Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I would like to see the feature where i could tell how much votes I have left for the day..

Sometimes I do end up skipping the front page and the changes you discuss are definitely great ideas. I for one find the notifications awesome since a lot of my favorite artists and such don't get front page with their news or even their submissions. Can't tell you how many times I've overlooked someone from the art portal and come backa month later to find the piece on their userpage and wishing I'd caught it earlier. Big win for me.

<3

TomFulp wrote:

Early next week you can expect us to unveil new content formatting, based on the discsussion in this thread. The plan is that thumbnails will have a visible title and author on the front page while author and score will be visible on all other pages. Rollover info will include description, genre and content rating.

This is an improvement. The more information, the better. It seems a lot of information has been removed or made more difficult to get to in the redesign.

For example: user profile stats. We used to be able to find a lot of info by viewing the author panel in a submission, and all the rest of a user's info by clicking on their profile, and all the info was right there. Now, it's spread over several areas/pages and is less logically placed, compared to what it had been. It also seems like the info about an author is more hidden now. It used to always be in the upper, left side of a page. Now, it's hidden down below the voting panel, an ad or two, clear down toward the bottom of a page. I like to see who's submitting an item right away. It also helps to identify a stolen item faster.

Also, I miss the "Other submission by this author" drop down box. The new "Related Stuff" list may have some similar items, but it can also have very different items, and without the "Other submissions" box, I have to go to their profile, look up their submissions, and locate the item I'm looking for. It was one easy click before, but now it's a search.

Putting the info back into easy access is a step in the right direction, Tom.

As for the rollovers, if you run out of space, you can bump the description. It's not that important to have in the rollover; or maybe include a certain number of characters with a ... afterward. If I'm intrigued, I can click on the item and read the full description anyway, right?

The NG buglist is LONG and the gang has been working their way through it. We are also cranking out mockups for improvements and other tweaks around the site.

Can you post the buglist anywhere so we can see it and NOT report things that are already listed? You can put a "- Fixed" or "- Pending" after each so we all know what's what.

1) Do you find yourself ignoring the big content showcase box here on the front page?

Never click on it, as I know it'll be in the Portal and I can find it there after I get thru the Under Judgement stuff. It seems more of an advertisement sometimes, than a "please click and play me" item.

2) Have you explored the content genre browsing?

Yes and No. I'm never looking for a specific type of game. If I am, I just click E, T, and M off and click A on to shorten the list... er, I mean, um, yeah. If you want to spotlight new submissions, it's rough because there's only so much space, and the older submissions that are still highly scored are highly scored for a reason. If you want to mix it up, have the scores be averaged over the last 50,000 (or so) votes instead of the average of all votes over all of time. A score that is averaged over 1.5 milloin votes is going to move much less than an average 50K votes. I've voted on things and it'll say I've moved the score by +0.0000015. So I moved it by a millionth of a point?! Lowering the average to the most recent votes keeps the list fresh and the competition going.

That also goes with what you said about the Games Front Page: "...Popular games tend to just mirror the front page. Best games of all time feels pretty static..."

You mentioned scores of 3.3. On an unrelated note, I suggest that all items that get past Judgement, past 200 votes (or 50 or 100 votes for non-movies), but go to a score of lower than 1.00 and stay there for more than a week get blammed altogether. The lowest Blam score in the FAQ's is 1.5. If something goes to 1.00 or lower, they're already lower than blam score regardless of whether they passed judgement. Why should something remain here when it's lower than the minimum standards of the Blam system? A score that low means that they produce crap- intentionally or not.

3) Have you been making use of the feed button (the star next to logout) in the header?

No. It's like all the stuff you find in your email everyday. You always skip half of the emails to get to what you really wanted anyway. I gotta disagree with you on the old system. I like adding only one flash from an author, or adding the author to fav's if they have good stuff. Just cuz one was good doesn't mean you want to know about all their shenanigans, and it can get to be a big hassle the more favorites you add.

4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

Being happy - Less.
Being frustrated - More.
Getting those last medals now that you can see them - More.
Bitching out the system because you click on a medal and instead of taking you to the game, it takes you to that person's medal page - More. (Can you add the game's name back in the rollover too? If the name's not listed and clicking the medal takes you to someone's medal page instead of the game, and that's annoying and time consuming when someone has 100K medal points loading up, then it makes it less fun to find and play games.)
Moments of computer freezing up for seconds to moments - More. (2.9Ghz P4, 2.75 GB Ram, Cable modem. It shouldn't happen but is more frequent since the redesign. It used to only pause occasionally at voting, but now freezes several times per day.)
Using the new Front Page - Less.
Using the Classic Portal - Exclusively.
Total page views per day - Less.
Total ad revenue from me for NG - Less, cuz I view less pages.
Total ad revenue for the authors - Less, cuz I view less pages, and it's more complicated to locate other items from the same author now.
Viewing things away from the Portal page - Less. (It used to be intuitive to browse around, and to find new things, and I was constantly touring around NG. The text line titles with a popup of a pic, rating, size, score, etc allowed more variety and interest when exploring, as more items could fit in the available space. Now, I find myself leaving the Portal Page up and refreshing every so often, but not exploring nearly as much anymore.)
Finding stolen content - More and Less. More has been coming thru since we can't Whistle them, but it's harder to spot quickly since the author's info isn't readily shown. If a M'n'F game comes thru from VadimGod, I know it's ok. If one comes thru from NewgroundsNoob14, I know I can suspect something. I know you've been working on the flagging system, though.

