Yes. Finally. The mystery is no more. As many of you guessed, we’re relaunching our website starting—now. (Though, depending on your service provider, the new site rollout might happen later tonight, or tomorrow, but, by golly, let’s hope by Monday.) dmagazine.com and all of the blogs that call it home—Hey! Like this one!—have a new look and scads of new features. More on that later.
But first, to those among you who are underwhelmed by the Big News that D executive editor Tim Rogers has been promising all week: know that Tim Rogers does not have cable television. He’s easily impressed by all matters technological.
Now, for more on the relaunch, let’s jump like we used to …
Did you jump to read more? Or was the suspense too much to bear and you couldn’t help but click around? You couldn’t help but check out the new homepage, the gorgeous nightlife galleries, and the various subpages. You lost yourself in our deep, deep directories—finding pizza parlors, plumbers, pediatricians. You plotted out your weekend’s pub crawl with the Happy Hour Google Map Mash-Up. You explored the site and the city, and the city and the site. If not, you should do so soon.
Now, this being a blog—not to mention a blog known as FrontBurner—many of the first reactions will be, um, less than supportive. As noted and self-proclaimed expert John Hodgman recently said, such anticipated attitude is “part of the toxic Internet art of constant callous one-upsmanship.” So unleash your “Meh”s in my direction. Or yell “FAIL” at Tim for his inelegant bid to build suspension. But please acknowledge (or, preferably, applaud) the gargantuan efforts of Team Web.
Team Web is D’s cast of characters, all incredibly hard-working, unbelievably tireless, impossibly patient, inspiringly intelligent, dutifully diligent, and so many other good qualities, alliterative and otherwise. In no particular order and in no small measure, huge shout outs go to:
Online publisher Julie Blacklidge-Kinzie, who kept trains running, even when those trains were out of gas, off the rails, and/or headed for other oncoming trains. Online designer Stephen Edmondson, who did so much more than merely make pages pretty, though he did that for sure, and then some. Programmer Josh Pearson, who learned another language and was still able to communicate to dolts like me. Producers Kyle Kearbey, Raya Ramsey, and Laura Behl, who never once complained about all of the crud work that ended up on their desks (or, if they did complain, they were able to keep it a secret from me). And Stephanie Snell, who has and will spread the word in online-marketing mania. Also, big ups to Ben and Mat, the duo in NYC who built the thing. Champagne all around.
A caveat for those who have not yet browsed elsewhere: the site is in beta. That means there may be a bug here or there (but not, fingers crossed, everywhere). If you find one, let us know. There’s a bug report link at the bottom of every page. We’ll fix it sometime between now and the next relaunch. [shudder at the thought]
64 comments
Ugly. Enough said.
Truthfully, I was expecting lasers to shoot out or something.
Scrolling over “video” in the header turns it white/blank, unlike the others which turn red.
Look up the term.
Proper expectation management.
This is an unfortunate moment for both of us, Adam.
Can we get lasers?
Yes, I did peek around a bit (thank you for posting the links, Gadfly).
It looks wonderful — KUDOS, D!
Congratulations to Team Web. This is really good stuff. There is no way to express to FBvians how much work this transformation required. It was so much more than a cosmetic change. Months and months of planning and meeting and coding and arguing with off-site developers. The effort has been enormous, and it has paid off.
And thanks to those like Chris, above, who have (and will) helpfully point out bugs.
My mind is blown. Excellent job all of D staff!
Yawn
Meh…
Long time lurker, first time poster. Geez, guys. Progress on the internets is a good thing. (prepare to be tarred and feathered, dietcokebabe247)
Mates of State:
“Don’t you know that they’ve come to be your host?
Didn’t mean to skank your art
Should’ve never hung around us’
New site looks amazing! I’m an infant at coding and trying to imagine all the work that that went into re-coding this site is mind-blowing. As a result, I try not to think about it.
But tip o’ the hat to the amazing web team at D Magazine for managing to pull this one off without a single slit wrist.
My dog took one look and then peed on the floor. I have no idea what to say about that.
Anyway, I’ll keep posting and you’ll keep deleting.
OneArt: the night is young.
None of the map API’s work….
Are you using the same web team as the D.O?
Oops, should also have said that i like the new layout.
Thanks, Tristan!
@ Puddin’ Tane: So true…as long as there isn’t another disgruntled chef, things should proceed fine.
