CelticsStrong

CelticsStrong => Using CelticsStrong => Topic started by: ItStaysYang on September 25, 2012, 09:07:15 AM

Title: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: ItStaysYang on September 25, 2012, 09:07:15 AM
Are you kidding me? This wrecks the nostalgia I have from using CB for some years. what the heckkkkk
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: WeMadeIt17 on September 25, 2012, 09:08:45 AM
I agree been here for a little while cant say I like the way it looks at all. Sorry Jeff
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Mr Green on September 25, 2012, 09:12:14 AM
I like the cut of its jib!
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: perks-a-beast on September 25, 2012, 09:14:32 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtopegN0HDg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtopegN0HDg)

This sums it up.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: GreenFaith1819 on September 25, 2012, 09:15:31 AM
You think so?

I LOVE it....kinda funky in a good way.

It will take some getting used to, but I do love it.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Amonkey on September 25, 2012, 09:20:29 AM
What I dont like about it is that before, in the main page would have quotes and almost the entire blog. Some of them I would read, some of them I would just read the quotes, and some of I would click on 'continue to read' to finish the article. Now it just gives you a preview and it wants me to change page in order for me to read it. Before I could just skimmish through quickly and move on to the forums. Now I probably wont even really read the articles.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Eja117 on September 25, 2012, 09:21:13 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtopegN0HDg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtopegN0HDg)

This sums it up.
omg...that's how I feel about life
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Eja117 on September 25, 2012, 09:25:49 AM
OMG that new theme looks awesome and scary and I never thought I'd see Jeff yell Rondoooo for about 25 seconds. Notice how he got louder at one point when he should have been running out of air? I don't think I can do that
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: celticinorlando on September 25, 2012, 09:26:38 AM
meh....going to take some getting use to
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: SHAQATTACK on September 25, 2012, 09:29:48 AM
It a bit bold huge writing, in your face format ..ah what the heck ... maybe it will grow on me.

Since YOU asked here is what I think...

Some how the FIRST page should be the Second page...it is like opening a newspaper in the middle to start your reading.

The first page is TOO LONG ,too big and should be shorter format.

Alot of us ( internet users are skimmers) , I like the old format of everyuthing fitting on one screen with out scrolling to find everything, so I can just go immediately to what I car about. ( does this make sence?)



I'm not blind. ;D    at least yet...
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Rondo2287 on September 25, 2012, 09:30:47 AM
Well I hated the facebook newsfeed when it started , then i got used to it and now i just hate facebook.  so i will give this a chance.

I will say though that so far, I think it looks less professional than before. Same thing for the other SBnation site I frequent, BCinterruption
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: wdleehi on September 25, 2012, 09:32:01 AM
This is an across the board SBNation change. 



I personally like that I can see more of the articles right away, but I can understand the frustration with change.  (and am used to hearing it)


Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 25, 2012, 09:34:06 AM
please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings about the site upgrade here
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 25, 2012, 09:36:54 AM
please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings about the site upgrade here
Whoever came up with that was a horrible designer: bad usability, worse looks. Just saying.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: bdm860 on September 25, 2012, 09:38:48 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZHwxIL9oYo
.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 25, 2012, 09:53:44 AM
like all change it will take some getting used to

but I think it will grow on the majority of you

cheers
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: action781 on September 25, 2012, 10:16:45 AM
Hopefully I will get used to it.  But at first, it has the feel more of a blog that I'm supposed to read rather than a blog I'm supposed to be a part of.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 25, 2012, 10:18:06 AM
there's also a welcome post and video that also includes Frequently Asked Questions here:

http://www.celticsblog.com/2012/9/24/3394219/welcome-to-sb-nation-united
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: DKClassic on September 25, 2012, 10:18:50 AM
The only thing I don't like is that the Latest Forum Topics tab isn't on the right side on the main page anymore, though that really doesn't matter once you access the forums.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Celtic on September 25, 2012, 10:30:13 AM
From a design point of view I think the front page is just too big overall, but I know thats an SBNation across the board choice. It's pretty overwhelming at first, perhaps I will just get used to it but right now it actually appears to be harder to find information.

Are the forums staying with this format?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: slamtheking on September 25, 2012, 10:31:50 AM
Hopefully I will get used to it.  But at first, it has the feel more of a blog that I'm supposed to read rather than a blog I'm supposed to be a part of.
I think that's a pretty good description.  liked the old format (before the forums change),

will need to get used to it because there's apparently no going back.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 25, 2012, 10:34:14 AM
like all change it will take some getting used to

but I think it will grow on the majority of you

cheers

Doubt it, for me this blog has always been about it's streamlined interface and how i can look at a glance and see the latest posts.

Now im bombarded with a huge amount of screen clutter, the interface is clunky as hell too. Where before it was one click to get where you were going, you now have to find your drop down, expand it, and find what you were looking for.

I feel like this is just like the gawker update. Everyone hates it, but everyone is going to keep visiting/clicking on the gawker site, so despite almost universal disappointment, the website points to "same numbers, you guys are the loud minority who hates change" When in reality, the fact is that I'm going to keep visiting and dealing with the horrid new interface because lets face it, I love CB. 
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: greg_kite on September 25, 2012, 10:35:08 AM
I like it.  I think it looks more professional.  Well done.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 25, 2012, 10:39:23 AM

Are the forums staying with this format?

At some point, the look of the forums will change to be more consistent with the "SBN United" header.  The functionality will stay the same, though.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 25, 2012, 10:55:18 AM

Are the forums staying with this format?

At some point, the look of the forums will change to be more consistent with the "SBN United" header.  The functionality will stay the same, though.

Thats unfortunate. I fail to see why the forums need to change, are they to efficient and easy to use?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 25, 2012, 10:55:35 AM
like all change it will take some getting used to

but I think it will grow on the majority of you

cheers
Yeah. They say man is not an animal, so they'll adjust to anything. But that's not the point.

I'm sorry, but this front page is just a textbook display of "How not to build webpages 101". Where do I start...

* Horrible use of space; there are huge and unnecessary "dead spots", which don't help with readability and make the entire page look "untidy", if you wish.
* Horrible vertical spacing; gigantic blank spots on the side while having to do major scrolldown for half of the content;
* Unintuitive location of "shortcut" menus; if you have to scroll 50%+ of the page to get to a quick link menu, this kind of defeats the quick menu purpose to begin with.

I could gripe about the forum topics shortcut (I loved the feature), but I acknowledge that this is CB-only feature, so I'm not surprised the design has no real use for it.

In summary, this looks like something I could have designed on a weekend... when I was a freshman in college. It's a serious step back in all aspects. And it's probably even worse than the site we had back in 2004 when I started using CB on a regular basis.

Sorry Jeff, I know it's not your fault, but this piece of garbage is just indefensible (DISCLAIMER: I have a suspicion that the site may not be rendering correctly at the office machine, so I'll take a second look; but even if that's the case, it's disappointing we're served a half-baked product).
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: celticslove on September 25, 2012, 10:56:05 AM
like the new one, old ones kinda getting old.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 25, 2012, 10:58:40 AM

Are the forums staying with this format?

At some point, the look of the forums will change to be more consistent with the "SBN United" header.  The functionality will stay the same, though.

Thats unfortunate. I fail to see why the forums need to change, are they to efficient and easy to use?

Ha.  I can't comment, because I don't know exactly what is being proposed yet.  I assume it's just making the header / logo / overall look more integrated.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 25, 2012, 11:06:05 AM
One thing to note is that the look of the front page isn't going to stay static; there are a ton of different layouts that this software enables.

Take a look around the SBN network for some of the other examples.  www.StanleyCupOfChowder.com looks different today, for instance, than www.PatsPulpit.com.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 25, 2012, 11:11:44 AM
One thing to note is that the look of the front page isn't going to stay static; there are a ton of different layouts that this software enables.

Take a look around the SBN network for some of the other examples.  www.StanleyCupOfChowder.com looks different today, for instance, than www.PatsPulpit.com.

I'll have to go to them with different browsers, on Firefox it takes forever to load, and that huge "SB NATION!!!" graphic really slows it down. I still get as someone above said, a large amount of dead space and just awful layout on articles, I essentially have to wait for the huge background SB nation logo to load, then for a bunch of clutter to be overlayed on top, then scroll down and play find the article i actually wanted to see.

Just seems like a inefficient interface design. It seems to be based on: "look how much info i can throw at you at once!" rather than simple functionality.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: dark_lord on September 25, 2012, 11:13:22 AM
like anything else, it will take time to get used to.  but for now, i, like most others, really dont like it at all.  bad decision to switch it up
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: apc on September 25, 2012, 11:14:12 AM
is the SB nation App not working? or is it just me?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 25, 2012, 11:16:29 AM
also, I know most of us probably come right to the forum URL, but for a site that to me has always been defined by it's forums, It's a real hassle to have:

1) no quick access forum topics

and, unless i'm missing something which is entirely possible

2) no direct link to the forums? really? it shouldn't take a scroll down, and then further drop down menu, and then a link to get to an integral part of the site from the main page.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 25, 2012, 11:18:29 AM
One thing to note is that the look of the front page isn't going to stay static; there are a ton of different layouts that this software enables.

Take a look around the SBN network for some of the other examples.  www.StanleyCupOfChowder.com looks different today, for instance, than www.PatsPulpit.com.
All three of these look the same to me. I guess an indication that my current browser breaks the layout?

Of course, the fact that the most popular browser out there serves a broken product is not a good testament for the SB QA/QC department...
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: snowball on September 25, 2012, 11:27:18 AM
horrid.  :-[
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 25, 2012, 11:29:19 AM
I modify me previous #2, its just buried in the informational vomit of the first page, You have to scroll all the way down and it's off to the left.

Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 25, 2012, 11:32:35 AM
also, I know most of us probably come right to the forum URL, but for a site that to me has always been defined by it's forums, It's a real hassle to have:

1) no quick access forum topics

and, unless i'm missing something which is entirely possible

2) no direct link to the forums? really? it shouldn't take a scroll down, and then further drop down menu, and then a link to get to an integral part of the site from the main page.

