What do you think of the new Japan Today design?

I seem to be seeing most popular items when I click, NATIONAL, rather than newest items...

But other than that, it looks very sharp! I like the thumbs up/down thing.

Keep it simple! Too many things on the new one. I need to get used to it.

It's handsome and professional. Kudos to you. Well done indeed.

Rather busy.

Few things I noticed. Not all posts show who posted.

Nice avatar space but again as with old setup, how do you set your avatar? Some people had/got them and others never did.

There never been an option in settings, etc.

Also where is the link to display "Recent comments".

The look is nice, but too much back button usage required to get back to the main menu.

Its ok. I don't need to see the most popular articles though, just the newest.

Website goes into redirect loop if you have a saved your login (from the previous site)... you have to delete your cookies in order for the site to load. I'm sure alot of people are thinking the site is down at the moment.

Also "bad" does not seem to reduce the "like" number if someone else voted "good". Meaning I can reduce my own vote but if I "dislike" something someone else "liked" shouldn't it reduce the number by 1?

Nice avatar space but again as with old setup, how do you set your avatar? Some people had/got them and others never did.

Under the comments box, Gravatar is an avatar site...

Testing.

Thx, working now. But still now mention that I posted a comment.

I don't mind the new layout, and I like that 'Features' now... well... features as the last category rather than the second (now National), but I really don't like that the 'popular' threads appear before the newer stories (save for the newest one). In that respect, I liked the older version better. I suspect I am not alone in this -- for example, I just had to click on the arrow button at the bottom of one thread to see a story from yesterday that doesn't have too many comments, but one from more than a week ago was the second story on the thread. Keeping that as a list on the right of the page under 'most popular' for each category would be better, I think.

The 'Good/Bad' thing should prove interesting, and the new buttons look snazzy.

Or hey, maybe you can make an option where people can toggle between newest to oldest/most popular?

It would be better with free Milkshakes. Strawberry Milkshakes.

I like it better than the last one. It looks very professional. Just give a bit of time for people to get used to it.

I used to like clicking your username at the top right to see your comments so you could keep track of them.

Has that gone now? Been moved? Or do you just have to find yourself in a comment section and click on your name there?

Also, I think you should make an edit/delete function for our own comments

I agree withAzninvasion. That edit / delete function would be invaluable.

Currently the site is working well with Internet Explorerr and Google Chrome but FIREFOX says it's not redirectling properly.

No probs on Safari.

I like it. It looks quite professional plus I like that you have

more information

on the home page (pictures, headlines, polls, special features.)

Seems to be working well with my Firefox 4.0.1 and I like the Facebook and Twitter options. Now, if you could only get rid of the ads.... (I make joke, I know you can't.)

The Link button doesn't seem to want to play on Firefox. I select text, click on the Link button and nothing happens.

Okay, I got the <a href="http://www.japantoday.com/category/have-your-say/view/what-do-you-think-of-the-new-japan-today-design#comments">link button</a> to work manually.

I clicked at it gave me a couple of < > but nothing to enter the url. If you know a little html you can type in the url, the href, the quotes, and the close brackets.

For the developer: I think you need a stronger indication that a word is linked or not. Not necessarily the color link-blue but maybe an underline. As it is now it looks like regular words and if you happen to mouse over it, it shows up as a link. Just my thoughts.

For example, the words "link button" in the first sentence links to the JT home page.

Mr. Dog: You can still click on your username on any given comment, although then of course you have to either make a comment or remember where you left one.

Thank you, JT, for changing the order of the articles back to newest - oldest instead of which are the most popular.

Oh, and I like the use of serif-san caps/non-caps for headlines and sub-headlines, as well as serif-san/serif for the actual articles, particularly the JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION on the banner. Nice fonts! simple, but attractive.

Am sure JT will enable our usename 'c;lick' to get us to our posts, right JT? Otherwise, yeah, a step forward.

Still does not work with Chrome (cookie redirect problem).

Where's devteam when you need them!

I don't see any purpose to the bizarre new login requirements, going through either facebook or email. Unnecessarily circuitous.

Not to bad, bit strange at first but seems ok

The conservative in me says, If it ain't broke, don't fix it.....I thought the site was down, Safari wasn't playing, I'm having to use Firefox.

Maybe I'll like the new look when I get used to it. At the moment.....apart from the Good/Bad feature, I'm not seeing the point.

Mr. Dog: You can still click on your username on any given comment, although then of course you have to either make a comment or remember where you left one.

I know. I said that ;)

Has that gone now? Been moved? Or do you just have to find yourself in a comment section and click on your name there?

