Techdirt: Looking A Bit Different

from the redesign-time dept

Fri, Mar 10th 2006 6:15pm — Mike Masnick

Okay, it's only been seven years since we last did a major redesign of Techdirt, so we figured maybe it was about time -- and decided to have the redesign coincide with tomorrow's Techdirt Greenhouse event. As a few of you have noticed, we've now launched the brand new look and feel of the site, as designed by the extremely talented Jamie Wieferman. We've redesigned all our sites, including our corporate site to match this new look and feel. Among other things, we've also made changes to the system that we're using, which will allow us to add some new features as well in the coming months. We've been going through the site and fixing a few minor things that seemed to have broken in the switchover, but if you notice anything new, or have any feedback about the design, please feel free to comment or send us feedback and let us know. Thanks!

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

167 Comments

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AJ, 10 Mar 2006 @ 6:39pm

LOVE IT!
I love the new look very modern of you guys, I loved the old one because it was very simple to use and you've continued it with this redesign...

-AJ-
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dan, 10 Mar 2006 @ 6:40pm

HATE IT
Change it back! I visited 10 times a day before this design, but I can't stand the fixed width and the huge header and colors. yuk. change it back.

No offense, I love your content, but the design is ugh.
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jdw242, 10 Mar 2006 @ 6:45pm

change means progress
get used to it; change is inevitable.
Nothing stays the same; everything changes, no matter how slowly.

Cheers TechDirt; I'll be around; kicking the tyres.
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OH MY GOD, 10 Mar 2006 @ 6:57pm

LOVE IT
Its sooo sexy now.
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Matt, 10 Mar 2006 @ 6:59pm

Awesome
Love the new look. Very clean looking.
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Jared, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:04pm

YEA!
Definitely what I have been looking for,I never understood the last design it was bascially only white with text,this is a major improvment in my opinion!
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dan, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:04pm

awesome
amazing design guys, very simple, yet very smooth looking, it gets the job done with out interfering with the content. congrats
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Tin Ear, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:08pm

Change is good...
I like the new layout. I'm not that much into esthetics, but this is a good thing. If you don't like it, nobody is twisting your arm to come. Don't be so shallow and superficial that you stop reading the content...
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Edward B., 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:11pm

Re: HATE IT
Add another vote against the fixed width. I've got no problem with the rest of the eye-candy, but those of us running higher res than 800x600 just got magically useless plain white sidebars. On both sides. I'm not a web designer, so my knowledge of all the interesting things that can be done with HTML/CSS/etc. is not up to spec, but isn't there a way to use the full width of the window down to a certain fixed minimum width?
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DittoBox, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:17pm

This is good
As a designer, I find this design much better.

I do everything fixed width because expandable makes no sense at all it reduces readability greatly, it's one of the things I hate about slashdot but love about OSnews.

Great work.
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havi hoffman, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:22pm

redesign
great lines. beautifully articulated.
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Jared, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:24pm

Why?
Why the hell are you running 800x600,thats ridiculous,step it up a little to at least 1024.
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Damien, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:31pm

<3's It
Long time reader, first time commenter. Luvs the new look.
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Chas S., 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:31pm

Long overdue. Thanks for fixing the site.
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Von Riesling, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:38pm

Looks spiff.
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Paul, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:58pm

Very Professional
I hated the old layout...loved the news. Now I can finally like both! Looks way more professional, and much better.

Unlike some of the whiners here, I'm fine with the fixed width. I run 1024, and am not bothered by the look of the site. As a webmaster, I know designing for 800x600 is the best policy if you're not going with expanding width tables or DIVs.

Layout looks so great X3 A lot like Wordpress blogs.
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Synktar, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:13pm

Love It (Much Better)
I absolutely love the new look. The old look was pretty dirty and ugly in my opinion (sorry). Also, the logo that was used on the old one always reminded me of something sexual (again, sorry, but it did...). Anyway, very nice job, I'll definately be reading the articles more often now?

Oh, one last question, will there be a version for mobile devices such as my pocket pc so I don't have to try and scroll back and forth (that's always annoying).

Good job again and keep up the wonderful work,
Synktar
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Mike (profile), 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:16pm

Thanks for the feedback
Thanks for the feedback... we'll continue to roll out more improvements over the coming weeks.

As for the question about mobile devices... yes, we will have a mobile version. We're pretty close on that, but wanted to get this one out first.

Thanks everyone!
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Tracy Sheridan, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:18pm

Well Done
This is brilliant, minimalist, keen design. All you need, no more - no less. Count me in for a "Love it!" vote.
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Synktar, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:18pm

Re: Re: HATE IT
Edward,

Out of simple curiousity, how are the white side bars any more annoying than all of the white that the last page produced. In fact, I personally find them very nice. It keeps the content from being cluttered and the page loads fast even when I have a low signal strength on my wireless connection. Anyway, just to clarify, the previous design had tremendous more amounts of white than this one, in my opinion.

Enjoy,
Synktar
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Andrew Strasser, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:18pm

Awesome Job Guys and/or Gals...
Good site design without much loading time. Certainly a good choice to update once in awhile.
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Synktar, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:20pm

Re: Thanks for the feedback
No, no, thank you. I will finally be able to read the site on my pocket pc! Also, excellent name you have, Mike. I think that Mike happens to be one of the best names around ;). (If you didn't catch it, my name is also Mike, heh). Excellent work and keep it up!
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Michal, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:26pm

sux
Fixed width and hard to read. Fixed width is for people with low resolution.

And without threaded view hard to keep track of conversations.

The new look feels way too busy.
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EdB, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:27pm

blech
Fixed width is lame. Other than that pretty nice.
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Synktar, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:33pm

Re: sux
A survey was conducted not too long ago that showed that most people that browse the web (that took this survey) use 800x600. This simple fact alone means that developers need to build for that specific resolution rather than others to make sure that most people are properly accomadated. Trust me, designers don't want to design in 800x600, at least not most of the time, it really limits the possibilities, but it is needed to make the website viewable by the largest group of people.

