In 2010 we went through the single largest redesign in AnandTech history. We modernized the site, finally moved to a tag based architecture and made a number of other tweaks. The web moves a lot quicker than it did even just 3 years ago, so last year we started working on another significant redesign. Today marks the debut of that design.

Going into the redesign we wanted to accomplish three major goals. First, we wanted to have a design that put our smartphone and tablet coverage on equal footing with our traditional PC roots. The redesign consolidates our coverage areas into four major categories: PC Components, Smartphones & Tablets, Desktops & Notebooks and finally Enterprise. The super categories are largely self explanatory and you can drill down into each one of them for more specific navigation.

It's important that our site design reflects our internal focuses. We are as committed as ever to our PC component coverage, but we also devote an equal amount of time to what we're doing in the new mobile space. From my perspective, whether it's a smartphone or a server, we're still talking about some form of computer - just in a different case.

Our second major goal with the redesign was to more prominently feature Pipeline, our short form content section. We launched Pipeline in late 2011 as a way of dealing with content that either didn't demand our full review treatment or that we didn't have time to dedicate deep analysis to. Since then Pipeline has become a very important part of the site, and we wanted to elevate its position on the front page as a result. Pipeline stories on the right are ordered from newest to oldest, with even older pipeline stories appearing under the 2x2 grid of featured articles.

Finally, we wanted a design that would be more accessible and speak to the broader nature of our audience. While you all know why you come to AnandTech, it's very important to our continued success and ability to remain independent that the site accurately reflects the diverse audience. Whether you're coming to us for motherboard reviews, analysis of the latest microprocessor architectures or to figure out which smartphone or tablet to buy, you're likely a person relied on by dozens of others for recommendations.  We remain an independent website, which comes with its own challenges when it comes to proving our worth to the agencies and marketing organizations that help keep us operational. Looking the part is just as important as having the content to back it up.

We made sure not to take away any features with the redesign. We still include our well used Print View on all articles, but now allow you to use it both for single page reading as well as for actual printing. The previous Print View didn't have all of the styling of our article pages since it was purely optimized for printing, now we have both modes.

Other features have been enhanced as well. The View All Comments button now actually lets you view all comments on a single page, rather than just showing you 50 comments per page. You can also now permalink to individual comments. I'm always humbled by just how awesome your comments are, now we can finally link directly to individual ones. 

We now support larger images inline (we will be adding site-wide retina/hi-DPI support soon!) and our graph style has been updated as well, which you'll start seeing us take advantage of with all new content going forward. The review body text is also larger and hopefully easier to read, which should help when we post some of our ultra long form content. 

The Podcast now has a permanent link at the top of the page as well - thanks to all you who have been asking for that.

The Twitter feed on the front page now includes tweets from a number of staff members including Brian, Ganesh, Jarred and myself. We've also made it easier to follow us on Twitter and Facebook with direct links in our header (hint: it helps us tremendously if you do). Our most recommended content on Facebook is also nicely streamed in to the right of the site as well.

There are more functional changes that we'll be introducing throughout the new year. We just had to get the redesign out of the way first so we could start building on it.

I hope you all enjoy the site redesign. I know big changes aren't always easy to get used to, and as always you have my commitment to fix/improve anything that truly needs it. I'd love to hear your feedback on the design in the comments below.

I'd like to close with a thanks to all of you for continuing to read and support the site. I've always said that AnandTech is your site and I do firmly believe that. We are here to serve you and you are what make this site possible. Thank you for reading, and thanks for making the past 16 years possible. If you are a relative newcomer, please be sure to check out our About page that helps explain the philosophies that drive us.

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  • This Guy - Sunday, March 10, 2013 - link

    Light grey makes this site look like Ars Technia. While a great site with a few excellent writters, they are no AnandTech.

    I had no problem with the last blue backgound. From my understanding blue has been part of AnandTech's style for most of your history. Unless your advertisers are asking for it, why grey?

    If you really want the sparse whitespace look, why not adjust your white to be more grey and use a slightly larger font size?
  • epoon2 - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link

    I disagree with wide screen optimization. the use cases are mostly: 2-3 windows side by side, with articles being read vertically. I don't even know how to do horizontal scrolling on keyboard.

    Now, I can see people using Surface or similar tablets say something different, but that's a specific use case.
  • prismatics - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link

    I hope that Anand et al. continue down the path they've chosen instead of heeding the complaints of people who are reacting negatively to change. As has been pointed out, this is definitely a step forward, and in line with best standards for readability. Give people some time before making changes. You hired a designer for a reason, hopefully because you trust that they are competent. My own opinion, as a designer and developer, is that this is great. Sure, user input is important, but don't be too hasty in switching the background color just because a few of thousands of readers complained.
  • 1d107 - Sunday, March 10, 2013 - link

    No, this is not great.

    It may be nice to look at for a second or two, but it is hard to read more than trivial amount of text, period. It is also hard to comprehend, as in many "modern" designs, what that news tile is about, because it has a large, frequently irrelevant picture and a small amount of gray text. much smaller than it used to be. And I am looking not only at Windows 8 modern apps, but at sites like Extremetech on iPad. If this is all that the designers can come up with, and the dare to call it a standard, then I say, to hell with that "standard", I need something that is easier to glance at at the front page, and then easy to read, if it attracts my interest. Bling and white desert are not welcome.
  • agent_x007 - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link

    I only want to say two things :
    1) Hi everyone :)
    2) To Anand : PLEASE make it Blue again !
    Example (Paint is great at keeping things easy) : http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/4408/blueat.png
  • shriganesh - Monday, March 11, 2013 - link

    Yuk! That blue sucks!!
  • frewster - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link

    Both of these help, but it would be even better to do something similar to Arstechnica and invert the entire site if possible. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but the difference for me in eyestrain between the two is immense.
  • JaredC01 - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link

    The really light grey would be fine with a simple pattern overlay to break up the monotony a bit... That my opinion of course.

    Regular grey would be okay too, but would darken the whole page quite a bit.
  • Tyranny42 - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link

    Hi Anand, the last one is the one I prefer as the current one draws my attention to fact that there is nothing there but an empty white space.
  • Peanutsrevenge - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - link

    The darkest looks great.
    An option would be great for people to set their desired level, which I'm sure could be done through CSS, but my knowledge in that area is poor @ best.
    It is too bright though IMO as the mega articles are often read well into the night with several cups of tea to help me through.
    Good luck with it though and I'm hoping the comments section has had some much needed attention (able to read own comments and replies to own comments without having to use 'find on page'.

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