New Home Page - What Do You Think?

[Photo-John]

We put up a redesigned PhotographyREVIEW.com Home page a few days ago. What do you guys think?

http://www.photographyreview.com/

Post your opinion in the Home page Quick Poll. And please post your comments and ideas here in this thread. I know a lot of you who use the forums aren't really aware of much that goes on on the rest of the site. Part of the purpose of the redesigned Home page is to make it a better place to learn what's fresh and new on the site. You could call it a beta as it's something of a wrok in progress. I have more ideas. But the main goal was to give all the current news, pro reviews, and articles more prominence.

Looking forward to finding out what you guys think!

[drg]

John,

For me it edges on having too much detailed information. The reviews are the primary culprit. Instead of being a one liner description as in a table of contents or a labeled image, they are using more of the Intro or first paragraph than probably needed. Many viewers/users/web surfers will miss what is as the bottom of the page as it requires to much scrolling or looking.

The layout challenge is to use a text description that matches/balances the image size without leaving extra empty space. However, not enough empty space will often drive off a casual reader/observer.

Also there's redundancy in links (wasted space) for archives and reviews in different formats and places.

I do like the idea of using more photos on the home/start page as after all, this is a photography website!

[gahspidy]

I think it looks effective. The heart of this site is the reviews and articles about equipment and camera related software and this new design gets right to the point. My first impression when I viewed the new page was that it looked clean and well thought out, and second I felt I wanted to scroll down to see all the equipment reviews that was previewed.

As drg stated, it may be that there is more text than needed under each review article photo but that did not bother me.

One concern I have is that at top in the section it says "Best digital Cameras" whereas they are really the most looked into cameras as opposed to actually being the best or highest rated. Other than that I think the look and layout works for me. Does not look or feel too busy, would keep me there for sure if it was reviews of cameras and related equipment I was after and the featured photos on the right immediately let me know the site is also more than just about reviews and articles.

Works for me.

[Tyson L. Sparks]

I agree, it looks pretty good.

One thing from me, I had to show a friend how to find the forums the other day. The menu to him was kind of difficult to navigate through.

I don't have any idea what to change or if one is even needed but just my thoughts.

I use to be a member of three other photography site but now I only frequent here. I think PR is for sure the best photography sire on the net. It covers a very wide useful range of photography issues and the galleries are great.

I wish there where more classified adds for used equipment, I am not rich and but all pre-owned equipment.

I am looking for a Canon 30D or an Olympus E510, I had to put a plug in there.

[Chunk]

I think it looks effective. The heart of this site is the reviews and articles about equipment and camera related software and this new design gets right to the point.

For the first time in my memory I have to disagree with you Gary. For me, the heart of this site is here in the family you find in the forums. I can't dispute that the reviews are very important and useful but I wish there was a stronger wayfinding to the forums...

Of course I'm just an old guy who doesn't care much for changes.

[Photo-John]

For the first time in my memory I have to disagree with you Gary. For me, the heart of this site is here in the family you find in the forums. I can't dispute that the reviews are very important and useful but I wish there was a stronger wayfinding to the forums...

Of course I'm just an old guy who doesn't care much for changes.

While it's true for many who use the forums that they are the heart of the site, the reviews are the foundation of the site. They get the most visitors, views, and they pay the bills. Without the reviews, there would be no site. People who use only the forums actually have something of a cloistered view of the site. The forums are only a tiny bit of what's actually here. And part of the reason for the new Home page is I'm trying to get you guys to explore a little more

That said, ultimately, I would like the forums better included in the Home page. But one thing at a time. My top priority was to bring more attention to professional editorial content that we put a lot of time and resources into.

As for a better way to find the forums, what would you like to see? There's a pretty plain link in the main navigation at the top of every page. It's not huge, but it's right there.

[gahspidy]

Chunk, I know just what your sayin. I'm with you in that the forums for me are the best part of PR and I have learned much from them and enjoy the feedback we all share in them. I was really giving my opinion as from what I believed to be the Sites perspective. The majority of visitors who arrive on the site get here from seeking reviews and info on various photo related gear.(the name Photographyreview does a good job in itself in doing that)
I think that for you and myself and the other great members here the forums are the "heart" of the site and perhaps a better description for the reviews and articles is as John stated, the "foundation"

[Dylan8i]

i only use the forums, and link straight to them.

ive tried to find info about a certain lense or camera on here, and its incredably hard to navigate anything that i just gave up.

[Skyman]

For a first page I think it actually detracts from the feel of the site. Those red headers look to much like banner adds and i tend to run screaming from pages with too many banner adds. also they don't sit well with the design of the rounded tabbed green top section. it feels a lot like you have just plunked some boxed links below the banner. imho many of our first time visitors aren't going to be captivated by a site that feels a little out of synch with itself (that dichotomy between the banner and the rest of the page, especially if they have been trawling through the masses of links from google. also the fact that i have to scroll to see all of the page can have a tendency to slow down the reader. you are a photographer think about designing the page so it traps the eye......

to most regulars they will not even look at the bottom section of the home page but jump straight to the link they already know is there on the top panel. hmmm I would move the banner to the left hand column and extend the green to the entire page and lift up the sub sections, possibly even loosing a couple of the first page reviews as they take up to much space. I know it looks good but the photo of the day could drop lower in the order as most people are going to be after information not pretty pictures (otherwise they would have done an image search) also having an advertisement for the site you are at doesn't need to be flagged as an advertisement, this really only makes people less likely to pay attention to it. hhmm /rant

[Tyson L. Sparks]

i only use the forums, and link straight to them.

ive tried to find info about a certain lense or camera on here, and its incredably hard to navigate anything that i just gave up.

I agree with you, I only use the forums here also. If I want to find info on a Camera or lens I use http://www.dpreview.com/ it is just easy to navigate through.

[Photo-John]

i only use the forums, and link straight to them.

ive tried to find info about a certain lense or camera on here, and its incredably hard to navigate anything that i just gave up.

Can you explain to me why you found it hard to navigate the reviews? That would be a big help.

Thanks-

[almo]

I also link straight into the forums from my bookmarks, though by no means is that the only part of the site I use. However I will admit I don't see the homepage very often. I know the site very well. I have been using it since 2001, I should, so navigating it comes very easy to me.

For me the Forum Index has been the defacto homepage for PR.com since I joined back in '03. This is more about my style of browsing than anything else. I have all my forum pages set up the same way.

I think the homepage looks great myself. It really pulls you into the meat of the site, as far as what John wants the meat to be, and that is the pro-reviews. There are a few sites that I visit for pro-reviews, and PR.com was honestly not very high on that list until John started making the push a couple of years ago to really make PR's reviews a force to be reckoned with. Because of his efforts it is now always the first or second place I go.

I kind of miss the bar at the top with the info pane on the left that cycled through relevant site news. Other than that I think the homepage looks great John!