Puddin’Tane: Hope your dog’s peeing wasn’t a Cavalier move on his/her part…
@ The Big Guy: When we switched over from the development site to the live site we had to request new Google Maps API Keys. Must have missed a few with the update. Thanks for the help, they all should be working now.
(If you find more that are sans API Key, please let us know what pages they are on…)
The bang to hype ratio is way out of whack
I’ve had a bottle of wine. So I want to say. I love you all.
My gawd! What’s next – movable type?
wow. “bang to hype ratio out of whack”? really? weak. You can do it better? go for it.
Looks good. The date in the upper right is wrong.
Well at least it wasn’t Bethany!
Pages load ssss….lllllll…..ooooooo……wwwwwww….llllll…….yyyyyyy.
Also, THe Best Lawyers link on the Best of Big D page is broken — leads back to the D home page (although the Best Doctors link does work).
Change is rare, yet so profound.
D missed the boat, this time around.
One Art: it’s my doggin’ and you asked that question? Tsk, tsk.
I was hoping for smoke and theme music.
another vote here for lasers. Yes, high credit to the folks who, I am sure, worked very hard and were not paid enough for their work. That said the hype shot this thing dead before it had a chance. Rule #1 undersell and overdeliver. Rule #2 never talk of fight club.
My only complaint is that the onscreen, occular-activated keyboard is a little slow — may be the huge amount of traffic the new feature is drawing.
Also, thank you for making Joe Biden’s What I Wish I’d Said blog more available to the general public.
I think it’s a lot better organized but it’s really boring… not really innovative! seems more old school than anything. JMO.
I also don’t like the old school fonts in the headers, titles etc. BORINGGGGG
The very top of the page has changed. The rest of the blog is exactly the same. I don’t get it. What’s the big deal?
My only comment on the UI, being in the biz since IE1 alpha on Win95, is that other than colors, it’s as top-tab/right-side frame generic as it can get. Around 14,428 templates exist that do the exact same thing. Not good, not bad, just nothing special, nor worth the hype.
More time spent on editing your editors’ and writers increasing juvenile temperament and content would go along way to getting your past rep back. it’s reflecting very badly on your print product.
(And Adam/Tim – take that last paragraph to linked-in heart, please.)
@Billusa99 – Agree 100%.
Love the Blog, Hate the design.
Gotta agree w/bill for once
Pinks,Baby blues, versus Blacks, Grey, Red = Sea Sick
These colors are contradictory in a bad way.
BAD FONTS, lack design
White search under Logo= UnBalanced. move it to the Rt.
Like the top single word tabs, reduce the Nightlife tab
to one title. If one of my students turned this in they would get a C.
This would better suit Miami Magazine or Key West Daily. The blue and pink and the block-like font (whatever it is called) is too playful and sunny and immature for D Mag.
Sorry.
Having been a designer for quite some time (more than 18 years) I think I have some room to talk. There’s a reason that 14,000+ other sites have the same layout – because it works! The point of a Website isn’t to be as crazy as you can be and hope that your users can adjust to your “innovative, pushing the envelope” type of style. You have content that you want to display in the most useful, appealing and helpful ways – and give the user a pleasant experience in the process.
This new site seems to me to be MUCH more user-friendly. The layout is clean and inviting and the content seems to be organized in a very effective way. Overall, there are some color issues that I could do without, but this was clearly a site that underwent lots of planning and content organization and I think it will really pay off for D.
I would say take about 20% of the commentors above seriously. The rest and just jumping at the chance to be rude and hateful and hopefully make themselves feel superior in the process. Good job, D. This is a huge step forward for your Web site and your brand.
oooh Archer typeface niiice!
Sid Nancy,
the archer typefaces were created by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Two of the foremost type designers in the world. Maybe the website doesn’t do the full font justice but I believe it gives a certain “happy go lucky” feel to the site. The use of the italicized type is right on cue with emerging type trends and has a modern flair. I also like this sign because it doesn’t look like the web 2.0 crap that the public has been subjected to for the past 4 years.
Not only that but the website designer probably had to deal with internal suggestions and directives. Something your students would be lacking in a classroom atmosphere.
With that being said… if you were referring to the layouts of type in regards to the posted items. I agree. They should be changed to a san-serif typeface. The contrast between the Archer and the what I believe is Times New Roman is distracting. They just cannot live together.
This is a beta… so maybe more changes are a coming?
JBC
Let me explain, and apologize.
I like the font, but not the way they are used as tabs, I feel there is not enough of a box for them to float in the negative space. What would happen if you reduced them a bit, or tried a different background color. They appear too dominant in the space, thus negating the happy attempt. When you say modern, do you mean contemporary?
