New TWoP homepage design -- just seen, after not looking at site for ~ a week, while in H'w'i. looks like just changed, comments about it are from "today" and... mostly not favorable? any compliments?
Recap, Ad, and Other Non-Forum Technical Issues - TWoP Forum p43:
I just saw the new homepage for the first time, and like many people I miss the clip art & color coding. Hwvr, y've obvsly chosen a different direction, wh is fine. And, I might be more into th pictures when shows I like are on again

p42: Overall, I don't really like the new layout. I agree with all the previous posters who have said that it seems too commercial and lost a lot of the TWoP uniqueness that originally drew me in.

p41: Ok, I know I'm just one fish in a rather large pond. I can deal with the new homepage, even when Ryan Seacrest haunts it every so often. But please, I am begging here, PLEASE don't change the forum pages. I know I can't make demands, and you guys are so awesome and the content on this site is still the best. I don't even go anywhere else, if there is something I need to know, I'll find it on the forums. I don't know why I'm so attached to the damn clip art, but I am. If the forum pages stay the same, I'll kiss the homepage pictures every day.

p40: I'm trying very hard to like the new site, but I'm missing the clip art, too. The design of the homepage is making my eyes dart everywhere, and it's giving me a headache. The old site was nice and linear and kept the focus on the recaps. I feel like the new design is pulling me in a bunch of different directions - to recaps, contests, polls, and especially the photos. The photos seem to be the focus. The design reminds me of TMZ - big and flashy.

p39: Mmm... vanilla. As a wise man once said, 'we fear change.' I liked my TWoP the way it was, like my favorite pair of jeans that I will never ever give up. On the other hand, hooray for innovation, blahblahblah, oooh shiny! ...BUT... The homepage is bloody BORING now. Looks like it was designed by and for The Man. ...oh wait....
MissAlli: I'd ask that you not turn what we're trying to keep as a constructive discussion into a referendum on The Man. We're really, really trying to hear you, but that's really, really not helpful. hmm. snotty sounding.

p37: I liked the old homepage better - the clipart, the color-coding, blah blah blah whateveryoneelseissayingcakes - but then, I'm cantankerous and old and resistant to change.
-Eh, you know what? I like it. I gotta say, when I read all these posts, I went, 'Huh, maybe I was wrong earlier, let me look again and maybe I'll hate it too.' But I looked again, and no. I think it looks clean and colorful. I liked the clip art, but I like the photos too. (shrug) As long as the content, and the tone of the content, stay the same then I'm good with how the front page looks. Suddenly I feel like Joey eating the Christmas trifle. 'What's not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, goooood.'

p35: I miss the quote taken from a recap that used to be at the top of the home page, because, like the icons, I felt that it encapsulated the purpose and personality of TWOP. Pull quotes have actually intrigued me enough to make me start reading the recaps/watching a show that I wasn't watching before.
If it matters, may I respectfully submit an official second of the following suggestion? Taking another look at it, I realized what makes the homepage look 'generic' to me is simply the photographs. If you were to replace them with the familiar drawn icons, I think it would look lovely--functional and unique.

how far back does this discussion go?

p33: Am I correct in understanding that the last time the basic layout changed was over 5 years ago?
Over 6 years, in my recollection. It's been unchanged (aside from the site name change from MBTV to TWoP) since at least my first visit, which was almost exactly 6 years ago, fall 2001.

-I don't like it, because it's so generic, but then my browser is configured to take me straight to the forums when I log on, so I don't know that my vote should count.


p32: Thanks, Miss Alli. That yellow banner has the look and feel of a banner ad; it never occurred to me that it would take me 'Home.'
Miss Alli: Okay, but...it says 'Television Without Pity' in big giant letters and contains the site navigation, so it's clearly not a banner ad. Let's work together to solve this stuff, okay? Thanks. sschna tee. let's work together, okay? the comment sounded like working together, your response does not. yours sounds insulting. don't insult your reader. with whom I agree: it does look and feel like a banner ad. for the site, maybe, if one even reads the "big giant letters" (snotty - I think I am off you Miss Linda Alli - just rise above, don't get defensive and pissy, and especially not toward someone is not even criticizing just stating own experience). one takes in the banner of bright color and cld easily not notice that some of what is on it is navigation.
I've seen a lot of redesigns in 10 years of working on web sites. I channel Tim Gunn to say, I'm not really responding well to this one. Having been through the process a bunch of times myself (and survived, mostly), I appreciate the amount of work it takes and the amount of countries that need to be heard from (and mollified) so I'm not minimizing how much effort went into it, but if it's honest feedback you're looking for, as an end-user, I give this a D-. If I had a bigger monitor and could see the whole screen, I'd bump it up to a D+. Everything that was charmingly well-designed -- both in look/feel and functionality -- has disappeared from the home page. It's Generic McPlain Page. I guess it's the price of success and I've seen it happen to almost every web site that gets bought out. A small site is acquired because of its success and then the process begins to slowly muffle all of the unique qualities that made it a success in the first place, until it turns into something that looks pretty much like everything else.


ah I think I found the first comment on the design. I guess maybe new homepage went live at midnight on Monday which was "yesterday" - so there are comments all through that day to last midnight which was last nite, and then today. Almost 48 hours. from p28 to p43.
p28: Yesterday @ 12:43 pm Post#408 Wow guys the new homepage sure is bright. This may impede my TWoP time during boring staff meetings. Thanks for your continued hard work and all the new offerings this season.