Boing Boing: zine, blog, and back again

[Bodhipaksa]

There’s too little text for me to to be able to tell, in many cases, whether an article is worth reading or not. I’d be interested to hear whether your pageviews change. My guess would be that there’s a sudden drop caused by regular readers being put off by the lack of text. But maybe I’m wrong…

I also unfollowed BoingBoing on Google Plus. Whoever is posting your articles there often does so several days late, and shows zero engagement with commenters. It’s rather sad. I don’t think I’ll be back much.

[jyoti]

+1 for at least adding a comment count to front page articles, please. That’s generally the gauge I use to see if I’ll click through to the article and on to BBS.

[SYNERDATA]

I had to give it a fair try…

Sincerely, I was surprised that it completely changed the experience, such that in scrolling down, I acquired no information, just cryptic brief strings of titles and a few words, and my eyes were not gathering anything to make me interested in anything I was seeing, even though it all looks neat and pretty, I failed to look into anything.

After that, I tried the link to the old version of the site that you kindly availed, and suddenly, I was seeing the content, and appreciating the pictures and reading the reports, which on the new design went in one eye and out the other, so to speak.

I am supportive of changing things, even daily, but the honest assessment is that if the old version of the site is removed, I would tend to be repelled from the new version, as I am from all sites which do similarly. It must have been a lot of work, and so I can appreciate that, but I do hope you keep the link to the old version in place. (Two versions are better than one?) I would try the new version some more but I really did see nothing interesting to click on, and read no article, and when I viewed the old version, everything I saw was interesting, and drew me in to read, and so that’s quite a difference.

It’s important to try new things, and to continue evolving, and so I guess we’ll see how it goes. There have been numerous changes in the site design over the years. Nice coding work, though. If I did not know about the old site, I probably would eventually click on something, but something just does not feel right about the new design. About the reader experience, I mean. When I clicked on the more articles link at the bottom, the list of new articles was easier to review than on the front page, but without anything to make it recognizable as boingboing. Keep up the good work.

[Mungrul]

Ech. can’t stand it. No visible timestamps on articles is annoying. Minor posts on the left and major posts on the right is too. Simply reversing that layout would help. And not having a lot of taster text per frame gives me even less incentive to click through.
I guess I’ll be doing thr majority of reading through my RSS reader now.

[Chris_Tygesen]

I can’t get anything meaningful from the new site design. I used to be able to skip and scroll, dipping into content that interested me. Now the features column constantly pulls my focus and the left column seems to obscure what would make me want to read any of it.

I’m not throwing a hissy fit or making things up when I say that the redesign gives me an instant headache and makes it impossible for me to find anything interesting on the site.

[AlfieNZ]

I’m afraid I don’t like it either. I loved the previous easy to read layout, but the two column approach is much harder to read. And whoever decided to go with a Times (or similar) font?

[Cowicide]

Shouldn’t you guys by working to get the site much more mobile compatible than working on this right now? The mobile version of the bbs is extremely flawed and limited.

[AlfieNZ]

Update: the font/s look better on Chrome (I usually use Firefox) but the layout is still a lot less appealing and less readable than before. How about a user selectable stylesheet so that those of us (and there seem to be many) who prefer the previous CSS can still choose that option? Please?

[redesigned]

I love Boing Boing, so I will weather this design change and hope the next change is more to my personal tastes. As long as the content and community stay exceptional then the design is really secondary. This new design looks nice to me, but is difficult for me to use.

[jerwin]

“Mobile”. Gah. There are sites that think my ipad is sufficiently mobile that it needs a dumbed down, slicked up interface (Onswipe) that’s liable to crash safari. There are forums that ask if I want a special app to read them. There are DRMed videos that think that they’re too good to be played on mobile devices. I hate “mobility.”

