JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Cappy's past comments

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  CappyMar. 28, 2008 - 11:07AM JST

  My main comment would be that without being able to see recent comments, discussion is difficult.

  Without that function a regular user that wants to know if there has been a comment after hers has to remember the stories they commented on, where to find it on the page and the number of comments at the time the left their last one. Even then, it is still up to the user to go back to check that story and see what comment has been made.

  Sites that want to encourage interactivity and increased usage need to put what is current in front of the users. That way a user is encouraged to respond. Think about the Facebook newsfeed or the Trip Advisor "Recent Activity" fields. Those work on the basis that people interact with what is current.

  Knowing what people have commented on recently stimulates the sharing of ideas and rebuttal. My advice to JT would be to change the "Most Discussed" area to a feed of recent comments showing the name of the article, the poster, and the first 100 characters of a post.

  It is the discussion element that really differentiates JT from other news sites, and that should be more encouraged.

  JT Editor: The Recent Posts link will be back on the site by next week.

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  CappyMar. 27, 2008 - 01:49PM JST

  After a few days now of using the site under the new design people must be getting used to look and feel. Going back to view the archived old site now looks like a REALLY REALLY old and outdated format.

  As some of the missing functionality that people have asked for returns, I would hope that if people start to have a more positive view of the new design and truly see it as the vast improvement that it is, that they would have the integrity to share their positive views as readily as they've shared their negative ones in this discussion.

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  CappyMar. 26, 2008 - 05:19PM JST

  I think the new design is a great improvement and it makes for a far more modern and professional site. I think in the long run most will see that also, but are just complaining because it's change. Change is inevitable people, but this is more than that. It's progress. While the old design may have been comfortable for the current users, JT would never be taken seriously as a news site with its old design. The site will benefit from more users and a larger community with the new design. Myself for one - I came to this site many times before but the interface was just unprofessional and I never stayed. Now that the design has changed it is far more professional and will appeal to a much wider audience.

  Traffic is not down because people are posting less, posts are just consolidated in this one mammoth discussion. I think you'll find that there are actually a higher overall number of posts and that the site is immediately more popular since the redesign (minus a few sourpusses who have complained so much about the redesign that they decided to "take their business elsewhere". Good riddance, I say.)

  Even though the new design is a clear improvement, there seems to be a consistency across a number of the above comments that the designers may want to look at.

  For my two cents, I would:

  1. Move the picture of the day to the top left corner and embed the weather report on the right hand side of the tabbed navigation bar. That way it is informative but inobtrusive, the look is balanced with the picture on the left and the ad on the right, and the headlines and articles will be balanced in the columns the whole way down the page. That would remove the "scattered" look that so many seem to be complaining about (even though I don't think it's that scattered).

  2. Change the "Most Discussed" navigation on the right to "Recently Discussed". This seems to be functionality that people want, and further, I think "Most Discussed" tabs can end up becoming very static. Can you see another dicussion having more than 200 comments anytime soon? "Recently Discussed" makes for a dynamic field that's very user-friendly.

  Overall though, great job JT (and yongfook)!

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