Just a thought,
Synktar
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:34pm

FUCK THIS
HELL FUCK NO, GOODBYE FOREVER TECHDIRT

CANNOT STAND TO LOOK AT THIS SHIT

DELETED FROM RSS FEEDS SINCE I CAN GET THE SAME SHIT FROM SLASHDOT (ALBEIT 3 DAYS LATER)

MY CAPS ARE JUST AS ANNOYING AS YOUR HUGE FONTS

MY EEEYYYYEESSSSS...........
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discojohnson, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:43pm

eehhhh
the fixed width is really a killer. it's truly a big turn off to have to scroll 3 pages to see 10 comments (exagg.)...at least give me the option (you save stuff in my cookie anyway, what's one flag?). don't forget that simple sells (ever seen a simple website?)--i like that the comment block is at the bottom, saving a click. now you should put some js and make the preview instantaneous in a div field...
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Synktar, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:48pm

Re: FUCK THIS
Requesting Delete...
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Tyshaun, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:53pm

Can we get back the old...
I liked the old site, kind of like craiglist and google less is more mantra. I come here for the text, on't care about the graphics.
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Chris Maresca, 10 Mar 2006 @ 9:01pm

Holy huge graphics!
Can you scale down the topic icons. Well, their not really icons, more like posters....

Chris.
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Evan, 10 Mar 2006 @ 9:22pm

New Style
Looks great.
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Don Gray, 10 Mar 2006 @ 9:35pm

I'm in the hate it camp...
Not because it isn't pretty, it is. Mostly because of the comment layout.

It's using 1/3 of my screen width to display comments. As previously mentioned the scrolling required is excessive. Perhaps I misunderstand the goal of this TechDirt website.

I thought the goal was to generate discussion and responses from the people reading the stories. If that isn't the goal then I think this design works well.

If it is the goal then I think it fails badly. No threaded view of comments in conjunction with the three words per line makes it difficult to track the conversation.

I'm not saying the old site was perfect. It wasn't (especially the magic "html now it's there, now it's not" comment submission form) but it definitely gave a more condensed view of the users comments.

I come here to read the stories but I also like the fact that the comments by others are often engaging and a cut above slashdot.

I'll probably still read the stories I just won't bother to comment anymore.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 9:37pm

comment grouping
Is there a threaded view to the comments? I don't see the link anymore.
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Mahesh, 10 Mar 2006 @ 9:38pm

Change it Back
The graphics interferes with the content. Too much eye candy..
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nonuser, 10 Mar 2006 @ 9:52pm

looks great
in fact it looks almost too good, maybe it raises the bar for the quality of comments (incl. jokes). Fortunately I tightly edit my own comments and have nary a spare word in them. In other words I don't milk 'em, waste people's time.
Fixed width looks dressy but is slightly fatiguing to read - eyes have to sweep faster to capture the same wordspan.
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not-so Happy User, 10 Mar 2006 @ 10:25pm

newspaper-layout no-more.
times and dates are quite difficult to read now.

also the fixed-width is a pail to deal with since each single comment uses up such a large part of the screen and I'm constantly scrolling to read the next comment or even to compare it to the previous comment.

this new layout is much more of a pain since I normally read TD in the morning while eating breakfast or at a coffee shop - now I need to constantly scroll and have a greater chance of loosing my reading position.

i enjoyed reading TD as if it was a physical newspaper - i would set it up and read everything on the page. then a minute (or so) later, I would flip the page to the next - now I constantly have to scroll every 10 seconds.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 10:27pm

BUG?
What is the point of asking for email & url addresses if they are not being used in the commenter's reply?
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Mike (profile), 10 Mar 2006 @ 10:39pm

Good feedback
Hey everyone,

Good feedback all around. Please be aware that we're going to make some changes based on all this feedback and that some of the features (threaded comments) we're going to add, but didn't have done in time for this launch.

So, I would ask that for those who have complaints that you keep them constructive.

Thanks!

Mike
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sharv, 10 Mar 2006 @ 10:53pm

Looks great
Who cares about the huge icons? As long as the text they're attached to isn't shorter than the icons, I think it looks great.

Approved.
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ananymous, 10 Mar 2006 @ 10:58pm

looks cool
i like the change. the old site was getting kinda boring after a while
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Nathan, 10 Mar 2006 @ 11:03pm

Some good, some bad
Well, I'll toss my two cents in also. I like the "look" of the redesign. But I have to chime in with the people on the fixed width issue. I just don't see much of a legitimate reason to make it a fixed width to suit one screen width over any other. It seems lazy from a design standpoint. Additionally, the lack of threaded comments (I know, you're adding them) or being forced to click "Threaded" is extremely bothersome. I remember many comments that were posted outside of their thread due to the confusing threading. Why not have threading on all the time? I don't see how it detracts from the conversation.
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David Creemer, 10 Mar 2006 @ 11:06pm

Looks OK, does not validate...
I like the look of the redesign in general, though I too am generally down on fixed width pages. It just doesn't seem to match the flexibility of the medium. I recognize that fixed with designs are usually easier to produce and implement, but a site like Techdirt, which has gained a (deserved) reputation for quality, rational comments on the modern online experience, could do well to lead by example.

I predict that fixed width designs will eventually become outdated and quaint. Remember the image of a dog-eared book page in the upper corner of the computer screen to go forward or back a page? That's rigid book-thinking applied to a much less restrictive medium.

Oh, and also the new site fails validation pretty miserably. At least get that right.
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Rikko, 10 Mar 2006 @ 11:14pm

My kingdom for variable width
It's not too awful at work where I run in 1024, but at home I fly in 1280 and you wouldn't believe how truly unpleasant the comments are to read.

Other than that the layout is pretty and shiny.. I likies.
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Jon-Paul Raymond, 10 Mar 2006 @ 11:22pm

LOVE IT
REad daily and welcome the change.
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spam, 10 Mar 2006 @ 11:52pm

HATE it
God, it looks so... so... so awfully.. "Web 2.0" - bleah.

