Something New (Updated)
Posted: January 5th, 2009 | Filed under: Media | 82 Comments »
Well, since ESPN redesigned its site, I figured … no, that’s not precisely right. I’m simply trying something new here with the site. I suspect we will go back to the old design once more complaints roll in, but I want to try this here to see if it will simplify my life at all.
If you have been a regular refresher on the site, you will note that I have tried about 23 different templates, some which I liked but brilliant readers immediately hated, some which did not work especially well, some which did work really well but were really no easier to maintain than my original version. This is the one that I have been working on, though, and it seems to have the best of both worlds — I think it looks good AND it will be a lot easier to maintain than the old site — plus there’s a cool sliding sidebar you have to click in order to see.
If you are having issues with your particular browser, let me know. I have tried it in Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer, and it seems to be working. If you have any thoughts on what you would like to see added/subtracted, let me know (not that I will have any idea what to do but let me know anyway). In the meantime, let’s go with this look for a while.
Change is hard. You know this if you have ever dropped a roll of quarters on your foot.
Update: I am hearing you on the comments … we’ll try to get that worked out so that the comments go in the chronological order and they are all on one page. Working on a few other modifications as well … or at least trying to get someone who can help me work on some other modifications.
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Ahhhh, I hit “HOME” and this is what happens????
Well, I kinda like that the font for Joe’s name on the left conjures the old Mary Tyler Moore show.
Maybe we can get a picture of Joe throwing his hat into the air in front of Kaufmann Stadium.
I don’t want to be the guy who bitches that everything sucks and used to be better…but this new layout is kinda hard to read.
My mother told me if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything.
…
Not a fan, sorry.
Sorry Joe, I really don’t like the new design.
The format doesn’t matter, as long as the content remains excellent. And I believe we can trust in that.
Taking minimalist design to a new level.
It wouldn’t be so bad if everything wasn’t so small. Maybe if you can get the default text size to be a little bigger. I like that the links on the side stay stationary as you scroll down the article/comments, so, you know, you got that going for you.
I like it a lot. Please keep it!
I do like the minimalist feel, but I’m not a big fan in general.
Joe, the narrow columns will make your posts seem even longer.
So long as the asterisks are a’flowing, I’ll be back a’reading.
Bad times Joe, bad times. Please go back to the other one – my eyes are bleeding.
Looks good to me, Joe. Easy to read and navigate.
Ok, in the time it took me to compose that little post you changed it back? What gives? This current format is not better.
I’m beginning to suspect that because of Joe’s invariable brilliance in writing, he knows the only way to attract criticism is to change his format for the worse…
I’m okay with just about anything you settle on, Joe. Just settle. Please.
The content is so good your background could be shots from the puppy kicking factory and I’d still read it. Since I tend to read in Google Reader anyway i rarely take notice of the changes like this.
Just when I was rambling about music on your last post, you go and do this…
I actually like the new layout, though. Too bad all that music talk will go unread.
Wait, now it’s changed AGAIN. This new new version is not bad. But the numbering of the comments is f*ed up.
PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK!@##!$$@!$!$
This blog has more “new formats” than Brett Favre had picks this year.
Well, this one is a little better.
1. Whatever is best for you.
2. If we’re taking a poll, I prefer the previous format, whatever that was called.
3. I really liked the poll when it was showing Tim Raines over 75%. That was about Jan. 1.
I never post on here. Never, but you know what, Joe? Do whatever you want with the site. I come here for the writing. If you redesign, I will have the same reaction I have whenever a site does something new: “Oh, this is different, I’m not sure if I like it,” and then, in about 2.7 minutes I will get used to it and go on with my life and two weeks later I will forget that it was ever redesigned in the first place. So, yeah, just do whatever is easiest for you. It can be fun to play with new looks from time to time.
My thoughts are in line with JasonL. I’m sure I’ll get used to whatever you decide.
I’ve never given a hoot about the wrapping paper it’s all about the present.
There is one little thing though and that is the width of the columns, if they are too wide then a lot of people have trouble following all the way across the screen (or page even). This is not a new principle, my graphic design tutor told me this at Arapahoe Community College in Denver in 1990. Another no- no is white text on a colored background, the eyes tire very quickly, and of course there are som many men that are color blind so mixing colors isn’t too wise, 70% of males are color blind compared to 10% of females…Ask my wife, I painted the kitchen when she was away only to have to repaint it again with (in my eyes) a paint that was exactly the same color as the first 2 coats…
Keep on blogging Joe, we love it and there’s planty to love!
I wonder if “ept” was ever a word meaning, presumably, being OK at something.
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
loved the piece by you in the Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2009 or whatever its called. I was reading, reading, thinking “this guy writes like Joe Poz”… and it was you. So you’ve got that going for you.
I’m a no-go on the fashion change…but I do like how commentors can post their pictures with their comments (though I’m a little worried of what Bucholtz Surfer REALLY looks like…don’t know why…must be the name).
