It's so chic

by Anand Lal Shimpi on 7/24/2005 11:47 PM EST
Comments Locked

79 Comments

Back to Article

  • Azsen - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    Hi Anand,

    Whenever I visit the new site with IE6 from Uni I always get this error:

    Line: 2
    Char: 1
    Error: Syntax Error
    Code: 0

    Then sometimes the IE window will stop responding and I have to kill it, or it will bring up a 404 page. I can then hit the back button to view the page with the errors. Seems to happen on every article/news link I click on within your site.

    Could you get that fixed please? :) Thanks.
  • The Pentium Guy - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    Just a quick suggestion. Comments are "condensed" / "contracted" by default. I feel that you should make an "Expand All" button, for those of us who wish to simply scroll down and read the comments.

    Just throwing it out in the air.

    Nice work with the site. My only grimmick is the forums :) - You've separated us from the world of Anandtech and secluded us into the world of Anandtech Forums. Perhaps a link to "Anandtech" (in the forum's banner) would help a bit - that way we won't feel secluded ;).

    -The Pentium Guy
  • hoppa - Thursday, July 28, 2005 - link

    I must agree with what some others have been saying... I don't like the new comment system much at all. It is very pretty, yes, but it still ends up being rather hard to read. Everything is really cramped and the thick blue borders are distracting... I think there needs to be more space between comments.

    I also agree with others that the threaded mode is no good. I've always found reading AT comments to be a very enjoyable experience because of the community nature of them and something about how they were chronological... I don't even know, but now that they are threaded I hardly read them at all anymore. Something about the big messy argument that always developed was really appealing for those of us that like to laugh at (and join in on) the chaos.

    In terms of ratings, they are fine because no one has to choose to utilize them, and that is always a good thing for us old farts that don't like any kind of change.

    But, by far my biggest complaint is that you have to open comments in a new [tab] from news articles! All that space is wasted! Bleh, at least do the me the justice of putting something back in there :)

    -andy
  • Jeff7181 - Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - link

    Would it be possible to move the post information all to the left side? My eyes get a workout zipping back and forth from the Subject of the post over to the right to see who posted it, and then back to the left to another Subject, or the post text. I can't imagine how annoying it must be for people with widescreen monitors and the web browser maximized.
  • mnordhoff3 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Every time I post a comment, I get logged out as soon as it does it and if I try to log in again, it says my login is invalid. What's going on?
  • mnordhoff3 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Hah. Of course, it didn't happen to this comment. Maybe it's when I rate another comment, then?
  • mnordhoff3 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Okay, this account is still okay. Why do problems I have always go away as soon as I complain about them? It's embarrassing. :P But at least it is okay. Why couldn't I have picked a better name for this account, then?
  • Houdani - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    In general, the new layout is pretty good. I'll get used to the changes. Of course, there's always room for improvement, yes?

    Modifications I'd like to see:
    > Flat/Threaded option
    > Include clickies to the linked articles on the index page. I'd rather not have to click on the news blurb in order to get access to the linked article.
    > At the very bottom of the news index, include clickies for <<Previous Day & Next Day>>
  • Houdani - Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - link

    Yay! You fixed the missing clickies for the linked articles on the news index page. Huzzah, many thanks!
  • Houdani - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Addendum to my wish list:
    > Include links to (Post new comment) : (Logout) : (Ratings Help) : (Comments Threshold) at the bottom of the comments page. When I get to the bottom of a page and wish to add a new comment, I would prefer to not be required to go back up to the top of the page in order to click on the (Post new comment) link.

    > When I do choose to reply to someone else's comment, it would be nice if their name was included in the "Replying to:" portion of the comment editor.
  • Cuser - Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - link

    Nice catch, I was just geting ready to bring up the missing name in the "Replying to" section also.
  • notposting - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Well, I miss the pictures that were in the tabs at the top. Most people are getting BIGGER monitors, not smaller. Even on my old PII laptop with 800x600 resolution, I'm used to things being a little wide possibly.

    The blue is okay I guess. I kind of liked the beige though, it was a bit "warmer".

    Dunno about the comment thing yet, I'll have to see how this works for awhile. Definitely agree with previous posters about 2 things:

    * Not a full width window;
    * Not in a new window;

    Okay, 3 I guess:

    * Options for things like last post first.

    Oh, and the font for the menus look funny, It looks like there's something on top of the capital 'A'.
  • Scrogneugneu - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I would suggest an option for getting the comments in the old, chronological ordered way.

