February 23, 2007
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Out with the old, In with the new
let’s face it, our current frontpage is not exactly the most exciting thing to look at. we have weblogs, photos, videos, blogrings, pulse, and so much more now.
this is the beta sneak peek into the new frontpage. please let us know what you think!
[edit] thanks for all the great feedback so far. it sounds like the general consensus is that the page is too busy and cluttered! I can totally see that. any ideas how we can make it less cluttered?
[edit] thanks to all your feedback, we tried incorporating it into the latest – check it out!: http://www.xanga.com/john/573708176/new-beta-frontpage.html
Comments (213)
coolness. Nice work!
Not bad, but I still think it’s pretty generic.
sweet
needs more color tho
I love it.
It looks good – nice and clean design!
i like i like
I like it a lot better than the current front page. I noticed the Pulse announcement there on the side — I hope that’s going to have the functionality of keeping the front page updated with the most current Xanga news, whether it’s posted by Michael, John, Marc, Janet, TheXangaTeam, or whoever.
It’s always bugged me when a new feature is rolled in, but it’s announced on a team member’s site I don’t read, and it’s not updated on the front page at the same time. I would venture to say most members don’t read each individual team member’s blog for updates.
That’s so cool..!
.Misty
Ya know, I’m a premium user and all I want is how about a simple FRONT PAGE that is geared towards me and not all the bullshit posers out there that bump their friends and bogus journals? How about legitimate journals?
Yeah Chris, I think you should redesign the front page JUST FOR TAMMTAMM.
o_O
the new page rocks, keep up the great work!
oh yes. this is good.
there so much stuff on it O.O i like the top headers, makes it clean, but there’s a lot of stuff as a sidebar that makes the page cramped and makes me wanna >.<;;;
I like the new one its stylish ;D
its too much at one time, i dont like it
I don’t like it eather. too much crap on it
That looks so much better.
I feel its a little too busy… I also don’t like the movement of the login either. Quite frankly, I don’t want to see all that junk. I just want to log in. that’s all.
I think that it’s pretty nifty.
It’s good for people who are already Xangans. But for a new person, there is no place to welcome a new person, and that tells them how easy it is to join like the current Xanga homepage.
Hmm, I don’t really like it.
But lots of other people do, so it’s all good!
i like the old one better. it’s simpler.
I’m not really diggin’ this one too much. I love the old one. It reminds me of old times, where simplicity was a must. You just don’t see all that simplicity and ease in every website anymore. Everything’s in flash and it’s too flashy and colorful. The old frontpage is much easier on the eyes, and a lot easier to navigate around.
But hey, that’s just me.
My name Borat. I am new to your weblog. I come to America to learn about your bloggers, will report it back to Kazakhstan, home of the best potassium in the world.
‘s okay…
i miss the old xanga
:/ I don’t like it as well as what you’ve got now.
Oh. God. No. Please tell me this will be optional somehow? I like things fine the way they are, thanks.
ehhh .. i liked the old one better .. simpler and more inviting. the new one seems too busy and a bit confusing.
the new front page is nice, but i agree with xx nowherefast. the simple front page is in a sense, what makes xanga, xanga. simple, and for me anyway home. it is also easier to navigate through. but it is nice, so i guess majority rules ha.
It sucks.
It’s a bad impersonation of Myspace… and I don’t like the idea of Xanga selling out…
Xanga is still the best and pretty much only online social network for actually BLOGGING, and thus, a simple layout reflects nicely. : )
Myspace has its own reputation for people who like posting pictures and getting a bunch of comments on them…
And for those of us whom have found the wonderful Facebook, such as myself, we realize that it’s the best site for actually SOCIALIZING.
So, let’s recap:
Xanga = Blogging.
Myspace = Photo whoring.
Facebook = Master of socializing and only having friends you actually know. Also, its awesome security and privacy features keeps all those stupid people in their late twenties and thirties from infiltrating the site and trying to act like teenagers, (see Myspace or Youtube for examples.) ewww.
I would rather not see Xanga completely sell out and become a duplicate Myspace. I don’t think anyone wants to see that happening… so let’s try to NOT disturb the delicate balance that exists between the three biggest socializing sites. = )
mm… i dont like it. its kinda cluttered. i miss the old blogring pages too.
it looks kinda boring.
