Welcome to the 2010 AnandTech Beta
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 29, 2010 11:52 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
That old design lasted us a long time, didn't it? :) Welcome to the 2010 AnandTech Beta. We've done a lot of updating behind the scenes as well as (obviously) on the front end.
Most obvious is the brand new look and feel. For a site that reviews the latest and greatest tech, we can't get by looking like we're still living in 2004. Now when the 80s make a comeback we'll be on top of that, you've got my word.
We've ditched the left hand column, streamlined some of the ads and widened the content column. While each article will still give you a preview of 10 comments, we finally have an option to view all comments on each review page. Right now we've got this set to 50 comments per page but we'll be tweaking as need be. We're also cutting down on the number of page loads you'll encounter. In view all comments mode there's no page refreshing between comment pages. We'll be bringing this feature to more parts of the site in the future. User friendliness is our drug :)
The front page allows for both linking to our superlong articles as well as shorter stories that can just appear on the front page for quick scanning. By default the latest 5 articles will appear in the rotating carousel up top, but if something super interesting comes up we'll promote it up there (similar to what did on the old site). The expanded summaries on the front page will give you more insight into what it is we're talking about in the article before you ever click anything.
Tags are enabled but not in full effect just yet. We'll be beefing up search, comments (the return of ratings!), galleries, Bench, user profiles and site layout/color customization over the coming weeks. We're planning on this being a regularly updated thing so if you see anything that warrants our attention let us know.
It's not all about a pretty face though, we're still going to be publishing the content that you demand from us. If you haven't seen it, be sure to read Ryan's GeForce GTX 480 & GTX 470 Review. And I'm commemorating today with a new SSD article addressing one of the longest running questions you've been asking: how do SSDs perform in RAID?
As always, thank you for your support over the years and for reading the site. It's been a pleasure to be able to write for you all over the past 13 years. Thank you guys for giving me and all of us the opportunity to do just that. If you haven't been able to tell by now, I love writing this stuff - and you all make it possible.
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277 Comments
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Imaginer - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
I don't like the fact that the logo has conformed to the whole liquid candy like style that has taken hold of many other web online sites. The comet doesn't even look like a comet anymore but rather one of those lobbing trajectory missiles.xcy - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
I've been coming to Anandtech for over a decade.There was nothing wrong with the old site!
It was simple and familiar, just the way it should be and it should have stayed this way.
I don't like the new design and it doesn't add anything at all to the site, on the contrary.
The scrolling bar on top is hideous btw.
The content is all that matters!
Never mind all this nonsens about the "brand new look and feel".
Bring back my "old", trusty Anandtech!
jkostel50 - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
Is it possible to view the whole article and not just a piece at a time?sushantsharma - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
Great Work! Thanks to all the people at AnandTech!MrSpadge - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
I've got a problem with it:when I get home after a long day I check the forums and open Anandtech. But until I actually get to take a look at the page some time passed. At that point the new article scrolling bar is in a random position and I can't immediately see what's new. Sure, I could still scroll down and take a look at the actual articles, but the "get all important information at a glance" is gone :(
Additionally: is the "new articles since last visit" gone? I found this to be useful, especially if there were more than 1 new articles.
Chloiber - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
I REALLY like the new look and it's very fluid (comments,...),DBissett - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
17 clicks to see 17 screens to see all the headlines, banners, graphics, text samples etc., just to see what you might want to actually read. Then at the bottom of the entire first page I find out there are 181 pages. Let's see. 17 clicks X 181 pages.....no, I've got better things to do. This isn't user friendly or effective previewing of the website's content at all. It's a pain in the rear. Put up a simple list, by category perhaps, of the article titles and assume users are bright enough to perhaps recognize what they might want to read. KISS, KISS, KISS. AnandTech was uniquely good before precisely because it provided lots of content efficiently. Now that some of the worst practices of graphic designers from the rest of the world have been adopted it kinda looks like the rest of the world, i.e. it doesn't impress as a better site to visit.Dave
Chloiber - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Am I the only one missing the TIMES of the comments?xcy - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
Man, this sucks...I can't get over it.
Bring back the old site!
NOW!!!
Zensen - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
it has its pros and cons obviously but its a shame... now there really is nothing to appreciate about this site anymore and to keep me coming back to it.