Paul / July 19, 2004 8:28 AM

Wow, first comment.

It looks great. I wasn't sure what to expect really; I thought a very large rework might occur, but this is a nice, strong evolution of the design. It's just cleaner and feels a little more modern, both of which I really like.

Nice job, guys and gals!

jake / July 19, 2004 9:16 AM

it looks very much the same! but i liked the old design, so that makes me feel warm inside.

Craig / July 19, 2004 9:22 AM

Less is more.

paul / July 19, 2004 9:24 AM

Excellent job. Paul is right, it's an evolution, rather than a re-do, which wasn't necessary. Slowdown now works the way it should, the daily columns now have that 'daily' feeling and the photolog is what we all wanted -big pictures! I imagine that it's going to become one of the site's most visited parts now.

Craig / July 19, 2004 9:28 AM

I'm not so sure about all the CAPITALIZATION though...

Eamon / July 19, 2004 9:33 AM

Looks great! I think the only change I'd make is to reverse the order of the calendar entries, so it's easier to see what's going on this week. Good work, y'all!

Kate / July 19, 2004 9:42 AM

It's got everything I liked about the old design (clean, fast loading, easy to navigate) but now it's also easier to see! Way to go guys.

Pete / July 19, 2004 10:56 AM

Definitely like the cleaner look. Plus I can't wait for all the GB moy-chan-dise.

Trance / July 19, 2004 11:06 AM

Looks great, nice job. I agree, it's easier to read.

Wendy / July 19, 2004 11:07 AM

The new design is great, though it keeps the one little thing I didn't like about the old design, which is the size of the title banner. On one hand it has a lot of open space and a nice uncluttered look, but then on my smaller monitor at work it takes up so much space in my browser window that the content is more than halfway down the page.

But this is a very minor complaint and maybe the User Preferences feature will have options for smaller browser windows?

Naz / July 19, 2004 12:37 PM

Thanks for the feedback thus far, consider this a live work in progress and we'll continue to tweak and fine tune - it's nice to get some live feedback so your thoughts are appreciated.

Joseph J. Finn / July 19, 2004 12:43 PM

Two minor quibbles with the redesign, which I'm liking so far:

1. The columns seem to be creeping a little too close together.

2. I love the days of the week next to the Airbag subject headings, but I'm going to miss the icons that immediately let me know if there was a new Librarian or Second City column.

Naz / July 19, 2004 12:57 PM

Joseph - the columns are actually spaced a little more wider - I think you're seeing it more because Slowdown now has a solid background colour thus defining that middle column.

As for Airbags, they are published regularly on their respective days, so they'll be there, if you are. They love you.

pj chmiel / July 19, 2004 1:28 PM

I think it's nice and tidy, but that the section titles lack diversity or identity. I miss the icons. Before when they there, I wished they'd change every time to match the new article, letting people know that there was new content, but I'd settle for each having its own look (somehow). I think it's just a bit sparse and text-heavy overall, it's kind of overwhelming when it all looks the same, the heirarchy isn't very clear. I realize this is all volunteer and creating graphics takes time.

If the section titles (Drive-in, Ask Librarian, et al) never change, why not have them be graphics with some character (or a different color)? They wouldn't be but one or two Kilobytes each on the main page, and they're not worth much to search engines as text the way they are. I'd say don't be afraid of a little subdued color to differentiate things; it's the web and it doesn't cost anything.

My $.02. I really like the stylesheet and the larger rearview photos.

Eamon / July 19, 2004 1:53 PM

Yeah, I think I agree, re: the Airbag icons. I liked having the larger visual target. The day of the week isn't as good an identifier as, say, a picture of a kitchen.

Mike / July 19, 2004 2:39 PM

I miss the Airbag images, as well. I agree with Eamon that the calendar entries should be reversed. The new Rearview section is great!

Lacey / July 19, 2004 2:49 PM

The new look is great--I didn't realize there was so much white before, but this is easy on the eyes. Nice work, GB! Thanks for increasing the size of the titles (good for us far-sighted folks), as well.

