April 8, 2010
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Cleaning Up the Frontpage!
The cleaned-up frontpage we posted about yesterday is live!
To recap, here are the updates:
- Enhanced Top Blogs – we’ve updated the Top Blogs algorithm to take more criteria into account (so it updates more frequently, is a bit more robust against manipulation and – we hope – does a better job identifying interesting/fun/cool content)
- More Traffic to Xangans - we’ve swapped Featured Weblogs and Top Blogs to try to drive more traffic to everyone’s blogs
- General Clean Up - we’ve tweaked the design here and there just to make it feel cleaner overall.
Now that the new page is live, what do you guys think?
Marc
Comments (96)
I like it
<3
Approve.
So far so good.
Different, but I can see it growing on me.
This might sound lame….but what if you added 411 help pop up bubbles to each section header? Mostly for new users, which is something we all are trying to help out on.
Otherwise….Thumbs up.
@Made2sing4Jesus - heh, doesn’t sound lame at all… but yah it might make the frontpage a bit more cluttered. We can see where people seem to be confused and add 411s as needed (if something is really confusing, of course, it may actually need to be redesigned or at least renamed – hope we don’t have too much of that scenario left on the frontpage!)
I like it so far. Looking forward to the customizable header. I would really like to see a simple link on the front page (or even under posts, like the rec feature) for submitting posts to be featured.
great!
but how about the new personal page with search box? I’m longing for that._.
The screen shot doesn’t have a large ad after the third Top Blog, but it does in the execution.
i just got a quick look at it but i think it looks pretty good.
Looks great guys.:} .going to the park for a live chat soon girls ?
This weather is really something….take good care all….love, Lee 
Quick comment; I DO noticed a much higher footprint count due to the new front page layout to my page. I guess it’s working!
good!!
@Roadlesstaken - awesome!
It looks good to me.
i love this! mostly i love the cleaner professional look. but then i am always thrilled when you guys show interest in the site by posting or just letting us know you are still there.
@Roadlesstaken - Yes, it is working. People are going to gain traffic from this. It will provide more of a steady stream of traffic too.
Nice – I hope it drives more traffic. It looks cleaner and a more polished as well.
nice
@TheTheologiansCafe - If you’re happy, then it must be working. I think it looks better.
Good and wonderful
@TheTheologiansCafe - You speak the truth.
oh-some sauce.
>< I don’t like it as much. But perhaps it shall grow on me.
I don’t see much difference (in design) to be honest, but interesting.
I miss the scrolling blogs. I don’t really read the top blogs. I tend to pay more attention to the pictures and interesting titles of the scrolling pages…I’m sure it will grow on me though.
LOVE! LOVE! LOVE IT! Great job guys! I really think this will help people get to know more Xangans and see more content. Well done, thank you!
I think it’s a much messier version of the OLD Xanga page. The one way back when that actually had interesting content that was easy to see on it. You got the interesting content part back… now when are you going to get the easy to see part back?
ohhhh i miss the scrolling top 20 blog box now i dont know whats going on… but i am easily confrused
i love it
@radicalramblings - from you, ms. ramblings, one outta two ain’t bad! To help us address our lingering flailings, could you perhaps specify what you find hard to see?
I don’t like it at all. I liked the old xanga where i could scroll through the featured blogs…now I have to refresh the page…I don’t like it.
@zubes5806 - @brokensoul42 - @CollegeGirl13 - Some of you have noticed, but just to clarify, that top box shows the *same* posts as before; it’s just using a different format. We’ve seen a few comments like yours, though, mentioning that people “miss the scrolling”. So we’re gonna add back some scrolling today
.
It will cycle through about 12 different posts per pageview (instead of just 4)… And if you mouseover the box you’ll see the little previous / next arrows that’ll let you scroll through the posts manually again. It should be live by this afternoon!
I like it but, I have a question about the personal URL. I tried signing up for it and it said error and a bunch of other things. Can you fix this?
@BrockEvanDunn - hmm… could you try again (for the Personal URL) and send me a message with the specific errors you’re getting (what they say and when they appear)? Thanks!
@marc - Yes ill try again right now.
@marc - Its doing something really weird now. the sign up page looks really wierd its a mixture of my xanga site with the sign up page.
@BrockEvanDunn - it looks like you got your Personal URL this time (though it’s not live on your site yet)… could you maybe post a screenshot of the weird page you’re seeing? where in the process did you see that page (what was the last thing you did before seeing it?) Sorry for the weirdness and thanks for your help!
@marc - I finally got it to work. How long will it take to change?
@BrockEvanDunn - phew! It can take 24-48 hours for the URL to start working (more info here), but sometimes it happens a lot quicker!