The old design looked a hell of a lot better. And loaded faster.
Oh well, guess this gives more real estate for things that we all need more of... advertisements. *snort*

(Sorry, I just fear seeing blinking 'punch the monkey' ads, like many other sites.)
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Dustee, 11 Mar 2006 @ 12:17am

Re: <3's It
Been reading for awhile myself, but first time posting. I must say I love it!!!
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Dr|J, 11 Mar 2006 @ 1:17am

I like
I Love
Never actually posted b4 either. Good stuff :)
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pheloxi, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:18am

good idea of good look, but ...
check if your website work with bigger font size work, because some parts look awful (with arial 16). I use mozilla firefox to resize the letters for an easier see on my eyes.

too many web designers forget to check larger fonts!

a loyal reader of techdirt.
pheloxi

p.s. pity you lost part of identity by removing the dot after techdirt.
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SomeReader, 11 Mar 2006 @ 3:03am

'reply to' smaller
Please use a smaller font size for the 'reply to this comment'. And maybe also for the 'by'-line.

Apart from the fixed width I like the new layout.
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pablotossi, 11 Mar 2006 @ 3:42am

GREAT HISTORY
see you!!!
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.techdirt.com/
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Jimmy Bear Pearson, 11 Mar 2006 @ 4:41am

Very Fresh
I like the freshness of it.
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Dave, 11 Mar 2006 @ 5:44am

Re: Re: sux
Another mystical survey with no link, no details as to the sample set, the demographic, margin of error, nothing. *sigh*

I work for a site that handles around 250k average daily logins. A quick parsing of our server logs for any given day in the last week yields 64% average per day using 1024x768. This simple fact alone means that your "data" is craptastically useless.

Bring back the old resolution-independent, clean, readable, simple Techdirt that was here before.
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Vamidus, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:23am

Re: HATE IT
I agree.. The old look was plain but to the point. Now it's all eye-candy! But you guys must be set on keeping it...
Suggestion: Can we have different switchable css styles that we can can be saved in cookies? ...one of them being the old design?
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cvb, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:44am

looks
cool
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Dan, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:49am

Looks Great
It a shame I stopped visiting about a year ago, now reading you inside Bloglines. Just so you know, you were my last holdout. You were my homepage for a long time and I couldn't read you in Bloglines. But efficiency ruled in the end. But you look great!
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reader, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:57am

more crap design
the look doesn't bother me, the fixed width is a p.i.t.a.

when the font size is increased the text overlaps itself and other page elements

come on guys make the whole page dynamic. i know it is possible.
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Nadia, 11 Mar 2006 @ 7:00am

beautiful but i don't like it
it's beautiful, sexy and modern looking, but i really liked the old design better, there is just something about plain text that is very powerful, something that works especially for a fast pased content site like yours. I am sure this layout will eventually grow on me, but for now i miss the older one. Miss that clean default feel where content was the king.
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CBau, 11 Mar 2006 @ 7:15am

New Look
Great new look.
Old Reason to look at Tech Dirt:
Great Info, Ease of Use, Uncluttered Ugly Page

New Reason to Look at Tech Dirt:

Great Info, Ease of Use, Uncluttered Pretty Page

Keep up the good work.
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Me, 11 Mar 2006 @ 7:44am

Good But...
Its nice it was finally updated..
But the blogginess, the whole web 2.0 trendy fad thing i'm getting tired of.. some originality is always nice.
But.. hopefully it won't take another 7 years to update again.
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bob, 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:00am

nice ... but
it looks nice, but ... fixed width?
I suppose if you like your content long and skinny it's ok.
As long as it's the same quality of content it doesn't matter too much.
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Jake, 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:02am

Link color and bolding and and...
Overall I'm liking the change initially. It doesn't look like 1997 anymore, which is good, but it is still a relatively clean layout. Overall the phrase that comes to mind is "more professional looking." I'm indifferent on the fixed width issue on the main page, as it looks fine to me either way, but the width of comments is overly narrow even at 800x600. The article titles do seem a point or two overdone, but partly that is probably years of looking at non-enlarged titles.

The element I'm not liking is the hyperlinks. I don't doubt that the color of hyperlinks is graphically harmonious. Unfortunately it isn't functional. The blue is so dark as to be nearly indistinguishable from black when used for standard text. I'm not colorblind, but I have to really look at the text to tell what is a link. Someone with even minimal sight problems could easily not be able to tell at all. Perhaps the rollover bolding of hyperlinks was meant to offset this, but readers shouldn't need to hover the mouse over all the text to spot the hyperlink. This isn't a videogame, and text that automagically grows is something I'd expect to see on a site with red-on-green text with background wallpaper and music. Please find a hyperlink style that better fits the overall quality of the new look. Thanks.

p.s. Also regarding hyperlinks, I am saddened to see you've joined the maddening trend of setting the "visited" color the same as the non-visited color. Again, this is style over function. The visited feature exists so readers can tell what hyperlinks they've already recently visited. This is more important than enforcing a pretty color scheme, especially when a designer can use a complementary but still different 'visited' color.
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Anonymous of Course, 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:17am

The new look
I like the new look. Clean, functional, easy on
the eyes.
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ScrollTooMuch, 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:21am

On Fixed Widths
New design is fine. Old one did seem a little dated, although I was (and am still) drawn to the site by the content, not the appearance.

That said, please give serious consideration to the fixed width issue. Although only a minor annoyance, an annoyance it is. Why would you wish to annoy your visitors?