Jonathan / July 19, 2004 3:17 PM

I dig the redesign, especially the larger type and the promise of personalization. My only complaint would be that the left and right margins seem a bit too wide on my monitor, and all the content is a little too pinched toward the middle.

'That Ian' / July 19, 2004 9:13 PM

I like how it kept the theme of the old page while integrating new aspects into it. It's pretty. Less-than-three gray and red.

emily / July 19, 2004 10:38 PM

A lot of simple changes...it's really nice. I'm not into the all caps on the entire right side of my screen, but the rest is A-OK. I really enjoy the subtle background images and cleaner layout, and the new comment area. Rock on, GeeBee.

Shasta MacNasty / July 20, 2004 7:41 AM

Initial reaction: "Wow! I don't know HOW they did it, but they got it to look EXACTLY like the old one."

I haven't gone through everything yet, but the change I noticed first was the "Airbags" section. I appreciate that's it's spaced out and gives each article it's on distiction. Before the right side of the page was just a confusing no-man's-land for me. Now it's very clear what the articles are and the discussions following them. Me likey.

Eamon / July 20, 2004 8:35 AM

The Slowdown order has changed! Thanks! Of course, now I've got just one more pony request: show the next 7 calendar days, not the current week. Monday events always get shortchanged because no one sees them until Monday morning. Plus, I hate being reminded of all the things I missed this week.

cushie / July 20, 2004 8:54 AM

The randomly ordered days of the week for the columns are a big befuddling, but other than that it looks great.

Gordon / July 20, 2004 9:31 AM

"Randomly ordered"? It starts with the current day and goes back through the past week as you go down … (?)

Me, I miss the Airbag icons, too. I loved my little movie projector. :(

mark / July 20, 2004 11:00 AM

I really love the upgrade to the rearview photolog --- much needed and much appreciated.

a minor thing -- the text in the merge section seems more spaced out between lines (sorry for the lack of technical term -- leading?). It might be an optical illusion, but I prefer the text a little tighter -- makes it easier to read more of the seciton w/o scrolling on my old iMac :)

also agree with the suggestions to add a tiny graphic to the airbag sections...thoguh i have to admit i mostly read only feul, merge and rearview...

but overall you did (and continue to do) a great job!

jm / July 20, 2004 11:03 AM

Oooohhhh. Shiny. Yummy. Delicious. All in one.

aimee / July 20, 2004 11:28 AM

Maybe you already know this, but the column on the right doesn't display correctly in I.E. for Macintosh OS X. It gets bumped down to the bottom, below the first two columns. Looks nice in Safari though!

Naz / July 20, 2004 11:36 AM

Aimee - we're working on this - though we really don't want to ;)

Mostly because IE is no longer being made as a standalone version, mostly because IE is not longer made for Mac and most of all because IE's CSS support which is what the layout is using is shoddy.

But it will be fixed.

Mike / July 20, 2004 1:05 PM

Eeek. Now that someone mentioned it, THE ALL CAPS IN THE RIGHT COLUMN IS A LITTLE MUCH.

Ron / July 20, 2004 2:21 PM

Needs more cowbell.

No really, it looks great

Andrew / July 20, 2004 2:31 PM

When you all say "all caps in the right column," do you just mean the section and column titles, or is there something else that's bothering you?

miss ellen / July 20, 2004 3:22 PM

i speak as both a fan & a contributor - the caps ARE EVERYWHERE:

- author's names
- titles of airbags, and names of columns
- the "hot" list, aka glovebox
- description of mailing list
- etc, etc

it is overwhelming & i think, a bit unnecessary.

Andrew / July 20, 2004 3:35 PM

Hmmm, it's not showing up that way for me. Must be an errant bit of code.

Naz is offline at the moment -- the redesign frenzy killed his DSL or something -- but we'll try to straighten it out.

Thanks.

Andrew / July 20, 2004 3:39 PM

Ah, now that I look at it in IE, the caps *are* everywhere. We'll get right on that.

christian / July 20, 2004 5:27 PM

I like the new look, nice and clean. I really dig the larger rearview photos. I'd like to see more background images, but that's just a goofy typography thing I have. And posters, you need to have posters for sale!