I just liked to be able to jump straight to my comment list without having to look for an article I commented on.

Great point about the fonts! They do look a lot better.

@gogogo

Still does not work with Chrome (cookie redirect problem).

Erase your cookies in Chrome. I use Chrome and had no problem with it after doing a cookie-dump.

MrDog: Yep but you can't expect that of a regular user, it is semi fixed now (redirects to a https: address) ... notice since the fix a ton of new posts (figure people now are getting on the site since it's now fixed).

Also, I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the "Top Jobs in Japan" thing on the top page is just weirdly placed? Stick it somewhere on the right hand side, you know, the bit where no-one really looks...

@gogogo

Yeah, I guess you're right. They could have sent out an e-mail to tell people what to do, I suppose...

Seems a bit cluttered on the right hand side to me. The left hand side is good but then the right hand half has a combination of less important sub-sections and advertisements, and scrolls further down than the left hand half,. It seems quite random, difficult to find and locate what you want.

Come on JT get those hyperlinks going on or Log In names, also the log in 'line', not box, hmm. Box is good.

I guess this is JT's 3rd launching and seems better than 2nd one, needless to say i liked JT's First Orginal Design :)

Wow finally up after 6 hours? couldnt connect somehow. Anyway not bad, but not totally revamped as what was promised. Hopefully the moderation team also got revamped ghehe. Pun intended.

Papigiulio: They had a cookie redirect problem that was fixed, if you "saved" your password the site wouldn't load for you. They have also now fixed the redirect for the https as well. I noticed the problem in the first 10 mins of the site going up but JT were either busy or ignored me, you should have hired me to test your site :)

@smithinjapan: The 'Good/Bad' thing should prove interesting - does it appear only after the comment is approved by JT mod?

The design is generally good, but I still keep getting those SPAM 'moderator' comments. Anyway to filter those out? : )

Gonna take some getting used to, but I like it and I think it looks quite professional. Good job, JT!

hmmm..... don't see anything under the 'comments' section to set an avatar. Can anyone help with how to do that?

The site is a definite improvement as the old one hadn't changed in years and was very dated in its appearance and UI. Are there more developments planned?

BTW For non-techy peeps using Chrome: click the spanner in the top right - Options - Under The Hood - Content Settings - All cookies and site data - Search for "japantoday" and delete all.

recherche88,

When you add a comment, below the comment box you can see a "Japan Today supports Gravatar for user images." Click on it and it will take you to Gravatar's site where you will have to sign up (free) and then upload an image you want to use. Connect the image to the email address you use for JT comments and you're all set.

borscht,

Thanks l was going to ask this too.

I had a hard time to get connected with firefox. I like the new design but as Cleo said ''if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it''.

** Well, it's a lot bolder this time. but I still have to familiarize with this new design.

Some good, some bad.

Some good, like enlargeable photos and avatar pictures.

Some bad, like too much empty space (like everything is double-spaced now) thus making for more scrolling on the web-browser.

The old website design was simpler and thus more manageable.

Does the new site finally support regular phpBB codes?

MrDog - I'm with you.

The majority of comments approve of the new design ... and I am in this category, too. Like some of you, I had to reorganize my brain before realizing I was staring at a new design ... but quickly came to accept it. Just hope the posting system remains as easy as it has been ... In summary Japan Today ... Good Show ...

It's nice but I don't like the idea that I can't see continued news topics at the bottom of my scroll. I have to scroll all the way back up and click on another topic, in the old version, after you scrolled to the bottom, you could just continue where you left off. Other than that...I like it.

I liked the previous design better than this new one. I expect the previous design to be back by tomorrow ha ha

Still wish they would go back to the first layout they had. This is faaaaar too busy!

borschtJUN. 13, 2011 - 04:53PM JST recherche88, When you add a comment, below the comment box you can see a "Japan Today supports Gravatar for user images." Click on it and it will take you to Gravatar's site where you will have to sign up (free) and then upload an image you want to use. Connect the image to the email address you use for JT comments and you're all set.

Thanks borschtjUn - have followed your instructions. Now waiting to see if my avatar shows up.

too much back button crap. Miss the bottom subject and listings. Was easy.

Make it so that when you click on your user name, you can find your posts and not have to use the search function. Otherwise, it looks good.

Question: How does one add an picture or icon beside your screen name?

Luckily I got the "Recent Comments" bookmarked if not for that I would need to hit the back button multiple times.

Why did that link disappear from the menu?

Asked the same question.

You need to click the text below edit box and sign-up to another site to get it to work.

Most sites allow you to do that via your profile settings.

