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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Cali3350 - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Since a large portion of all of this is obviously still Beta is it possible to access the old portal while the kinks are worked out?The new design will take some getting used to from my point of view - First reaction is its not terrible, which is a good thing :)
retrospooty - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
"Since a large portion of all of this is obviously still Beta is it possible to access the old portal while the kinks are worked out? The new design will take some getting used to from my point of view - First reaction is its not terrible, which is a good thing :) "Are you that stuck in a rut thtat you cant just view the new site as is? Is it REALLY that difficult that you require a portal to the old layout? Seriously, get a grip.
All that aside, I like the new site - it pops out at ya... Much improved and absolutely no reason to to back to the old.
MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
It's already a more mobile-friendly design, and Anand has already hinted that mobile browsing could be in the "raodmap."fixxxer0 - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
maybe mobile friendly... but definitely definitely NOT remote desktop friendly. the animated flash ads that are all over the site lock up the remote console when you get to an ad. such a pain since i use remote to browse (to bypass web filters and such).old site had no such problem.
djc208 - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
If he's like me it could be these newfangled sites wreak havoc with the ancient IE6 at work. Locked up IE completely when I tried to view this article at work (of course I only surf the internet at lunch ;-) Had to use task manager to shut it down.Vimono - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Really? I've been using IE6 and I haven't had a problem yet.djc208 - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
It's fine on the home page, but for some reason opening the articles just locks up IE6. I can see the page but I can't scroll. I've found if I leave it sit for a few minutes it eventually loads the page but it can take five or ten minutes for this to happen. It's only in the articles though, no problem seeing or navigating the home page.We're supposed to be going to IE7 (Yay, only one generation behind, for now) but who knows when that will happen.
Cali3350 - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
I didnt mean to in anyway undervalue nor disrespect Anand or the team here at the site. When the site initially went online I found a few broken links and missing tags, and was curious if the old portal was still available. These issues all seem to be fixed now (except for the comments 'next' tag still taking me to the bottom of the page).ctrlbrk - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
Anand, great job for you and your team. It looks great, I really like the colors and larger images...Mike
Glenn - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
I agree! Anandtech has come a long way from the geocities days, huh?