Thursday, July 21, 2011

A sneak preview of the Comment is free redesign | Natalie Hanman

Your thoughts have guided our home page redesign, so we want to tell you what improvements we're planning

In April, I asked to hear your thoughts on how we should go about redesigning the home page of Comment is free to help make it a more inviting, inspiring and accessible space for our readers and writers. Since then, we've been working really hard to make it happen and as we get closer to a launch date, we wanted to run some of the specific improvements by you.

The biggest change is in the "Latest posts" strip down the left-hand side of the page. As many of you requested, this will now show all of the pieces on Comment is free, in chronological order, rather than just a selection.

We've also made some changes to the design of this column (see left). Byline pictures will help to make it clearer who has written a piece, and each article will have a header indicating the topic. Clicking that link will take you through to a page featuring all of the comment pieces on that subject.

And if you are still worried you might be missing out on content, you can always bookmark this page, which lists everything we publish on any given day.

In the centre of the home page is a much more prominent community area (see left), curated by our community co-ordinator. This is the new home for You tell us (a regular thread, which we plan to draw on much more in future, where users can suggest topics and writers for us to commission), You told us (the articles we publish as a result of your suggestions), and comments and threads that have sparked the most productive debate among you.

There will still be prominent places for the content on Comment is free sub-sites, such as Belief, America and Europe, as well as the Guardian Comment Network. Rather than just being links to their front pages, these will also show the latest comment pieces in those areas.

When we do launch the redesigned Comment is free home page, it might take a little bit of getting used to, both for you, and for us editing it. But in the spirit of a willingness to experiment, I'm really looking forward to working with you on creating a space we can all enjoy.


guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


Charles Arthur 21 Jul, 2011


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/21/comment-is-free-redesign-preview
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