They really need to make that clear somehow.

I would love to know why I had an avatar this afternoon, and it has disappeared this evening.

And - boing - it's back now. Something's wrong there.

enough of the SMALL pics.............................how about ALL big pictures to go with the news article ?

minor note, but LastPass notifications cause the menu bar to float down

I don't like the font (Times New Roman?) you are using on your main news copy. These days it is weird to see that font on the web, so I thought the CSS stylesheet hadn't loaded properly or something.

Strange because you are using some really cool fonts in other places such as the footer.

Bye bye to my anonymity...

Also, can't make all the Features articles come up in one page - it makes you choose which bits you want. I preferred the mixture you used to get....

Alphaape

When you add a comment, below the comment box you can see a "Japan Today supports Gravatar for user images." Click on it and it will take you to Gravatar's site where you will have to sign up (free) and then upload an image you want to use. Connect the image to the email address you use for JT comments and you're all set.

recherche88

You're welcome. It took my avatar about 10 minutes to show up in the comments.

oberst

Click on the picture of your choice. It will enlarge to cover your screen.

A BIG improvment!!

not bad, but have to get used to it!

borscht, the avatar showed up! Thanks : )

Overall, thumbs up!

We've had our say but you've not listened: Hyperlink our post names to our posts on the main page.

@borscht: Thanks!

trying to put too much stuff on one page but other than that its not bad.

I don't mind at all,either of them is good!..great job though!

it looks better. and i like the fact that i can rate comments. i don't like the font type used for the articles though.

The front page looks great and professional design. Details page also looks good but the navigation has become uncomfortable, specially for all the categorized headlines we need to go back and forth everytime. This new system may be to forcing us to see Top page as it contains vital ads ;)

If you don't wanna keep the categorized headlines, you could make submenus under the topmenu.

Comment editing option please. It should be permissible for a certain amount of time for a new comment.

The "Good" and "Bad" buttons could be Ajax based (like Youtube) for making ease of use.

Anyway, new design of a site always gives freshness.

Borscht thank you for the tip, now i can check out the cheerleader. !!

The new design is good, eye catching and more interactive.

Since the topic is about Japan today, or viewpoints from Japan, the content of the story is acceptable in English but the heading of topics should be in English and Japanese. You need to have more native Japanese residents perspective and opinions of the story.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Change is nice, but...

It is hard to tell what is news and what is advertisement. I feel overwhelmed, I like organized layout without having to do too much thinking. Come on to JT to be informed and entertained on Japan and the world. What would be nice is an excerpt under each news headline. The news should grab the reader's attention instead of the user having to scanned the whole page to see if there is anything of interest to be read.

I would like the feature where I can go back and edit my comments either to correct typos or for clarity.

This reminds me of the iPhone vs Android choice. I pick the iPhone for its simplicity and intuition. Right now I find JT to be like the Android.

Seriously - why does my avatar no longer appear?

I loved the old design. I could always scroll down and see the most recent news from every category. Can't seem to do that anymore. It's like when they remodel your favorite store, and you stop going because you feel disoriented.

Ivan Coughalot,

Seriously - why does my avatar no longer appear?

Good question. Are you logging in with an email address different from the one Gravatar has? Why that would affect earlier posts, I don't know.

Can the developer help us out here?

At first glance, i like it. haven't used it yet, so can't say more than that. I remember the last change (back in the day!) - didn't like that one.Like this better.

I don't like the new login where you need your e-mail instead of your screen name. It takes too long to type and I change e-mail address regularly thanks to spam mail. The moderation here is just flat out overbearing and awful and I hope that improves with the new format. I miss being able to click on your screen name at the top to reference older comments.

The thumbs option is an interesting addition, but the way the moderators frequently edit and delete posts it won’t be fair defending an opinion that the moderating staff does not support.

The old jumbled front page took a while to get used to now I have to get used to the new jumbled format. The old format was messy but I got used to it and it became comfortable. The new format is just as messy but I am not used to it yet.

The expanded thumbnail/picture option is nice for looking at cheerleading girls and AKB48 pictures. I honestly don't mind that. I am getting a feeling that this site will evolve into more of a pretty girl picture type format since unreasonable moderation will chase people away and stifle discussion on a site made for discussion. That "Summers Here" picture is very nice I must admit. Maybe with the new format change the header as well too. "JAPAN TODAY: Japan News and Pretty Girls!" Just drop the illusion that real discussion is allowed. "JAPAN TODAY: Japan News and Pretty Girls!" Just drop the illusion that real discussion is allowed.

