JUL 26

Well, start off. Simple is good. Less is more! Why is the are you an ecogeek box there twice? Ads should be on the side, and the margins could be tweaked just a little bit more (less). Why is related stories on there 3 times???? Also the top where the home, about, etc. is. Make it like wowhead.com where you hover over it and a sub menu comes down. Also, I understand this is a "green" site, but the green you use is TOO vivid. Tone it down. The one you have now is good, or maybe some variation. I honestly might not read the blog as much like that though. But great stories though!!!

I like the new green better. Overall I really like the design...

Except the font. The kerning...it pains me. What font is that? Maybe it won't render that way in a browser? I hope?

Other than continuing to beat that particular horse, though, I really do like it. :)

I agree about the font. Needs work.

But I like the more vivid green. It's a nice change.

Is EcoGeek's catch phrase really "brains for the earth"? That could use some work too. Not that I have any ideas to replace it with. (Maybe "The future is green"? No that's crap.)

I really like the "Want a flying car? How about a 50mpg airplane?" tree-box thing you've got in the corner of the page atm, why don't you expand on that and add other cool eco gadgetry things in there? changing each time the page is loaded.

Still prefer the current design.
Why is it actually being changed though? Other than just for the sake of change?

I think you should just ask people what they don't like about the current layout, and just
make modifications to that, rather than create a completely new layout, that loses some of the good points of the current layout.
Or have a check-box poll (i.e. so you can chose more than one option) on each major aspect of the new layout, so people can vote for the changes they like (rather than having to judge the entire thing as a whole)
Personally, I think the current layout is fine.

-Not sure about the new colour scheme, but that could be because the new layout lacks the black borders (and without them I think it looks messy)
-Don't like the add at the top
-I miss the trees in the top right corner, it looks too bare without it (and completely agree with Jacob). And the one at the bottom just looks lonely on its own
-BRAAAAAAINS! I don't think brains for anything sounds that good, (except zombie films).
And does ecoGeek really need a slogan? The name says it all really, so there's no need for one.
But if you want to keep the 'for the earth', I'd suggest using 'minds' instead of 'brains', or maybe nothing at all ('for the earth' on its own sounds great, FTE FTW!).

Hi ecogeek,

Would you please do not repeat the related stories on the left side of each post. it is a bit repititive.Have you notice how many times have I use the word repitive.

I really like the new slightly thatched green background.

First, I'm doing the new layout to get rid of some of the really broken things about this layout. The flash font rendering that takes forever to load and some general javascript problems that the current site has.

But we're also hoping to make the site more functional for users, and to widen the central column so that there will be space for a forum and a wiki within ecogeek (It's hard to fit that into a 468 pixel width column.) Additionally, I honestly think that the current design looks outdated...and I always want ecogeek to look good...cleaner, better.

Regarding the related stories repetition, it is repeated because it will be different for each story. If one story is about cars, there will be other car stories, if the next stories is about solar power, there will be solar power stories in there.

As for the font, Im pleased to announce that you won't have to worry. The font will display exactly the same as it does on ecogeek currently. I'm starting to realize that many more people than I expected are using font smoothing during their web browsing.

I think that the "most popular" box should be in the top right instead of amongst all those ads. Whose going to see it if all that's there is ads, or at least so it seems? It should be more prominent. If you really want people to use the categories it too should be moved.

Hmmm, maybe if the corners were more rounded; I think that the borders are too sharp. Besides, rounded corners would better compliment the round logo :)

It is definitely more focused. The background contrasts the container. The only thing I would recommend there is a darker border; a dark leaf green with the inner border darkened by the same amount.

The problem with the text is not its size but its color. Currently your text is #333333 but in the new design it is black. Studies have shown that a shade of dark gray is easier to read (on a computer screen) than black. It also works the other way: making the background a shade of gray (but that is much less attractive).

I like the navbar. The first thing I thought when I saw it was http://www.abstractlittleshapes.com/stupid.png. Obviously not a good logo but food for thought maybe?

I think the slogan font is better but not quite close enough. Nyala Sans, possibly in a bold, might fit. Or you could *cough*use my font*cough**cough*http://www.abstractlittleshapes.com/silly.png*cough*(I am in a silly mood today).

Overall, I like it. The one problem I really still have with the new design is the "Are you an EcoGeek?" section. All my previous criticisms still stand.

