Author Topic: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades  (Read 61649 times)

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Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #105 on: September 26, 2012, 02:57:00 PM »

Offline vinnie

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One more minor complaint. The shamrock on the blog logo doesn't look like a shamrock anymore.

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #106 on: September 26, 2012, 08:02:16 PM »

Offline bruinsandceltics

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Do the logos look like crap to anyone else on Firefox?

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #107 on: September 26, 2012, 09:11:43 PM »

Offline Valentines_at_Popeyes

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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

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #108 on: September 26, 2012, 10:15:40 PM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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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.
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Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #109 on: September 27, 2012, 12:27:42 AM »

Offline KGs Knee

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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.

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #110 on: September 27, 2012, 02:16:39 AM »

Offline LarBrd33

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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. 

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #111 on: September 27, 2012, 02:22:11 AM »

Offline LarBrd33

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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.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2012, 02:53:11 AM by LarBrd33 »

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #112 on: September 27, 2012, 06:18:11 AM »

Offline GreenFaith1819

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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.

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #113 on: September 27, 2012, 10:11:00 AM »

Offline FatKidsDad

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The solution to all life issues...

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Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #114 on: September 27, 2012, 10:38:19 AM »

Offline crownsy

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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.



 
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Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #115 on: September 27, 2012, 11:46:19 AM »

Offline LarBrd33

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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. 

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #116 on: September 27, 2012, 11:52:28 AM »

Online Roy H.

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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.


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Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #117 on: September 27, 2012, 12:06:55 PM »

Offline crownsy

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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?
“I will hurt you for this. A day will come when you think you’re safe and happy and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth. And you will know the debt is paid.” – Tyrion

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #118 on: September 27, 2012, 12:09:55 PM »

Online Roy H.

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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.)


I'M THE SILVERBACK GORILLA IN THIS MOTHER——— AND DON'T NONE OF YA'LL EVER FORGET IT!@ 34 minutes

Re: Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades
« Reply #119 on: September 27, 2012, 12:38:51 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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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!