As promised, here’s an early look at the next version of the F1 Fanatic home page.
The two most important aims for the new version of the home page are:
- To make it lighter and, therefore, load more quickly
- To make it easier to see the latest stories
Please let me know what you think of the design in the comments below and I’ll take your thoughts on board for when we turn the design into finished code.
Inevitably these changes will force alterations on some other pages, such as articles, and I’ll keep you up-to-date on what we’re planning to do there.
I have noticed replies from some people in the moment asking about the mobile version of F1 Fanatic. You should see a mobile-friendly version of the site if you browse it with a suitable device. If it doesn’t seem to work for you please leave a note in the comments, preferably letting me know what kind of device you’re trying to view it on.
For more information on the changes being made to the site see here: Update on improvements to F1 Fanatic
wasiF1
24th December 2009, 10:43
Keith your work for F1F is magnificent,I don’t mind whatever the design be,just I hope it loads more quickly in my pc.
Again THANKS FOR YOUR BLOG.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th December 2009, 14:33
Yeah me too! And fix these damn error messages…
Sush Meerkat
24th December 2009, 14:59
The wait is worth it.
Keith, can I make a suggestion to the new site in future?, locking down the comments on your article to one post a day, with a link to the forum for unrestricted discussion.
Therefore discussion would still be there but the comments attached to the article would be better thought out, and the forum link to the article would have all the superfluous stuff like MP4 shouting at anything resembling the colour red.
Oh and my rubbish comments would be in the forum too, so thats a plus!.
DC
29th December 2009, 11:53
Some of us are active commenters in the blog but not the forum, though. I’m not even registered there.
Dave
15th February 2010, 11:24
Didnt even know there was forum, never mind being registered on it
Siwongo
24th December 2009, 10:46
Looks great, nice work. Do you think the website could be centred on the new version, or at least have an option? It’s the only thing that bothers me about the website haha, other than that, looks good and looking forward to it being released.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th December 2009, 12:21
Yep the new version will be centred.
AP
24th December 2009, 10:51
only thing that would be great …to be able to edit posts…nothing worse than having to repost another msg because the typing is to slow to keep up with the brain.
:)
Great stuff Keith
Also if your going onto this full on then maybe look at adding other motorsport info and results (no bikes please). I know you have in the past but bit more regular and I wont need to visit other sites then.
Macca
24th December 2009, 13:33
Becuase there are people on this website from all over the world, maybe you could have a section were a person from there own country writes an articles on the main motorsport compition in that country. (ie. Australia – V8 Supercars, USA – NASCARS, Germany – DTM, Britin – BTCC)
These articles could be updated weekly or monthley and you could hold auditions to see who could get to right for there countries compition. Of course, you wouldn’t have every country represented, just the countries with major motorsport chmpionships.
Jay Menon
28th December 2009, 9:29
Yeah I like this idea…good stuff
SamS
24th December 2009, 10:51
looks amazing!!!! role on the implementation of it!
sato113
24th December 2009, 11:01
looks great!
DanThorn
24th December 2009, 11:02
Looking great Keith! Do you think there’s space for a section linking to recent forum posts? Or is that section undergoing a redesign as well?
Chris Y
24th December 2009, 11:06
And the best part is… there’s a new picture of Keith! :P
I like the new design’s layout more, but it sort of reminds me of a commercial news site (which, come to think of it, F1F may actually be). I’ll miss this design, which to me looks more ‘personal’ in a way!
But convenience and layout outweigh these anyway. Looking forward to more great F1 news and opinions! :D
ccolanto
24th December 2009, 18:15
YEAH I NOTICED THAT TOO!
HAHAH
way to go keith! nice redesign work all round!
Kovy
24th December 2009, 11:08
I normally say “don’t fix what isn’t broken” but the new design is at least as good. I like it :)
Prisoner Monkeys
24th December 2009, 11:20
Oooooh, pretty …
Dave
24th December 2009, 11:32
I never use the main page, sorry. I use the RSS feed and go directly to the story itself
PJA
24th December 2009, 11:36
Looks good, my only question is has the section for the latest forum posts been dropped or have I just missed it?