    This would make everyone happy, as long as the comments get back on the same page as the story, because it seems like a general opinion that a popup window is not funny.


    By the way, this is my first post ever :) Hi everyone
  • S Random - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    i absolutely hate having to open up a new window, pressting the unhide to read comments, then opening up another screen just to write a comment. it takes me 5 times as long to go through. change it back please
  • msva124 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I agree. This new comments system was a bad idea.
  • msva124 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Upon further usage, I dislike it even more than I did previously. With the old system, when I wanted to see the newest comments, I would just go to the last page and scroll to the bottom. Now I have to go hunting through all the replies to figure out which ones are new. Also, sometimes when I am doing a reply I want to look at several different posts rather than just the one I am immediately replying to. With the new system it is difficult to see any posts besides the one I am immediately replying to. Furthermore, with the old system the login/password were right next to where you typed your reply. Now they are at the top, so I have to scroll up to login, then scroll back down to reply.

    Does anyone know of another hardware website that has industry news, reviews, and a simple comment system like anandtech used to have?
  • Ecmaster76 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I was hoping for the I-ram piece today.

    Kind of dissapointed to get a review of a rebadged reference card thats ridiculously expensive anyhow.
  • blckgrffn - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I agree, where did the Iram piece go?
  • tappertrainman - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I think you should swap the name and "up/down" votes. It's more difficult to see who is posting each comment now. Before, it was very easy to see which person was posting, especially in a big back-and-forth argument. Just my two cents, I like it, overall.
  • tappertrainman - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Oops, it should be the "up/down" and reply area. The "up/down" disappears once you comment. :)
  • reactor - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Site looks good, love the ability to increase/decrease font. One thing I think needs to be added is to let users change how they want to view comments. The guys over at Tech Report seem to have a good way, wouldn't mind seeing something like that(Flat, Threaded).

    Good Job to everyone who contributed, much improved.
  • jm20 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    No longer will I need to go back a few pages to relate posts together as they can be seen threaded instead. The change looks good, kinda has a java feel to it, probably coded in java too afaik. Site keeps getting better, keep up the good work Anand!
  • Matt Nordhoff - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Java and JavaScript are two different things. But it does use JavaScript.
  • kleinwl - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I think the page layout and everything is nice... but the comments and the voting is a waste of time... who cares about the "1st post" stuff? Everyone just ignored it... so no big deal... this whole rating system is silly.
  • microAmp - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Anand,

    I think the lowest vote is -1 and not -2 like you said in the blog. I can't vote a "negative" on a person's post that has -1.

    Looks good though.
  • cei - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    The color scheme I like, but this WinOpen javascript for all the comments is just ridiculous! Unless tabed-broswers change in the near future, I'll just have to stay away from all the discussion at anandtech. See, I like to send any news item to a background-tab and then start reading through all the comments and such. I wouldn't mind sending comments to a separate tab, but NOT TO A SEPARATE WINDOW! Or am I missing something and there's a way to send a javascript:winopen to a tab?
  • aggie02 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Well, they say change is good, but this sucks. I liked reading the comments in the same page i read the news without having to click anything (plus I hate opening new windows). I also liked the chronological order of the posts.

    It looks like I'm not going to read the comments now, until they bring the old system back (or something like it)
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I agree about the comments & I don't think I will be reading of posting as much myself with the new format.
  • smn198 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I really like the updates but could there be an option to get email notification of replies to your post like on the forums?
  • dwell - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I like the site changes. A lot cleaner. I am not so big on threaded comments. I will get used to it.
  • Spacecomber - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Looks like the associated links got mislabeled in the process of updating the look of the front page tabs.

    Space
  • Spacecomber - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Actually, as I look at this more closely, it appears that where I need to point my cursor on the main page, where the tabs are, to bring up the sections like, motherboards, video, etc. doesn't properly line up with where I see the tabs. It seems like all the links are shifted over to the left of where I see the tabs themselves.

    This is with IE 6, 1024x768, medium text size, if that can be of any help.

    Space
  • Bubbacub - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    wtf was wrong with the original system. Just ban anon posters and go back i say. This is the "winamp 3" of commenting systems
  • Spacecomber - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I kind of like the ability to rate comments. Seems to make more sense than the back and forth about which was more lame, the original (usually first) post or the subsequent criticisms of that post.

    More importantly (to me), I like the easy buttons for inserting things like hyperlinks.

    If I were to ask for anything more, it would be the ability to go back and edit a post, since there almost always is some glaring typo or mis-spelling when I get done.