Yeah, there's the Forum Topics down on the left.  You can also access the forums via the "community" tab on the second menu.

But yes...  the easiest way to access the forums is via the direct url.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Boris Badenov on September 25, 2012, 11:36:10 AM
I'll try to be as detailed as possible:

1. The most frequently changing items (latest news, forum topics, daily links) should be at the top of the page and easy to access, not so far down. Are the "Season Preview" and other "NBA Previews" going to be the first things I see for the next month? That doesn't make sense.
2. The daily links should, as they did before, show actual article titles.
3. A lot of space is being wasted with large picture backgrounds. (Look at how much real estate is taken up by the Bass article!). We come here to read, not look at the same picture over and over again.
4. On that same topic, pictures behind text just make text hard to read.
5. Those of us who come here mostly for the forums will just bookmark those, but will end up missing out on some of the front page content.


Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 25, 2012, 11:37:27 AM
a couple of things that may be tripping people up

1. the SBNation app is no longer supported - they redesigned to make accessing the site via the mobile web browsers seamless with the functionality of the site on a desktop/laptop

2. unfortunately they also don't support IE7 or IE8 - I'm told this is because only 4% of people use those browsers and that they are horrible - that doesn't help some of us that have to have an old version of IE to run stuff at work but I would encourage folks to upgrade to a new browser if possible - I do feel badly about this, but nothing I can do
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: edwardjkasche on September 25, 2012, 11:40:39 AM
Seems to me that the people working behind the scenes are attempting to give these SB Nation sites more of a real "sports website" feel, ala Cnnsi.com, and less of a "blog" feel.  That's my initial reaction.

Personally, I liked the "blog" feel.  It was simple and easy to use.  This new site seems too flashy and it definitely takes away from the fan-contributing aspects of the old site.  The Fan Posts and Fan Shots have been pushed further down the page and have been designed to be easily overlooked as compared to the "main" stories.

Also, this isn't a "sports website" in the same way as a professional sports journalism site (Cnnsi, ESPN, Yahoo Sports)*.  None of the main stories here are broken first by reporters from CelticsBlog.  These are recycled stories brought here to spark discussion amongst the fan base (which is what I love).  So, why make it look like a professional site when it's not?

In the end, these are blogs and fan forums, not ESPN.  I think they should have stuck with the old format.

p.s. I'm also not a fan of change (in many instances).

*I understand that many of those "real" sites have devoted more and more space to personal opinions and conjecture, but they do still employ some journalists who break factual stories.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Interceptor on September 25, 2012, 11:46:04 AM
Goodness gracious, what a usability nightmare the front page is now. I'll give it a few days, but I think I'm changing my bookmark to come directly to the forums.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Who on September 25, 2012, 11:54:05 AM
Looks pretty good. I like the new look.

I normally hate changes.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Amonkey on September 25, 2012, 12:19:51 PM
One thing I dont like is for example, the first article all it has is a picture of Bass and the title of the article. Where is the article though? Do I have to click on it to read it? I am one of those people that just like to skim through the articles by scrolling down, read what it has or the quotes, and if I am intrigued further, click on 'continue to read' or keep scrolling down to skim through the next article. Now I wont be able to do that, meaning I probably wont be clicking to every article, which in all honesty, might make me a less frequent user since the 'news' wont be as accessible.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 25, 2012, 12:23:04 PM
2. unfortunately they also don't support IE7 or IE8 - I'm told this is because only 4% of people use those browsers and that they are horrible - that doesn't help some of us that have to have an old version of IE to run stuff at work but I would encourage folks to upgrade to a new browser if possible - I do feel badly about this, but nothing I can do
This is an issue for me, apparently. At least at this point. Also for a couple of other people around, it seems. Will take another look at it with Chrome from home in the evening.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: WaltonsIllegitimateSon on September 25, 2012, 12:25:50 PM
As one who enjoyed the advantage of skimming the stories to see their premise, the site just got far less functional.  The change puts a huge premium on the writing composition of each headline, so readers won't waste their time clicking on a post only to find they're not interested in it.

Also, I cynically wonder how much this change was intended to force readers to click more.  The new layout gives you far less at a glance, and compels you to click for any content at all!  The most obvious reason for such a change is to increase ad views per site visit.  More money for the blog, at the expense of usability.  Not a good tradeoff, in my opinion.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: 317 on September 25, 2012, 12:35:50 PM
checked from my phone and its horrible that way, and i never had any app to improve it. i will stop checking this site from my phone well at games, something i used to do frequently when a player got hurt during a game or was inactive for an unknown reason.

never noticed the trending thing before, this is a Celtics basketball site, i dont want to see links to football videos. the pictures at the top are just to big.

the inability to skim now is bad. the fact they didn't bother to make it compatible with some versions of IE shows them being lazy.

i ripped a few things from my viewing with a remove it permanitnly add on, but that's not addressing the issues its just hiding them. the site is to long, part of that is those big pictures at the top. but even without some of the empty space, and without the things i simply dont want to see its still to long.

i also feel like the Team|Community|Sections|Library thing should be at the top of the page.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Mencius on September 25, 2012, 12:49:45 PM
I liked the tight and concise feel of the old look.  Everything seemed much more readily accessible to me.  This seems to have a lot of frill, way more pictures, and a lot more scrolling is involved.  Some of it is surely not being used to the look/feel of this new thing, but some of it is that there is, it seems, a lot more fluff to get through to get to the meat.  To me, it seems busy for busy's sake.  I don't like it.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 25, 2012, 01:01:47 PM
As one who enjoyed the advantage of skimming the stories to see their premise, the site just got far less functional.  The change puts a huge premium on the writing composition of each headline, so readers won't waste their time clicking on a post only to find they're not interested in it.

Also, I cynically wonder how much this change was intended to force readers to click more.  The new layout gives you far less at a glance, and compels you to click for any content at all!  The most obvious reason for such a change is to increase ad views per site visit.  More money for the blog, at the expense of usability.  Not a good tradeoff, in my opinion.

oh it's absolutely designed that way by SB Nation. Thats what bleacher report did and they got that paper, and it's what the gawker site just did.

By making everything involve multiple clicks you can sell more ads. It seems like more and more clean, efficient and simple is being phased out for "come on, give us three clicks, be a sport."
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Mencius on September 25, 2012, 01:52:44 PM
..

Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Prof. Clutch on September 25, 2012, 01:54:11 PM
Every time Celticsblog gets a facelift everyone gets a little freaked out, which is understandable since you have to learn anew how to navigate the site.  But every time it's happened a little time passes and most people can't even remember how the old site used to look, let alone miss it.  In the end it's still the same community of people contributing so the true essence of Celticsblog remains the same.

I come here primarily for the forums anyway and those appear to be entirely unchanged, so I guess the changes to the front page don't really have any effect for me.

Congrats on the new digs Jeff & Mods.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 25, 2012, 02:19:47 PM
In the end, I'll just end up going directly to forums.celticsblog.com instead.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: guava_wrench on September 25, 2012, 02:34:58 PM
I liked the tight and concise feel of the old look.  Everything seemed much more readily accessible to me.  This seems to have a lot of frill, way more pictures, and a lot more scrolling is involved.  Some of it is surely not being used to the look/feel of this new thing, but some of it is that there is, it seems, a lot more fluff to get through to get to the meat.  To me, it seems busy for busy's sake.  I don't like it.
I agree with the sentiments.

It seems to me that a lot of sites are going touch-friendly. Hulu has a similar change that made it harder too use, but with more eye candy. Crapplications like flipboard prioritized fancy, picturesque layouts over ease of use. I'm someone who always hated windows folders in any layout other than details, unless it is a folder of image files.

I miss having article summaries. This also no longer has the blog feel. I liked the blog feel. I do not think I am feeling resistance to change because I just don't care for these kinds of image heavy formats in general, just as I don't care for Facebook timelines. Save it for pinterest.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: AshyLarry on September 25, 2012, 02:45:54 PM
WOOOOOOAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! ITS ALL FUTURISTIC AND WHATNOT. A+
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: ItStaysYang on September 25, 2012, 03:01:14 PM
Ladies and Gents, listen here and listen well.

SBNation is all about making money. Poof Jeff had no say in the abysmal "upgrades" that took place here recently. CB had function before, and now as others have said, it's redundant, unnecessary, and as a software engineer/designer, the layout is extremely poor. Space is misused and NO consideration went towards the users by whatever team did this. This was my topic.... and they changed the name, I said it sucked originally and I uphold my opinion.

This company doesn't give a rats ass about people who love sports, they want to compete with the ESPN Boston's and hoopshype-type sites (and other sites that are just plain bigger). SBNation has lost its niche of having "individually-based sports blogs" by trying to take that same small-picture success and blow it out of proportion.

No offense to anyone here at CB (staff, members, Jeff), but SBNation - you suck and your updates suck.

Lets get it reversed: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/revert-the-new-sbnation-blog-changes/
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: AshyLarry on September 25, 2012, 03:06:08 PM
My previous comment was sarcasm. I don't mind it. I don't like it. But I'll get used to it. I'm just pod because now I have to click on things more often lol.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: lon3lytoaster on September 25, 2012, 03:45:47 PM
The mobile site is probably the worst thing I have ever seen. And I will be hemmorging data when I'm not on wifi. As someone who uses his phone for almost everything these days that's problematic. It's slow to load and just.. I don't know. Terrible.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 25, 2012, 03:56:58 PM
One thing I like about it, as an author:  On the old software, if there was a big story followed by smaller news, we had to make an editorial decision regarding whether to put the newer but lesser news at the top of the page, or instead to "bury" it under the older story.

This software solves that dilemma.  The "big" story can still be front and center, while also giving exposure to other new content.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: blink on September 25, 2012, 03:57:53 PM
Although I really really appreciate all the efforts of the folks at celticsblog, I really think the new page layout is poorly designed. 

