I couldn't help but notice yesterday that one of my favorite sites, one of the few sites that has been a constant in fly fishing media for the last decade, Moldy Chum, wasn't so moldy anymore.
With a top to bottom redesign, the crisp, clean, new website is definitely a visual upgrade that's easy on the eyes.
The latest version brings over some of the content from the old site, plus has functionality to incorporate additional features like regular giveaways, wallpaper downloads, and better showcase the "Slab of the Month" contest. It's all great stuff, I think they hit a visual home run. Bold images, clean fonts, better social and sharing features, and a better platform to actually write extended posts if they so choose, there's a ton of goodness going on here.
With the good, there's the bad, and in making all of these upgrades, it's hard to ignore that they've made it a little bit more cumbersome to actually consume content. If nothing else, the simple vertical layout of the old site made it very easy to skim several posts very quickly. Now you kind of have to click into each individual entry (unless I'm missing something, and if I am, it's not intuitive). Whatever you think, you can't deny it's not as easy as "scrolling down."
I'm sure that change was in part done to improve stats that advertisers (and possibly Google) view as important, such as page views and bounce rate, but it's a change that's tough to ignore. Especially because Moldy Chum is known for publishing multiple posts in a day.
I'm more than willing to give it a try though, because as a loyal reader who eagerly looks forward to his lunchtime diversion, (and a fellow blogger who has been gun shy to make even a small change to his own blog in fear of blowing things up on a website squarely rooted in 2003 technology), I'm certain the change just needs to grow on me.
Good stuff guys. Congrats on the new site, it looks great!
Have you visited the new Moldy Chum yet?
What do you think?
I was working on a similar post at QuietRaquette, you beat me to the punch!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the old existing links to the CHUM now 404 out. Time to change some code...
I'll continue to bang the link, it's so part of my routine.
Sorry for stealing any thunder.
DeleteIt's been part of my routine as well.
Can't steal any thunder from me, my friend! I'm kind of like a tree falling in the forest when no one is around...
DeleteI suspect that the new platform also makes the site more consistent across mobile platforms (phones, pads, etc), something more and more important these days. Hatch Magazine made a similar change a few months ago with that as the primary driver.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you're squarely rooted in 2003 technology, then I'm still partying like it's 1999.
Ah, yes...good 'ol responsive design. Quite the buzzword these days. :)
Delete