TAB Redesign
Written on January 24, 2006 by Josh Pigford and 28 people have commented
Well here we have it. The 3rd version of The Apple Blog. Total revamp in design and a good many new features both external and under the hood. We hope you like it!
We also would like to hear of any problems you’re having with the site. Just leave a comment below or use our contact form.
Shawn on January 24th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
I like the new design, specifically the icon set. Well done!
Matthew on January 24th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
I like the design however the advertising overwhelms the page. The text isn’t set off sufficiently to be easy to read.
Shawn on January 24th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
I agree completely about the advertising. I meant to mention that in my original comment. Is there a way to reduce the size of the ads?
Josh Pigford on January 24th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
Matthew and Shaw, I think most people agree that the way the ads are laid out on the page is a MASSIVE improvement over the former way.
Unless you guys are willing for TAB to become subscription based, the ads aren’t going anywhere I’m afraid.
joppe on January 24th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
So much advertising.. Luckily you can block ads nowadays..
Josh Pigford on January 24th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
@joppe: Are you serious? Why do people think everything should be for free? I’m serious about this? What makes you, and others, think that any part of running a large site and owning servers, etc etc is free? I was kind enough to move the ads around so you were totally surrounded by them (they’re only on one side of the text instead of both) which also increased the size of articles areas. But instead of getting “Thanks Josh!” I get “Take the ads off, they’re annoying.” Well you know what? If you don’t like the ads, don’t read our site…seriously. Running a site costs money, if you can’t understand that, please don’t visit the site anymore.
Shawn on January 24th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Josh:
Thank you for running a great site.
I don’t think that anyone believes you should run TAB on your own dime. It is most likely that people simply need time to readjust to the new layout. (This has happened with sploid.com as well). I can see that you are frustrated, but I don’t think that overreacting to comments like joppe is constructive. If I were in your position, I’d ignore them rather than get upset. I don’t see how that is useful.
Simon Roe on January 24th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
It’s a fact, you can block ads. Deal with it. Next time I want to buy emiticons I’ll know where to go, great. Thanks.
As for the design, I don’t like sites with tabs, as they don’t work like tabs on any other system. The white body under the black tabs just doesn’t wor for me. Maybe the ‘active’ or ‘top’ tab could be white?
It just doesn’t really work for me…
Tobias on January 24th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
is the template based on K2?
Josh Pigford on January 24th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
@Tobias: The initial layout was started on K2 and then about 90% of it was rewritten.
Tobias on January 24th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
@Josh
wow!
Andrew on January 24th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
I have to say i read your site everyday usually a few times a day and i think the new site is a huge improvement! I like it alot, it seems to fit really well…and i also usually don’t like tabbed sites but this seems to be done really well.
Is your old theme also Word Press? and do you have any themes for download or maybe your old one by chance??? ;)
Phil Bowell on January 24th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
I like the new design. I think part of the reason you are getting complaints about the adverts is the fact that this post is a short post so they appear all in a big clump. if the post was longer I’m guessing the smilies add would be further down the page and further away from your sponser ads.
One solution could be to house the ads in an Ajax type collapsable box. With the default set as open all the time. When people visit if they find the ads distracting all it takes is one click to close them up.
Just a thought.
Congrats on the design though, it looks good so far.
josh on January 24th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
I read quite a few mac news sites and TAB is one that I read the least. Why? – There are way too many ads (tell me – why did google succeed again?) If you have quality content you can get by with smaller and less brash advertising techniques. I have enjoyed past articles on TAB but I find it a real b-grade mac news site compared to macslash/spymac/daringfireball. I hope this is taken constructively and helps you to redefine how TAB is used.
Radu Dutzan on January 24th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
I think it’s nice. It really is cool that you run this whole site by yourself for nothing besides Ad revenue, so the least we can do to give you something back is at least have the ads there and, even, just plain ignore them (but a few clicks wouldn’t hurt, would them?)
The Ajax on the comments is also a great touch from K2, one of the great stuff that comes with the theme. The content looks much more cleaner and I just noticed that comment auto-preview and it’s great. How do you do that, btw? Is it a plugin?
Okie Jim on January 25th, 2006 at 12:07 am
I think the new design looks great. I love the date graphic. The site looks fresh and new.
Chris Holland on January 25th, 2006 at 2:21 am
heh heh the date “graphic” isn’t a graphic :) it’s all semantic xhtml css, which is even cooler :) Josh knows a thing or two about web development.
and i’m really not kissing ass, ‘cuz really, i don’t have a reason to. heh.
Peter Garner on January 25th, 2006 at 7:55 am
There are ads on the site? Honestly, I just don’t see web advertising anymore. My eyes slide over them like they were made of teflon.
The site looks good. Nice job.
kOoLiNuS on January 25th, 2006 at 9:01 am
nice work ….. you have accomplished what I had in my mind into customizing the K2-theme on my italian (and principal) blog.
i’m with the party of “strimmed down” width of the ads ….. they distract too heavily from the main content …
Nick Santilli on January 25th, 2006 at 11:35 am
to the ‘josh’ who didn’t leave any contact information on his ‘constructive’ comments -
since i can’t email you back, what in your opinion makes TAB a ‘b-grade mac news site’?
We don’t feel like regurgitating every little apple item that you can find on a dozen other blogs – how does that make us stand out? We [usually] try a little harder to put some thought and commentary into the stories we post. I think most of our readers recognize that and come here for just that reason.
Anywho – if you’ve got any actual ‘constructive’ points you’d like to make, ie, things you think aren’t being done to your expectations, please share…
way to go on the design Josh. it’s definitely head and shoulders above V1 and 2.
Stretch on January 25th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Love the new look. Its much cleaner.
Josh Pigford on January 25th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
In response to the ‘josh’ who left ‘constructive’ feedback. We could be an F-grade mac news site for all I care. Why is that? Because we aren’t a news site. We’re a content site. We don’t just report news. We report opinions, thoughts, likes, dislikes, reviews, and occasionally news.
Patrick on January 26th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Nice design! I agree on the ads issue, it takes cash-money to keep a massive site up and running. But yelling at your members probably is more detrimental for you the next time they read an article you post.
Either way, very nice design and I love the on-the-fly comment preview. Also Josh, do you use ad blocker when you visit other “content” sites?
Josh Pigford on January 26th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
@Patrick, apologies if people took what I said as “yelling”…that wasn’t my intention. More just frustrated with many people’s mindset on internet advertising. So to anybody that wishes to discuss that further, just email me and we’ll chat.
As for me and ad blockers, I most certainly do not use any sort of ad blocker. I respect other publishers desire/need to profit off of their time/effort and so not blocking the ads and helping them just a little bit is the least I can do.
Sue Anderson on January 28th, 2006 at 8:15 am
I think the design is fabulous and don’t mind the ads at all but then I’m a pragmatist: how long do you think you’d be able to publish without advertisers? — and they won’t buy if they think their ad won’t be seen when placed in some obscure corner
Yebot on December 19th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
How much money do you make from ads on The Apple Blog?
Josh Pigford on December 19th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Four bagillion dollars per day.
Yebot on December 19th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Dang, that’s quite a chunk of change!
Awesome show! Great job!