As others have mentioned, it is kind of a bloated, over sized, badly organized mess.  I miss the article previews as well, but I miss the straight forward organization of the old version even more.  The old site did way more with way less.  I hope I get used to it, but if not, I will just bookmark the forums directly to avoid it.  I guess that says it all.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 25, 2012, 04:01:49 PM
One thing I like about it, as an author:  On the old software, if there was a big story followed by smaller news, we had to make an editorial decision regarding whether to put the newer but lesser news at the top of the page, or instead to "bury" it under the older story.

This software solves that dilemma.  The "big" story can still be front and center, while also giving exposure to other new content.
Maybe the new situation has taken the decision out of your hands, but I don't think it has solved the issue of how to make news of different magnitude accordingly readable.

I thought CB authors did a phenomenal job when deciding which green blurb to keep on top of the feed :)
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Interceptor on September 25, 2012, 04:10:03 PM
I thought CB authors did a phenomenal job when deciding which green blurb to keep on top of the feed :)
Indeed. I never had any quarrels with front page priorities, I got used the articles moving around after I noticed that the big stories were the prominent ones. It worked because there was enough real estate on the page to notice the lesser stories underneath the headliner one.

I guess that this technically an improvement, although it wasn't immediately clear that Brandon Bass was even a story until I found the text in the middle of the picture.  :P
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: indeedproceed on September 25, 2012, 04:19:42 PM
I thought CB authors did a phenomenal job when deciding which green blurb to keep on top of the feed :)

Mostly it was the most recent story, unless there was a major editorial, or something one of the editors felt really strongly about.

But it was really common for an author to put 2 or 3 hours and thousands of words into a piece only to have it bumped by a tweet from Glen Davis or something. It wasn't a huge problem, but it was annoying sometimes.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: erisred on September 25, 2012, 05:13:27 PM
like all change it will take some getting used to
but I think it will grow on the majority of you

cheers
Jeff, so do warts. :)

My immediate impressions are that there is more noise, and it's harder to find the signal.  It's prettier, but I don't come to Celticsblog for "eye candy", I come for information. 

Constructive criticisms...

1. When I go to the homepage, I get the SBNation Ad filling the entire window of my browser. I have to reduce my font size to find the close button in the upper right corner and then increase font size to read the text (old eyes). This is a nuisance, if it happens every time I come to the site, it'll be a big nuisance. If it's just a one time, or once in a while, thing I can live with it.

2. Arranging the articles in a graphics block is very e-magazine of you, but personally I don't like it. I'd much rather have a web-log look like a web-log with a "blog roll" of articles down the page than a magazine with fancy graphics, repeated openings, and plenty of jumping to other pages. How will "pocket" handle those articles? Poorly, I bet.

3. Where are the forums? Yes, I found them, but I had to search and drill down into a "pretty" drop down menu to find them. Over half of the reason I come to CB is the forums and you're making it harder for me to get there. Make it too hard and I'll just make a link directly *to* the forums and skip the front page entirely. Neither one of want that!

4. I've only seen this on a desktop monitor here at work. When I get home I'll switch to a 7" tablet. How is it going to look on a tablet? On a cellphone? Do you have a mobile version?

5. Thank goodness, the forums haven't changed!

Okay, so SBNation did a sitewide change and CB had to follow. Grumble! Maybe it'll grow on me. Grumble! I hope so. Grumble!
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: erisred on September 25, 2012, 05:18:48 PM
One thing to note is that the look of the front page isn't going to stay static; there are a ton of different layouts that this software enables.

Take a look around the SBN network for some of the other examples.  www.StanleyCupOfChowder.com looks different today, for instance, than www.PatsPulpit.com.
Roy,

Speaking as a Celtics fan, I enjoyed being at a Celtics blog. Yeah, it's SB Nation and has been SB Nation for some time, but in look, style and substance it was CB not SBN...now it's just another SB Nation property. Sorry, but right now I'm bummed.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: erisred on September 25, 2012, 05:27:16 PM
One thing to note is that the look of the front page isn't going to stay static; there are a ton of different layouts that this software enables.

Take a look around the SBN network for some of the other examples.  www.StanleyCupOfChowder.com looks different today, for instance, than www.PatsPulpit.com.
All three of these look the same to me. I guess an indication that my current browser breaks the layout?

Of course, the fact that the most popular browser out there serves a broken product is not a good testament for the SB QA/QC department...
Yep! All three look pretty much the same to me on Chrome, Firefox and IE running on my work system. Roy must be seeing something that I'm not seeing.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: jarufu on September 25, 2012, 05:29:20 PM
I don't like it today. That might change as I get used to.

The IRFU are probably taking a long look at the new logo and colour scheme though! !!  :P
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: WaltonsIllegitimateSon on September 25, 2012, 05:35:40 PM
4. I've only seen this on a desktop monitor here at work. When I get home I'll switch to a 7" tablet. How is it going to look on a tablet? On a cellphone? Do you have a mobile version?

erisred, this was answered earlier in this thread (the redesign is in part intended to eliminate the need for mobile versions, as the content shifts itself to fit the available screen space), but I can tell you that this morning's Brandon Bass post filled the entire screen of my iPad, so that nothing but the Brandon Bass photo (and centered article name, "Brandon Bass Day: The Upgrade") was visible.  Clicking on it was the only option without scrolling to find other content.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: SHAQATTACK on September 25, 2012, 07:05:39 PM
Goodness gracious, what a usability nightmare the front page is now. I'll give it a few days, but I think I'm changing my bookmark to come directly to the forums.

Well done !!this is the answer for me as well. !!! The front page is too much .  The old deal was much more USER friendly. 
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: bballee on September 25, 2012, 07:26:36 PM
Score:
Advertisers 1000
SBNation     900
CelticsBlog   20
CelticsFans   1.5

I sure hope this is a homerun for Jeff and the staff in maintenance reduction, because it is a real hit on the readers.  I suspected as much with the logo preview.  this should server as another cautionary tale of corporate greed.

If you are looking to drive change, you've succeeded.  I will use Shirley's links on her celticsgreen.blogspot.com to pick any articles on CB, excuse me SBNcb, because the overhead to wade through the extraneous garbage just got too high.  Sad, I feel like Craftsman tools just got sold to the Chinese and will be made of bamboo and paper henceforth.

The real pity is that there are some good ideas lost in this sellout.  I liked the concept of topic groupings.  Most commented has some value.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 25, 2012, 07:47:11 PM
I guess what I'd say the "corporate greed" charges are a little unfair.  From the time SBN announced this behind closed doors until now, I haven't heard them talk about page clicks and revenues, etc.

Now, that doesn't mean that those discussions weren't taking place.  However, there are other reasons besides revenue to want to change.  The "magazine" style blog seems to be the wave of the future; look at Red's Army, for instance. 

I think a lot of folks think the magazine style is better, and that it makes for a better blog.  I guess I'd say please limit criticism to what you see, rather than assumptions you're making about SBN's motivations.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Kane3387 on September 25, 2012, 08:00:43 PM
As of now I don't like it. Hopefully it will grow on me.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: The4Time2Doctor0 on September 25, 2012, 08:07:05 PM
I don't hate it, but it seems way too large on the front page. it was. shock to see it though.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: j804 on September 25, 2012, 08:20:10 PM
Not really feeling it to be honest, maybe will get used to it.

Now as for the forums Jeff is there anyway to install/enable a mobile style for the forums we can select when on a iPhone or tablet? It's usually there as an option nearly everywhere you go nowadays.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: CoachBo on September 25, 2012, 09:04:41 PM
Let's just say that I hope the season goes better than this remake.

Ugh. Awful.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Chris on September 25, 2012, 09:15:13 PM
I hate change...

(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQW-gMgcR2WI-OUqTk4Y9owKg11gI-2oVSaC6g-t7nKs_6asppoZRtvBDjFQ)

Beyond that, it seems fine to me.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Edgar on September 25, 2012, 09:45:41 PM
I guess what I'd say the "corporate greed" charges are a little unfair.  From the time SBN announced this behind closed doors until now, I haven't heard them talk about page clicks and revenues, etc.

Now, that doesn't mean that those discussions weren't taking place.  However, there are other reasons besides revenue to want to change.  The "magazine" style blog seems to be the wave of the future; look at Red's Army, for instance. 

I think a lot of folks think the magazine style is better, and that it makes for a better blog.  I guess I'd say please limit criticism to what you see, rather than assumptions you're making about SBN's motivations.

I agree
somehow
I miss the forum perspective a little
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: 317 on September 25, 2012, 10:26:19 PM
Roy you are smarter then that. wave of the future = money

you dont change something that's working well unless there is a tangible benefit in it.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: rocknrollforyoursoul on September 25, 2012, 10:35:37 PM
The new look is awesome. Has a clean look and a smooth flow I appreciate.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Amonkey on September 25, 2012, 10:49:30 PM
I've tried so far keeping coming back and see if I get a feel, and to be honest I keep getting turned off. Just the fact that I would come to this site for two reasons. One, to get news and two for the forums. Now I had noticed that basically all the same scroll down news I could have from this site is also available on ESPN Boston under the Celtics section, but I have been a member since my college days (almost 10 yrs) and it would be essentially the same thing. Unfortunately, I think I may have to change my ways. I will still come to this site for the forums, which I am very glad it hasnt changed. However, I think I'll just go to ESPN Boston for the news since I won't have to click at every single article to see what is going on.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Tgro on September 25, 2012, 11:14:35 PM
My impression of the new design is SB Nation seems more interested in me visiting other parts of SB Nation rather than visiting Celtics Blog. My opening screen has almost 1/2 the page dedicated to me LEAVING Celtics Blog! It doesn't seem to try and make visitors interested in staying!

I have to scroll down a couple of full mouse scrolls before I finally "start" to get the impression we are actually beginning to visit Celtic's Blog. But gone is that "at home" feeling. It used to be I would come to the front page and look forward to that "Top Headline" and well worded opening segment. Once you read the "tease" paragraph, you could click to read more, or go about your business and visit the forum.