Lastly the advertisements blend in too well with news articles. Perhaps put thick borders around them so they are easier to differentiate.

I agree with makiminato on that.

Overall, I prefer the new design.

Other comments:

1) Sometimes areas not easy to distinguish between non-active text and links. New User registration process is a one example.

2) Where is the "Report Abuse" link on these comments? Without this, how to report spammers and inappropriate content?

3) The autospell check function does not appear to be working when writing comments.

Lookin' good JT!

YAY! Welcome back, top-right-name-clicky-thing!!!

Thank you JT ^^

Too busy, harder to read without enlarging the view but then it becomes a pain to shift back & forth.

Nothing really jumps that says new or better, maybe that will come with time.

Hmmm...little too busy. Avatars are big enough to actually see now (never understood that one).

It's ok but [body style="width:100%;"] would be better

Maybe I'll get used to it, but at the moment I don't feel like visiting... layout is too busy for me. Feels cheap and unprofessional. Personally I wish it hadn't changed.

JT, maybe think about the avator standards, some posters are using essentially soft porn images as theirs, makes using it at work difficult, not for me, but for those around who may chance to glance my screen and see huge breasts popping out of small bikini tops or huge brests poking through wet T-shirts.

YongYang,

Please those avatars have made it all the more interesting. Love them!!!!

Have to agree some of the new Avatars are pushing the limits.

Not a prude myself but the whole world including kids can see those.

I would like a better font for the news articles. Very cluttered presentation all round.

Kudos on the quick fix, you fixed the encoding but you broke the linking function

Couldn't sign in and had to change my user name to this one.

Not a prude myself but the whole world including kids can see those.

Yes, yes, let's protect the children from the sight of bikini clad breasts.

I miss being able to click on your screen name at the top to reference older comments.

I second that.

Its back, the screen name click hyperlink.

JT, seriously, think about the Avators content, the visuals of some are jut not appropriate for children, AT ALL. I like to recommend this site to others, they'll ask me WTF I was thinking when they see some of the avators, for sure. Huge breasts and wet t-shirts ain't a good thing for the family.

Huge breasts and wet t-shirts ain't a good thing for the family.

What harm do they do?

JT has the getting for the avatars from Gravator set to PG, I figure any news site is going to be PG.

YongYang,

You dont like a bit of a suggestive avatar. Nothing worse than what can be seen on TV. Yet you use expletive acronyms, go figure!!

YongYang,

You dont like an avatar that is nothing worse than can be seen on TV, billboards, or trains. Yet your happy to use a acronym that is abussive

Actually, the avatars are a bit small for explicit leering - although large enough for the, er, lovesick - but the ads for G Market bras and undies are big enough so that no one would mistake them for anything else but babes in bras. So, if JapanToday limits avatars for naughtiness, they should also refuse advertising from G Market.

One good thing about the new design - having the small pics enlarge when you click on them is an improvement.

YongYang,

Very funny you say its stupid day, l thought it was whining prude day.... Yes families use this site, families also use trains, and watch tv and walk past billboards. All of which show things equally as bad if not worse. As another poster pointed out even some of the ads on this site are as revealing as some of these avatars. Do you want them gone too?

BORING lets live in a sanitized box. Have you looked at the real world lately by any chance?

For all the people that think me and YongYang are wrong.

You obviously haven't seen the problems, complaints and possible legal actions that such images can cause for the host of a web-site/forum.

And would you be comfy to let your kids see those pics and post here?

So Zenny11 what about the pictures on the story "Three Cheers", or the picture in the story about the 3d bra? The avatars are no more explicit than them really. But then how do you go on a train with the posters on them, they are even worse. In the end as parents people should control their kids access to sites if they dont like the images portrayed.

There is a difference.

My Son saw Gogogo's avatar and was like WTF this NOT a porn site and he is only 11.

This is a news site afterall.

Spidapig24.

You don't get it. This is NOT site that I should have to monitor my sons access due offensive material. The Three Cheers is very different.

But I doubt you will get the difference between what is appropriate and what is not.

It is obvious from your posts that is why. He don't mind the Three cheers pic at all.

Scared what kind of images you let your kids have access to that you consider wholesome.

Done here.

Readers, we have noted your opinions about the gravatars. Please move on with other comments on the new design.

At least you licked that old problem with the log-in wherein it would take ten times to log on. New design is too busy, print too small, somewhat pretentious layout but I guess I'll get used to it. Hate the FB link too, bloody FB is insidious.

Yes, I will not be posting links on Facebook, for sure.

@Zenny

But I doubt you will get the difference between what is appropriate and what is not.

