New TAB Live
Well we launched the brand-spankin’ new TAB this evening. The transition was relatively flawless…which is always a plus.
I’ll have a full writeup in the morning about new features and what not, so look for that.
In the meantime, if you notice any bugs/browser quirks/etc, please either post them here or contact us.
There is still quite a bit to do in terms of getting the new forms of organization up (specifically tags), so no worries…that is indeed on its way.
Also, I’m well aware that not everyone will love the new design. It’s a far cry from every previous design…which was precisely my goal. I’ve really felt like previous designs were a bit of visual overload with all the various colors and patterns so I really wanted to put something out there that didn’t fight with the content as much.
Your feedback is certainly appreciated, but before screaming “I HATE TAB, THIS DESIGN SUCKS, I’M NEVER COMING BACK!”…let it soak in a bit.
#1 kefumna says:it looks okay. but nothing fantastic. the new logo… its okay but nothing really exciting about it… but the position of the apple in the circle (like an apple at sunset or sunrise), prompted me to think - after reading the new york steve jobs = “igod” article - is this the start of the great things for apple (and therefore the apple blog) or… the end?
#2 Jaime says:The design it’s good. Better than before, but I don’t like the sidebar widgets color schemes at all. I dunno, maybe get rid of the yellow and red ones?
But overall its a breath of fresh air. BTW, my browser still show the old favicon.
#3 gelliddewi says:Rising Apple or sinking pumpkin?
#4 Jono says:The new logo is nice, but for me the ads dominate the web site & are really imposing (as they’ve always been).
I know ads are needed to pay for everything, but I don’t remember many sites where they dominate so much. Stops the site looking as good/clean as it could.
#5 Sean says:I like the logo/banner/header but the other stuff needs work. The sidebar is ugly IMO (too colorful), and there are far too many ads all over that it ruins the design - especially animated ones that are distracting.
My main complaint is the font in the content area.
#6 Jay says:The old one was much better this time round - sorry Josh.
#7 rich says:Wastes far too much space above the masthead area IMO but otherwise its ok I guess. I kinda prefer the old look, but then it often takes a few days for me to get used to design changes on sites.
#8 erman says:I’m using Safari 3 beta on a PPC iBook, and the text of the posts is chipped off on the right by the adds when you don’t really maximize your screen. Adjusting the font size does not help. The only way to read all text is to run Safari at full screen size - which I hardly ever do.
#9 Lucky says:Looks absolutely great! Great job:)
#10 Stretch says:I’m getting the same problem as Erman, on a 2.1Ghz G5 iMac, with Safari 2.0.4
#11 isalex says:I notice more of an apple on the forums logo versus the one used on the home page. Is it me or is anyone else experiencing this as well… Other than that, big fan of the new design. Great job.
#12 Brandon Eley says:I like the new design, it’s clean and easier to read than the old design. I also like the new logo. Good job!
One thing I noticed though is the footer - 50% of the footer is reserved for tags that don’t exist (yet?). I think a search bar and main navigation links would be a better use of the space. And maybe some featured posts or even featured discussions from the forums??
But I’m not much of a fan of “tags” - never use them and don’t see much use for them. All in all though, great job!
#13 Galley says:From my first impression, I’d say it’s a step backward. I really liked the midnight blue color scheme of the previous design.
#14 Lonnie says:I left you my thoughts in the beta stage my friend, it won’t stop me from coming here and being a part of TAB community . . . but the fluid width is killing me
#15 hmelman says:I have erman’s problem too. The right sidebar stuff slightly overlaps the main text. PowerBook G4 10.4.9, Safari 2.0.4.
#16 Lesta says:Me too, same problem as the others, the main text get truncated by the right side stuff. I thought I’d set my type too big but looks like it’s not even possible to downsize it either. Bug?
#17 Dave M. says:The new site looks great. One comment on the related posts thing at the top. Yes, I came from google.com, but no, I didn’t get here via a search. I got hear via Google Reader. I would suggest taking a look at the referral for Google Reader and see if there is something that you can do there. I can’t imagine any posts that would relate to my coming to the site via Google Reader.
Also, the font used for this edit box in Firefox/Windows is a little small. It looks great in Safari/Windows and I don’t know what it looks like for Firefox/Mac. I will when I get home tonight.
Just a few suggestions. Otherwise, the change is very nice.
#18 Mrad says:My biggest complaint is all the banners - there’s just too much going on to comfortably read a post.
I’d reduce the banners and try to charge more for the remaining spots. Otherwise it looks swell.
#19 Josh Pigford says:To the folks having issues with the sidebar cutting off text…what is your resolution? I’ve tried it on every browser I can get my hands on and it works fine at 1024×768. The site isn’t really built for 800×600…if that’s what you’re using.
#20 j0hn says:I liked the old one better. The 2 different font-size within a post is confusing… I like the “Read more…” or “Continue reading” better.
