Amazin' Avenue Refresh

by Eric Simon on Nov 3, 2009 9:45 AM EST Comment 41 comments

By now I'm sure you see the visual refresh that was implemented here (and across SB Nation) this morning. It's not a comprehensive redesign, but the look of the site has been tightened up, some fonts tweaked, some white space eliminated, and a few other minor layout changes put in place. The main goals of this refresh are to improve readability of the sites and speed up load times, two areas which folks have grumbled about in the past.

As with anything new, some people are going to be afraid of the changes and want to go back to the old way. I assure you that the changes were made for good reasons and that we'll all get used to them very soon. That said, sometimes there are a few hiccups along the way, so if you notice something that isn't working properly, use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page and select "I think something is broken" from the subsequent page. This will send a note to our tech support team with whatever information you provide so they can take a look at the issue.

Poll

What do you think of the visual refresh?

I like it. Cleaner and slicker, for sure.

61 votes

I'm not in love with it, but it'll grow on me.

76 votes

I'm a joyless curmudgeon and hate change in any form.

34 votes

171 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 41 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Pages seem to be loading faster, so thumbs up from me.

You don't cheer for the Mets. You drink for the Mets.

by Kevin H on Nov 3, 2009 10:04 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!

No, I like the new look.

"He's definitely mixing it into his repertoire. That's French for 'repertoire' " - Keith Hernandez

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Nov 3, 2009 10:13 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

It's pretty subtle

The Amazin avenue logo top lefthand corner is currently eating the title and first few words of the post, but it looks sharp.

by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs on Nov 3, 2009 10:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Are you using Firefox with AdBlock?

Or something else.

by Eric Simon on Nov 3, 2009 10:16 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

firefox

with adblock

by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs on Nov 3, 2009 10:17 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Known issue

They’ll be looking at that one.

by Eric Simon on Nov 3, 2009 10:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I knew they would be

honestly, if amazin avenue was carved in Sanskrit into a bronze tablet and delivered to the post office monthly, where i’d have to pick it up and carry it home, I’d still be a fan.

by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs on Nov 3, 2009 10:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Don't give him any ideas

I don’t have the patience to use a chisel to write my columns.

by Alex Nelson on Nov 3, 2009 10:32 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Let alone

copy editing everyone else’s.

by Eric Simon on Nov 3, 2009 10:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't even bring that up

I’m retired at the copy editing game, after all.

by Alex Nelson on Nov 3, 2009 10:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I liked it better

when I could get AA for 5 cents from the corner newsstand.

by Mount17 on Nov 3, 2009 11:13 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I love that

Simpsons picture

by MetsKnicksRutgers on Nov 3, 2009 10:30 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Looks good

If there’s any real issue it’s just with the SBNation format overall. The front page is super busy, loaded with tons of content and wikis that I don’t even notice. It’s a perfectly valid design philosophy, I just tend to like the less-is-more approach.

As for the specific changes, I liked the blue background more than the white because it’s more eye friendly and provides a nice contrast with the main content area.

Sorry to be such a Negative Nancy, it looks great and loads fast!

by TheBigStapler on Nov 3, 2009 10:38 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Afterthought

It seems my paragraph breaks didn’t take…

test…

by TheBigStapler on Nov 3, 2009 10:38 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That's the other known issue (aside from the Firefox/AdBlock one)

Comment line spacing is off. That’ll be fixed posthaste.

by Eric Simon on Nov 3, 2009 10:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The background

Agreed, the grey background is a little dull. I feel like complaining about that is like complaining about the color of the outfield walls at CitiField, but there you go: not enough Mets colors.

by mnbv on Nov 3, 2009 11:05 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

for the record

I meant widgets, not wikis. I can has edit feechurz?

by TheBigStapler on Nov 4, 2009 11:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Somewhat off topic

Is there any reason why I get Celtics headlines on the right hand side? Is this a clever advertising program which thinks I should be interested in them (I have no interest, so far, in basketball at all)

by deadspy3 on Nov 3, 2009 11:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

and lo

in the new format, they seem to have been exorcised

by deadspy3 on Nov 3, 2009 11:19 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I spoke too soon

They are now in the main feed rather than the RHS. I don’t object really, just curious why Celtics and not, say, Knicks

by deadspy3 on Nov 3, 2009 11:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I write over at Big Blue View (Giants SBN blog)

and we’ve had a ton of people complain about the same thing. I’ve never seen it b/c I have adblock, but the reason for it is that MASN jumped on board pretty early with a sponsorship of SBN, so they get prime advertising space. That Celtics ad is on literally every SBN blog, and I think all of them have received complaints about it.

"[The Giants] beat us down. We were beat by a grown-man team, a team we want to be like one day. They came in here and took it to us. Out-manned us, out-gunned us. ... It wasn't even close." - Raheem Morris, 9/27/09

by cjmulrain on Nov 3, 2009 12:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ah ok

I mean, I’m not complaining as such, I was just curious why it was always Celtics ads. Thanks for the explanation.

by deadspy3 on Nov 3, 2009 12:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

no problem

the lesson, as always: Boston sucks

by cjmulrain on Nov 3, 2009 12:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I love the word curmudgeon

by James Kannengieser on Nov 3, 2009 11:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Because it describes you perfectly

by Sam Page on Nov 3, 2009 11:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So what you're saying is

it was YOU who egged my house on Halloween

by James Kannengieser on Nov 3, 2009 11:46 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

me and the rest of the L-town shakedown

by Sam Page on Nov 3, 2009 11:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

James Klannengieser

Scam Page

www.twitter.com/willDavidian

by All Shook Down on Nov 4, 2009 12:37 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I voted for the 3rd option

but I know I’ll get used to it in like a week. At least it’s not as bad as facebook’s nonsensical changes that they make seemingly for the sole purpose of pissing people off enough to form “if 1 million people join this facebook should change back” groups, and then ignoring them. Gotta love Mark Zuckerberg…

by cjmulrain on Nov 3, 2009 12:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'm not a big fan of change

but it’s not that big of one and I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

But, anyone else having trouble scrolling through comments with z?

by dtro on Nov 3, 2009 12:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I was having that problem last night

seems to be working ok now though

by cjmulrain on Nov 3, 2009 1:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like it.

I noticed we lost the left sidebar, including the roster and the countdown of the 50 Greatest Mets. Not a huge loss, though. Somehow, the page still seems to be just as wide.

by BobbyV_Incognito on Nov 3, 2009 1:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I got to be honest

I really dislike this new format. I thought the old one was excellent for SBNation, this is plain and ugly. As long as the content is the same, which I can’t see it not being, the layout doesn’t really matter.

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Nov 3, 2009 5:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

one issue

The site takes twice as long to load for me now. boo.

ain't had enough...

by BlackOps on Nov 3, 2009 5:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

same.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Nov 3, 2009 6:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There is less blue and orange now

It reminds me of Citi Field.

by Reg Dunlop on Nov 3, 2009 9:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Fonts!

Can you make the font, theTitle of your Blog Posts into bold? i.e. “Amazin’ Avenue Refresh” comparing to this: “Amazin’ Avenue Refresh.”

Just saying…

by nelsonc on Nov 3, 2009 9:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Two design issues

1. Like NelsonC says above. The blog title font is, if I’m not mistaken, is a larger size and not emboldened. I really feel it should be bold.
2. The clash of the logo vs. the rest of the blue on the site is sort of an eyesore (particularly the background color of the adspace).

www.twitter.com/willDavidian

by All Shook Down on Nov 4, 2009 12:43 AM EST reply actions 0 recs