We Have a New Look! What Do You Think?
We warned you we were rolling out a new site design so your eyes are not playing tricks on you today. The new design rolled out last night and is all sparkly and new. We really love it and hope you do too. Take a look around and see how much easier it is to get around the site, that was one of our goals. We think you’ll also find the site loads much quicker than the old one, and I can tell you it displays very nicely on phone browsers. We tested everything but with such a major change we might have missed something. Leave a comment if you see something not working as it should so we can stomp that bug. Also leave us a comment to tell us what you think of the new design. We do all of this for you and your thoughts on the design matter far more than ours. Enjoy your stay at jkOnTheRun. We’re glad you’re here.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
Congrats James & Kevin on the succesful redesign launch. I know it’s sometimes a tense moment when you flip the switch. The new design looks great and loads quickly on my T-Mobile G1 (Donut) and definitely is 100% a member of the GigaOM family now.
Congrats on the new site, I’m sure it was a lot of work. It looks really good and much easier to navigate.
Personally, I miss the personal touches such as the cartoon heads (which allowed me to e-mail you directly) and the equipment manifests. The new site has lost the homey personal feeling I have come to associate with JKontherun. You have been assimilated by the Om.
Agree with the “homely” comment, the new design makes the sit feel like every other tech site. Preferred the old design myself.
Count me in with those who liked the old look and feel — it was uniquely JK and didn’t have a whiff of it “should look like this just ’cause everyone else looks this way”. That said, content is king and you guys are princes of the realm. P.S. I still want to see you available on Kindle.
Your site is great – but tell your partners at GigaOm Network (shown at the bottom of your page) to UPDATE it. It has not been updated since EARLY September – it mentions an event COMING on Sept 9!!
like the old color scheme, this is ok, but it has no sharp eye catching feel. It seems calming, bring the excitement back with some sharp and bold colors.
From the the first time I found your site with the Sony UX unboxing, I have enjoyed your site. Please do not change that, but go back to the core, looking at the devices that we all wish we could test, living through your unboxing, the excitement of a new device.
I like the new look. Very clean and professional.
Keep up the good work.
I don’t like it. Looks like all the others. I enjoyed your old site. It was unique. I do like your work however!
Congratulations on the update. Loads very quickly on my phone.
looking good guys! :)
always enjoy your posts!
It is certainly less cluttered than the last look. It seems to load faster as well. I am not sure about the lack of separation between the right hand site of the page and the main content however. Some kind of simple separator element like a background block on the right hand side content might work. Apart from that little niggle the rest is fine with me… Well Done :)
The new design is clean and beautiful. Congrats.
I preferred the older layout. I immediately knew what site I was on and found it easier to see each individual post. This looks too generic, as if you’ve been taken over by some huge conglomerate out to rule the world. Fight for the little people, I say!!
Clean, nice, less clutter. I like.
Feels much more readable. Though I would prefer if the actual content column was surrounded by a border, or had a lightly colored background. With everything floating around in white-space, it feels less organized than it really is, especially with conflicting ‘margins’ that your eye attempts to create as borders of the column using shapes outside of the column (which are often different sizes as they aren’t meant to be a border).
Also, if you select of the section from the white bar (eg: Netbook, Phones, etc), you can’t tell if you are actually in that section as there is no indication (no highlighting of the word, or change of color scheme, as far as I can tell). Nothing to notify the user that they are browsing just ‘netbook’ content, or just ‘phone’ content.
Good point, we’ll have to think about that. Meanwhile, you will see the category being displayed in the URL bar of the browser.
Nice and clean – and as others have mentioned, it’s the great work that you and Kevin do that makes this one of the sites I check obsessively! Keep it up.
PS – so Matt Miller is only on the podcast and is not part of this site i guess?
That’s correct, Matt does his ZNet and Nokia Experts thing. We love having him on the podcast, though.
Looks the same in Google Reader. ;)
I don’t like it. The old one was much better. The old one had more character. This is just plain like most other big websites. Should at least get the old colors back.
I’ll repost my comment from the other post here:
Sorry to say this but I hate the new design. It lacks any clear definition of content areas making it hard to see what belongs where. The sidebar just sits there with no defining borders which looks really aweful when the items are differently sized and dont have any natural borders. Very straining on the eye because you constantly try to focus on what part of the page is content and whats sidebar. The giant red ad doesnt exactly help keep things clean. The yellow reminants are just weird as the only really colorful items on the site and everything just looks so…washed out. Almost like when the site has a bug and the css isnt loaded properly. I’m sorry but the site is now borderline unreadable IMO
Can’t please everyone. I thought the old one looked, well, OLD and tired. Like this much better. Not straining on my eyes at all.
Very nice and refreshing change! There is so much space… the content can breath :) Thank you for the update.
Congrats! The new site looks great!
Love the new design. It is clean and less clutter. I suggest to move the GigaOM pro solicitation to the right panel (for two reason: too much clutter on the body content and you still have quite a lot of white space on the right panel) :)
I like it. Much easier to read from my iPhone (for that obsessive checking while on the go).
