New Homepage Released

[pjk]

Hey guys,
After discussion with the mod team and getting some feedback from members, I've decided to replace the old homepage with a new one. This has been in the making for awhile, and there are many reasons for the change (see feedback link above). Overall, this new change will allow us to do a lot more with the site, and I'm excited to see what will come of it. The older homepage was very limited, wasn't responsive, and was out of date.

In addition to this homepage change, I'll be posting some updates regarding a few changes to the forums soon, which will mainly be some restructuring and some added features.

I want to also point out the "What's New?" link in the navbar at the top. Many people use it, but many aren't aware of it. It allows you to see all the news posts since your last visit and posts that you haven't read yet. It is super powerful, and we encourage everyone to use it when browsing the forum (note you have to be signed in to use it).

Please provide any feedback you have in regards to the new homepage, or any changes you want to see regarding the forum itself.

Thanks for making the community what it is today.

 

[LostGent]

Clicked on to the site for the first time this morning and was sure I'd landed somewhere else. It looks great!

 

[SenorJuan]

It seems over-complicated, people using "slightly out-of-date" technology, like myself, will find it a bind. All the 'activity' on it has seriously slowed things up, I get popups about unresponsive scripts, I get lines of HTML text appearing on the screen. And it won't work at all if scripting is turned off (largely black front-page).
As you no doubt will ask, I have Mozilla Firefox 3.6.28 web browser, on a win XP laptop.
I'm sure it would look pretty when viewed on the latest equipment, it's just that it doesn't seem to be coded in a way that caters for the slower/older/legacy hardware/software.

I'll tinker with my browser settings, see if I can persuade it to stop animations etc for this site only.

Edit: I see the old page is still running. I guess I'll set up a new shortcut to that, until the day comes when you turn it off.

 

[Mollerz]

It seems over-complicated, people using "slightly out-of-date" technology, like myself, will find it a bind. All the 'activity' on it has seriously slowed things up, I get popups about unresponsive scripts, I get lines of HTML text appearing on the screen. And it won't work at all if scripting is turned off (largely black front-page).
As you no doubt will ask, I have Mozilla Firefox 3.6.28 web browser, on a win XP laptop.
I'm sure it would look pretty when viewed on the latest equipment, it's just that it doesn't seem to be coded in a way that caters for the slower/older/legacy hardware/software.

I'll tinker with my browser settings, see if I can persuade it to stop animations etc for this site only.

Edit: I see the old page is still running. I guess I'll set up a new shortcut to that, until the day comes when you turn it off.

When you say slightly out-of-date, I think you are making a huge understatement. Windows XP has been out for 14 years, something that old could be considered ancient in the tech world. You are also running Firefox 3.6.28, the latest release of Firefox is 42.0! You are definitely in the minority and are running historic software. This is like going into a car parts shop and asking for a tyre for your Ford Model T and seeming confused when they don't have any available to you. You are definitely in the minority and I highly recommend upgrading.

Personally I really liked the old homepage, as it allows me to see what threads are active amongst the community. I agree that the homepage definitely needed updating, it was getting a bit archaic and the new site looks very smooth.

If I had to recommend something it would be that I would ask for a page identical in functionality to the old homepage, but with the new style, and perhaps removal of omitted forum subsections and to nest it under something like Forums -> Recent Posts. Going to Forums -> Get New Posts hides posts that I have read but are still recent which I personally find annoying.

 

[SenorJuan]

James: I realised I would come in for some stick. FF 3.6.28 is in fact only 3 yrs old, the fact they are on 42 now is because they release bug-fixes and minor updates every 3 minutes. I suspect the XP OS isn't the real problem. I haven't actually tried a more recent version of FF, tbh, I did some reading up beforehand, and the 3.6.28 (or another similar version) were suggested as being more likely to work correctly with the rest of my gear.
I think a lot of PC users take the approach of "If it isn't broken, don't fix it", they don't want to upgrade any software in case things go pear-shaped, it doesn't work properly afterwards, all the setting are different and you have to mess about getting it how you like it for an hour etc etc.
I'm no web design / HTML guru, but I think that making your code compatible with as wide a range of users/equipment as possible would be one of the design requirements. So you would want it to work on smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, 1024 pixel-wide screens, hi-res widescreen displays, MS Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc, Apple devices, the latest gear, and older stuff. Which is no doubt a tough job, and would need a fair bit of testing to winkle out the bugs.
I was merely offering my opinion and (limited) technical info in case it was useful to the web designer.
Anyway, for now, this page is my new shortcut:
https://www.speedsolving.com/old/index.php

I'm now off to buy some more coal for my PC's boiler.