Keep up the great work, and thanks so much for Techdirt. I read it daily.
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Arochone, 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:33am

It loads slow :(
The new design loads slow...even on my 2.4mbps cable :(
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Jim Snyder, 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:34am

Love It
Great, very clean design. I don't mind fixed width, but this is a bit too narrow. I am even beginning to question the need for sites to target 800 x 600 at all, but if you are going to do so, make them use the whole screen. It is a nitpick, but I am more bothered by the proximity of the right-hand advertising column to the content. Let the layout breathe a bit.
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Edward B., 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:38am

Re: Re: Re: HATE IT
Synktar,

It's mostly the single column of text down the center of my screen that forces what would be a 2- or 3-line post to be a small paragraph -- for some reason it offends my delicate sensibilities. ;-) I've found that most of the non-minimalist blog templates have a similar format, so it must be the new design thing. I agree with a lot of the later posters as well, that a constrained text block like that results in a lot more scrolling. This was my first time posting here -- I'm surprised that it got so much notice!
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IT Department, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:11am

Not bad...could be better though
Hey yeah i kinda like it but i think that it looks like a newb did it...lol kj No disrespect od course. I love the stuff tho
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fens, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:31am

Fixed Width
Make it fluid width. Then those on higher resolutions won't complain and people can resize the text without everything breaking
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Agree, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:38am

Re: Looks OK, does not validate...
Just goes to show you might be talented at web design but know nothing about standards. At a check here there are 31 warnings on this page replying here.
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Shohat, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:43am

HORRIBLE ! You look like all other blogs !
Seriosly guys , go back !
You look like a copy of Techcrunch etc... Soon u will be doing pingbacks trackbacks , tagging , permalink and other stupid stuff , huh ?
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Michal, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:47am

Re: Re: sux
800x600 is small, and probably way to small for someone that would read techdirt. Your postulate without at source is complete bullshit. Furthermore resolution independant design works great at all resolutions, the old site looked better. A wide screen monitor makes the new one look like shit.
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Jezsik, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:53am

Prefer the old icons
Once I recognized the icons, I really started to make good use of them for spotting the story angle. Not so with the new icons ... yeah, they're slick and all, but the over-hype and mis-uses of technology icons are not terribly informative (nor poetic).
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Kevo, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:54am

Much Better
Much better, I stopped coming to the old version because it was so damn ugly. Being a web designer, I get frustrated easy with thoughtlessly whipped together sites quicky. The new makeover was much needed.

However, I agree a great deal of the other posters, you should do something about the fixed width.
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Jeremiah, 11 Mar 2006 @ 10:10am

hmmm...
I like the colors, but I think I liked the old site a little better, namely because the site resized to my browser (the 800x600....whaaa???) The new design looks like a template from Blogger.com. Sorry, it just does.

For me, one of the attractions to Techdirt was the ala-Craigslist style of "bare bolts." It was easy to read, skim, and post.

Because your site's name is "TECHDIRT", not "TECHPRETTY". I come here for content - not because i'm impressed with your webdesign. I don't need abstract icons or graphic ads to help me read.

If I were your designer (and I'm not), I'd take cues from actual intelligence reports (see national archives or TheSmokingGun for examples) and keep the site spartan....just like the old teletype intel printouts. For "Techdirt: Corporate Intelligence" I couldn't think of a more appropos "theme".

But I still got luv fo da TD.
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Michael "TheZorch" Haney, 11 Mar 2006 @ 10:15am

Nice
TechDirt is starting to look like Slashdot.

Cool. I like the new design, it was rather sparce before. This new design adds a more professional look to the site.
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Ben McNelly, 11 Mar 2006 @ 10:39am

Well duh///
Of course they are going to update the look, I was good to be simple but it was also borderline crappy.
- So stop complaining. Yes we lost a couple good features and diddnt gain any new ones. Ok, thats not prooving my point... But seriously, it does do somthing astheticaly for it at least and I think it will also be a little more interesting to newcomers.

The look reminds me of an revamped http://www.lawrence.com or somthing. Overall its nice.
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Joe Smith, 11 Mar 2006 @ 10:41am

Eye candy
I'm here for the content. Anything that makes the screen more busy without adding content I'm opposed to.

I dislike the low contrast menu at the top of the page. Dark grey on black is not very user friendly for us baby boomers with failing eyes.

If you wanted eye candy you should have added some (tastefully) naked bimbos.
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Joe Snuffy, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:02am

Post 78
Not that anyone is still reading all these posts but......I must say the 800x600 is a little out of date. If you want to upgrate your site, don't just do it half a$$ed. Keep the news coming though.
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Joe Snuffy, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:03am

Post 79
It is also nice to see my post right away instead of 30mins later. GJ
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VPR, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:34am

Re: FUCK THIS
You can't be serious. Push and HOLD your ctrl button and spin your mouse wheel genious ;)

I love the new layout, it's not so notepad-ish.
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Person, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:36am

eh
I think it looks nice, but not a big fan of fixed width. If I want to see it skinnier, I'll resize the window. I have a wide screen and like to squish windows horizontally sometimes, but I'm probably wierd.
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Steve, 11 Mar 2006 @ 12:08pm

It's not about the design,
It's about the information.

There is no need to have a gigantic header just because everyone else does. This site is important because of its content.

I liked your old-school look because it added credibility to the site. Kind of like "we've been around for a long time and have succeeded and there is no need to keep up with the Jones'" (It's kind of annoying now how far down the page the story starts... You don't need to be like Digg.)
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Jacob, 11 Mar 2006 @ 12:39pm

Fixed Width
I like the new site design...

The fixed width makes complete sense for me (even though my compy res is 1600X1200)

when I originally built my site, it was built for 1024 but then when I started getting hits I looked at the resolutions for my various readers and surprisingly a LOT of them were running 800X600, so a redesign was needed, and granted...

my $.02
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Tan The Man, 11 Mar 2006 @ 12:41pm

Looks Good
Looks more polished, but I don't know how many posts you can fit onto the main page like you did before.
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Gerard L. Petersen, 11 Mar 2006 @ 1:17pm

hmm... what's changed?

:P

Awesome... i love it!

