Finally! A Democratic Underground homepage that you'll WANT to visit, many times a day.

[Skinner]

Sometime in the next few days, we intend to put in place an exciting upgrade to the Democratic Underground homepage -- probably our most important homepage upgrade yet. Unlike our current homepage, this new homepage takes full advantage of the incredible depth and variety of information available on our website, and gives our members much greater influence on what appears there. The DU Administrators feel that this community's greatest asset -- what sets us apart from all of those other "regular" blogs -- is our people. Thousands of people with a wide variety of viewpoints, interests, and personalities. More than any previous homepage, this new homepage showcases that amazing variety. After years of trying to get it right, the DU Admins think that this is the homepage that Democratic Underground should have had all along.

Back to basics

As many of you know, our last homepage upgrade was about a year ago, in which we gave it a very traditional blog-like presentation. This seemed like a smart thing to do at the time, considering that blogs seemed to be getting all the "buzz." The obvious weakness in this approach, which should have been obvious to us then, is that Democratic Underground is not like all those regular blogs. People don't visit this website to passively consume someone else's writing. People visit this website to participate. Democratic Underground is a huge discussion, not a lecture. Democratic Underground is all about variety: news, opinions, support, agreement, disagreement, conflict, chaos. It's like a massive all-you-can-eat buffet of progressive thought. Anyone can find plenty of interesting things here, but nobody can possibly consume all of it.

This new homepage takes the variety and excitement of Democratic Underground and places it front-and-center for all of our visitors. It is infinitely browseable, with lots and lots of stuff from so many different people all over the website. By drawing headlines from our Latest Breaking News forum along with recent video from our Political Videos forum, and great commentary from the DU Journals, the new homepage is a first-rate news portal -- comparable to news sites like CNN or Google News.

We need your help

Before the new homepage goes live, we need your help. We have uploaded a test version of the page to our server so you can help us find and fix any bugs. Please visit the new homepage, browse around, familiarize yourself with all its features, and click on various links throughout the page. If you run into any problems, please post them in this thread. When reporting bugs, please include your operating system (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OSX, etc.), and your web browser and version number (IE7, Firefox 1.5, etc.) if you know them. Also, feel free to post any questions, comments, or (polite) criticisms in this thread.

The new homepage is here: http://www.democraticunderground.com

Thank you

Thank you for your help, and thank you for being a member of our community. We will do our best to address any issues or concerns you may have. Later in the week we will post a new thread explaining all the different features of the new homepage, and how each one works.

Skinner, EarlG, Elad
The DU Administrators

[samsingh]

looks beautiful.

[trumad]

10. As a minor web designer

I'm stunned at how much info you could put on a front page and still make it sweet. You guys are good---really good.

[kid a]

41. Looks great - Love it

[tavalon]

170. Yes, they are!

What I love about our pilots is how they try out new things and if something doesn't work right, they let it go. This looks great from the getgo so I doubt this one will go away but I'm basically saying that I like their flexibility and grace right along with their obvious talent and love for this site.

I'm glad I signed up for a monthly donation and I'm glad when my money flow is such that I can throw more to them during the fund drives. This is a place well worth my money.

[Zandor]

100. KISS

In my humble newbie opinion, this thing is waaaaaaaay too busy. The columns are killers, and it's resulting in my eye bouncing all over the place.

It just seems the push for less popular items like the videos and blogs is being allowed to clutter what I think people basically want to see - links to discussion threads, and maybe top news articles.

My two cents.

[Beelzebud]

1. I really like the redesign! Good job!

[Maddy McCall]

2. Good job. I like it.

I didn't like the blog look...it was too difficult to find the links I wanted. This is much better.

:thumbsup:

[Beaverhausen]

3. Awesome

Like I don't spend too much time here as it is!!!

:hi:

[NMDemDist2]

9. LOL totally! n/t

[myrna minx]

4. I love it. I love the addition of

the state forums on the homepage for people to get involved locally. Great layout.

[file83]

80. Yeah, I like the option to change how the Late Breaking News is displayed...

...either as "Latest", "Top Rated", or "Most Discussed".

For example, I click on "Most Discussed" and the Virginia shooting comes up. It's a nice way to sort through what's going on - and this seems to pass the test!

[babylonsister]

5. Great job, Admin(s)! Looks really spiffy and jampacked w/info!

Thanks for your continuing improvements!:thumbsup:

[Heidi]

6. That's so much more dynamic. Thanks, guys!

:thumbsup:

[symbolman]

7. WOW

THIS is what I've been calling for, for YEARS - a Liberal PORTAL that puts it ALL together, movies, news, etc..

NOW you're cooking with GAS, baby :)

CONGRATS, Skinner, both on the page and on your Baby, who I hope is flourishing :)

[BlueGirlRedState]

8. Now I'll NEVER get any work done!

Looks great! So much to choose from -- thanks for all the work you do!

[valerief]

11. Very nice! nt

[understandinglife]

12. Fantastic! Very special. Thank you.

Peace.