Andrey
24th December 2009, 11:42
Looks good. But i think that current dark footer is better.
Chalky
24th December 2009, 11:46
Looks good.
I’d like a better forum, although I think you mentioned that this is something that is going to be looked at.
Younger Hamilton
24th December 2009, 11:48
looka good but i think the Back ground should change a bit
lukeaa
24th December 2009, 11:59
looks very clean and professional, nice one
Ned Flanders
24th December 2009, 12:18
Looks much better… but where is the much promised more visible link to the Forum?
Maciek
24th December 2009, 15:44
Agreed – I don’t see a Forum Posts section…?
Design looks nice though.
TommyB
24th December 2009, 12:21
Neat, clean, professional. Looks great
AlonsoFollower
24th December 2009, 12:29
Keith, don’t know how difficult it is to do, but one thing that would be nice for netbook users is to take advantage of the full screen width in the comments section.
Right now, the width of the comments is the same as the main article. Whereas in the main article the right area is filled with other content, such as links, ads, etc, comments have lots of white space on the right. This makes for a lot of scrolling.
Bigbadderboom
24th December 2009, 12:34
Great look Keith, but agree that the forums should be more visible.
adaptalis
24th December 2009, 12:45
Not sure if its possible, you could open up a “sneak” preview version of the website (having identical content) on another link and invite comments there while the main one is still running.
Subsequently, you can still have the option for people who prefer to use the older version to load that for awhile.
Got this idea from another website which recently went through a revamp. They “sneaked” for 2 mths or so.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th December 2009, 14:32
I’m not planning to do that because it would be quite a bit of extra work for not that much gain. I will have a post up introducing the new design when changes are added, I think that will be sufficient. Unless lots of people feel really strongly that this is something we should do?
LewisC
24th December 2009, 17:40
Beta testing can be very useful. You never quite know how a new system is going to work until you put a bit of load on it, and people run all sorts of different browsers so can feed back whether it renders properly in all of them.
But then if you’re testing fully that shouldn’t be an issue. :)
Lustigson
24th December 2009, 13:01
Looks fabulous. Very professional. Which it, of course, is, starting 2010. ;)
Jonny
24th December 2009, 13:12
Hi Keith, I like the redesign. :) However, the mobile version works a little too well on my iPod (Touch). When you select the ‘Exit the Mobile Edition’ at the bottom of the webpage, it just loads the Mobile Edition again – I’m not sure how this would be fixed. :S
P.S – Just a general question, how do I become a member of the site like Ned Flanders and Prisoner Monkeys etc.? I’ve looked in the forum bit and can’t seem to find anything.
Thanks again, good luck with the new site, and mist importantly – roll on 2010! :P
Macca
24th December 2009, 13:24
I would also like to know this. Can’t wait for the new site to be introduced.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th December 2009, 14:31
OK I’ll take a look into the mobile edition problem.
As for the logins – Prisoner Monkeys and Ned Flanders are just registered on the forum, that’s all there is to it at the moment.
varun
24th December 2009, 16:54
it seems to work some time only.
Dan Wells
24th December 2009, 13:15
I love the current version! But it would be good if the site didn’t go down sometimes.
Cheers
Liquid
24th December 2009, 13:25
What do you feel about a chatroom for when the blogs are not running.. you know, things keep happening even when the race is not on and this will provide the people a platform to discuss all those live with others. Something basic. Just a thought.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th December 2009, 14:29
Is there a need for that beyond the forum we’ve already got?
steph90
24th December 2009, 16:47
Well I love the live blogs but there are forums and that is like instant chat really in my view.
Maybe if we could have signatures on the forums? But that could look messy.
I know autosports allows users to message people which could be a nice option for people but again hardly essential.
For the mobile version, I think it’s great (apart from I have the same issue where if I try to access the standard site it won’t let me) but on the mobile edition is it possible to have the forums there?