That's enough for now. I have more suggestions, but I don't know what's been reported as bugs, or suggested as changes or improvements already.

At 4 hours ago, TomFulp wrote: The next FP skin won't have giant tits.

Oh come on, the tits aren't that big. Actually, I only see one tit, and it's covered by a shirt that makes it SFW. If anything, the background art needs more tits.

I can't be the only one who thinks the channels background is gross. There's like an eye squirting out blood, not to mention a squid vagina.

I'd like to apologize for some of the mean things I said about the redesign, since you're working so hard to improve it. I concur with pretty much all the proposed changes. I'd also like to see the last three news posts on the front page. And when I'm looking at someone's userpage, I'd like to be able to roll over a medal and see what submission it's from, like before. I mean without having to click on it.

nice

I have to agree with Rynol and Master Aardvark on this one. Plus, I would love to see Assassin brought back. (I have plenty of suggestions if anyone is interested.)

The redesign is looking great so far, but it definitely needs some re-organization. It's been said, but the current thumbnail method for displaying movies & games on the front page is rather cluttered and uninformative; when I see a bunch of pictures, I don't know what to click on.

The additions you're planning on for the front page thumbnails sound great, and putting the submission description in a mouse-over textbox will reduce clutter without sacrificing information, as the current setup does now. But will this feature also be implemented to the movie/game pages as well?

I've tried browsing through game categories, and it's fantastic--it's definately my favourite new feature of the site thus far. It is nevertheless difficult to make heads or tails of the search results, though, as it has the same problem as the front page: I just see a bunch of pictures, not knowing what the listed submissions are. So I don't know what actually interests me unless I view submissions randomly, or based on their title/image alone.

I think a great solution would be to allow the option to display submissions on the games/movies pages not just in the "mosaic" style, but in the "list" style currently used for the Front Page Archives, and the Under Judgement pages. The new list layout for the archives you put in is really something; it lists EVERYTHING about a submission that you need to know: title, image, author, description (not for UJ, but there's probably a reason for that), score, views, and content rating. And it's not cluttered at all. I would love to see this list format to also be available for the games/movie pages, as it would remove much of the confusion met with staring at a page of just pictures.

Much of what I want to say has already been said (and maybe even the above paragraph too). Last thing I'll say is that you should bring back the mouse-over info boxes to the Classic Portal. Without them, we don't even have an image to go by, just a title.

I would like the ability to "clear" the notifications list. It's growing a mile everyday and most of it I've already checked out so its really not needed there anymore but cant be removed... (or even just an X by the individual notes to remove one notification at a time would be appreciated).

Another thing I've realized that I've been missing is the score displays for the top 5 submissions of the day. I've got nothing against its new format. In fact I like it! It gives it a much more obvious presence on the front page, and the colour coding distinguishing games and movies is neat!
But it is cool seeing at a glance the scores of the top five. I like to look as a gauge for that day. Sometimes a new movie comes out that is like 4.70 and becomes the new #1 movie. Other times the top rated movie of the day sneaks in with like a 3.40.

It might not be that important to people, but it was something I really enjoyed seeing.

I smell the NG Chat coming...

Love the new design!

At 7 hours ago, TomFulp wrote:

At 3 hours ago, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: are we able to change the background of the site like pre-redesign NGS? because having giant Tits on the screen isn't very safe for some of us who surf the site at work Tom.

The next FP skin won't have giant tits.

Not sure if you covered this yet, at least I didn't see it. But same holds true for the Art Portal. All the thumbnails are pretty much complete tits and ass thumbnails, and its not something I like to have risk popping up around a work/school environment.

Maybe limit whats shown there to E and T ratings unless users specify in their settings they want to see that kind of content?

I would like to request that when a flash is collapsed, the lights-off function is reset. So in one click, the flash is collapsed and the lights are turned back on, making it a normal page again.

I've been collabing a lil bit since the redesign, the project system is pretty sweet =D

since the update when you vote you dont get exp and you dont lvl up

Here is the subject that I want to discuss here!