Joe,
Now you’ve gone and done it. Don’t be a slave to style. What ever works for you. We all love your writing. Maybe leave the design to Margo.
Hey, I did web design for a living for years. I like the new look. There’s a few tweaks I’d suggest, if you want any, but it’s not like you’ve built the 2008 Tigers here (great on paper but terrible when it counted)
I like the way things are now, but as long as you have black text on a white background, I’m happy. I’d like it if the comments were numbered and timestamped; I dimly remember that you tried that once and it didn’t work.
Whatever the new style, I doubt you’ll lose any readers over it, so do what makes you happy, Joaldo.
The current set up is very “Drudge” w/the black and white simplicity. I’ll be curious to see the new set up.
Steven Tulsa
“70% of males are color blind compared to 10% of females”
Where did you get those numbers? Wikipedia says, “About 5—8 percent of males, but less than 1 percent of females, are color blind in some way or another, whether it be one color, a color combination, or another mutation,” which seems closer to reality…
I don’t like the new design.*
*-I didn’t actually SEE it, I’m just assuming from the comments above that I would have found it not to my liking.
I liked the old one that had the picture of books on top.
Simple. Elegant. Easy to read from my phone.
Alex, a school doctor told me that after my mother had elbowed me in the ribs and told me to stopping messing around and wasting the doctor’s time….never bothered to look it up, it wouldn’t help me much, don’t mind being a mutant though…
Jeez, I checked late last night, read the Hall of Fame post, went to bed, got to work at 7 a.m., checked again and never saw the new design. It must have blinked on and off like a traffic light or something.
Who cares what the thing looks like? Joe: it’s your blog, do what you want.
Did I miss something?
hey, ill leave you alone because A) i didnt see the new site. B) it seems like you were givin a hard enough time by others. however, while on the redesigning bit, man, i dont like the espn.com site at all. the last version was too much. thats why i went to cnnsi and learned about you in the first place. if i could be watching tv, id be watching tv. im on the internet because i have a job and can sneak a peak every now and then. but with espn.com its got commercials (more annoying when listening to music off the computer), insider, and all that. its too much. more jayson stark, less everything else
Don’t know if it’s still in progress but on my computer on Firefox, the sidebar is coming up in the middle of the text.
I’m a fan of the simple functionality of the old design. When the information is good, the presentation need only stay out of its way. I have a feeling that bells and whistles (like the pop-out sidebar) aren’t going to attract new viewers and the old design wasn’t turning away visitors.
I agree with Paul O that you should do what you want but I don’t think you should feel the need to do more than the old look blog does.
Good job by the commenters who noted that they come here for the writing and not the layout. Glad we were able to clear that up.
Me, I’ve been checking this site every day for the cutting-edge graphic design. Maybe I should start reading the columns too. Sounds like they’re pretty good.
New layout looks great.
I miss the pictures that you used to find for each posting. Can you add those back in? Other than that, it does look pretty nifty.
This one is very solid. I am a fan. And the thing on the side is cool for sure.
The look is fine. If I cared about looks, I wouldn’t look like this. The writing is what we come here for.
I dig this one Joe. Especially how the sidebar is careful to explain it’s purpose by being labeled ‘Sidebar’.
The current look is a winner. I kind of dig it.
The current layout looks all right, but it just feels so weird having everything being in the center after having it to the left for months and months. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, though.
As others have said, whatever redesign you go with, we’ll all get used to and in a few weeks we won’t even remember why it was an issue in the first place. It just takes getting used to.
I will say one thing though. The five pictures across the top linking to old posts (Musial, Tiger, Stew, Evel, Herschel)..having the word “updated” in the Musial caption is a little disconcerting. I realize it’s because, back when you did the Musial post, you updated it. And so the title became “Musial updated.” But having that word “updated” constantly in the top left makes it seem like that’s where to click for new blog posts, even though I know it’s just a link to the Musial post.
I would recommend either getting rid of the “updated” or linking to a different post altogether (how did you choose the five that would be permanently on the top banner anyway)?
Like most readers, all I really care about is being able to read the content. I guess if I had a complaint it would be the absence of pictures next to each post. After all, its not everyday we get to see old school Blyleven wearing an “I Love to Fart” t-shirt.
I like this look a lot, Joe, but you’ve got a bug. If you expand the sidebar and change the font size to one of the two largest sizes with the accessibility widget, you lose the option to return to a smaller font size. Just FYI.
First attempt to access the comments here crashed FireFox.
Hey Joe
Like the look! Not to be your dad, but shouldn’t you be writing a book or something instead of redesigning your website?
I like this look here as well.
The only thing I don’t like is that when I clicked on the post, only the most recent comments showed up.
I agree with Curtis. The look is fine, but I liked having all the comments on one page far better than the current setup.
I agree with Curtis and Justin about the comments.
I also love that the Musial post is now prominently displayed.