[slay]

13. Very nice

Looks perfect on my PC running Windows XP Sevice pack 2.

[Snotcicles]

14. I went, I saw, I liked. nt

[liberalnurse]

15. OHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

very nice! :wow:

It is very much a directory of sorts yet a top-notch newspage. I like it.

[On the Road]

16. Looks Great!

I'm always nervous about redesigns because they're very tricky and frequently go wrong.

Yahoo originally took over as the dominant internet portal because of its rich intuitive layout. But it's current redesigns IMO are terrible in almost every area.

This one is good because of the sheer volume of text and that on the front page that are organized in a way that makes sense.

[marlakay]

17. Great design!!

I love how the videos are front and center now and you have info on all the candidates right at anyones fingertips. I think this site will bring more new people easier to our community.

You guys do a great job...I read more than I have posted the last 3 yrs I have been here but its on my top 10 sites bar on computer.

[tavalon]

171. Heck

DU has been my homepage for the last few years! It used to be livejournal and I must admit that my LJ is suffering from the lack of attention. OTOH, I have over 7000 posts here.

I loves me some DU!

[Kolesar]

18. the green "paid ads" bar in the middle just looks kind of strange to me

It looks out of balance, visually. Maybe just because I am "used to" seeing them on the left side.

I *do* like having "Democrats 2008" up there.

[Lochloosa]

70. "Democrats 2008" was a nice addtion.

:toast:

[Bjorn Against]

124. I love the page, but I was going to voice the same criticism you just did...

It does seem a little out of place to have the ads going down the middle, and I think it would look better if they were moved to the edge of the screen. Other than that though I love the new design. Great work guys.

[Rosemary2205]

163. Me too. move it to the far right IMHO. nt.

[mirrera]

168. Me too: move ads to edge...n/t

[Adelante]

19. I like it!

Thanks :thumbsup:

[LSK]

20. Wow!! That looks awesome!!!

Im really blown away by that page.

GREAT JOB!!!!!

:thumbsup:

[bleever]

21. One small cavil

about an otherwise great look: it's a little awkward (to me) to have the ads between the DU content, either in a column, or Google ads partway through the page. It breaks up the visual continuity.

Otherwise it looks fabulous to me.

[MessiahRp]

78. I agree with the ads

They just seem out of place in the middle of DU content rather than off to the side somewhere.

Rp

[meldroc]

22. Very nice! A couple suggestions.

The page seems to render quite well on my system (Ubuntu Edgy Linux, Firefox 2.0.0.3). It is very nice, a more newsey format for the front page.

First critique - the page does have a fairly high minimum width. It's still readable if I squeeze my browser window, but I wonder about the readability for those with older systems with low resolution displays (some people still run at 800x600...) At least it seems that just the sidebars scroll out of view, so it should still be usable, but it is a concern.

Also, as far as usability goes, it might be helpful to put some shortcut links to the big forums - General Discussion, General Discussion: Politics, LBN, Editorials, Political Videos, etc. on the top of the front page. It seems my personal use case much of the time is to go to the front page, click on Latest or Greatest or Enter Discussion Forums, then go to GD, GD:P or LBN. Having links directly to the big forums, say on the top of one of the sidebars, would save a few clicks.

[Skinner]

43. Answers.

With regard to page width, until today we have always tried to keep all of our pages viewable on an 800x600 screen. We finally decided it was okay to go to a minimum of 1024x768 for a few reasons:

First, it seems that most high-profile websites have long since gone to a 1024x768 format. For example: Yahoo, New York Times, Washington Post.

Second, our own stats show that the vast, vast majority of our visitors (upwards of 95%) now have monitors that are 1024x768 or larger.

With this in mind, we felt that the benefits of going to a wider format far outweighed the costs. But even then we tried to lay out the page so that three of the four columns would be readable on an 800x600 monitor without scrolling.

With regard to links to the forums, I agree that it would have some value. But we felt that people who wanted to browse DU in the way they always did can easily click on the big "Enter Discussion Forums" link and go where they like. (BTW: You do, in fact have direct links to some of the forums on the homepage, but they are not all provided in one place and they require scolling to find them).

[Lone_Star_Dem]

23. I like it much better than the current one

It had a vast amount of information and was still easy to navigate. I ran into no problems on my end either. Great work!

[lonestarnot]

24. Way cool!

[crispini]

25. HOLY COW.

Wow. Amazing.

[lpbk2713]

26. I like it.

Thanks.

Works OK with my XP Pro and Mozilla 1.7.13 BTW.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[BuyingThyme]

27. Ah, yes, the video forum will finally come in to its own.

That's progress.

[Robbien]

28. Could JeffR's DUzy weekly thread be a highlighted item?

It spotlights some of the finest lighter moments of DUers and I believe it should get higher visability.

[Laurab]

38. I second that

The DUzy's are becoming a highlight of the week for me.

I like the new page - and it's nice to have the videos right there, the '08 candidates groups, and state forums right there, too.

