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Welcome to the new-look Head for Points

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OK, we’re back after a couple of hours of downtime.

Things look a little different as you can tell ……

After eight years of using a layout which was, to be honest, already dated when we started using it in 2012, we have pulled the site into the 21st century.

I know that our core readers didn’t really care how we looked but the old theme was starting to take its toll.  HfP should hit 20 million page views this year (we are around the 450th biggest UK website) with a further 9 million articles read via email.  However, the old look was starting to impact our ability to attract new readers and secure large advertising contracts.  We hope you like what we’ve done.

I don’t want to say any more at this point because my prime consideration today is making sure that everything is working as expected.

If you see a technical issue – a broken link, a formatting issue, something which simply looks wrong on your device – then please tell us. Do NOT comment in this thread.  There is a separate ‘noise free’ thread for technical issues which is here.  Post your problem and we’ll get onto it.

If it’s a formatting issue, please say what device you are using.  We expect some issues with some mobile devices.

If you simply want to say that you like or hate the new look, then feel free to say that in this thread!  If you have any requests for new features we could add in the medium term, please also put your ideas in this thread.  The other one is exclusively for short-term problems requiring a quick fix.

You will see some minor differences around the site in terms of menus and layout.  However, there are no fundamental changes and all of the old content remains.  There are no changes to the usual ‘three articles, all posted by 6am’ scheduling.

Tomorrow I will run an article explaining exactly what has changed in terms of site functionality.

In a couple of days I’ll write a longer piece on what we’ve done, why we did it, who did it and what we learnt whilst doing it.  Given that we started approaching design agencies back in November, it has been a long process.

Thank you for your continued support, especially in the current climate.  Our revenue may be down but our page views have been consistently higher than the same period in 2019 which keeps us motivated.

Rob

PS.  If you made a comment on the ‘old’ site this morning then you might find it has disappeared.  Apologies.  Please feel free to post it again.

Comments (206)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Roger* says:

    (Gulp!) 8 years – with steadily increasing relevance and authority – well done!

    Yes, the new format is looking good. I spent some time yesterday on my previous go-to blogger looking for some specific info. Gut reaction is that that won’t be necessary again.

    Oh, and thanks for the l/c ‘f’ in HfP. For this pedant, HfP was always more logical than HFP! (Now if we could moderate the use of exclamation marks …!)

  • Rossy says:

    Looks good Rob, good work!

  • Bagoly says:

    Generally I like it.
    The only annoying bit is the moving adverts, but as it is not a site which I ever want to keep open, it does not matter.

  • the_real_a says:

    Now that you have removed the Next/Previous article links – and replaced with “Top Stories” its not possible to flow to story 4/5/6 in a day without going back to the main page. Not really an issue on desktop as people generally have multiple tabs, but on mobile its incredibly frustrating and users generally do not have multiple tabs – instead navigating via links and the back button. For example if you are on article 3 of the day – how do you get to article 4 and how many clicks does it take to get there? You will likely see a drop off on article views that are not 1 click from the current page.

    • Peter K says:

      Exactly.

    • Rob says:

      Here was our thinking. Every day we do umpteen-thousand page views of old articles from people sent via Google. These people see ‘next post / previous post’ links which are useless, as they are pointing to content which could be years old. This structure means that those people see something useful, ie today’s stuff, and so may stick around to read it.

      There is some logic behind everything you see on the site. Doesn’t mean it’s correct, but there was a reason behind it!

  • Raj says:

    Loving the new look of the HfP website. Clean design, neat font, sleek and easy on the eye – and definitely makes the site easier to read and navigate. Excellent job and well done to Rob, Rhys, Anika and the rest of the team!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    Using the mobile site. I think it’ll take a little getting used to but a step in the right direction 👍🏽

    • TGLoyalty says:

      I’d say via mobile is a small improvement but the desktop experience is a far bigger step.

      • Rhys says:

        There is very little you can change within the narrow constraints of mobile pages, unfortunately!

      • Rob says:

        That’s because we had separate ‘themes’ before for mobile and desktop. Now it is just one, which resizes depending on device. There are about six different ‘views’.

  • blenz101 says:

    looks great, would be really great if HfP staff could easily be identified in the comments given the value and weight you add to discussions.

    • Rhys says:

      Yep, working on this

      • Rob says:

        ….. although we aren’t going to over-emphasise it as there are plenty of people who comment who know as much as us, often more depending on topic.

      • BJ says:

        Maybe you guys could add a traffic light system to my comments!

  • Mr. AC says:

    I’ll go against the grain a bit and say that I’m not a big fan of the new website at first glance. Too… Bland? “Modern” in a standard way? Indistinguishable from any other website? Can’t exactly put my finger on it.

    • JAXBA says:

      If it were a new airline livery, then the description would be ‘euro-white’…

      I feel it needs some colour in the header, but that’s me.

    • Rob says:

      That’s right, it now looks like all other 2020 websites instead of standing alone looking like a 2010 one 🙂

      • BJ says:

        i think it definitely looks 2020 but I don’t think it looks like most of the others, They are same sane, too much colour, too much clutter, too much repetition, too much scatter. I think this looks more classy.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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