The Latest Look Of The Phoronix Redesign

[erendorn]

For example,

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU5OTY

could become

http://www.phoronix.com/news/MTU5OTY

or maybe even something like

http://www.phoronix.com/news/2014/02/10/nvidia-publishes-new-open-source-nouveau-driver-patch

It's longer, but more informative i.e the signal to noise ratio is much higher.

Indeed.
But all in all, the proposed new layout looks good to me.

[enfocomp]

I like the proposed new site with the green theme, looks more "Phoronix" than the blue one. Ignore the negative critics, some people just can't handle change even if it looks better. Always complainers wherever you go.

[Etzos]

I didn't really have much of a problem with the previous revisions of the site (except for the lack of green, green just feels like Phoronix's color) and I don't have a problem with this one. The changes definitely get a thumbs-up from me!

[Serge]

So far the comments seem to be focused mostly on the color theme. I have to admit to having a preference for the old (current) green-grey-black color theme too. I do, however, like this new green theme more than the previous new blue theme. I've come to associate the color green with Phoronix, and the color blue with 99% of the rest of the internet, so I think it's important to at least maintain green as the dominant color.

Comparing the new colors with the current colors, I believe the new colors improve readability and overall give the site a more spaced, open feel. However, as other posters have pointed out, this new color theme is not as unique, compared to others' site designs, as the old current theme.

As far as the rest of the interface goes, I won't really know how to feel about it until I actually see it live in action as opposed to looking at some screenshots. Since colors appears to be the leading aspect of the design in this discussion, I think a number of other posters might feel the same way.

The only suggestion I can think of is to make color theme selectable per user account, and perhaps even tie this into premium accounts as a bonus to those who subscribe. The new "more modern" / "more generic" color theme can be the default, thus capitalizing on its (presumed) appeal to new readers, while the old theme, as an option for premium accounts, can capitalize on its appeal to some of the returning readers. Obviously, this is an easy suggestion to make from the point of view of someone that has nothing to do with actually implementing such an idea. That is a decision for you to weigh against the drawbacks of increased system complexity and development time, of course.

[profoundWHALE]

Personally, I've always liked the article layout on this website. I'd often find myself lost on other ones because they try to do some weird magazine crap.

The complaints about colour are really minor considering how easy it could be to just add the option in say, user settings for the colour.

[Daktyl198]

And get rid of the typical PHP crap in the URLs. That is soooo last-decade. We don't care what scripting language you are using or its filename. And we certainly don't want to see extra parameters spelt out.

For example,

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU5OTY

could become

http://www.phoronix.com/news/MTU5OTY

or maybe even something like

http://www.phoronix.com/news/2014/02/10/nvidia-publishes-new-open-source-nouveau-driver-patch

It's longer, but more informative i.e the signal to noise ratio is much higher.

Just some thoughts.

That "typical PHP crap" isn't PHP specific. It's called a GET request and it's universal across all languages. Hell, even JavaScript can access GET requests in a URL. The usual way to get rid of it is to mask it with an apache .htaccess file, telling your server when it sees "/news/MTU5OTY" it's actually sending the two get requests: "?page=news_item" and "px=MTU5OTY"
That said, Micheal is probably using Nginx which doesn't use .htaccess files, so it is a bit more complicated (involving the server block configuration)


On to the site design itself:
SERIOUSLY MICHEAL, a redesign is fine, but do it for a reason. For example, base the redesign around responsive design and that would be a reason to change. Clearing up some room and fixing the width so you can put in some bigger/more ads is NOT enough reason.
Fuck the color scheme, I don't care if you change the site colors to orange and yellow, but don't change it without a real reason.
You've been told several times to try out Bootstrap, which does most of the responsive design crap for you... so why not just try it out?

[Belial]

Change is cool if it's for the better. I personally think the new layout is a step backwards from what it is now.

[Daktyl198]

Change is cool if it's for the better. I personally think the new layout is a step backwards from what it is now.

It's definitely a step forward, it's just not far enough of one to warrant the change *shrug*

[Michael]

It's definitely a step forward, it's just not far enough of one to warrant the change *shrug*

There's also back-end improvements, lots of minor formatting improvements on various pages, a couple new pages, improved search results, etc. Lots of minor stuff besides the immediate visual changes.

[sgRevan]

Nothing too exciting.