Official New Design Thread

I like the new "Dark" forum skin a LOT more than the new default; Dark seems closer to the old look.

I like the new colour-coded nav buttons on the forum and the main site. The forum is now a lot more integrated into the rest of the site, which is good.

The ads I can live with. The UltraXConnect banner across the top is more than a bit distracting, however. The GoogleAds are as unobtrusive as always. Those I might actually look at; I'm afraid I'm usually willfully blind to flashy animated banners!

The pale blue top bar seems awfully tall, and the pale blue is quite a change from the previous look and from the many of the other colours in use.

Glad BT is back - didn't realize how much I'd been coming here until I had to go a day and a half without!

 

Hi guys,

Let me first thank everyone who has taken the time to post feedback on our design changes - we value your input, and believe it or not, a HUGE amount of work has gone into this design with the express intent of not alienating our loyal readership.

I would like to encourage future feedback to be split between Website and Forums: I read comments like "I hate the new side ads" and can't help wondering if you hadn't noticed them on the main site for the last year or more.

I would also like to point out that feedback such as "I hate the new colours" is actually not very useful. Somebody said "we're not allowed post criticism" and that simply isn't true: of course, you need to keep the language within the Rules, and certainly refrain from endless "I hate" spam, since that will only get you banned (under the Spam rules).

SO, if you have some feedback to give, good or bad, PLEASE post the REASONS why you feel that way. For example, anyone still using 1024x768 has a good reason to dislike the new forum Skyscraper ads, but unfortunately, you guys are now outnumbered by people browsing at 1280x1024 or higher. You *were* in our minds when we limited the main website to 1000 pixels wide, but the unfortunate byproduct is that the forums will seem a little cramped now.

For people who had "flashing ads", I would ask you to draw distinction between *animated* ads, and the kind of alternating flashing designs that saw that top Ultra ad last about 5 minutes. The reality is that *animated* ads are always going to be a part of the Internet, and we certainly ARE aware of the annoying vibe generated by the bright / flashing Shoot The Monkey or whatever ads. However, unlike sites that run Ad Networks, we work *directly* with manufacturers and so can offer them valuable feedback on banner design. I *knew* that Ultra ad would be unpopular the second it arrived in my Inbox. However, I needed YOUR feedback in order to present it to Ultra and work on some more eye-pleasing designs.

You'll notice we don't have pop-ups, we don't advertise pr0n, or encourage you to gamble your livelihood away by advertising online casinos... we DO practice ethical advertising. After all, we use the site as much as you guys do. However, advertising IS needed to pay for things, and we believe it's a preferable model to asking for an annual subscription fee.

At the end of the day, if you really can't stand them, even the "normal" banners, then we can't stop you running an adblocker. Obviously, if everyone does this, we'll be forced to shut the site as we won't have the money to pay for the servers. So I take heart at the handful of people that have said "I don't like banners, but I recognise them as a necessary evil, so I won't block them to help you guys out". And if y'all clicked on them once in a while, that would help too

If I'm being REALLY honest, there is little point in you spending time moving banners around in Photoshop: trust me, there isn't a layout we HAVEN'T considered. Things are where they are for a reason, and given the time, I could explain why we didn't go for any number of your suggestions.

It's human nature to resist change, but we hope that you will come to enjoy the new content that the new design allows, and together we can make bit-tech bigger and more successful in the future.

For those who "like the site but hate the forums", I'd like to hope we can address those issues through different coloured Skins ie light vs dark etc. But if your main objections are with the top & side banners, I'm afraid there isn't much that can be done.

Feel free to ask questions / post feedback here, PM me, or even email me at geoff.richards@bit-tech.net if you like.

Geoff Richards
Deputy Editor

 

Thanks for the kind comments BBurger

Glad to see someone appreciates the new colors.

--

I get the feeling that it isnt the colors that 'you lot' dislike, its just how often they change. Right now I bet you've flicked through a load of indexes and gone 'woah all those colors'. Fair enough, but is that how you usually look through a website? It really isn't so bad once you use it 'normally'. Here is the other thing - try and color code something using similar colors - I challenge anyone to do this convincingly! Agree/disagree? Please comment.

 

ads are tricky buisness. Since google adds are per click i will click them at least one a day for good ol' BT.

and Thx RTT and Bt staff for doing this (this may sound like im sucking up but i think Bt is the greatest forum out there and i really wouldnt like to see it trashed like many sites ive seen)

 

I meant for the google one to be at the top and that other one on the bottom. (BFG)

I understand this, but being as the site having these brand new ad locations I didn't think such deals had already been done. Even if so though, on my 1280x1024 res I have to scroll to even see the BFG one. So my idea would work assuming they do not have such a scrolling thing?

Here is an sshot of my idea.

 

wOw! Invalid i like that layout......the side bar ad just gets in the way,,,,,i understand you have to have ads but why on the side??



Duggy

 

Good post.

I did post several things I did not like and the reasons why. But oddly enough, these are my posts that no staff has replied to.

