Well, our first birthday is coming up soon here at Twitch and to celebrate we've gone out and gotten ourselves something nice. A new site design. It's not live yet but we've spent the past week or so involved in some vigorous debate behind the scenes about how things should look and what it should be able to do and, once again, the incomparable Opus has outdone himself. He's still hard at work getting all the changes implemented and functioning but you can take a peek at the 99% completed mockup of the final design here. We dig it.
Here's what you're gonna get:
1. Improved navigation via the button bar at the top.
2. A complete masthead gallery.
3. Multiple color schemes. Yep, we listened to those of you who had trouble reading the text in the current version and the new site will give you the ability to choose between two distinct color schemes to suit your tastes.
4. Larger entry columns. We have very few readers accessing the site in 800x600 resolution so we've upped our width both to give ourselves a bit more space to work with and to fill people's screens a little better.
5. The right column content better marked out.
6. HUGELY improved archive tools. Check out the pull downs at the top of the page ... not only will you be able to access date based archives like you can now, but we're also bringing in category sorts so you'll be able to do quick scans for coverage from specific film festivals, specific genres, specific regions of the world, recent reviews, recent interviews, and - because you've been asking - all of our posts with trailer links. It's going to take a while to get the entire archive categorized - I've got about 3000 entries to go - but it's going to be a huge plus to the site when it's fully functioning.
So, head on over and take a look at the mockup. Let us know if you spot any obvious browser compatibility issues - sending your OS and browser version would be most helpful, as would posting screen shots in the forum - and then throw some kind words Opus' way ... he's doing fantastic work for us and I'm beyond pleased with how this has turned out ...
AWESOME work, guys! Twitch got even better!
Wow, that is really impressive! Total props to everyone involved - that blew me away. Can't wait to see it every day!
And....AWESOME work OPUS!
Very nice... I have to say that I like the current one a lot better, though... does that make me a luddite? ;) I hope not, just more of a minimalist. Also, even when not using a 800x600 monitor, being able to shrink the window and read everything is cool — frees up that horizontal screen real estate.
Great job though, it looks very slick.
Nice work. Looking forward to seeing that implemented. It's still got a very simple design, which is what makes it so effective and easy to use. Kudos to all involved!
Looking great!
Hey GAPS, I can understand the average person's concern about ads - however, Twitch's approach is starkly different.
Certainly no one needs to point out that "running websites costs money" - so we'll skip that part.
However, as a result of it, most websites just put up whatever ad that will pay the most, whether it blink, flash, cause a pop-up or take you to a flash screen.. Twitch will not be doing this.
Anything advertised on twitch will be used, approved, reviewed and endorsed by twitch. So if you see something advertised here, it's because it's a good thing for you to see, know and/or watch. And not because it just "pays the bills". -Which, of course it does, but it does something for you, the reader, as well.
Thought I'd keep you informed. Later.
Oooh, I like it a lot.
Yeah, what the monkey said. We'll be over 200 gig of bandwidth used this month and that number just keeps on going up ... we need to generate some revenue to keep the lights on and Google's not cutting it. Plus, thanks to the annoyingly random nature of Google's ads I had to explain at length to the producer of Memoires Affectives that we don't endorse or support bootlegging of any kind a couple weeks ago after I asked for a screener and when they came here to check out the site the first thing they saw was an ad steering people to 'Download Any Movie For Free!' sites ...not cool ...
The advertising is going to be split roughly 50-50 between stuff sold via a big commercial ad company (Gorilla Nation) and stuff we sell direct. We've been giving complete control of the type of ads GN runs and there'll be nothing blinking, flashing or popping anywhere. Or making sounds. Or placing irritating false text links. I hate those fake text link ads. We also have the ability to turn down any ad campaign we don't want to run for any reason. The GN ads will run at industry standard rates and will end up underwriting the whole endeavor around here. The direct sold ads will be offered to indpendents and small companies we like at insanely cut rates just because we want to help offer these people some exposure. And when I say insanely cut rates I mean starting at less than a quarter of industry standard with things negotiable even lower if people need to do so ... Personally I really of like the idea of using Ted Turner et al to finance our exploration of fringe films and, in effect, subsidize ad rates to offer equal exposure to tiny little companies that otherwise could never compete on an equal footing ...
damn nice!
WOW, one impressive design, i love the current one, but the new one is going to be far better than this, love it. and OPUS seems like u really know ur job, two thumbs up
Hey, I've been reading twitch since it's first incarnation and I've been a frequent visitor to you guys ever since. I just want to say you're all doing an awesome job and I'm loving the new design.
Good work guys (Y) :)
New design looks great.
If other sites took as much care to tailor the ads to be more palatable to it's user base, it would be a much more pleasant experience getting around online. Thanks for the extra effort.
I really like it, great design and new options
though I think the posts areas are abit big and too spaced out...
maybe its just me?!
Will the new look be PSP compatible?
The current look works great with the "smart fit" feature on the PSP where it converts the site to fit the screen.
i always liked the simplicity of the original design, but the new one looks way more professional/high-budget.
Oooo purdy. Sweet work guys. Grats on the birthday [just in case I"m not back from my bidness trip] ;)
Forget about the shadow, took a second look and was wrong. I should just make it more edgy/brighter and smaller..not that wide...range of gradient. So it feels more edgy and softer. It gets more the feeling/effect I think you search for.
Very nice. Only thing I would suggest is moving the search/browse/festival fields, as they're kinda haphazard now, with the search floating on the rotating film still up top, and the browse and festival pulldowns below it nuzzling the ad banner. Collecting these in one area would make sense, I think. Otherwise very nice!
Great new look - I can't wait till it goes live! I've always loved the style the site has and this just enhances it nicely!
Excellent work.
Hey, thanks for the advertising clarification. I think it was just the placeholder massive white eye-puller of harlod and kumar that was throwing me off...
And I second what roraz, fannyslacks, and kwon said... you guys all pointed out things that were bugging me, but I think I was too tired at the time to notice that kind of detail.
Oh yeah, and nice work on the category listings, too - very useful!