I actually wrote an entry last week about xanga vs. myspace and one of the pros for xanga is the simple front page which has the news of what’s happening and what they are working on.I feel myspace’s front page is way too cluttered and you can’t find what you’re looking for. I say keep the current front page maybe add more color or a nice background or something.
not bad
ahh so pretty!
no, i dont like the new frontpage. i think xanga should keep the original.
fits well stylistically with the photo, video, and weblog pages. integrashun~
feels kinda too clustered. its hard to look at it and no what’s going on automatically unless you’ve been around xanga for a while. i like the current one, really striaght forward.
Xanga rocks like cheese on the moon and savory independant films. Nice touch…
hate it. keep the frontpage as is.
I like it, better than spinach!
i like the old frontpage better. it feels friendlier to the eye. the new one has too much going on.. i can’t find anything.
nice. funny seeing your comic on front page of mashable.com haha.
let’s hang out over the summer?
meh. i kind of like the old one better… the new one’s too in-your-face kinda. lol. there’s so much going on, and it’s a little too complicated. i kind of like it better when it’s simpler.
oh well. nice work, anyway
i like the other one better
I don’t like it, it’s too complicated. I like it simpler, because frankly, the only time I’m looking at the frontpage is when I’m signing in. Please don’t change it. Thanks!
-Rebecca
the new front page is WAY too cluttered. i do not like it at all. no no no. keep the same format.
I dont even see where to log in?
dont like the format of the new one…no…no…no…no…no
could be a whole lot cleaner. its really cluttered and busy.
not really diggin` it.
i reallyy don’t like it, its so blahh, it needs color!!!
I don’t like it cause it kinda reminds me of just another retarded website where you can make blogs. Everything looks really… cluttered. I like the current front page. I don’t see anything wrong with it. It’s easy to manuver in and it looks welcoming.
I hate it. I like the old one. Don’t go and become MySpace. ..And don’t add too many things. Xanga ‘ll start going slow like MySpace. :/
Eh, I just don’t like it. It looks way too cluttered and boring. No color…just a lot of words, ads, and other crap.
So no, thumbs down. Sorry.
Hmmm….maybe I’m blind but where on the new page does one log in to xanga?
Found it. Never mind.
it’s too much like myspace. the reason I like xanga is because it has a more private feel than myspace does. but with the new frontpage looking almost exactly like myspace’s, I don’t like it as much.
Well, I’m just saying my opinion..
But seriously, the new page is all crammed. Everything is all over the place. And when I go onto Xanga, I don’t want to be seeing a bunch of random people’s pages and stuff. I think you should stick to the same format of how the recent one is right now, but you know, tweak it.
i dont like it, there’s too much clutter.
i just want a simple page.
It’s terrible. Honestly.
It looks like the front page to myspace and I hate the frontpage to myspace. It’s crowded and messy and just looks awful.
I love the xanga front page how it is. It’s nice and clean and simple. Nothing fancy shmancy about it. It’s perfect.
Why is xanga trying to become so much like myspace? Myspace sucks. You’re adding all this stuff like friends, messages, friends lock, and now this crappy front page.
You’re not myspace. You’re xanga. Be xanga.
Please.
eh i like the current one. i’ve grown accustumed to it
i like the old page better. the new page hits you with ton of stuff and you can’t really tell what to focus on.
Its like youtube’s frontpage. C’mon on xanga, think out of the box. Also, you need more color, and less things going on. Your current beta frontpage is too busy for the eye. Eh, all in all I prefer the old xanga frontpage, and even that was boring…
~Spyked~
ChiYokLown
it’s actually really good.
maybe the featured items should take up less space?
mm i really don’t prefer it. =/ it’s so busy and looks like a myspace/facebook/youtube wannabe. xanga is great (i’ve been registered since november of 2003 on another username and have used it all this time) but i like it because it has something else to offer… it’s not just another conglomeration site. please rethink it. an update to the homepage could be nice but something with clean lines; simple & fresh would be my pick.
