[Beta - Completed] New Feature: Alternate Front Page

scotty on 12/11/2013 - 09:13

We had a site update this morning, and there's one new option included in your account settings. Currently it's available to users that have been on OzBargain for more than 6 months and with at least 2 badges, you'll see a new option under "OzBargain Settings" in your account settings page.

  • Show beta features

Turn this on to opt-in some of the experimental features that we've been cooking in the backend. These are usually significant changes that we would like to roll out to some users to test out, get feedbacks, reiterate, etc before having it available to everyone.

Feel free to try it out.

Site Discussion

Comments

  • neil on 12/11/2013 - 09:16

    Just noticed that the beta front page is showing a lot more deals than the normal one. Deals with 12, 13, 14 votes are showing up. Is that right?

    • scotty on 12/11/2013 - 09:25
      +1

      Yes the minimum vote setting at the moment is a bit lower. Actually it's 2/3 of the your minimum vote setting to allow more deals to be shown.

      • onlyletters on 14/11/2013 - 09:35

        Sounds like we're running out of deals lol

  • scotty on 12/11/2013 - 09:21
    +4

    Current available beta feature — Alternate front page design. It gives you a different OzBargain front page that shows deals in grid layout instead of list of deals. The deals are grouped into dates, and currently it shows at most 12 deals per day, sorted by the number of votes they get so most popular deals get pushed to the top-left. However expired deals get pushed to the end of the grid (bottom-right).

    It also employs a bit of responsive design so depending on the screen size, you might get 3 or 4 columns per row, or 2 columns on mobile devices.

    The rational behind this experimental front page is to increase the content density. Instead of showing 15 deals in our existing front page, it shows up to 36 deals covering the last 3 days. This is useful for those who don't frequent OzBargain as much (which is actually the majority of OzBargain users), giving them a better picture on the deals from the last 3 days.

    This design might eventually become the default front page of OzBargain (as it benefits casual users and visitors more), but the old front page will continue to be an opt-in option.

    • someguy102 on 12/11/2013 - 20:00

      This looks pretty pretty good on desktop and even better on mobile. Having a grid 2 squares wide on the phone feels like the perfect balance between displaying information and usability.

    • RockyRaccoon on 12/11/2013 - 22:44
      +1

      Much nicer, gives chance to see more things and easier to scan more deals. Well done

      Just one "option" and that is to be able to skip the expired deals. More so with those of previous days (Ok to leave for for today)

    • MrLeE on 13/11/2013 - 18:14
      -2

      I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, but scotty, you may need to consider some design thought into the beta front page design.

      • scotty on 13/11/2013 - 20:26
        +2

        I'm happy to take free advice. Leaven them here :)

        • MrLeE on 14/11/2013 - 10:18
          -2

          I'm a UX and Digital Designer. My advice would be helpful and I'm willing to contribute an hour for free, but would need to be in my own time. At capacity at the moment.

        • [Deactivated] on 14/11/2013 - 22:12
          -1

          My advice would be helpful and I'm willing to contribute an hour for free, but would need to be in my own time. At capacity at the moment.

          Remove rod from arse before proceeding forward.

        • MrLeE on 15/11/2013 - 16:55
          +1

          You sir, are very inconsiderate. I was being honest. I'm willing to help for free, but only when I have time. I work, study and tutor design students on weekends. Barely have time for my family. But I like to help others that keep me happy. EG: This website.

          Seriously… Learn some manners.

  • The Quote Train on 12/11/2013 - 09:52
    +6

    Hmmmm will take some getting use to. Not sold on it yet, I'll test it out over the next few days though

    • scotty on 12/11/2013 - 10:02
      +3

      Yeah I'll think that most regular users would not like it at first. There's a reason why we prefer familiarity. We'll continue to update on that new beta page, and will provide an opt-in for those who prefer the old style.

    • Make it so on 12/11/2013 - 12:56
      +9

      I'm inclined to agree. I'm used to reading things top to bottom, not in a grid pattern.
      I think it's a bit busy, with too much information and images which are a bit large. Perhaps some of the meta information (posted how long ago, shop name, etc.) could be done without for the front page, and the titles could be smaller and darker for better contrast. Would be good if users can chose "list" or "grid" view.

