Bugs We're Tracking
I mentioned it last week, but the rogue advertisement that (maybe) drops a virus onto machines is beginning to personally offend me. We went to the different ad networks and gave them the URL, and they all claim that it isn't theirs. So, I'll make a post in SF about it, and hope to get some evidence that leads to a smoking gun.
Gaia and The Unbearable Rightness of A/Bing
So, we'll be making a bunch of changes to the visual look and feel of some high traffic pages soon, where "soon" = in weeks, not months or years. Lanzer is supposed to make a journal post about it, but I'm going to give both readers of this journal a sneak peek.
But first, a note on how we're going about this:
The site is currently a mix of a bunch of different styles, ranging from old-school "Going Postal" to the revised design of the landing pages. However, we've been talking to Gaia users from all over, and the general consensus seems to be that the current look we have maybe isn't as effective as it could be.
But how do you test something like that? Basically, we'll be running a set of alpha/beta tests (also called A/B tests). This is where we randomly show different pages to different users, and then we take a look at the results: does this set of pages cause people to click around more? Does it seem more interesting to them? Does it show the functionality that makes people want to play with the site more?
So, a sneak peek at the new guest homepage (the one you get when you're not logged in) that some people will see:
And, the voice of a million Gaians screamed out: oh my god, it's so white.
I like the new look, though. It looks less like a collection of modules and more like something that all ties into one central theme. The juxtaposition of IRL photos and avatars is different, and it's going to be interesting to see how people take it.
Note that a major site redesign isn't in the cards -- not yet, anyway. Part of the reason to A/B test is to see how people react to the new pages.
Registration
Along with this change are some changes to registration that, deities willing, will hit this week. We've substantially revamped it to make it a) less forbidding and b) harder to bot. Instead of the painful, linear right-and-left arrows, we offer a palette of design choices (and, I'm sorry for the fuzzy quality of these screen shots):
If you are fashion-challenged and couldn't make a coordinated outfit to save your life, we offer a set of prearranged outfits.
Three easy steps to create your avatar.
Valentine's Day
The events team (Fleep & Company) really did a great job on the Valentine's Day event. It's less of a database load than Halloween, given that the event is less complex, but it still seems really fun. Give a dev a kiss!
Community Member
Well there's my criticism. I felt like I needed to do just a little. I like that you're changing the way the avatar creation is being done, and adding more styles to start off with to boot. Random looks and new beginner sets, even. I like all that.
Honestly, the way everything seemed to be broken apart on a single page was off-putting. I don't know, it was just weird and unorganized? I think that's close enough to what I'd say.