keep up the great work.
horribly ugly…
I don’t like it. I don’t like the new designs of the private page, either.
it doesnt look that great to be honest…kinda like a jumbled mess of stuff…might make people confused as to what xanga is…
i think you guys should leave it simple and how it was…that is why i got hooked on xanga to begin with…it wasn’t a flashy website like every other one out there and it was simple to do any and everything…it is a little more complicated now (which i think is sad) but i guess things change
please give it another try before you put that big mess as the front page
a few lines would help where things just seem to blend together too much…would make it a bit more organized. also, something to make it a bit more welcoming…a welcome banner maybe? or something….and the join and get premium buttons should be just a bit more obvious, they’re a bit out of place by themselves so they could be a bit more noticeable, or placed near the sign in/out area…and something makes me feel that the updates should be on the left and all the stuff that’s on the left should be right-aligned……this is all random stuff btw i don’t have any design experience =P just throwing out stuff that may [or may not >.<] help. it’s lookin good man, hope to see your work come to life soon =D i think only google is allowed to stay in beta forever =P
its ok, but it’s not amazingly different. I’d prefer the original
it’s great! a lot better.
Truthfully, it looks like one of those lame Myspace help sites.
VERY GENERIC.
Xanga could do much better.
I also like Xanga’s simplicity, like xx_nowherefast.
To be quite frank, I like it the way it is. Change is good, but it’ll probably wig me out, Xanga being the first thing I see when I open my browser, for a few weeks. Just keep it simple. I’m a web designer myself, and I appreciate the simplicity of the current home page. Maybe if you left it the way it was, and then upon a user’s sign in, take them to the new front page. Make it a sort of “members only” home page. ~Josh
No, don’t think I like it too much … it’s really … busy. i think maybe it’s cuz i’m already so used to the way it is, but i’m also thinking about anyone who comes new to xanga; it’s so busy if i was new i don’t think i’d be able to find anything! cool concept, but needs a little taming.
i don’t really like it
I think it’s a bit too wide and cluttered. Like the content is just there and makes it look less professional. The current one looks neater, although a bit more bland.
It seems too cluttered to me. I kind of like it the way it is now. Besides, people with a slower internet connection might have trouble downloading all that stuff on there. >_<
It looks like MySpace. Ugh.
I don’t like it; I think it’s cluttered and ugly. I don’t have any desire to see other people’s random blogs and pictures and whatever else. I like the front page we have now just fine.
I’m sick of all the changes on here…
too much like myspace……..
That dark shadow of the white content area on the light blue looks too amateur. I think that the shadow should be lightened up so that it compliments all the other elements more.
Not /that/ appealing in my opinion. D:
i like the current one.
i don’t like it…
Eh… it looks nice. I don’t like the new placement of the login stuff… it’s always been on the left side…. I’m gonna have to re wire my brain in order to look onthe other side of the page to login.
i think the new one is too complicated
and the old one is classic! i say keep the old one.
or let people choose their preference. like google does if you have a google account and if you have a ‘personalized home’
I prefer the front page as it is. The new one is too much. If you guys do decide to put out a new design for the front page, please leave your users the option of keeping the original. Xanga’s been my homepage for years now and for it to turn into something like myspace/youtube/etc would just suck.
Mary
I have to be blunt: I strongly dislike it. It’s far too busy, yet somehow also has too much white space. It looks like a cross between wikipedia and a parked domain name page that has a bunch of links on it but no content. It isn’t immediately obvious what ‘Xanga’ is – it looks like a collection of randomly thrown together capabilities — what’s the message you’re trying to send? It looks like the second page you might after clicking through a more colorful but less functional front page.
Sorry, it’s possible you’re trying to attract a newer demographic, and maybe the beta is appropriate for that kind of new crowd. As a Xangarelic, though, it doesn’t work for me.
oro? cool…
eh it’s aight
just I have slooooooow AOL dial up so it would take forever to load it all I just saw the “outline” of what you were going for
so if you had also a HTML only part that would be cool for me
move the pictures and videos to the top, move the blogs to the bottom. people are more attracted to images than words.
I think it’s a lot for one page… =/
Much better front page there.
