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MNHQ

Navbar update

28 replies

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 11:10

Morning folks, and a happy 2016, one and all.

We will shortly be releasing a new version of the navbar across some areas of the site on desktop view.

The idea is to have something clearer and more streamlined and that is more in line with the mobile version (which is where the bulk of MN users are) and standard web formats. It also allows us to accommodate a larger ad format at the top of desktop site - which advertisers are demanding because that's what most other sites offer.

We've done a first round of testing on a with some users (many Flowers to them) and the response was largely positive, so we're now testing it on parts (talk, reviews) of the live site. The plan is to introduce it everywhere if all goes well.

This is very much a beta version; and we'll be continuing to make a few design tweaks to the nav bar as needed and to the rest of the desktop site to accommodate it (at the moment on Talk it looks a bit jarring for sure but we are working on improving that). We're also looking at way to fit in the angels logo at least at the top of the page (it will disappear as you scroll). So, they'll be a few more updates over the next few weeks...

Do post any thoughts, concerns, feedback here. (Bear in mind it's a work in progress and all change takes a little getting used to Wink)

Many thanks Justine

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MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 11:24

@ShowOfHands

Happy New Year Justine. Have you booze left over from Christmas? For the teething problems and fallout?

Dry Jan Sad

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 11:46

@BertieBotts

Waah! It's different!

Looks v empty with adblock.

Easily solved Grin

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 11:48

@RatOnnaStick

So the old bar has gone. When can I use the new bar? Don't like having to hit Home every time to get to active.

Hmm - same link to active as ever - you can close the drop down by re-clicking the hamburger (iyswim?)

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 11:57

@RatOnnaStick

Hmm - same link to active as ever - you can close the drop down by re-clicking the hamburger (iyswim?)

What hamburger? My floaty bar has gone. Am I supposed to see the new one yet? The active link is same as ever but instead of clicking on the floaty bar I have to scroll to the top to get to an Active link.

Extra steps annoy me.

Ah ok I know what you mean - there was a customisable floaty thing that only very few people used. We'll look at a solution for that - so you can click back to active from any bit of a thread.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 12:00

@AuntieStella

The MN logo has gone (pity)

The ad space is smaller than before. Yes, full page width now but much less deep. Easier to ignore. So I like that.

The colour for the new buttons is wrong. Could you change it to the purple that is on the other settings bits on the LHS? Or at least match the other blue in use (I mean the one that's the background to where is says 'Active Conversations')

The icon by 'my Mumsnet' doesn't suit the typeface of the rest of the desktop site. The icon buttons are too big.

Not bothered about the functionality. Can even live different more ads, if we really must.

But can you please clean up the design a bit?

And have a think about putting back the MN logo.

Logo will be returning in some form or other shortly and ad space may get bigger, as said in my OP. Design due to be cleaned up - it's a work in progress. Your button colour point is a good one - we'll look at that - txs!

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 12:27

@Skullyton

Look, screen shot. How can you think this looks good?

Its not even slightly in keeping with the rest of the site set up.

Its vile.

Yes, there are certainly a few things that jar, 'tis true but, as said, we are working on them. In general we think it's better to adopt a gradualist approach rather than a big bang design change. Ultimately though, we are moving to something called responsive design which means that the mobile, tablet and desktop versions will be more attuned. The reason for this is that otherwise we have to make three versions of everything, instead of one, which as you can imagine is very inefficient/ liable to lead to code errors etc. which none of us want. But sorry you find it so vile - hopefully it will improve for you with forthcoming updates!

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 12:31

@Skullyton

honestly, the amount of 'streamlining for mobile users' you're doing, you might as well ditch the desktop site.

apparently we dont matter any more!

We'd most likely be streamlining the desktop site irrespective tbh. Tis the way of the world and most people would agree, I think, that MN is rather "busy" compared to most other sites. We don't want to lose the richness, obviously, but think there's probably a middle way solution that overall improves it.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 12:36

@Skullyton

it works on the mobile/tablet site because it all matches and your fonts are the same..etc

The only was i can describe it is that at the moment this new one just looks like its been cut and pasted and stuck there.

Yes I agree, but as said in op, we're working on that
"This is very much a beta version; and we'll be continuing to make a few design tweaks to the nav bar as needed and to the rest of the desktop site to accommodate it (at the moment on Talk it looks a bit jarring for sure but we are working on improving that)."

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 12:43

@Skullyton

"We'd most likely be streamlining the desktop site irrespective tbh. Tis the way of the world and most people would agree, I think, that MN is rather "busy" compared to most other sites. We don't want to lose the richness, obviously, but think there's probably a middle way solution that overall improves it."

But Justine, you've taken most of our customisable options away, you've taken our purple floaty bar away, and now you've ditched the nav bar.

By 'streamlining' for mobile users, all you're doing is turning this desktop site into your mobile site. What considerations are you actually making for your desktop users? It really does feel like we don't matter.

We've not removed anything that is widely used to be honest. And we'll consider introducing anything that more than a minority want to introduce. But you can't build website usability around what fewer than 5% of folks want/ use. In the old days we could cope (just about) with multiple options because there was just one desktop version to handle. Now we have desktop, tablet and mobile and diversity of sizes within those three groups.

I challenge you to name any site that offered as many different variations as Mumsnet - it's just too complex and inefficient to make any sense.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 12:44

@AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads

I'm also missing the little slidey bar from the top, I only found it a few months ago. Much easier than having to scroll back to the top of the page every time yes, I'm lazy

If only a few people use it, it's because everyone else is scared of going into customise! Grin But I remember hearing that very few people used the option to highlight posts from the OP and everyone lost their shit emphatically denied that was the case.

