It looks good so far, and I'm looking forward to the special privileges (NB sp).

PS , scanning the new edition which plopped through my letter box today, and the pic above, I'm pleased to note that I'm not the only 'strawberry blond' who has lost some hair in the last few years. Unfortunately mine was involuntary.

but go easy on the proposed extra features for subscribers, don't forget that it can actually be cheaper to buy Word in the shops outside the UK than it is to subscribe.

But when I posted 'Ok You Hipsters, Let's Have Some New' a few days ago, this was not what I was expecting.
That is why you did it, right Fraser?

That gave me a fright when I logged in just now.......but I'm not one to not accept change.

Like the cloud thing at the bottom though.

Which button makes me a cup of tea?

Have a day off Fraser.

Excellent stuff and this has convinced me once and for all to resubscribe. The new ish is waiting at my Edinburgh address. I propose roast camel with a side of ferret for Mr L.

The Beatles and Bob Dylan will remain permanently emboldened in the tag cloud thing?

Looks grand though.

...Now will everyone please tag properly :-)

everyone should do that forced reload my version looked awful a mix of old and new ctrl f5 sorted it out loods nice and sharp now.

tried to vote on couple of posts and whether I vote up or down it say "you are not allowed to vote" think I'm signed in properly. Bound to be teething issues so no biggy.

Looks excellent!

... got a bit disoriented but am now getting my bearings.

Good work Fraser, but how the hell will Mark Ellen cope?

Will take a bit of getting used to, but I like it!

But why does it say I'm not allowed to vote?

Looking forward to seeing the special subscriber features...

And I like the tweaks to the Word logo (top left) is that a new logo or just a website version?

Thanks Fraser, good job!

Ctrl-F5 sorts everything out with Chrome too. (Well, except not being allowed to vote, but I'm sure that's a general buggy not-working thingy you call a "known issue".)

Otherwise, neat, neat, neat and works a treat. (Oh, and I can't spell [looks it up] "privilege", either. Never could, never will.)

and a minir criticism- it is a rather long scroll down to the clouds with most of the take up being a large tower ad to subscribe to Word

I tend to miss stuff below the bottom of the screen

Thumbs up!
Can you tinker with site at least once a week please? I got loads of stuff done & had an early night!

...I'm frightened...

but I'm not allowed to vote either (I am signed in)

It's always good to keep your website moving. The changes all seem good to me.

is the arrows under the comments boxes. They will make following threads much easier.

I also like the thread cloud... it is strangely beautiful.

And a nod of respect to whoever came up with the 'New adventures in Lo-Fi' slogan for the podcast. Brilliant.

My only quibble would be with the colour scheme... blue and orange is a bit wearing on the eyes.

Looks great, Fraser, and I'm more than impressed with your mad web skills and html/CSS jiggery pokery.

One small gripe though: unless I've missed it, there's no link to take you from the homepage to the blog, or back to the main blog when you're on a topic.

Other than that, consider my cap well and truly doffed

and seen the word 'Supertramp' rising majestically from the tag cloud like a beacon of hope. One day, one day...

For future web updates is there any chance we could get Mr Hepworth into a black polo neck and announce the new features on stage a la Steve Jobs? It would make a great podcast.

This week’s Look magazine is trumpeting “106” of the new season’s “Figure-Fixing Wow Frocks!”
And it seems the dear old Word Blog has snapped one up.
Looks lovely dear.
But give those “Hot New Fierce Heels” a swerve eh pet. They look a bit tarty.

I like very much.

I've missed the share button for some time now.

Yes indeed.... Good work or as Young Mr Grace would say

"You've all done very well"

Can you edit your own posts or comments now? Sorry if it's obvious, I'm not the most web literate.

It's somehow lost the elegance that the previous serif font and colour scheme gave it and the headings of the posts are getting lost - they used to stand out in bold. The voting buttons are too prominent - I'd vote straight away to get rid of them.

Hope this is a work in progress...

... but doesn't the colour scheme make it all look a bit 90s?

I'm a fan.

"Back To Top" button at the bottom of a long thread ?

is how the "recently updated" box is now visible when a page loads.

All that scrolling was getting to me...

I like this.
I have to say I never liked the old font very much.
Will new posts that spill over into a 2nd page now be highlighted?

Liking the new look. It shows that people over the age of 30 can still be aesthetically minded like us younguns.

One minor point, but will pictures turn up at every comment, or just main article point, as it would be nice to see everybody, but not everyone writes blog entries.

Just a thought...

I'm on IE6 and due to work restrictions I can't upgrade to IE7 or 8 - so I can't access the blog tab.

I guess I'll see you all when my office installs IE8

... I would remark upon is the black background.

I find the contrast with the white page a touch jarring.

Apart from that- sterling work Fraser.

I like it!

Font, colour. Very neat overall appearance - last one got messy at times.

albeit one who didn't know how to use the keyboard to jump to the top of the page (see post above) I'm all too aware of the phenomenon of receiving requests as soon as I make any changes to my site. I don't know why it is but as soon as I "improve" things it seems to prompt lots of further suggestions. Some of these are good and I consider them, some are good but have already been discounted and some are unworkable, of minority appeal or pointless.