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD. I FEAR CHANGE. And yes, a bit too packed with information. Oh, the good old days of classic xanga.
I like it! It’s colorful, fun, and bouncy.. like me!!!
I think the latest features module looks the most cluttered. I also think audio should be up there. What if you replaced the latest features module with an audio module and just had a link to latest features somewhere?
It reminds me of the front page of friendster.. which i am not fond of..
-gRaCe-
I think the blue background is what throws me the most… [in a bad way].
Though it does feel kind of cluttered… I vastly prefer the current page… but if you’ve got to change it, you’ve got to change it. =P
Glad to see you’ve added “pulse” to the top navigation!
Nice!
I was wondering when you guys were going to get to it. Pretty quick.
nah it looks like myspace.. keep the old xanga look. i agree with xx__nowherefast
i don’t like this one; i like the front page we have now.
eh. i don’t like it.
NO WAY! why is everything changing? first spongebob, now XANGA? stop the myspace madness!! don’t you want to set yourself APART from myspace instead of conforming to it? PLEASE don’t change it
I agree with DailyKeven you don’t need a front page for the people that are already Xangans. Its nice to show what you can do by joining, but you should be emphasizing on getting new people to join.
Nobody Special _:^)
fantastic!!!!!
the old page is better because it parallels how all of our xangas are set up (most of them anyway). It also looks cleanner and simple is good for homepages. The sign in is too out of the way since the majority of users just sign right in.
Boo! Leave the old page, stop posing and trying to be like myspace!
I like it. it will tae some time to get used to it, and i’ll miss the old look, but its cool!
but i agree with vickyvix
I’m with Crazy4Orlando. ^^ I fear change greatly also…
I like the frontpage how it is now. Who needs a beta?
The new bubbly look of searching through the different tags (weblogs, photos, videos, etc…) also kind of… gives me the creeps. >.<
Heck, I’m still using the oldest weblog editor version. With the new beta frontpage you created, it doesn’t really look like a frontpage at all. It kind of reminds me of one of those search engines you’re randomly directed to when you type in a wrong html or something.
Sorry… I vote xanga’s frontpage just stays the same if that’s possible. Maybe add a little color if anything; the background you have for your site is quite spiffy I must say. ;]
Now it looks like a cheap generic website like Myspace. Snazzy but unoriginal.
the content – with the featured stuff – is good but the design doesn’t look that nice. the older version, i felt, was much more neater and clean.
Nice job, but there is WAAAAAAAAAAY too much going on in the layout. I can’t even focus on where I’m going. It is very modernized, but with modernization, some simplicity is needed. Think about magazines, they don’t cram 100 different things on a page. A simple white background with black text. I liked the old layout because it was simplicity. This is just an eyesore…
i don’t like it. it looks like myspace/friendster frontpage. dont do it! i like it now!!
I think it looks too much like MySpace.
The theme is OK
But it seems that it the design is not useful than the previous frontpage.
I don’t like it. It’s too cluttery, like you guys are trying too hard to be a Myspace or a YouTube. Just my honest opinion! I like our original Xanga page. It’s Xanga-y.
eeee. good thing i’s still in beta?
um….. I think that it’s WAY to cluttered and confusing. When I see the front page, I like to see the login box and the newest xangan news as priority on the page. This page makes my head spin…
original is classic. newer isnt always better.
dont like it at all. it looks like livejournal.
dont like it at all. it looks like livejournal.
I think the old one is fine. everything doesnt always need to be new!
I like it. Its differnt but I like it!
looks good ^_^
oh and its not myspace it looks like. its YOUTUBE. and its unneccesary imo.
great job, less ads, yay!
it looks alright i guess
just please don’t make xanga too complicated
with… too many features .. because then
all the blogs start to look the same
i came to xanga because it was so sweet and simple
and i don’t think i’m going to leave, but.. well, yeah
it’s great! a lot better. …. thak sO muk ~:p ^^
it’s too complicated. i’m with the old.
i don’t like it. i like the old one better
i liked the old frontpages. they didn’t seem too wide and profile pictures weren’t cut off.
i the simplier one-0-”
i mean i like the old one
i mean i like the old one
i like the new front page, except that it still feels like it’s all sort of mushed together. there needs to be a clear delineation between sections–even simple bold lines could do the trick. for example, the text box on the right bleeds into the main box where you can look up recent weblogs, etc. overal, the page looks good–it just needs tidying/fine-tuning.
i dont like it =(
Too cluttered, looking more and more like MySpace. Less is more!
love the new beta frontpage.
hope it’ll become established as the main one soon.