    Space
  • anselhelm - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I like most of the new layout (though Firefox had a fit initially and I had to refresh the page to put the flash in the right position), but this new commenting is overly complicated. I don't like having to bring up a new window (or tab) just to comment on a post. Sure, I COULD get used to it, but I'd rather not. If anything this will probably stop many people from commenting.

    Maybe the commenting system needed changing, but not to this.
  • Sunbird - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    New layout and colours okay, but dammit, you cant right click to open a seperate windows for reading comments from different news subjects. When you click comments anywhere, its only opens it in this one damn window! I like to multitask my comment reading, not even a A64 X2 will help with this problem!
  • Sunbird - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    And what about having different ways of displaying then the comments like timebased/threadbased? I want to read the last comment posted last, not have to read through the whole page just to see if anything new has been added, its very difficult and time consuming, I love reading whatever people say even if what the last poster said doesn't even interest me.
  • Cuser - Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - link

    I agree with the previous post. I would like to be able to switch to a timebased view so that when I come back to a thread, I could go directly to where I left off without filtering through all the posts to find the most recent.

    Keep up the good work. The new look is gonna be hard for some of us who have been here so long to get use to, but it is looking really good.
  • dmfcomputing - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    sorry anand, but i have to say the new comments system is just a pain in the @ss. a new window to type a reply? who needs that? a registered account? who needs that? seeing the posts in order of replies rather then chronologically, takes away all the fun of an argument or a sense of a development in conversation.
    And i thought the forums here were bad... lol
    If you cant reply and rate a post, then dumb posts will never be rated down. as weve seen, when someone sees "first post" and doesnt like it he is likely to scream and yell etc, and maybe even say something off topic... not rate it.
    not that i would miss the first posters, but i did enjoy watching people whine about first posters.
    and nobody makes communist russia jokes anymore.
  • Anton74 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I understand Anand's idea of not wanting people to rate down opposing points of view, but I fully agree with the point about rating down dumb posts. I'd say at least, let people vote in all _threads_ they didn't participate in.

    I suspect that on the whole, if everyone could rate all posts including in threads they participate in, it'd still work out alright. Even if someone stoops low enough to vote someone down just because they disagree, that one vote will likely be outnumbered by everyone else's, which now can't happen as much because those that are involved in the discussion can't vote at all. And even as it is now, people can still rate down posts simply based on disagreeing with that particular post(er). I say let everyone be able to rate all posts (except of course their own).

    Also, I do also miss the flat, non-tree layout, just to see what posts are new. Wouldn't it be possible to offer both?

    The new site layout is very pleasing by the way, does look perfectly fine for me in Opera 8.01 and Firefox 1.0.6 after refresh.

    Anton
  • Captante - Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - link

    Good god this new way of posting comments FULLY sucks!
  • Captante - Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - link

    The partial fax of having all comments open so they can be read makes it tolerable at least, I still miss the old system, but at least I no longer feel compelled to change
    my home-page! :P
  • Captante - Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - link

    K... One more vote for an "edit" option. (above s/b fix not fax)
  • Captante - Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - link

    Now the only thing that really is a problem & needs to be addressed is the comments should be in chronological order, the way its is now, its a real pain to follow a conversation without sifting through lots of comments already read.
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    After using the new comments method today while fully awake, I have to say I hate it, no anonymous posts is fine & the layout looks good but this new system has to go, or I
    will be changing home pages after 8 years ... I'll be back even if it doesn't, just nowhere near as often.
  • Cuser - Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - link

    lol...that's pretty drastic! I mean, it is inconvenient, but my goodness.

    Anywho, I do agree with the posts here that say it would be more convenient to be able to scroll through the thread you are posting to while in comment...mode (someone did say that, right?)
  • Cuser - Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - link

    Oh, but I did want to say that I like the new look. Good job!
  • mulder - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Using FF 1.0.6 here and the site looks great. The new comment system seems to work really well and I definitely like visiting the news section without being bombarded with the comments first.
  • Rock Hydra - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    It's very nice. A hell of a lot more convenient.
  • Hi - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    have any of you tried clearing your cache


    might fix the problem
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Yes & it seemed to fix the problems I had with Opera, but FF v106 still looks horrible
    on my PC ... No idea why.
  • MAME - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    looks like crap in ff
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    As was mentioned earlier, try holding "shift" & refreshing the page, fixed FF for me.
  • mariush - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Anand, perhaps it would be a good ideea to show below a news item a small preview of a number of comments (for ex. one line per comment), it's weird to have to click each time just to see the comments.

