New Homepage open to public Beta

Mr.Bishop

Mr.Bishop

Active member
Staff member
We're launching the Public Beta of the new homepage for Newschoolers.

You can access it from the link which will go live later today right at the top, or if you want an early peek scroll to the bottom of your "Settings" page where you can enable it.

We're pretty happy with how this new take on things came out - especially on mobile.

Would love to hear feedback as you guys get a chance to check it out!

**This thread was edited on Nov 15th 2016 at 10:05:09am
 
Looks great so far but am I the only one that has a huge grey gap from the upload/messages/alerts/threads line halfway down my screen.

Maybe its an ad area and I just have an ad blocker on, not sure though
 
13750493:Swaggy_P said:
Looks great so far but am I the only one that has a huge grey gap from the upload/messages/alerts/threads line halfway down my screen.

Maybe its an ad area and I just have an ad blocker on, not sure though
Click to expand...

Ad area and you have adblocker on.

You'll notice that area is fixed on the current homepage and the rest of the site now that we have the winter demand for the big ads at the top.
 
I like how the top half where the slideshow used to be now has 2x as much content on it and how the payed stuff on the right side is a bit less attention grabbing, however it would be cool if you still sort the content lower down by latest, top day, top week etc.
 
13750493:Swaggy_P said:
Maybe its an ad area and I just have an ad blocker on, not sure though
Click to expand...

You should make an exception for NS with your adblocker so it's not active on NS if supporting the site interests you.

New home page looks really nice to me, boys!
 
13750526:a_burger said:
I like how the top half where the slideshow used to be now has 2x as much content on it and how the payed stuff on the right side is a bit less attention grabbing, however it would be cool if you still sort the content lower down by latest, top day, top week etc.
Click to expand...

We had to kind of make a call here. Those sorting options were really difficult to maintain, so we're now offering only one list of "Hot" on the homepage.

Each section can be sorted quite a bit when you're directly in there, and we'll be expanding the offerings of sorting and revamping all those pages next.

13750558:.Rybak. said:
It's much cleaner now in the beta imo. Before I had really no Idea where to start looking.
Click to expand...

Yeah its actually not all that much different, but there was a massive front end interface overhaul that went into this.

Mobile is freaking sweet too.
 
13750677:Ascent_Cinema said:
I like where this is going but I can't seem to see any thumbnails at all
Click to expand...

Try clearing your cache, and try it in another browser. You might have just gotten a bum cache refresh cycle.
 
Ads are ads and they're necessary, but it took me all day to realize that the photo stream was on the right hand side beneath that tall first ad. I think I just have gotten used to that column being the "Sponsored" news section (aka "ads") and the fact that it was headed by an ad made me totally disregard it. Just a thought that it might blend a bit too much?

Other than that the photo stream itself is super awesome.
 
13750704:toast said:
Ads are ads and they're necessary, but it took me all day to realize that the photo stream was on the right hand side beneath that tall first ad. I think I just have gotten used to that column being the "Sponsored" news section (aka "ads") and the fact that it was headed by an ad made me totally disregard it. Just a thought that it might blend a bit too much?

Other than that the photo stream itself is super awesome.
Click to expand...

I mean photos is one section of the site which is kind of under review. I feel like this was a subtle way to give it some real-estate again while ensuring the integration was cleaner than it was before.

Mobile the photos are integrated straight into the main feed.
 
I'm not so sure about autoplaying videos though. We should have the option to disable that or something. I think it'd be good on faster hardware, but on my aging setup it's a bit slower than I'd like. Otherwise it's cool.
 
i've never been a fan of the last few home page betas and it took me a while to get use to them. this one i like! very clean and easy to navigate.
 
13750865:DrZoidberg said:
I'm not so sure about autoplaying videos though. We should have the option to disable that or something. I think it'd be good on faster hardware, but on my aging setup it's a bit slower than I'd like. Otherwise it's cool.
Click to expand...

Facebook and instagram really popularized again the idea of auto playing videos on mute. Does it stall the page load for you? Because the idea is that you actually get a preview of the video before really watching it. Most hardware should be pretty capable of running this...

what kind of of a setup are you running?

13750888:.Dad said:
i've never been a fan of the last few home page betas and it took me a while to get use to them. this one i like! very clean and easy to navigate.
Click to expand...

Glad you like it!

This also sets. Design direction for the site which we're going to work to unify the rest of the sections.
 
