It's been a couple of days since our
big makeover and things seem to have gone down quite well. We've had loads of comments (indeed
Alex Z is currently recovering from being Tech Support Guy after fielding bug reports for a day straight) and the new-look has gone down quite well. Of course, this isn't the first time we've had a new look but this time it's not just a cosmetic revamp. I like to think of
WoW.com as
WoW Insider meets
Facebook with a little of
Livejournal thrown in for good measure, we're not just a site, we're a community. Cliched, okay, you got me there.
Anyway now you folks have had a couple of days to get used to the changes, what do you think of our new look and, more importantly, all the cool features? Are there any you'd like implimented in the future? Have we missed something out?
Tags: breakfast topics, breakfast-topic, BreakfastTopics, makeovers, wow-dot-com, wow-insider
Filed under: WoW Insider Business, Breakfast Topics
May 23rd 2009 at 8:00AM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Johan Forn May 23rd 2009 8:07AM
Not to be rude, but the color scheme is quite annoying when reading. It looks good though.
Elmo May 23rd 2009 8:58AM
WTB parchment look
uncaringbear May 23rd 2009 7:30PM
I have to agree - the black background not only looks amateurish, but contrasts too sharply against the blocks of white. Not easy on the eyes at all. I also find the main article text column to be too wide, which makes reading a bit more uncomfortable.
Re: !Wowinsider addon and uploader
The uploader stopped uploading successfully two days ago, despite my best efforts to get it going again. There needs to be detailed error messages provided by the uploader, otherwise I can't report anything useful back to you guys about the problem.
kala May 24th 2009 5:51AM
I seem to not find any "Contact/FAQ/About/Submit" etc. links on front page.
Also, the colors of "Upcoming Events" section dates are partly same as background, making it hard to read.
Samantha Smith May 23rd 2009 8:07AM
i have to say i really think the color scheme makes it a bit difficult for me to focus. i think the background is too dark. any links and all the giant adds dont pop out at me, but oddly are harder to ignore.
liu May 23rd 2009 10:38AM
I highly recommend the iPhone version (i.wow.com) - it's a much cleaner layout, plus you don't have to load the entire site every time you refresh, so it's much faster (especially when Moviewatch is up - Flash is big).
Ohwzey May 24th 2009 5:02AM
I like the new layout. Don't think readability is affected whatsoever?
Most people are just not used to the new layout yet... Most will accept it in time.
Calavera May 23rd 2009 8:07AM
Well, as I'm a EU player I haven't been able to test it out fully, but what I have seen so far - I have liked.
Although the new layout isn't as streamlined/clean as I'd like, it's certainly better then the last one, and I'm sure the community part will get better when I can actually follow and be followed by the people I play WoW with.
WoWie Zowie May 23rd 2009 8:10AM
i'm sorry for being a debbie downer but i liked the previous one better. it seemed easier to navigate and less cluttered. it felt more like world of warcraft.
maybe i'm just not used to it yet, its too soon for me to make any real qualitative suggestions
prairiedawg991 May 23rd 2009 10:57AM
Everyone has their own opnion. I like the new site. Feels more wotlk esque
ratbuddy May 23rd 2009 1:05PM
Yah, the new site feels like someone became concerned with monetization and linger time and all that other horsecrap they teach in web marketing 101. The old site wasn't broke, but they 'fixed' it anyway. Blah.
Muffiny May 24th 2009 12:09AM
I personally am liking the new site, but I also liked the old site. I know a lot of people have been disliking the new site design, so I was thinking that perhaps some sort of theme switcher could be implemented?
That way people who like the old site, and people who now like the new site could both be happy.
blkmasta55555 May 23rd 2009 8:10AM
Needs moar EU, other than that, good.
Danarok May 23rd 2009 9:30AM
Agreed. The style and colour scheme is nice and very professional. Initially I was annoyed to have to create an AIM account to make a profile (there is no way I want to get FB involved) only to find some randomer who's probably never even heard of this site had already taken my screenname. At least as far as WoW.com is concerned, you can edit that in one's profile.
Two main issues remain in my mind.
1) EU characters need to be working. Soon.
2) The profiles functionality needs to be better integrated with the site. For instance, I'm logged in, and yet when browsing there's nothing on this page to suggest that is the case. Even to go so far as to provide a "Click here to login!" button. Also, when someone is logged in, is it really neccessary that they should still have to provide an email address and password to post a comment?
Faulken S Wulf May 23rd 2009 11:45AM
Concise Overview
1) I know it may seem like a lot of QQ but honestly alot of it is pretty simple. Shift some things around, polish the look up. Go from semi-professional look to highly-professional look with maybe a few hours of coding the layout.
2) Better integrate the profiles into the site. I use WoWhead, I use HearthStone on Facebook, so you need to give me a reason (and probably others who are connected to even more sites) to make a profile on here and care about it. Give me a reason to not just go to the Armory instead. Give me a reason to CARE about having a profile on here.
3) I'm a US player, but launching profiles without EU support might not have been a good idea. I don't know if this was a known issue at launch or if it was a surprise. But if it was known before hand, I think the launch of profiles/new layout should have been delayed to accommodate. Its going to alienate alot of EU players pretty quick.
Additional Critque
To add to the commenter above me-- I wish that when you posted a comment it link back to your character/game profile instead of just recent comments. (See #2)
Speaking of comments: let us log in with our AIM-WoW profiles, let us have a chance to have our stats tagged to our comments if we want, something like the official wow forums. Of course, there should also be a control panel so each user can CHOOSE what information is available. (No one wants griefed by a level 1 on their server for posting a dumb or unpopular comment.) (Also see #2)
The color doesn't bother me but I find I miss having any sort of... ...anything on the left hand side. It makes the layout feel unbalanced. Obviously this is personal taste. But if you're going to cram all the ads on the right side, why not put the recent stories, "other bloggers", etc all back on the left side and reduce some of the clutter? (See #1)
Also I don't know what's about "Recent Posts/Featured Stories" but it has only ever been a white box for me. If its an add-- its wide and obnoxiously large. You already have one horizontal banner and two vertical ones... ...seriously. (See #1)
Also does the Featured Gallery have to be so wide? (See #1)
-- Firefox, 1280x800, Windows Vista Home --
Dightkuz May 23rd 2009 8:10AM
For some reason it feels too mainstream now. I still miss the old WI.
Jason May 23rd 2009 12:40PM
I agree; I feel like all the "shiny new features" take away from the site's real purpose.
NeoArk May 23rd 2009 8:13AM
I'm also an EU player, and I agree with Calavera's comment.
Retropally May 23rd 2009 8:13AM
If i'm being honest, when I first saw that the site had changed I didnt really "feel it". After days of it sinking in, i'm loving it. The new theme is awesome, and really, nothing has changed in the way of the posts that are written.
One thing I think could be implemented is maybe something like a solo'ing blog. Not just soloing things like achivements and quests, but maybe things like raid bosses from classic wow. This is something i've seen slightly done in project lore, but in my opinion done poorly.
Maybe get Turpster doing a blog on what he's done each week in wow too. I know you go over it a bit on the wowinsider show and a small blog on what everyones upto, but something more indepth would be cool.
LittleJim May 23rd 2009 8:12AM
The colour scheme is quite hard to read sometimes with hurting your eyes, and why the rush to be like facebook, this is a wow site not a social networking site, I hope.