 

[Mollerz]

Actually a majority of PC Users go with the approach of "If it's outdated, I need to upgrade". Generally, if you were to buy an average computer, within 2 years it would be outdated. If you are even just one revision out of date using software, it is outdated. 3 years old for a version of FF is still archaic, computers improve and move on fast. Yes there is a chance it doesn't work with your software, that is their way of telling you your setup is absolutely, unequivocally, 100% outdated. The reasons they update are not just bug fixes, but constant improvements to the software, improvements in the code, etc. And the WORST thing about keeping an outdated version is because of vulnerabilities! The new software has better security that the older versions do not have, you are putting yourself at risk for using older software. If you upgraded Firefox every single update, the amount of settings changes would be minuscule, they do not take an hour to update, and if a setting changes, it's for a reason, deal with it. Most pieces of software require you to use the latest version, or it just won't let you get past the entry screen. Being able to use previous versions is generally a luxury.

As you said, there are many different platforms that you need these websites to run on already. I guarantee that by the time you've got all of it working for current versions of software and scaling for every possible device, you do not want to go back and modify it even further for people who are using software that is old, outdated, has far fewer optimisations, vulnerabilities etc. I'm sure you are aware, Microsoft recently released Windows 10 and allowed everyone to get a free upgrade. One of the reasons for this is because they want to stop supporting older operating systems. By giving it out for free they will get a majority of the Windows userbase onto Windows 10. When they finally stop supporting older pieces of software like XP, Vista and 7, people will of course still use it, but they are in the tiniest minority and they know what they are getting themselves into.

I understand you were offering your opinion and technical specs to help, but it's never going to be fixed for the software and hardware you are using, it's far too outdated. "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" isn't a good mantra to follow in the PC world, and you apparently need to learn this, sorry.

 

[qqwref]

Mollerz, take it to PMs or something. Nobody cares about your rude and lengthy rants about outdated software. And Windows 10 sucks - personally, I'll switch to Linux permanently when 7 becomes unusable.


pjk: To be honest, I absolutely hate the new frontpage. Instead of feeling like a community, it feels like a (low-quality) journalistic outlet - the kind of place where paid writers produce clickbait articles, and other people click on them, read them, and discuss them in the comments. That is, the kind of place where the official content is far more valuable than users' contributions, and where articles' click counts literally pay the staff. I, and probably many others, am here for the forum - the place where regular users post information, videos, questions, etc. and then discuss it over the course of an entire topic. I'm not here for short blurbs about WRs, and I certainly never came here daily because of the interviews or podcasts. Perhaps you are planning to hire people to write articles about cubing, and make that the focus, but that would then be a very different site, and I don't really want to be part of the community on a site like that.

I do appreciate that you've put together some introductory pages for new users and put the interviews, cubecasts, etc. into a menu. We certainly do have good resources for non-cubers and new users, that should be put in a more obvious and accessible place on the site. I do like the new top menu (except for the gigantic images and the quality of the animation code). And yes, the main page could use a bit of modernization. But, please, NOT like this.

 

[Goosly]

Mollerz, take it to PMs or something. Nobody cares about your rude and lengthy rants about outdated software. And Windows 10 sucks - personally, I'll switch to Linux permanently when 7 becomes unusable.

I fail to see where Mollerz is rude. I also fail to see why Windows 7 sucks. Have fun on Linux!

 

[Mollerz]

Mollerz, take it to PMs or something. Nobody cares about your rude and lengthy rants about outdated software. And Windows 10 sucks - personally, I'll switch to Linux permanently when 7 becomes unusable.