    • Evil-Elmo on 12/11/2013 - 13:28

      I thought I'd be the same but, honestly, I prefer the grid design (so far - only used it briefly).

      I think those who check often would probably prefer the row design as they only ever look at the top couple, but with the grid design you can see a lot more at once and are less likely to miss deals of interest.

      • Make it so on 12/11/2013 - 17:00

        Nah, I tend to read the whole page. But my problem with the grid is that I need to move my eyes all over the page. The titles wrap across 4 lines, and then there's 4 deals in a row. That's a whole lot of zigzagging.

  • one man clan on 12/11/2013 - 10:01

    I like the new front page, although it does make it look more like a retail/group deals page rather than information sharing.

  • Sharp on 12/11/2013 - 10:06

    Thanks I turned it on to try it out.

    I hope we see some improvements in the search function next. Such as setting the deals only, deal title and sorted by date options as the default.

    Currently the default search (from the home page) results in a mess of deals, forums, deal comments on the same page. Then you go spend time to try to sort out with limited search options (there is no deal title search) to find what you originally wanted to see (which is 99% of the times the old deal titles).

    • scotty on 12/11/2013 - 10:16

      Yeah I have mentioned it here when we rolled out our new search backend last month. The aim is still having "Advanced Search" more usable by the end of this month (finger crossed).

  • bluedufflecoat on 12/11/2013 - 10:19

    Hi Scotty,
    Noticed that links to new forum posts (on the main forum page) is gone now… is this intentional? This is even without changing to the beta version.

    • scotty on 12/11/2013 - 10:33

      Yeah that's mostly for performance reason. The link just goes to the first new post in that forum, which wouldn't be that useful. However I guess people still want to find out how many new posts are there?

      • bluedufflecoat on 12/11/2013 - 11:02

        For me, it highlights to me there's something I haven't read, vs clicking into the specific section forum to find out. Not a big deal, but I got used to having it and I liked it. So, I miss it now.

  • donga100 on 12/11/2013 - 10:51
    +1

    I like the icon for new comments on the account page. Much easier to see than the old icon.

  • _Bruce_ on 12/11/2013 - 13:05
    +1

    Sorry, not a fan. Apart from the lack of a consistant reading direction it highlights all the stuff on the right getting in the way (I'm not a fan all that anyway, where it an option I'ld remove it all).

  • donga100 on 12/11/2013 - 13:08

    I use OzBargain on my PC so it's not really an issue but won't the smaller +/- voting buttons be a problem for mobile/tablet users who frequently press the wrong button by mistake?

  • sane on 12/11/2013 - 14:09

    Not a fan.

    Specifically, it's difficult to parse the titles, the upvote count doesn't parse well (needs to be something like a bar graph methinks) and there's no 'new' comment count (which is key).

    Oh, and category tagging in a useful form would be a good move too.

    Targeting the mobile market are we?

    • Evil-Elmo on 12/11/2013 - 15:13

      and there's no 'new' comment count (which is key).

      Mine shows the new comment count…

    • sane on 14/11/2013 - 09:07
      +1

      Here is a quick mockup I put together of my suggestion on how to arrange things differently. Not perfect, but some useful elements I think.

      http://i.imgur.com/MasnAfZ.gif
      http://i.imgur.com/UB95iJn.jpg

      • _Bruce_ on 14/11/2013 - 16:35

        I like the shaded based on categories, but don't the like mouse overs.

        Still I'm also against the grid form in general.

  • andyken on 12/11/2013 - 14:14

    Prefer the current one but thanks scotty

  • [Deactivated] on 12/11/2013 - 15:38

    Cool option. I especially like that it's optional :P

  • Food on 12/11/2013 - 16:12

    Hate the new front page on a desktop, but love it on the mobile!
    I would love there to be a setting to display the new deals page in that grid!

  • [Deactivated] on 12/11/2013 - 16:32
    +8

    My 30 second experience:

    Enabled beta features.
    Saw homepage.
    Disabled beta features.