[Skinner]

44. JeffR has a reserved slot in the DU Journals column.

Whenever he posts his DUzy awards, they will automatically be added to the right column.

[hootinholler]

62. Speaking of DUZYs...

Any chance we can have a link to nominate for DUZY?

You really didn't think I'd let this pass did ya? :evilgrin:

-Hoot

[conscious evolution]

74. I second this idea nt

[JeffR]

86. Thanks, Skinner

I'm really thrilled about this.

Love the new page design. The best site on the internets just keeps getting better!

[Breeze54]

29. Cool! I'll check it out!

:applause:

On edit:

Looks great!

I have Firefox 2.0.0.3 and no problems with new front page!

[Justpat]

I like this much better. n/t

[Warpy]

30. Great improvement

for a half blind old bag like me, who found the outpouring of verbiage on the old page just a little bit daunting.

I've already found a few wonderful things I'd missed over the last couple of days.

Thanks!

[supernova]

31. Wow! Very eye-catching!

That way people stopping by see all the funny clips and cartoons our talented artists do here too.

The only other thing I might consider is a window on a live thread in real-time on some hot topic.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[ThomCat]

32. I'm having fun checking it out. It's awesome!

No glitches or bugs encountered yet. :)

[milkyway]

33. I absolutely love it. Perhaps as we move into the real election season you

could add more Dem candidates for other races (maybe a few different Dems highlighted each day).

And thanks for including Al Gore. I'm curious about the discussions you must have had about whether to include Gore and Clark.

[RestoreGore]

34. Question about donation link for Al Gore

Just curious as to why it is act blue and not a link to support his Climate Project or Alliance for Climate Protection since he is not a declared candidate, and just what any funds raised at the act blue link will go for. Thanks. And on the whole, it looks good.

[RestoreGore]

147. Thanks for the response

I just thought people who support Mr. Gore would want to actually give to organizations that support his passion and organizations he is involved with. I suppose however that the real reason for the act blue link is then to simply use his name to raise money for other endeavors rather then truly supporting him.

[Skinner]

158. I apologize for my non-response.

If you would look at the Gore link in context you will see that it is provided in an area of the homepage where people can support various Democratic candidates (and possile candidates) for president. The donate link for all of those candidates goes to the Democratic Underground Act Blue page. The reason why Al Gore's donate link goes to Act Blue is because that is where members can support Al Gore the possible presidential candidate.

[RestoreGore]

172. Thanks for your response

I'm just fuzzy on how donating there supports him at this point. But thanks again for your response.

[A HERETIC I AM]

35. Impressive. Looks similar to CNN's front page (or reminds me of it, anyway)

Nicely done. I like the videos on the left and the thread titles look like news stories.

Kudos

[bigtree]

36. now that's a homepage

I could make my home :)

Great job folks. It's an amazing effort.

[Deb]

37. Oh joy!!! All our candidates w/links on the homepage!

Just beautiful, thank you, thank you, thank you.

:hug:

[rosesaylavee]

Great but a couple of suggestions...

There is an incredible amount of info to browse through here on DU. Would it help the First Time Viewer if the top story on the left top was extended or enlarged to the right and center column? (center column now has the advertisement which could be shifted to begin under the top story.)

And, other than the video thumbnails (which need a header saying 'Hey, Political Videos here!), there really are no other discerning ways to scope out the different sections. For instance, could there be different colored backgrounds or boxes or icons to help to visually navigate the page. WE longtimers all know what we are looking at but the newbie may be swamped with text and not readily move into the site.

Otherwise - cool and logical layout. You have been busy! Thanks for all that you do!

[Jacklyn75]

39. Wow! I love it! It's a lot easier to see everything that's going on quickly! n/t

[rasputin1952]

40. I am duly impressed and find the new page beautiful and

very user friendly. As usual, you guys are on top of things...:hi:

[InvisibleTouch]

42. I especially like the "Democrats 2008" section.

I've been hoping to see something like that on the homepage soon. Might I suggest it goes at the top, instead of way down at the bottom?

Otherwise looks great!

[opihimoimoi]

45. AWESOME...you guys can be proud of yourselves....

[juajen]

46. I like it, I really like it!

Truly, it's marvelous.

[Sweet Freedom]

47. I also have a visual conflict with the ad column

I think it would look less busy to have the ad column on the far right. I would actually like to see the current far right-hand column on the left side. My eye immediately went to the Top 10 graphic -- I think it is the strongest graphic element on the page. Also, I would change the look of the Enter Discussion Forums bar. I don't know if it's the dotted line or the light yellow color, but it does not stand out and it is overlooked. Finally, the size of the first video in relation to the Fire Gonzales headline led me to believe they go together. I might make the lead story run two columns (I just did the headline in my example, but you get the idea). Then place the videos (all the same size) underneath on the right, and the Greatest threads on the left.

