The New Movie Blog Layout
Hey there guys, John here.
Well, as you can see (if you’re reading this), The Movie Blog has undergone something of a facelift. I wanted to give everyone a day or two to use it before asking for your input and explaining why I made the changes. So first things first… why the changes? Well, partially because there have been a bunch of people requesting some changes… and partially because I wanted some changes too. So what have people been asking for?
1) Make the site easier to navigate.
One of the problems with the previous layouts of the site is that once a post goes up, it disappears off the front page pretty quick, leaving some people complaining that they have to go digging through the archives to find it again. So, I wanted a way to have more posts on the front page… so that posts can stay on there longer.
2) Less Scrolling
This is another one I got a lot of requests for. With the full posts on the front page, it meant having to scroll… and scroll… and scroll until you found a post that interested you (I know I like to believe that you’re all TOTALLY interested in every single post I do… but that’s not reality). By having the excerpted posts with a small graphic, it means you can see all the posts from that day very quickly and see which ones interest you… without having to scroll a bunch to get to one.
3) Highlighting Video and Podcast
This is something I wanted. Everyone and their dog now has a movie website. I wanted a layout that would allow me to highlight a couple of elements that make us stand out… video and the Uncut Podcast in particular. We were the very first movie podcast on the internet (still the best damn movie related podcast on the internet), and we were also the first of the movie blogging sites to utilize video. This sets us apart a little, and I wanted to highlight those.
4) More focus on the reviews
I used to have that “most recent review/podcasts/features bar under the second post on the main page… but I’d get emails from time to time from people suggesting that I put more design focus on the movie reviews. It did seem to make sense to me since… well… this is a website where we talk about movies… and the movie review posts always seem to generate a lot of discussion. As you can see on the right side of the main page, the reviews are now more prominently highlighted.
So there you go. Now… I’m not done yet. I FORGOT TO ADD THE DAMN SEARCH BAR!!!! How stupid! I wanted to make the site more easy to navigate… and I forget to put the fricken search bar in there. Anyway, there is also a little work to do with adding content in the side bar of the individual post pages.
So now that you’ve had a couple of days to see and use The Movie Blog with the new layout, I thought I’d ask for your input. What do you think of the changes in general? Like it in general? Don’t like it in general? What additional changes or tweaking would you like to see me do? i eagerly await your feedback.
1. Justin replies at 24th July 2007, 10:01 pm :
I think I’d like to see just a little bit more of the article for each topic. Maybe the entire first paragraph. Or if the first paragraph is too long, a little mor of it than is already being shown. Otherwise, I think the new layout is great.
2. Justin replies at 24th July 2007, 10:02 pm :
I think I’d like to see just a little bit more of the article for each topic on the front page. Maybe the entire first paragraph. Or if the first paragraph is too long, a little more of it than is already being shown. Otherwise, I think the new layout is great.
3. PhoenixP3K replies at 24th July 2007, 10:14 pm :
Please don’t center the individual post pages. It’s weird to read. The rest is pretty good but their should be integration with the Movie Blog Community.
4. John Campea replies at 24th July 2007, 10:17 pm :
Hey Phoenix,
The posts pages aren’t centred. What browser are you using?
5. FZ1 replies at 24th July 2007, 10:18 pm :
Likes:
New layout with video and reviews getting focus
Dislikes:
Center justified text… different isn’t always good, I think this looks real bad.
Black background.. makes it look like a framed in site from 1996, ick.
6. SaraBean replies at 24th July 2007, 10:24 pm :
I saw the new look yesterday and just about jumped out of my seat. I just love it!
My one suggestion is on the individual story pages, but the most recent posts in the side bar above the ads so that people who find the site through a search engine see what else is on the site.
7. Kristina replies at 24th July 2007, 10:25 pm :
Me like new layout big time.
8. Herby replies at 24th July 2007, 10:31 pm :
I love it. I usually just need the title to find an topic that interests me, I also like the movie reviews along the side. It’s great!
9. Robert(wolf) replies at 24th July 2007, 10:32 pm :
Love the new layout. Much easier to get around. I dig movie review scores on the right side and the easy Uncut excess.
10. Jeff Razey replies at 24th July 2007, 10:35 pm :
The black background should be changed to dark maroon theater curtains! Maybe with a little wave in them,…give it a theater look! Or have it half maroon on the top fading to black near the bottom… Great look, thanks for getting rid of the center justification….
Cheers brother…
11. Jeff Razey replies at 24th July 2007, 10:37 pm :
Ps, never had a problem with it before, but it still looks great!