[smf]

I like the cleaner look, but hate the functionality:

1. As I scan the articles I can no longer stop when I find the first that I’ve already read; there are two columns to keep state for.
2. I only get a teaser for the posts and have to click through, and then back, each time waiting for a reload.
3. I seem to be missing some content: On (currently) http://boingboing.net/page/2 I see “Tom The Dancing Bug” between “Kickstarting a game…” and “Boing Boing: zine, blog, and back again”, but on the default boingboing.net view I see it neither in the featured column above “Boing Boing” nor in the posts column following “Kickstarting”.

Fortunately, someone pointed out that starting at “http://boingboing.net/page/1” solves all of these problems. The only thing I miss is the ability to scroll down and have the next set of articles loaded; I have to clock on “older entries”

[Cowicide]

I hate “mobility.”

I’m not sure I understand your point.

Most people who use mobile devices want to be able to push buttons, links, navigate, enter text, etc. with their fingers easily and accurately on websites. If developers don’t bother with offering that kind of usability, it’s an exercise in frustration. Most people who use mobile devices want content (text and images) to fit their device properly, that often doesn’t happen without proper development of mobile versions of a website.

Why would you hate something that makes content more usable and readable on your mobile device? I mean, sure, you can pick out bad examples of poor mobile development, but one can do that with anything.

There are sites that think my ipad is sufficiently mobile that it needs a dumbed down, slicked up interface

Well, those are shit sites then. There’s no technical reason in 2014 to dumb down an interface for mobile unless it’s a tiny, low-res phone. When a mobile version of a website is done correctly, the tablet or phablet version is just as functional as the non-mobile version (if not more so since mobile can more often take advantage of things like touch, swipes, movement, etc.).

Of course, the phone version is going to usually have a simplified version, but that’s just the reality of dealing with such a small screen. And, a good site (arstechnica.com for example) will even offer the full site to smartphones if one chooses as well and one can switch back and forth depending on user setup, preferences, etc.

There are DRMed videos that think that they’re too good to be played on mobile devices. I hate “mobility.”

That’s why I use Android for most of my mobile browsing. You can install Flash on them and play finicky videos in Firefox. I wish Flash would die sooner, but until it’s six feet underground and rotting, there’s workarounds for crappy DRMed Flash videos. Here’s how to view Flash videos on the iPad:

What Was Flash & What Happened to It??

http://www.ehow.com/video_12306052_flash-ipad.html?

Unfortunately, as far as I know there’s no free option on iOS (just paid and trialware). But, that’s one of many reasons why I prefer Android over iOS for mobile web browsing.

(Onswipe)

You’re naming the worst of the worst by many people’s standards. For every shitty Onswipe site, I can show you many more website development travesties that have nothing to do with mobile. Bad development in extreme cases shouldn’t blanket everyone else.

that’s liable to crash safari.

No website crashes my browsers on Android, but then again, I mostly use Firefox on it. Sounds like an Apple iOS Safari issue with your particular setup to me.

Overall, sounds like you’re more frustrated with your particular mobile device and specific, shitty websites you go to than with actual mobile-friendly websites that are properly developed.

I’ve found that arstechnica.com looks great on my iPad, iPhone and Android tablet and I’m thankful that they take mobile seriously (as they should in 2014, for Christ’s sake). And, if one finds anything lacking, they can always just go to the bottom of the website and choose “full site” if they’re not happy with the mobile phone version, etc. I just wish that Boing Boing would get with the program a bit better on this bbs instead of fitzing around fixing something that’s not broken on the website.

[vettekaas]

Just a short comment to register my discontent with the new layout, and bookmarking of “Page1.” Not going to go into a long critique, though. Pretty much all of the (non-snarky) criticism hits the spot. I also don’t think my reaction is “knee-jerk.” Not all change is good, and this change leaves a sour taste in the mouth after nearly 10 years of being a faithful Boingboing reader.

[pixleshifter]

Not sure where to post this, as I’ve not seen any article about the new-look BB. I’ve seen a lot of changes in my +/- 10 year tenure as a reader, but I have to say, I dislike it intensely. Too much stuff everywhere, it’s looking like a Yahoo portal or something. Any chance we can get some discussion about it?
Same great content though.

