F1 Fanatic joins F1 teams in launching a new design for 2012

F1 Fanatic updates

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F1 Fanatic - 11/3/2012
With one week to go until the first F1 race of the year, F1 Fanatic has revealed its new design for the 2012 season.

F1 Fanatic team principal Keith Collantine said: “The new design is an evolution of what we had last year but with several major changes underneath.

“F1 Fanatic has set ambitious targets for its eighth season and we hope to see improvements in performance and reliability this year.”

In a clear violation of the Resource Restriction Agreement, F1 Fanatic has been testing the new version in secret for several months.

“Our test drivers, including Girts, Verstappen, Dan8, PieLighter, Roald, AndrewTanner, Mr. Powers, Mitz1111 and James Robertson, have been putting the new design through its paces.

“Reliability has been good so far but if anyone encounters any problem we encourage them to let us know.”

Clumsy F1 car launch metaphor ends here

Welcome to the latest version of F1 Fanatic which has been extensively updated for the season ahead.

The goals of the changes included: improving the site’s appearance and functionality across a range of different screen sizes; making navigation clearer and simpler; reducing page load times; fixing existing problems; and adding new features requested by users.

Among the changes you will notice are:

  • A wider content area for large screen sizes which scales down for smaller screens and mobile devices
  • Larger default video formats
  • Larger images in articles and on image preview pages (on new articles)
  • Usernames (e.g. @keithcollantine) now appear next to comments for easier @-messaging
  • Revised and reorganised menus with an extra level added to the drop-down
  • New footer includes archive, popular articles, Predictions Championship standings and members list
  • Improved avatar handling
  • Various style fixes and improvements

This latest change should also provide a better platform for expansion and improvement in the future.

As ever please leave feedback below.

If you experience a technical problem please tell us about it via this link, which includes instructions on how to supply the right information so we can identify and fix any errors:

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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66 comments on “F1 Fanatic joins F1 teams in launching a new design for 2012”

  1. Looks good, much prefer the homepage. Nice one Keith and all involved :)

  2. Looking good… Even better than before!

  3. I really like it. Simple, yet clear and easy-to-read. Congratulations again Keith for this site, which is since I discovered it my first source of information on F1 and other motorsports. Even though I’m not a native english speaker I prefer F1 Fanatic over spanish Alonso-filled sites. Keep going!

  4. This website is certainly prettier than the 2012 F1 cars. It’s also stable, quick and easy to use… have you thought about showing the design to Ferrari? I think they might be interested.

    1. Look who wants comment of the day :-P. Made me lol! It’s funny cause it’s true too, and I’m a very sad Ferrari fan right now!

    2. lol- nice work!

  5. Whew glad to see this article, for a few minutes I thought my comp had gone wacko! I’m in IE9 and the drop down menus are in a column along the left edge with a large black area extending to the right.

  6. Looks as simple as it possibly can – which is, in my book, very important on a website. It’ll take some time to get used to it, but looks promising.

    Though it might be better to put the real f1 standings at the foot of the page instead of the predictions’ ones!

    1. Exactly that @enigma, its clean design, never cluttered. And the part below the article and comments with the calender for archive hunting and the last active members etc. is really nicely done.

      I also like the bigger part of the screen used, good to see that one works. I will now have to try it on a smaller display, just try!

      Thanks to all testdrivers, I hope you didn’t have to bring as much as the likes of Narain, Guido, Maria etc. to be offered a chance at testing there ;-)

  7. Best update ever, really. The widescreen is lovely, makes reading much easier with big screens, and the @username in the comments is just what was needed. I missed loads of comments directed to me because of my somehow unusual username.

    Well done Keith and co! :) Congratulations and thanks a lot!

  8. The combination of the F1 Fanatic logo and 720×90 advert banner doesn’t seem to work in the header on a screen resolution of 1024xwhatever.

    The two are misaligned so the ad is below it and to the right.