I really like it, much cleaner look than before — but I agree with the comment above about moving the GigaOm Pro stuff to the right sidebar.
Good stuff!
My two cents. I’m not a web page designer and not sure if I speak the right lingo, but here goes.
I, too, agree with other posts that I’d prefer a border around the content article. I’d like to see the imbedded ad smaller so I can see more of the paragraph that follows.
While the color scheme is calmer, it does feel corporate and a bit dull. If you took the contrast up a notch, it would be easier to read and more exciting. The light blue text is just that, too light. I have to try harder to read it, and my tendency then is just to skip it.
I would prefer that when I click through to say, Mobile Tech, I could find a hyperlink to the articles that follow, so that I don’t have to scroll through screens of articles I’m not interested in.
I searched for “tablet” and just got a scrolling chrono list of columns you wrote. No summary list of articles. For me, this would be time-saving and helpful. I can’t do a more refined search, if I don’t know yet, what I’m looking for.
Could you add a “print” function that would open a new page without ads so I could print and save a few of your gems? I really hate cutting and pasting to do it now. Thanks
I like the new look. More spacious and modern looking. It makes better usage of the higher resolution that most people have now.
IMHO much, much better friends… loved the cartoons, but really disliked the yellow color… very welcome change for me…
Looks great!
Nicer for my old eyes…Thanks.
Site looks good. Would like to see a tab for podcasts.
The site looks fine but I would appreciate a “Share/email” link on each article.
As long as you and Kevin are the ones doing the writing, I don’t care what it looks like.
You might have just won the unofficial “best comment of the day” award. ;)
In the grand scheme of things, I wholeheartedly concur! :)
Though a bit of color never hurts, lol.
Thanks to all for the feedback, both positive and negative. We’re not done with changes by a long shot — let’s call this “phase one” for now. We have great things planned — both here on the site and on the network at large — that set up this “facelift.” One of the main things we needed in order to accomplish future plans is a common look and feel across the network. Behind the scenes, that means common code / templates; hence the similarity to other sites here.
All in all, good feedback. I completely agree on the search feature and it’s been on our radar to beef up for some time. Our ultimate goal is to make things better and while we can’t please everyone, know that we’re trying to please as many as possible. Thanks! :)
usually when a site gets reworked almost all of the comments are “great, looks awesome!”. so the fact that about half the people who have commented so far dont like it says ALOT.
my feelings are, definitely looks too generic. if i was coming here for the 1st time, i wouldnt think this was a real site. it looks like a generic site that grabs stories from other sites to post here & make money with ads.
lots of times when stuffy corporate types like Om get ahold of something this is what they do to it, because they have no real “vision” in life. what made jkontherun unique before was that homegrown blogger look. now your vision is more Microsoft & much less Apple.
artists inspire people to better themselves & the world, middle management just do the artist paperwork.
Not sure if you’ve ever met Om in real life, but he’s about as far from the “stuffy corporate” types as you can get. ;) Regardless, I’ve explained in a comment above why we have the same look and feel as the networks sites. All I can say at this point is that I’d hope people come here for the content as that’s where I think the real value is… aside from the great community and conversation, that is.
The new design looks professional but like many others, I prefer the old one. The new design lost the passion and feeling of the good old jkontherun.
I preferred the old version, but I’ll live with the new. I’d assume that in a few days I really won’t care, or notice, anymore.
Needs a *little* more color, especially in the comments to breakup the white, but I love it overall! :)
Maybe a return of some yellow/red highlights along the way to remind us of the “old days”, lol.
+1
Who knew a great site can get better? You were right with the mobile view. It loads very fast on edge and faster on 3g than ever before on my iphone. No more zooming or navigating. Awesome job with the new clean layout and keep up the good work.
P.S. more videos!!!!!
For me design is not attractive, but now the site is too fast! So I like this.
I don’t like it. Looks like all the others. I enjoyed your old site. It was unique. I do like your work however!
+1
Congrats on the new design guys, it looks cool, i like it. Loads faster and its phone/iPod Touch friendly, just wish i could watch the videos reviews (or a link to them) on the smartphones since most got youtube video player clients, of course, until flash player becomes available on handhelds which i cant hardly wait :-)
I like the clean new look.
However… the huge Home Button seems a waste… people checking a tech blog are aware that clicking the title/logo will take you home.
Also bring back the cartoon heads (or equivolent). This is J & K on the run… the personal aspect of the site is what sets apart this site from a faceless CNET review. I don’t care what jkontherun has to say about stuff, I care what James & Kevin have to say about stuff!
I like this neat, clean & refreshing…great!! congrats
Like it a lot. A whole lot. Very, very easy to read. Simple, yet effective. Nice choice!!
