Previewing The New Phoronix Design

[gQuigs]

Live Preview available?

Is there a live preview available? Much easier to review then a screenshot.

Overall, I like the direction and it looks cleaner.

[stqn]

Hard to say if it’s better or not because of the fake text. Is this the front page? (sorry if it’s been answered, I don’t feel like reading all comments at the moment.)

However I like that the left-hand column is gone; it should leave more space for the article and reduce the clutter. And I never use either the left or right-hand columns of the current design anyway.

Edit: the current design is too wide, and the mockup screenshot is much too wide too.

[mo0n_sniper]

This is just change for the sake of change. Absolutely nothing is changed for the better in the new one.

I've been a phoronix reader for over three years and seen many good websites ruin their design/layout in that time (even big ones like YouTube, etc)

Luckily Phoronix has been the one website whose layout has stayed sane. And visually pleasing. Heck, I even thought about writing an e-mail to Michael a year ago just telling him how good his site's current layout is and that he should never have to think about changing it. Just to make sure this day would never come.

Sigh. I know I'm not the one calling the shots here. But I'm still very, very dissatisfied.

I totally agree with you on this.

[mbit]

My ideas to improve the new Phoronix site.

Here are my ideas to improve the new Phoronix site.

To illustrate the ideas, I have uploaded an image as well.

http://postimg.org/image/z9jh5egq5/

1. Better top sections
I think the top sections should better convey what the phoronix.com site
is about - news, reviews, benchmarks and forums.
Today it's a bit unclear what the difference between Home and Articles & Reviews
is. To make it more clear I would suggest everything is considered articles and the top sections would then be different kinds of articles.

For instance:
* The Phoronix logo would go to the home page with all articles.
* 'News' would only show news articles.
* 'Reviews' would show review articles of hardware, software, etc.
* 'Benchmarks' would show testing and comparison articles.
* 'Forums' would of course be the forums as today.


2. Better sub sections.
The sub sections could be the same for the four top sections.
Currently different sections of the site have different sub sections,
which can be a bit confusing.

Articles & Reviews have:
* Computers
* Display Drivers
* Distributions
* Enclosures
* Events
* Graphics Cards
* Linux Gaming
* Memory
* Monitors
* Motherboards
* Operating Systems
* Peripherals
* Power Supplies
* Processors
* Software
* Storage

The current left hand column sub section list has:
* Computers
* Display Drivers
* Graphics Cards
* Motherboards
* Peripherals
* Processors
* Software
* Operating Systems
* All Articles

The forum has:
* Phoronix
* Linux Graphics / X.Org Drivers (instead of Graphics Cards/Display Drivers)
* Software
* Hardware

I have no strong opinion on what the common sub sections should be, since it
goes deeper than just design, but it seems a compromise between the two first
examples might be good.


3. Tying together the top sections and the sub sections.
When selecting a top section you would see the all articles for that top section
shown chronologically.

The sub section list on the right (formerly on the left) should take effect
for the selected top section. For instance when the Forum top section is
selected, clicking on Distributions would take you to the Distributions
sub section of the forums.

To make it more clear that the sub sections list is connected to the selected
top section the 'All Articles' sub section is contextually renamed to either
All News, All Reviews, All Benchmarks or All Forums.


4. Tying together the top sections and the search text area.
The search text area should be moved to below the sub section list.

To make it more clear that the search text area is connected to the selected
top section the text inside the area is contextually renamed to either
Search News, Search Reviews, Search Benchmarks or Search Forums.


5. Showing selected top sections and sub sections in green
To make it more clear what top section and sub section you are currently
wathcing the would be recolored in green.


6. Encourage people to log in
By putting the Create account and Log in options in the top right corner it
becomes easier to use the full extent of the site.


7. Moving the Phoronix Test Suite link
To make it clear that 'Phoronix Test Suite' is not a top section it would have
to be moved elsewhere.


8. Moving the right column to the far right.
I just think it looks nicer...


Good luck with the new site, hope to see it soon!
/Mbit

[frign]

Screenreaders

Is it usable with screenreaders? I really like the current design for being easily accessible.

[talvik]

Will it properly support Phoronix Premium? Will I need to open Phoronix, see ads, open the forum in new tab, go back to article tab and then reload, to get the "premium experience"?

(gonna keep spamming, Michael )

[randomizer]

I like it. How will be the mobile version? Will the forums aesthetics mimic the new desing?

Thank you,

That will pretty much require replacing the software. Styling anything but the colours in vBulletin is about as pleasant as chewing barbed wire.

[Rabauke]

The screenshot looks like it's been taken on a 4:3 Display. How will it look on a 16:9 screen? Will it be aligned to the left? Then you should move the right-hand sidebar to the left in order to have the main articles more centered. And why is the sidebar not aligned to the top-bar's right edge leaving a vertical white gap?

[dee.]

Hmmmm, it's nice, but you should make it POP more.

[psychoticmeow]

Luckily Phoronix has been the one website whose layout has stayed sane. And visually pleasing. Heck, I even thought about writing an e-mail to Michael a year ago just telling him how good his site's current layout is and that he should never have to think about changing it. Just to make sure this day would never come.

The current design is rather ugly, it doesn't fit well inside of a 1080px wide window, and it's almost impossible to use on a mobile device.

Lots of room for improvement here, but we'll see.