How upset will you all be when the front page is covered in less than savory images that are uploaded by those who want the ‘attention’ that semi/mostly naked people bring to thier sites?
How upset will you be when the entire front page is ‘taken over’ by say…Bob Ross?
Too cluttered, too busy, too much like myspace.
IF you just have to have an example of every single thing that Xanga has ON that page, make it just one or at most two examples, not 4 or 5. Dial up people will curse you, it takes forever to load all that.
Frankly, if that had been designed for my site, I’d send it back for a total redo. A clean, clear, easily navigated page that allows people to see how to join makes much more sense than what I can see happening with that set up.
But whatever, it’s not my site.
More color, less clutter.
I like the pics and videos aenr the bottom..
Sorry, no ideas on how to make it less-cluttered.
I liked the orange on the previous page. It gave it more color…
I liked how you could go to your screen name and drop down to where exactly you want to go… I was wondering why we didn’t have that on the Dash page…
I prefer the old one.
Especially in the blogrings preview bit? Where you see all the members? I liked that a lot more before it changed.
x
The photoblogs at the bottom are heavy compared to the text at the top. Its ok doing away with the lines, but they imposed form and now its too freeform and a mess for the eye. There is no dominant theme with subthemes leading the eye from one to the other. I think lines (boxes) of different colours might work, or if not boxes, shapes. . Your page is a model of colour and clarity, maybe you should design the front page?
How are you going to select the featured blogs? By people paying you? By top eprops (please no, the same-old, same-old eprop whores will dominate and being as they are not particularly good bloggers, but more closed-circle, you prop me-I’ll prop you backscratchers they won’t bring you any business) or by Xangagods selecting them (which would be cool, if undemocratic). Maybe you should have another new feature (!) Feature the top of each (daily) tag.
Don’t know about other users, but I hate having to scroll along the bottom. Not everyone has 21″ monitors, and it gets annoying. I also like having the login on the left better.
you ever get the feeling that people just say “i like it!” because they like the idea of a change in general?
seriously. this is just plain ugly. please don’t change it. it’s bad enough you guys are trying to become a weird cross between myspace and blogger with all the new unnecessary features you’ve added. but that frontpage just looks… shoddy. sorry, t’swhat i think.
and in further review, it looks like more people agree with me than i thought. yeah, too busy, too much like other blog sites… sorry if you put a lot of work into it or something, but it really just doesn’t work at all to me.
=/
i don’t like it.
WONDERFUL! lol it looks good to me ^_^
I prefer the old one much more, like the others said, a little too cluttered.
i don’t know…
i had trouble finding the link to my own page. maybe something a bit cleaner?
I liked the old frontpage alot… nothing wrong with it, as “nowherefast” said, it was nice and easy on the eyes.
The beta frontpage is cluttered, disjointed, and just looks like you are copying myspace. :-/
luckily i don’t spend much time on the frontpage… so… i guess it’s fine
You guys should get Premium so there are no adds and the front page would look even cleaner.
It doesn’t seem very inviting.
-New Kid
i don like it! =/
well it was alright, I kinda of like the old one and the new one is pretty cool. though I am not too happy about clicking on the photo section of the front page and seeing nude pictures of someones site, …….nasty sight……
I think it’s alright, as long as it’s not too hard to sign in.
dont like it
IN A BAD WAY, ITS SO MUCH LIKE MYSPACE…
BE ORGINAL!
TOO MUCH USELESS JUNK & CRAP;
KEEP IT SIMPLE, OR DONT CHANGE IT AT ALL
eh i like the old one better.
it’s more easy to go around and its not all crammed up.
this new one has hardly any color only blue and white?
my opinion.