My responses aren't intended to be rude, they are intended to be informational. If you found them rude and they weren't even directed to you then I suggest you avoid the internet, since you are clearly easily offended.

My content is on-topic and is a response to someone's technical queries related to the first post. If you find it too lengthy then you don't have to read it, nobody is forcing you to.

As for your personal opinion on software, that is your opinion and that is off-topic, we don't need to know that you don't like Windows 10, or that you will switch to Linux. That's personal preference.

As for the rest of your post, I don't see how you can dislike it so much. The layout of the home page seems pretty much like a standard Web 2.0 page which I don't think is a bad thing. Someone who is newer to the internet (And bear in mind the common cuber is quite young) would find this page much more appealing than a webpage from 2007. The work on the website is good and takes speedsolving in a good direction. If you want to go straight to the forum that is fine, it's still there. You never have to touch the homepage if you don't want to, just amend your bookmark.

 

[Chree]

I'm with qqwerf on this one. I'm here for the forums. One of my simple pleasures is how easy it was to type "www.speedsolving.com" and be greeted with all the latest random posts from people in the community. The front page is just highlights, and feels like a barrier I have to click through to get to the conversation I'm adore. Personally, I'll probably never look at the new homepage again, and https://www.speedsolving.com/old/index.php is not my default homepage for all my web browsers (work and home).

Full disclosure: I'm the type of person that hates change, in general. So hopefully someone with less anxiety about this sort of thing can weigh in.

 

[Ollie]

Yeah, not liking the new style:

1. The same five threads seem to appear all over the place. This includes the Recent, Popular and Random thread containers on the page.
2. Some strange choices for Popular threads are appearing on the page. For example, I have Stefan Pochmann's interview from 2008 appearing in my Popular Posts.

Hopefully this will iron itself when the new layout has been going for a few weeks. The new front page is probably a bit more appealing to new visitors, but for current members it just adds an unnecessary step in order to get to the real forums and see what the latest news is.

/r/Cubers

 

[biscuit]

I feel like if something like this had been implemented at/near the begging, this would not be an issue. My issue is it feels like you're trying to change the scope of the website. It has become 90% forum, and 10% wiki. Updating the home page so dramatically just feels like you want it used differently. I love the way it looks, and provides functionality, I think it's to abrupt though.

The main complaint seems to be that there is no quick access to newly updated threads, which is something I immediately missed as well. My solution, is to add a panel that holds links to all the newly update threads, similar to a mini old home page. How I would do this, is to shift the content to the left, you might be able to just set the margin-left to half of what is or what ever, and fill some of the blank space on the right with a div that extends from the header to the bottom of the "Have a news story?" panel (I have some other suggestions to make this work), making sure there is still a small buffer between the new div and the edge of the browser, that holds links to all the newly updated threads.

Regarding the Header, I have a few suggestions that I think would make it look better how it is, and also allow for the previously mentioned suggestions. First, there should not be any room between the header and the top of the page. That just looks bad. I personally wouldn't put any between the header and the content, but I can see why you would like that. If you wanted to use my idea of adding the newly updated threads panel as proposed it would be needed, unless you like the idea of having the panel starting at the top of the content instead. I personally think that the header should extend across the entire page, allowing for some of the stuff under the "other" tab to be on the menu bar, as well as just looking better in my opinion. This would definitely be required if you wanted to implement the newly added threads idea as proposed.

Here is a mock up of what I'm thinking.



The other thing I would do, which would be really, really quick, would be to point the Forums link in the header to the forum home page

 

[tx789]

I like the old homepage to see what has most recently been posted in. I have used the What's New a bit. The homepage now shows no sign of it being a forum, if you ignore the navigation bar. The content on the new homepage favours the new features and co tent you've added. I'm sure you'll being making some small changes here and there. Also I never found the old homepage archaic. I've got so used to the old one, over the last five years.

