OT: This is the first time I've been back to the blog since the update and I am floored. Well done in cleaning this place up guys!
I'm still getting a hang of the new layout (took me 15 minutes to figure out how to make a board post) but other than that this place looks very sharp. I kinda miss the old format that made this place look like an early 2000s chat forum, but this is a welcome change. Thanks for the effort y'all!
Now, I REALLY hate to say this, but can we get a site like 11warriors??? It pains me to say that, but I would contribute money for a site that is as clean as theirs. They definitely over do it with the amount of daily fluff content they upload and it surely helps that osu has been dominant the last many years, but it is well done.
I would much rather the old mgoblog experience than this current one unfortunately.
I’d rather have the fluff content that’s mocked than draftageddon or political townhall podcasts. ??♂️
I look forward to draftageddon moreso than any basketball content not posted between October and April.
What did surprise me about the change was that they didn't use a more off-the-shelf design. I know they stuck to Drupal for some logistical reasons, but the layouts to see on SBNation and 11 Warriors aren't proprietary and, frankly, seem more user-friendly than this one. I expect it to get some refreshes along the way, though, so my guess is it'll be better before the season.
For the company whose name is on this site, this has to be a total embarrassment. It took a long time to get this up, and it clearly was not ready to "go live." And I am very puzzled why. The things that are wrong are not that complex, and are so very obvious. I loved the little 2.0 release with the humor of doing a retro site, but I was expecting 3.0 to be polished. Yes, I'm a CE from UM, so maybe I'm hyper-critical. I still come to this site multiple times a day and always will because of my obsession with all things Michigan, but wow, this launch did not go well.
Out of curiosity, I checked out the website of the company who made this site. If you go to their 'careers' page, some of the text is completely unreadable because it is dark grey text overlaid on a dark grey image.
That's..... pretty bad for a company who designs websites.
HUEL had a great opportunity to showcase their work to thousands and thousands of people here, ranging from sole proprietors to big corporate execs and everyone in between. Many of which have decision making powers and many that do not know where to turn for website help. I can't tell you how many times I have been asked by my clients if I know anyone that designs websites. This site may get to where it needs to be eventually, but it seems like rolling it out when it did they way it did is like fumbling on your own 1 yard line.
I'd liken this design, implementation, and roll out to that of designing a play where by your TE lines up in the backfield, going through your play chart and calling said play during a bowl game, and then actually attempting to hand off to the TE who's never lined up at RB.
From what I understand, the back-end was the main focus of the switch to be more stable and to haul over the massive amounts of data that needed to be migrated. That appears to be have been a success, which is obviously important since no one, from Brian to the lurkiest lurker wanted to start over again in terms of their contributions and content from way back on 6/30/2008 (which, BTW, happy 10 year anniversary to those mavericks).
HOWEVA, it appears the front-end did not get nearly enough attention throughout the process. I wasn't involved with the beta testing but I cannot imagine people interacted with this UI and said, "Yeah, it's good to go!" There are just so many things that seem completely at odds with common sense, from the massive banner to the huge tiles, the overabundance of white space and gigantic pictures that lead the front page stories before you even see the headline. These all seem like no-brainers and I haven't even gotten to the message board which is far, far less user-friendly and functional than before.
Oh well.
I also don't mind the site as much as I used to. They still have to figure out stuff like edit posts and get the voting cleaned up (though they definitely are still being counted), but it's grown on me. And I get why they wouldn't have an app, though that seems to be what a vocal minority (myself included) used to use most commonly.
As for the complaints about content, it feels about the same in the main page as past off seasons. It does seem like board content is wanting and I don't k ow what might be causing it (because it was somewhat bare even before the launch).
Voting? What voting?
Sorry, points. Thumbs up/down stuff.
I was afraid to ask as well, but it seems that I may not be the only one who doesn't have the ability to vote (thumbs up/down). Is that still a part of the board?
I'm finding that not be able to tell if there are new posts in a thread or to tell where they are is more annoying. As I've adapted to some of the changes, that has become a more glaring weakness of the site.
How do you make a new board topic, btw?
This comment relates only to the design - it underwhelms significantly to precedent, comparable, websites of competing Universities (yes, ElevenWarriors). Specifically, the font is not clean, the spacing is too broad, and the banner is childish. Overall the designing is not appealing and discredits the strong content that this blog is reputable for throughout the years - it is the standard. As a result, I am coming on this site significantly less - how much? I used to check it out twice/day and now it is every-other-day, so a 50% decline as I gather Michigan news from other sources.
There are little things that could be done to fix things up.
The edit thread/comment, the board aka the traffic maker being moved up in a more prominent spot. The white is hurting my eyes to a point I have to turn brightness down.
