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General discussion

Anyone else think that cnet.com website is too busy?

Mar 28, 2006 8:12PM PST

too much going on, i can't concentrate on anything. too many mouseovers, too many columns and boxes and tabs, and special offers that include mouseovers and tabs and... jeez.. its just too much.

i dont have time to be confused and distracted

Discussion is locked

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Yes
Mar 28, 2006 8:40PM PST

I brought it up sometime in Novemeber and the sound of crickets was deafening.

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Tone it down CNET Crowd!!!
Mar 28, 2006 8:48PM PST

no matter how good it is, or how much of the goodness yo have, if you get distracted or confused trying to digest it all, its well ummm not-so-good.


please, try not to put everything you do on the homepage, it gets real annoying. come up with other sites, or just links, or stick to one format (tabs, mouseovers, thumbnails....)

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What I think.
Mar 28, 2006 9:38PM PST

Maybe this design is getting a bit old or maybe we have just seen way to much web2.0 stuff.

However there is hope. take a look at CNET.co.uk

Now look at CNET.com front door and you can see Molly's Box kind of looks like some of the boxes at CNET.co.uk.

To be honest, I don't really mind about the design here too much and think CNET.com should work on some bigger usability glitches, like how they index the site and how their search works.

For example, you should not really be able to bring up individual weekend project videos.

Anyway, that?s what I think and must end by says that CNET rocks!

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UK
Mar 29, 2006 8:28AM PST

I must admit that looking at Cnet.co.uk makes my soul say: Mmmm... I think it has something to do with thier min. use of gradients. It seems.... just better.

But Cnet does rock my socks... So I take it how I Get it... Also look at http://www.cnet.de/ its kind of a half way mark. http://www.cnet.com.au/ and http://japan.cnet.com/ are also good... Cnet has good design in 'em some where...

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Sites
Mar 29, 2006 8:37AM PST

yeah the other CNET sites are getting there, but I really have issues witht eh Auz and Japan frond doors - but i guess thats a kinda persoanl thing.

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Remember:
Mar 28, 2006 11:50PM PST

CNET is a HUGE company, lots and lots of people work on the website. In my opinion, for such a huge company, CNET is doing a good job. Thats not to say that I think its perfect. I do think that some of the ads slow down the loading of the page.

They gotta make money and as far as the ads, I like how they are actually integrated into the website and not floating all over the place....well, except those rather annoying flash pop ups!

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Oh, i am fully aware...
Mar 29, 2006 12:13AM PST

oh i am fully aware of how huge Cnet is... but that should not be an excuse for an overly busy home page. I mean come on, there are plenty of other large companies out there with lots and lots of content and their homepages aren't as busy or distracting.

i am a huge cnet fan, but i never find myself going to the homepage (all of my bookmarks for cnet are buried sections that link directly to those pages) and the primary reason is that i find it hard to find anything.

i am sticking to my guns on this one, no excuses for being too busy and distracting.

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Weekend Project
Mar 29, 2006 1:07AM PST

A while back I got annoyed trying to find the weekend project, just now I was curious to see if they had a subdomain for it, luckily they do:

http://weekendproject.cnet.com

On the home page you have to scroll ALL the way down and even then it is hard to find.

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AMEN BRUTHA!!!
Mar 29, 2006 12:03AM PST

Yes,

I sometimes have to drink a doubleshot of expresso to have enough jittered energy to keep up with the tons of links, graphics, ads, and options on the site. I saw a man die once going to the site. He typed in www.cnet.com...and next thing you knew, his head exploded.

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I think it's a little too busy
Mar 29, 2006 12:22AM PST

Like someone else in this thread mentioned, my bookmark links directly to the forums, because I could never find how to get to the forums from there. It could be a little more simple.


-Terry

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(NT) (NT) Yep. (n/t)
Mar 29, 2006 1:40AM PST
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Keeping it simple
Mar 29, 2006 3:45AM PST

CNET is actually going through a gradual redesign to make it more simple and usable. Just recently the CNET homepage just got revamped, hinting at its new direction of a more user-centered experience, more changes will come.