  • Marrk on 12/11/2013 - 16:35

    I like the general direction of the new design, not quite there yet, though keeping it available as a second option, isn't a bad idea. :)

  • movieman on 12/11/2013 - 18:42

    Hey guys,

    So how do you know how much further we have until we get 'two badges'?

    I don't want to ramble all evening until I see the second badge appear, lol.

  • auna on 12/11/2013 - 20:31
    +1

    I'm sorry but seeing more info on the post is too useful in the old design. The new one is good as an overview but in actual use it's not quite as good.

  • stirlo on 12/11/2013 - 21:33
    +2

    I miss having the URL for the deal clearly displayed. I'll often ignore a deal if its from some dodgy link or from dse.com.au (they never have stock). It was an easy way to see who was offering the deal at a glance

    • scotty on 12/11/2013 - 22:18

      Shop's name does get displayed however I know what you mean by having the full URL.

      • stirlo on 13/11/2013 - 17:03

        I like the new hover over feature :)

        Plus thanks for putting the toggle on the front page, allows me to keep up to date with the new layout while still able to retreat to the classic design I'm familiar with if needed.

  • bargdebarg on 12/11/2013 - 22:18

    I like the new design

  • Rocket on 13/11/2013 - 00:24

    A bit of a shock at first, but its growing on me.

  • Davo1111 on 13/11/2013 - 01:10
    +2

    tbh it feels cluttered. I prefer the old version.

    Plus i'd never looks at deals beyond a day anyway :/

  • frewer on 13/11/2013 - 04:55

    i think the new design like me too.

  • camelgrass on 13/11/2013 - 08:04

    Lol… I think I need a new phone.

    I don't even get a grid layout on my 320x480 res phone. I only get a single column. Even so I prefer the present layout, it's much easier to read with larger font size and extra info on the deals is presented in nice summary format.

    The new design is far too busy for me but with a bit of tweaking as others have said it can be improved.

    I don't know why you need 50 deals on the front page, many if not most are out of stock or expired anyway. This may be an area you wish to tweak.

    • scotty on 13/11/2013 - 09:04

      I don't know why you need 50 deals on the front page

      If you visit OzBargain at least 3-4 times a day, you don't. But most people visit OzBargain less frequently. Shouldn't we do features catering majority of our users who might not be as vocal?

      • camelgrass on 13/11/2013 - 19:58

        I agree actually but if you read my comment in context you can see a major point I was making is that many deals are out of stock or expired and the further back you go the more likely a deal is no longer available.

        At time of writing 20 of the 50 most recent front page deals are no longer available.

        I don't think the majority of users want to waste their time being presented with 50 deals when 40% of them are no longer available.

        It's not really a good look especially to the large amount of new traffic and visitors the site gets via Google and so on.

        That's why I suggested this feature could be tweaked.

        • scotty on 13/11/2013 - 20:23

          Okay thanks for the suggestion. Yeah we are already pushing those expired deals to the bottom of the stack, but might need to put more effort in to hide them.

  • scotty on 13/11/2013 - 09:12
    +6

    I've taken some feedbacks from yesterday and pushed out a minor update this morning.

    • Once you enabled Beta Feature, you can choose between Grid and List view on the front page. The setting is kept per browser session, i.e. they can be different on mobile or on desktop browsers. However they don't persist with your account setting if somehow your browser session got killed / lost.

    • Hovering over the image now shows the actual URL of the deal (although it still clicks-through to the deal page).

    • Background colour + size tinkering with the vote buttons. They are now a bit bigger, and the default background shade is no longer white. See some explanation here.

    • Some style changes (colour/weight change to the title, highlighting new comments, etc)

    • Make it so on 13/11/2013 - 16:34
      +2

      I think it looks better. I think it is good how the configuration is per browser, so that mobiles will maintain the same view (as "Food" said).