[in_cog_ni_to]

48. I LOVE it!

I may make the Homepage my first stop on DU! It's a 'one stop shop' for any and all that is DU's BEST! Awesome job!

[Triana]

49. Much easier to read. LOVE the vids/photos on the 'front' page (n/t)

[William769]

50. Using Windows Visa, Internet Explorer 7.0

I used the new Homepage extensively clicking on all possible links.

No problems with my configuration. :)

Great job!

[Libby2]

51. WOW! Very, very, nice. I love it!

Way to go.

[troubleinwinter]

52. Terrific!

[Pab Sungenis]

53. Bump the video column crap.

I've always thought the whole "top videos" thing was stupid, and accenting it on the front page cheapens it. Either make that column the feature block (currently topping the rightmost column) or move the "top forums" up in its place.

[bdamomma]

54. WoW looks great, it looks like it took a lot of work too.

very impressive!!!

[mikelgb]

55. My Critique

My main gripe is the order of the columns.

Ads in the middle does not look good at all. Especially being that they are the shortest section and it just looks like an empty beige column toward the bottom of the page.

The page would look much better with Ads on the right, the main/video column in the middle and the feature/journal column on the left.

At the top of the page you do not need a home link as it is the homepage. Instead I would put the date line from the very top or a version of it: Mon 16th Apr 2007, 10:00 AM (USA/Pacific) | Logged in as mikelgb




Also, in general, for some reason links seems to take longer from this homepage.

[Morgana LaFey]

56. Too wide for my screen -- not cool

That makes it frustrating. But you're right, it IS "more exciting," but for me the "More Greatest Pages" is key. That's MY portal, and will no doubt continue to be.

On another note: Democratic Underground is not like all those regular blogs

Well, duh, fellas. :evilgrin: Tht's possibly because it's a DISCUSSION FORUM and only became a "blog" since that's what everyone else was.

On yet another note: I was just thinking to myself: my, how far you fellas and DU have come in the years since that January 2000 somber celebration of our national disgrace and the beginning of the country being held hostage and systematically destroyed, undermined, sold off to the highest bidder (or favorite cronies), etc. You've given comfort to hundreds of thousands of us, created THE happenin' news and analysis and place and community on the internet for lefties, changed lives, and dextrously fended off attacks of all manner from a variety of sinister sources. I salute the 3 of you! I know my life has been immeasureably improved on a DAILY basis because of DU and that's no small thing. Again: I salute and thank you.

[silverweb]

57. Beautiful!

:applause:

[mainegreen]

58. Sweet! That new homepage is great!

[eleny]

59. I used to go directly to Discussion - Not anymore

I'm totally taken with the smorgasbord format.

[Blue-Jay]

60. I'd move the ads to the left column.

It's weird seeing them in the middle, especially since it leaves a big blank spot halfway down the page. That's just aesthetics, however. As far as function goes, it's a big improvement.

[Greyhound]

61. Looks good, here's my info...

Win2KPro, 5MB DSL, Firefox 2.0.0.3, Pentium IV 2.5GH, 1MB RAM.

I have two suggestions.

Limit videos displayed, they load a little slow and most have a slower connection than I.

Move the ads to the side, large blank Strip down the middle is not appealing.

[Cleita]

63. I love it!

It has a newspaper feel to it, something that an old bat like me, who grew up reading newspapers, misses in the blog age.

[Rydz777]

64. The Topics Forums

are great. In fact the whole redesign is great. I'm relatively new to DU but it has become my daily newspaper, and this will assure that I get even more pleasure and use from this wonderful resource.

[Maven]

65. I like the use of Franklin Gothic for the titles

("Greatest Page" etc.) Hopefully, you can carry this more modern look throughout. I also like the fact that you have one "big" story as a headline. I think you could do more here with selected top stories. The "Democrats 2008" section is also great.

Ads column in the middle of the page looks terrible. Also, I don't see the need for the options underneath "Enter Discussion Forums." No first-time visitor is going to create a journal from the front page. All of the other options (My DU, Rules, Help) are all available from the toolbar at the top. It's superfluous--not good design. You could simply put "Enter Discussion Forums >" in Franklin Gothic like the other titles, maybe in red to make it stand out.

Just my $0.02.

[tridim]

66. Nice, but you neglected to list the third most popular topic forum

You know the one I mean. Any reason why?

Other than that, great work!

[SeattleGirl]

67. I really like it!

Good job, guys. :thumbsup:

[IChing]

68. Looks good however I am getting a lot of error messages

that are not the same as when we have high traffic in different areas of DU.

Sometimes posting, sometimes reading a post.

[Skinner]

69. To clarify:

Are you getting these error messages on our new homepage? Or are you getting them elsewhere on DU?

[IChing]

79. LBN and GD not on any links on the front page

I use safari btw. When I am posting, or reading they would pop up earlier today.
I tried the linkings on the front page and had no problems.

The errors I got were not the usual when we had high traffic,
I am not having problems now.

I like the new front page.