My main criticism is this could’ve been held back to polish things up a bit.
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t if you’re Brian & Co. though. People were begging for the new site and now they including me have issues.
I’m a 22 year old old man. I miss the old YouTube before Google ruined it, the old twitter etc. Everything was better in the past.
"I’m a 22 year old old man ... Everything was better in the past."
You are well on your way to becoming a curmudgeonly old man. Start practicing now: "Get off my lawn!" :-)
You are 22 years old!!!???
I always assumed you were 55.
Wolverine Devotee might be 55 in Michigan-Fan Years.
Nobody likes a kiss ass, dude.
I miss the days when Seth would call me and read the board's posts to me in a posh English accent. That was nice.
At first glance I thought you said: "polish accent".....and it got me wondering what that would sound like? Probably better than a posh english accent if I'm honest.
You thought posh = polish?
See, the new site IS harder to read.
Speaking of things and such regarding the board, how the heck do you start a new thread? I figured it'd be a good idea to post this: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/michigan-basketball-jaron-faulds-will-…
We need an app, please
I’ve been meaning to ask this but didn’t want to start a thread. How do you upvote and downvote on the new site? Can you?
Nice to hear from you, Mr Al-Sayed!
Underrated - Clap, Clap, Clap-Clap-Clap!
Im fine with the new site. I will be curious as to how it will function during the season.
Things that I have not got over;
Side bar should not take up 25% of the screen.
The formatting HAS NOT improved using the site on mobile. I did not use the app so I can only imagine how difficult a transition it is for those users.
Biggest gripe, this update still makes it difficult for users to post images and video.
When will the iPhone app be available again?
The content is free so I like it. All the white space is killing me though and honestly I liked the old site better.
I've finally gotten around to checking out the desktop version of the site. MUCH better than mobile.
Still worse than 2.0 though.
Content-wise, I've been around as long as anyone here and I don't think the front page stuff is different than any other offseason I've seen. I don't care for the politics either, but eh; ok, he's an alum (still I doubt you'd see Justin Amash up here, just sayin...) so whatever.
The board however, is noticeably sparse. I'd be surprised if there hasn't been a marked decrease in traffic this summer compared to summers prior.
Sorry to say I probably won't be running to HuEl for the next site rebuild I need to get done.
I posted in the bug thread but I will repeat it here in this more appropriate thread.
All the white on this site was really bothering my eyes so I have created and posted a small userstyle on https://userstyles.org called "mgoblog 3.0 - not so blinding". This is for desktop, and you need the Stylish addon installed. Search the userstyles website for mgoblog. It changes the background colour of the sidebar to "bisque" and threads and content to "whitesmoke". Hopefully this is of help to others.
I also just put up a second one "mgoblog 3.0 - not so blinding and other tweaks." In addition to the above it will hide the huge banner, as well as the branding slogan on the right side of the menu (something about Dave) as it was causing weird unnecessary spacing in the menu.
Thanks. I'm trying #FBEC5D, which is maize, instead of bisque.
Above was "maize" I found online. U-M official maize is #FFCB05 per the style guide.
I find that softer colours are easier on my eyes but yes, Stylish makes it easy to edit your installed userstyles. Plug in whatever colours you prefer.
Yeah, either maize is kinda dark. I was originally thinking some kind of light yellow when I looked up shades of yellow, but I saw maize and tried it first.
As of July 4, a security issue has been reported regarding the Stylish addon. Instead you can use the Stylus addon.
Pep, is that you? If so, YOU SUCK
I like that I have more free time thanks to the new format...I don't want to spend it here that's for certain.
Am I logged in? I don't even know who I am anymore!!!
It’s funny how all these people who supposedly never visit the site anymore coincidentally always find and post in these threads to bitch about the redesign. It’s almost as if they are still checking the board multiple times a day like everyone else.
I almost wrote this, then 2 posts later I read yours!
It's not that people bitching about the site never come here, it is the frequency that they come here has dropped. If I came here 10 times a day, I'm only coming here 5 times a day and when I do there isn't much user generated content, i.e. message board threads.
It's not that people bitching about the site never come here, it is the frequency that they come here has dropped. If I came here 10 times a day, I'm only coming here 5 times a day and when I do there isn't much user generated content, i.e. message board threads.
Threads are harder to follow/read. Therefore I spend less time at MGoBlog.
Still check out stuff with some frequency to see if there is anything important that happened (commits etc.).
Just spend less time sticking around and reading through all of the comments on the threads.
Also...what happened to the sign out and sign it thing. Gone. Oh well.
F5/refresh seems to take the user back to page 1. This will surely make game threads ridiculous/impossible. But hey, no gateway 50X errors!
It's hot out. We can agree on that