Suggestion for the comments, make the replies to comments have a link to the comment that it's replying to.
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Gerard L. Petersen, 11 Mar 2006 @ 1:21pm

Suggestion
Also I like being able to click on the main logo in the header to take you main listing.
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Ponder, 11 Mar 2006 @ 1:53pm

It's alright ...
I have to go to the camp against fixed width. Yes, I know designers like to use fixed width and best viewed at resolution blah by blah, but as a reader I want the website to fill the screen, on all my monitors, from my tiny 640x480 to my massive 1200x1600. Set the areas as percentages of the width please! Try to design to WC3 HTML standards in future. (But all this critism won't stop me reading). Nice Comment box.
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Sea Man, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:04pm

At least...
make it scalable to high resolutions. I have a nice monitor and grahics card and I used to not have to scroll. Until then, nice design but I mus give a thumbs down.
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Posterlogo, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:27pm

The extra white space is pathetic.
This feels like a homage to the web pages of 10 years ago when some people only had 640x480 resolution. Come on!??! A 80-character width??? Feels like you're pandering to the lowest common denominator, or maybe you're going to fill all that space up with flash ads now.
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DoxAvg, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:33pm

Great icon design
Out of curiosity, who did the icon design for the topics? The graphics are clean, elegant, and informative. The new design is much more professional; while that will probably be a boon for the (bill-paying) CI side, it loses some of the "geeks around the watercooler" feel that I liked about TechDirt.
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c0ke, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:56pm

OH MY GOD, FINALLY!
I thought yall were just too lazy to add in a few CSS elements to your web site. It was hard enough "trying" to "try" to read your articles. I can see words much clearly now. Good job!
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ch1x, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:59pm

Can we get style="vertical-align:top;" added to those side images on the navigation tabs to line things up in FireFox?
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mark, 11 Mar 2006 @ 3:33pm

I'm not one to automatically embrace change, but this looks real nice. Very well done!
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Krutch, 11 Mar 2006 @ 4:29pm

Love it
Love the redesign. Been a reader for awhile now and will contiue. Now if I could just find time to post more often
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Swati, 11 Mar 2006 @ 4:43pm

Old was good, new is great!
Your old design was nice, but this one is better =) Modern looking and all. Great going ;)
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arcfixer, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:20pm

IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT.
Your new format sucks. It takes forever to download. The fixed width sucks the worst. I don't need it, won't bother reading it.
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Bryan Price, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:22pm

Wow.
I thought the working favicon.ico was a nice touch earlier.
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LordVader, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:25pm

Like the look
I like the look, just do not like the fixed width. I am running my monitors at 1280X1024 and have several inches of useless white borders on the side. I too think it would be nice to not have to scroll through so much. But other than that I do like the look of the site.
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Andrew Strasser, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:34pm

Re: FUCK THIS
wHAT A FREAK YOU'LL GET NOTHING OF THE SORT...
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ConceptJunkie (profile), 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:41pm

New Look: Ding! Fixed Width: Bzzzt!
The new is really nice, but the fixed width has _got_ to go. It makes you scroll twice as much as is necessary.
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Ray Trygstad, 11 Mar 2006 @ 7:31pm

New Site Design
Bravo!
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ShaolinTiger, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:22pm

Fixed with? No thanks.
I do love the new look, but definately not the fixed width.

As I'm running 1280x1024 it's lot of screen real estate wasted.
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Krell, 11 Mar 2006 @ 10:51pm

Great except for the Fixed width
Love the new look, for the most part. Like many, the fixed width hurts the overall look of the site.

Running at 1024, the comment section (once you get past the ads) sits in less than 50% of the available screen... at 1280 it looks kinda ridiculous.

If the site was set to 95% of browser width it would help make better use of high resolutions and look very similar to the way it does now on low 800x600 resolutions...
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Shohat, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:30pm

Comments go to Zero after 100 .
Awesome job .
Seriosly , you look like blogger template , got fixed width , and there is nothing clever in the icons any more .
You look like a blog of a 14 yearold + 200$ for the logo and icons .

You are high-traffic , you actually have Alot of visitors that like your writing dont play these retarded
Permalink , tag , trackback , pinback , feed
Blogging games .
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Paul, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:40pm

I like the old one better, it was much more "indy" this one seems too run of the mill.

The first time I followed an rss link to this new design I thought I clicked the wrong link and it led me to some crap UK news site
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Dr. A. Kristi, 12 Mar 2006 @ 12:01am

If my voice is heard...
Putting the icons inline with text will give it more space even vith the fixed width, so if you dont use the icon, like most people don't, you get to use the space for your text. Also making the sponsor "bar" more dynamic and inline with the posts, so it cuts only the top few will give the text(what we come here for) more space. About the design: - I could do exactly this, also with changing facecolors, etc. in under 2 hours, including integration. Something simple and original will do alot better. BTW threaded view could use some light graphics, the old site was more confusing than anything. Not to be all doom and gloom, this is a good beginning, and I think we all appreciate the effort.
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Dr. A. Kristi, 12 Mar 2006 @ 12:01am

If my voice is heard...
Putting the icons inline with text will give it more space even vith the fixed width, so if you dont use the icon, like most people don't, you get to use the space for your text. Also making the sponsor "bar" more dynamic and inline with the posts, so it cuts only the top few will give the text(what we come here for) more space. About the design: - I could do exactly this, also with changing facecolors, etc. in under 2 hours, including integration. Something simple and original will do alot better. BTW threaded view could use some light graphics, the old site was more confusing than anything. Not to be all doom and gloom, this is a good beginning, and I think we all appreciate the effort.
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A Funny Guy / The Poison Pen, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:18am

Add me to the list against the fixed width issue. I have a really high resolution screen and 50% of it is white now. While the ad's are a little distasteful, all this white is hurting my little peepers @.@
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Agonizing Fury, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:46am

Good and Bad
Other than the fixed width, I definately like the new look of the site. The fixed width needs to go, or it needs to be set to a higher width (or you could have the text take up the full width of page after it clears the stuff on the sides). The only other thing I don't like is it takes longer to load. If I were on my DSL at home I probably wouldn't even notice, but since I'm in Iraq sharing a sloooow satellite connection with 30 other people, it becomes painfully obvious that more bandwidth is required. Thanks for all the hard work on the site though.
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yossi, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:51am

well...
i use this site on my cell through google. all that crap on top takes forever to scrol past. put the content b4 any extra text. and the pics are way huge.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:54am

