New Design - What Do You Think?

[Photo-John]

So what do you guys think of the new PhotographyREVIEW.com design? I posted a poll so that we can tabulate the results:

What Do You Think of The New Design ?

Check out the reviews section! The review pages now have tabs and the pro reviews are integrated into the page. So all review content is now on one page. I've been waiting for that for a long, long time. Don't know what I'm talking about? Here's a good example:

Canon EOS Rebel XT Reviews >>

Been wondering what I've been doing? Now you know

[Michael Fanelli]

So what do you guys think of the new PhotographyREVIEW.com design? I posted a poll so that we can tabulate the results:

What Do You Think of The New Design ?

Check out the reviews section! The review pages now have tabs and the pro reviews are integrated into the page. So all review content is now on one page. I've been waiting for that for a long, long time. Don't know what I'm talking about? Here's a good example:

Canon EOS Rebel XT Reviews >>

Been wondering what I've been doing? Now you know

The design is nice but the top-page ad cover up all the choices. I don't notice that at home (my plugins are unuinstaled) but at school it is very annoying waiting for the advertising to stop bouncing around in order to navigate somewhere.

[Peter_AUS]

Yes Michael totally agree.

The other thing I hav noticed, it is too wide for a normal laptop. You could look at decreasing the width of the web pages a little there is enough white space to be able to do that especially with the Banner, there is a huge left side to the banner followed by the tabs, maybe decreasing te left side of the banner area might bring it back to a more workable width for some people. The having to scroll back and forth is a little frustrating (to me that is) using a laptop, but when using the desktop the screen size is OK, no problem.

Overall looking good.

[another view]

Aside from the Kodak ad (check the thread in Site Feedback), it looks great! I do like the tabs with the reviews too, but there aren't a whole lot of specs listed. It would be nice to show things like flash sync speed, etc - stuff you look for when you figure out if this is the right camera for you or not.

[mjs1973]

I love the new look PJ!

The one thing that kinda bugs me tho, (it has nothing to do withthe new design) is the way we have to link to the partner stores. I'm sure it's a no no to have a link that takes us away from this site, but I think it would be much more user friendly to be able to click on the link of a partner store, and go right to that stores site. Perhaps make that link open a new window and leave the PR page up... Just a thought.

[Photo-John]

Michael-
I feel your pain about the ad. But ads pay for the site.And that ad doesn't have anything to do with the design. I will talk about it with other people at the office, though. We want everyone's experience on the site to be a good one. Balancing advertising with user experience is always a tricky tightrope walk.

We did some work on the review posting problems, too. Are you able to post a review now?

[Photo-John]

Peter-
The width is only 100% in the forums. We made this compromise to give people on the forums all the space they could possibly have. We tried making the width the same as the rest of the site but it just didn't feel right. We decided that making the forum space as large and comfortable as possible was the most important thing. Plus, the functionality of the forums isn't affected. The header just gets a little wide. And only for those of us on laptops with very high resolution.

I saw the discussion about the ad yesterday and sent a link to the ad sales department. But Kodak is one of our biggest supporters and I don't think it's going anywhere. Advertising is a necessary evil and advertisers will always be figuring out new ways to grab your attention.

[Photo-John]

Michael-
Actually, I think those links are supposed to take you straight there. They aren't supposed to open a new window. Those dealers pay for your business, so we should send you right there. I'll look into that.

[Photo-John]

Excellent comment! And I'm happy to be able to say that more specs are coming. Shortly, we''ll have tons. More than you'll even want to read, I think
;)

[Liz]

Actually it looks great to me. Thanks for all your hard work, John. It seems the site has been improving continuously the past year or two.

I like the new look - agree with what everyone else has said.

BTW, I made this thread a sticky so we'll get more replies.

Liz

Excellent comment! And I'm happy to be able to say that more specs are coming. Shortly, we''ll have tons. More than you'll even want to read, I think
;)

[JSPhoto]

Looks pretty good John. Only thing I'd suggest is moving Sports from where it is up with Viewfinder and nature...etc. as I think it would be more noticeable to new users instead of way down at the bottom of the page where it's "lost".

Just my two cents....

JS

[Asylum Steve]

I feel your pain about the ad. But ads pay for the site.

John, the ad is fine. With a broadband connection, it plays for less than five seconds. What's the big deal?

And actually, I think it's kinda cool. Hey, and this coming from a guy who's hated Kodak on and off over the years...

[Asylum Steve]

Peter-
The width is only 100% in the forums. We made this compromise to give people on the forums all the space they could possibly have. We tried making the width the same as the rest of the site but it just didn't feel right.

A little confused here, John. Peter says he has to scroll on his laptop. How can that be if the width is set to 100%? Wouldn't it shrink to fit his browser?

[Seb]

The design is nice but the top-page ad cover up all the choices. I don't notice that at home (my plugins are unuinstaled) but at school it is very annoying waiting for the advertising to stop bouncing around in order to navigate somewhere.