    People would also be stimulated to express their feelings, opinions and so on...
  • jimmy43 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    First of all, the small layout and design changes have added a nice professional touch to the whole website, it makes everything looks very consistent. And second of all, you guys are geniuses! The new comment system is a work of art, seriosly. Thank you so much, your site just keeps on getting better! Keep it up!
  • nowayout99 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    The refresh of the colors/layout makes the site look more open. Less cluttered and more relaxing and enjoyable. I like it a lot.

    The new comment system, though, seems to counter that. Very busy and cluttered. I think it's because it takes up the entire width of a wide window. Most of the messages look like they're only two lines long, which makes them easier to pass over. Shorter lines would make it look less cluttered, and would be much easier on the eyes.

    Would you consider condensing the width?

    (FYI, I have tried to post this several times but kept getting errors. If there are double posts, blame the server.) ;)
  • xelpmoc - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    The new tabs look a bit rough for some reason, but overall the site looks pretty good. Comments are much improved!
  • xelpmoc - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Hmmm, but the new window thing is no good. If the comments were displayed by default under news stories like they used to be, it would be just right.
  • slashbinslashbash - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Comments shouldn't be in their own window.
  • CheesePoofs - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I like how the new font and color scheme works, but it'd be nice if in the news section the comments could be opened up on the same page as the news article (like how it was before). Its a pain to have to switch back and forth. Or is there a way to do it that I'm just missing?
  • blckgrffn - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I agree, really hate having a whole nother page open up, annoying, and then I lose the news snippet too...

    Nat
  • niknik - Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - link

    Yes, me too. Those comments on the page were nice to have.
    (although I think that this new system alone would make 1st posts redundante as they would not be seen on the "front page". :)
  • AdminPrep - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I think the new color scheme is great. It is not hard on the eyes and seems to flow very well. My only comment is I wish your blog news was higher then on the bottom. Many HW sites don't include this feature and I appreciate the fact that you still communicate with your audience in this capacity.

    Brian
  • creathir - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    The new colors look great Anand. Tell your webguys they did a great job.
    - Creathir
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I just tried both again & the same thing happened, central column of text looks good in
    FF & Opera, but menu to the right is pretty bad in Opera & still unreadable in FF, also
    the menu to the left is mixed up in Opera, but fine in FF & the entire page looks good in IE.
    Also with FF the Zipzoomfly banner ad is stuck in the middle of the page.
    (FF v1.06 & Opera v8.01)
  • Azsen - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Agreed, the site looks great. Was looking funny the first time I visited but a refresh fixed it. :)

    Maybe now we can give those first posters and bad russian jokes -1 scores.
  • AnImuS - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Am i the only one who liked the russian jokes?

    BTW nice color choice!
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Firefox is even worse & most of the text in the menus is completely unreadable.

    IE is working fine & I like the look, but looks arn't everything!
  • creathir - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Works fine in IE and FF just fine for me...
    - Creathir
  • MDme - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    I'm using FF 1.05 seems to be working so far. No layout issues.
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Ok, Opera seems to have fixed itself after a couple refresh's, but FF is still doing the same things...very strange.
  • Resh - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    FF 1.06 is A-OK.

    Looks good guys!
  • blodhi74 - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    works fine for me in FF
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Interesting, I wonder why I'm having trouble...tried smaller taext & it made no difference in FF or Opera, what version of FF are you running?
  • Captante - Sunday, July 24, 2005 - link

    Sorry to say it, but the new look isn't working too well in Opera...in fact its a mess
    with text jumbled and crossing margins.
  • Turnip - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Works great in both Opera and IE here.

    Like the improved editor too ;)

    Good work guys. Thanks for the improvement :)
  • Rand - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    It looks fine in Opera 8.01 for me.
    I quite like the colour scheme, very aesthetically pleasing.

    The tabs and condensed text are also an appreciated change, as is the ability to increase/decrease font, a pity you can't decrease the font size any further then the default size though.

    Have to say the thread/post rating is pretty much a waste and pointless though, but it doesn't get in the way so as long as it doesn't put much load on the server I don't really care.
  • mariush - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    It did look weird on Firefox too, I just had to keep Shift press and click on Refresh, perhaps to make the browser reload the CSS file (the template of the site)
  • Captante - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link

    Thanks, must have forgotten to hold "shift" last night when I refreshed FF, looks great
    in all three browsers now.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now