[SaveAmerica]

83. I thought that about LBN too, but I think "more news" with 'latest'

under it is supposed to be LBN. It's under the google ads in the second column from the left.

[Change has come]

71. Fantastic!

I can't find anything that doesn't work with Windows Vista and Firefox 2.0.0.3 (explorer 7 too).

Well done. :applause:

[riona]

72. Thank you

I haven't been starting my DU reading on the homepage, but I will be now.

[DeepModem Mom]

73. WHOA...MAMA MIA! Really great, guys -- thank you! nt

[133724]

75. Cool: No Problems FireFox 2.0.0.2

[JimDandy]

76. This homer is out of the ball park! Well done.

Whoever you hired for the design, pay them lots of moola.

[WiseButAngrySara]

77. Awesome! Everything DU 'in one fell swoop'! KNR! ....n/t

[Straight Shooter]

81. But who will clean up the mess at Free Republic? Their heads will all explode when they see this.

:D

To borrow a bush-word, Fabulous!

[SaveAmerica]

82. Hey there Skinner, is there a way to have my g-mail linked to DU's

homepage? I have know idea if this is possible or if it's even something that people would want, but my first thought after looking the new page over was that the lack of my e-mail is all that would keep me from making DU my homepage. I use my g-mail homepage to customize my news sources so I get a better variety of news, you've got that covered.

Secondly, is the video that is being played in the upper left (it's KO right now) going to change daily, will it be whatever has the highest recommends? How are you going to determine that? Would you consider playing highlights of KO's show the following day and keep that as KO corner (and in THIS corner). I swooned when I saw that there and not just in a KOEB kind of way, I got rid of cable because we couldn't justify the cost for one show. My favorite feature of countdown is uncut footage that he often has at the top of the show. It fills in the blanks and lets you see for yourself how events really unfolded and also is perfect contrast to other 'news' shows that cut and paste footage to present it how they want it. If you kept KO highlights there I might have to start giving DU a monthly donation as my new cable provider.

Otherwise, it looks great, has all the info we need on one page (love the taste of everything that follows each link), and is fat free, what else could anyone want?

[Skinner]

108. I don't know of any way to link your gmail to the DU front page.

I wonder if it is possible to do something like that.

The large video in the top left corner of the page is the most recommended video that was 1) was posted on DU in the previous 24 hours, and 2) posted on YouTube in the previous 72 hours.

[Demeter]

84. YOu Know, Computer Screens Aren't Conducive To Column-Reading

That multicolumn format is barely tolerable in newsprint, where the reader can scan an entire sheet, searching for anything interesting in a sea of distraction.

We are dealing in ideas, verbal expressions, not visual ones--and they are (one hopes) deep ideas that require thought. One wants the reader's attention, concentration, focus.

So while the 3 column format was tolerable (just ignore the sides and concentrate in the middle)
this one is just more visual confusion.

I hate to rain on the parade. It's not that I'm against change for change's sake (I'm not, really, the eye gets bored) I'm against change for the worse.

Here's hoping the NEXT redesign is more conducive to the needs of the vieweer.

[me b zola]

85. I love it!

:thumbsup:

[I_Make_Mistakes]

87. Sensory Overload! That design is like fireworks and awesome!

It actually put a WOW into the mundane political realm, savvy are the DU Admins. KUDOS, to the DU Admins and their grasp of innovative design and informational presentation!

[Uncle Joe]

88. Very impressive, I like it.

Thanks Skinner

Kicked and recommended

:thumbsup:

[SoCalDem]

89. Is there any way to get a smidge more room so the whole letters show up?

Everything else is fully readable except this one section.. if i reduce the font size, the rest will be too small?

I can make out what's there, but it's tricky for me. I know I am not alone in the "visually challenged" area :)

The page looks wonderful.. I never liked the "change" a while back, and never went to the front page again :)

[Skinner]

110. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any solution.

In order to get everything to fit properly on the page, we had to be strict about the small font size. I'm sorry.

[bagimin]

134. There isn't a solution to make the links legible?

I'm using Firefox.

[bpeale]

167. i think its the font you have set up as your default viewing font

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

90. Very, very nice work. 1 comment if you would like more organic search engine traffic...

Skinner, This looks great! A big improvement. But, if you would like to be on page #1 in Google, Yahoo, and MSN for a lot more searches, this is what I would suggest:

Stretch out your <title> tag on the homepage from -Democratic Underground- to include the words Progressive, News, Blog, Video, Discussion, Politics, Articles and Forums. AND add that longer Title to the ALT image tag on the upper left hand logo image, site wide. This site will always be found for the search -Democratic Underground-, but with my free suggestions (I make my living doing this..I'm not just a wacky taxi driver) you would be found for countless more searches, and more traffic equals more add revenue too, does it not? (as well as more enlightened American voters) :-)

Any other SEO's out there want to back be up on this?

