F1 Fanatic home page redesign

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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

F1 Fanatic home page redesign (click to enlarge)

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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73 comments on “F1 Fanatic home page redesign”

  1. 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.

    1. I hope it loads more quickly in my pc.

      Yeah me too! And fix these damn error messages…

      1. I hope it loads more quickly in my pc.

        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!.

        1. Some of us are active commenters in the blog but not the forum, though. I’m not even registered there.

          1. Didnt even know there was forum, never mind being registered on it

  2. 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.

    1. Yep the new version will be centred.

  3. 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.

    1. 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

      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.

      1. Yeah I like this idea…good stuff

  4. looks amazing!!!! role on the implementation of it!

  5. looks great!

  6. 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?

  7. 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

    1. YEAH I NOTICED THAT TOO!
      HAHAH

      way to go keith! nice redesign work all round!

  8. I normally say “don’t fix what isn’t broken” but the new design is at least as good. I like it :)

  9. Prisoner Monkeys
    24th December 2009, 11:20

    Oooooh, pretty …

  10. I never use the main page, sorry. I use the RSS feed and go directly to the story itself

  11. Looks good, my only question is has the section for the latest forum posts been dropped or have I just missed it?

  12. Looks good. But i think that current dark footer is better.

  13. Looks good.
    I’d like a better forum, although I think you mentioned that this is something that is going to be looked at.

  14. Younger Hamilton
    24th December 2009, 11:48

    looka good but i think the Back ground should change a bit

  15. looks very clean and professional, nice one

  16. Looks much better… but where is the much promised more visible link to the Forum?

    1. Agreed – I don’t see a Forum Posts section…?

      Design looks nice though.

  17. Neat, clean, professional. Looks great

  18. 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.

  19. Great look Keith, but agree that the forums should be more visible.

  20. 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.

    1. 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?

      1. 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. :)

  21. Looks fabulous. Very professional. Which it, of course, is, starting 2010. ;)

  22. 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

    1. 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.

      I would also like to know this. Can’t wait for the new site to be introduced.

    2. 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.

      1. it seems to work some time only.

  23. I love the current version! But it would be good if the site didn’t go down sometimes.

    Cheers

  24. 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.

    1. Is there a need for that beyond the forum we’ve already got?

    2. 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

      1. I agree, a chat room would be great value.

  25. 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/

  26. Looking good Kieth!

    And the website aint too bad either :p

  27. 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.

    1. It would also be good if the forum required no password ?

  28. about Mobile:
    the big pictures are not correctly resized at my Nokia 6120 – for the rest all ok!

    1. 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.

      1. 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.

  29. Keith, Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year !

    Cheers

  30. merry christmas!

    will the new site display properly on widescreen monitors?

  31. 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

  32. Less adverts would be awesome :P

  33. 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!*!!

  34. Will we be able to create our own passwords?

  35. Keith – think it looks great – I like it better than the current site

  36. 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.

  37. 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.

  38. 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.

    1. I agree with these comments

  39. 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.

  40. 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.

  41. Looks OK to me

  42. 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.

    1. 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.

  43. Whoops, typo.

    Correction: You shouldn’t make passing, or even frequent visitors, struggle to find the popular content.

  44. 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:

    1. José Baudaier
      26th December 2009, 5:28

      Ops, looks like the link didn’t work:
      Sketch

  45. 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!!!

  46. 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.

  47. 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.

  48. 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

  49. looking great Kieth but there is too much information being shown so it is a little confusing.

  50. I think it looks nice and provides a strong basis for navigating to desired sections or stories.

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