I don’t really like it. The new front page is too “busy”…Simplicity is the key
i like the current one better. the beta one focuses a lot on the people who already have xanga & know their way around. if i were a beginner & was just intoduced to xanga, i would be totally clueless & have no idea where to go.
also, the current frontpage has the “what is xanga??” which is very good because it gives a nice, clean overview of xanga.
i think you guys are trying too hard too “improve” xanga, & are upsetting the old users (me included) who like xanga the way it is. or should i say, was.
I DONT LIKE THE FRONTPAGEEEE. nononono. dont change. I’ll cry. I’m switchin to LJ. I like simple. I like old one. donnnnnnt change.
I don’t really care for the new frontpage. There’s no focal point and a dull colorscheme. Plus I don’t like the photos being the first thing I see when I want log in. I personally don’t care about Jane from Nebraska’s pictures of her new puppy.
Maybe you could take the layout from the old frontpage and vamp that up a bit, but nothing drastic like this new thing.
I don’t likee ittt. The current NEAT one, is good.
Simplicity is better than more people give it credit for.
Nice….very nice…
i don’t like it much either, it seems too cluttered for me.
I HATE it. Way too much crap.
I like it, its a nice touch of something new. But it’s not as easy to find where to sign in, thats the only complaint I have.
Eh, I don’t like it. It’s cluttered, busy, chaotic, and not as well organized. It doesn’t have the simipicity or visual appeal that the current frontpage does. I also don’t like having excerpts of the featured blogs there, or the profile pictures present on the frontpage.
The Beta frontpage doesn’t make effienct use of “white space” or formating. With the current one, the are three distinct columns. It’s well organized, and your eyes are drawn to the individual areas easily. With the Beta, it just seems all jumbled together with no real organization (Upon looking more closely, it’s clear that it is organized–it just doesn’t look like it at a gance.) Furthermore, the three most important sections (sign in, feature/news updates, and joining) are minimized by the new arrangement (In fact, I would go so far as to say that the Beta homepage actually draws your eyes away from these areas.). In general, the new Beta has a very “Myspace-y” feel – not cool. Xanga is Xanga, not Myspace. Don’t try to look like them.
I would agree that the current homepage is not necessarily the flashiest one around, but that is specifically one of the reasons why I’ve always loved it. It is clean, clear, simple, concise, specific, compact, and incredibly well organized. It doesn’t throw all kinds of information in my face that I don’t want to see (such as excerpts and pictures from other people’s sites), and yet it makes it very easy to access such information from the various content boxes and search bar if I need it. The current homepage also makes it very easy to find the kind of information that a general audience would explicitly and specifically look for when visiting it (how to join, updates and changes in functionality, and a little bit of common Q&A). Most of this does not hold true for the Beta homepage.
There isn’t really anything about the beta version that appeals to me. I think the current homepage already accomplishes everything that the Beta is trying to do, but in a more efficent and appealing way. The only thing that I would suggest changing about the current homepage is to remove the ad from the top of the page (and by that, I don’t mean doing that for all your sites, just the homepage). Other than that, I think that your homepage is already perfect as it is, and I hope you don’t change it.
wayyyyy too busy for me to comprehend.
but that’s not saying much.
I’m not a fan of the new layout. I can see that CSS is being used in the design, but I think the design could really be pushed with more creativity. Everything is so blocky. It could overall look more friendly and welcoming. The ads by Google going across in the header helps to make the page look like a big advertisement, in addition to the whole right column.
I think the menu design could be improved, perhaps with small graphics. The “Post a weblog” link, I don’t understand why it’s located where it is. I know it’s aligned with the “featured weblogs” row, but it seems a little out of place or just floating there in the middle of the page.
Right now, my eyes immediately go to the “Get Premium” and “Join Now” buttons since they’re in a bright green color.
On the current xanga front page, I think the entire left column is pretty successful the way it’s laid out. you can easily see if you’re signed in, boosted content, featured content, etc. I also think this page: http://weblog.xanga.com/ has a pretty successful design.
Is there any way to move the google ads to the footer? maybe beneath the “xanga skins” row?
Although I can view xanga pages, I wish I could also log IN to xanga using the internet function on my phone (verizon).
