Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds!

We've had only a few major redesigns since 1997; we think it's time for another. But we really do take to heart the comments you've made about the look and functionality of the beta site that houses Slashdot's future look. So let's all slow down. Right now, we're directing 25 percent of non-logged-in users to the beta; it's a significant number, but it's the best way for us to test drive this new design, to have you show us what pieces need to be fixed, and how. If you want to move back to Classic Slashdot, that path is available: from the Slashdot Beta page, you just need to select the "Slashdot Classic" link from the footer (or this link). We're committed to keep you informed of the plans as changes are implemented; we can't promise that every user will like every change, but we don't want anything to come as a surprise. Most importantly, we want you to know that Classic Slashdot isn't going away until we're confident that the new site is ready. And — okay, we've got it — it's not ready. We have work to do on four big areas: feature parity (especially for commenting); the overall UI, especially in terms of information density and headline scanning; plain old bugs; and, lastly, the need for a better framework for communicating about the How and the Why of this process. Some of you have suggested we're not listening; on the contrary, some of us are 'listening' pretty much full-time. We're keeping you informed of this process, because we're a community and we want to take everyone with us. But, yes, we're trying something new. Why? We want to take our current content and all the stuff that matters to this community and deliver it on a site that still speaks to the interests and habits of our current audience, but that is, at the same time, more accessible and shareable by a wider audience. We want to give our current audience the space where they are comfortable. And we want a platform where we can experiment with different views of both comments and stories. It's not an either/or. It's going to be both. If we haven't communicated that well enough, consider this post a first step to fixing that. And in the meantime, we're not sorry to have received a flood of feedback, most of it specific, constructive and substantive. Please keep it coming. We will be adding more specific info here in the days to come.

Comments

Re:Why?

[fatphil]

But apart from the data being presented, the style in which it's presented, and the user's interaction with that data, there's basically very little wrong?

All we need is a picture of Alice Hill's head on a spike as the logo, and it would be perfect.

Tell me how you really feel

[simplypeachy]

I never realised that 95% of the commenting /. world needs to shut the fuck up. What a bunch of trumped-up, patronising, presumptuous children. Go back to your forums and your usenet flamewars, for goodness sake. Feedback is one thing, activism is the next step, but so many of you have flown off the handle and polluted the comments, tags, and god only knows what else.. Give /. feedback the way they asked and just sod off if the end result isn't want you wanted. I won't miss you.

Some of us are here for the /., not your petulant whinnying.