I do like the look. It’s very nice. Two changes (one at least has already been mentioned):
- Show all the comments. I don’t like the older/newer comment delineation. Let’s see them all.
- I don’t like to have to click the sidebar. I think it should default to being out and people can click it to make it go away. But this may just be a personal preference.
As long as the writing stays, you can do whatever you want Joe! Thanks!
I’m not well educated when it comes to all of this newer high-tech stuff and different browsers, etc….
So, what was wrong with the more recent design? I think I liked it a whole lot better.
Avid reader, but have never commented (you guys are way too smart for me), but wanted to chime in just to see if my picture shows up on the right.
P.S. I too like the comments the way they used to be, all on one page and oldest at the top – more like a conversation that way – the newest posts first sometimes don’t make sense unless you see them in context.
First, the good. The new look is very nice. Much cleaner which is always better.
Now for the picky critical stuff. I agree that all posts should show up at the bottom. Second, because this is a very clean look, I feel that the RSS feed logos and sidebar text, as well as the tape for the pictures, takes away from the basic feel of the new look. They sort of look like they are out of place. Clean those up and add the posts and you’re set.
As always, Joe, it’s your site and you need to do what you feel is right with it.
Two comments though :
- I HATE having to scroll down to read older comments. Mankind reads from top to bottom. I have no idea why a certain subset of the population seems to insist that this should be reversed, and we should be reading from bottom to the top.
If the oldest comments are first, you can start there and leisurely make your way down, even following certain discussions between some of the immeasurably smart fellows that post here. This is entertaining.
Right now, you have to scroll down, then find the bottom comment, then read it top to bottom, then scroll up a little bit to find where the next comment starts, then read it, then scroll up a bit.
NNNNYYAAARRRGGGHH. Basically, I simply avoid comments section that are done like this. I love comments, but reading them needs to be simple and convenient. Right now it feels like homework.
- Your sidebar is undoubtedly a feat of html wizardry. I can also guarantee that I will never ever click on it, because I simply won’t notice it, and will forget there’s something behind it.
But, as always, it’s your site, your wallet, your rules.
Okay, it seems the oldest comments last thing has already been fixed, so ignore that. So just the sidebar then.
Obviously, you do what you want with your site, and since your writing is really the point, it doesn’t matter that much, but here are some thoughts(I do design interfaces professionally):
It seems to work well, but you end up with vast amounts of white space on either side. It looks a bit like a newspaper where they decided to publish one column, but kept that column the same size and just centered it. It was nice to have the pictures with the posts also.
All the ‘featured’ posts have a little translucent white box centered in the middle of the top edge of their picture. So whatever that is, it doesn’t work in firefox, fyi. (Not a big deal though) Second thought…is that supposed to be tape?
There doesn’t seem to be much point to the opening sidebar unless the text is going to get wider when it’s not there or it covers something up(it doesn’t). You could make the sidebar start open at least. That would help compensate for the feeling of wasted space also.
The sidebar thing is distracting, like tinsel.
I like it, too. And it works fine in Opera FYI.
don’t listen to JimRI. the column width right now is almost perfect. any wider and it will be too hard to read.
i wouldn’t mind the text 1 point bigger and the line-height 2 point bigger, but i can handle this as long as you fix it so all comments are on one page
that said, the last one was pretty much completely perfect and you won’t ever top it unless you steal the new yorker’s layout
also, as a designer, i just wanted to make it known that that espn redesign is the worst thing i have seen in years.
i will be getting more scores and news from other sites now
I agree with Kevin, that Blyleven t-shirt made my day.
(Where can I get one of those?)
I love this new design!
Of course, I’d like it much better if you had more pictures of naked women; someone told me I could maybe find that kind of stuff on the internet and I was hoping this would be sort of a “one-stop-shopping” hit for me…
Hey Joe! I didn’t have time to read through the comments, so I could be repeating someone… but could you bring back the little previews of blog entries? That way we can just go straight to whichever entry we’re looking for instead of having to scroll down the page!
Thanks!! Absolutely LOVE the blog!
for my $.02, I’ll say I rather enjoy the new look
Still looks the same in the RSS reader.
But I like the design when I’m curious enough to click through and actually visit the site.
I like it a lot.
I didn’t think it was possible, but this new layout both sucks and blows. Sorry.
Not crazy about it but I could theoretically live with it…but is there no search engine anymore? I liked being able to search previous posts but I don’t see it here anymore.
It doesn’t print out nicely to take on the bus or to Subway.
50 votes for Orosco for the Hall? These readers should be forever banned Joe…is that possible???
Nope. Sorry Joe, it’s just not as neat as it could be.
I’m dumb, I found the search thing. Carry on!
One nit…how can we get to the topics (Cleveland, Bruce, etc.)?
It’s the best look yet. Easiest to read of all of them, by far. And I LOVE, the one click print function that spews out the column WITHOUT the comments. Keep the anonyous, random ramblings on a different page.