Great new logo thought.
#21 Lesta says:Josh,
My display is 1920X1200 so I don’t think that’s the problem. FWIW, Safari 2.x works perfectly, but firefox has the problem. removing the option to use the font from the page in Firefox worked to correct the page, but I shouldn’t have to do that.
#22 Raven says:I love the new icon. So stylish.
#23 Josh Pigford says:@Lesta, would you mind emailing me a screenshot of the problem you’re having? I can’t seem to replicate it.
info at theappleblog dot com
#24 Michael May says:ooh shiny!
#25 Jim says:I’m not sure where to start.
The logo is decent, but undersized for the giant black banner.
I like the left sidebar with the comments and tags, it makes it easy to see which articles have discussions.
The content area is MUCH too wide for my taste. Wide columns are harder to read, and having them left justified just makes it worse. The font isn’t the best either. A serif font might have been a better choice - but the existing font would work with skinnier columns.
The ads are just overwhelming. Too many, too large, and too “blinkity blink.” As someone who relies on ads for his site, I can say that I understand why you need them, but this is just crazy. You’ve put the ads in a more important role than the content - as is evident by the fact that I have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to get a category list, and skip over a giant one between the article and the comments.
The “top commentors” list is, well, pointless. Who cares! I would venture a guess that most people don’t come here just to see who the top commentor is. I think you should consider switching the category list with the top commentor list.
You probably have the same amount of ads now as you did before, but the old layout didn’t “shove them in my face.” I use Firefox and use the AdBlock Plus extension which allows me to turn ads off on certain sites and not others. I used to leave the ads turned on with TAB and clicked them once in a while because I liked your content. But this is just too much. I’ll be blocking the ads on TAB now because it’s too hard to read the content with them on.
#26 Jesse says:nice and clean layout!! much better then the previous one (with all the ads melting my face)..
#27 dave says:i’m confused, it looks like a modified and hacked version of one of bartelme’s wordpress themes…am i the only one who sees it this way?
#28 Josh Pigford says:@dave: It definitely has absolutely nothing to do with any sort of pre-made “theme”. Everything was from scratch (design, code, etc) except for the fact that it’s being powered by Wordpress.
#29 David Bailie says:I like the new design. Very clean.
And we all need to remember that ad’s pay to keep the site up and running. I’d rather have them and have TAB than not have them and see TAB go away.
So I don’t mind that they are a bit imposing.
#30 Kim G says:Your newly redesigned site looks great in hot pink … you forgot to set the background color attribute. Read some recent Zeldman for more sites doing this. Other than that, Looking good. TAB rocks as usual.
#31 Rory says:Like the new design… and… I would recommend reducing the number of posts on the landing page, or abbreviate them in some way. Otherwise I have to scroll for what seems to be an eternity to get to the categories and tags.
#32 dave says:Meh, it’s nothing to write home about, but I usually read the RSS feed anyway so I’ll stick around
Oh, and now that I scroll down, bump up the line-height of the categories/about sections. $readability++;
#33 josue salazar says:well done Josh.
#34 Shawn says:I really like the new design!
#35 Jono says:I don’t like to do it but I’ve disabled ads on this site. But it looks much better now.
I’m not crazy about the coloured title bars on the side bar though.
I have to agree with Jim, I’d much rather see categories (& tags) in the sidebar rather than top commenters.
#36 yamster32 says:I like it mate, nice and clean, saying that i liked the last version too!
#37 Bill says:Overall, I like it. Much cleaner, while also maintaining a modern look. Loads quicker, too. I would look into repositioning that top ad under the header, though, as that looks a bit odd…
#38 erman says:@Josh: My screen resolution is the one you are using. But my Safari window is not maximized over the whole of my iBook screen. Normally, in such cases there’s either a lower scrollbar that allows me to focus on the frames I want to see (and I never want to see adds), or the text columns adapt to the window size of Safari.
In this case, there is a lower scroll bar, but it applies to the whole page (and therefore doesn’t really fix my problem). It seems to me that the text column does not automatically adapt to the window size of the browser, and that the add column seems fixed, and thus hovers over the text column if the window size is not maximized.
#39 Cris Pearson says:Congrats guys! Looks great.
#40 Mark says:The ads are a lot less intrusive with the new design, I like that.
The only one that really bothers me now is the header (it’s just so BIG), but I can live with it.
#41 erman says:there have been some changes - the add column doesn’t fall over the main text column anymore now. Thanks! I can now again enjoy the full content of TAB without further worries. Great!
#42 Gav says:Ignore the haters, it’s a great new look, nice one!!
#43 Steve says:My opinion is that it looks much more “professional” than the old face. I’m especially happy that those goofy double-underline ad links or whatever they are are gone. Please don’t add them back. Sure, income from advertising might be nice to help keep you afloat, but those are so damned annoying.