3 words, "Safari by Apple"!

Sorry Michael, I couldn't resist. No harsh feelings.

regards

Seb

[Seb]

So what do you guys think of the new PhotographyREVIEW.com design? I posted a poll so that we can tabulate the results:

What Do You Think of The New Design ?

Check out the reviews section! The review pages now have tabs and the pro reviews are integrated into the page. So all review content is now on one page. I've been waiting for that for a long, long time. Don't know what I'm talking about? Here's a good example:

Canon EOS Rebel XT Reviews >>

Been wondering what I've been doing? Now you know

Thanks for the good work John. So far I appreciate what I am seeing.

Seb

[mtbbrian]

I like it John.
It's fresh.
The Critique Forum, STAYS!
OK!
;)
Brian

[Photo-John]

A little confused here, John. Peter says he has to scroll on his laptop. How can that be if the width is set to 100%? Wouldn't it shrink to fit his browser?

Good point. But it is coded for 100%. And no matter what resolution I use to view, it looks fine to me. I'm using both Firefox and IE. The only reason it would go to larger than screen size would be if someone posts a huge photo. And that will always be a problem. If Peter really does have to scroll, I don't know why.

[Photo-John]

John, the ad is fine. With a broadband connection, it plays for less than five seconds. What's the big deal?

And actually, I think it's kinda cool. Hey, and this coming from a guy who's hated Kodak on and off over the years...

If everyone hates it, then it's something to think about. On the other hand, at least it's not a Classmates.com or smilies popup :-) We've got a better class of problem. And it pays better, too.

We're working on some new standards for this type of ad. I think that's warranted.

[mjs1973]

I don't mind the add. At least it's not that buzzing bee!!!

As for the partner store issue I mentioned this morning... When I click on the partner store link under the "Shop" tab, it takes me to a page with with the partner stores listed on it. When I click the B&H link, it takes me to this page, not to B&H.

From there, I have to click on the "buy it here" tab to get to the stores site. It's just one extra click away, but I find it a little anoying. Maybe it's just me tho.

[Peter_AUS]

Yes I agree with Asylum_Steve's comments. It is set as 100% but you need to look at the other column settings to see that one of the columns is coded at around 846 wide and then there is more columns to contend with on the right side. See the screen shot attached and you will see there is scrolling from left to right of about 1 1/2 inches or so.

The Kodak add to me is OK, but as long as the ad is served once to each person when they enter the forums. Not each time the forum page reloads, otherwise you are getting people to see the same add many many times. I understand that ads are necessary for the forums to survive but our time and bandwidth usage is important to us as well. If we view the threads in the forums, and have to content with this ad just about every reload, then the time spent in the forums is extended by the amount of times the ad loads x 5 seconds which does ad up over the course of viewing the threads. Yes turning off the Flash Player in the tools manage add-ons turns it off completely, but that then defeats the purpose of having the flash player installed in the first place and also the site having ads. If everyone turns off the player and/or uses another web browser then the ads aren't viewed enough and then they won't want to place ads on the forums to generate income to pr.com. Maybe the engineers can rethink the way the ad is served to users, I am sure there is a way that this can be addressed, it doesn't seem to me to happen much on other sites that server up ads like this, so they must have a coding to be able to server the ad once.

Apart from that, the redesign looks good.

[Liz]

I use IE. It is wide for my screen also - I have a 17" LCD monitor. I had no problem before, but now I have to go back & forth if I want to see who is posting - and read the post. I don't have both on my screen anymore at the same time.

Liz

Good point. But it is coded for 100%. And no matter what resolution I use to view, it looks fine to me. I'm using both Firefox and IE. The only reason it would go to larger than screen size would be if someone posts a huge photo. And that will always be a problem. If Peter really does have to scroll, I don't know why.

[masdog]

Looks great, PJ. Everything comes up fine using the Firefox 1.5 RC1.

[mdmc]

Good point. But it is coded for 100%. And no matter what resolution I use to view, it looks fine to me. I'm using both Firefox and IE. The only reason it would go to larger than screen size would be if someone posts a huge photo. And that will always be a problem. If Peter really does have to scroll, I don't know why.

I have to scroll about the same amount. My res is set to 800x600. one notch higer and it all fits.
I would occasionally have to scroll about 3-4 inches on some threads before. Ide have a normal view, click on a thread and it would just be very wide.
Other than that the new format looks better and seems to work fine.
Mark.

[mjs1973]

Everything fits fine on my screen here at work. My work monitor is set at 1024x768. I do have to scroll a bit at home tho. My home monitor is set at 800x600, and the monitor itself is a bit smaller than my work system. Guess I will have to spend more time on the forums at work.

[Speed]

I like it!

Colorful, clean, eye catching...

Pat yourself on the back PJ!