Getting to the forum is now a full 4 mouse scrolls down the page on a floating link island that seems unintuitive. I was so used to everything I wanted being on the right side for getting to forum topics, and the left was left for front page topics which was well titled, photographed and introduced. I had a real sense that the forum moderators were actively "working" on the front page. Sorry, but now I can't even tell you guys still work here! It almost feels like you guys got fired and replaced by NFL Scrub Referees. That's okay, we'll get used to it. Until a game depends on it or we lose valuable readership that is.

Can't say I'm a fan. It does have a sloppy feel to it. The layout just doesn't promote that you've entered that magic fan friendly kingdom known as Celtics Blog. Instead, it feels like I've entered SB Nation....and oh yeah...if we can't convince you to visit the rest of SB Nation, then scroll down and figure out a reason why you'd want to stay at Celtic's Blog. (But behind your back, we think you're a loser for not visiting the rest of SB Nation).   
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: ACF on September 25, 2012, 11:36:36 PM
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php

 ;)
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: vinnie on September 25, 2012, 11:44:04 PM
Don't like it for several reasons, the main one being it does not feel like I am coming to the special place anymore that used to be Celtics Blog. Feels like just another generic website with a lot of pretty graphics and way too much information coming at me from all angles.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: LooseCannon on September 26, 2012, 01:22:08 AM
Looks like I am going start using my stand-alone RSS reader more often.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: AshyLarry on September 26, 2012, 02:36:03 AM
Don't like it for several reasons, the main one being it does not feel like I am coming to the special place anymore that used to be Celtics Blog. Feels like just another generic website with a lot of pretty graphics and way too much information coming at me from all angles.

I somewhat agree. The more I go on, the more I miss the old style; and it hasn't even been a day.

All I can say is Red Auerbach would not appreciate the shininess. The Celtics are not a glitz and glamor team, and the blog should represent the team. They get straight down to bidness, with limited shine.

But to be clear, I'll get used to it within a week.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Celtics4ever on September 26, 2012, 07:30:10 AM
No one likes change.   I like the old style too but this is a well managed board and if they think it best then I trust their judgement.  Maybe it brings in revenue and advertising the new way that supports the board.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: CDawg834 on September 26, 2012, 08:34:22 AM
5. Those of us who come here mostly for the forums will just bookmark those, but will end up missing out on some of the front page content.

Pretty much this.  I'm just going to add the main forum page to my favorites, and probably skip the front page entirely going forward.  I come here mostly to read/post on the forums, but will read the front page items for news or if something stands out.  The problem is that nothing stands out under the new format...it seems bland and disorganized.  There's no rhyme or reason to the layout, in my opinion.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 26, 2012, 09:01:00 AM
The "magazine" style blog seems to be the wave of the future; look at Red's Army, for instance.
I'm sorry, Roy, but Red's Army layout is nothing like the ham-fisted "update" of the SBN look we just witnessed. It's nice, clean, compact, no space wasted, good balance of  text and art.

It's better to have something that's not necessarily cutting-edge, but is functional, rather than follow the new wave, but fail to deliver.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 26, 2012, 09:34:29 AM
I've read through most of the comments here and I truly appreciate the feedback - positive or otherwise.  I'll address some concerns as best I can.

Regarding the layout - it is absolutely a preference thing - some folks like the magazine layout and some prefer the old school blog format.

I completely disagree with the comments that this version is unorganized or sloppy or whatever.  This project was thoroughly researched, tested, designed, and professionally implemented with amazing quality control.  I'm extremely impressed with the seamless conversion and the quality of SBN's work.

Speaking of SBN, they are in fact a company looking to make money.  Shocking, I know.  But to attain that goal, they need to please their customers - ie you.  They didn't make this change cavalierly.  This is a company of bloggers who do blogging all day long and they get the sports blogging community.  They know their customers and they better - because traffic = ad revenue.  They wouldn't mess with a model if they weren't very confident that this was the right direction to take the community.

It will take some getting used to.  I will tell you honestly that the first few times I looked at "the cover" at the top of the page, I didn't like it at all.  However, the more I worked with it and got accustomed to it, the more I started liking it.  Now I love it and I love the way it looks and draws the eye.

It is designed to be more mobile friendly and I'm fully on board with that as well.  We're becoming more mobile as a society and accessibility is key.

With all of that said, I'm fully aware that some of you will never get used to it and will always dislike the format.  For that I'm truly sorry and I don't know what to tell you other than to promise that I'll keep trying to improve my writing and I'll keep trying to manage the blog to the best of my ability so that you will continue to come to the blog in spite of the format you may not like.

I thank you all for being part of this community and for your continued support.

Last note: If you want to report any bugs or make suggestions or even give feedback, feel free to email support@sbnation.com - though I would encourage you to read the FAQ's here first:

http://www.celticsblog.com/2012/9/24/3394219/welcome-to-sb-nation-united

thanks again everyone
your humble blogger
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: mgent on September 26, 2012, 09:45:59 AM
Did we lose the chat?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: wdleehi on September 26, 2012, 09:47:56 AM
Did we lose the chat?


It is under "Library"


There is a technical reason for that right now.   
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 26, 2012, 10:01:38 AM
yes, I contacted support to see if we can move the link under community to make more sense

I also added fanshots to the front page directing people with links to these sections - hope that helps some
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: JSD on September 26, 2012, 10:25:49 AM
My head hurt.

I'll circumvent the main page by googleing 'celticsblog forum' for a bit. But I'll get used to it
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Celtic on September 26, 2012, 10:27:07 AM
I am a web designer and am not crazy about the redesign at all, the old site was probably due for an upgrade but I think this is a bit too much. Rather than griping about everything I hate, I have a few suggestions that perhaps someone at SBNation will read.

1. As many have said, the pictures up top are simply way too big. The pictures aren't the story, they are there to supplement the story, to use a publishing term "you're burying your lead." A one blurb tagline such as "Brandon Bass > Josh Smith" really isn't enough context to merit clicking, once inside said article, the formatting is a bit of a mess.

2. There needs to be more structure to the page, people are creatures of habit so a perpetually alterable format may not be such a great thing. As some have said there is a lot of dead space on the page, I'm sure that has to do with a non static format. In the end it makes the page difficult to follow, it comes across as scattered.

3. Right now the site requires too much vertical scrolling. SBNation likes to utilize different features like "Fanshots" and "Fanposts", I for one have never used these (we have the forums here) but why have them if they are so far down the page, they become an afterthought and just add clutter.

4. The information (which is what we all come here for) is simply too hard to find. It's hard to tell what's new, what's a breaking story, what I've read already, where polls, tweets, etc. are. Overall there probably should just be less of it. Ironically the archive page (http://www.celticsblog.com/archives) is easier to use and follow.


I understand that this redesign wasn't done on the fly, and there are some good things in it, but it definitely doesn't seem finished. Many times when you design something, since you know exactly how it works and where things are, you lose sight of wether it is really usable or not, it's happened to every web designer at least once. As it is right now Celticsblog is very difficult to navigate, especially, for those that are used to having the information they are here for, easily displayed. Perhaps panel testing was done but the core users of Celticsblog are the biggest marker, and if it's difficult to use then the design needs more work.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 26, 2012, 10:49:09 AM
If you guys want to give feedback to the SBN team, here might be a good place to start:

http://www.sbnation.com/2012/9/25/3394410/welcome-to-the-new-sb-nation

I'd recommend being specific and constructive if there's anything you'd like to share.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Rondo2287 on September 26, 2012, 10:50:25 AM
I don't like that Internet explorer isnt supported.  My work comp won't let me download new software so im basically stuck looking at weird stuff on the homepage
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Interceptor on September 26, 2012, 11:12:50 AM
Maybe this is too cynical of me, but I feel like the advertisers are the customers, and my eyeballs are the product being sold. I mean, I don't pay SBN anything.

With all of that said, I'm fully aware that some of you will never get used to it and will always dislike the format.  For that I'm truly sorry and I don't know what to tell you other than to promise that I'll keep trying to improve my writing and I'll keep trying to manage the blog to the best of my ability so that you will continue to come to the blog in spite of the format you may not like.
Well, I'll keep visiting the front page as long as you keep making funny captions for pictures. But I wish that they'd get rid of all that useless wasted space. The whitespace is particularly galling.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 26, 2012, 11:36:46 AM
It is designed to be more mobile friendly and I'm fully on board with that as well.  We're becoming more mobile as a society and accessibility is key.
Except it's not more mobile friendly.

The old m.celticsblog.com version was mobile friendly -- just the headlines, neatly resizing to the screen of your phone.

It boggles my mind how a huge blob of pictures, which require both horizontal and vertical scrolling, can be called mobile friendly -- the site is currently virtually unreadable on my smartphone, and  I have a pretty average Samsung Captivate. All I can see on the screen at a time is about 25% of one picture.

So while I'm sure that there was a reason for the redesign, citing mobile friendliness is eyebrow-raising to say the least. For a true mobile friendly site, check out something like m.weei.com.

I understand that SBN is in this to make money. But if the strategy is setting up artificial hoops to force more clicks, that's really unfortunate.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Interceptor on September 26, 2012, 11:43:49 AM
It boggles my mind how a huge blob of pictures, which require both horizontal and vertical scrolling, can be called mobile friendly -- the site is currently virtually unreadable on my smartphone, and  I have a pretty average Samsung Captivate. All I can see on the screen at a time is about 25% of one picture.
This might be platform-specific. Nobody is going to accuse me of being in favor of the new change, but I think the site looks OK on my iPhone running the latest iOS 6 version of Safari. In fact, I think it looks better than it does in my web browser, which is a little depressing.

The one complaint I have about the mobile site is that it is so...heavy... Takes forever to load, and very slow over 3G. My data usage will go through the roof.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 26, 2012, 11:48:08 AM
It boggles my mind how a huge blob of pictures, which require both horizontal and vertical scrolling, can be called mobile friendly -- the site is currently virtually unreadable on my smartphone, and  I have a pretty average Samsung Captivate. All I can see on the screen at a time is about 25% of one picture.
This might be platform-specific. Nobody is going to accuse me of being in favor of the new change, but I think the site looks OK on my iPhone running the latest iOS 6 version of Safari. In fact, I think it looks better than it does in my web browser, which is a little depressing.

