Who else hates the site redesign?

[standokan]

I like it, ignoring the hate for change.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

I don't really mind it...
I also don't have any problems.

 

[DuelLadyS]

I also miss the list of popular stuff that was on the far right. Just made it easier to get to where I Was going.

Agreed on this one- not that it's particularly hard to find things I'm looking specifically for... but that sidebar helped me discover a lot of things I otherwise wouldn't, by making it obvious there was a new something-or-other starting... or by letting me see the topic of the newest bit of an established column/video. I wouldn't have started reading the Name Game or watching... well, anything other than Zero Punctuation without that bar making me curious.

The new frontpage doesn't display as much new content now, either... things I enjoy are getting pushed out of the spotlight before I know they've been updated. Once again, not a problem for established series I come wanting to find- but I hate to think new stuff could come and go without me even knowing about it.

 

[Ekit]

I like it more and more the longer I use it.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Other than the sea of white I'm navigating through, least it's not as bright as it was. And the really crapy loads for user groups, or complete failure to refresh the chat. Which needs to be fixed, cause it was a problem before the new site layout came, it's just worse now.

I like everything else so far. Just really want the user group stuff to be fixed.

 

[Diminished Capacity]

It is too bright. But the biggest problem I have with it is the text. Everywhere except in the forums, the text is blurry and hard to read. To the point where I don't want to read articles on this site anymore. And it is NOT my eyes.

It's a little disheartening. I know the escapist will not go back to its' old format, but I get the impression that a statistically significant portion of the community here does not like the new layout.

I'd like to see the Staff respond to the criticism. In ways other than just singing their praise for the new layout on the twitter feed.

 

[Lilani]

I don't mind the design of the thing, I just hate the lag and connection instability that seems to have come with it. Those problems should get ironed out with a bit of time, though. The brightness doesn't bother me, but then I have my monitor brightness pretty low in the first place.

 

[WeAreStevo]

I've noticed my visits to this site have dramatically dropped off since the redesign. I can't for the life of me understand the reasoning behind it other than it seems that they wished to "facebook" it up a bit (i.e. fix what isn't broken to make it appear more shiny and awesome).

It makes me sad because I <3 this place...

 

[hooksashands]

I don't mind the new layout.

But I really really really really really really really really want that stupid fucking ZP promo with the dancing Ipod Imp to stop playing after every video. Whenever the shitty techno song starts, it makes me want to headbutt a wall.

 

[Macgyvercas]

I've encountered a couple small design and usability issues, but on the whole, I think it's a VAST improvement.

-m

Can I get your opinion on the white borders? Personally, I hate them. They need some color there.

 

[Saltyk]

I'm more or less indifferent to it. So far I prefer the look of the old site, but I'm sure I'll warm up to it. My biggest complaint is the it is in dire need of some more borders or something. The nothing-but-white look is starting to burn my corneas.

Pretty much this. We need some contrast. It's especially bad reading threads. There's absolutely no contrast. It's just white with some text in the middle. I'm getting used to the new layout, but it need some borders to frame the site better.

 

[Murray Kitson]

This looks like they scrapped their old site and used a budget builder... like common, squarespace is cheap and makes a nicer site. plus all their errors and the top banner constantly blocking the title bar options so I can't just click recent videos... if this isn't fixed in a month, I may move to another site for videos. Nothing against the escapest, they do good work, but my time is too valuable to be spent navigating and manually searching for the videos I am interested in watching.

 

[Dunkerloop]

Well, it's bothers me. And something else is that (At least for me) The homepage is entirely bugging out on me, looks like a baby ate everything on it and barfed it out.

 

[spartan231490]

I hate the way it looks, and every time I post the server crashes for me. So far all the posts have gone through and I just have to hit the back button a couple of times to get to the thread again, its' still . . . annoying.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

Man some admin is going to get pissy at me soon, but I will link this again:
http://userstyles.org/styles/57994/escapist-magazine-fix-for-white-background

Personally I think it should really say something to the staff if the users are making fixes for their site to make it bearable.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Nope, I've found it really easy to use. My only problem with it is the glaring white background.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

Small? I wouldn't say small, looking at it from a design p.o.v. I actually discussed the site's new design with my webdesign teacher, as this semester is all about webdesign, and she applauded me for my analysis of it.

Basically it comes down to a couple of things:

1: They tried to put more air in their design, but honestly just failed at doing so. Air isn't just making everything white, spacing too is very important, and as it is now the homepage is still extremely full. Everything is still cramped together, regardless of the change in colours.

2: There's very little focus. Almost everything shouts for your attention at the same volume, adding more chaos to an already cramped homepage.

3: The colour scheme is pretty bad for overal readability. Especially for longer articles, which are an important part of The Escapist, it can be a real strain for one's eyes. I wonder what kind of feedback they had about this during user testing, because the complaints right now are numerous.

4: The 'feel' this new design has is just completely off. The layout and colourscheme does not say "This website is a cool, friendly and mature community for geeks and videogame enthusiasts." No, everything about this screams it being a cold and impersonal business site. The ice-y blues, the large amounts of white, the straight and no-nonsense fonts, it doesn't reflect what the content and actual feel of the site is all about.

They did make vast progress in terms of site navigation, not perfect but a lot better than in the previous design.

I like this rundown on it. It certainly points out the flaws and doesn't involve the arm flailing "It's shit, it's shit! SITE RUINED FOREVER YOU GUIZ" tone of some other posts throughout the site.

 

[Phlakes]

I've had it since the Pub Club testing, and now I'm very used to it. The only criticism I have now is that some important things are never shown on the front page, and the news box is still way down where it is. I like that box. I looked at that box very often. Now I've missed several news stories because I've forgotten to scroll down there and check.

So please, if you change one thing, just stick that box over the Twitter sidebar? I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to do.

 

[Sateru]

I don't quite hate the change, but it's a little annoying from time to time. I'm used to how everything used to be... I'm still trying to get used to where things were placed at, where to go to watch videos, read stories, etc...etc... So, annoying, but I don't hate it.