That said, I have a few suggestions/requests/questions?

1. How about a permanent link to all the Word staff and Massive generated Spotify playlists? I often feel the need for a soundtrack to my work but can't think what to listen to, so a playlist generated by people whose tastes I broadly share would be just the thing.

2. The "Create content" button/page seems to suggest that the merest possibility may once have been considered that content other than blog posts could be created and posted. What might these have been? Were the Massive to have been allowed to submit their own articles for example?

the lad Lewry has been dubbed the 'King of HTML'.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

;D

It was much easier on the eye and easier to read than this

Not sure if it is my age, eyesight or the 4 pints of Staropramen but it's all going a bit fuzzy what with the orange and the blue buttons.

I don't think the voting thing is worthwhile, it kind of detracts from the main body of writing and wouldn't it be better (or more fun) if it wasn't anonymous?!

I like the popular tags bit but I was more than happy with the last lot of tweaks you did on the old site - the improved tracking, favourites bits, I found that really useful and was quite satisfied.

Anyway, hate to live up to my "retro" name by wishing for a bit of "old" already, maybe it will be good to live with it for a few days and see if it grows on me.

Big improvement.

add is I had to magnify the page to 125% to make it easier to read on my laptop. I like the voting buttons think they may be good for post which are information posts ie this doc is on bbc4 tonight which don't need a reply but you want to thank the poster for the heads up.
Lastly a spell checker for posts would be nice i don't see why I have to think up weak puns and type them correctly too!

Nice work Fraser, tricky changing a successful site.

I'm a regular, if infrequent poster, but I'd probably engage more if I could track stuff that interests me - i.e. blogs in which I participate. So, how do I set up RSS feeds that give me this:

- one that gives me all posts to any blog I've started

- another that gives me all posts to any blog to which I've contributed?

I know I can get it if I go to Track, but I want to subscribe to it from the RSS reader on my phone.

the voting button does seem rather irrelevant, and little used in the majority of posts.

was inspired by this...

Or this...

Or is my diet just making me hallucinate?
:-)

Sorry if someone's already said this. A small complaint, I'm afraid - I'm finding the orange text difficult to read, especially the "recently updated" etc columns down the right hand side. OK, I am 53 years old and I am also probably due for a new pair of specs, but I still think you've chosen a particularly indistinct colour.

It's the orange against the grey.

Coat AND scarf

Fraser,

Any chance the feeds are likely to make a reappearance? I used to enjoy browsing them.

Thanks!

I quite like the grey background in the comments/reply box, any chance you can use this background on the main Blog page, or put some sort of colour on the header or more space between each Blog post?

Just a thought!

I prefer the old site. As soon as I get used to something it changes. Grumble, shuffle, huff 'n' puff. Pah ! I'm going to rent an ear trumpet at pretend to be deaf from now on.

if there's a way of seeing new threads - rather than just recently updated ones - started in say the last 24 hours.perhaps such a feature could usefully be added to the page.

Don't like it.
There have been a lot of dissenting voices Fraser, any chance of the users, ie us, having a say in all this?
Maybe you could canvass opinion as to whether we prefer the new or old look. After all, it is the section of the site which is 'for us', no?

This is an interesting piece on process behind the brilliant redesign of the NPR site in the states.
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/case-study-npr-org

Even rhetorically?

can you highlight each main Blog entry with this pinky grey colour too? It would be much easier on the eye.

Oh, and maybe put the default colour on the (unecessary?) arrow buttons as grey as it appears on your own post, it's far less distracting than the blue.

Right, that's my constructive criticism done.

under andrew harrions piece on the blog page the number of comments aren't showing on the main page did a hard rebut and they still not there. not biggy jus thought you'd like to know.

I have tried to vote on a recent comment but nothing happens when I click on the arrows. Also, my first attempt at a thread was a none too flattering one regarding the Led Zep chaps. Not on the tag thingy. Was it nobbled ?

Fraser.

What a fuss. I think it's fine. We'll all get used to it soon enough. Don't people HATE change? It's ridiculous.

Have no idea (yes another non techie) how to get to the Blogs. In the old version there were nice little things on top that you clicked and have now disappeared. i'm sure youre fed up with this comment but i've tried refresh / reload to no effect. What do I do apart from giving up?

If you're using IE 8 and the site is displayed with clear errors, try turning on IE 8's Compatibility View by clicking the icon to the right of the address bar that looks like a broken piece of paper. This will roll back IE 8 to render and display web pages as IE 7 does. That may fix display errors for you.

- Jake

MSFT Internet Explorer Outreach Team

I click on regular faves via the Track function, more and more I am not being directed straight to the latest post. It happened once in the first week, it's happening most of the time now.

G4, OS X 10.4.11, FF 3.5.3

Shall I? OK, I will then. It's when I want to see the new posts in a thread and I click on the thread title by mistake and then go back and click on the "xx new posts" link but they've all gone because I've already clicked on the thread title, so there are, as far as the computers are concerned, no new posts. Because I've already seen them. Except I haven't.

That's what pisses me off, and it's all my own fault.