@marc - Thanks for your help.
it’s OK except I can’t find the place to go to submit a post to be featured! can someone help me out?
It’s about time you drove more traffic to us instead of those godawful -ish sites.
I think it’s good. I actually like featured blogs so I hope the “demotion” doesn’t take away from those, but it will probably take time to see if it makes a difference. More than any of this, I am kind of excited about what seems to be a lot of new energy from the Xanga team. I guess some of us were kind of wondering where you all went lately.
I love it. <3
Love it! Good job Xanga Team.
thanks for teh scroll arrows, i love it now!
Will we still be notified if we got a top or featured blog? ’cause last time when I got a featured blog on revelife, i got a message saying my blog entry was featured on revelife. That’s all I really wanna know
@zubes5806 - I agree. I liked the featured blogs because they put pictures+headlines together and they peaked my interest. The scrolling thing was cool too because I could get a bit of all the -ish sites without having to visit each individual one to see entries.
I like it! ;D
the cleaner design is nice
It looks good to me.
@spentandsickk - agree that the pictures+headlines is a nice combo for featured weblogs – so we kept it that way… just moved it over to the right. Based on comments like @zubes5806we also added scrolling/rotation back to the party for that top box (if you mouseover the box, you should see little previous / next arrows again).
Thanks. Now the religious stuff ends up in the featured. I hate radical Christians telling me how I’m supposed to live. I feel tempted to go on their blogs and thrash them for their closed-mindedness and intolerance. It’s not a good thing.
Love the more organized look! :]. Now it looks as if there is real purpose to each article by having a headline above it (rather than me look at some articles and just stare blankly and say, “why is THIS article featured?”.) Kudos!
@Jal_Phoenix - before you go thrash any sites, you really should ask yourself WWJD?
(OK, before you thrash me, i’m totally joking – I just couldn’t resist).
We added Revelife back into the mix on a trial basis – it’s currently just one post out of about 40 that are featured at any given moment throughout the new frontpage. The folks at Revelife are trying to keep a more balanced tone, and of course the last thing the community wants is to attract hateful comments. But given the combustible nature of all religious topics, we’ll be watching this one carefully.
I love the new scrolling additions, thanks!
As long as that God forsaken St. Scholastica ad that covered the front page on mouse over is gone, I’m exceedingly happy. Thanks.
thanks
I’m glad to see you took up all of my recommendations. I guess the check is in the mail?
It looks great, except I would like to be able to read the whole title of the post on the new looking Top Blogs section. Right now it seems like they are cut off.
This is a big improvement. Good job!
No matter the changes Xanga front page always look neat! -definitely better that way..
Well thats what everybody want right?
I liked it better when I was actually reading something worthwhile. NOT reading about someone’s vacation, or how they dislike this person or other, or how something annoyed them in their day – just because they have many subscribers, and daily traffic.
I liked reading some random blogger’s page because they actually had something thoughtful to say. Not the usual top bloggers and what they have to say. I know you have lots of subscribers. I know you get a lot of footprints. I don’t care to read what you ate, or who’s bothering you.
I liked reading into the corners of xanga that no one really went to, until someone stumbled upon it and rec, which led to more rec’s and thus gave that person 15 min of fame for writing something worthwhile.
You should have get one for “top bloggers” and one for actual shtuff that people can read.
It looks OK.
Hey Xanga, Looks Good to Me!
Alright. I bought the website domain but, it charged me a few times. Is there anyway I can get those charges back? Thanks.
I like it. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you on it.
I think that I wish the basics worked right on here.
My subscriptions reader page for weblogs has been and is messed up, and I can’t read my subs blogs. No scroll bar on first page, page is frozen. Second page I can scroll but the sidebar stuff is at the bottom.
Same thing on some of my subs sites, no scroll bar when I hit comment on their blog. So, I can’t read or comment.
I’ve tried your “help” button, hmm, no help.
xyz#*^Y&U^
is your photo:o?so ugly!
http://www.facebook.com/dxt464e5w3ra@fyhdyue4r76
It’s a story of mine. I wear the <a href="http://www.dzblog.net/fanbinbin66001570/26199/links+of+london-It+is+a+way+to+grade+the+performance+of+jewelry.html/">links of london in my whole life. No one knows why I love so much the ring. I also don’t know why. We even don’t know what his name is and how old he is and where he come and went. It really likes a ridiculous story. But I have a proof that is the <a href=" http://www.dzblog.net/fanbinbin66001570/26065/Simple+Links+of+London+Designs+is+to+Create+the+Best+Product+.html/">links of london jewellery ring. It’s neither a dream nor a girl’s imagination.
I don’t know if you can see this article, if you can remember the period happiness, I hope you can have a happy life.