13750988:freeskibum82 said:
yea.... lets turn that off.....ok??......
Click to expand...

I mean does it bug you on facebook?

seems to me that it's a hot thing these days which really helps draw users into a video.

Give it a chance. I really started to like it after using the new homepage a while during testing.
 
13751020:Mr.Bishop said:
I mean does it bug you on facebook?

seems to me that it's a hot thing these days which really helps draw users into a video.

Give it a chance. I really started to like it after using the new homepage a while during testing.
Click to expand...

i hate when websites start talking to me or trying to load a 4min video and eat bandwidth and data.

i dont have a facebook account.
 
13751051:freeskibum82 said:
i hate when websites start talking to me or trying to load a 4min video and eat bandwidth and data.

i dont have a facebook account.
Click to expand...

Well there isn't going to be sound on it ever.

How limited bandwidth do you have on your desktop computer? It only autoplays on Desktop view.
 
13751149:steezyjibber said:
^wrong homepage my bad

new one is here:

[img=]846584[/img]
Click to expand...

Are you totally positive that you don't have adblock on?

That looks like AdBlock... but I guess it could be something else?

**This post was edited on Nov 16th 2016 at 3:21:57pm
 
[img=]846587[/img]

13751151:Mr.Bishop said:
Are you totally positive that you don't have adblock on?

That looks like AdBlock... but I guess it could be something else?

**This post was edited on Nov 16th 2016 at 3:21:57pm
Click to expand...

It's possible I'm running an adblocker on my work comp (currently on), but the same is happening with safari and chrome. Almost positive I have no adblocker on safari.

Paused the adblocker on Chrome, screenshot attached. Maybe it has to do with the work network.
 
13751152:steezyjibber said:
[img=]846587[/img]

It's possible I'm running an adblocker on my work comp (currently on), but the same is happening with safari and chrome. Almost positive I have no adblocker on safari.

Paused the adblocker on Chrome, screenshot attached. Maybe it has to do with the work network.
Click to expand...

Try it at home and let me know if you see the same thing.
 
Mobile user: I'm digging the new layout. The only thing that I dislike is I can't click to view my notifications for some reason. Still clean af.
 
13750971:Mr.Bishop said:
Facebook and instagram really popularized again the idea of auto playing videos on mute. Does it stall the page load for you? Because the idea is that you actually get a preview of the video before really watching it. Most hardware should be pretty capable of running this...

what kind of of a setup are you running?

Glad you like it!

This also sets. Design direction for the site which we're going to work to unify the rest of the sections.
Click to expand...

I mean, it doesn't make it hang like crazy or anything. I've got a 2010 mbp, chrome, 10.10.5 os. I'm just big on the idea of if I want to watch it I will. That being said, it's not horrible or anything. Facespace seems to be hung up or lagged up more due to autoplay videos than the NS homepage, so I guess you guys did it better than they did.
 
13751534:SDrvper said:
I had only viewed it on mobile when I made this comment, the desktop version is SO damn good. Love the addition of photos on the side. Well done
Click to expand...

In my mind, mobile sliders are a little pointless. Mobile you're encouraged to scroll so really the first two slides are the first two spots, and the second to slides are now spots 3 + 4 - though they're a bit more dynamic than before.

Honestly we got zero clicks through to something when it slid into spot 3 + 4 on the slider so I think this'll be better.
 
13751152:steezyjibber said:
[img=]846587[/img]

It's possible I'm running an adblocker on my work comp (currently on), but the same is happening with safari and chrome. Almost positive I have no adblocker on safari.

Paused the adblocker on Chrome, screenshot attached. Maybe it has to do with the work network.
Click to expand...

Yeah I have that same issue even though no blocker on. Its any form of internet browser and can't figure it out
 
I like the photo stream on the side. It definitely takes some time to adjust, and I like that it shows the views. I don't like the new like system. The up/down system is a legacy for the site, id hate to see it change
 
Nice. It no longer looks like you've just used a generic CMS plugin, like the old new homepage did.

I still kinda miss the old (pinterest) homepage, back when gifs were the shit and everyone was posting them, it was like a wall of awesome lag. The bets kinda lag.
 
13751742:Swandog7 said:
I like the photo stream on the side. It definitely takes some time to adjust, and I like that it shows the views. I don't like the new like system. The up/down system is a legacy for the site, id hate to see it change
Click to expand...