Do you think talking down to someone somehow makes your opinion more "right"? It's like you are saying, 'Oh you disagree with me? You must not be smart enough to understand what I'm saying.'

It's rude and it's very weak rhetoric.

Oh yeah, I forgot.

Done here.

Double Kudo's on the link fix :)

The new design looks awesome, although I had trouble logging in with my current account. The problem is that I had to use my alternative e-mail account to associate with my user name.

First impression is that it's busier and less visually appealing, and even more difficult than before to distinguish content from advertising. It'll take some getting used to.

I can no longer post under my previous username, and instead have been shoehorned into posting with my e-mail address. Any ways to fix this?

Not bad, but a little complicated and too many things going on. Had troubles logging in at first, but I got it now. But keep it simple please.

I've played with the site for awhile now and I think the thing I miss most are the links to other articles at the bottom of comments. With the old site, after I finished reading the comments of one article, I could easily click on a link to another article in any category. (Article - article)

Now, I can click on the category but not specific articles. This means I have to look at all the titles of a category before choosing one to read. JT has added a step between articles. (Article - category - article)

This might be good for click-per-view ads (?) and page views, but not for the reader. What was the decision-making process on eliminating the links at the bottom of the comments?

I am, however, looking forward to Expert Insight content.

I realize there is a list of articles from the same category on the right column but it 'feels' as if it isn't there - possibly because of the twitter/facebook/ads in the same column? Is it possible to move it to the bottom of the comments?

To reduce clutter I just increased my screen size to 200% & it nicely cuts out most of the right hand side making it easier on the eyes, try it if you think things are busy

Only thing that I really dislike is that site doesn't fit in my browser (Firefox) window on my notebook computer. I have to scroll over for just a centimeter which is annoying .

Looks nice, but I miss the articles at the bottom of the page. Could you bring them back?

I don't know if there's been a comment on this yet but I liked it before where you'd get taken to the latest 15 comments on a story automatically. It saved you scrolling through old material that might have been interesting to read but was pretty worthless to comment on because the debate had moved on by that stage, and you could always click "all comments" if you wanted to read all of them.

Let's put it that way, 'Less is More' !

The site is too wide, you should have set the width to 1000px or something standard on a PC, horizontal scrollbars are not cool.... seems the programmer uses a Mac as the site fits the screensize of a mac.

So, JT, any avatar is gonna be ok? You censor what we write in terms of 'profanity' but we can see large breasted women leering at us from an angle with said breasts partially visible, not pouring out of their containment field, no, BUT certainly visible as a "give it me big boy" staring woman stands 'waiting'. Tokyokawasaki's Avatar being an example. Would like an answer ASAP.

@Yong Yang

Human females have breasts, get over it. And the "give it me big boy" is all in your mind :)

Yeah seriously, you have to get over it by realising your own prejudices. You're like a Sharia fundamentalist. That horrific sight in tokyokawasaki's avatar is "a woman"

YongYang,

What do you think of gogogo's avatar? Three babes in bikinis.

And how come you're getting worked up over the avatars when the pics of the day have been much more "obscene"?

borscht: http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/summers-here

oikawa,

You are spot on with your comment. Some people on here are a little bit to sensative to seeing the much dreaded female figure. OH NO the horror a scantly clad figure, we cant have that...... But if you disagree lookout the moral police aka Zenny will be after you with nasty comments like "I doubt you know whats appropriate or not".

Just out of curiosity Zenny and YongYang as Borscht asked what do you think of gogogo's avatar?

By the way JT the new layout is good once you get used to it, better than the date previous format....

As I said already current avatar is fine.

I spoke to quiet a few visitors and many said that some Avatars were inappropriate and that includes forum owners and mods/admin that maintain their companies sites.

What got my TV-viewing habits and preferences have to do with anything here?

Zenny11,

I think the reason that question was asked is simple, its the same reason l made the comment last night about tv and billboards and posters on trains. The avatars on here are no worse than what can be seen on those media's. So do you go to the train companies complaining about the posters? Or the billboard owners?

What is suitable for my viewing is not always suitable for my sons or other kids.

Just read the views on those ads on trains and how many people are against those as they are against people reading adult manga openly, etc.

But in the end the rules for what is appropriate here is set by JT not us.

OOps double post.

Forgot to ad you feel those avatars are/were are NSFW or not. Many people read the site that includes kids, as well as people at their work.

For people who equate TV with avatars, there is a big difference. If you don't want your hormone-invested child to see 'naughty' pictures on TV, you can turn it off or prohibit its use. If you don't want the same child to see 'naughty' pictures on JT's comment section, you're stuck. You can't turn an avatar off. I'm sure if Zenny11 could, he'd turn a few off. He could stop coming here but that would diminish the value of the discussion for the rest of us.

