Singletracks homepage changes

Viewing 18 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • #201975

      Hey everyone, we just rolled out a big change to the Singletracks homepage yesterday and I wanted to take a minute to talk about how this impacts the forums.

      The new design features a single newsfeed that attempts to showcase the most important and interesting content on Singletracks. Forum threads get fairly prominent placement within the feed and we’ve also added a link right at the top of the feed for starting new threads (click the round + button to reveal the link labeled “Words”.)

      Some key things to know for making the most out of this new setup:

      • Use the upvote/downvote links on items the feed! If a topic is interesting or a photo is cool, give it an upvote so more people have a chance to see it. Think something is boring? Downvote it. Votes are completely anonymous and you don’t need to be logged in to vote.
      • Feed content is geo-targeted, so tagging helps the right people see your posts.  If you’re starting a new thread about a local topic (say, trails or events), be sure to write out the full state or country name in the “Topic Tags” field.
      • New replies “bump” threads back up within the homepage feed.

      We’ll be watching very closely over the next few months to see how this shapes up, tweaking the feed along the way to make it even better! Our hope is this reinvigorates conversations on Singletracks, no matter what form they might take.

    • #201991

      Yeah  I am really confused and slightly overwhelmed by the new homepage. I really liked the simplicity and accessibility of the old page but this on is just way too much information at once. Its hard to find stuff too. Please don’t change anything else!

    • #202068

      Love the new look Jeff…

      Is there a way to do a subject search for a blog?
      Is there a way to contact other members?

    • #202077

      Hey Jim,

      You can already do both of those things! 🙂 To run a subject search, use the search bar at the top of the page. (You need to click the menu icon to access the search bar on a mobile device.)

      To contact another member, the easiest way is to click on their username to visit their public profile (or run a search for their username using the search bar). Once on their public profile, click the blue “message” button to send a private message. You can also access your private messages dashboard by clicking Account > Dashboard > Messages

      Cheers!

    • #202083

      Not a fan of the new look. Way easier to navigate before. Plus the ‘new’ Singletracks looks very sterile visually.

      My opinion, and I’m usually wrong 🙂

    • #202088

      I like the new look. Appears simpler, less cluttered and with more relevant info readily seen. I am especially glad to be rid of the large auto-scrolling article suggestions at the top. And very glad to be rid of the clickable “background” at the sides that frequently sent me to a Chevy truck ad when I bumped my touch-screen  wrong.

    • #202108

      Hey Jeff,

      like the new look, but one question.  Why does an authentication screen pop up when I try to click on certain articles?  I have not seen this before.  It asks for a login and password and looks to be related to Amazon.  What gives?

      • #202144

        Why does an authentication screen pop up when I try to click on certain articles?  I have not seen this before.  It asks for a login and password and looks to be related to Amazon.

        That’s not something on our end. Sounds like you might have some kind of bug in your browser. Whatever you do, don’t use that login!

    • #202135

      The new format is okay imo.  Seems a bit random which is ok in this day and age.  Currently, there is only a podcast section on the right side of the main page.  Maybe you could add a section that included trail reviews, updates, photos, etc. on the right side below the podcast section.  I like seeing what trails others are riding and reading their opinion and seeing their photos etc.  This all seems a bit lost in the new format.  You could make this a separate scroll down box.  Also, I always like the POD showing up on the right.  Maybe the right side could start with the POD, then the ongoing user inputs on trails, and finally the podcasts.

    • #202142

      I love it but considering the mixed bag of reviews on it would consider allowing it to be customized by registered users. There could be a flyout window at the top allowing people to check off what they want to see in their wall. Maybe even the ability to go back to the classic look for those that fear and hate change.

      • #202145

        consider allowing it to be customized by registered users

        schwim, that’s on the radar! Location filtering is the first step, and we hope to eventually allow members to add other interests (for example 29ers, Specialized, enduro, etc.)

        Thanks for all the feedback from everyone! I mainly wanted to address the parts of the design that affect the forums here, but I’ll briefly share the overall intent behind the changes.

        The previous version of the homepage had two separate news feeds (one for articles, another for content generated by members) and it was confusing. Not only that, the design minimized member content since that was listed below the articles. So we combined the two to give members a stronger voice.

        The member feed by itself was also problematic because it included a lot of things that weren’t relevant to most people. For example, not everyone cares that someone they don’t know reviewed a trail in Iowa they will never ride. So we’re focusing on surfacing only relevant content on the homepage. (Admittedly this may feel limiting compared to the old feed. For example, I live in Georgia but I love riding in Colorado so like you mongwolf, I enjoy keeping up with trail activity in multiple areas. Fortunately, it’s easy to switch editions by clicking the name of your edition.)