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(NT) (NT) Redesigns are fine and all, but keep it simple stupid!!
Mar 29, 2006 4:50AM PST
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(NT) (NT) please don't call people stupid on the forums.
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Appologies, but that was a reference to K.I.S.S
Mar 29, 2006 8:51AM PST

Sorry about that. i just made a vauge reference to the time tested saying Keep It Simple Stupid... KISS.

sorry, should have said that and also that i wasn't directing it towards you or anyone really just a lame reference.

i dont think any of you are stoopid i think you all rawk actually and i envy your jobs!

sorry bout that

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I'm with stupid.
Mar 29, 2006 8:59AM PST

The other one is keep it sweet & simple.

I like the one with stupid a lot better...thats the one I always use.

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That was not directed at anyone, by the way.
Mar 29, 2006 9:00AM PST

I <3 (heart) you all.

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(NT) (NT) Thanks Andy, and we <3 you too
Mar 29, 2006 9:07AM PST
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I got what you meant.
Mar 29, 2006 9:24AM PST

Dude. it's all good.

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(NT) (NT) thanks man.... [tear falls]
Mar 29, 2006 9:38AM PST
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Yes, somewhat
Mar 29, 2006 6:14AM PST

I think there are too many sections on each page. E.g.: a "sidebar" on both sides of each page. That's the part the makes it seem so busy, imo.

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um, actaly, no
Mar 29, 2006 10:09AM PST

I love cnets website because i am a busy person. Many techies love mutlity tasking or at least i do. the one thing i dont like about the website is that some of the links are flash so i cant try to open it in a new tab.

Grin

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Yes - Need a cleaner interface
Mar 30, 2006 4:38AM PST

I can see the conundrum - CNet has all this content and they are giving people a number of different ways to get at it. They are also paying the bills.

That said, I think a cleaner/tidier/layered approach would be much more soothing. I find I flee the front page. The colour scheme, while a distinct brand, is also an issue, IMO.

CNet needs to get more Mac/Web 2.0 looking. Give my eyeballs a break!

- Micah

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I liked the new C|Net redesign
Mar 31, 2006 3:45AM PST

I loved the redesign of the C|Net site, but I haven't liked the changes to the homepage that have happend lately. The homepage is now gettying more "blah" and generally unappealing. I wish they would go back to how it was right after the redesign! I personally don't think it's busy at all. It might be somewhat overwhelming to someone who hasn't been here before, but after you know your way around it's quite easy.

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Exactly what is a "mouseover" - How can I turn it off?
Aug 22, 2011 8:42PM PDT

Is it a "Windows" thing, an HTML thing, Java, Flash ??? Doesn't seem to matter which OS or browser I use they still persist, so I'm thinking it must be an HTML function. I, for one, would like to be able to just turn it off! Frustrating to try to pan to a point of interest, only to pop up multiple items I have no interest in, just because the mouse cursor happened to cross through an area so designated. I suppose this will all go away as we progress towards a touchscreen interface, but in the meantime, I'll click, or at least pause on , anything which interests me.

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Re: mouseover
Aug 22, 2011 8:55PM PDT

That's a javascript action defined in the source of the page you're looking at. Nothing you can do about it.

Kees

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YES!
Aug 25, 2011 3:35PM PDT

Oh my goodness yes. I think they should follow more of a tech blog type format, because right now it seems more like a news site.

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busy, yes and search sucks
Sep 1, 2011 3:37AM PDT

Try doing a search for "buzz out loud", for example.

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CNET Recieves Government Stimulus $$$ ?
Sep 1, 2011 11:09PM PDT

Apparently Cnet must have been the recipient of a whole bunch of money from Obama's failed stimulus plan. I don't care to know Cnets political ideology but for some reason they feel the need to plaster Obama's face on every web page. I come here for tech info, not to be reminded of the economic disaster that he's unleashed over the last three years. Dump the political content Cnet or many of us will go to impartial sites to get our information.

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Anyone else think that cnet.com website is too busy?
Dec 30, 2011 9:32AM PST

Soso