The one complaint I have about the mobile site is that it is so...heavy... Takes forever to load, and very slow over 3G. My data usage will go through the roof.
The site does not autoresize horizontally, and is traffic-intensive because of all the graphics. Both of these are platform-independent features.

If someone considers this "mobile-friendly", they have no clue what they're talking about.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 26, 2012, 11:49:02 AM
thanks for your opinion kozlodoev

I love it on my mobile device and find it very mobile friendly

cheers
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: kozlodoev on September 26, 2012, 11:53:44 AM
thanks for your opinion kozlodoev

I love it on my mobile device and find it very mobile friendly

cheers
I hope this didn't come across as disrespectful. I am just kind of sensitive when people take a good thing and mess with it (call me a status quo guy), and we had a good thing here for a very long whil (for which, of course, the credit is mostly yours).

I can rant a lot more on blogs, crowd-sourcing, and cashing in, but I fear it may be off-topic in this thread.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Rondo2287 on September 26, 2012, 11:56:54 AM
I understand why SBNation wanted to do this and i really blame them not anybody associated with CB.  I come to this site for the forums anyways and usually spent little to no time on the front page.  Now I have just set up a bookmark for the forums and bypass it all together.

The other SBNation site I visit, BCInterruption, does not have forums and I have already seen my visits there drop by probably 50% because the site is unreadable.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Alessandro on September 26, 2012, 12:13:56 PM
The daily links really suffer under the new format, in my opinion ... It's just a bunch of text all bunched together, with no real spacing in between to distinguish where one link ends and another begins.

Perhaps this comes across better on a mobile device, but looking at a plain old computer monitor does a number on the eyes (again, IMO).
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 26, 2012, 01:05:00 PM
just a note: do feel free to submit suggestions to support@sbnation.com

here's a list of fixes/tweaks they've already implemented due to feedback

Quote
- We tweaked the brightness/contrast on the green for rec'd comments and the yellow on new comments so that they would be easier to distinguish.
- We adjusted the size of the fonts and the line spacing
- We adjusted the padding on the comments

and here are some other comments that they are working on but haven't released yet

Quote
- Improving load times
- Streamlining the mobile experience
- Improving the experience in IE 8
- Tightening up layout of articles so that comments are closer to content
- Overall individual site navigation issues
- Lots and lots of other bugs and tweaks
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: j804 on September 26, 2012, 01:09:43 PM
just a note: do feel free to submit suggestions to support@sbnation.com

here's a list of fixes/tweaks they've already implemented due to feedback

Quote
- We tweaked the brightness/contrast on the green for rec'd comments and the yellow on new comments so that they would be easier to distinguish.
- We adjusted the size of the fonts and the line spacing
- We adjusted the padding on the comments

and here are some other comments that they are working on but haven't released yet

Quote
- Improving load times
- Streamlining the mobile experience
- Improving the experience in IE 8
- Tightening up layout of articles so that comments are closer to content
- Overall individual site navigation issues
- Lots and lots of other bugs and tweaks
Will mobile browsing be coming to the forums or just the front page?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 26, 2012, 01:22:20 PM
the forums are a separate project, but you can try this to see if you like it better for the forums

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?imode
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: vinnie on September 26, 2012, 02:57:00 PM
One more minor complaint. The shamrock on the blog logo doesn't look like a shamrock anymore.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: bruinsandceltics on September 26, 2012, 08:02:16 PM
Do the logos look like crap to anyone else on Firefox?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Valentines_at_Popeyes on September 26, 2012, 09:11:43 PM
I'm very disappointed with the site redesign.  I find it confusing and difficult to navigate.  I find myself bypassing the front page content to go strait to the forums.  It's a real shame and I hope this can be bettered. 

Since the renovation I find that I dont visit Celticsblog as much as I used to because the experience is unwieldy and it is awkward.  But I keep coming back because the content and the crew are fantastic--the forums are some of the best moderated Ive ever seen.    This is still my favorite basketball website.

 ;D This was my initial reaction to the new layout:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc&feature=related
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: hwangjini_1 on September 26, 2012, 10:15:40 PM
I'm very disappointed with the site redesign.  I find it confusing and difficult to navigate.  I find myself bypassing the front page content to go strait to the forums.  It's a real shame and I hope this can be bettered. 

Since the renovation I find that I dont visit Celticsblog as much as I used to because the experience is unwieldy and it is awkward.  But I keep coming back because the content and the crew are fantastic--the forums are some of the best moderated Ive ever seen.    This is still my favorite basketball website.

 ;D This was my initial reaction to the new layout:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc&feature=related

i agree with this post. i find the pix on the front page to be far too large and distracting. i dont see how have such large pix are helpful.

it is harder to navigate since the links/sections are spaced farther apart.

plus, why not a direct link to the forums instead of having to go to a pull down menu and then click on it?

nice try, but i do not like the new format.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: KGs Knee on September 27, 2012, 12:27:42 AM
Yikes!

Front page is terrible.  Can't even use it on my phone now.  Where is the content?  I'm not interested in pictures, I'm interested in actual writing.

I've kinda just been lurking lately anyways (didn't even notice the change until just now), but I think my days of reading the front page are over.  I guess I'll be moving to the forums full-time now.  I just pray the forums stay as is.  I especially like how the mobile forum page allows me the option to use the old mobile format.

I don't like fancy, I like simple and user-friendly.  Please don't change the forums, I'd hate to have to find a new site.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: LarBrd33 on September 27, 2012, 02:16:39 AM
my first reaction to the front page, "My god this is pretentious as hell"... then I immediately checked to see if it was an all-up redesign of Sports nation (it is)... Not a fan.  Maybe I'll get use to it, though. 
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: LarBrd33 on September 27, 2012, 02:22:11 AM
Hopefully I will get used to it.  But at first, it has the feel more of a blog that I'm supposed to read rather than a blog I'm supposed to be a part of.
I agree with this completely.  It feels like it's trying too hard to be a magazine.  Again... pretentious as hell.  It's a blog.  Right now it looks very pompous to me. 

Edit:  I'm going to be entirely honest and a little harsh.  It's possible that my negative reaction to the current design of the site has a little to do with the actual content on the site now.  I know a lot of you guys are working really hard to write some wonderful pieces fro the front page, but I personally have very little interest in reading them.  Stuff like "Rondo is still on the celtics" and "pierce is 34".  Great.  No offense, I'm sure it's fine writing and I'm just a stubborn punk, but I'm frankly a little bored by the idea of reading some random Celtic fan wax poetic about the players... especially when I see nonsense like "Brandon Bass > Josh Smith".  It's hard enough reading that silliness on this forum... harder when it's coated with the gleaming pompous pretentiousness of the new site design.   I know it's nobody's fault and you guys are just trying to kill time until the season starts.  Maybe when the season picks up and the site is filled with content like, "Bradley scheduled to return next week" or "Pierce rumored to be on the trading block" or "Breaking news:  KG blows out knee.  Done for season.  Talks of retirement" , etc... it will be less jarring.  It wasn't like I was reading those articles before the site redesign, either.  I'd guesstimate the traffic for the site takes a bit of a dive during the offseason.  I'm sure some diehards might love reading a random Celtic fan blog about "Rondo continues to quarterback the Celtics", but I personally didn't find the picture/title intriguing enough to even click.     

The main reason I visit the blog is to find a collection of relevant Celtic news in one convenient place.  I visit the forum to argue with my fellow fans.  I'll wait until there's actually relevant news before I completely dismiss the site design.

Edit 2:  To be less of an ass, I clicked on the "Rondo continues to quarterback the celtics" link and found that it was actually based on a Marc J Spears piece about Rondo holding informal workouts.  The fact that I was so turned off by the title/image that I wouldn't even (normally) bother to click on that might give you a good use case of why the new site design is a failure.  In the old design, I would have seen a caption "Marck J Spears... informal workouts", etc and probably organically given it a look.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: GreenFaith1819 on September 27, 2012, 06:18:11 AM
Well, as I commented in another similar thread - I LOVE the changes, the layout, still.

Will take some getting used to, but to put this change in perspective:

Silverscreenandroll looks EXACTLY like ours, except it's in Purple and Gold.

Now THAT reminds reminds me of when I was younger, and my mother used to force me to eat my peas, lol.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: FatKidsDad on September 27, 2012, 10:11:00 AM
The solution to all life issues...

HAIKU!

New look for old friend
Always causes discomfort
What would Crotor say?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 27, 2012, 10:38:19 AM
I guess what I'd say the "corporate greed" charges are a little unfair.  From the time SBN announced this behind closed doors until now, I haven't heard them talk about page clicks and revenues, etc.

Now, that doesn't mean that those discussions weren't taking place.  However, there are other reasons besides revenue to want to change.  The "magazine" style blog seems to be the wave of the future; look at Red's Army, for instance. 

I think a lot of folks think the magazine style is better, and that it makes for a better blog.  I guess I'd say please limit criticism to what you see, rather than assumptions you're making about SBN's motivations.

Come on now Roy. SB Nation is a business, they are in the business of selling ads for their web network. Currently, the way ad agency's measure how desirable a website is to do business with is Unique Visitors by Unique clicks.

No one is claiming SB Nation went "muhahahah lets put out a ineffecent graphics based layout that makes our users click 3-4 times for something they used to be able to ID by the blog format as useful to them or not!"

But at the end of the day, the reason the "magazine" format is sweeping the web is it means you have to click the picture to load the article up. Thus a user has to click more to read the site, rather than just skimming the summary and only clicking those links that perk their interest. 

I'm sure they've tried to do a great job on it. I think the've come up short, mostly for the insane amount of clutter, longer load times due to heavy graphics, awful vertical scrolling issues, and dead space do to huge photo space that could be used for actual, useful information.

But I don't need to reserve judgement on their motivations, nor do I condemn them for them. Their a business that provides me free entertainment. Who am I to cast judgement on what business strategy they choose to adopt?

That said, I still think the front page design severely hampers it's useability and appeal.