…cheers…
12. John Campea replies at 24th July 2007, 10:37 pm :
Hey Phoenix and FZ1
Turns out there was an issue with a couple of versions of Microsoft internet Explorer that made the individual pages center the text. It didn’t do this in my version or in my Firefox browsers… so I missed it.
I changed the code and the text should now appear aligned to the left (like it was for the rest of us before). Sorry for the confusion.
13. chris bunker replies at 24th July 2007, 10:39 pm :
John!
Its chris bunker…i dig the new layout I just miss seeing who wrote what article because i always read your blogs…I have 2 transformer poster in my living room now encased in plexi glass. Prime looking at Megatron. Protect, Destroy…Hope your well. I have just been on a tv series that is kicking my ass
14. Jamie replies at 24th July 2007, 11:14 pm :
It’s generally ok. Though I prefer the previous one for it’s light gray and white theme which is nicer to look at than the black and dark red. Also, because we could see so much information when the page first loaded without needing to scroll down.
Just my opinion.
15. DarkKinger replies at 25th July 2007, 12:05 am :
Will there be the Nowlive Uncut tomorrow?
16. standy replies at 25th July 2007, 12:17 am :
The new look is great.
But now instead of a lot of scrolling (which I have no problem with), there’s a lot of clicking and back-clicking if I want to read more than one article. Absolutely HATE that. Scrolling beats clicking 8 or nine times to read four or five stories. Am I the only one?
Otherwise I DOES look much better. But I’ll literally have to give up on this type of over-clicking action.
17. Rafael replies at 25th July 2007, 12:25 am :
I’d like to see a live chat window
18. Clone_tk422 replies at 25th July 2007, 12:26 am :
I think it would look better if you had frames so then the movie blog banner and highlighted stuff on the side would stay static and then you can scroll through the posts.
As for the posts I must admit it has been a bit of a nuisance having to click on a post and waiting for it to load rather than being able to read it straight off the home page so what about being able to hide the posts on the front page but then when you click on it to read it will unhide it but it wont have to load a whole new page..
It works like an expand collapse feature the story is collapsed but when you click on it it will expand
Check out www.isohunt.com to see this in action.
Also where is the link the movie blog community?
19. Terry Letourneau replies at 25th July 2007, 12:49 am :
As a ‘wed designer’ myself, I like the new design. Especially like the fact that I can just go to the stories that I have interest in without all that scrolling. Good job.
20. eanetdude replies at 25th July 2007, 12:53 am :
1) Like Jeff Razey said: Perhaps make the backround side bars a dark marroon theatre curtain style image.
2)Maybe reduce the heigth of the ‘feature image’. (spock pic). It seems to be real “In Your Face” when I first come to the site.
3)At times, when I click to view a specific post/story you’ve written, I get an Ad instead. then I have to either click the ’skip’ button or press back on my browser. this bugs me a bit. I understand fully that you need ads to help run this site, but maybe get rid of THOSE full page ads and put on side bar ads instead.
Great new look. Keep pumping out these innovations Campea!
21. Terry Letourneau replies at 25th July 2007, 12:55 am :
wed designer?…I mean WEB designer. Time to lay off the Moosehead.
22. Chris replies at 25th July 2007, 1:21 am :
I read via RSS so I’m not going to complain too much (plus you do a kick-ass job blogging, so it isn’t my place to) but I am not a fan of this new design.
That said, as a designer I like to think of what a design might look like if I had done it. So I figured rather than try to describe it, I’d go into Photoshop and make a quick mockup myself.
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7312/tmboj6.png
Sorry if this seems a little weird but I love The Movie Blog. Thought it would be fun to see how it’d look if I designed it :)
Keep putting out the awesome content. You guys rock!
chris
(if you liked the mock up, my contact details are at my website, ChrisVanPatten.com)
23. Iain Wiseman replies at 25th July 2007, 2:40 am :
On the article about Spock I see the following (see below). I run firefox 2.0.0.5 and have seen several problems view the pages on MovieBlog. Great Site!
According to E! Online, Quinto may be a signature away from playing the new pointy-eared Vulcan! “Zachary Quinto’s chances of being Spock in the upcoming Star Trek film are looking extremely good. I hear the deal is about to close. Best. Casting. Ever.
If this does not come out wrong for you it is the first character before Zachary.
24. Cabbe replies at 25th July 2007, 2:46 am :
the layout is fine
but like someone else said…it’s really important that you can see who wrote the posts
25. Gerardo Flores replies at 25th July 2007, 3:15 am :
I’m a frequent movieblog reader and I usually find this site very good, however I’m really displeased with the new layout. Reading an entire article now involves going through more ads and multiple pages. I really liked the old design and usually read most, if not all, of the post for the day. The new layout however, forces me to open a gazillion tabs (and waste precios bandwitdh which is charged per megabyte here in australia) to do this simple task. I plead you to bring back the old design or somehow change the new one so that i can get the whole sccop on things through one single page (much like cinematical!). Regards,
Jerry.
