ATS Website Redesign In The Works --- Sneak Peek...

It looks nice.

A couple of suggestions I would have, which are basically mild issues I have on the current site.

1) the buttons near the top (site home, news, stats...) don't seem to be consistent across all pages. For example compare:

www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

2) I use firefox, and often do ctrl+ to up the font, however after some set time, it auto-reverts back to small, it's some kind of refresh that happens on many pages (topics?), often if you watch the tabs when you have a few topics open, you will see them go to refresh from time to time.

3) Out of respect for the rules I turn off the adblocking on ATS, however on some adverts my Privoxy still kicks in and blocks them for abusive/dangerous/spying behaviour, Sorry I don't have an example of that, but would request you keep an eye on what the advertisers are doing.

Can I make a suggestion? Make it so that if you are logged out, and you log in from a thread, it takes you back to the thread you were reading instead of back to the main forum page?

Pretty please?

Looks high speed Bill..More streamlined. When do you think it will up and running? Cant wait...TWO BIG THUMBS UP

It looks great,I love the fact that you've lined up the hottest threads next to each other.

I have on small request, more emoticons lol, keep up the good work.

Looking good, but I think a link to myATS should be made available from the homepage as it bugs me a little bit that you have to go to a thread to access it, unless of course you can go there and i've missed something / been very silly.

Peace

I like it.. the black on black with black highlights is a little depressing..

I CANT WAIT till you launch the new theme..

Good Work guys..

Hi SO. Looks good. Is there any possibility the welcome center could be moved to top right. I know, it is a minor thing but would improve usage. Also, any possibility threads/posts/u2u could be added so one doesn't have to go to threads and then up top to posts? Would increase functionality.
Thanks,
John

I have to agree with the streamlined and less choatic look.

I noticed one small glitch. The "scroll down..." links are not coded right on the destination anchors. The source anchors are in their own /div codes, but the destination anchors are inside the topmost section /div that does not close until the end of the section.
This makes the entire section a target with the closing tag containing the more# anchor attach to the bottom of the section.

Consider moving the destination anchors out of the topmost /div code and the links should jump to the top of the next available section instead of the bottom.

Unless it is intended to be designed as such, in which you would just disregard this entire post after the first line.

Edit:
I just reread that and it might not make much sense, so here is a searchable quote from the source code to help:

According to my post, this current code

< div id="bottomcontent" > < a name="more1" > < /a >

should become

< a name="more1" > < /a > < div id="bottomcontent" >

repeating for each of the numbered sections (more1, more2, etc), to resolve the anchors. And please ignore the injection of spaces in the quoted text, for readability only.

[edit on 8-10-2008 by wheresthetruth]

I still think we need a system to allow for ranking by popularity. It only makes good sense. I want to see what the veterans here on ATS and those who are considered knowledgeable in their respective fields have to say about a particular thread without having to wade through all of the posts to do so. Evolve or get left behind.

Let me be the first to say....

Thats crap!

Let me redesign the bit where the threads are on the front page.

Have you stripped the extra weight off the page for faster loading by any chance?

moar!!

reply to post by TH3ON3


most people go by points.
like a democracy

Looks a lot like the design ATS had a few years back.

reply to post by monkeybus



But the trouble is we are not getting anywhere with this format. I mean so many threads are complete BS, hell I'm guilty of starting a few myself.

But that is the reason we need a popular vote system, one in which the system logs the threads threads that merit the most intereset, and then allows for the orderly ranking of replies based on:

1.replies that either add to or prove against the thread as chosen by member vote.

2.replies that are the best argument for the thread.

3.replies that are the best argument against the thread.

4.membership alloweed to vote down replies that are silly, or do not make sense.

5.replies by the respective experts in each category viewable first if one so chooses.

As it is, it's like a willey-nilley forum where one really good thread is forgotten and thousands of new threads often about the same thing are created over & over???

I say allow ranking of posts by member vote, and allow members to choose which way they prefer to view the replies. Until then it just continues as an average site that every once in a while comes up with something new and unique.

Even if it means starting a new site to compare it with, wouldn't that be the test. And if the new site became more popular under the vote system, then no great loss, because you own both sites.

I just can't keep coming here looking for something different and it always stays the same. I'm getting very bored with the format, and if truth be told, I bet many others are as well.

A little AJAX when posting would be cool.
The effect of having newly posted comments automamtically and suddenly appear, vs the current page reload, would be appropriate for this site.

reply to post by Alxandro



Yes excellent idea. I wish a thread would be started about what ideas the members think would improve the site. The best design team is ALL!

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
And I think my only other suggestion would be.....to have the "online" member status show in the users profile, as it does in the avatar section. The front page stats are not always reliable, as it shows someone logged in for up to an hour, after they have logged out

As it is right now, I have to go to the user's profile, find a post they made, go to that post and look in their avatar to see if they are currently online. Takes forever

I have to second this idea. Big pain in the butt when you want to share something with one of your conspiracy buddies.

ED- to add, also a u2u link on the profile page as well. But it looks great!

[edit on 8-10-2008 by JaxonRoberts]

Sorry if this was mentioned before but...

Where's the LOG IN button on the first page?

(I know the original site makes you dig around for it)

I always thought the 1st page made the most sense.

Nice design, but the headline font is too bold.

And I really hope the view counters return.

Thanks to all for your comments and ideas... some have been incorporated into the latest versions of the new page designs.

We're getting close to relaunching all the "non-board" HTML pages that are typically the pages new users and non-members access before they decide which threads to read. Since we started these more "user friendly" pages (that are designed for people who may be unfamiliar with the content structure of discussion boards) our overall traffic and awareness has really increased.

Here are some updates (note, not all of the in-page links are fully functional as yet, you may get some 404 errors with a few of the links on these pages):


MAIN SITE HOME
newhome.html
This page is currently getting more than 40,000 visitors a day, and is the most popular way new users encounter ATS. existing old page

FORUM SUMMARY PAGES
newforum.html
An easy to understand overview of a discussion forum -- again, very useful in helping first-time visitors get a feel for what our members are discussing. existing old page

TOP TOPICS PAGE
newtop.html
This page has rapidly become one of the top-five overall pages as a great deal of guests and members use this to see the topics with the most flags. existing old page

NEW "THIS WEEK ON ATS" PAGES
newmonth.html
This links to the "This Month On ATS" page that replaces the existing weekly, and historical weekly pages (which no one is using). Here you can also see how the new sub-menu comes into play when it's needed. existing old page

NEW "ABOUT ATS" PAGES
newabout.html
newnewsletter.html
These show the new format and layout of our informational pages, and lumps all of them together under a unified sub-menu. existing old page


Also, you'll notice the top-right welcome/search box is now aware of members versus guests and delivers a different message for each.