What happened to the recent posts section?

[peestandingup]

I dont so much mind the video ads sitting on top of them, but now it doesn't show a time when a discussion was last updated. And you have to scroll down now to see them all in a separate container?? Poorly designed.

[ricker]

Not to be a poopypants loudmouth nag...but I rather like the new look.
Clean background to the title bar. A goal to aspire to which reflects the true purpose and intention of this site:
redensification and urban vibrancy which was once attained within the central downtown, and now desperately needed again in order to achieve critical mass and heal this city from the inside out - much like ridding a living vessel of cancerous tumors.

As with our human bodies, organic diets prove most advantageous, so too are the necessary efforts which will organically rebuild our potentially beautiful and someday fair 'River City by the Sea' anew.  With such vast amounts of time, energy, passionate dedication put into the creation and management of this site and its informatively written articles and richly growing commentaries largely provided by the original 'purists', thankfully Jacksonville has reason to be on the map.

Good look.
But then again I do enjoy sepia, and my great-grandmother's old b&w tv '[set]'

[Charles Hunter]

I like the new banner across the top (although I didn't notice it until ricker pointed it out.
But I agree with psu about not liking the lack of time stamps - makes it harder to tell if I've already looked at that one or not; and the scrolling is annoying, but I will probably get used to that. 

Can you bring back the time stamps?

[thelakelander]

Do you get this view when you highlight the updates in the live feed?

New


It was suggested at the last minute that we add more post to the live feed, which is why there's a scroll bar now. Do you prefer no scroll and less posts, like it was before?

Original



We're also experimenting with a video feed that allows us to feature internationally produced video content as a complement to the hyper local stuff we produce ourselves. 



So am I right in what I'm reading?

1. Position of live forum feed is ok.

2. It is preferable that there be no scroll down option in the live forum feed.

3. Bring back time stamp instead of having to highlight post to see time.

Anything else?

[Charles Hunter]

I didn't hover, so I didn't see the time stamp.
I thought the scroll bar was needed because each entry now takes 2 lines instead of the one before - hadn't realized there were more "recent posts".
Like I said, I can get used to the scroll, and now I know how to see the time stamp - that isn't as much an issue, now.

Thanks for keeping things fresh!!  While continuing to provide great coverage of local issues.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I'm getting used to the new look, but my suggestion is more of a personal layout issue.

What if you were to center the forum feed?  I'm not sure if there's a requirement for the size of the vertical banner ads, but if you centered the forum, shrunk down the one on the right and added another to the left hand side, then my eye might stop twitching from the offset look. 

[thelakelander]

Right now, the way we fund the operation and maintenance of the site is through the ads. Thus, we're locked into maintaining 300x600, 300x250 and 728x90 ad slots "Above The Fold". 

Visually, it's not best but politically, not relying on anything local places us in a pretty independent position when it comes to advocating in the community. So that balance then becomes how to best integrate our content around the things that pays our bills. As we work to diversity our income base, my hope is that we can one day start reduce the amount of ad space we're currently operating with.

The major reason for the revamp is the recent creation of the Headlines section (local and national updated RSS feeds):

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/headlines/

This basically made the entire bottom part of the front page inactive dead space, which was confirmed in Google Analytics. The revamp (I'm sure more changes will come as time moves on) allows us to reposition and activate a formerly dead area (where few scrolled down) into a space for additional hyper local content and video, without modifying back end site operations.

[FlowerPower]

I think the time stamp being visible is very helpful.  I am using a smart phone to read MJ most if the time and hovering over a link to see when something was last updated is not an option.  The old system made it easier to see which threads had recent activity.

[thelakelander]

Cool. That makes sense. I'll see if we can add the time stamp.

Are there any other issues with the front page that you believe we should address?

[KenFSU]

I agree with the above sentiment that the previous layout was more glanceable, particularly on mobile devices. Personally, I prefer the denser layout with time stamps than the more spread out layout with post categories (dining, downtown, etc.).

[thelakelander]

We're working to improve our mobile site as well. Give it a try and let us know what you think:

http://metrojacksonville.com/mobile

[tufsu1]

^ I like it!

[edjax]

I also prefer the time stamp being included as noted with iPad the hover does not work and I view 100% of the time with a mobile devices.  Other than that I am fine with the changes.

[edjax]

Updated already!! Sweet.  Good job.

[KenFSU]

WAY better.

I like it.