26. Feras Arabiat replies at 25th July 2007, 3:51 am :
i like the other one better, cause i get my “headlines” through RSS and when i load the page i expect to see the whole article. plus the site doesnt look as good as the other one did.
to me this is a step backwards.
27. nebulus replies at 25th July 2007, 3:56 am :
Blogs scroll. News sites click for articles. Go back to the blog please.
28. Pat replies at 25th July 2007, 4:06 am :
Indeed. blogs scroll. Please go back to the old design, or at least add it as an alternative. You already have login for the community, why not just add an option how you want to view the website? Also, if you want more stories available on the front page, that shouldn’t be a problem. Just look at tmz.com, they’ve got 25 full stories on the front page atm, so could you. I find that I visit the site less and less with the new design, plus I don’t read half as many stories as before, not wanting to click back and forth like it was 1994. Also, maybe I have just missed it, I can’t find a link to the community page anywhere. Wasn’t that one of the things you were going to add?
29. Glenn replies at 25th July 2007, 5:52 am :
Congrats on the new layout! :D
I’m one of those who didn’t have any problems with the previous layout, though, so there are a couple of things that bug me with the new design:
I now have to click into the article to read the entire thing. You explained nicely why you dropped the entire article from the front page, but I think you should have a bit more text there than it has now. I basically think you should have an entire paragraph that quickly sums up all the details in the article. That way I know what it’s about and I can click it if I want to read more.
The second thing is the comments section. All the comments seem very squished together and I find it hard to read. Especially the separator between the comments. It’s too small and too undistinguished from the rest of the comments. Also, when I get a bit further down the comments (especially if the comments span several browser pages) I’m having a hard time figuring out if the post footer telling me who posted it, and when, is really a footer or a header.
30. Lou replies at 25th July 2007, 6:52 am :
The new layout is a definite improvement. Much cleaner and tighter looking.
I echo previous comments - expand each entry to show the first paragraph and the author.
Beyond that it looks superb!
31. The Dude replies at 25th July 2007, 6:54 am :
The old site design was terrific. Blogs should scroll. I also miss the bigger graphics. I already find myself reading fewer articles and coming here less.
32. Larry replies at 25th July 2007, 6:58 am :
New design is 100x better. Excellent job. Just add a movie blog community link.
33. Jarred replies at 25th July 2007, 7:08 am :
Scrolling is MUCH more annoying than clicking.
With clicking, I only have to click on what I want to read.
With scrolling, I’m forced to sit there and scroll through the stuff that doesn’t interest me.
Stick with this new layout. Big improvement. I’m glad you listened!
34. tc replies at 25th July 2007, 7:57 am :
Wow. The site looks cleaner but it’s more annoying to read by having to click thru to see the rest of the story and then click back, etc. I like the idea of having an “expand” button. (Oh and for those of you annoyed by scrolling, there’s this new mouse out there that has a little wheel between the right and left buttons that you move with your finger. Makes scrolling a breeze!)
35. Jarred replies at 25th July 2007, 8:02 am :
@TC
For those of you annoyed by clicking there’s this new mouse out there that has a little button that sits right under your left finger. Just press it down. You don’t even have to move it. Makes clicking a breeze!
36. Anonymous replies at 25th July 2007, 8:06 am :
They new site looks good, I can only suggest using a lighter colour than black on either side and more white space on the left side of article pages.
37. Kevin C replies at 25th July 2007, 8:38 am :
Personally I loved the old design. Scrolling is better than clicking. I loved that I could seemlessly go from one story to the next. Now it seems like you have to click 3 times to comment. I mean its not bad, it looks great, but I liked it better the old way. It was different from the other sites, now it seems just like the others. Thats just me though.
38. Cin replies at 25th July 2007, 8:56 am :
I like it…looks cool. Nice contrast with the black-borders…
39. liendre replies at 25th July 2007, 10:53 am :
sorry john, i dont realy like the new image.. i guess i was used to the other one
40. dublin_sullivan replies at 25th July 2007, 11:16 am :
sorry john , i hate this.it reminds too much of empire online which has th black background and lots of clicking. hating that is why i went elsewhere and was so happy when i found the movieblog.
the eye finds black tiring and gravitates towards white. this hurts my lazy, lazy eyes please goback to the white
maroon cinema curtains are a bad idea theyd look cheesy as hell or like a bad myspace background.
