crazy...ripped from the comments:

Also when I post a comment as a reply, it doesn't re-load the page to show the comment, it scrolls back down to the typing area. Posted this elsewhere, but decided to post it publicly so others could verify if it happens to them.

[Kevin]

I'm locking this thread so that comments on the site changes don't get lost. Please go to the Announcements forum for discussion on the site changes.

viewtopic.php?t=52992

Kevin