Marshalus Veteran Posted October 14, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 14, 2008 Neowin.net Where unprofessional journalism looks better Welcome to Neowin 5 Eight years ago, Steven Parker (Neobond) and Marcel Klum (Redmak) had an idea to create a Windows news website. And so, in October 2000, Neowin.net was born. In the beginning, the site focused mainly on reporting the latest developments on Windows Whistler and thoughts about the layout were second to getting the latest build information out to our visitors. But as Neowin grew both in visitors and in staff, new layouts came to replace the originals but still, the basics were the same. After Whistler, now Windows XP, came out the focus of the site turned more to the forums, which is now one of the most vibrant technology oriented technology communities on the Internet. Then came the layout known as Swift -- also known internally as "Neowin 3" -- the same layout but more compliant and much faster. Even though Neowin began moving from the backend it had used for many years to a custom coded CMS, its front page was still the same. Next came Shift -- aka "Neowin 4" -- the layout that has been active on the site since April of 2006. Building on the performance enhancements of Swift and the continued development of our custom backend, Shift was a change in the way we presented our site, although not a huge departure from the past. Shift was the beginning of the next era for Neowin, one that starts today. Since the day Shift was launched, every level of staff and including our veterans and MVCs have contributed proposals, features and design ideas for the next version and we believe we are taking Neowin to the next level with this design. When you visit the main page for the first time, you'll see that it's drastically different then the old layout and that "Finity" is a radical departure from the way we've presented the site in the past. The #1 focus in the development of this design was how best to present our news in a way that is both pleasing to the user and puts the focus on the original writings of Neowin staffers and contributors. We have expanded our old sections of Main, Software, Gamers by dedicating sections to Apple, Linux, Microsoft, Hardware, Podcasts, Galleries and Editorials. This allows users to get a Neowin "flavor" that serves them best. While the main page will display content from all sections of the site, if you're a Mac user and want a Neowin that will be your daily Apple news resource, then set the site to display the Apple section and you'll never know we report on anything else. Every section now has a clear header, so you know where you're going on the site. One of the biggest change you'll see is all the originally generated content by Neowin staffers and contributors. This is what drives the new layout and what we hope will drive new and continued readers. But because we know we can't cover everything, we've added an "Around the Web" section to feature news we've found on other sites that we think is interesting, or that is submitted by our members. We've also condensed the amount of text you see on the page in order to add more features and to make the site flow better. This also has a benefit of allowing you to see more content on the page at one time. But, if you didn't visit the site for a few days and want to catch up, we've drastically improved our archive view just for you. We've also switched to a fixed page width, so we can make better use of graphics and make sure that we have a site that displays properly in all screen sizes. This has forced us to think about designing a site that is less cluttered and more focused ... and we hope that you feel we've done just that. As a side note, one other feature we know a lot of our web programmers will like is that the the site is now XHTML 1.0 Strict compliant. So, we would like to welcome you to the next generation of Neowin. Like all of our past designs, this one is always a work in progress and we encourage feedback from our members. We feel like we've listened a lot to the feedback you've given about past layouts and that we've delivered a new layout that will exceed your expectations. Thanks, and welcome again... to Neowin 5. Edit: For those of you who want to know, YES, there will be a forum skin to follow this. No official ETA right now though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gary7 Subscriber² Posted October 14, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted October 14, 2008 Every section now has a clear header, so you know where you're going on the site. The main page looks nice but the Forum looks the same to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasker Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 This is an awesome change, beautiful skin for Neowin :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosqutus Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Different....take some time to get used to me thinks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corris Veteran Posted October 14, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 14, 2008 Holy sex on webs, it looks really great, good work. how long till the forum gets it? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzyyfool Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Any way to put the news feeds that are on the right of the FP to the left of the FP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiB3R Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Not sure if I like it yet :/ Congrats on getting it done though, must have been hard work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee G. Veteran Posted October 14, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 14, 2008 I love the new layout, it's beautiful. It will take some time to get used it to it, nonetheless. The main page looks nice but the Forum looks the same to me. Don't expect the forum skin to change for quite some time. Neowin.net's main page was upgraded to the shift skin in about October 2005, and the forum's skin wasn't upgraded to shift until July 1, 2007. Hopefully this time, it will take less time. Seeing as the layout is completely different, and the skin chooser has gone, Neowin seems to have ended the ability to use the shift or swift skins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
»X« Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Are the forums going to look the same way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+shift. MVC Posted October 14, 2008 MVC Share Posted October 14, 2008 Nice work, any plans for a new forum skin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afuchi Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I like it big time. Great work! :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpablo Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Wow!, like the layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kami- Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 goodjob =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioDope Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 lol they "DELETED" my thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinarjun Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 the new layout is cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sethos Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Will we ever see a matching forum skin? "Finity" looks beyond gorgeous, that's for sure! But when you then jump to the forums you just get of a feeling of "Meh", like going between two completely different sites. Always liked how Neowin's forum and mainpage had a consistent look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brentaal Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Looks awesome (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antaris Veteran Posted October 14, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 14, 2008 Can I just ask what the thought process was behind the news section menu. Apple -> Microsoft -> Linux, doesn't seem right to me, its not either alphabetical, or Microsoft first (as this was originally a Microsoft centric site). It may seem a little pedantic, but it just confuses me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quadz0 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 It looks really nice. Hadn't realized it's already been two years since Shift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Good work guys,i appreciated the hard work that went into making this possible, not only for members of this site, but to show all others, that Neowin still kicks ass. (Y) :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlishFun Veteran Posted October 14, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 14, 2008 Will we ever see a matching forum skin? "Finity" looks beyond gorgeous, that's for sure! But when you then jump to the forums you just get of a feeling of "Meh", like going between two completely different sites. Always liked how Neowin's forum and mainpage had a consistent look. The forums will be updated next... don't you worry. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambroos Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 One word emoticon: :jump: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sethos Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 The forums will be updated next... don't you worry. :D Uhhhh! /Happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthalzen Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Thanks for another excellent layout update! Neowin staff kicks ass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unimatrix Xero Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 wow me like! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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