Edit: I see the article. Please shift my post over.

[seyo]

I really really hate this new layout.

EDIT: I found the article regarding the redesign too, amid the clutter and confusion. Sorry for posting this here, but since it wasn’t obvious what the hell was going on, I thought commenting in the most recent post was the most appropriate thing to do.

[avunculoid]

I found the yahooey-ness of the new look was mitigated a bit by using this url: boingboing.net/page/1. Change your bookmarks accordingly.

[Osmium]

Off-topic, but I just want to stand up for the new layout, since most people who like it (like myself) might not bother commenting to say so. I admire BoingBoing trying to go back to its zine roots. I do agree the left column could be a bit wider though, and it could be clearer that the one on the left is “new” and the one on the right is “featured” but otherwise good job! (in this poster’s humble opinion)

[samthepea]

I love Boing Boing big time, I have never followed a blog so dedicatedly in my life but I had rather hoped that the redesign was one of those things like what Google does sometimes to mark an occasion by making the site look 90s retro for just a day. I was a bit sad to see that we aint back to normal today and that it’s a genuine redesign to what I believed to be one of the most perfectly designed websites I use. I try to make a point of scanning every post that is displayed on a daily basis, delving further into those that are relevant to me with new tabs so the “scroll, scroll, click, scroll” system worked for me perfectly. This seems to be a design aimed at those who are using touchscreen devices who don’t really mind missing bits but would like a sea of pictures that they can jam their digits at like a menu (in a restaurant that has pictures of the food). When scrolling down you now see two streams of info moving at different speeds with different levels of importance and different sizes makes my eyes and brain hurt (not being rude, being totally honest) which is pretty much exactly what pocket lint did to my brain when they started using this format. I understand that Boing Boing is a place that cherishes innovation and freely admit that I am a firm believer of “if it aint broke don’t fix it” but beyond that is this dismissal of something beautiful and functional that I also care about. For many sites I would call a change like this an improvement, for Boing Boing I am sad to say that it’s a downgrade IMHO. If this change is to remain I suppose I can just revert to my daily checking of your articles by means of your twitter profile as that resembles the old format more closely (although it’d just be the headline and nowt else).

Also one other thing as an aesthetic choice- hyper links being that deep blue reeks of Windows 95 and only calls upon dark memories of when sites looked like this >>> http://www.peterserafinowicz.com/brian-butterfield/

[IMB]

I’m trying to like it. It still gives me a bit of a headache, because my brain is now trained on the tiny left portion, while trying to ignore the giant photos to the right. If I don’t train myself on the left posts, it’s still too much stimuli everywhere and I feel the need to escape, rather than clicking anything.

[stano]

We know you all so love redesigns …
Of course we do …
I was cursing so loudly and viciously when I discovered that the new version of AutoCAD a few years ago came with a Ribbon™ interface that my colleagues from the next office came to have a look at what happened. I ceased my stream of profanities only after I managed to switch it back to “classic look”. I had no such luck with Office and I am still frustrated when I have to use it, many years later.
When I tried to use my brand new notebook with a Windows 8 and Metro interface I was literally banging my fist on the table from frustration. For two weeks. Never-mind … I was planning to install Mint Linux anyway. Now I am happy.
Another redesign that I couldn’t tolerate was Gnome 3 and Unity. So what … I went back to KDE and fortunately, by that time they recovered from the “KDE 4 fiasco”
Do not get me started on Slashdot beta.

I tried to like your new site.
I even slept on it. I still do not like it.
I like your featured articles and I like the fact that they are presented separately.
But, that is the only thing that I like about your redesign. Previous posters listed my reasons. Too cluttered, not enough text, too much space for featured articles that change only seldom, feels like Metro interface ;-).
Fortunately there is http://boingboing.net/page/1 and I hope you are not going to cancel that. You could at least include a link to the chronological page at the new frontpage.