Can someone please explain to me the rational behind the changes at FA?

[fpb]

In general, changes should not be made to a service without urgent need. What visitors/customers/whatever want is regularity; to know how to handle a service - even if the design may not be ideal - and have what they want at the push of a button, rather than have to rediscover every feature over again every few months. Personally, I find them annoying and I cannot see the point, so, if anyone can explain them, I will be grateful.

Comments

[curia-regis.livejournal.com]

I think it was supposed to make it easier for visitors and readers to navigate from the author fic pages. Personally I'm sort of ambivalent about it.

It's useful for the readers, but not that good for the authors, so yeah, it's okay. I'll get used to it.

[(Anonymous)]

I never thought I would agree with you about anything, but I have to say I agree with you about the changes at FA. They're disrespectful to longterm users of the site.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I find the new design front page fussy and too full of different commands. The old one was easy enough to manage. Now breathe; relax; take it easy. If you don't bust a gut with the effort, the day may well come that you agree with me that water is wet.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I understand there might be a need for variety from time to time. I might me in the minority, but I found the new art a vast improvement, and the new interface not too hard to get used to. Lists agree with me.
At least this time's changes did not bother me nowhere as much as the previous change of artwork, which I did not like remotely as much as the one before.
I suspect in a week or two we won't even notice the changed layout any more...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I still think it's fussy. And I heartily dislike the many-pieces-of-artwork format, with no centre to focus on. Speaking as an artist, I would have designed it differently. I agree that the previous piece of artwork was nothing much - I found it showy and superficial - but it had the great visual advantage of being a single item with a clear centre and composition. This one loses the eye. It is simply bad as design, whatever the quality of individual items. And I still find the on-page indications excessive.

[chthonya]

I never tended to use the front page anyway - it took too long to load and I always found it easier just to use my history and favourites list to go straight to the forum or author page I was interested in, or just to type in www.thedarkarts.org or whatever.

So far, then, I haven't really noticed the changes. In fact, I wouldn't even have been aware of them had I not started that thread in the S&Q forum, and seen the thread there about the changes!

It does seem easier now to get from one part of the site to another (e.g. from the list of Riddikulus authors to the list of TDA authors), and I appreciate that.

And I do think that the artwork is better, though that isn't really saying much as I've never liked the style of FA's artwork. While having the pictures more split up may be visually messier, perhaps making them less of a coherent whole makes it more obvious that they are links to the rest of the site? It took me a long, long time before I figured out that the old front page pictures had that function. But personally I'd rather scrap graphics-heavy navigation anyway, in favour of clear links to the information I've come to read.

PS

[chthonya]

changes should not be made to a service without urgent need

Hmmm. I'm not disagreeing with your point, but I'm not sure I'd describe FAP as a 'service', exactly. It has some attributes of a personal page as well, and the mentality of that is slightly different. Though the people who set up and run it certainly do provide a service that I'm grateful for.

Re: PS

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad that you find they suit you. I used to always start with the front page, now maybe I will change that.