[Bucky]

91. It looks great! I had the same concerns about change last year, but deferred.

Four columns in the new format is tough to manage well. I like this new arrangement because it handles the four column format so well---it kinda looks like The Wall Street Journal's hip, liberal, younger sibling. It's good also to the see the videos featured. Despite the fact that I'm still a dial-up man, I'm pretty sure online videos is the future of blogging an online communities.

Great work balancing the simple clean aesthetics for which DU is known along with the high-density-content wonkery for which DUers love this site.

It's a tragic day for this country. I wish we could celebrate this new look. I don't want to have any more "Do you remember where you were when--?" days for a long long time.

[shadowknows69]

92. Looks great guys

and thanks for the email. Guess I'd better get writing some columns.

[Homer Wells]

93. Most EXCELLENT!!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[ourbluenation]

94. me likey. two thumbs up n/t

[mahina]

95. I especially appreciate the area for the 08 candidates and the links to their pages.

Thanks!

[BlooInBloo]

96. O wow - I forgot there WAS a homepage - lol - my link is straight to GD.

[emald]

97. kudos looks fine

all woeks well on mine. nice job.

[BlooInBloo]

98. Now that I've seen it: Very nice - and there's a chance I'll actually use it...

Good: GD *is* 1 click away
Bad: I have to scroll to get that click.

Summary: There's a chance I'll use it, but that's it.


It looks VERY nice & well-organized - I don't criticize it in the least. For my own needs, however, easy access to GD is a sine qua non. Other people have different needs.

[muriel_volestrangler]

99. No mention of The Lounge?

Or should that be "the attic where the embarrassing relatives are kept"? :evilgrin:

[underpants]

101. I see no link to my journal

:shrug:

[Skinner]

111. No link to your journal?

You don't see the brown "My Journal" link in the top right? Are you logged in?

[underpants]

165. Oh yeah that

I was really just offering a :kick: via a terrible self involved post.

Okay lesson learned I'll never do it again O8)

[laylah]

102. Excellent job and

makes everything so easily accessible!

Jenn

[twenty4blackbirds]

103. Looks pretty. Subject...

Is it possible to include the whole Subject of the leading stories in the 'Top Forums' section? I read the subject line (which is informative about how the poster thought of the subject) to decide whether I'm interested in the discussion.

As it is, the Subject is cut short and sometimes not in the best places. Alternatively, let the poster know how many chars will be shown, e.g. in the writing/posting bit (like what I'm doing now :-)) add something like 'only x chars will show on the homepage' so the poster can edit their Subject if they want to.

Thanks for all your hard work :thumbsup:

[Skinner]

112. Unfortunately, we had to truncate the subjects in order to keep the page readable.

It looked awful when we let them break. The whole page was a mess.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

117. Maybe Put A Content Blurb (?) That Contains The Full Subject When You Hover The Arrow Over The Link?

Not sure what it's technically called or if it is something technically challenging to do, but ya know how some sites will have a little info script pop up when you hover over the link that then contains the full text? Kinda like in windows explorer when you hover the mouse over a file the little blurb comes up with the full file name, last modified date etc. Maybe that could be a solution (if possible)?

[Skinner]

120. That's not a bad idea.

It's actually really easy to do. My only concern is bandwidth -- the page is already pretty big, and if we put these in all the threads it could increase quite a bit.

[Cobalt-60]

104. its an attractive design

[yellerpup]

105. Excellent.

Better than ever. Thanks.

[SharonRB]

106. This looks great, Skinner!

I haven't had a chance to check any of the links yet, but it really looks good. Thanks for all the work you guys do and the constant improvements you make. DU rocks!

:yourock:

[orleans]

107. very interesting & busy--& i noticed this under newest journals

ELADTEST
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/ELADTEST

not much in this journal elad, but it did catch my attention. (smile!)

the front page looks great. i would have tested the videos, but i'm listening to randi ... and i figured someone else can link to the videos.

thanks for putting up gore in democrats 2008!

[terrya]

109. That looks good, thank you. n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

113. Good work. I'd been visiting HuffPo more because of news content. Will be back here more now.

Note: I never bothered to register at HuffPo. I have been a long time registrant here.

[FatDave]

114. Very nice!

Nice design. Looks good at 1024x768 and at 1440x900 widescreen. The 800x600 view is a nice compromise as well.

Runs flawlessly in both 64-Bit and 32-Bit versions of Firefox 2.0.0.3 on Ubuntu Linux 6.10 (Edgy Eft).

[One_of_8]

115. Thank you

I checked out the test version of the new home page and I like it much better than the existing version. I'll admit, when you switched over to the current version, I visited less frequently. Don't know why exactly, but I still pop in every now and then.

[ncteechur]

No, Thank You! That is one bad-ass homepage! Groovy!

[ncteechur]

116. No, Thank You! That is one bad-ass homepage! Groovy!

[onethatcares]

118. WOW

and I mean that

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

119. I Think It Looks Beautiful And Is Brilliant In Its Layout And Content. It's Neat, Clean And Chock

full of goodies. Great job guys! :thumbsup:

[Coexist]

121. Wow! The new homepage makes DU look like the motherlode of Dem sites

Someone new to DU could spend the entire day there - old hands could spend a couple of hours checking out places they never venture.