 
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: LarBrd33 on September 27, 2012, 11:46:19 AM
DId something change since last night or am I tripping?  All those blog posts that were merely pictures "34 at 34", "Rondo quarterbacks the Celtics", "the truth conquers all" now appear below with excerpts.  I wasn't seeing ANY articles with excerpts last night.   This is a lot better... I can see what the blog posts are actually about.

Also I'm now noticing "Recent forum posts" on the side.  Overall, unless I'm losing my mind, this morning the site suddenly feels a lot more normal. 
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 27, 2012, 11:52:28 AM
DId something change since last night or am I tripping?  All those blog posts that were merely pictures "34 at 34", "Rondo quarterbacks the Celtics", "the truth conquers all" now appear below with excerpts.  I wasn't seeing ANY articles with excerpts last night.   This is a lot better... I can see what the blog posts are actually about.

Also I'm now noticing "Recent forum posts" on the side.  Overall, unless I'm losing my mind, this morning the site suddenly feels a lot more normal.

What happens, in general, is that you'll see a few of the main articles that present as merely pictures and story titles until you click on them.  These are the "featured" articles.

Then, underneath them, you'll find the older articles, generally in reverse chronological order.  Therefore, yesterday's features will be today's lesser stories.  Those stories include a preview regarding their content.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: crownsy on September 27, 2012, 12:06:55 PM
DId something change since last night or am I tripping?  All those blog posts that were merely pictures "34 at 34", "Rondo quarterbacks the Celtics", "the truth conquers all" now appear below with excerpts.  I wasn't seeing ANY articles with excerpts last night.   This is a lot better... I can see what the blog posts are actually about.

Also I'm now noticing "Recent forum posts" on the side.  Overall, unless I'm losing my mind, this morning the site suddenly feels a lot more normal.

What happens, in general, is that you'll see a few of the main articles that present as merely pictures and story titles until you click on them.  These are the "featured" articles.

Then, underneath them, you'll find the older articles, generally in reverse chronological order.  Therefore, yesterday's features will be today's lesser stories.  Those stories include a preview regarding their content.

See, I wouldn't hate that, if the whole site did that.

The biggest issue for me is still how incredibly inefficient space wise it is and how slow (retaliative to the old format) it loads.

Example: to even see "yesterdays stories" I have to wait 3-4 seconds for all the over the top graphics to load, then scroll a full screen and a half down to get away from the giant picture of KG filling my entire screen.

IS there any control for you guys to resize those top stories graphics or is it all huge images?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 27, 2012, 12:09:55 PM
DId something change since last night or am I tripping?  All those blog posts that were merely pictures "34 at 34", "Rondo quarterbacks the Celtics", "the truth conquers all" now appear below with excerpts.  I wasn't seeing ANY articles with excerpts last night.   This is a lot better... I can see what the blog posts are actually about.

Also I'm now noticing "Recent forum posts" on the side.  Overall, unless I'm losing my mind, this morning the site suddenly feels a lot more normal.

What happens, in general, is that you'll see a few of the main articles that present as merely pictures and story titles until you click on them.  These are the "featured" articles.

Then, underneath them, you'll find the older articles, generally in reverse chronological order.  Therefore, yesterday's features will be today's lesser stories.  Those stories include a preview regarding their content.

See, I wouldn't hate that, if the whole site did that.

The biggest issue for me is still how incredibly inefficient space wise it is and how slow (retaliative to the old format) it loads.

Example: to even see "yesterdays stories" I have to wait 3-4 seconds for all the over the top graphics to load, then scroll a full screen and a half down to get away from the giant picture of KG filling my entire screen.

IS there any control for you guys to resize those top stories graphics or is it all huge images?

SBN has indicated that they're working on the speed issues.

In terms of resizing, I don't think we can change the overall size, but we can change the layout (i.e., one large picture and two small ones; four equally sized photos, etc.)
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: nickagneta on September 27, 2012, 12:38:51 PM
Except for the speed issue and the fact I have to scroll down three times to find a button that will redirect me to the Forums, I like it. Makes it more, sports news site like and less bloggy, if you know what I mean.

Next update is going to have to have an area where everyday a video post will be available, whether it be Jeff Touting or a Celtic related Youtube or a rehash of the previous games highlights or possible press conference vids. I would love that!
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 27, 2012, 12:45:52 PM
Next update is going to have to have an area where everyday a video post will be available, whether it be Jeff Touting or a Celtic related Youtube or a rehash of the previous games highlights or possible press conference vids. I would love that!

we do have some initial plans to roll out more videos, though I'm not sure how much of my ugly mug you'll be exposed to - talk about design flaws! LOL
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 27, 2012, 12:47:46 PM
another comment - there is obviously some getting used to for you all

but I'll add that there is an adjustment for us as well - I have been handed the keys to a new sportscar, it doesn't work exactly like the sedan I had before but when I figure it all out, hopefully we'll all be happier
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: nickagneta on September 27, 2012, 12:50:00 PM
Next update is going to have to have an area where everyday a video post will be available, whether it be Jeff Touting or a Celtic related Youtube or a rehash of the previous games highlights or possible press conference vids. I would love that!

we do have some initial plans to roll out more videos, though I'm not sure how much of my ugly mug you'll be exposed to - talk about design flaws! LOL
Jeff, if ESPN can roll out John Clayton every day to comment on the NFL and not fear scaring off viewers under the age of 18 who might think him a decaying cadaver, I think Celticsblog members will have no problem seeing you on video. ;) :D
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: slamtheking on September 27, 2012, 01:09:24 PM
another comment - there is obviously some getting used to for you all

but I'll add that there is an adjustment for us as well - I have been handed the keys to a new sportscar, it doesn't work exactly like the sedan I had before but when I figure it all out, hopefully we'll all be happier
here's hoping for happier results.  finding it growing more cumbersome with time.  in particular, the front page is abysmally slow when accessing the site from work.  it's not very responsive from home either but this is to the point of discouraging me from coming here. 

At least the forums are still as responsive as before (although a lot of nice features were wiped out in that last upgrade).
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 27, 2012, 01:14:03 PM
At least the forums are still as responsive as before (although a lot of nice features were wiped out in that last upgrade).

Once the dust settles from the "United" rollout, I'll get back to pestering support about the forums.  Which "nice features" are you referring to?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Rondo2287 on September 27, 2012, 01:14:59 PM
At least the forums are still as responsive as before (although a lot of nice features were wiped out in that last upgrade).

Once the dust settles from the "United" rollout, I'll get back to pestering support about the forums.  Which "nice features" are you referring to?

One thing that bugs me is that it doesnt autocomplete on peoples user names when trying to send PM's anymore
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Celtic on September 27, 2012, 01:47:01 PM
Just an fyi, the site is absolutely brutal on an ipad, it's pretty much completely unusable.  :'(
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 27, 2012, 01:48:39 PM
Just an fyi, the site is absolutely brutal on an ipad, it's pretty much completely unusable.  :'(

By "unusable", what do you mean?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Celtic on September 27, 2012, 03:15:18 PM
Just an fyi, the site is absolutely brutal on an ipad, it's pretty much completely unusable.  :'(

By "unusable", what do you mean?

It just has one giant picture on the screen when you open the site, it's the way the site formats itself. Also the whole thing loads very very slow, and often locks up when trying to scroll.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: slamtheking on September 27, 2012, 03:57:46 PM
At least the forums are still as responsive as before (although a lot of nice features were wiped out in that last upgrade).

Once the dust settles from the "United" rollout, I'll get back to pestering support about the forums.  Which "nice features" are you referring to?

One thing that bugs me is that it doesnt autocomplete on peoples user names when trying to send PM's anymore
that (which is frustrating)
and
no more 'go up' or 'go down' on the forum pages. 
no more short message option for a reply.
no more forum 'path' at the bottom of the page to simplify navigating between forum categories.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 27, 2012, 04:00:52 PM
At least the forums are still as responsive as before (although a lot of nice features were wiped out in that last upgrade).

Once the dust settles from the "United" rollout, I'll get back to pestering support about the forums.  Which "nice features" are you referring to?

One thing that bugs me is that it doesnt autocomplete on peoples user names when trying to send PM's anymore
that (which is frustrating)
and
no more 'go up' or 'go down' on the forum pages. 
no more short message option for a reply.
no more forum 'path' at the bottom of the page to simplify navigating between forum categories.

I don't think I ever used any of those, and I can't remember what the "go up" or "path" options looked like.  However, I'll pass it along to support.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: slamtheking on September 27, 2012, 04:07:16 PM
Just an fyi, the site is absolutely brutal on an ipad, it's pretty much completely unusable.  :'(

By "unusable", what do you mean?

It just has one giant picture on the screen when you open the site, it's the way the site formats itself. Also the whole thing loads very very slow, and often locks up when trying to scroll.
that's very frustrating too.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: LarBrd33 on September 27, 2012, 04:34:14 PM
I think I'm fine with the design now.  The only thing that'd weird is the obnoxiously large images up top.  It doesn't seem necessary at all for those to be that big.  I guesstimated that it was done like that so that when you load it on an ipad, it will take up the entire screen.   I don't own an ipad... but I used an ipad simulator and noticed that is indeed the case... you load up the site and it's just that "featured" article taking up the entire page.  Again... trying very hard to be a magazine.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Rondo2287 on September 27, 2012, 05:55:29 PM
Just logged on using firefox for the first time.  You guys really got to get the internet explorer thing figured out.  it looks so much better in firefox
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Surferdad on September 27, 2012, 11:39:54 PM
another comment - there is obviously some getting used to for you all

but I'll add that there is an adjustment for us as well - I have been handed the keys to a new sportscar, it doesn't work exactly like the sedan I had before but when I figure it all out, hopefully we'll all be happier
here's hoping for happier results.  finding it growing more cumbersome with time.  in particular, the front page is abysmally slow when accessing the site from work.  it's not very responsive from home either but this is to the point of discouraging me from coming here. 