What new system? There isn't a new voting system?
 
13752880:Mr.Bishop said:
What new system? There isn't a new voting system?
Click to expand...

The thumbs up/down versus just the arrows. Subtle difference, I like the older version better. IM picky. Just throwing out an opinion
 
13752883:Swandog7 said:
The thumbs up/down versus just the arrows. Subtle difference, I like the older version better. IM picky. Just throwing out an opinion
Click to expand...

Ah right - yeah I mean that is just a design element. We could replace it with arrows or something if enough people think the thumbs are a problem?
 
13752892:Mr.Bishop said:
Ah right - yeah I mean that is just a design element. We could replace it with arrows or something if enough people think the thumbs are a problem?
Click to expand...

Yah, Imo it's not really a probelm, I was just a fan of the arrows better. Keeps the up vote / down vote element
 
13752899:Swandog7 said:
Yah, Imo it's not really a probelm, I was just a fan of the arrows better. Keeps the up vote / down vote element
Click to expand...

Cool. I do like the way it looks so we'll stick with that for now, but we're still tweaking and we'll have to see what happens when we switch this to the new default.
 
13753589:SDrvper said:
Has there ever been a filter option for the homepage? In a way that someone could choose to display lets say only photos and videos?
Click to expand...

Used to be - but we measured the stats of it over a huge amount of time and it was barely used by anyone.
 
13754170:SDrvper said:
Fair enough, probably a waste of time !

I think it was in another thread you were telling me about the new way the content is chosen for the homepage, I think it might be a problem being able to force content to the top, like this video

[img=]847661[/img]

is at the top of the homepage and its at -10, whatz up with that. When other members are like 7 spots down with +70 up votes.
Click to expand...

via Imgflip Meme Generator
 
13754170:SDrvper said:
Fair enough, probably a waste of time !

I think it was in another thread you were telling me about the new way the content is chosen for the homepage, I think it might be a problem being able to force content to the top, like this video

[img=]847661[/img]

is at the top of the homepage and its at -10, whatz up with that. When other members are like 7 spots down with +70 up votes.
Click to expand...

We promoted it because it's our video. That is what editorial control is about. ;)

When everyone bitched and complained that we got rid of all of our editors and they wanted us to tell them what was cool, this is it.

That being said - maybe we didn't nail it on this one and we will take the community feedback and adjust our content in the future.

But that is the thing with editorializing and curating - we override the system to be able to give that.
 
Personally I enjoy the new homepage. I like how the main feed has only videos and news, while the side is saved for photos, it's nice that things aren't jumbled together anymore. Autoplay is also pretty cool, I definitely have no issues there seeing as I didn't even notice it until I read this thread an hour ago.

My only issue with the new homepage is the sponsored content. Don't get me wrong, I understand Newschoolers needs ads, I totally support that, I keep my adblock paused on this site because I want you guys to make money. That being said, I am completely not down for camouflaging ads to make them look like any other content on the site. What is this, Facebook? And honestly I wouldn't have that much of a problem with that because the ads on Newschoolers generally have some sort of content to enjoy, which is great. I suppose my problem is that these ads are repetitive, and they stay on the front page for way too long. I am tired of seeing Line, Saga and J Skis ads invading the user content every time I scroll the page. I don't want to watch Windells videos from the summer, I don't want to read about Shredsauce turning 4 years old three and a half months ago (although the update was dope, thanks Malcolm), and I don't really care about Line Skis edits that were posted months ago.

Another thing I noticed is that votes don't really matter on sponsored content. I'm not talking about them moving up or down in the feed based on votes, I know companies pay for their spots in the feed and that's fine. I am talking about votes (mostly downvotes) literally not registering half the time. Or even worse, when I downvote sponsored content I dislike, it will occasionally register as an upvote, or both a downvote and upvote.

Maybe it's just me, but the way sponsored content has changed in the new update really chaps my ass. Besides that I think you guys are doing a fantastic job. The new homepage is smooth and easy to navigate, the NS shop is sweet, and overall I think the site is better than ever. And hey, if this new way of presenting sponsored content is making a significant amount of money for NS, then by all means keep doing it. I just wanted to get my 2 cents out there.
 
Not sure why this occurs but whenever I open up the new site, i receive this error in the top right and none of the content on the homepage loads...

[img=]848369[/img]
 
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