Problems happend withn the redesign:

First of all, I can't upload pictures at my dumbing grounds!

second, I can't upload User Icon.

third , I can't upload Profile Pic. " it never upload correctly (NOT THE WHAT I WANT) THIS IS AN OLD PROBLEM WHICH NEVER SEEMS TO GET FIXED! look at that picture by your self and see !

forth, why there is no preview before submit ? That was suppose to be uploaded with the new redesign ! sometimes I want to check how it will look like before submiting my stuff but I get to submit my things blindly !

finally, I am having a hard time understanding how to use my account in this new redesign !

HOPEFULLY YOU READ THIS MESSAGE ! Please ? :*(

The only things I miss is the score showing up on a submission's page and the dropdown box of all of the artist's movies.

There also is not a "Next" button while browsing through people's art.

1)I agree about it not having enough call to action. People like to view things they have more information about. That is why movie trailers often reveal the whole movie. These large icons also emphasize a problem I have always been a little annoyed with-- That is users who wish to avoid things like nudity still see lots of icons with nudity in them if they are on the front page or anywhere else browsing through the portal. The art portal is especially bad about this where nudity is considered mature and shown by default. I think this chases away a lot of potential users. I'm not saying remove it from the site rather don't force users go so far out of their way to avoid it. Make mature invisible by default if they want to see it they can turn it on. I think account-less people who don't know how to navigate see this site as immature or pornographic and run away. This is one of my theories about what causes so few girls to visit.

2) Honestly, I never realized there was a genre browsing option. But genera give more information and make people more willing to play.

3) First off: Merging the favorites list could turn out as horrible, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE mistake but I'll talk about that after the star.

The star is really awesome and my favorite new feature. However, I would like the ability to remove notifications from the list after I use them. My list is big I never know which ones are the new ones. I also love how its color coded. A number of new notifications on the star would help out as well.

As for the second part about merging the favs list.... well all sorts of alarms start going off in my head when I hear this because my favs list is very very important to me. I have hundreds of favorites that I have assembled over the years I've had this account and I don't want to loose them or their organization. I hope you are not planning to not touch our ability to favorite specific submissions and have them separated into their proper categories this ability is 100% vital to my use of this site. I re-view my faves all the time and use the list to show others.
Also, Favorites lists provide a source of identity for me and other users on newgrounds. I often browse other peoples favorites lists to find new content I haven't seen before and get an idea of the other person's tastes. I also don't want favorites to be only another twitter.

I hope and assume the merger was only referring to the artists themselves and not the submissions. I am definitely not in support of this idea either because I will no longer be able to tell by looking at the list what sort of media I like from that artist. Some artists I have in two favorites lists for movies and art for example but maybe I can't stand their music so I don't favorite them for music and would like to make this point clear for my identity as a newgrounds user. A merged list would not reflect this.

While I personally am not a fan of merging the artist lists if you find a way that preserves the information about what we like from the artist I would no longer be against the idea. For example if you allow us to tag and/or color code them based off of what media or several media we like from them. Or if you were to allow us to make our own categories and drag faves into them that would be cool.

4) Oddly enough I am on the forums and audio portal more often... Also I really enjoy the best of the ages list.

Final note: I have seen several artists upload flashes of embedded youtube movies, animations they claim they couldn't fit swf format because of the program they used. The users attacked the guy with no star reviews for doing this. Is there an official stance on whether this is acceptable? Will the future tweeks to the redesign include support for other non swf animation formats upon staff approval?

As a newbie, i know i made the right decision when i signed up with you, guys. After reading all the changes that are about to come i know i've got a lot of things to look forward to & be busy :) keep up the good work!

At 2 hours ago, NitrogenousBeing wrote: I hope and assume the merger was only referring to the artists themselves and not the submissions. I am definitely not in support of this idea either because I will no longer be able to tell by looking at the list what sort of media I like from that artist. Some artists I have in two favorites lists for movies and art for example but maybe I can't stand their music so I don't favorite them for music and would like to make this point clear for my identity as a newgrounds user. A merged list would not reflect this.

You are correct that we would just be merging favorite artists, not favorite users. To me, the benefits of the merger far outweigh the negatives. In terms of allowing you to manage and filter what you want to see from individual artists, that would be a handy management tool but like everything else will have to fall on the priority queue.

Final note: I have seen several artists upload flashes of embedded youtube movies, animations they claim they couldn't fit swf format because of the program they used. The users attacked the guy with no star reviews for doing this. Is there an official stance on whether this is acceptable?

I'm always squeamish about content being hosted by a third party since pretty much all third parties have ceased to exist at some point over the years. That does seem unlikely with YouTube, but it's still an awkward trend - I don't want NG to feel like a second-tier dropspot for YouTube submissions. We'll be addressing this sort of issue.

I'd really like to be able to favorite users' newsposts. There's quite a few people that I want to be notified about new news posts, but they've got nothing to favorite or just nothing I want to favorite.

