The last few weeks were pretty busy for Yahoo!. That is because the designers from Yahoo! were pretty busy too. After the new design for the home page, which is still in test mode for a small section of users, Yahoo! News got a new smile.

Smoother gradients, less rounded corners, revamped navigation menu, additional spacing are few of the new improvements. Don’t expect tot be a big redesign, or a radical one. This design was made in order to polish the way Yahoo! news are displayed. Now, the user can easily focus on the content and will not be distracted by the lack of spacing, or irritating ads displayed close to the text.

Overall a good redesign. Nothing too spectacular or impressive, but the new design has a good feeling. Oh, and if you want to check the new design, you will have to press on the ling in the top yellow section.
Cheers!

Imeem … we can define Imeem as a music website or community with heavy traffic every month. And the traffic is based first on the quality of Imeem’s services, and I hope it has also got to do with their interface. At least that was before.

A couple of minutes ago I just visited Imeem in order to listen to some music. Something cool with nice rhythm, like 3 Doors Down. And I had the surprise to see a new homepage. No, don’t think that the homepage was redesigned from scratch, just that the retouches are visible.

Homepage…
The new homepage is now much more clean. Some elements from the user interface are gone and along with those, some graphic elements were left behind. And it is good to have a lighter interfaces, but some of those elements were OK. Compared to the old index page, this one is less integrated and homogeneous, but at the same time is lighter and with balance.

The navigation is also changed which is a good thing, cause the previous one was bulky. Also a new set of feature was added. Spotlight - showcase the latest music, Discover - module for personal recommendation, Artist pages - more accessible and even a big centered search module in the first page. For more information you can check the blog - Imeem Blog Community

Honestly, I’m not too happy with the redesign. Ok, better user experience in some cases and not so good on other. As an advice, next time try to impress instead of small and not so visible improvements.

Yesterday, when I was researching for the Excite post, I visited a great site regarding companies and people information. A good site that I often use when I want to find out things about a company, its competitors or revenue. This site is ZoomInfo.

Once there, I realized that the site was different. A redesign session was to blame for the new look. So, together we will analyze and see what are the pros and cons of this new look.

Pros
It is good to see the world wide movement regarding business image. And ZoomInfo is an important site with valuable information. From the design perspective, I want to say that the site looks … OK, with minor or major glitches. I like the fact that the site is quite simple and simple is good. But it takes more than that to pass to the great level, a great level that ZoomInfo will never achieve. The color scheme is good and the fact that are not many graphic elements is also a positive thing. And that’s all about the good side. Moving along!

Cons
At this section I have several things to say. First of all, I’m not among the 44 mil persons listed there - shame on them!
A general bad feeling is that although the site looks clean, unpolished elements are here to mess with the design. For example the two tabs in the first page were not exported properly and the corners are white on light gray background.

Another thing that I do not approve is the fact that multiple links are placed in the bottom side of the page. I know that those are for SEO purposes, but the designer could’ve made some kind of arrangement and a different color for that section to look more integrated. Also, the contrast between some elements is higher in some regions and nonexistent in others.

Conclusion
Overall the change was needed but the final result was not so spectacular.

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Twitter is maybe one of the most impressive company today. Not because it has a useful set of features, but because the media seems to care and write about everything related to Twitter. I remember that last year Michael Arrington had a crush on Twitter crashes.

Few days ago, a new Twitter design was unveiled to public eyes. I could say that it was more like a retouching session rather than redesign. That is because beside a right side menu and some placement arrangements, nothing was changed. Oh, sorry … now the Twitter interface has rounded corners. I guess that IE6 is not supported since the rounded corners are not available and the top menu is misplaced.

I honestly believe that the old interface was OK. For typing short messages and to view your followers it was quite decent. But sometimes a PR stunt is good for everybody … even for a “hot” service like Twitter.

So, this is the great redesign from Twitter.

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The Wall Street Journal, online version, one of the most important financial news site has a new look. After years when the only thing important was the content, now WSJ.com decided that any good content needs good presentation.

Well, from the beginning I want to tell you that I really like the new design. And it is also noticeable a boost in speed for Wall Street Journal Online beside the look.

The thing that I like the most in this new appearance, is that the designers highlighted the content and not the ads. It is annoying these days when you read websites and the designs are burden with heavy graphics from the commercial ads. That is not the case in this design, because the ad spots are not even together as a big block, instead there are several areas, small areas for this purpose.

Changing from blue/white color scheme to gray/white was a big win. Now the site has more contrast and can support better the content. Also the new design helps the user to stay focus on the article which is a good thing. There are other features like new improved video player, Ajax based controllers, the “Newsreel” component and many more.

Another thing that I see and is very important is placing the comments related to an article in a separate section. In this case the user can only see the article and if he clicks on the comments tab, he can visualize the comments. So, the time response is faster and the user experience better.