    1. That’s the same for me, though that’s probably because I’m currently using a net-book.

      Great work as always Keith, it’s always great to see that you want to keep improving the website. :)

    2. I get the same, IE9 1024×768 on a 4:3 display. Plus the comment box when replying is shifted to the right.

    3. i doesn’t work on me ether and my screen isn’t 1024x something.

  9. Thanks for the positive feedback so far everyone!

    I’ve spotted a few things not working quite right, if you notice any more please add them here:

    https://www.racefans.net/groups/f1-fanatic-site-development/forum/topic/known-problems/?topic_page=5&num=15#post-57992

    1. On iOS the images in the articles look really strange. Because of that the text is shown a cm left of the images.

      Overall nice update to the website. Keep up the food work.

  10. Looks good, as always!

  11. petebaldwin (@)
    11th March 2012, 18:35

    Fair play Keith, this has already become one of the best F1 sites on the net and the improvements look great.

    Cheers!

    1. Agreed, I love the revised section at the bottom of the page.

      If I were to make a request, it would be to have important dates such as Qually and Race sessions show up as blue, and maybe it you hover over it before the even it gives you a time until event popup.

      Oh and on the calender the days headlines are kinda ll mushed together… Needs space between them or a new line for each one.

  12. The image on this page is badly distorted on my Android phone. Rest looks good!

  13. This is great update! A huge step forward :)

  14. I like this look, very clean and easy to read.

  15. Mmmmm, Responsive Web! Great improvement in terms of layout – feels less cramped. Well done.

  16. Nice, looks much better now.

  17. sid_prasher (@)
    11th March 2012, 19:08

    @keithcollantine: really like the changes. Especially the predictions leader board and the user ids.
    I noticed that the header is not getting aligned property with ad (as mentioned by some of the others as well);not sure if this is by design.

  18. Is there a clever loophole that other sites don’t have that will soon be closed off?

  19. Looking good @keithcollantine ! Happy to help :)

    Everything looks better but it’s still F1 Fanatic through and through.

  20. Hehehe , more test drivers than the Lotus of last year ;) ! But kudos to you all especially our team principal @keithcollantine for doing an excellent job. Layout looks very clean and efficient. Also like the leaderboard of the predictions championship.

  21. KEITH THIS IS EPIC
    Looks so good on my 2048×1152 res screen, can read entire articles without scrolling :D

  22. Looks Great Keith!

    …On the subject of presentation and layout, I happen to have seen some of the broadcast of the Sky F1 channel (although I am not purchasing it myself) and I have to say, I am not impressed by what I have seen so far. The thing that annoys me most is the liberal and needless use of “interactive technology” for the presenters, when in reality it serves almost no purpose except to pretend it is (as I said) being interactive. If I wanted to watch a TV presenter clumsily finger a TV screen in a studio to bring up a clip of an F1 overtake, rather than just showing me the clip on my TV I would hire one to stand in my living room. I don’t want to watch a TV of a TV.
    It just seems that it is “over presentation”. A live 3D model of this or a touch screen that….next Sky will have a 3D recreation of each race before it happens and then spend half a day analysing it.

    1. Oh, my @mach1, please don’t give them ideas

      next Sky will have a 3D recreation of each race before it happens and then spend half a day analysing it.

      – with the channel bound to run out of subjects they can put on all week this could just happen.

  23. Finally!! An F1 car launch which doesn’t feature a broken nose. And I also see that the F1F 8 has got new sponsors in the new season ;)

    Great job Keith! Much appreciated. Just a small info. On my phone (Android – Gingerbread OS) The images are stretched vertically. Just see if others are reporting the same problems :)

  24. Thanks for making this article interesting :) – it was a humorous take and a nice in-joke for the F1 fans that we are.

    The new look is nice too, bigger writing and more of the screen used. On a personal note, I like the “@smallvizier” being shown for those of us whose usernames and screennames are different.

  25. I love it,. Nice package & easy to read with no Log In probs.
    Well Done!

  26. First version of F1F that feels solid in both its look as well as its interface, great account interface too. Props to all involved, it looks really good.

    The only thing that looks a bit off is the background of the logo (and the bar behind the ad). That does not blend in with the background on the sides, which the rest of the bars in between sections do.

