I’ve been wrestling with how to make improvements to WUWT for a few months, considering different options such as trying out the WordPress Enterprise that I was invited into last year (which didn’t really pay for itself as many of the options didn’t work as advertised), and looking at different themes. With a website that is working well, it is always a risk making improvements because sometimes “improvements” have unintended consequences.
But, learning from our users, I’ve decided to make a small change, which is entirely reversible; here it is.
What I’ve learned from readers, both in watching the comment flow and in reading emails is that due to the volume of topics covered at WUWT, with typically 6-8 stories a day, is that some popular stories that are still active with debate, often disappear from the front page quickly.
This has to do with screen real estate. As you know, we like to make big graphs and images here in essays, such as some of the splendid graphs Willis Eschenbach produces. I’ve always felt that these large format graphics help people understand the concepts better., But they often hog the front page if they are part of the story introduction.
So I’ve come up with what I think is a good compromise that will keep interesting stories on the front page longer (where people can find them) before they scroll off the page. It will also help WUWT load faster overall.
I’m going to a capsule format on the front page. This means small sample graphics coupled with a short introduction paragraph. It gives the reader a quick overview, and if they are interested, they click through, if not, they scroll past to see other stories.
Here is a before and after view of the front page of WUWT. The numbers represent stories:
As you can see, with the new encapsulated format, I’ve been able to effectively double the number of stories in the same column space, going from about 2.5 stories visible before (story 3 is cutoff) to 5 stories afterwards.
Because of that, I’ve also been able to increase the number of stories loaded on the front page from about 15 to 25 or more before the “load more” button appears.
This change should also improve the experience for people reading WUWT on phones and tablets where a lot of scrolling was previously required to navigate the front page.
For guest authors, please note this new format. Try to make a short introductory paragraph followed by the body of your post. I’ll handle adding appropriate thumbnails where I can, drawing either from the article or our stock of clip art and previously used but relevant images.
[Added: And, there’s a new header and a slight font tweak too. If you need the font to be bigger, press CTRL+ Mouse Control Wheel forward/backwards to change size. Ctrl-Zero resets.]
While I know change isn’t always welcome, I hope this one will be an improvement for everyone.
And for those of you that don’t have a Twitter account yet, get one.
It is the easiest and most effective way to speak directly to many of the people we cover in stories and ask them questions. WUWT has reached over ten thousand followers now, and I welcome you to take part in this. https://twitter.com/wattsupwiththat
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Being 3 days older than dirt I’m automatically opposed to change. That said, by the time I got to the bottom of this I was ok with the new font.
Twitter…. Not for me. Much more suited to Mosher and his ‘Drive-By’ style.
Well done Mr. W.
Looks good, and I had voted “not sure” about the comment reply question – now I’m happy with your decision to exclude it.
ossqss says:
May 18, 2014 at 8:47 am
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Ctrl+Shift+End will get you to the end then use the PgUp key to move a screen at a time?
oops…. just saw the world mobile – sorry 🙂
@Keith. DeHavelle: Use Mozilla with the NoScript add-on, and ads with sound are one of several kinds of junk that go away.
@Bill: I’m with you on the RSS feed. Most blogs feed whole articles, it would be helpful if WUWT did too. Maybe there should be two feeds so that people using pocket sized toys can continue to see only short teasers.
Yup, a thumbs-up for the new format from me!
Anthony, I agree, much better. This will improve the number of people that click on to view an essay from the home page. Unfortunately, it takes additional editor time unless you will be requiring guest authors to submit with a pre-selected, pre-sized sample graphic (which I strongly suggest, as guest authors have the most time and you can always reject their choices — but it is simple if it is a sample graph which they are already submitting. You only need make the rules available).
If you give the outline for number of words above the fold, guest authors can write a sexy lede that fits properly.
@ur momisugly Paul Westhaver
I understand your points. I have had a different Twitter experience. I have met many other anarchists, voluntaryists, libertarians, and other believers in the non-aggression principle. I have really enjoyed the back and forth among our crowd. I am sure we are all on the NSA radar, but that is unavoidable.
Or course, I had to start blogging to answer some things as you just can’t say complicated things in the 140 ch limit. And that has been rewarding in other ways.
To each his own, eh?
Anthony,
I like “recent comments” because it tells me at a glance which topics are getting the current action. It might be an older topic.
I’m also one of those folks who often starts at the end of a thread and works my way back to where I previously ended. 🙂
That’s a good idea Anthony. Easy to see overview on page one.
