Did you know Newsarama redesigned? I didn’t, till I checked our referrers and read a little rant on Between The Staples about Web 2.0 comic sites:
“I know this will get me in trouble with certain people considering I work in web development but GAWDS I hate it when websites become “beta” with the stupid sunburst behind the logo, stripes, the HUGE widescreen look. Now hey Comic Book Resources looks like Newsarama which looks like Pop Culture Shock. First it was Chud.com which did the revamp, then along came CBR and now Newsarama followed suit.”
CBR looks like Newsarama which looks like PCS? I’m not sure I follow that exactly, since I guess they are saying they’re in “beta” mode but we aren’t. Maybe it just means that PCS is a trendsetter and they’re just now catching up? Heheh. Honestly I just try to keep up with web trends in general and obviously it’s easier for me to make changes than it is for bigger sites. I wish I had time to upgrade/tweak PCS more often. I remember when we first started — back when we were “Channel Zero” — I probably did a redesign every month (not saying that is necessarily a good thing).
I always took the fact that the big comic sites are behind the times design-wise as just a reflection of the comics industry in general. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to explain some ass-backward comic industry logic to Howard, who, as our videogames editor just doesn’t get how it can be like that.
I think Marvel did a great job overhauling their site. Blogs, multimedia, feeds, digital comics — clearly someone over there (Dokes?) is very forward thinking about where they want to be. Meanwhile, over at DC… *cough*
CBR’s revamp was okay to me because it still feels like CBR, and the Comics Bulletin (fka Silver Bullet) redesign was also pretty good — at least on the surface. I can’t say beyond that as I don’t really go to any of these sites except to get review data for Comic Rankings.
About Newsarma’s redesign — I know most people would say “About time!” But I have been saying for years that I wouldn’t change anything if I was them. The way I see it they really don’t have anything to gain — except feeds and some other 2.0 type features they probably should’ve had years ago. And maybe more attractive ad space? I never understood why anybody would pay big bucks to have their ad get lost. I know Midtown doesn’t even advertise there anymore since they got acquired and they’re not the only ones. Who knows, maybe this redesign will bring some of those advertisers back.
But even if new look is cleaner and hipper, and maybe they gain a little more traction with casual visitors — more than anything I think it’s just going to disorient their core audience and give the angry fanboys something new to bitch about. The way I look at it, so what if Newsarama was just a big glorified message board? They were/are #1 easily. I looked at them like Ain’t It Cool — I don’t think anybody would ever say a site should look like AICN, but why fix what ain’t broke.
Anyways. Back to the bit about CBR & Newsarama looking like PCS. I’d really rather not be lumped in with them — unless we can somehow sell out and become a big glorified press outlet and make those kinds of bucks ^_^
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