I wonder if we as techdirt readers could file a class action lawsuit when our scroll wheels start wearing out because we have to scroll more on the techdirt site? I mean people got money from the tobacco industry and no one forced them to smoke. Techdirt is extremely addictive, due to the fact that the news and comments are usually outstanding, and has no disclaimer on their page to that fact. Maybe this new design is the result of a deal between techdirt and the major mouse manufacturers.
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Anarchy_Creator, 12 Mar 2006 @ 3:07am

geigh
Fixed width sux.
I liked the older version better, but that's just because I became accustomed to it.
I'm sure I'll get accustomed to this one, but that time frame would be greatly shortened if there was no fixed width, or if it was increased.
My screen res is, and has been 1280x1024 since about 2002, and I've can't says I've come across a website yet that makes my eyes bleed.
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Curosity, 12 Mar 2006 @ 5:04am

Logo style
Suprisingly, i was just tinking to myself that you were becoming an iconic site, and then the new site design shows up. While it looks nice, isn't TechTV / G4 going to come after you for using a logo that looks like the old TecHTV logo just before they were sold to G4?
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Laurent Van Winckel, 12 Mar 2006 @ 6:40am

Nice
Looks a bit better than before, so it's okay :)
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Pencil Nebula, 12 Mar 2006 @ 6:46am

Learn to program before doing web design
Totally Completely 100% screwed up.

If you are going to redesign the web site for gosh sakes learn enough programming inorder to do such.

At present your website uses 1/3 of available desktop space leaving 2/3 as 1/3 on each side of a center 1/3 of content as blank white space.
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Rod, 12 Mar 2006 @ 7:11am

I like it...
I had no idea it had been seven years since you did a redesign. I DID know that I thought the looks of the site were very outdated and bland.

I like that fact that you did something new, and that is refreshing.
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acousticiris, 12 Mar 2006 @ 8:17am

Looks fine ... except
As was mentioned by others, the only problem I have with it is that it doesn't dynamically size with the browser.
Old techdirt made use of my entire 1280 pixels of width on my home PC, the 1920 width on my pc at work or the limited 480 width on my Axim. Now, I haven't had the opportunity to test this on my mobile device. But so far on my other PCs, as my resolution increases, your page layout just centers itself leaving a large area of unused space and a big scrollbar.
Besides that, the the design is great. It's a clean look and feel and a hell of an improvement. But form has to follow function. Please, please make the width of the entry's text scale dynamically.
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Syed, 12 Mar 2006 @ 8:20am

WAY Better!
This design is very clean and makes you look like a rich and powerful company. I'm not sure the "dirt" is there anymore.
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DV Henkel-Wallace, 12 Mar 2006 @ 8:54am

Doesn't do it for me
I liked the old, spare site which didn't look outdated to me. The enormous icons and fixed space are a problem for me (especially when I try to read in a small window). Basically it looks cluttered which makes it harder for the eye to trivially find the content.

Maybe, once you have it, I can just read the mobile version on my computer. That usually looks far better for the sites that do that. Of course the best sites are the ones that don't _need_ a special mobile site....

Just my $.02....
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Michael Parekh, 12 Mar 2006 @ 9:00am

design change
Wow! What a difference! Terrific change...especially love the category presentation re-do. Great job.
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filmg33k, 12 Mar 2006 @ 9:12am

Re: Very Professional
Word.

Love the new look and feel -- much more professional and just cooler. And ditto 800x600. I'm running 1024 (at least on two computers) as well, and don't mind the fixed width at all. In fact, it makes it feel cleaner to me.

Awesome job, Techdirt! Thanks for updating!
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Prashad, 12 Mar 2006 @ 10:05am

Looks great
Great re-design.
Pages look very clean and you immediately get a sense of where things are on the page. On most webpages you have to look at the page for a little while to find out where everything (content,menu,adverts, etc..) is.
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Piwacket, 12 Mar 2006 @ 11:03am

Nice job
Superb, much much better than the old one.
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dan, 12 Mar 2006 @ 11:33am

Needs work
The overall look is fine, nice visual elements, but the fixed width is terrible. My laptop is a convertible wide screen tablet, and it looks bad in either orientation. Landscape has huge white-space areas on either side and in portrait it is to wide. On my desktop, with a 20 inch wide screen, it takes up less than half the screen.

Tweak it a bit, huh?
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Kirsti, 12 Mar 2006 @ 12:55pm

Scared of white space?
Some people can't stand silence, and apparently others can't stand white space. I love the look. Great job!
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:00pm

not a fan of the new layout. liked the old one better, in particular, the wide column of text.
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shableep, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:10pm

I like it. So your monitors have great tracks of l
I like fixed width. It reads more pleasantly. It's familiar to the width of a good book. I like everything. Huge improvement.

I know you guys probably paid $900 for your 24" wide screen, and are pretty pissed that your valuable acreage isn't being used effectively... But no one ever complained that a book wasn't wide enough. 24" screens are oversized for news in this format. Try reading a magazine where one page is 18" wide, no columns. It's not pleasant unless it's loaded with huge pictures to fill the space. A webpage can completely lose its visual integrity if it has ultimate scalability. Just shrink down your windows a bit. You know you want to fill in that left over acreage with some pleasant scenery and/or attractive women.
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Dave, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:36pm

Spiff-o
Nice, the gradient is soothing. Much easier to see each separate article. Keep it up.
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discojohnson, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:41pm

counter error
fyi, when the comment count breaks 100, the counter is modding (98, 99, 00, 01, ...), causing odd looking counts.
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SH, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:56pm

Looks are part of the equation but IMHO this site will be minor league forever unless they decide to start staying open on the weekends. It's as simple as that.
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Scott, 12 Mar 2006 @ 2:53pm

New Not As Functional
Your site read better a before you implemented the fixed width site. Your graphics are a little large as as id the font for the article title - I am here for information-not images and facny fonts. Additionally you could see maore descriptions per page without have to do major scrolling pre fixed width page. Other than that the site looks great
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Glo, 12 Mar 2006 @ 3:36pm

Uh Oh!
Errrr mmmmm ... Did you, perchance, test your site with Firefox? ... Renders poorly here. ... Fonts do not fit in on the background images for them, in particular: the list-item class="selected" had the text overflowing the bottom of the div containing it.