      If would be nice if the background colour for the deal (the full square in grid view, or rectangle for list view) were shaded according to the votes. For instance, a deal with two votes is near-white, 50 votes a shade of green, and 100 votes a strong green. Easier to spot the good deals this way. Every second counts :)

  • Giraffe on 13/11/2013 - 14:19
    +1

    Not a fan of the grid-view yet but will keep trying it for a while to see.

    On a side note: Is it possible to integrate a "view all comments" function when there are multiple pages? Similar to Whirlpool's archive version.

  • neil on 13/11/2013 - 14:30

    I don't think we need to show the negative vote at all on the front page.

    • You can't negative vote the deal without commenting so doesn't serve a function.
    • If the deal has made the front page, then it's pretty much going to be a good deal

    Out of the last 36 deals on the front page, 2 have negative votes. It's just one less thing that can be removed to save real estate. An alternative suggestion would be if the deal doesn't have a negative vote, then don't show the box.

    The other minor thing is perhaps some spacing between the grids to separate out the deals.

    • [Deactivated] on 13/11/2013 - 15:01
      -5

      I don't think we need to show the negative vote at all on the front page.

      Does OzBargain even need a negative vote? No one can use it freely, as you need to comment. And even then you need to justify it to a legal standard or it'll be revoked by a mod.

      Yet, to give, a positive vote you can just click away not giving a shit if it's a deal or not. And usually when something does receive more than 2 negative votes it gets moved to the forums any way. It's a useless part of OzBargain, a remnant from the past.

      • neil on 13/11/2013 - 15:11

        That's a whole another topic that's been debated many many times. I suggest you join/create discussions on the Site Discussion form.

        • [Deactivated] on 13/11/2013 - 15:26
          -7

          No thanks. Not going to waste my time.

    • one man clan on 13/11/2013 - 16:18
      +6

      I personally enjoy knowing when a deal has been negged so I can follow the inevitable flame war in the comments

    • Make it so on 13/11/2013 - 19:05
      +2

      An alternative suggestion would be if the deal doesn't have a negative vote, then don't show the box.

      Yes please. Do not hide it if it has negative comments, because people may click straight through to the deal's website, not realising a whole lot of people may have negged the deal for good reasons (e.g. untrustworthy retailer or price error)

      • camelgrass on 13/11/2013 - 19:30

        Very good point!

        Neg votes actually hold more weight than pos votes for the simple reason it is much more difficult to cast a valid neg vote. Neg votes can also be removed by mods and by users negging the particular comment that accompanied the neg vote.

        I think it is very important to keep the neg counter displayed on the front page to help protect users and visitors to the site.

      • scotty on 13/11/2013 - 20:26

        Indeed most front page deals don't have negative votes. However for those that do (for example, currently the Amazon AU eBook deal), the arguments there are quite helpful for a more balanced view.

  • boomerpro on 13/11/2013 - 15:05

    Who makes the new design and changes?

    • Moderatorneil on 13/11/2013 - 15:12

      Scott & Moocher

      • boomerpro on 13/11/2013 - 19:12
        +1

        good on them!!

      • Moderatormoocher on 15/11/2013 - 09:50

        Actually I can't take any credit, it was all Scotty's work for the current new design. :)

  • edgar28 on 13/11/2013 - 15:11

    seem to be less info than old one for the 1st glance :(

  • algy on 13/11/2013 - 16:55
    +1

    I've been a member for over 6 months, but I only have one badge, I have no idea what a badge is though… How do I get another one?

    • Commonwealth Pig on 13/11/2013 - 17:07

      See badges.

      50 more comments will get you the 'Commentator' badge which looks like the badge you are closest to earning.

      Edit: Or post a deal that gets 100 or more positive votes ;)

  • rekabkram on 13/11/2013 - 23:20

    I'm not sure about the layout yet, although personally I don't go on the front page too often I go straight to /deals
    I like having a couple of sentences of description since sometimes people put other deals in there that aren't in the title or a bit of vital info.

    • Having the grid/list options are a huge plus.
    • There does seem to be just a few too many for a front page, although that may be because I always browse on a mobile.

    The whole thing looks like the windows phone layout which I'm still not entirely used to and that may be throwing me off it a bit, I still prefer to have the info.