The blue background color is weak. It does not fit in with the rest of the design. Frankly, it is a cop-out color. It is one of the colors people pick when they can think of nothing better because it will not draw a lot of attention.

The number of readers seems like something better suited elsewhere. As it stands it looks like the "You are the 54th visitor!" on somebody's crappy personal page.

The newsletter does not need a button; it is redundant (and not in the good way like the systems in an airplane).

I think the RSS and the newsletter should be side, but that is probably just my opinion.

All four buttons should be together, not separated by ads. Although I can see where you might put the ads in between in order to increase their value. If that is the case then go ahead but otherwise it is just poor organization.

One last thing: Why is the SU button the only one not changed? Also, you need to remove the shadow from the Twitter button to match the other ones.

Off to data entry! *whoosh*

I agree it needs a tree in the top-left.
Like the related stories.
The higher saturation green looks good.
The right-hand column looks cluttered, I don't like having to scroll down for the popular stories (They're the top stories, why aren't they on top?)
Good tweaks overall.

Overall I really like the new design. My only $0.02 is to avoid basically duplicating the "Are you an EcoGeek?" box in the box below (starting with "EcoGeek RSS") as repeating this can be seen a bit pushy. Or if you really want to have the same info again below to give people a chance to see it further down the page, I'd visually differentiate the box more (perhaps make it smaller/narrower) to avoid the impression of duplicating it.

I like the new design! However, I do hope you keep in mind to make sure the design doesn't go all wonky on the many MANY different browsers out there at the moment. ;)

I like it how it is right now, but the new one is good too.

Anything involving Hank Green is good in my book.

Only been reading your site since around Christmas and Clinch has said it all for me - I prefer the current layout.

I've only once or twice followed the links at the top - Carectomy etc. but there is something fitting and organic about those links being there and the corner of my eye misses them from the new design - although the cluster of related articles is useful, something you see in a lot of newspaper sites.

Is there a danger that a site could get too overloaded with function i.e. would a forum on another site be an option? The site is lovely and clean the way it is.

I'm also now going around saying 'laptopectomy' on the interest of one of your affiliates..

Making the new layout to be flexible is going to help you with people who have a different display, e.g. mobile, Mac, etc.

Use relative values for the width in your CSS. The main content box could be 80% wide or so.

14pt/16pt font would be nice, but you may loose some ad-clickers, if the font in them appears to be too small. If you like money stick with the smaller font, if you like to please your visitors go with a bigger one.

One thing I forgot to mention. Put an outline:none; in the CSS for your logo to get rid of the outline when you click on it. It adds 5 Professionalism.

I think it would be a good idea for the boxes on the left and right to match... With the tan and green (left) as opposed to the green and white.. Does that make any sense at all? I tried.

I like the more vivid colors and the curves on the boxes on the left! ;D

I like the green menu [home, about, forum, ...] don't think I mentioned that last time!

Sorry about assuming the margins re: point 3 would be there no matter what browser size. I wondered if it was just for the mock up, then decided not to take any chances ;D

As an aside, you might want to register the domain name ecogeek.com and have it automatically redirect to the regular .org site

I like the old design, I like the new design. I totally love the underlying concept and that someone's finally done such a generally fine job of realizing it. My only big want is a little better attention to the proofreading. I'm old, and care about such things. :) I'll help with that if you like. ;)

My hat is off to the designer. This new site surely has every possible short cut to any possible subject related to the Environment. However, that is the problem; way too much going on here. Some may view this as easier access, but I view it as way too many choices. A simple search engine or a site index is a great way to look for stuff if you are wanting to drill down.

It could also help to put to the front the ability to scan previous headlines; after all; that is the reason why ECOGEEK holds my interest each week.

Please get rid of comments counter on the main page. They are irrelevant at this stage. And your page would be even more cleaner. Otherwise you made a GOOD WORK!

One more thing. Maybe you should consider to add a rating bar so people can give you a feedback.
And I hope the new version will fully support Firefox.

All in all, the one thing I'd say about the design is it's very... light. there's a ton of white and green, which is good, but there's a real lack of contrast. Some darker colors might help to improve it slightly.

Other than that, the information is organized well and the design looks good! nicely done.

The header part is good, but the below content blocks should be in top rounded with below flat corners. Try this look eco friendly...

Thanks & Regards...
RAGHAV...
http://www.raghav4web.com