Try again.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Mar 2006 @ 5:25pm

Re: Re: HATE IT
get a bigger monitor. =)
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Pesti, 12 Mar 2006 @ 5:25pm

Works for me!
Considering the fact that due to the "age" factor my eyesite sucks, the big font works. Also now I can go staight to the bottem if I want to reply to the main article.
Easier, Faster,......Pesti
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LukeD, 12 Mar 2006 @ 5:39pm

Re: Re: sux
Okay so most people use 800x600. Most people also use AOL for some crazy reason. I have a feeling there are not very many 800x600/AOL users on this site.

I do like the new look of the site BTW
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JM, 12 Mar 2006 @ 6:37pm

Looks sweet.
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Heratiki, 12 Mar 2006 @ 7:44pm

Nice!!!
I think it's great... I was wondering when Techdirt was going to step out of ASCII block format and move up... Look's great and keep it up...
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Bob, 12 Mar 2006 @ 8:09pm

Goodbye
"A free service of techdirt corporate intelligence"?

That's it, I'm outta here. I simply can't believe the audacity of this guy.

I like the redesign Mike, however you've taken the idea and plowed it with your self indulgent attempt to inflate yourself as something more than you are. You've obviously forgotten your roots, and who it was who got you here.. your community.

If you want to become yet another un-original corporate shill that's your business, but how dare you do it on my time.

I wish Techdirt and its mere 5 comments per article well in its endeavors.
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gplana, 12 Mar 2006 @ 8:39pm

ACCK!
This new format and page layout is totally unfriendly to people who use their PDA's to access this site, which I do. I had to use a desktop computer to post this comment, which should give you an idea just how bad it is.

Please, fix this problem ASAP!
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wOmP, 12 Mar 2006 @ 8:59pm

New Look
I agree a new look was needed, but why so much?
the content needs more room.
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./Decius, 13 Mar 2006 @ 1:40am

Never really noticed
I never really noticed the old layout, and I been comming for for about a year now. Just kind of came for the news, and read all the flames in the comments. But I like the design, although like stated like 20 times, the fixed width kind of sucks. Being Im running at 1600x1200 but I'll live
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Flanker, 13 Mar 2006 @ 1:59am

Love the New Design
I'll miss the old Techdirt, but the beauty of the new design lightens the blow considerably. I don't really mind the fixed-width that much, although I usually keep my browser window around 950px wide. Congrats to Jamie Wieferman for a job well done.
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mikol, 13 Mar 2006 @ 5:10am

new look...
.....terrible waste of space and effort..long read,,quite inconvenient to move around..get a refund from your design firm..
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thecaptain, 13 Mar 2006 @ 5:17am

somewhat love it
Looks slick and stylish.

however, I can't pin it down, but somehow it became a lot harder to read. Maybe its the choice of fonts and colors...
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Elaine, 13 Mar 2006 @ 5:30am

New design.
Very nice. And I so appreciate that you manage to include advertising with annoying the hell out your readers.
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Marc J King, 13 Mar 2006 @ 6:16am

Fixed-Width
Please add one more vote towards getting rid of the fixed-width. Other than that, I think the new design is great. Some other people have implied that it looks very "generic", but I don't think that's a bad thing. Techdirt looked pretty generic before, only an old generic. Keep up the good work, but please correct the width, it is much harder to read now.
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Xanthir, 13 Mar 2006 @ 7:14am

Mixed Feelings
I like the overall feel of the site, but have a few big complaints.

Things I don't like:

1) The fixed width has to go. Failing that, we need more than the middle half of the screen as text. Seriously, the comments take up a *ton* more vertical real-estate now.

2) I don't like the jarring effect of the dark header with the white rest-of-site. Either a lighter header is needed, or you need a nice gradient transition so it isn't such a sharp line.

3) The 'Related Stories' box is waaaaay down at the bottom below all the ads.

Things I like:

1) The comment box put right there at the bottom! It's a small thing, to be sure, but it really makes it feel like it's easier to comment. I like it.

2) The fact that 'Related Stories' is now actually related stories, not just the article's links stripped out into another box.

3) It's still the same ol' Techdirt.

Things I'm not sure about:

1) The ginormous story icons.

2) The new way of indicating icons.
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paperrhino, 13 Mar 2006 @ 8:36am

Changing font sizes makes it harder to read
I like the new look but I find the text harder to read becasue of the changing font sizes for the cross links. I usually quickly scan the article but that is harder because all I pick out now are the cross link words. Making them the same font and just changing the color would help a lot.
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I Like the layout, 13 Mar 2006 @ 8:38am

The new layout looks great in my opinion. I slightly agree with all of you who hate the whitespace on the sides, but it does keep the content organized. Why should page be developed using 800X600? Anything viewed at that resolution looks like shit, we should start coding for 1024X768 and leave the people who run 800X600 a hard choice:
A. Deal with it
B. Get a new monitor the one you are using from 92' needs replaced
C. If you can't handle either of the other suggestions kill yourself.
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Matt, 13 Mar 2006 @ 9:07am

Fixed Width
I like the actual look of the new design, but I'm in the category seeking to eliminate fixed-width. I despise fixed-width, and while I saw a couple comments saying they appreciate it, I just can't comprehend. I bought a nice big monitor to support high resolutions, so I could use it - not stare at 8 inches of nothing.

I suppose maybe I'll just write a GreaseMonkey script to take care of this, or perhaps, maybe someone else already has!
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Techdirty, 13 Mar 2006 @ 9:58am

Re: Link color and bolding and and...
Ditto, the new look is much easier to read but the point of links is to be links, not subtlely different text. Make the links stand out and make the visited ones different. There's actually a good reason for most browsers working that way by default.
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Gerk, 13 Mar 2006 @ 10:34am

Re: Holy huge graphics!
Yes things are WAY TOO BIG. I can fit one story on my screen at a time now if I'm lucky. Used to fit 6.