    Slightly unrelated, I have on a few occasions hit the wrong pos/neg button on both comments and deals. Great that I can retract my vote but then there's no way of voting the other way, is it possible to change that or do I just have to learn to control my dopey fingers?

    • camelgrass on 14/11/2013 - 04:12

      I like having a couple of sentences of description since sometimes people put other deals in there that aren't in the title or a bit of vital info.

      That is a feature I would miss a lot.

  • Rocket on 14/11/2013 - 07:32

    It's growing on me, I'm starting to get use to it and I think it's a positive change.

    thanks!!

  • epicaricacy on 14/11/2013 - 13:47

    Not liking the new front page layout at all on the desktop. tried it for a few minutes and a few visits, but then turned it off

  • tyler.durden on 14/11/2013 - 20:40
    +1

    New layout is messy

    You need to make the borders bold and more thicker/darker..

    When you are scanning quickly with the eyes, it is harder to separate one deal from the next.

  • aerona on 14/11/2013 - 21:19
    +2

    Looks more like an advertisement sales then a community, I think it will detract new users from here.

    • Peace Maker on 16/11/2013 - 08:01

      ^ This. The grid front page feels 'spammy'. The current list format is more information based with an obvious forum feel which is what I think gives OzB its credibility of being mainly community generated deals.

  • Wallyt99 on 14/11/2013 - 21:55
    +7

    I think the most significant issue is that it places too much emphasis on the images - which are often not actually the product. Therefore you are just taking up screen realestate and confusing the viewer.

    I like the idea of a more compact layout - but I dont think this is it.

    • neil on 14/11/2013 - 22:03

      Yeah agree with that. I like grid designs and they work well with 500px, Pinterest and Flickr but I agree with you, my eyes are very focused on the images. However, I don't know what would be good. Design is very subjective.

      • scotty on 14/11/2013 - 23:04

        Yeah the grid image-focused design certainly works for those sites. But again they have some pretty pictures vs. low-res highly variable product photos / screenshots that we have here (as per @ProspectiveDarkness' comment below).

        It feels busy because I'm trying to cram more info into each deal, yet it's still not informative enough for some here.

        Interestingly so many people still prefer the list format from the 1997 Slashdot era. Or could it just be the "OzBargain that I'm used to"?

        How would I go about getting it tested on guest users?

  • ProspectiveDarkness on 14/11/2013 - 22:28
    +3

    Not really a fan of it myself. This is going to sound a bit nitpicky, but the uniformity of the grid is very much at odds with the highly variable pictures. When the pictures are as prominent as they, I think it makes the whole thing look a bit tacky and unbalanced. I'm also not a fan of how the voting box and the [updated] tags cover parts of the image.

    I think the current layout is better. Reading directly from left to right feels more natural than reading in a small box that becomes a small paragraph if the title is long enough. I agree with Wallyt99 - the picture is more supplementary than a necessity, I think, so having it front and centre, with the deal title constrained and the expanded details absent, seems a bit strange.

    I do like how the store name is separately listed from the title, though, and the rest of the listed details (the box containing them looks a bit bare overall, though, and the font size is a bit small).

    /my $0.02

  • tyler.durden on 15/11/2013 - 01:06
    +4

    Not a fan of the grid style..
    I just tested it and…

    It is just too much information overload

    Our eyes get bombarded with so many images that it is harder to focus on just one deal …

    And our eyes get focus more on the images than the text when we scanning the deals..
    It makes it harder to read the text of the actual deals..

    And also the the quality and size of each image is varied..
    Some got pic of a
    -TV
    -small website screenshot

    It just looks like a poorly design website..

    ==
    The old layout is much better
    So I hope this is not gonna be the permanent layout in the future

    ==
    If I was a guest user, browsing this site, I would think this some sort online store, or groupon type site etc..

    ==

    Compare to these sites

    http://www.ebay.com.au/
    http://www.pinterest.com/

    What is the difference to ozbargain style?
    Those two sites have minimal text, but lots of really high quality pics..

    Ozbargain requires reading alot more text but lacks high quality pics..
    and some pics are just screenshot of the website..