Also, the Pulse comic is lame.
I think the tags feature is good for new users. If they see a bunch of topics, they can easily explore the site.
Lastly, I agree with the comment of the user, “Loyal and True” above. White space isn’t always a bad thing.
just my two cents
Maybe to unclutter you need to put more things into links, rather than have them directly off the main page. The point of a main page, as I see it, is to be a draw; it should be asthetically pleasing, and entice people. So, it has to have a nice design or picture or something, and be relatively simple. Then maybe from there you can go to a page with hundreds of different lists and things.
it’s okay but i like the old one.
i think the old site design is better.
hey!! the new frontpage is pretty cool… but i don’t really like it, personally because im so used to the frontpage as it is now, if u change it to the new one.. it wont feel the same way it did before..and i’ve been on xanga for awhile, i’m gonna miss it’s old ways
-kimee
It looks really not-good. It looks like one of those fakey search engines that pops up when you mistype a website.
I agree with what someone else said about the ease of navigation. The new frontpage looks a little overdone. Where the hell are we supposed to log in at?
Honestly, I say stick with the old one. Otherwise, your frontpage is going to look identical to the boosted/featured content and newly updated page.
And besides, what is going to happen to the news updates if you change it? If I hadn’t seen the announcement on the frontpage, I wouldn’t have even known you guys were planning on changing it and I wouldn’t have got the link to this post. Think about it.
I don’t like it – it’s too busy, and the layout makes it feel like a squatter site, instead of anything legitimate.
nice
check out my site im new to xanga
It’s so-so. I say keep it simple. We don’t need a lot of fancy bells and whistles here. We’re not trying to turn this into MySpace or anything!!!
actually, I liked the old page better. see, on the old frontpage (or rather the one that’s still up now), the messages from the xanga team were what you see first. to me, this is more important than seeing the featured photos and videos and all that. the new page sort of pushes it off to the side, where you barely notice it.
also, I don’t like all of the boxes on the new page – the ones around every link, like Frontpage Weblog Photos Profiles &c; they just look tacky. everything just seems too cluttered, as if it doesn’t all fit on the page. the font is also much too large – legible type is one thing, obnoxious type is another thing completely.
overall, the old page has a much better design. it’s simple, and clean – it doesn’t take up a whole page (any page that fully extends from left to right is extremely poor design, IMO) and looks like xanga. it is xanga, really – it’s the same as a default xanga blog would look, and this in turn makes it more relevant to the xanga community as a whole.
xx__nowherefast commented that the old page reminded them of times when simplicity was a must. I agree with them, and I have to say that I hope that xanga will continue in its own style, instead of imitating other poorly-designed blog frontpages, like livejournal (also, suddenly tacky) and myspace (who even looks at the myspace front page anymore? very few people, that’s who – simply because there’s way too much stuff on there).
just my two cents.
AWESOME~!!!
To tell you the truth, its to much like myspace to me, sure i like myspace, but xanga should have its own style dont you think? I dont know, just something to think about I guess. But yes, it does look pretty snazzy.
it looks good! but i like things simple.
but it’s still goood
chris no no no on the new webpage it looks so bad..and boring.
it’s a little too cluttered, but also it would be nice if there was a link that went directly to the read subscriptions page somewhere on there… =)
Apparently it’s designed only for those with fast connections, as it won’t even load on my dial-up. How egalitarian.
I like that you made the tabs more prominent, but I reeeeally don’t like the layout for any of them. What happened to the blue and orange? Where’s the Xanga personality? It looks kind of like one of those websites that pop up if you misspell something in the url. Generic. Boring. “We have content.” Okay, but so do other sites. Maybe I’m just not used to it, but … not feeling it right now.
On a different note, I noticed on the Metros page that there’s a little mini-logo by it with the buildings … that is cute. I think you should make little mini-logos for all of the sections. But why is the green darker on it?
I think maybe to improve the new look, you could make the tabs themselves colored (like the profile one is red and the metros one is dark green when you click on them).
I’d like it better with the 5 colored boxes on the Xanga Logo as the color palette for the theme. Just the blue alone is somewhat bland.
old one is better! new one has wayyyy too much stuff… looks like its turning into another myspace?
