More HfP redesign tweaks – let us know what you’d still like to see

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• Definitas says:

  11 Oct11 October 10:02

  Open comments at page 1 by default

• ChrisW says:

  11 Oct11 October 10:19

  Shade the header. There’s so much white already on the site.

  • G Flyer says:

    11 Oct11 October 13:47

    I agree – I also think background shading for the comments and right hand advert pane would help when scrolling down and reading the page. Background shading helps distinguish and separate different sections. On a MacBook the central article pane width feels too narrow. By comparison, the left hand pane has hardly any info, yet it’s relatively wide considering the small volume of information it contains.

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  11 Oct11 October 11:07

  Reply button, reply button, reply button! It really needs repositioning, I keep hitting it accidentally.

  A forum would be really nice! Could replace the chat thread which isn’t very conductive to long term conversations.

  Finally, a blue header would be nice, obviously as a lont term reader I know this is your branding colour but for a new reader might stop them from thinking why is some of the stuff blue and the rest black?

  Overall really like the new site over the old, but can be made better.

  • roberto says:

    11 Oct11 October 11:27

    Echo the reply button. Must hit it two or three times a day when scrolling on my mobile. Please move it away from my right thumb.

    • Isherwood says:

      11 Oct11 October 11:48

      +1👆

      • AndyGWP says:

        11 Oct11 October 12:10

        Yeah – reply button is better (for me) on the right as opposed to where it used to be, but I still keep hitting it accidentally on mobile

        • TGLoyalty says:

          11 Oct11 October 13:29

          Same it’s now better but being so close to the edge of the screen of either side is prone to accidentally hitting reply.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Oct11 October 13:04

    I hit the reply button all the time when scrolling on my iPhone!

    • Genghia says:

      11 Oct11 October 13:37

      I hit it more after the relaunch than now so 👍🏻 from me

• Jimmy says:

  11 Oct11 October 11:46

  Cant you just create a forum – it would be so much better.

  • Rob says:

    11 Oct11 October 12:07

    That is Phase 2. Need everyone happy with Phase 1 first!

  • ChrisW says:

    11 Oct11 October 13:12

    Flyertalk?

• Andrew Mc says:

  11 Oct11 October 11:58

  Can you allow user to choose number of comments to view per page? Or at least a view all on a single page option.

  • Rob says:

    11 Oct11 October 12:06

    No. We could control top level comments (which is the only level of control we have ourselves) but that doesn’t help as – say – 10 top level could be anything between 10 and 30 total comments.

    Frankly, it is also good for page views which drive our ad rates.

    • RussellH says:

      11 Oct11 October 12:39

      So is the real reason for lots of tiny pages rather than one big page because it cons the advertisers into thinking that there have been more [pages read than is actually the case?

      • Rob says:

        11 Oct11 October 13:01

        It is simply unmanageable as one long page. It has to break somewhere. I’m not sure you realise what 500 comments would look like, especially for people coming back later in the day to catch up comments they missed earlier.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          11 Oct11 October 13:31

          Agree. But 12 or 14 or 16 instead of 8 top level comments might work better? At the moment there are just far too many pages of comments.

        • cinereus says:

          13 Oct13 October 12:49

          It’s not unmanageable. It’s much more manageable than multiple pages. It only serves to break ctrl+f which is the only sensible way to deal with a large comment thread that doesn’t allow threaded newsgroup style navigation. Trying to claim “it has to break somewhere” is false as it “500 comments on one page is too much”. It might have been in 1995 but in 2020 it’s easily the only sensible way to do it.

          I also agree re conning advertisers. When I’ve written ad contracts before, savvy ones are well aware of the comment page trick.

      • Lady London says:

        11 Oct11 October 13:44

        There used to be more comments per page, my impression is 2.5xmore, but this may be because the old version used to extend the page to accommodate all levels of reply stemming from one main comment.

        Too much page flipping on mobile now really.

        • Rhys says:

          12 Oct12 October 10:24

          We haven’t changed the number of comments per page!

• Shakshuka says:

  11 Oct11 October 12:00

  It’s all too big for my screen. I use an iPad and can only ever see 2 (at most 3 depending on position and adverts) article headlines. I feel like the sizing of the whole site should be shrunk a bit to get more into view with minimal scrolling down. I’ve definitely been on the site much less compared to pre redesign because I find it a bit irritating and unpleasant. But then again I’m pretty finicky and don’t like change, so maybe it’s just me!

  • Rob says:

    11 Oct11 October 12:04

    The iPad site is designed to be used vertically, not horizontally.

    However, I know that many – inc me – use it horizontally and it can be a bit squeezed. 13 inch laptops have a similar issue. I do want to address this.

    • RussellH says:

      11 Oct11 October 12:41

      Can you not zoom in and out on a tablet, as you do on a proper computer?

  • Lady London says:

    11 Oct11 October 13:48

    Yes I find the print size got larger and for some strange reason pinching gestures havent always worked to make the whole thing smaller. This combines with the new shorter pages (across which daughter comments are now broken from parents) to feel more overwhelming even on my 6.2in mobile screen.

    I do like the way ads have been slotted in, it makes it much more commercial.

• Simon says:

  11 Oct11 October 12:26

  Lovely to see “Latest Comments” back. Can it not be on the main page too. I’m sure it used to be?!

  • Rob says:

    11 Oct11 October 13:02

    There’s is nowhere for it!

    • Crafty says:

      16 Oct16 October 09:39

      Ok I’ll bite since many people are pointing out what would be helpful yet in response you keep saying there is no space.

      1) Above or below the credit card deals advert
      2) Above or below the integrated ad box, currently promoting Marriott
      3) At the very top, below “Head for Points”

      It only needs to be a small body text link.

      • Rob says:

        16 Oct16 October 11:03

        How do I get six ‘recent comments’ into any of those areas, without removing an ad which pays the bills?

• Philip says:

  11 Oct11 October 14:18

  I know you’re using a custom theme from an agency, but was it built from the ground up by scratch, or was a standard purchased theme used as the starting point?

  I love how clean it is and it would be great to find a similar style theme.

  • Rob says:

    11 Oct11 October 15:07

    Ground up (although remember you’re just dropping the theme on top of the existing WordPress software).

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