At least the forums are still as responsive as before (although a lot of nice features were wiped out in that last upgrade).
That's pretty much how I feel as well. The front page is really slow to load and more importantly, I don't understand the logic of the layout.  It is not intuitive as with the previous format.  I also am not coming here as often since the changeover which is something for the mods here to really worry about. I access the site on an iPad which apparently others have also noticed isn't optimal.  I'm glad the forums are pretty much the same.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Amonkey on September 28, 2012, 12:02:34 AM
My biggest beef is that there is no news unless I click on the article. I much liked the old style where there is a significant preview so I dont have to click at every story to read it. I am wondering, is there any chance that this will change at all? If not, in all honesty, I will just take the ESPN Boston Celtics section for the news and I will keep coming back here for the forums.

By the way, I really do appreciate all you have done. My Celtics thirst has always been filled from this place. From the days early days when I was in school, back in 2003 and I facebook was in their early days, to the boring days on the Cape and unemployed and having all the time in the world, to now recently married and looking for another great season, this place has always been a special place in my browser. I do feel that some of that will go away with me cheating with ESPN, but thank you.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: dwayne celtic on September 28, 2012, 12:26:11 AM
it looks good but, its kinda confusing it has too much goin on, the page is too busy
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: CDawg834 on September 28, 2012, 08:59:01 AM
Not sure if any tweaks have been made, but I got a new computer at work yesterday, and the layout of the site looks much improved.  Maybe my old computer was just so horrid that it could only handle a generic layout of the site?  Not nearly as bad as it was for me a couple days ago.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 28, 2012, 09:31:30 AM
My biggest beef is that there is no news unless I click on the article. I much liked the old style where there is a significant preview so I dont have to click at every story to read it. I am wondering, is there any chance that this will change at all? If not, in all honesty, I will just take the ESPN Boston Celtics section for the news and I will keep coming back here for the forums.

Candidly, if the *only* reason you view the front page is for news, then ESPN might be a better fit.

However, I think you'd be missing out on a lot of what the front page has to offer.  First, there's the writing and analysis (both from our staff and from fans), which you're not going to find on ESPN.  Our authors try to approach stories from a lot of different angles.  Next, there's the variety of links from outside sources, that you won't find aggregated on ESPN.  Lastly, there's the chance to debate and interact with other Celtics fans through the comments.

I understand where you're coming from with your complaints, and I sympathize.  However, having to click a couple extra times in order to get all the other benefits that CB offers doesn't seem like a huge deal to me.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: LooseCannon on September 28, 2012, 10:30:18 AM
It's huge and unreadable on my Blackberry.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: erisred on September 28, 2012, 03:32:56 PM
Accessibility problem...

...I have poor eyesight and generally need to increase font size of web pages to at least 125% (sometimes 150%) to comfortably read articles. Try it with the new design. (Ctrl+wheel) Watch that whitespace expand and the text turn into long skinny columns with one or two words across. That's awful! I think this happens because the columns are being placed on the page as either percentages or fixed pixels...I can't remember which...but it's the other way that *should* be used to make pages more accessible.

And what's with those huge white margins on either side of a single column of content. That's not good design, not even for magazine style format! This is NOT a paper magazine that needs margins on either side.

BTW, putting a picture next to a column of text that doesn't wrap around the picture is just *asking* for problems!

Sorry, guys, it's not growing on me. I'll hate to miss your wonderful stories, but if they aren't readable (or even findable) what good are they to me.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 28, 2012, 03:43:21 PM
remember to submit any specific useability problems to support@sbnation.com

thanks
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Kane3387 on September 28, 2012, 06:12:55 PM
I've given it a few days. Still don't like the big pictures at the top. Wish you could give more information about those articles then just a title. But the rest of the layout isn't too bad. I will give it more of a chance when the season starts. 

Seems a little scattered and busy for me. I like things like Recent Forum Posts, Latest News, and Fan Posts on the same side of the page.

Change is tough sometimes. I definitely was simply more comfortable with the previous layout. Seemed more simple and I believe as a result it gave it more of a community like feel. I really valued that aspect of it.

I think the forums are a huge differentiator for CelticsBlog and should be put at the top of the page.

Please don't change the forums. My traffic likely won't change as long as they are the same. I love that they still have the look of the old CelticsBlog.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Surferdad on September 28, 2012, 07:04:49 PM
My biggest beef is that there is no news unless I click on the article. I much liked the old style where there is a significant preview so I dont have to click at every story to read it. I am wondering, is there any chance that this will change at all? If not, in all honesty, I will just take the ESPN Boston Celtics section for the news and I will keep coming back here for the forums.

Candidly, if the *only* reason you view the front page is for news, then ESPN might be a better fit.

However, I think you'd be missing out on a lot of what the front page has to offer.  First, there's the writing and analysis (both from our staff and from fans), which you're not going to find on ESPN.  Our authors try to approach stories from a lot of different angles.  Next, there's the variety of links from outside sources, that you won't find aggregated on ESPN.  Lastly, there's the chance to debate and interact with other Celtics fans through the comments.

I understand where you're coming from with your complaints, and I sympathize.  However, having to click a couple extra times in order to get all the other benefits that CB offers doesn't seem like a huge deal to me.
Glad to hear genuine sympathy, but I don't follow the logic.  I think we all agree that CB has the very best Cetlics writers. We all love the different angles an the chance for "lay" writers to show their stuff.  This is exactly why we don't go to ESPN.  The new front page is not as good, and I too loved the previews in the old front pages. The extra click is not convenient, especially considering how slow the page loads are now.

Honestly, I find myself coming to CB less often now and when I do it's generally to these forums. What a shame.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 28, 2012, 07:27:19 PM
the only thing that is supposed to change about the forums is the header - the meat of the forums will be the same
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Kevin72790 on September 29, 2012, 11:18:22 AM
I'm a bit of a lurker and very rarely post but I really don't like the new design at all. Sorry! It's totally sloppy and not as clean as the past one. I would expect that you will get less comments on articles compared to past seasons. People will just go to a better designed site! It's just totally messy and unorganized. Sorry.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 29, 2012, 11:26:49 AM
posted an extended note on the front page

http://www.celticsblog.com/2012/9/29/3426200/about-the-new-site-design

thanks for your feedback and understanding
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: greg_kite on September 30, 2012, 11:51:58 AM
Steve Jobs is not walking through that door, fans. Bill Gates is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. ... And as soon as they realize that those three guys are not coming through the door, the better this town will be for all of us. ... All this negativity that's in this town sucks.

Seriously, Jeff has put years into making such a great site for us for FREE and this is the thanks he gets?

If you aren't happy with the site please at least be cordial and appreciate that he's trying to improve the site and not just say "this sucks, this is awful, I could have done this better as a college freshman".

I like the big pictures on the front page and new large fonts.  And if we have to click more to read the articles we shouldn't complain.  If it helps keep the site running and maybe gets a few bucks for Jeff(which I doubt it does) then I'm all for it.  This is still the best place to go.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: ItStaysYang on September 30, 2012, 12:36:28 PM
Steve Jobs is not walking through that door, fans. Bill Gates is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. ... And as soon as they realize that those three guys are not coming through the door, the better this town will be for all of us. ... All this negativity that's in this town sucks.

Seriously, Jeff has put years into making such a great site for us for FREE and this is the thanks he gets?

If you aren't happy with the site please at least be cordial and appreciate that he's trying to improve the site and not just say "this sucks, this is awful, I could have done this better as a college freshman".

I like the big pictures on the front page and new large fonts.  And if we have to click more to read the articles we shouldn't complain.  If it helps keep the site running and maybe gets a few bucks for Jeff(which I doubt it does) then I'm all for it.  This is still the best place to go.

You seem oblivious
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on September 30, 2012, 01:58:47 PM
Steve Jobs is not walking through that door, fans. Bill Gates is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. ... And as soon as they realize that those three guys are not coming through the door, the better this town will be for all of us. ... All this negativity that's in this town sucks.

Seriously, Jeff has put years into making such a great site for us for FREE and this is the thanks he gets?

If you aren't happy with the site please at least be cordial and appreciate that he's trying to improve the site and not just say "this sucks, this is awful, I could have done this better as a college freshman".

I like the big pictures on the front page and new large fonts.  And if we have to click more to read the articles we shouldn't complain.  If it helps keep the site running and maybe gets a few bucks for Jeff(which I doubt it does) then I'm all for it.  This is still the best place to go.

You seem oblivious

Oblivious, or he just has a different opinion?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Interceptor on September 30, 2012, 02:21:41 PM
If you aren't happy with the site please at least be cordial and appreciate that he's trying to improve the site and not just say "this sucks, this is awful, I could have done this better as a college freshman".
This is a little insulting.  People around here appreciate the work that Jeff and co. put into the site, and offering completely valid criticisms about the design doesn't contradict that. Fact of the matter is, there is tons of wasted space everywhere, the site is super-heavy (6MB front page!?!), and important stuff is buried.

Look at this screenshot of the current FP

(http://i.imgur.com/UZNf5.png) (http://imgur.com/UZNf5)

This is what Celticsblog looks like to me on Safari. Huge white bars everywhere, the navigation menu is below the fold, and Doc's head is cut in half.

The fonts are nice.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: blink on September 30, 2012, 02:26:53 PM
I have been using the new site for a while now, and although it isn't as difficult to use as it was when the change 1st happened, there are a few sticking points for me.

1) On the home page you have to scroll down 8 full screens worth of content to get to the bottom of the home page.  When people don't know where the information is located on the new page it seems a lot to have to scroll that much and it is really confusing.  Obviously a lot of this comes from the fact that all of the photos and text are now a lot larger than on the previous site.  While the mag formatting may look slicker or better to some, I think it really hinders the use of the home page.

I know there will be people who say, 'what is the big deal, it is just a few scrolls'.  Well when the content organization is confusing and on top of that you have to scroll so much to find things it makes it less likely that the user will find what they are looking for.

2) I don't find any link to the forums on any of the individual stories pages.  This seems a bit annoying.  I for one use the forums at least as much as I read any stories on the site, so having a link back to the forums at the top, or somewhere in those story page helps me navigate the site.