I spoke to quite a few visitors and many said that some Avatars were inappropriate and that includes forum owners and mods/admin that maintain their company's sites.

A company I work part-time at has blocked google as inappropriate. A friend can't access yahoo at his office. What an admin thinks is appropriate or not is not necessarily connected to female body parts.

I think this discussion is going to force the moderators on JapanToday to make a decision about what is appropriate or not and that puts them in a difficult position. Gogogo's avatar was directly from JT, before he or she changed it. If JT mods decide that the previous avatar is 'naughty' then they'll have to stop including them in news photos. And stop taking G Market ads.

My avatars are photo's of the today from JT, this is Japan today which is a slice of Japan daily... Japanese TV, like this site, represents what Japan is... skin or no skin... Overseas values don't apply in Japan.

An example of Japanese TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35KCpHD_ax0

Zenny11,

So you take offence at a tiny thumbnail picture that no detail is visible. Fair enough! So next time there is an article with a large picture of scantly clad women then l expect to hear the same outrage from you. Otherwise l will just have to say hypocrite.

Gogogo's avatar was directly from JT, before he or she changed it

Current avatar is from JT.

@Zenny

What is the problem with kids seeing a pair of bikini clad breasts? Will that harm them somehow? I have kids and it wouldn't bother me one bit if they saw these avatars.

Seems to me you think you know best where the arbitrary "appropriate" line should be drawn with your appeals to authority ( "that includes forum owners and mods/admin that maintain their companies sites."), but I definitely think your thinking is a bit too uptight and prudish. As has already been said, the ads on the site are no more modest than the breasty avatars, so it seems it's already been decided. Maybe it's time to let this one go.

Putting stories about baseball games in the "Headline News" section is a little silly.

I don't care if it went to 11 innings or not. It isn't all that big news.

@Stranger.

You saw the original Avatar? The mods removed a lot of posts so if you weren't here from the start you missed a lot of info.

@Zenny

Whose original avatar? I saw one yesterday with large breasts in a bikini top that seemed to have you all worked up.

Didn't the mods say to quit the avatar discussion already?

It's a snoozefest.

Readers, we have noted your views on the gravatar issue. Let's leave it at that please.

Glad that's done, I'm liking the new site, seems faster to load as well.

If people are having an issue with avatars, then maybe there should be a members settings option to turn it off.

@Lostrune2: Good call. Bit of 'control' over what spills onto a news site, I second that motion.

How can I view a text only version with no images?

it's either my browser (Safari on Mac OS10.6) or the whole page is too much to the left of the window apart from that, I like the new format. I tend to agree with Zenny, I mostly access JT from work, and I may get weird looks and gossip from my students

It's alright, the fonts of the news stories is terrible though.

It looks good. It's a bit more complicated to use than before, but it's better too.

The new design is fantastic! A huge improvement in many ways. Keep up the good work!

"I fear change."

-Garth Algar

I hope you actually listen to these comments.

The web site does not like many versions of IE, Safari and Firefox. Often with headers overlapping and layout looking a bit off.

The fonts are dreadful. You really should keep things clear and easy to read.

The layout looks crowded and it is much harder to quickly browse your site than before.

I am all for change. But I prefer designers who think first about usability and last about looks. This new layout is not as friendly in usability, nor does it look particularly good.

I would toss it out and start over. :)

I know I mentioned this yesterday but what is wrong with the "Headline News"?

I always thought that "Headline News" was the important stuff.

How is

"Aya Ueto, Rei Kikukawa and Shiori Katsuna play sisters in TV ad "

"Headline News"?

Site is till trimming off bits left and right when displayed on Safari. Should adjust automatically to screen-width of browser used.

Moderator: Headline news automatically picks up the top story of each section at any given time of the day.

too cluttered and font too small

Umm maybe add a help page to explain how to put an avatar. :)

Testing to see if I have an avatar now. Thanks guys for the info about how to get one...

Others have said this too -- I find the page size too big (on a Mac). It feels clipped off at the left side -- prints and photos start immediately at the left, so it's hard to look at. Isn't that fixable?

Also on an iMac,

Cross-browser scripts to adjust automatically are the norm now. Know sites that can handle them except for IE6. Most sites use standard scripts and services for that.

I like it. Good job.

1) Too many links on frontpage (duplicate links)

2) Too many banners and images on frontpage

which of the 30 screaming banners do you want me to click first? how about at least making it 2-column and tidying up all the promotions? how about letting us click an [X] button to remove sections we don't want such as weather?