        Finally, we moved content out of the right column because 1) people generally ignore content here since it’s traditionally where ads live and 2) the new homepage is mainly designed for mobile users. All of us on staff use Singletracks on desktop computers all week long, but the fact is roughly 75% of Singletracks viwers are on mobile devices and tablets. Clearly that’s a huge number, so it’s important to make sure those viewers aren’t missing anything that might be hanging around in a right column that disappears on the phone.

        Thanks again for the feedback and keep it coming! Based on your feedback, we’ll continue tweaking the types of content and the frequency of insertions as we go along.

      • #202259

        Jeff, great response to everyone.  Your explanation that the format is set up for mobile users explains A LOT.  Thanks.  Though I’m not a mobile user myself … we must be supportive of all those mobile users. =)

    • #202221

      Not sure if this was a result of the new homepage design, or if I just haven’t spent much time in the forums before, but the “rich link previews” in the forums (like a link to a Singletracks page that gives a title with thumbnail picture and subtitle, etc), opens on any mouse click – even a right click. I like to open various links in new tabs and then go and read them later, but that isn’t possible when a right click already opens the link in the same window. A middle click of the scroll wheel normally opens a link in a new tab, but that doesn’t appear to work either.

      Caveat: I found this out on a crippled Linux machine with an older Firefox version, so it might not be applicable on other, more mainstream PCs.

      • #202246

        Not sure if this was a result of the new homepage design, or if I just haven’t spent much time in the forums before, but the “rich link previews” in the forums (like a link to a Singletracks page that gives a title with thumbnail picture and subtitle, etc), opens on any mouse click – even a right click. I like to open various links in new tabs and then go and read them later, but that isn’t possible when a right click already opens the link in the same window. A middle click of the scroll wheel normally opens a link in a new tab, but that doesn’t appear to work either.

        Caveat: I found this out on a crippled Linux machine with an older Firefox version, so it might not be applicable on other, more mainstream PCs.

        I’m on a Mac in Chrome, and don’t have that issue. I can actually right click those links and get a whole option menu, and Macs generally aren’t very right-click friendly 🙂 I’m going to guess it’s something to do with the specific setup you’re using, but Jeff could speak to that in more detail.

      • #202260

        Also, thanks Jeff for pointing out that one can change the “edition” by clicking on it.  That’s really helpful.  Nice feature.

    • #202250

      I think I like it! It is a bit sterile for me though. And Jeff I really like the fact that trails completely irrelevant to me don’t appear anymore. The Upvote/ Downvote thing is sweet!

    • #202565

      Hey Jeff, the more I look at the new format, the more I do not like the blue “Mountain Bike Daily” header.  It’s not that I dislike it, but it’s just kind of there — kind of average imo.  Maybe it would be better to put up something distinct for each “edition”, like a cool user photo (your team selects) from that state, province or country.  If there is not a good photo for an edition, then the default could be this blue header that is present now.  This would be similar to each trail page header.

    • #202566

      Overall I like it, but I miss the scrolling article pictures. There seems to be some blank space off to the side, perhaps a smaller version of the scrolling articles there would work.

    • #202660

      <p style=”text-align: left;”>I don’t care for the new layout. I only come  to Singletracks to read the articles and have no interest in the forums. It would be nice if there was a way to filter the content on the home page, but as it is now, I will go elsewhere.</p>
      <p style=”text-align: left;”>The irony is that I had to register to post this.</p>

      • #202662

        Hey BikingTaco, while I can’t keep you from leaving, I just wanted to point out that we’ve always had a page solely dedicated to articles–you can find it by clicking the “articles” tab on the top header/menu, or by navigating to http://singletracks.com/blog. On this page you’ll always be able to find all of our articles in a standard, reverse-chronological blog format.

        Cheers!

        -Greg

    • #202717

      No offense but Poor guy, I love this site…!

    • #202743

      Takes some getting used to, but I’m beginning to really like it. Access to more information is easier

    • #202760

      I’m wondering why articles from 2014 and 2015 are popping up in the list of stuff on the homepage…?? Is that normal?

    • #203340

      Hey Jeff.  Another thought on the new format.  For those of us who like to keep up on trail activity in multiple areas or all areas, how about providing an option of “All”.  Floyd

    • #219020

      Why are two year old Opinion articles popping up near the top of the home page list?

Viewing 18 reply threads

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.