 

[Dene]

Woot, changed my bookmark to the new homepage <3

 

[cubernya]

pjk: To be honest, I absolutely hate the new frontpage. Instead of feeling like a community, it feels like a (low-quality) journalistic outlet

I do appreciate that you've put together some introductory pages for new users and put the interviews, cubecasts, etc. into a menu. We certainly do have good resources for non-cubers and new users, that should be put in a more obvious and accessible place on the site. I do like the new top menu (except for the gigantic images and the quality of the animation code). And yes, the main page could use a bit of modernization. But, please, NOT like this.

Agreed. If nothing else, at least have an option to choose between the old and new front page (I presume that's possible).

 

[tseitsei]

Dont like it. It was much better when you saw new posts immediately when you entered the site.
Now I just see some news I already knew in weird box layout...

Well doesnt really matter that much, because soon all my devices will learn to automatically propose speedsolving.com/old as I just type sp...

But yeah. Old one was/is so much better...

 

[Praetorian]

I personally prefer the old one as it was much more convenient, I'm not a fan of things becoming over-complicated when unnecessary

 

[qqwref]

I fail to see where Mollerz is rude. I also fail to see why Windows 7 sucks. Have fun on Linux!

Just for clarification, I was saying that 10 sucks; 7 is fine.

Spoiler

My responses aren't intended to be rude, they are intended to be informational.

You write in a very passive-agressive manner and seem to be assuming bad faith on the part of SenorJuan. It honestly comes across as "I can't believe how stupid you are, you have no right to even be on the internet with that setup". It reminds me of Stefan's posts (in the last few years). If you really just wanted to be informational, and you wrote like that, well, I'd recommend taking a class on communication.

My content is on-topic and is a response to someone's technical queries related to the first post. If you find it too lengthy then you don't have to read it, nobody is forcing you to.

I don't consider it on-topic because lengthy rants about OS and software updates have nothing to do with the homepage. When I posted your discussion with SenorJuan was literally ~80% of the text in the thread, so I'm sure you can understand why I'd rather see those thousands of characters dumped somewhere that isn't so important to the cubing community.

The layout of the home page seems pretty much like a standard Web 2.0 page which I don't think is a bad thing.

I do think it's a bad thing, actually. I'm one of those people who think simpler and cleaner layouts are better. There is a lot of space wasted in white space, borders/margins/padding, unnecessary "0 Comments" links (remember, this is a forum, not a new media company ), big "Read More >>" buttons, and of course images. Even the menus contain large images, which makes them take up a solid third of the screen when deployed.

Compare to http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/, where instead of having a semi-random 2D assortment of colorful blocks, they have their news posts in the middle and everything else in a fixed place. They have images when necessary, but don't force them in on every post, and since their reason for existing isn't to maximize their page views, they have put all of the text out in the open without a "Read More" button. Of course, since that's a site with its own game the updates (on tournaments, song releases, etc.) are a lot more meaningful, but I'm not suggesting we copy that any more than I'm suggesting we never change the old look of speedsolving.

My other big issue with the layout is that the entire homepage seems to be about WRs, interviews, and media article links, repeated over and over (seriously, I see Feliks's 5x5x5 WR five times and that's without even going into the menus) in various different sorting styles and groupings. The discussion is what makes this site worth going to, and the fact that it is barely even ON the front page bothers me. Have a place for announcements and interviews, by all means, but the newly updated or popular forum topics is what I really want to see.

If you want to go straight to the forum that is fine, it's still there. You never have to touch the homepage if you don't want to, just amend your bookmark.

It's still there now, if you know where to look. But it's, as you've said, "archaic". Will it still be there in a year, or a few? Or will the forum end up collecting dust in an obscure corner of the site, only used by the old farts who don't want to upgrade to the new way of doing things?

 

[molarmanful]

Hey y'all, just use Mac

Oh yeah, I guess I could pitch in a WIP mockup that I have yet to work on (overloaded with school and other coding stuff). It's super-makeshift, but it's what I sort of have in mind.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, the current Speedsolving forums could be all the better with just a few UI changes...

 

[Chree]

I also just discovered that, on mobile, the button for the Menu is almost invisible. Might wanna make it more visible/brighter/white.

I'm just gonna guess you're gonna keep that front page up. Seems to have a lot of time invested in it. Can you at least make a link to the old layout much more accessible? An immediately available button somewhat near the top?