I like the new look though, the drop down menus bugged me.

Hi - we will definitely look at adding a link to active from all areas of a thread. Is there anything else from the slidey bar that was crucial?

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 12:45

@Sparklingbrook

It's alright. Have spaghetti dog and pregnant water woman really gone for good? Smile

They have indeed. RIP both.

MNHQ

SarahMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:00

Hey everyone - a couple of people have answered the question of how you know when you have a PM upthread, but just in case folk are only looking at the MNHQ responses: if you've received a PM, you'll see a little bell on the blue person-icon that takes you through to My Mumsnet.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:01

@YesEinsteinsMumDid

Does any one else feel dumbed down? I like the fact that it was an intelligent site that treated us like intelligent people. And not idiots that needs everything so simplistic that it become unusable. Seriously are you taking lessons from Microsoft these days? emojis - what happened to proper communication and not universal simplified and streamlined - really? what you basically mean is, we have hidden stuff and don't really want you using the really useful functions because it is not so great for high traffic volume managing. Sad

And we'll consider introducing anything that more than a minority want to introduce.

  1. locking threads?

No that's not what I really mean. Of course we want Mumsnet to be really useful and we would never remove something really useful (as defined by more than a small minority of members using it) but there are only so many variations that are sensible before it makes the whole thing slow, ungainly and unusable.

And we do lock threads now and then.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:05

Btw I've checked and only 3% of users had floaty nav bar turned on. Nonetheless, as said, we can see that the active link from wherever you are in a thread would be a useful thing, so Tech's looking at adding. Let us know if there was anything else in the floaty bar that feels crucial.
Thanks

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:16

@BertieBotts

Sorry, Justine, the thing is I have a rare issue with the adchoices ads which is probably not worth you fixing. I'm in Germany, y'see, so I get local ads, but a lot of them are irritating or horrible, and while I used to report offensive or irritating adchoice ads when in the UK and you lot are very good at blocking them, there just aren't that many of us browsing from Germany to bother reporting every single annoying ad, so it's a case of blocking them all.

If you are interested, I'd definitely allow the normal ads if you would consider contacting adblock plus and getting your native (not adchoice) ads added to the acceptable advertising list, since I have never found them intrusive or offensive, and it's really only the adchoice ones I want to block. Currently, I have no option - it's all or nothing.

Now I'm used to the minimalist title bar I like it but I hadn't clicked that the inbox isn't immediately viewable. Could it be? I liked being able to see that I had new mail at a glance.

Hi Bertie - if you have a PM it will be immediately viewable, as Sarah said, as a little bell by the My Mumsnet icon. Thanks for the thought re ads - we'll look into that.

MNHQ

SarahMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:22

Here's a screengrab of where the PM-indicating bell will appear, btw

Navbar update
MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:47

@SoupDragon

I've just logged onto my Macbook and on the left are the social media buttons that stay fixed whether I scroll up or down - can the old floaty bar options be added to that?

That's exactly what we're looking at [great minds]

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:49

@ShowOfHands

Oh dear.

Does dry January preclude consumption of very alcoholic truffles? Or sniffing of hand gel?

Good luck Justine.

I don't really mind change. I used to rail against it but I get used to it in the end. I'm letting it all wash over me. Like a big, blue sea.

Excellent approach I'd say Grin

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:49

@RatOnnaStick

the active link from wherever you are in a thread would be a useful thing, so Tech's looking at adding.

You're not going to add it to the damn social media thingy I have hidden are you?

oops

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:50

@goodnightdarthvader1

Dislike. Can't get to Pregnancy or Childbirth talk just by hovering like I used to.

Sorry about that GNDV1 - it's just one teeny click though

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/01/2016 13:56

@RatOnnaStick

The Home button does that Soup, but I have to physically reach over to tap it and then scroll the cursor to active which is two whole actions.

I have the page set to 125% zoom to see the words well. Because of that he social media bar used to sort of half disappear off the edge of the page. I never used it anyway and it was distracting to the eye so I switched it off.

Poor Justine et al. Every time they try to modernise us we throw a wobbly in all different directions. It must be like herding cats.

No it's good feedback - this was never meant to be a finished thing - we are evolving together, man. It's all cool [zen].

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 08/01/2016 10:17

@Trills

3% is almost certainly accurate, but what it means will depend on the denominator.

3% of registered users?
3% of people who have ever posted?
3% of people who post more than once a month?

3% of all users is my understanding - but tech's gone awol for a couple of days (on a holiday would you believe it?) so I can't confirm for now. But bear in mind we have quite a few million monthly unique users...

But don't worry - we are working on a solution for you - so that the key buttons available in floaty bar will be always viewable along the LHS. Might take a week or so but we'll keep you posted.

MNHQ

ShamTech · 21/01/2016 09:18

As a temporary hack measure, we've added an "Active" link to the left side social media buttons to allow you to quickly reach Active Conversations no matter how far down the page you've scrolled. We'll have a better, more permanent solution later as we continue to improve the new nav bar.

Navbar update
MNHQ

ShamTech · 21/01/2016 09:57

Thanks SoupDragon. We'll take a look at the colour issue.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 22/01/2016 09:02

@Trills

ShamTech - is Sham your name? Or is someone suggesting that you are a pretend Tech? :)

Thanks for the Active link - can you reassure us that the requirements for the more permanent solution include easy access to "Threads I'm On" as well?

We need our TIM button :o

They do Trills (and yes he's called Sham and is very real, in a good way)

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