41. B.I.T.H. replies at 25th July 2007, 2:05 pm :
Have you though of putting a slight texture in the background, so its black but not solid if you no what I mean.
I prefer this to the idea of a full on portal site myself, but I must admit I’m more of a scroller than a clicker (LOL).
42. kc replies at 25th July 2007, 2:32 pm :
I like the new look but not the functionality. I liked having all the stories up on a single page and came here a few times per day. Now I seem to have to click through a bunch of ads. I’m not complaining about you guys making money, but there should be a less obtrusive (sp?) way to do it.
43. Mike replies at 25th July 2007, 3:12 pm :
I hate it. The font is too small. Articles are compressed, and I have to move close to the monitor to read shit.
44. Mike replies at 25th July 2007, 3:15 pm :
Not to mention I have to Click link to read the whole news. Besides, Small pictures are just not good. Previously it was a matter of seconds to realise what’s the article about looking at pictures, now I have to read everything. Waste of time, if you ask me.
45. Mike replies at 25th July 2007, 3:18 pm :
Overall, I’m disappointed. And for those who don’t like scrolling, here’s a tip: GET A MOUSE WITH A FRIGGIN WHEEL.
46. Michael replies at 25th July 2007, 3:29 pm :
What’s more intrusive? clicking once, or scrolling your wheel 10-15 times just to see what all the stories are?
I love the new design. It lets me get through all the stories I care about a LOT faster. Looks sharp too. Keep it!
47. Calviin replies at 25th July 2007, 3:43 pm :
I would say that it would look better with more text available to get an idea what the article is about. You guys spend so much time priming each post for what you have to share, that the actual topic is often buried in the second paragraph. That’s fine for reading and entertainment, but when you are only showing half to a third of the first paragraph, none of the post summaries tell me what the post is actually about.
Also, there is entirely too much black. Eugh.
48. Calviin replies at 25th July 2007, 3:53 pm :
Oh, and I do actually dislike being forced to open a new page just to read a whole story now. I’d prefer to have the whole story on the front like before because I don’t have to open a dozen pages then. Before, i only had to open the ones that I wanted to comment on. As you hope, I actually am one who reads every article, and as such, I now have to open a new page for EVERY post you put up. I find myself opening 3 to 4 times more pages when I go to your site now than before. I actually hate it and its a complaint I’ve had on a bunch of other sites I read. I actually thought it was another one of the ways you stood out from other sites because it was easier for me to read. I guess some people just want you to look like every other news site they read, even though you aren’t a news site (but hey, they forget that you aren’t a news site, so that must be why they want you to look like all the others). I know most blog sites I visit don’t actually trim their content. I forget John, which type of site di you want people to remember you are? Was it a news site or an opinion blog?
49. Calviin replies at 25th July 2007, 3:59 pm :
Oh, and you damned tabstops are still F***ing terrible. Why can’t I press tab after I type in this comments box and be dropped into the box to type Optimus. I thought maybe you believed it would deter programs from being able to automatically post, which is why you put the Optimus box in you begin with. But I can just reverse tab 17 times and get the same effect, no matter how many comments there are. So you made it harder for your users and not at all more difficult for the ones you want to stop.
Hmmm. Who does this sound like…
Hmmm.
Is there some sort of organization that has been doing this to it’s base for years now. Sounds so familiar. Think it was the MPAA or the RIAA… But maybe you’ve never heard of them. Well, they seem successful. Good thing you’re following in their footsteps. Wise choice. /sarcasm
50. Larry replies at 26th July 2007, 9:54 am :
Are you going to bring the new design over to TheTvShowBlog?
51. Jamie replies at 26th July 2007, 10:57 pm :
I vote for a rollback to the old design for ease of reading the whole article on the opening page.
But if you’re really into the click-and-read thing then I’d advise having a look at this solid design (very easy on the eyes):
http://www.aldaily.com
52. Kurt replies at 26th July 2007, 11:30 pm :
Prefer the old design for Bigger Graphics, fewer click-thrus, more scrolling. (I really do not understand the ‘click thru’ people, scrolling is much easier to let the eyes wander, rather than having to click to get full article) - also, I like to see the author of the post on the main site.
However, I like the second column on the new site with all the ‘features’ - podcast, TV, reviews, etc. easier to get at.
53. david replies at 14th August 2007, 1:45 pm :
I like the clean, new look to the site…it looks much more polished, professional, clean and it’s easier to read! The header looks much better then the large ‘THE MOVIE BLOG’ font that you used in the initial introduction of the redesign…plus, I can see all of the posts!
Looking good!