By the way I really like the look of how the site will be. It seems incredibly professional. Nice job
Macca
25th December 2009, 7:46
I agree, a chat room would be great value.
epi
24th December 2009, 13:55
To me it looks a little “wide” by default, maybe people on netbooks etc woudln’t see the items on the right hand side, which include the adverts. This little tool might help with your design
http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/
Woffin
24th December 2009, 14:19
Looking good Kieth!
And the website aint too bad either :p
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th December 2009, 14:28
OK the main thing I’ve taken on board so far is people would like the forum link to be clearer. There is going to be a link in the very top navigation to the forum, but we can definitely retain the list of forum topics where we have at the moment in some way.
Bartholomew
24th December 2009, 20:50
It would also be good if the forum required no password ?
verstappen
24th December 2009, 16:16
about Mobile:
the big pictures are not correctly resized at my Nokia 6120 – for the rest all ok!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th December 2009, 16:20
Yep that’s a problem on all devices at the moment – the mobile site really is in its infancy but it’s going to be re-done and brought into line with the main site in the new year.
Katy
28th December 2009, 13:16
Yeah it’s the same on the iphone, only got about half a picture. Also the comments bit of articles is all over the place as the replies people type aren’t after the comment they replied to, so it’s very odd.
Bartholomew
24th December 2009, 16:38
Keith, Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year !
Cheers
F1Yankee
24th December 2009, 16:55
merry christmas!
will the new site display properly on widescreen monitors?
GR
24th December 2009, 17:22
Hi Keith
My feedback has 3 points:
1 – I love the section under ‘top f1 articles’. Particluarly the groupings under ‘statistics’ etc – very useful.
2 – Perhaps you could find a way to add in a section to navigate/sift through old material. A few times I’ve tried looking for articles from past championship years and it can take a long time using ‘search’.
3 – the thing I really love about your site is that it’s a labour of love by someone who is passionate about the sport. I’d say that’s pretty much your USP; you’re the ultimate F1 fanatic. I’m not sure how to describe it but the example you posted above seems to lose something of the personality about your site. I’m sure that you are going for a more professional look, which is a good thing, but a side effect of that is that it looks like a site that is run by a whole team of people. Perhaps it’s just the busyness of the page or that the article headlines are to small, but that’s the effect I get!
Please keep up the good work – I’ll read regardless.
Perhaps this’ll be like when the 09 cars came out – I’m used to them already!!
GR
right...
24th December 2009, 18:34
Less adverts would be awesome :P
Titch
24th December 2009, 19:02
Hi Keith,
Funnily enough I’ve never had a real problem loading the site, except when it’s obviously been v. busy, nor have I had a problem navigating through it; maybe because I’m in Scotland, using a UK based internet site, and there’s only 10 or so Scots looking at your labour of love!
Redesign fine!*!!
slr
24th December 2009, 19:14
Will we be able to create our own passwords?
John Beamer
24th December 2009, 19:23
Keith – think it looks great – I like it better than the current site
donwatters
24th December 2009, 19:41
It seems to be reasonably clean and straight foward. Works for me. The key, of course, Keith, is the content. If you can maintain…indeed expand the content…you’ll have a double winner.
Thanks so much for your obvious enthusiasum and dedication to the sport. It is most appreciated.
Mandev
24th December 2009, 20:18
I remember the days when F1Fanatic had the old orange and green colour scheme. The redesign does look cleaner and sleeker compared to the current one.
Dave
25th December 2009, 3:04
Hi Kieth,
I’m not a fan of the new look, I know that you’re putting a lot of effort into the content but I don’t think the design is doing it any justice.
About a third of the width of the page is taken up with adverts, not nice simple google ads that are inoffensive and relevant to the content but instead ugly ads with a mis-mash of colours. It’s very distracting. I pulled in my browser window to the edge of the content and straight away the site looked much better but even that still needs work.