3) Basically just too much small text everywhere, like trying to watch an ant as he walks among his 100,000 brothers.

Others have said this too -- I find the page size too big (on a Mac). It feels clipped off at the left side -- prints and photos start immediately at the left, so it's hard to look at. Isn't that fixable?

It's too close to the left in Chrome too. It's also too wide for my screen, so I keep thinking I have to nudge it back but it's already at the max.

2mm on the left margin, and auto page sizing would be good.

I like the fonts at the top of the page, but the article/comments fonts are too thin and small. You seem to be using 12pt Helvetica for comments and 16pt Times New Roman for articles. A slightly heavier/bolder font would be a lot easier to read. Especially since the page is white and a little heavier text would make it easier on the eyes- instead of like staring at a light-bulb like it's close to now.

Too much wasted whitespace for me. Feels like those huge social networking sites that I won't use ever due to privacy concerns.

The layout seems to assume a width of browser that I don't have. It is either too wide or too narrow, but this is hardly unique to JT. You'd think that using width % would be working, so fixed width design wasn't needed anymore. I can dream.

Unfortunately the more and more I use it the less and less I like it. It's all well and good having the different sections under headings at the top but the nice thing about the previous design was the ease with which you could scroll down quickly and have a good overview of all the news items and features, going back weeks in some cases. Now it's much harder to see and/or find current and older news items and articles, and crucially I wouldn't normally deliberately search out a lot of the features and news items that I stumbled upon and commented on before, by dint of them being "out in the open". I'm not going to trawl around the site to find an article that I think "Oh, that's quite interesting" but I'll be tempted if I just see it there.

Any chance of sorting out the smartphone site, or is it intentionally stopping us from contributing in that manner?

Oh, and I still prefer the old, old site pre 2002 or whenever it was. The BBS thing with little boxes in blue and purple. But that's just me.

I hate to think how much work went into this at JT central! Good job anyway, and I do like that we can at least link to other sources again.

:)

How do you change your Icon?

Good effort but WAY too busy, too many different fonts (I hate that the article text is in Times New Roman, yuck!)... I'm from the Less is More school of design..... if it was possible to comment with the mobile site, I would use only that, it's simple and you get the articles in the order they are put up, you don't have to waste anytime looking for them...

The change was totally unneeded. It does not automatically fit on my 22 inch flat screen, why? The old version of Japan Today worked just fine like Microsoft 98 so why make the change unless you have graphic desiners and software engineers that are trying to look busy to save their jobs. Why do I need to spend my time trying to find out how the new look works, I have better things to do with my time than trying to figure out where to find stuff. All I want is news and not not a new puzzle to figure out. A big stupid turnoff with no benefits or am I missing something like the change from MS 98 to Millenium or XP (that worked fine until) they introduced Vista and that was a royal FU and now windows 7 that is being eclipsed by ??? when will all the tinkering end???

People like to find stuff in the same place that they saw it yesterday and not have to spend time digging around amd reorganizing their information patterns like news sources. My vote is a nay!

". if it was possible to comment with the mobile site"

Is there going to be this possibility?

Mod?

I don't like the avatar that was just attached to my posts, but I guess I don't have a choice unless I apply for my own.

What's with those busy geometric avatars for people who don't want to/can't be bothered to/don't know how to attach their own? When there's a bunch of them together on the page it's quite hard on the eyes. What was wrong with the generic 'JT' default?

@Cleo

What's with those busy geometric avatars for people who don't want to/can't be bothered to/don't know how to attach their own?

Hey! This took me hours of painstaking design-work. Ten minutes after I first displayed it, everyone had one! I feel cheated.

No problem with just one, lucabrasi - but a page full of the things is too much!

(Hours?? Really?)

JT, out of curiosity can you tell us what is the theme you're using now? Was it order built?

I miss the "recent" postings category.

When I first saw the geometric avatars show up, I thought a whole bunch of quilting fanatics had suddenly joined!

I quiet like the idea that the site assigned those geometric avatars by default, makes identifying the poster easier.

Still want my "Recent comment" links back though as well as the display sizes fixed.

After a few days of using it on the computer and trying to use it on the iphone,　the verdict is out. Fukushima on steroids. It's a mess, far too much hard work to bother with. Duplicate blobs of the same story scattered around the page like plutonium from Fukushima, horrible to navigate around. I:ve been coming five years to this site for the news, but this time im voting with my feet. Don:t think i:ll be coming back to this horrible horrible disaster.

quiet like the idea that the site assigned those geometric avatars by default, makes identifying the poster easier.

well, I dislike the avatar assigned to me very strongly. I see other people's automatic avatars have color and beautiful patterns, mine is ugly and boring, monochromatic.

