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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JimKiler - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
all us tech geeks should have wide screen monitors and the redesign is vertical instead of horizontal.Melador - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
As I type, I see my comment coming up in light gray text on whitish background. When will this fad of light text on light backgrounds get run off the net and computer screens (thanks Microsoft-NOT)? Did anyone think to contact the graphic experts (font makers, legibility experts) or did they just go directly to the marketing department ? BLACK text on 90% white/light gray background is very legible and doesn't cause eye strain like the light blue/light gray text. Column width should be (according to the experts, not marketing) approximately one and a half alphabets wide for maximum ease of reading if I remember correctly. A sans-serif font is also harder to read than a serif font. I can not believe how sheep-like the internet is! Everyone raced to see who could become the hardest to read using light blue font colors. Its insane. Please go for comfort and legibility over fadishness. The principles of communicating using text attributes has been thoroughly researched. Please make use of it or get a web designer that does.The content is great!
Hopco - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - link
I second Sebec "I kind of liked the old design better, where you could see the most recent article headlines all at once, rather than having to scroll. I find it to be a hassle."But if you must be modern - I won;t complain too much for the info on the site is Top Notch!
Be kind if I am stupid, but why must the link from 'Latest from AnandTech' open in a new Tab? Can I choose for in go open in the same Tab, like most sites do? If I want to open the link in a New Tab, I can always chose to do so by right clicking in FireFox.
Anand keep up the good work!
Vimono - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
Or by clicking the middle button (scroll wheel) on your mouse ;)Jeff7181 - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
I'd like to see the site dynamically resize itself for whatever resolution/window size I happen to be using. Or at least give us a few options for common screen widths. I think it's safe to say the majority of us that visit AnandTech don't browse the web with a 1024x768 window and it would be nice to be able to use more of my screen real estate since a good potion of the page is used up already by ridiculously large and tacky ads.I don't like the auto scrolling deal for the new/featured articles. I guess if you must auto scroll them, at least give some indication of how old they are... if I load the page and don't have my eye on it immediately after loading, I don't know which article is the newest.
I also don't like that the DailyTech articles are all smashed together now. The date separators were handy to skip over stuff I've already looked at or decided I didn't want to look at and see what's new.
newyankee - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
The old site was so much better, so why change? The new design is horrible.Lemonjellow - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
Dunno if I'm just old and set in my ways, but I dislike this style of layout... I'm not a fan of it on other sites either... I liked the at a glance navigation of the old site... Everything was just there, but not in the way... Everything seems so... Large.... on both my 23" monitor at 1680X1050 and especially, as expected, on my lcd tv at 1366 X768...I also dislike that I can't read the Dailytech headlines without scrolling...
I don't think I ever really navigated the website using the topic buttons really... Unless I was searching for something specific, like an old video card review... It may help casual readers though, but since I tend to read everything... They just seem to take up a lot of space...
Either way, I don't come here for Dailytech, Twitter feeds, or shiny graphics... I come here for what I've been coming here for since 1998 when I first found it... The great articles...
So if this is how Anand and the crew want it "modernized" So be it... As long as the great reviews are SOMEWHERE to be found on the site... I'll come back...
Grabo - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
..Like the sea but in reverse. And the dark voids on the sides? It looks like Anandtech was plucked from its cozy and light home and dropped into the sea. Or in space.I do not fancy it.
dw_js - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
yes, this new site is flashier and has nice colors, but that doesn't make it better. I liked the old site better because the speed with which I could view the new articles on the page without having to scroll through them. No it doesn't take much time to scroll through, but it also causes me to spend less time here, and head to the other pages like Tom's, daily tech and tech report because I get a summary of the page on my first screen.It's just an opinion, and there's nothing wrong with liking the old site.
srdj - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - link
The new layout is amazing. I like it.But, there is something i'm missing. Where's the menu print article. I'm usually use menu print article to view the article in one page to read it later, so i don't need to click the page one by one.
Please active the print article...!