By the way are the blog stats 186.500,000 views since the beginning of 2014?
I really enjoy your site and read it every day, sometimes twice a day here in Tropical North Queensland. Australia.
Well done and thank you sir.
Although I don’t comment all that much, I check your site just about every day. I love your new format and I find it much more efficient. In my view this is definitively progress 😉
Thanks
I think the proposed change is a good one, Anthony. WUWT just keeps getting better!
Mark Stoval (@MarkStoval) says:
May 18, 2014 at 4:07 pm
“…. I have really enjoyed the back and forth among our crowd. I am sure we are all on the NSA radar, but that is unavoidable.”
===============
As long as you are already on the radar, give us the juicy details.
@Mark Stoval 😉
Yes. To each his own. EH? 🙂
BTW, your concise and thoughtful response was 489 characters.
I think the beauty to human dialogue is dealing with strong differences in opinion in a cerebral manner. cliche-ing back and forth dilutes that beauty and the English language that boasts 400,000 words. Words represent ideas. Also, Twitter-esque groupings creates artificial parting lines between people. It is a camp builder that internalizes dialogue between like minded people. To me that is like an sterile echo chamber. In my view, variety is the spice of life.
Cheers.
Excellent
Looks great to me Mr. Watts. I don’t blame you for approaching changes on your website with considerable care. Thanks to your incredible hard work and excellent judgment you have achieved tremendous success with your website that makes an extraordinary contribution to the field of climate science. Keep up the outstanding work and success!!
The problem seen by @petermue will have the same root cause as what I see. The renderer is trying to fit a font which does not fit, in @petermue’s case jaggies in my case mush. Either way it is a good idea to avoid italics.
I am familiar with the blog problem you are trying to fix but a public chat is hardly a good idea. Wish I knew of a solid solution short of big time where few pull that off successfully.
WUWT new format = YES.
Dim Twits = NO.
New format looks fine and importantly indicates that WUWT is growing and thriving.
So decide what the best strategy is for WUWT and call it Strategy A.
Then design a strategy which is the exact opposite and call that strategy B.
You can then offer Strategy B to the likes of RC and SkS so that they can downsize gracefully….
Threaded comments!
Threaded comments!
Threaded comments!
I have a twiiter handle and have never used it except to read and access sites of interest, most days I forget it even exists.
I imagine that it is a method to attract readership to a website, but I have seen it used as an abuse mechanism on Andrew Bolt’s twitter account by marginally employed left journalists. The language can be filthy, the comments personal, derogatory and mundane.
Twitter to me is abuse in 140 characters, the censorship mentioned above is not acceptable.
The new format on this site is fine. I guess it seems that every display is going mobile format, I may need to turn my 16:9 screen on its edge 🙂
Anthony Watts says:
May 18, 2014 at 2:54 pm
@petermue thanks for the screencap. Strange that you see that, it renders perfectly and clearly for me.
Can you tell what what browser version and what sort of machine setup you have? Can’t imagine this happening but I would like to understand better.
In the meantime, I’ll switch the original font back.
Thanks Anthony for rollback to the old font.
WUWT looks very convenient now, as always.
I’m using the latest Mozilla FireFox 29.0.1 version here on my Vista 64 PC.
I was aware of some other websites having that crippled fonts, almost all newer ones,
but I’m no expert in developing websites.
Maybe it is a kind of font especially designed for Win7/8 and Vista tries to emulate it (unsuccessfully)?
I also tried to smooth the types in the Windows ambience settings, but with no effect.
Notice absolutely no change. The font is exactly the same as always. If I want to go to the most recent comment, just run the scroll bar down. If I want to go to a recent thread, just pick it up in the inbox. As for nested comments – presumably so that I can disagree with someone and my comment exactly follow theirs, instead of going to the bottom – no thanks, it makes it so much more difficult to follow.
Re Tweeting and Twitter, the only reason I would want this is so that I can send a “Tweet” to my favourite TV program (Paul Murray Live) when someone says something which I know to be wrong. They manage this now and again! But —-
kim says: May 18, 2014 at 8:23 am “Would I then be a twit?”
No!. Both you and I would be ‘twats’.
Anthony, you know we’re suspicious of “change”. That’s why we’re here!
I use the latest Firefox with Ghostery. This excellent add -on works with most browsers and is smoother than earlier versions. This should make visiting sites easier and less cluttered.
I always allow wordpress