Would You Like To See The Answerbank Redesign?

[AB Editor]

Hello!

As you know, we're working on redesigning the site so that it works on every device - i.e. it works on mobile, tablet and your laptop/desktop PC.

We're also taking the opportunity to tidy up some stuff, like reducing the number of categories, swapping the sizes of adverts to more commonly used sizes (this should mean the ads get better).

To make sure everyone feels as consulted as possible, I'd like to show you where the designs are currently settled. If you have any good ideas for the layout, design, colours, fonts etc, please provide your feedback here.

What I would really like to know is, do you understand it, just by looking at it?

I'll post different versions of the homepage first, with a small description. You should be able to click the images to make them pop open in a new browser tab.

The thread will be closed while I sort out these images as answers, and will reopen shortly afterwards.

Homepage: Desktop // Tablet // Mobile

Homepage & Menu: Desktop // Tablet // Mobile

Question Pages: Desktop // Tablet // Mobile

OTHER NEW DESKTOP PAGES:

New Desktop Search

New My Profile

New Category Page

New Article Page

[Barmaid]

In my view, ease of use has to be the number one priority. I cant get on with the current AB Mobile and use the desktop version on my phone which isnt very satisfactory either. So anything that improves that gets my vote.

Only thing I might point out with that in may days of working for a charity for people with eyesight problems, they normally advised serif fonts are more difficult for those with problems to read.

[Gromit]

I notice the 'Report' link has gone. Is that a decision?

Also no subscribe.

Yet you have retained 1-20 of 174 which isn't useful at all.

[hc4361]

Gromit, it should be very easy to quickly zoom in to make tapping the correct page number easy, then quickly zoom out.

[Gromit]

Barmaid,
The font displayed is set in your browser settings. If you see a sans serif font now, you will see a sans serif font in the redesign.
ABEd obviously has Times or something set as the default. Verdana is the most legible default font as it was specifically designed for screens.

[Gromit]

Hc4361

The whole point of making the site Responsive, and therefore more mobile friendly, is to avoid having to zoom in and out to do basic functions.

[hc4361]

I agree, Gromit, but zooming takes only a second whereas larger spacing would mean less text per screen view and a whole lot more scrolling. I read more than tap on AB.

What I really, really want on AB is for a thread to open at the last post I read.

[Gromit]

I wonder if the 'View all categories' column should be the same width as the right hand column. It looks a bit messy that you can see the lefthand edge of the stuff underneath, when the dropdown menu is open.

Or maybe that is deliberate.

[Gromit]

Hc4361

I do not mean more space between characters in text in questions and answers. I mean more space between links. There is ample space on the 1 2 3 4 Next Last line to space out the tapable links. At the moment they are too close for a finger to accurately hit.

[hc4361]

Gromit, it must display differently on my phone as I only see First, Previous, 1 of 5, Next, Last.

I don't have the option to tap a page number

[AB Editor]

Thank you for this excellent feedback. I'm collating it all over here.

A few direct answers (and a question):

Report button will be there, but this would be the logged out view of the homepage - a situation where you can't report, currently.

We will absolutely make the font bigger. Despite the reservations of some here, I think most of us are used to a bit of extra scrolling?

Or is that nonsense?

[hc4361]

You must be using the desktop version whilst I use the mobile version

[AB Editor]

Hi HC - are you one of our few m.theanswerbank.co.uk users? :)

[hc4361]

The font is plenty big enough and very clear on my phone, but maybe that is because of my phone's settings? I don't need to zoom in anywhere on the mobile AB site

[pixie374]

Scrolling is easier than the current pinching in and out to see it better.

[hc4361]

I very am, Ab Editor! I like it well enough and find it easy to read and navigate on both my 3.5" BB screen and my 6" LG screen.
Even on the LG the desktop version is horrible

[hc4361]

Use the mobile version, pixie, then no more zooming

[Gromit]

I could cope with the avatar being 50% smaller on the mobile version. It is just an identifier, and not so important. That would increase the column width.

I notice the green banner advert does not display on the mobile version because of the narrow width. But it means it is a very long way to scroll to the first advert. Will advertisers not like that?

[AB Editor]

TBH Gromit, advertisers are more interested in monetizing the mobile traffic we get than where they appear on the screen.

Other pages give them a few more options too by way of ad sizes, so everyone's pretty happy on that account. :)

[pixie374]

I don't like the mobile version, hc. It doesn't have any character.