Same ideas, I think it’s important to make it cleaner!!
but, I cannot handle it well~~
I’m wondering if you can add more to the Featured Weblogs on the right side. It just seems so small in comparison to Today’s Top Blog. Maybe 5 more? After all, these are the ones that editors approve of and presumably exemplify what you want to see on our site.
Hey quick question: how often is the featured section going to be updated now? Seems like it slowed down considerably.
I post a lot of my blogs to face book. It is easy. Thank you xanga. But I don’t have that same option with featured answered questions. Some of my best stuff is on answering featured questions. How can I post those to face book?
well don’t forget to keep updating the featured blogs though! lol
@BrockEvanDunn - Those extra transactions should just be “pre-authorizations” (it’s the first step in any typical credit card transaction – it checks to see if you have funds available and tees up a *potential* payment). But because those extra transactions never got completed, the funds should still be in your account. If those extra transactions don’t disappear from your account within a few days, please send an email to our help team and we’ll help you sort it out. Sorry for the confusion!
http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?picid=1182849_82220856&pid=3889514&scid=525
Vote for me
yeah, some of those pictures you guys put up there definitely wouldn’t be “G” in my category, but hey, nowadays all the ratings are skewed.
@marc - Thanks
I have missed a lot since I been away
“I liked it better when I was actually
reading something worthwhile. NOT reading about someone’s vacation, or
how they dislike this person or other, or how something annoyed them in
their day – just because they have many subscribers, and daily traffic.
I
liked reading some random blogger’s page because they actually had
something thoughtful to say. Not the usual top bloggers and what they
have to say. I know you have lots of subscribers. I know you get a lot
of footprints. I don’t care to read what you ate, or who’s bothering
you.
I liked reading into the corners of xanga that no one
really went to, until someone stumbled upon it and rec, which led to
more rec’s and thus gave that person 15 min of fame for writing
something worthwhile.
You should have get one for “top bloggers” and one for actual shtuff that people can read.” – @Vairyl
@marc - This. Although the layout change is great, the algorithm that was “changed” doesn’t do it for other people besides the people with top subscribers/friends. Essentially (in my opinion) all Xanga is doing with the Top Blogs and Featured Blogs are keeping those who are popular at the top, and ensure they stay there. To be honest, before the algorithm change, I was a nobody (and I would say I still am) I was featured once on the main page. Now, it seems like I don’t stand a hell’s chance of getting back on there (Not to sound conceited). Because regardless of how many views/footprints/comments that I get on an entry, that doesn’t mean anything because I don’t have enough friends/subscribers. How is the Xanga team going to make equal opportunity and accustom to this?
@marc - They where true charges and need to be removed from the account.
I actually e-mailed Xanga about this. And I’ve never complained about site updates before.
I think the new layout has taken Xanga down a BIG notch. Go to the front page and you’ll see why. I’m a non-religious, pretty damn liberal college student, but I have a hard time taking a site seriously if I see things like “Do You Think Oral Sex ‘Counts’?” and “Lesbian bi-curious xangathon” and “KISS MY A** (NSFW)” all lumped together in the most visible spots on the front page. Sex and swear words are a part of life and I don’t mind reading about them, but including several of them in the most visible blogs on the site is just excessive. What are we — MySpace??
Then there’s the posts that target extremely narrow audiences — people who care about a particular Xangan and their social drama, people who are longtime followers of a particular Xangan whose posts are otherwise uninteresting/confusing to outsiders, etc.
At least with the old layout, the most featured blogs were chosen based on voting procedures in order to ensure that they appealed to more people. Now I find myself ignoring everything at the top of Xanga and scrolling to the bottom to browse through the better-presented topics.
So yeah. I think the new layout is extremely ineffective in attracting and maintaining a decent audience, and the pleasant rearrangement of visual elements isn’t enough to compensate.
I like this Idea! Thank you!
I am new here and I really like the fresh, clean look !
OK,NO BAD
what’s up with certain words being automatically linked to something as a pop up to describe it. for instance, “PHONES” in my most recent blog, is a link to ads, definitions, etc.
hell no.
i don’t want to have this.
is there a way to shut it off? it’s about as annoying a Bing is.
bing the search engine.
not bing like crosby.
not that he wasn’t annoying.
i’m just clarifying things.
so how do i stop that from happening?
please and thanks for the answer.
@LuckyStars - it sounds like you might have installed something in your browser (like a special toolbar or add-on) that inserts advertising links. Try viewing your post from a different computer or brower – if it does *not* have those links, then there’s something on your regular computer that may be adding them.
Is there a way to remove inappropriate ads from our xanga site without going premium?
I tHINk i LiKE IT!!!!
It’s so much better.
Where’d the extra credit go?
That page looks good.