Still want my "Recent comment" links back;

http://www.japantoday.com/recent_comments

LoveNot.

I would assume that the pattern and colour is random generated so luck of the draw. You could also assign your own avatar that is more personalised.

Images are not framed properly, I don't think your new layout automatically resizes properly for example todays cover picture link of Yu Yamada has her head cut off.

@Cleo

I was being too sarcastic for my own good. Not hours, it was imposed on me. (Though I quite like it).

@techall

The "recent postings" is still there...on the right, next to "most popular" (in red). Then you need to click "show all" at the bottom right.

At present all the 'settings' allows you to do is subscribe to a newsletter and change your password. How about adding a button to help people set their own avatar? Anything to reduce the number of those awful (apart from lucabrasi's :-)) geometric eye-stabbers.

All good in new web design systems. I request also for delete function,where we can delete own posts,when there is mistakes.

JT: I can still inject HTML and javascript into the comments, contact me please.

NetNinjaJUN. 13, 2011 - 12:24PM JST I agree withAzninvasion. That edit / delete function would be invaluable.

Dittos...

Second (third?) that motion for a delete/edit button between the "preview" and "submit" buttons. We are only human after all. ;-)

Nice, but it's left and right margins are cut off a bit, even if I move the scroll bar at the bottom of my screen.

I don't like it. It's confusing and an eyesore. Plus, I cannot access it on my iphone.

Worse, my logic password was changed.

FYI: Avatars work via Gravatar, and so they are not changeable on JapanToday's site.

My Son saw Gogogo's avatar and was like WTF this NOT a porn site and he is only 11.

I don't think an 11 year old should be using that kind of language.

I don't like it - way too busy, too many ads, you have to scroll down to find all the stories (in contrast to the old design). And what's with having no margins on the left and right side of the page? - very hard to read. Did the JT say what the purpose of the new design (or lack of it) was? Surely not to make it more readable! "Change" is not necessarily a good thing if there is no logic to it.

IanDuncanSmith; WTF!! Why worry yourself about stuff like that.

Too many adverts. i don't like adverts for gaijinpot, the name is offensive amd the jobs are crap pay.

WebDeveloper-

When there are a lot of comments, like on this one, the links to other stories in the same category are too far away. Yes, I know, I just have to scroll up and it's not a complete burden, but if the links to other stories were at the bottom of the comments section, it would be very convenient and less of a hurdle. Can you think about this? Thanks.

A make over every now and then is always nice. The site looks more up-to-date and still has some of the same feel as the old site. I haven't run into any bad links or other types of bugs. Good job by your development team.

I love that there are so many people who live, have lived, or just have an interest in Japan participating on this website. I just wish there were someway to make it possible for the average Japanese to be able to interact on this English language site. I guess that would require the same story to be posted in both English and Japanese and some kind of instant translation between the two languages for story comments.

Thanks Japan Today. I visit your site daily and always find something interesting to read and enjoy. Please keep up the great work!

The site is not bad, but you should tell people about gavatar.

Took all weekend to sort out getting "logged in". A real pain and never a reply from JT to my 5-6 emails to their support line. Not working on weekends? Sooo, I am tentatively back in, with a changed Gravatar avatar to reflect new realities. While I had no complaints about the old format, this one is spiffy. Don't much care for the right side ads in the way of more useful things, but whatevah on that one. Meanwhile, back to the news of Japan, more crazy than ever before.

I still haven't figured out how to upload an avatar for myself. Anybody want to help me out with that?

I liked the former layout better.

Ok were slowing getting the issues fixed, thanks for emailing me, problem is now you are manually spiting the comment form data on the amp character... but if you use a real amp character in the comments anything after it is being removed from the comment... I hope it is the last element in your array and not processing anything after the comment element in the array as you're open to other forms of silent injection. You need a little better string handling of the form post.

Ok & symbol is now resolved and the new encoding is much stronger, thanks again for the email

Ooh, just realized you got the left side of the home page fixed. Much better!

How the heck do you add an avatar?

@smith,

Click on the Japan today supports Gravatar link under the comments box. Just above preview. Then sign up and assign avatar to you JT email address.

I am for some reason logging on under my real name not my formerly used screen name of several years. I don't want that, how can I go back to my old screen name? If I can't go back I can't post comments anymore.

Confused. The option of "order by latest" posts does not work. Shouldn't the latest post be on the top instead of the oldest post?