I don't think you could have done a better job showcasing DU's greatest strength - its active community that keeps this site the largest, smartest clearinghouse of news (and discussion about the news) out there today.

And even as it presents you with an astounding range of information to choose from, it is actually more personal than before - with MY DU and MY Journal front and center for users.
Nice work.

One question - is More News a list of LBN topics or former front page articles? Just curious. LBN does filter out a lot of dupe threads, so it is cleaner than GD (even though I hang out in GD most of the time sorting through the shiny-object-of-the-day threads.)

[Skinner]

122. More News is entirely Latest Breaking News. (nt)

[The Count]

123. Wow! Won't go straight to latest threads now! Great!

[Kurovski]

125. Looks good to me.

And Al Gore is in the "Democrats 2008" section! :bounce:

[Richard D]

126. I'd like to see more . . .

. . . then 5 of the greatest threads.

Otherwise looks awesome.

[TOhioLiberal]

127. Good job!

It looks great. I haven't found any bugs yet. :thumbsup:

[Duppers]

128. I love it !

That took a little time. THANKS!

[Pharaoh]

129. You Have alot of Room on top

to make www.DemocraticUnderground.com much larger........

[Coes]

154. I agree

Make twice as big in size.

And that 'home' link just below the image is just the same link. There's plenty of space to enlarge the logo.

[Pacifist Patriot]

130. I like it!

[BrklynLiberal]

131. Wow. I just got lost wandering in it for 1/2 hour looking thru it from your link.

Great work.

[Twist_U_Up]

132. Needs a link for the September 11 forum- Make it big too ,near the top

Other than that looks good

[The Wielding Truth]

133. Spectacular!!! Skinner, great job. Wow.

[MGKrebs]

135. That does NOT suck!

Very nice. I like it!

[Saphire]

136. Your right, I will WANT to visit. Thanks

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

137. No gremlins here (Firefox 2.0.3, Fedora Core 6)

[Madspirit]

138. Awesome Skinner...n/t

[Cha]

139. IRE!

Very Cool, guys! Thank you!! :loveya:

[Sacajawea]

140. Windows 98 on a dial-up connection - seems to work OK (nt)

[bleever]

141. One question re: the DU Journals column.

How do you choose what to post in that column? I tried to figure out the rule from comparing to the status quo Greatest Page, but couldn't.

Thanks.

[Skinner]

159. We identified the members who historically have written long-form commentary,

and we gave them a free-pass to the DU journals section of the homepage. We then opened it up to everyone who reached a certain number of recommendations on a Journal entry. (So, if a post is not in your journal, it is not eligible for the DU Journals section). We also put a minimum length requirement.

[live love laugh]

142. I like it a LOT! Now I'll set my home page to your home page. nt

[Riverman]

143. VeryDense and Sophisticated! Excellent! First Place I go

everyday when I start looking on-line to see what's going on and how my fellow progressives are responding. DU is the Best Site Ever! Thanks So much for being there. I will send money again!
From Sunny NorCAL
Riverman

[burythehatchet]

144. a very fine effort

[intheflow]

145. FINALLY! is right!

That looks great! It's a very inviting home page, unlike the current overly wordy home page. I love that the rules are front and center under "Enter Discussion Forums." I love that the most recently updated groups get listed. I love that you can sort the LBN by latest, GP rating and most discussed, that was an inspired improvement. I haven't found any bugs, just much delight.

:yourock:

...Seeing the work that's gone into this new design makes me quadruply embarrassed that you guys ever have to deal with 7th grade Lounge politics. :blush:

[Subdivisions]

146. Curious. I'm already finding myself in

places on DU where I have never been.

Cool beans, Skinner! Thanks for all your hard work!

[cyberpj]

148. Excellent Smithers...... I mean Skinner. BUT

I worry that DU will now open itself up to the problem of YouTube because the videos are so prominent now. You won't hear from those who will be helped but watch out for those who will be hurt because DU is becoming a "go to" site and will bet even more attention now.


Anyway, I've been checking it out and personally I think it's a great Front Page view of the best of DU at a glance.

Good Job!

[LuckyLib]

149. Beautiful! But for those of us over 50, let the squinting begin. Teeny, tiny print!

[Kolesar]

155. I don't spend much time at Www.DailyKos.com because of *their small print*

When reading in a room with a lot of ambient light, the glare makes the print just disappear. Daily Kos also uses orange for headlines. Orange on white is terrible contrast. And nothing rhymes with orange either.

[Peggy Day]

150. Wow! It looks so organized! I love it. nt

[Hekate]

151. I get a gray page that says "404: Not Found"

I have a Mac G3 -- Mac OS 8.5. The message on my screen is:

> 404: Not Found
>
> The requested URL /discuss/images/dcf.js was not found on this server.
>
> Apache/1.3.31 Server at www.democraticunderground.com Port 80

Hekate

[Skinner]

160. That is the only message you get?

You don't see any of the page?

