New homepage design: help needed

At first I liked the number 4 layout, it seemed to have more of the left to right feel to it.

But after looking back at it several times I finally choose the Number 3 Layout, it has everything right there, easier for you to step off and go where you want to go for your individual taste and preference.

Looks like everything is filled in and being used,not all the White empty space that I am getting now.

looks a site better

how bout when u hover over the 3 small pix the story headline appears in small text etc

There's pretty much the same content in all of these so it's down to visual factors and ease of use.

I've taken a slightly different approach in that I've identified the ones I don't like and these are versions one and two.

The reason being IMO that the large graphics are too prominent at the expense of the rest of the content in these two layouts.

The other two give equal prominence to both and have the advantage of having both choices close to the top of the page.

Of the two remaining ones I think version four looks the better balanced although I'd regard version three as a close second.


Wombler

There's indeed the same content on all of those designs. If you have other ideas what's important on the homepage, let me know We thought all the elements listed now are the most important ones given the limited space.

Out of these four, I'm not that keen on #1 or #2.

For the last two, #4 would be my preferred if the left column can be narrowed to the same width as the right column.

For the "Ask the community" column, show a list of the 10 latest unanswered threads. The extra info (who posted, post time, etc.) could easily be put in a tooltip, similar to how the forum shows an excerpt when one hovers the mouse over a thread link.

Add a "Reviews" tab to the top-right.

Some extra info: the reason why we put the time on the "ask the community" widget, is because now you see that there is a lot of activity in the community because it usually states something like X hours ago. This gives a sense of activity.


Looking forward to what the rest thinks!! Seems like #3 and #4 are preferred at the moment. Let me know what else you would change before we actually go implement something, so we can take everything into consideration.

A workaround for this is to say "Today's Community Questions", followed by the list of threads, just like you have for the news headlines, which also don't say "Posted x hours ago" after each headline.

I like #4. It pleases me when the photo-driven stories are on the left and the news headline text comes flush with that box.

Anything would be an improvement to what you guys have now.

If I had to pick one, I'd say #1.

I like the 3rd layout, and then number 4.

out of these 4 I would also choose #4

I find it extremely annoying having tabs on the main page for news. What is the criteria that makes something "hot"?

When I read news, the first page I want to see is NEWS not "what is hot". It damn sure isn't comments! Because there aren't any anymore thanks to this layout from hell.

Second, when i click on the "new stuff" tab which I assumed was the newest stories, they are not necessarily even the newest. They can be posted at any time.

Third, when I find a story I want to read on the "New stuff" finish it and go back. guess what?!?! We are back on the "Hot Stuff" page again!

This is really lame and a cheap way to get more clicks and I think it is under this site to do this crap to its members.

Fourth, you have no indication of any comments without opening the story. So, you have to shlepp open the story, see that no one has commented then back up your browser, then click on the New Stuff again and pick another dead as a dooornail topic.

You guys are killing this site with this illogical, cumbersome clickfest.

You can put all the fancy graphics on it you want, and spice it up however, but people are not going to put up with this crap, there are too many decent sites out there to play this game.

Hey Bluray - did you actually read the first post in here We're looking for feedback on the NEW design, not the current design. I know some members have some issues with the current design, that is why we are actually doing something about it

Please let me know if one of the new designs (www.myce.com/homepage) suits you better. If not, be sure to let me know as well. We're open to everything, but we do need to know what everyone is looking for.

need to color code. computer, phone, videogames , ext

!!!!! UPDATE !!!!!

We created another version (number 5) based on some comments we had.

What do you think of this one? Better? Or are #3 and #4 still preferred?

See http://www.myce.com/homepage/ (scroll down to the bottom)

#5 seems to be a bit more user oriented. I like that.

Sorry but I still prefer version 4.

The very small avatars beside the news items detract from the clean look of version 4 without adding anything useful.

I like the 'hot items' section though so perhaps this layout would look better without the very small avatars?


Wombler

5 is not bad but I think I will stick with number 3

#6 is my preference of the six layouts.

#5 would probably work out better if the "mini avatars" are replaced by colour icons like what we used up to 2005. In my opinion, this worked quite well:

http://upload.cdfreaks.com/seanbyrne...s_listings.png

Another option would be to use picture icons, e.g. CD icon for optical related, video reel icon for TV/video related, musical note icon for audio related, etc.

I would still like if the community questions could be replaced by a list of threads. The following gives an example of how we use to fit a lot more items in CDFreaks v1 within the space of the current three:

http://upload.cdfreaks.com/seanbyrne...uggestions.png

Version 6 looks pretty good.

I'm torn now between 6 & 4.

I quite like both and wouldn't mind if either of these were chosen.


Wombler