    That's why it does not work for ozbargain
  • JayCeeJay on 15/11/2013 - 12:02

    I like it, easier to scan through and look at.
    Design might not be the best, but everything is there above the fold, a + for me

  • viperxz on 15/11/2013 - 13:11
    +1

    I have to admit I'm not a fan, I scan through OzBargain a couple of times a day and just want to quickly parse through the deals.

    For this reason the offer headline text is much more important to me than the image. I'm usually more interested in the deal than the image, if the deal catches my eye I usually then go to the site or read the description and comments. For me the image is more an aesthetics thing than identifying the deal.

    If I was just looking for TVs, yes the images makes it much easier to identify the offer which relate to TVs, however I read ozbargain to look for bargains across all products, rather a bargain on a specific than product.

    In the cases where I am actively I'm after a deal on a specific product, then I use search.

    As a result the smaller text makes it harder to read the offer, it also requires users to to scan left to right and up and down to read the offers which makes it much harder to quickly parse the offers.

  • CI on 15/11/2013 - 13:29
    +3

    Maybe I am just used to it for so long, but I prefer the List mode. The grid mode is too many pictures and a cluster.
    Other updates around the site all look good.

    • nickj on 16/11/2013 - 10:00

      +1.

      Following on from the above, I think it should default to list mode, and offer grid mode as an option for people who want it.

  • bonezAU on 15/11/2013 - 19:12
    +1

    It could grow on me, but I turned off the beta option for now.

    The way OzBargain looks with the current view fits in much better with those of us who work in offices, as it doesn't scream Scoopon from bosses walking past behind you like the new beta front page does.

    The current/old view is much simpler and that's why I like it.

    Just my 3.8 rupees.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/11/2013 - 14:04
    +1

    Hopefully this comment will get me to the 100 needed for the Commentator badge, which should enable me to see the beta features and the alternate front page.

    How long until the badge is awarded? Are they immediate or are they done overnight?

    • donga100 on 16/11/2013 - 14:47

      You've got 2 badges now! :)

  • Turd on 18/11/2013 - 16:15

    I dont like the new beta view.
    I had to turn it off.

    Reason?

    Because I like reading the brief text that people put in the deal before clicking it, so now there is no description so it's a bit annoying.

    Just my comment.

  • scotty on 21/11/2013 - 09:41

    Some minor updates this morning for the alternate front page.

    • Removing the limit on the number of deals shown per day (was 15). I think it might be an issue with users having front-page limit set to some ridiculously low number.
    • Front page threshold is now the same as the listing view.
    • Hide the expired deals by default, and you have to click on "Show Expired Deals" to see them.
  • endotherm on 31/12/2013 - 13:36

    Has the alternate front page view stopped working? I logged on this morning and it is back to the regular view. I still have beta features enabled on my settings. Is this a glitch at my end or the server? Thanks.

    • scotty on 31/12/2013 - 14:10
      +1

      It is still working and actually just released it for everyone as of this morning. However we are setting it to opt-in for now. So you'll have to click on "Grid View" on the front page to enable it.

      • endotherm on 31/12/2013 - 14:44

        Thanks, that explains it, I thought I was going nuts when I couldn't change the beta-option anymore.

  • benjamin on 09/11/2014 - 10:04

    I love grid view. I can scan a days worth of deals in a couple of seconds rather than scroll down sequentially.

    What would be great would be (maybe as an optional feature) slightly greying out deals that have previously loaded or giving some sort of indication which deals are new since I reloaded the page. Not being able to easily identify new deals is the only drawback I can find with it.

    Great job though.

    • benjamin on 09/11/2014 - 10:07

      I just realised the 'new' tag is actually there (amazing what the brain filters out), but it only is removed if you actually click on the deal. Maybe this is a bug?

      • scotty on 09/11/2014 - 22:03

        new tags on the deals are intended that way — a deal that you have not yet clicked through to read it. However at the moment the grid view is good to get a quick glance of what's happening today, but not that good if you are a reload-warrior trying to figure out what's new.

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