When google ads are included they are placed like a horizontal menu, the actual menu at the top is chock-a-block with options most littered with an “F1” prefix (I know what the site is about, it’s mentioned in the name). I think the menu would be more concise if you grouped similar items together in a rollover sub menu.
The “Newest Article” section is poor, the posts need to be separated with a horizontal line it would make it less cluttered looking.
I make my money as a designer so I understand that design is subjective and everyone is entitled to an opinion but I don’t think that the site has been re-designed it’s just been shuffled around with little consideration for readability, a coherent style, simple structure or overall appeal.
10 out of 10 for content but below average for the design.
Martin B
25th December 2009, 22:54
I agree with these comments
Joao
25th December 2009, 8:29
Never had any problem loading the website, i just think it depends from the region server and amount of people trying to access it at the same time!
I like the new design very much, keep on the good work.
Jarred
25th December 2009, 8:52
Hi, Keith
The new look is fantastic but I agree with Andrey that the darker coloured footer is better than the lighter version you have in your sneak preview.
Apart from that I reckon it looks fantastic.
manatcna
25th December 2009, 22:18
Looks OK to me
Jesus
26th December 2009, 1:57
It’s still too difficult to find information on the drivers/teams/circuits.
While I appreciate this is a news site, you really should make it easier to find “static” information.
It’s all well and good clicking on “F1 2010 Season” and being presented with news articles that match that season (even then that information is poorly presented) but if I want information on the Singapore circuit in general where do I go? What information about that circuit can I find here on this site? A news article that I have to fight to find that’s discussing what happened last season doesn’t really cut it for a site named “F1 Fanatic”.
You need to make your content more accessible. Another example: I have to scroll all the way down to the footer to see a quick, direct link to the drivers. A driver like Lewis Hamilton probably drives (no pun intended ;) ) a lot of traffic to F1 sites. You should make passing, or even frequent visitors, struggle to find the popular content.
I hope you understand what I mean.
Katy
28th December 2009, 13:24
Surely if you’ve just come across a website you look at the top of the page at the links to see how you navigate, and if like you said, a person wants info on a driver or track surely it’s not too hard to realise that’s under ‘F1 Info’ which is on both the current site and the new design.
Jesus
26th December 2009, 2:01
Whoops, typo.
Correction: You shouldn’t make passing, or even frequent visitors, struggle to find the popular content.
José Baudaier
26th December 2009, 5:26
I have 3 tips for the new site.
1- Instead of the articles being in the left column of the site, it should be in the middle column. So in the left we’d have the Newest Articles box, the Poll and etc. column. In the middle, the articles themselves and in the right it would have all the adverstisement and stuff. This way, the articles, which are the most important thing, are kept in the most important area of the screen.
2- Each article has very little space I believe they should have a larger individual space. Three paragraphs for the first and 2 for the second.
3 – Add a “Next Page” and a “Previous Page” buttons.
I even make a quicky sketch:
José Baudaier
26th December 2009, 5:28
Ops, looks like the link didn’t work:
Sketch
Vincent
26th December 2009, 8:41
The design is great! Loading time is the best reason for the change. F1 fanatics all over the world does not have the same internet speed as you guys. Not to mention the growing numbers of F1 fanatics and the projected increase due to the numerous excitements to watch for next season!!! Many thanks to Keith! Hope you can get great deals for the ads to complement all your efforts. Good Luck!!!
Icthyes
26th December 2009, 10:51
Nice job Keith, definitely an improvment I say. Regarding the mobile siye, it would be great if you could reply directly to posts like you can on the main site.
Anakincarlos
26th December 2009, 21:28
Nice job keith look good. I will be happy with what ever you choose. Oh I have an old laptop and live downunder and have never had a problem loading any page over the years.
chris
27th December 2009, 14:43
hi there,
i love your website! it would be nice to see a date next to the articles list in the redesign.
greetings from holland,
chris
nixon
27th December 2009, 17:55
looking great Kieth but there is too much information being shown so it is a little confusing.
Russell Gould
29th December 2009, 17:55
I think it looks nice and provides a strong basis for navigating to desired sections or stories.