Also, something that has always bothered me with the current layout and the old layout; art thumbnails. I want to be able to see what the title of something is by hovering over the thumbnail, not just the artist's name.

At 15 hours ago, TomFulp wrote: 1) Do you find yourself ignoring the big content showcase box here on the front page? I've been told it doesn't make enough of a "call to action" and while looking pretty, people aren't being as enticed to click it as they should be.

I've scrolled through it once or twice just to see what it looks like, but that's it. I don't spend much time on the front page, so it makes sense that I wouldn't feel the need to scroll through it, though.
I think maybe if you change the animation between them, like to more of a slideshow than a fade, people would notice the change easier? Or put more emphasis on the arrows maybe?

3) Have you been making use of the feed button (the star next to logout) in the header? It lists new submissions by artists you have favorited, something that was only available via email in the past. We intend to merge all favorites into one list of people you follow, so that you can easily add them from their user page and not have to add them in the context of a piece of content. Our current system (where you favorite artists based on content categories) is really old and has some charm but it feels like overkill nowadays.

I really like that, actually. I've been checking it fairly often.

4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

I want to vote more and level up, cause I don't like this level icon, but I find myself just not doing it cause I can't even tell that it's making a difference.

I'm sure this has already been stated before, but I would really appreciate it if it would notify me upon my fifth vote, so I know I have deposited experience, rather than having to check via profile.

Other than that, love the changes, you tha man Tom.

I just wanted to make a note about the banner art of the various pages on NG. I'm not sure if you already have this or mind or not, but I was picturing it as being both a way to liven up the site as well as a new spot to feature talented artists' work. When an artist draws something, he has a chance of getting front-paged, or now, "bannered". If the banner art changed periodically to feature new artists' work and new submissions that would really cement the "Everything by Everyone" motto with how even the banner art to the site is made by users.

At 16 hours ago, TomFulp wrote:

There are a few things I'm curious about:

1) Do you find yourself ignoring the big content showcase box here on the front page?

no not at all, pretty much doing the opposite, drawing me in even more

2) Have you explored the content genre browsing?

looked at it once, but probably not enough to merit me saying i have

3) Have you been making use of the feed button (the star next to logout) in the header?

ive looked at it a few times, but i usually forget about it, because i never know if there is something there or not. If it was like the PM notification, where it has a number saying how many PMs you have, or something similar, like having an "!" mark or something whenever something new happens, i'd probably check it more often

4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

no not really. been doing about the same amount of stuff i was last time

The content showcase box looks like an advertisement. In fact the whole front page movies and games look like ads now, like those banner ads with just thumbnails, only with a better image quality. Really glad that's being fixed. Part of what makes NG great is giving the content creators some damn credit, and control over their work.

Haven't really been into the genre browsing. The lack of scores displayed makes it kinda useless. Sure, I know it's a platformer, but is it any good? I'll take a second look when there's more available info, and other improvements.

Feed button seems really cool, but so far it's just made me aware that Stamper's dick lives in a butt. Fleshing this feature out would help NG catch up to other sites in that area. Favouriting an author should be something like a youtube subscription.

I've been using the BBS more, mostly to talk about the redesign. And I've been checking out flashes way less, because of the general lack of info on the front page and elsewhere. I miss the classic portal. It's not the same without the popup box with score and a brief description.

One thing I'd like to suggest is that when a submission has more than one author, instead of saying omething like, "Dickbutt, by Stamper" it could say, "Dickbutt, by Stamper et al." It just seems like the other authors should get more acknowledgement. It's been a problem since Portal Buddies was introduced.

Thanks Tom you rock! Addressing my concerns at 4:30 am like that.

4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

I find myself playing medal games a little less, simply because they are a bit buggy at this point. But I have to say, they've improved and have been fixed a lot since the redesign launch. The way they are set up is also a lot more aesthetically pleasing compared to the last design. They look more organized, and the locked medals displayed on my medals page give me more of an incentive to go back and play.

At 3 minutes ago, JacobWAd wrote: I find myself playing medal games a little less, simply because they are a bit buggy at this point. But I have to say, they've improved and have been fixed a lot since the redesign launch. The way they are set up is also a lot more aesthetically pleasing compared to the last design. They look more organized, and the locked medals displayed on my medals page give me more of an incentive to go back and play.

Just a general update: PsychoGoldfish updated user pages today so clicking a medal goes to the game and the page that lists all your medals is now paginated so you don't have to load a million images on one page.

Also if you haven't noticed, games using the more recent API have medals that unlock real-time in-page while you play, so you can see what medals you earned without reloading the page. :)

At 15 minutes ago, TomFulp wrote: Also if you haven't noticed, games using the more recent API have medals that unlock real-time in-page while you play, so you can see what medals you earned without reloading the page. :)

I did notice that earlier while playing that Memohuntress game and thought it was fantastic.