Overall I think this a true redesign. Kudos for all team members behind this move and I invite you to test the new WSJ.com

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For web developers and some designers, jQuery is a familiar name. It is a javascript framework if not “the” javascript framework. jQuery is the most use tool of its kind and so far all users seem to like all the features.

Recently jQuery made big improvements to its core and also added other features like jQuery UI Theme Roller. The last change from jQuery is the redesign of their website. The new site was designed by Scott Jehl with help from Varick Rosete.

In this new version you can see a brand new home page along with a new logo. The logo looks good and it shows Scott design style. The main graphic element is quite unique and different from what I’ve seen lately on the web. This dark-blue theme with this heavy main illustration is quite unconventional for a popular product. I like it very much, and also I enjoy the fact that the secondary pages have a way much better approach. The navigation is simple and the user can find information much easier.

Hopefully I will learn the secrets of this library and I will become a jQuery rockstar.
Kudos.

Several weeks ago, I wanted to write a post about news sites. And at that time I wanted to give the lowest rating to Techcrunch. That was because Techcrunch had the worst design when competing against GigaOM, VentureBeat and even Mashable.
Let’s analyze the new design and see what is good and what is not so good.

Features:
First thing that all the user will notice is that the look of the site is more solid. The site has now visual effects that look good together. The style is not far from the previous, just that the visual side had a much important priority.
At the top side of the layout, the toolbar with links and search form is no longer available. That is good because in this situations, the lack of that element is good for consistency. Instead the toolbar was replaced by a similar section regarding the content placed above the logo and below the main banner.

The new structure is more magazine like, and it shows multiple news in smaller space. I see it as an advantage but also as a drawback. For example it is good that the user can see a lot of information, but this information is now 2 clicks away. Instead of having the entire news available, now the user has to click in order to read it. I really liked the old style where the click was only need if you wanted to add or read comments.

Another great improvement was that the content was separated from the advertising. Now there is a dedicated column separated from the news. Also, in this new design, the latest article is displayed in a bigger space. Regarding the article, now the user can navigate easier through a previous-next system and read it clear. The new font size was increased to 13px from 11px for a good readability.

Conclusion:
Overall, the new design is far more appropriate than the previous. It has many typography and user interface features. The clean approach is also for the user benefit. Also the new design will be applied to all other properties in order for the user to have the same perception over the websites. Congratulations and good work. Kudos for the designers.

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It was some kind of hype today around the web, about the new look of Mint. To refresh your memory, Mint is a web application that according to its motto is the best free way to manage your money. Or also on the home page you can find the following description: Mint downloads, categorizes, and graphs all of your finances automatically every day— so you don’t have to. Know where you’re spending, without spending any effort.

From Techcrunch we find out that this redesign can boost the productivity up to 20%. Really ??? Don’t get me wrong but in the following comparison I only see drawbacks and not advantages. Let’s compare the footer from the old design with the new one:

New Footer:

Old Footer:

In the new design we can see how the usability of this section is very low. The contrast between the footer links and the background is not enough to ensure decent readability. For sure there is no boost in productivity for this section.

Rafe Needleman from Cnet’s Webware was also charmed with Mint’s new design. From him we found out that the redesign session was led by a former Apple guy. Don’t get me wrong, but that doesn’t mean that the new design is good.

The new site has no contrast. It has also unnecessary shadows and a pretty numb overall look. I’ve noticed also a handwritten element. This was placed there in order to go with the design trends. The thing is that it does not fit at all. But that is just my point. As a conclusion I think that the old design was way much better and the new one has many issues.

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For several day I’ve been working and making some changes to the design but in the end I finally got a good result. I don’t know what is your opinion about it but if you have suggestions, please let me know. It may be necessary to empty the browser cache in order to view it correctly or press on Refresh button a couple of times.

Maybe there will be some adjustments in the near future, but they will represent minor changes. Anyway, I hope you approve the new style and see ya around.
Cheers!!!

Remember CNET.com? Yes, I know it is not as hot as Techcrunch, but it used to be one of the latest news source several years ago. Now it still has the same amount of monthly visitors but, it doesn’t have the sparkle. Well after several years having the same design, they’ve decided that website main identity should change. This was my first impression several years ago when the actual design was released. I still have nightmares when I think of that shadow around the main menu.

Regarding the new design, I have some doubts. I mean, it is OK to change it, but first you muse see the drawbacks and strong points of the actual design, and then you can redesign. Let’s see what is that the new CNET can do for you.

Strong points:
- spacing: First strong point is the spacing. This time the elements are well aligned and they form dedicated blocks of content.
- color: Also the overall color scheme is changed. This is a good approach for separating the old design from the new one.
- logo: A new logo is presented in this sample. It has a more polished and young approach and it fits quite well in the new design
- tile: And finally, the best thing I like in this design is the dark pattern from header and footer.

Weak points:
- desynchronization: Some elements have rounded corners when they shouldn’t.
- color: At the same time the color scheme looks old in some regions, from the early web.

Overall the new design is good, and it can bring the fresh air on CNET again.

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