When I said I hate the design, I meant the tabs, I apologize. like Oldfart, I think the across the top layout is good, universal, and easy to use. I understand your comment about the classroom, however we critique by committee. Id also like to point out the obvious to everyone, some like Coke, others, Pepsi. Cheers
Link to Taos contest is broken.
Sid Nancy,
I get you. And thanks for pulling out the “contemporary/modern” out. Always tend to forget that.
Well i know as a young designer myself and someone who learned very quickly in my career – we need more of the “client/designer” interaction in classrooms. Most of my classroom assignments were more exploratory. I believe there should be assignments that allow exploration but also balance that with an approach that has the designer communicating for a client. I hope you are doing this for our future designers in the classroom.
I am going to go out on a limb and say Stephen had to deal with many editors and ideas and try to make them feel involved in the design process. Though I am not 100% happy with the design I believe it is a step in the right direction.
And do not get me started on Pepsi’s new branding haha.
This from someone outside any creative commune:
The blue makes me feel institutionalized.
Slightly decrease the font size in the upper tabs and slightly increase the font size in the lower tabs.
Delete “& Partypics” and move “Business” to an upper tab. This blows the total hipness intention of the upper tabs but adds a necessary touch of website legitimacy, whatever that means.
Oh, and put Search in bold.
This had a worse payoff than The Ticket’s “big announcements.”
My first complaint, the iPhone theme is gone. Please bring back
Aside from the template and a few adjustments to the links, is there anything different about this layout? It doesn’t seem like there is, to me.
Yeah but, shouldn’t the boldy accent be on “front” instead of “burner”? it’s not that your content is on a burner, it’s that it’s on the front one. right?
Cool site. Change is good.
Couple of suggestions –
1. Can we get the iPhone skin back for FB and Dallas Dirt?
2. Can you make the regular site faster? Changing the look is nice. I’d use it more, regardless of look, if it just worked fast.
Re: the iPhone skin.
I’m told it was ditched only temporarily. It was a necessary move to handle some technical issues. It’ll be back soon enough. Thanks for your patience.
And thanks to everyone here who has given thoughtful, informed feedback. (I’m looking at you, OldFart.)
It’s no surprise that they couldn’t get anyone to advertise on this hideous Web site. At least the design matches the content now.
Or are the ads not showing up just another bug that has to be fixed? You do realize that you can create two versions of your site. You could have kept the old one running while creating a beta version of the new one.
Redesigns are tough; I get that. People usually reject change at first and then grow accustomed to it quickly. But when you create a site with so many design flaws and bugs, you may never get the audience to appreciate your product.
If you had anyone on your staff with knowledge of color theory, they would have laughed when you chose this color palette. The colors don’t complement your logo, and (as others have said), the baby colors send a message that your site is puerile. Actually, that’s probably fitting.
I know I’m seen as a DMN apologist, so let me continue that trend. People complain about the DMN Web site, but this redesign perfectly exemplifies the difference in philosophies here.
The DMN’s Web site is poorly designed and has annoying ads, but it works. The stories are right there to read when you want them. The page doesn’t take years to load, and the information is easy to find. You have to ask yourself: Do you prioritize design or functionality? When you look at D’s new Web site, it’s clear that functionality isn’t a priority.
I wish one of the new features was an Ignore function. Gee Zus people.
You know how many web developers it takes to relaunch a web site? 62. 2 to do the work and 60 to jump on and say how they would have done it better.
@Jay:
I would be browsing the new site instead of complaining about it, but it’s still not loading on any browser or machine I try it on.
I typed in http://www.dmagazine.com/ when I got to work at 8 a.m…. It’s still loading. I’m hoping the site loads by the time I return from lunch.
I can’t get it to load either
Hopefully when all the bugs are ironed out we’ll be able to hear the winsome bal-musette music accompanying the color scheme.
So is that a no on the lasers?
… almost … loaded … The retro “56k modem” load time matches these tacky colors perfectly. Well done!
Obviously, we are having some technical issues with the Web site. Thank you (to most of you) for your patience as we are working diligently to resolve the problem. We’ll have you back able to nit-pick and criticize in no time, I promise.
In all seriousness, I know designing a comprehensive Web site takes time and effort.
But so many other similarly complex sites offer two versions of their Web site during this transition period: The stable older version and the newer version that viewers know will have bugs.
Wouldn’t this have been an effective way of alleviating these concerns?
Very slow.