I know that all of the staff is doing their best, and I really appreciate having CelticsBlog around for the last few years.  It honestly is the best run fan site of anything I am interested in.  People really love the site and it is basically part of our lives, so when something that was so good changes, it is hard to adjust.  Plus we are all a bunch of complainers anyways :)
cheers!
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: thirstyboots18 on September 30, 2012, 02:48:41 PM
I may be wrong...I haven't visited the other SBN basketball sites for a while...but I believe CelticsBlog is the only one, or at least one of few, that actually has Forums (which I love) and a Chat Room (which I love) dedicated to member participatioon!  Since SBN appears not to be eliminating those two things, this member will be very happy to make the adjustment to the other  changes.

Oh, and I have appreciated the hints and posts on how to navigate the new home page. They have helped.  (This chat mod has had as much trouble as anyone with navigation, but I still think we will all get through it  and will come to appreciate it, because this great site is so worth the little bit of effort it takes to adjust...) 

In the meantime, I have favorited the home page, chat and the forums for quicker access.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on September 30, 2012, 03:35:24 PM
the crop of Doc's head was intentional - as inferred by the "Inside Doc's Head" heading

just because we might have bad humor doesn't mean the design is bad :)
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Interceptor on September 30, 2012, 03:42:26 PM
I had thought so, but the full pic is expanded inside the article so I was a little confused.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Rondo2287 on September 30, 2012, 04:26:08 PM
To all iPad users, it is unreadable in upright mode, but I'd you tilt to landscape  mode it's perfect
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Mencius on September 30, 2012, 07:08:49 PM
I'm posting this to be constructive and hope it'll be taken that way.  Was just looking at the Herald's Celtic page and the takeaway is that it's a really well designed page.  It too, includes pictures with associated articles, but the pictures are much smaller than the ones associated with articles on SBN.

See for yourselves at:  http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/

It's also very clear what the main stories are (in the center) and what the ancillary stuff is (on the sides).  Anyway, their site would be a happily received medium between what CB used to be, and its current presentation.  Per usual, jmho, ymmv, etc.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: DarkAzcura on October 07, 2012, 01:55:04 AM
I like it, but (I dunno if it has been said) it's too hard to get to the forums. It's a bit cumbersome. When I clicked the Jeff Green article (or any article), I couldn't access the forums from there (the nav bar). I  had to go back to the CelticsBlog home page and then go click the link for the forums.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: bfrombleacher on October 07, 2012, 03:02:43 AM
Is it just me who googles "celticsblog forum" to come here?

I think having a visible menu bar somewhere would help a ton.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Roy H. on October 07, 2012, 08:46:17 AM
Is it just me who googles "celticsblog forum" to come here?

I think having a visible menu bar somewhere would help a ton.

I'd say bookmark:  http://forums.celticsblog.com

But yeah, the suggestion is definitely heard and appreciated.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: thirstyboots18 on October 07, 2012, 09:35:25 AM
Is it just me who googles "celticsblog forum" to come here?

I think having a visible menu bar somewhere would help a ton.

I'd say bookmark:  http://forums.celticsblog.com

But yeah, the suggestion is definitely heard and appreciated.
There is a CB menu bar on the HOME page.  Forums, Chat, Fan Posts and Fan Shots are listed in a drop down menu under "Community".  Hope this helps.  (...I am beginning to find my way around!)
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: mgent on October 07, 2012, 10:19:51 AM
Is it just me who googles "celticsblog forum" to come here?

I think having a visible menu bar somewhere would help a ton.

I'd say bookmark:  http://forums.celticsblog.com

But yeah, the suggestion is definitely heard and appreciated.
There is a CB menu bar on the HOME page.  Forums, Chat, Fan Posts and Fan Shots are listed in a drop down menu under "Community".  Hope this helps.  (...I am beginning to find my way around!)
Right, the issue is accessibility.  The chat and forums had their separate portals which were much faster for people that had already read the front page that day.

Now, Jeff worked his magic and promptly got the chat moved, so we've already got them to compromise their supposed uniformity.  Is it really that much bigger of a step to throw another tab right next to the others where every other site just has nothing and would never know (the old concept).  They wouldn't have to change every other site, right?  I'll admit that I never really used the other sites but I was under the impression they already all looked the same before the switch, we were just unique with that extra tab.  Considering Celticsblog is probably one of the top sites, is that tiny amount of individualism really unreasonable?  What's the difference between before and now?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: dark_lord on October 07, 2012, 10:59:55 AM
i have gotten used to the changes, but still not a fan.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: thebolt90 on October 09, 2012, 01:00:39 AM
It's really hard to find what I want in this new layout. I don't understand why blogs are going away from the simple "scroll through all your content" format. That takes seconds. Here...I have to click on one link to see articles, one for recaps, on for news....it's not even clear what these things mean! There should be a button to just "view all" and it just list everything in order of posting....and there is ONE but it doesn't REALLY let me view all. There were two articles and then 18 straight daily links pages! But no news and no game recaps or whatever.  Is a list of links (the daily links stuff) really considered an article??

Sacrificing ease of use in order to look pretty is ALWAYS a mistake. And it's a more and more common mistake.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on October 18, 2012, 09:41:07 AM
latest updates from the tech team:


- Increased the amount the number of recommended and recent FanPosts on the homepage
- Changed the styles to improve scanning of FanPosts and FanShot headlines and new comments on the homepage
- Added author bylines on Articles in the cover
- Added indicator if articles or features are from another SB Nation site when placed on the homepage
- Added article headline to comments on user profile recent activity list for better reply context
- Reinstated the ability for users to add polls to FanPosts
- Reinstated accurate comment counts on StoryStream updates in the cover
- Reinstated ability for authors to add custom captions to photos
- Trending Stories are now relevant to league of the team or sport the blog covers
- Fixed issue with Shift-A keyboard shortcut for comments not working properly in large threads
- Fixed issue with logos that break out of the circle getting cropped
- Fixed issue where new comment count was incorrect on FanShots posted from another site
- Fixed issue with filters not working on FanShot index page
- Fixed Facebook login issues
- Improved visibility of next and previous arrows on photo galleries
- Added correct author names to the FanPosts page
- Mobile optimization improvements

We have more work queued up including some substantial changes based on feedback from your members and a better set of data on how the entire audience are using the new sites.

check out http://www.sbnation.com/version-history
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: caffeinated on October 21, 2012, 02:30:46 AM
I'd like to post a quick gripe about the text redundancy that's repeated in virtually every story posted on CelticsBlog.

(http://www.caffein8ed.com/celticsblog/annoying-repetition.jpg)

Now, obviously this isn't a huge problem that's going to keep me away from the site or anything.  But, it has really become an annoyance.  Surely I can't be the only one who's bugged by this constant repetition of text above and below the Facebook/Twitter buttons?

Then again, maybe I am?   :-\
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: hwangjini_1 on October 21, 2012, 06:44:04 AM
nope, you are not alone. not a major point, but i hope cb can correct this small problem.

and then do something about the huge pix on the home page. it is almost impossible to read the text/title of the article because of the pix. just another helpful suggestion. :)
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Josh88 on November 05, 2012, 01:44:19 AM
After giving the new layout a chance and using it for awhile, I must say I still think the old layout was better. This new design is just so busy, there's so much going on, and it's a lot more difficult to navigate. It was much easier to see what you wanted to see at a glance with the old design. Now you have to scroll through the entire page, and there's still less content I'm interested in than the previous layout offered.

I hope sbnation continues to take people's feedback and improves this design.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: apc on November 05, 2012, 02:01:13 AM
I'd like to post a quick gripe about the text redundancy that's repeated in virtually every story posted on CelticsBlog.

(http://www.caffein8ed.com/celticsblog/annoying-repetition.jpg)

Now, obviously this isn't a huge problem that's going to keep me away from the site or anything.  But, it has really become an annoyance.  Surely I can't be the only one who's bugged by this constant repetition of text above and below the Facebook/Twitter buttons?

Then again, maybe I am?   :-\
I agree, its a little annoying.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: PhoSita on November 05, 2012, 02:12:13 AM
One of my problems with the new layout is I think that the FanPosts tend to get buried a bit compared to before.  Even when a post gets promoted, it is stuck down near the middle of the page, instead of at the top.  This means there's much less incentive to try to write thoughtful, interesting pieces that might get front page recognition (and views).
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Celtics4ever on November 05, 2012, 06:03:23 AM
It looks great, I hate it but appreciate all the hard work done.   I will get used it.   I was used to the all style which was minimalist like our uniforms.   But I am getting better at getting around.   People hate change, I realize it was people making it better for all, thanks.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on November 06, 2012, 06:45:49 PM
I'd like to post a quick gripe about the text redundancy that's repeated in virtually every story posted on CelticsBlog.

(http://www.caffein8ed.com/celticsblog/annoying-repetition.jpg)

Now, obviously this isn't a huge problem that's going to keep me away from the site or anything.  But, it has really become an annoyance.  Surely I can't be the only one who's bugged by this constant repetition of text above and below the Facebook/Twitter buttons?

Then again, maybe I am?   :-\

guilty - this was just me being lazy - I'll try to clean this up - thanks
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Jeff on November 06, 2012, 06:46:36 PM
folks using the site using a mobile device will be greeted with a new, streamlined site as of like an hour ago

check it out
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: Interceptor on November 06, 2012, 06:50:52 PM
Mobile site much better on my iPhone.
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: AB_Celtic on November 06, 2012, 07:04:40 PM
folks using the site using a mobile device will be greeted with a new, streamlined site as of like an hour ago

check it out

Just the site, or the Boston Hoops 24-7 app too?
Title: Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
Post by: PaulPierce34G on November 06, 2012, 07:10:20 PM
I like the overall design of the site...Glad that the forums remained old school. 

Only complaint is I wish there was an actual mobile site.  I don't have an iPhone or a Droid, rather a standard BlackBerry (non-touch).  The old site used to load extremely fast on it.  This new one doesn't.  I know before the format change, there was a mobile site, it had m. or mobile. in the web address.  Guess I will have to upgrade my phone at some point.  I wish I could enjoy the new site on my BlackBerry but it isn't very effective at loading it.

Oh, well, just my .02 cents.