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No matter what your criticisms are of the finer points of his critique (I agree with some, not others), the OP mocked-up a much better concept for the site. (I

by jedc 16y ago

No matter what your criticisms are of the finer points of his critique (I agree with some, not others), the OP mocked-up a much better concept for the site. (IMHO)

barrkel 16y ago
I think it looks hideous - it reminds me intensely of phpBB, with the author icon / info etc. on the left, and the stench of phpBB is definitely to be avoided (IMHO).
- MartinCron 16y ago
  "stench of phpBB" is the most compelling thing I've read in some time.
- mkinsella 16y ago
  Keep in mind the author-icon/info-on-left concept isn't exclusive to phpBB, it's used by most forum software. It's used so frequently because it's what the user expects which is what drove this layout: making the site easier to use for first time users coming from Google.
  - LargeWu 16y ago
    The difference is that SO is not a forum, it's a question and answer site. A key distinction. I think SO's current design serves its purpose well.
    - rmc 16y ago
      One of the reasons SO was created is cause forums are usually so bad at serving as Q&A sites.
- slantyyz 16y ago
  Ouch! In the Stack Overflow podcasts, that is the one app they strived to be so vastly different from.
- sprout 16y ago
  Personally, I'd much rather be compared to phpBB than SO. PhpBB has a proven track record as one of the most powerful and widely-used forum tools on the web. SO is still young, and could very well peter out. I've always found its ad placement extremely grating.
tseabrooks 16y ago
I didn't read all of the complaints... usability 'experts' and I rarely see eye to eye... That said, I really found his redesign to be far far worse. It was so bad that it was not even immediately obvious to my while skimming the page that it was a redesign. I thought he had just separated out different page elements to look at them more closely. blegh.
mfukar 16y ago
I did not like it. It may be easier for the eyes (if the ads are there, I think it's not gonna be any better) but it's not usable. I like the top flash bar - it's informative, but not when you're logged off, duh. I also usually search and view questions via tags, which are missing. It looks like a forum - I don't care WHO posted the answers, I don't need it in big ugly phpBB layout in front of me. In contrast, the points each answer has allow me to easily skim through the garbage to find good answers, for "old" content. Nice try, but he needs to have a clue of what he's trying to design.
og1 16y ago
I agree, there is something in the design that feels more balanced and makes the page elements work well together. However, Stack Overflow is a business and I think moving the ad banner like that would have some big implications in terms of conversions. Also, the tagging system, which is a key navigational element as well as potential revenue source (sponsored tags) is removed. Also, another thing I disagree with is the change in proximity of the user image to the voting icon. I think psychologically this has some implications because it now looks like you are upvoting the user vs. the information presented.

by jedc 16y ago

No matter what your criticisms are of the finer points of his critique (I agree with some, not others), the OP mocked-up a much better concept for the site. (IMHO)

barrkel 16y ago

I think it looks hideous - it reminds me intensely of phpBB, with the author icon / info etc. on the left, and the stench of phpBB is definitely to be avoided (IMHO).

MartinCron 16y ago
"stench of phpBB" is the most compelling thing I've read in some time.
mkinsella 16y ago
Keep in mind the author-icon/info-on-left concept isn't exclusive to phpBB, it's used by most forum software. It's used so frequently because it's what the user expects which is what drove this layout: making the site easier to use for first time users coming from Google.
- LargeWu 16y ago
  The difference is that SO is not a forum, it's a question and answer site. A key distinction. I think SO's current design serves its purpose well.
  - rmc 16y ago
    One of the reasons SO was created is cause forums are usually so bad at serving as Q&A sites.
slantyyz 16y ago
Ouch! In the Stack Overflow podcasts, that is the one app they strived to be so vastly different from.
sprout 16y ago
Personally, I'd much rather be compared to phpBB than SO. PhpBB has a proven track record as one of the most powerful and widely-used forum tools on the web. SO is still young, and could very well peter out. I've always found its ad placement extremely grating.

tseabrooks 16y ago

I didn't read all of the complaints... usability 'experts' and I rarely see eye to eye... That said, I really found his redesign to be far far worse. It was so bad that it was not even immediately obvious to my while skimming the page that it was a redesign. I thought he had just separated out different page elements to look at them more closely. blegh.

mfukar 16y ago

I did not like it. It may be easier for the eyes (if the ads are there, I think it's not gonna be any better) but it's not usable. I like the top flash bar - it's informative, but not when you're logged off, duh. I also usually search and view questions via tags, which are missing. It looks like a forum - I don't care WHO posted the answers, I don't need it in big ugly phpBB layout in front of me. In contrast, the points each answer has allow me to easily skim through the garbage to find good answers, for "old" content. Nice try, but he needs to have a clue of what he's trying to design.

og1 16y ago

I agree, there is something in the design that feels more balanced and makes the page elements work well together. However, Stack Overflow is a business and I think moving the ad banner like that would have some big implications in terms of conversions. Also, the tagging system, which is a key navigational element as well as potential revenue source (sponsored tags) is removed. Also, another thing I disagree with is the change in proximity of the user image to the voting icon. I think psychologically this has some implications because it now looks like you are upvoting the user vs. the information presented.