For instance I brought up the news/latest articles on the main page having no title to let someone know what that section is. New users and such will just see a bunch of text and such with no idea what is what.

Also on the bottom left of the main page the ads and the article images are too much alike and you really have to look to figure out what is the ad and what is the article stuff.

 

As someone said "not quite the same" i tend to agree 2 pages in general!!! where the "H" are all the others i used to have fun browsing, and my fav, all the diffrent emoticons or funny ball shape guys thread, it was a mile long for a reason!!

 

well at least the ads arn't giving us seizures or anything harmfull. hehe

maybe even add even more ads to that blue column to fill it up. I personaly wont mind that but the blue space is anoying

 

Im just chuckling at the contents of the Google Ads changing to ad banners to suit the conversations

 

Due to different timezones, I'm only just catching up on the monster 150+ post thread. I'm happy to address your questions now though: it's just polite, honest, open dialogue, which is ALWAYS welcome with our readers

It was something that was considered (and tbh, could still be added if it was a *major* issue). However, I'd like to hope that people spotted the fact that they are placed under the "News" menu button, with some spacing to the next button (Bits). If we had a headline graphic there that said "News", you would have TWO things saying "News" right above each other.

I think you'll get used to it over time, once you have played with it for a few days.

[quote
Also on the bottom left of the main page the ads and the article images are too much alike and you really have to look to figure out what is the ad and what is the article stuff.[/quote]

You aren't the only person who has said that. The ads won't be moving, so I think once you get used to the 3 reviews - ad - 3 reviews - ad thing, you won't think it's an issue. The 468x60 ads have a coloured box around them, are smaller, and don't have the title text. Also, the newest content is at the top....

I don't want to sound dismissive of your feedback, but give it a week and see what you think.

 

=( I miss the old bit-tech. The layout is nice, but me no likey the colors/theme. Before it had that cool "LaidbackCyberPunkBluenGreenSex" color scheme, now it just looks, well, not like that. Sorry bit-tech staff...

 

I am ok with how the front is. I figured it out obviously. But my point is that, a new user looking at it for the first time won't get it. The design is meant to be done in a way to flow for the user. Right now it doesn't. It makes them look harder to figure it out. When the user has to stop and look closer to make sense of what is what, something isn't working.

As far as the news titles, to end the redundancy on the news link being above any potential news title you could simply move the news to before forums in the navigation.

In college I took several graphic/web design courses and what I am mentioning here is stuff we learned very early on. I am not trying to push my opinion on how it should be, but rather how tests and research shows it would be best. Hopefully this makes sense.

Also, in this thread this has been brought up many times. Its definitely not a small few that are feeling this way.

Regardless, good luck with the site. I know listening to a bunch of users who all have a different idea to make it "better" can be extremely frustrating especially after all the hard work that got it to this point. Just please remember, that for every guy that just wants to complain, some of us literally just want to make it better. And not just for ourselves.

 

Stuntman - do you mean the old site? Fair enough if you prefer the dark blue over the white, but tbh, the layout was rancid.

I'm disturbed by anyone who thinks that content is / will be *harder* to find on the new site than the old, and would welcome any constructive feedback.

Yes, the new site is different, and may take a little getting used to, but it's *definitely* a huge improvement layout-wise

 

I dont like it, the colors are ugly and remind me of selecting popcicles, and everything seems larger then life. Please rethink this design a little more then a 6th grader would.

 

Check this post of mine for this. I tried to explain what we mean by disorganized.

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=955847&postcount=125

 

WOW 10 pages of replies, sorry 56Kkers but I need to post a large pic to make my point

I woke up today and bit-tech was finally back up, but the forums werent up So I emailed the staff about my ideas, here are the revelant parts

"Hello my name is _____, and Ive been a loyal bit-techie for quite some
time ( Infraggable Krunk) Recently bit-tech went down for upgrades. Went
it came back up I was impressed with the new layout of the website and
the new sytling. However there were a few things that could be fixed. I
wasnt sure who to direct this email to so I decided to email the editor
in chief and the art director.


Basically the problem stems from there being just way to much color on the
screen. I logged in and besides the annoying Ultra memory flash
advertisment I was greeted by a sleu of colors that just didnt seem to
work together. While I dont know the reasons for the choice of purple, it
seems to clash with the bit-tech "marine" we're so used to. Also the
different colored topic headers look... welll a bit cheasy.

I worked on this for about half an hour and found these colors that seemed
to work well together



Click here for full 1680 x 1050 picutre

I hope you guys can take it in consideration, but in anycase I cant wait
till the forums are back up and running. "

EDIT

Ok i edited my post to comply ( oh and thanks for removing that horrible flash ad !!)

 

infrag> Currently the whole point was for the sites sections to be color coded for easy navigation through the site. If they change it to blue, they will lose this.

 

I'm being brutally honest like most of you have in this thread: I think it looks very dull, dull to the extent that nothing jumps out and grabs me. I'd also find it hard to navigate, as I wouldn't know what section of the site I am in. Bare in mind that these are my thoughts, and not collective bit-tech thoughts.

 

I think I like the old layout better.