So TouchArcade got a makeover today and.... I'm not too fond of it. The style is great but I think a lot of simplicity was lost along the way. I liked the simple presentation of the homepage before and especially the way the forum was presented on the right. I could see the newest releases and the most talked about games in the blink of an eye. Now the whole "Newest app" section of the forum is gone from the front page and the area dedicated to the forum is way smaller. Is the any way we could have the option to choose our theme? I know, I know this was fast but I'd seen a few pictures from Eli's twitter account so I knew what to expect. I don't want to sound to critical but that's how I see the new website now.
Well the section I'm missing is the "newest release". The one that linked to the newest Threads on the iphone forum. But more than that I dislike the fact that the forum is actually not the first thing you see on the right and that the space reserved to it is much smaller now.
I agree. While I'll probably get used to the new design quickly, right now it seems needlessly stylized. On a different (and probably thread-inappropriate) note, I've been wondering if the TA app will ever have a Landscape or just Landscape-for-typing option. That would be good.
We're making some changes as we go. You're talking about the New Games, as in the newest ones in the forums, regardless of responses, right? arn
Rather than reskinning the front page, how about updating vbulletin? The up-to-date boards have a ton of very useful features. I'd like to know, for instance, when someone's quotes me in perhaps a reply. Or the ability to "follow" certain members' posts could be handy to some. The whole interface is a lot better, too with just a whole ton more functionality.
I'm liking the changes, so far. I never really used the front page and forum in conjunction with each other though, they might as well be separate websites to me. One tiny visual glitch, you've got a divider cutting through the search text entry field: Also the list of categories down the side is pretty unappealing to look at right now. I assume you're not finished yet.
I can work on that view coming back. There's also this view: http://toucharcade.com/hot-games/ which is a bit of a distilled forum view, same as the app. We'll see about adding that sort option there too. arn
Some things that I think should be changed on the Main page: - Add a minus button next to the "Latest Reviews" and "Hot Games" sections on the right to let us hide them (only the title is shown when hidden with a plus icon next to it to reshow) (this decision should be saved) - Missing Forum sections: Newest Game Releases, Lounge - Put back the "Show More"/"Show Less" button under each Forum section, IMO the current List doesn't show nearly enough threads per section. - Make the Titles for the Forum sections clickable, linking to that part of the forum. (Example: Clicking the "Forums iPhone" title would link to http://forums.toucharcade.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2) Bugs: - The logout button at the top of the page seems to be cut off at the bottom, it also should be a little bit higher up.
Thumbs Up! Just wanted to say I think it's fantastic. Like the new way the app "buzz" is shown on the right hand side.
Looks awful. Reminds me of when Kotaku "updated" their look. Have not gone back since. On your mobile phone at the bottom of the page it brings up the ability to view the original theme vs the mobile theme. I would prefer to have the option to view the original way vs the "new" way. Definitely the simplicity and content are missing and reminds me of awful newly made Saturday morning cartoons. Hopefully appshopper.com doesn't get a look "upgrade."
You sound like one of those people who complains about anything just because it's a change, rather than providing actual reasons. Arn's already said they're working on adding as many of the previous sections as possible. The new layout feel so much more mobile-friendly to me. Bigger and clearer links and content that fills the entire screen are invaluable to people viewing the site with an iOS browser. TA is a website focused on mobile devices, and it's never really been truly suitable for them... this is a great step.
I really like it, but I think you should have launched it with the background ads deactivated for a week or two so people can have an easier time of comprehending all the new visuals.
Ya that would have been nice. We had originally targeted it during a lull but we kept getting pushed back many times, so we couldn't time it that specifically. arn