  27. This F1 website is so far ahead of every other one that even without further in-season upgrades it’ll easily win the championship for most visitors!
    Really loved the F1 metaphor @keithcollantine – and I also love the design. It’s far bigger than before and it’s really great for reading, and it looks as neat as possible. Well done!

  28. Will the mobile site make a return at some point?

    1. Correct me if I’m wrong @keithcollantine but this is meant to be used on a mobile device as well, yes?

      @guelph This new site does load very quickly on a mobile browser in my experience.

  29. Great upgrade. Was reading the blog since a couple of weeks ago. This changed made me set up an account.

    1. @nofumbles Very glad to hear it. Welcome!

  30. Really like the new layout. Great job guys !

  31. Love it, Everything just seems more crisp.

  32. soundscape (@)
    11th March 2012, 22:55

    Much prefer this front page layout Keith. I felt the last layout wasted a lot of worthy real estate on the right-hand-side.
    Also, the bigger font is appreciated.

  33. ‘In a clear violation of the Resource Restriction Agreement, F1 Fanatic has been testing the new version in secret for several months.’
    LOL :D
    what;s this new @ feature though? I can’t seem to use it in writing this reply…

    1. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
      12th March 2012, 0:32

      like this @sato113 it lets you know when you have been mentioned in a message, and clarifys who you are actually responding to.

  34. Looks great Keith! I’ve been here for a couple of years now, and this is absolutely the best site for knowledgeable F1 fans who want to interact!

  35. I have no comment either way at the moment. I’ll try the mobile site out later and test it on a smaller window when I’m sneaking F1 news at work on Monday.
    But, I’ve been reading this site for such a long time, you’d have to put the text as white on a white background to stop me coming here for my F1 updates. As long as you keep up with the great content, you’ll keep the readers.

  36. Great overall improvement! Thank you all involved in make my favorite website even better.

  37. Good evolutionary update. I was taken aback by the width initially, as most websites are still 800px wide, but I think it works.

  38. Great work, the forwarding thing was a bit annoying, the rest was already great.

  39. I hope you’ve passed your crash tests :)

    Like the new look, nice and clean.

  40. Thank you Keith, the “test drivers”, and everyone else involved with F1fanatic- the new setup looks fantastic.

    The news, stats, history, and discussion found here make this the best F1 destination on the web. Keep up the great work!

  41. Robert Green
    12th March 2012, 2:22

    Clean, uncluttered, nice.

  42. Very nice, but what’s with the stepped nose?….

  43. I’m getting a black band across the top where the pull downs for forums, quizzes, etc, on my desktop. Ipad version wraps forums onto a second line on the menu bar. It it just me?

    1. Looks exactly like that on my notebook as what you describe on the desktop there @thecollarboys

  44. Ha, just noticed that nugget called “Visit” on top of the page to get directed to either a random member or a random forum @keithcollantine, a lovely idea to get some new impulses, get to know new people etc.

  45. Looks great – nice and clean. The only suggestion from my side is that I got used to smaller fonts, but perhaps it’ll looks better on smartphones and tablets.

  46. I think fonts little too large, Average look. I like previous version.

  47. Great design!
    but i missing badly one feature using keyboard arrows for pictures switching in galleries see light box…

  48. I must critique your terminology in the “clumsy F1 launch metaphor”…
    where were the endless repetitions of “for sure”?
    :-)

    Looks great…

  49. I like the changes made to the design of the site and have seen performance improvement too

    if you could also have a look at the image gallery so that we can quickly access pics from a particular set and see them in full glory ..preferably as a pop up or new tab..
    thanks

  50. Ahmad Akshir
    13th March 2012, 7:50

    Very nice job. Neat and clean and the design is just modern! Keep the good work.

  51. Thank you Kieth for all the hard work that you put into this site.

    1. You’re welcome!

  52. Wow, @keithcollantine, I just spotted the notice block under my user login warning me of a new Poll that is currently open. Lovely Idea not to miss polls that way. Amazing job with the update.

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