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SI - Site Forums : Silicon Investor - Welcome New SI Members! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Busby who wrote (16409)	3/15/2003 1:31:14 PM
From: Hoatzin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32911

The new design leave LESS content above the fold, not more. (I'm defining content here as "subjects with new messages.") Logo: the new design is pedestrian, yet creates a lot of visual "noise" due to the implied shapes between the letters, and takes up far too much vertical space. Color scheme: I realize that this can be very subjective, but the new scheme strikes me as "sour" and does not have any positive effect on me. Waaay too much vertical space consumed by the sub-titles ("Subject Marks, "PeopleMarks" etc. and the white space above and below. I'm used to "classic" and I know what the page with subjects looks like, I don't need a graphic this large to tell me. And that faux 3-dimensional button to "clear new message counts," what's with that? Aside from the color, it has no visual or stylistic connection to any other element on the site. Yuk! Subject marks: why tell me what "forum" a thread is in? Maybe that's how SI sees the site architecture, but I don't. I usually find new threads by searching by symbol, or following links, and I pay zero attention to the forum. A lot of useless space. And "remove" is not essential on the SubjectMarks page either. I usually decide to un-mark a thread while I'm there, not when looking at subject marks. I know these are existing features, but if you're doing a re-write, I suggest removing them. MYSI: it took me a while to notice this, and even longer to understand what it is. "My SI," "the SI that is mine," just like "My SAP," "My Computer"and all those other lame attempts to create a sense of belonging in the customer by naming something "My…" I doubt I am the only one who finds this patronizing. And the links are so small, it is very hard to click on the one I want. At my usual window width, this element is partly hidden. Why not put this on the left side, where it will always be visible? As a rule, there are only three places I want to go on SI: Inbox, Subject Marks and People Marks. I have no use for the charts here, editorial commentary (especially by Steve "Dot Bomb" Harmon), or "personal finance." The easier you make it for me to get to those three places, the better I like it. I can't say the new look is an improvement.

To: John Busby who wrote (16409)	3/15/2003 1:59:03 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 32911

Whoa! Beta Messages and Subject marks now stretch side to side and that's GREAT except they now (slightly) exceed the screen size at 800x600. - Eric -

To: John Busby who wrote (16409)	3/16/2003 8:06:50 PM
From: Matt Brown	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32911

John, I like the new interface, with the exception of the colors. Reminds me of diarrhea. It seems quite zippier than the previous incarnation and now that you have killed the blasted popups and allowed it to stretch all the way, it looks great. The skys should do well for non-users. Much better than tons of ads with crappy CTR rates. Also, before you are done, be sure to change the color of the (x) after the Inbox, so we have a visual alert of when we have new messages. Same color (and I need to shoot Bob for this) doesn't work as well. The nice red alert for the Inbox # always worked well. Good work. As for the other sections, I know very well that pop-ups draw excellent revenue. Unfortunately, they really deter a lot of people from using the other sections, like editorial, quotes, research, etc which you can pimp the QCharts on. I just tried to go to some of them, but turned back to the boards because I was so annoyed by the pop-ups. Let's be serious. Who would really consider signing up for a premium membership to a site that hits you with a pop-up on every page, especially the home page.

To: John Busby who wrote (16409)	3/17/2003 5:01:51 PM
From: (Bob) Zumbrunnen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32911

It may just be me and my color-blindness, but I pretty actively dislike the new colors. They look like colors another site used to use (or are still using?) and the exact shade is one I don't think I've seen this side of the last time I changed a diaper. However, it seems really snappy from this end and having the submenu visible under the main menu is a very nice touch.

To: John Busby who wrote (16409)	3/18/2003 9:22:37 AM
From: AugustWest	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32911

Hi John, I just clicked on the beta this morning, for the first time. funny thing- the first thing that caught my attention was the "MYSI" section. Took me a minute but I noticed the old SI logo still there, but with a heavy blue shading over them. Couldn't help but think "Ah, just another step, one more closer to doing away with the martini drinking SIers all together. Just a morning musing on my part. P.S> I still plan on sending off those search problems we briefly discussed last week. Just time is at a premium lately.