First impressions

[canberra_photographer]

A few phrases to express my first impressions.
Bland, lacking clarity, unintuitive, a hassle to view and navigate, a step backwards.

Generally, I find the US site to have a much more intuitive and informative design to this beta, which is a credit to the US Cnet web designers who must deal with a far larger amount of content from heaps of sources.

The Cnet UK website is also very intuitive and well laid out. They just finished a similar refresh of the site and it is a definite improvement, on par with the US site. Information is presented logically and in a manor that drives interest.

A few key issues:

Illogical site layout: The main navigation is based on product categories whereas other Cnet sites layout according to type of content (reviews, news, blogs, video, etc). The latter method employed by other Cnet sites is both logical and arguably far better in terms of allowing for site expansion later.

Poor visual layout: Other Cnet sites require little scrolling or horizontal eye movement where as I find the new Cnet site requires much of both to view all content. The big ad on the homepage also seems unique among the Cnet sites with the US and UK sites placing somewhat down the page. Ad placement on content pages is fine, but the homepage is just to overt.

Videos: Still a mess with videos arranges in no particularly categories and just listed in linear fashion.

Basically, I don't visit the current design of Cnet much anymore because the US and UK ones offer better content that's great to navigate. I wouldn't use the AU version ever with this new design. It's just below average design obviously done without consulting any professionals in the field of communications or web design.

[JeremyR]

Bland, lacking clarity, unintuitive

Expansion on each of these three points would be great.

Generally, I find the US site to have a much more intuitive and informative design to this beta, which is a credit to the US Cnet web designers who must deal with a far larger amount of content from heaps of sources.

Examples of what you find more intuitive and informative would be great! The thinking behind the main navigation is that people come to CNET Australia with a passion for a specific category (eg. mobile phones, tvs) rather than abstract news / video.. even still, you can still get these via homepage links in the sub-nav bar, rss, email.

The Cnet UK website is also very intuitive and well laid out. They just finished a similar refresh of the site and it is a definite improvement, on par with the US site. Information is presented logically and in a manor that drives interest.

Interested in your thoughts here.. which improvements / changes did you prefer?
UK: http://tinyurl.com/djwa97
US: http://tinyurl.com/dcx8af

Illogical site layout: The main navigation is based on product categories whereas other Cnet sites layout according to type of content (reviews, news, blogs, video, etc). The latter method employed by other Cnet sites is both logical and arguably far better in terms of allowing for site expansion later.

Massive logical change we're considering.. but what do regular users want? There is still top level navigation leading to every category, news, video, downloads, etc.. (plus filtering these by category nav - eg. mobile phones, tvs, computers, etc)

Poor visual layout: Other Cnet sites require little scrolling or horizontal eye movement where as I find the new Cnet site requires much of both to view all content.

Which page types? Do you mean more stories / links above the fold?

The big ad on the homepage also seems unique among the Cnet sites with the US and UK sites placing somewhat down the page. Ad placement on content pages is fine, but the homepage is just to overt.

Great suggestion...

Videos: Still a mess with videos arranges in no particularly categories and just listed in linear fashion.

Video is still very much in beta.. How do you watch video? Passively (eg. one after another), or actively (relevant to your interest area?)

Basically, I don't visit the current design of Cnet much anymore because the US and UK ones offer better content that's great to navigate.

What is the compelling content that brings you back to the UK/US site over Australia? Is it a content issue, navigation issue, community, usability issue...?

I wouldn't use the AU version ever with this new design. It's just below average design obviously done without consulting any professionals in the field of communications or web design.

Unfortunate, but we're here to listen

[MarkCharge]

Looks really good. The colours are a huge improvement. I don't like how the navigation is by product type, i prefer reviews, downloads etc. The site looks a little cluttered, especially with the ad on the right taking up a huge amount of room.

Not bad, but there's still more to do.

[Lazymonkey44]

I just logged in to the beta & at first look, its not to shabby!

One thing that I think would look better would be to make the nav a bit thinner, there is lots of wasted space over & under the text on the links.

[Lazymonkey44]

Oh, and, I also preferred the old message box thing, I liked having formatting options & the box is now rather thin, could it be widened out again?

[Brice Lechatellier]

Lazymonkey44 says:
Oh, and, I also preferred the old message box thing, I liked having formatting options & the box is now rather thin, could it be widened out again?

Thanks for the feedback, we will make sure to add back the bbcode formatting and expand the box asap.

[Lazymonkey44]

Also, I find it annoying that there is no way (other that the back button)to get back to the forum topic

[JeremyR]

Yes, we'll be adding some breadcrumbs up the top

[elie]

Just something very minor,
On the rotating features banner on the homepage, does the explanation have to be in italics?
I just think that that font in italics doesn't look that great and is a little annoying to read.

Other than that, the site seems to be coming on well
I like the lights on option, and I don't know if the lights feature is just part of the beta, but it might be interesting to see it stay so that people can have a choice of how they want to see the site...

[canberra_photographer]

JeremyR says:
"The Cnet UK website is also very intuitive and well laid out. They just finished a similar refresh of the site and it is a definite improvement, on par with the US site. Information is presented logically and in a manor that drives interest."

Interested in your thoughts here.. which improvements / changes did you prefer?

The UK homepage feels more compact and concentrated. Tabbed sections, prominant location of video content and a great feature for finding product reviews through both product category and product search are great.

Poor visual layout: Other Cnet sites require little scrolling or horizontal eye movement where as I find the new Cnet site requires much of both to view all content.

Which page types? Do you mean more stories / links above the fold?

The Beta feature a design that is broader than the UK and US sites, with three wide columns and quite a long home page, I feel like I have to scroll a lot and look back and forth across the page a heap.

Basically, I don't visit the current design of Cnet much anymore because the US and UK ones offer better content that's great to navigate.

What is the compelling content that brings you back to the UK/US site over Australia? Is it a content issue, navigation issue, community, usability issue...?

A lot of the news and reviews are simply taken off the US site anyway for the AU site, which is understandable, so only some of the content on the AU site is really unique. The US site offers heaps of opinion, blogs, video and informative content that goes beyond news, so given the choice, I find the US site offers a more wholesome site. How about some decent video content, not just stilted dictionary readings and a blog or two... blogs over on the US site get people talking