Discussion of CelticsBlog Upgrades

[Interceptor]

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



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.

[blink]

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!

[thirstyboots18]

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.

[Jeff]

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

[Interceptor]

I had thought so, but the full pic is expanded inside the article so I was a little confused.

[Rondo2287]

To all iPad users, it is unreadable in upright mode, but I'd you tilt to landscape  mode it's perfect

[Mencius]

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.

[DarkAzcura]

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.

[bfrombleacher]

Is it just me who googles "celticsblog forum" to come here?

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

[Roy H.]

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.

[thirstyboots18]

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!)

[mgent]

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?

[dark_lord]

i have gotten used to the changes, but still not a fan.

[thebolt90]

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.

[Jeff]

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