[Hekate]

176. I'm afraid so -- Just a gray page with a very short message.

It's not just you; I'm increasingly getting that these days and I suspect it's the age of my system. In the case of DU, I really hope it can be fixed on your end.

Thanks for all your great work, Skinner.

Hekate

[Hekate]

177. I'm afraid so -- Just a gray page with a very short message.

It's not just you; I'm increasingly getting that these days and I suspect it's the age of my system. In the case of DU, I really hope it can be fixed on your end.

Thanks for all your great work, Skinner.

Hekate

[sammythecat]

152. I like it a lot.

Very appealing and I like how it's organized.

Good work!

[Piedras]

153. I give the new homepage about a 98% right score

Skinner, I'm a frequent reader and an infrequent poster to DU. Usually read without signing in. The new home page is much nicer. I very seldom have looked at the home page, up to now. That will change. Usually I head right to the Greatest and then read deeper. My notebook has a 14" screen with 1400 pixels of width, Win XP sp2, IE 6.0.2900, 3 meg. DSL. The 3rd column with ads does not bother me, rather it makes the 4th column on the right more easily readable. Under DU Journals one by madfloridian about 7,500 detention camp beds...is duplicated. The ads in the center with considerable white space surrounding them are a visual distraction. The addition of videos, like those of KO, on the home page is much appreciated as I don't get cable TV. I prefer the quality of discussion on Fire Dog Lake...less me tooism and trollish behavior than found on DU. With the new DU home page I'll not read the Huffington Report for news and opinion as often.

[Skinner]

162. Thanks.

We are aware of the double-post of the madfloridian Journal entry, and we're trying to fix what caused it.

[malaise]

156. Beautiful n/t

[madokie]

157. I like, but then again I'm just a DU junkie

[Rosemary2205]

161. I don't like the ad bar down the middle.

wish it was off to the right. But what a GREAT new homepage design. I love it.

[upenn264]

164. Like Borat would say

I like.

That's niceee.

[upenn264]

166. Free REpublic.com will probably change too!!!!!

[chefgirl]

169. Excellent work guys!

Speaking as one who is normally terribly resistant to change, this is, without a doubt, THE BEST upgrade I've seen on DU...EVER!

I continue to be totally impressed with the work you guys put into this site. Its, quite simply, what makes it the best Dem site on the internets.

Thumbs WAY up on this one. You guys nailed it this time.

-chef-

[tavalon]

173. I love the new format!

Don't like where the ads are. Hopefully the beta will have them off to one side or the other.

[benny05]

174. It seems a bit busy to me

But I can adjust.

I like the candidates section the best. It's nice that you have links to their groups and to donate.

Thanks for allowing us to take it out for a spin first. You guys work very hard to make this a good place to visit.

[fiorello]

175. Oof! I miss the old homepage articles

I'm probably a small minority - but I look in on DU only occasionally, and I usually look at the articles on the 'homepage'. This way I can get the most important 'news' from DU. In the new homepage, that is completely eliminated! I can't even find a click to get it.

The new homepage lists 'greatest' threads, but this is very different. I think DU regulars recognize the difference when they recommend a page as "greatest" as oppose to recommend "add to DU homepage". The "greatest" threads are much more gossipy ("To any Republican lurkers..."), while the threads that were posted on the homepage usually contained the most important "news" items, and things to immediately bring to people's attention when then enter the site. I hope you can continue the equivalent of the current homepage article listing, somewhere.

[Vinca]

178. Did I miss the "Big Forum" section to click onto the more active

forums directly from the home page? The page is okay - kind of busy as another poster said.

[crispini]

179. I found a bug!

When you click on the gray Top Forums you get a 404 not found. The link is:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/big-forums

[Richard Steele]

180. It's nice. nm

[CRH]

181. It is striking to me after viewing your new format ...

how outdated my computing capabilities have rapidly become. With an early version of OSX and a dial up modem and no access to high speed internet connections, the amount of video, and you tube and the such, leaves an evolving segment of information and visuals beyond my grasp.

That is only a comment, and is in no way a reflection or criticism of your new future design, which appears excellent. When I arrive in conus in a couple of months, I'll try to show my appreciation of your site with a donation.

[Greyhound]

182. Just noticed one thing with the position of the columns.

This morning it looks like Rosie O'Donnell and Barbara Walters have something to do with the Professor killed helping kids to escape yesterday.

[meldroc]

183. What happened to the RSS feed?

I just noticed that the RSS feed still only shows stories from the old home page. Has it been updated yet?

I normally have it embedded on my custom Google home page, so having the RSS updated would be nice.

Other than that, the new front page looks great!

[DemExpat]

184. What a surprise! Looks fantastic.

Kick for more to find this announcement.

:kick:

DemEx

[Mr. Jinx]

185. Looks great!

Cheers to the Admins- very good work!