Very nice and updated!
kay i don’t know who you are but what the hell did youi do to my xanga i want you to change it back please i’m only 9years old!!!=*(
I like the current layout better. I don’t like this one.
this is like so totally aweome!!!!!!!!!!!
I like the 1st page, but I liked having all the featured pages on one page, instead of going to next page.
I’m sorry, I love you guys, but it’s so blah. How about adding the color elements you have on this page to the front page? It’s missing color, life, vitality. It looks more like an encyclopedia than a fun community. JMHO. Otherwise, you guys rock!
I actually *like* the original homepage, it’s easy to navigate and doesn’t have a tonne of totally unnecessary content cluttering up the front. I don’t *need* to know all about most recent posters lives, I just need to log in, and new users just need to know what xanga is, it’s updates and its features. The original page does that, it’s clean and it’s easy to navigate, to be honest I see no reason at all to update it to something more cluttered and complicated.
If you’re going to make new features, why not make something for premium users? We pay for this and get next to NOTHING that the regular users don’t get for free. For years we’ve been begging for multiple protected lists, and the ablities to search our own site, but despite promises that they’re coming…we just get more useless features that we don’t really need (like Pulse?? wtf? I already *have* a blog, I don’t need a ‘mini-blog’ – will someone tell me what the heck is the POINT of Pulse? Seriously, it makes no sense to me!)…and not only that, but they’re not even premium features. We have to pay for extra photostorage that we should get as part of membership – and we used to until, surprise, that went to “everyone welcome” too. The only thing we get that regulars don’t get is archiving…and while that’s worth it, I can’t help but feel a bit ripped off..
Give us some features we actually can use, and start actually giving your paying members a little something for their money…
i like alot like the background
GOOD JOB
I like it, but I fear what it will do to my poor dialup connection…
It looks good. I like that there are more pictures on it. Pleasing to the eye.
It looks clean and simple to me. I like the beta page that’s currently linked above.
If people are worried about clutter, why doesn’t Xanga give us an opt-out for what items display atop our own pages. In our Settings somewhere we could have little check boxes which list Weblog, Photos, Videos, Audio, Pulse, Reviews, and Events. We could leave checked the ones which we wish to display on our own site, and uncheck the ones we don’t wished to have displayed.
Advice: Leave it alone. It looks wonderful as it is.
MUCH BETTER FRONTPAGE!
actually. now that i think about it. i like the old one better…
whe is it going gold?
Alright, guys, let me lay this out for you. I counted up all the comments on this post and the one over at John’s site, and came up with some interesting results. I read every single comment and rated it as positive, negative, or neutral/irrelevant. Here are the results of my research:
POSITIVE: 123
NEGATIVE: 251
So the consensus is a landslide vote against the new frontpage. Honestly, if my website looked the way yours does, I would be ashamed of myself. I’ve been designing websites for a long time, and your frontpage looks like the average “myspace codez” website that a 13-year-old girl designed with a crappy wysiwyg.
At second glance, it also looks kind of like a livejournal page, but with ads. Do you really want those ads to be the first thing people see when they come to Xanga? Sure, you need them for money. But if you don’t have people signing up, you’re not going to make money; and if you’re website is hideous, you’ll have a lot less people signing up.
You’ll also have less people signing up if you continue to feature uncensored pornographic images in the photos section. Any 12-year-old could get to pornography from one click on Xanga. That is absolutely terrible!
I know there are several ISPs (such as Integrity Online) who actually block Xanga but not Myspace. I used to think that was ridiculous, because Xanga was a nice, safe place. Then all of a sudden, Xanga has porn all over the place and a lot of random slutty users.
In short, Xanga is headed rapidly in the wrong direction. I hope you’ll turn back.
Dialectical Ascent
hello chris!!!!!!!!!!!! i juz wanna suggest, it would be great if there is a build-in search engine within a blog, juz like that of gmail/yahoo mail.
thank you thank you and say hi to ur dog.
Mel
aww u love dogs thats so nice
I totally agree with Dialectical Ascent. Please, please, PLEASE change back!