Did anyone think of the usability when they did this? It looks "neat" but I don't come here for bublegum graphics that take up my whole screen. I come here for information which I have to scroll endlessly to read now .. maybe it's time to move along.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Mar 2006 @ 12:37pm

Fixed Width
I like the look quite a bit, it's pretty clean. I agree that the fixed width should go.

Fixed width on a web page is one of those things that is popping up more and more, for only one reason: It lets the web designer make a prettier site. By nailing down margins and column widths to the pixel, the designer can specify layout as precisely as they can on a printed page.

The problem is that it's unfriendly to the visitor. It flies in the face of how HTML is supposed to be coded, which should be a suggestion to the visitor's browser about how to render the site. Sites shouldn't be 'built for x resolution'... they should be built to be rendered however the visitor wants, whether they're a leet hacker @1600 or a nearsighted senior citizen @ 640.

But, rant aside, I like the redesign. I've always been partial to white, silver, and blue... Good old Amiga 2.0 colors.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Mar 2006 @ 1:40pm

If you do not understand computer systems and technology well enough to produce a working website, why would anyone bother to visit your site?

Your new design is broken in many respects and you obviously did not bother to test it thoroughly across multiple architectures, operating systems and web browsers.

The use of fixed width and fixed height shows you do not understand the simple fact that there are many possible screen sizes and resolutions. For me, someone who likes large text fonts (and has configured his browser to always use them), your site is now unreadable since lines of text are now partially obscuring each other.

If you highered a supposed "web developer" to create this new site, please fire them for incompetence.
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Mark Liedtke, 13 Mar 2006 @ 4:33pm

New web site design
Is there a "lite" version of the site for handhelds? I used to be able to access the site with ease from my Blackberry and now it is very slow and painful.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2006 @ 4:13am

Go back to the old design
The new one adds lots of flash but no substance. TechDirt's strength
is its analysis and insights, and those can be expressed more than
adequately in plain ASCII text. Leave the all-singing-all-dancing
web site design to the clueless newbies who think the 'net is a video
game or a TV commercial. You're not peddling trendiness here,
you're peddling clear thinking -- why muddle it with worthless crap?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2006 @ 7:41am

Hmmm? I'll say 20% Progress, 80% Motion.

Yes, lose the fixed width, it wastes a lot of desktop and makes the page harder to skim and read.

The large headline and icon add a lot of visual clutter. Less is more.

And get some intervention help for the designer. He may have joined a neo-Jakobology cult while no one was watching... sheesh...
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David Hewett, 14 Mar 2006 @ 8:23am

New Site Layout
Ok Im a web designer so perhaps im biased - I actually like clean layouts great navigation and uncluttered sites.
I hated the old site and when I clicked on my feeds I always groaned at the old site and thought it was a mess.
The NEW Layout is GREAT - Well done - its easy to skim through the articles of interest - easy to read looks CLASSY!

Dont roll back guys, I LOVE IT!!! Well Done!
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Danno, 14 Mar 2006 @ 11:48am

Nice! No longer feels like 1997!
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Danno, 14 Mar 2006 @ 11:50am

PS: Consider adding more paragraphs to entires. Breaks up the visual flow of the block and makes things easier to read.
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Xanthir, 14 Mar 2006 @ 12:26pm

Re: Mixed Feelings
Okay, after a while, the "I'm not sure" column has been eliminated. I'm cool with the big icons and the bolded hyperlinks.

I'm still *not* cool with the sudden change from black top to white body. That's just... jarring.
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billfarley, 14 Mar 2006 @ 12:47pm

Re: Logo style
I thought that looked familiar.

http://leoville2.tripod.com/techtv.gif
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JoeR, 14 Mar 2006 @ 9:35pm

Bah!
There was little wrong with the old design ... and while change *may* be inevitable, change for change's sake is rarely a good idea. I'm not opposed to redesign when it works - the revamped Register looks and works great.

This redesign absolutely represents a triumph of style over substance, and I didn't think that was what Techdirt was about.

The old Techdirt had the look of a news site for techies and geeks - the new look screams "corporate" and really, it now looks no different than the other thousands of corporate sites on the Net. The only thing that's missing is the overuse of the Verdana font, the only one "webdesigners" seem to know about.

I'll still read Techdirt for the excellent articles ... unless *that* changes for the "better" as well.
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William C Bonner, 16 Mar 2006 @ 1:28pm

Too much header in Thunderbird RSS Mode.
I read this primarily in Thunderbird's RSS Reader.

The old format was one of the cleanest content that I read. It was something that I could recognize immidiatly, and read the contents of. Now, the header fills half of my readable space, and the text isn't as readable.

I understand the need to Ad placement, it's just if the content takes me longer to interpret, I'm less likely to digest it in the first place.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2006 @ 6:36am

Re: New Site Layout
Given that you don't seem to know how to use punctuation, you wouldn't be designing any web sites for my company.
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TJ, 17 Mar 2006 @ 6:24pm

Hello Mike?
So is Mike or whoever even listening anymore? It seems no one is, since the site hasn't had even the *slightest* improvement since the 1st reply on this thread. We visitors shouldn't have wasted our time providing feedback, because it appears we have been soundly ignored.

I still don't care about fixed width, but a HUGE majority of posters do and want a non-fixed width site. The one thing that makes me think they are right is that arstechnica.com looks like ASS because of a fixed width that bears ZERO relation to my screen resolution. "Stupid web designer, fixed is for pricks..."

So Mike, are you going to comment AT ALL on the 160+ feedback comments, or is Techdirt going to bury its head in the sand and do whatever you damn well please despite what your visitors want???

Considering how much you criticize companies for ignoring their customers needs and wishes, it really isn't cool for you to ignore what your site's visitors want. You get what we're all saying? Hello?!?!?!?
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mhh5, 24 Mar 2006 @ 3:35pm

we're listening..
give us some time... we're trying to implement some changes... thx for your patience.
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