Would like to see more articles in the RSS feed. Some of the time it doesn’t even show all the articles posted in one day :-(
Yeah, bring back the cartoon heads, plus an updated link of the tech/gadget gears you guys have like before, it would also be cool from time to time to see a live streaming video of the Mobile Tech Manor or Kevin’s Home Office :-) and see you guys WORK !, lol, just to see how you guys do the wonderful stuff that you bring us everyday, of course, i said time to time because I know you guys have secret gadgets that are not allowed to be said, mention, or view until its officially announced.
Sorry guys, too corporate. I liked the unique feel of the old site and load speeds were never an issue.
ugg! as in ugly and generic.
1) (a very simple change) Change the backgroundcolor that white white is a huge glare and hard on the eyes. Check writing.com out and see how much easier it is to read on a yellowish background. (isn’t the Kindles slightly gray?)
2) bring back the cartoon heads or something similar. The ease of clicking to the emails from there is one of those things that seem to have gotten lost in todays websites, that being ease of use.
Sorry James and Kevin, but I just don’t like it. As others here have already said, it’s beginning to look more like a bland corporate news site as opposed to a personal tech blog.
While I’m not opposed to change, and understand the need to mirror the network’s desires, this new incarnation lacks the identity and character that the old format exhibited. Sadly, that’s exactly what happens in the long run when you sell out to a big corporation. I know my blog isn’t in the same league as this, but it is still MINE – I decide how it looks and what I do with it.
I too miss the signature orange and black – all the white background is now burning my retinas. The text seems to be blown up a notch too far (headings in particular), the cool carton heads are gone, and the familiar border has been removed.
It’s great that you guys are working to make the site better, and while I may be making a dire wish to see the old personality and homegrown style return, the key thing is – as someone pointed out here – that James and Kevin continue to be the ones doing all the writing. It’s the content that brings me here. As long as you guys keep up the great work, I’m staying.
Looks very bland and lifeless – I prefer the old style which was instantly identifiable
Lost your personality!
I think it looks spiffy. I like the tabs (agree with the need for an indicator when I get there). I like that you’ve integrated it with GigaOm instead of having the parts unrelated (I know you were doing that previously; this seems even more integrated).
I miss the heads (two heads). I miss the yellow streaking all the way down. I don’t think the old was better, but those are two things I miss. It’s an amazingly unique yellow that I’ve seen used nowhere else and that I’ve used (believe it or not) to adjust my monitors over the years. When that looks right, everything else is rendered properly. (I know it’s at the top.)
Hey, congrats! I only look this clean after a haircut!
I really loved the distinctness of your old site, and I will miss it. In the long run, it probably doesn’t matter much, as I will get used to the new one.
I am curious about the need to have all the OM sites appear the same. I can only hope that there is some useful payoff for what appears to be a poor idea . . . meaning it better not be just some lame attempt to get more hits on the other sites in the network. In any event, thanks for all the good stuff you’ve done over the years and will continue to do.
Change is tough — I’m guessing the people who say they don’t like it will get more used to the new look over time. As for me, I like the cleaner look, though I do think some sort of divider or shading for the right column would be nice. And I also agree that a visual indication of where you are (among netbooks, phones, etc. would be useful). All in all, though, it’s the content, not the look, that keeps me coming back to the site every day, and that will continue.
James and Kevin;
Early this morning I saw the note from James about the new look of the site and went to check it out. Before going to work (Thursdays are the one day a week I don’t work remotely) I left a note regarding my initial thoughts. My thoughts haven’t changed but I would like to expand a little on them.
While the new look of the site may be in line with the corporate vision, it is by comparison to the old site very sterile and uninviting. Long before I stumbled across jkontherun I found you both in iTunes with the podcasts you did on The Podcast Network (The Tablet PC Show and techAddiction). I was devastated when those shows stopped coming, seemingly without notice, but due the magic of the Internet I found each of you at “jkontherun” and “kct’s digital world”. Then you appeared again with your independently produced podcasts “OnTheRun with Tablet PCs” and “Mobile Tech RoundUp” (it appears you both got your shift keys fixed). Although we have never met or even spoken in person I got to know both of you through your cartoon heads, your voices in the podcasts and finally your videos when you came together and collaborated full time under jkontherun. In your blogs, podcasts, and videos you shared yourselves, introducing us to your wives Sheri and Barb, and allowed us to meet minor celebrity and future video-caster Tyler. We’ve weathered hurricanes, flooding and power outages with you. You’ve shared some of your highs (Kevin’s wedding, and James’ grandchildren’s visit) and your lows (James health problems and the passing of Kevin’s father, as well as the shared loss of Marc Orchant) with us. Over the years we’ve had many a virtual coffee together with James at Starbucks and his other local beaneries and ridden with Kevin to the Wawa for a cup of morning joe. Heck we’ve even been to virtual dinner and drinks with Kevin a few times near his home.
Almost every Friday morning for the past year we’ve sat in Mobile Tech Manor and listened to James reminisce about his week since we can’t follow him around the offices of “big oil company” anymore. We’ve even been there with Kevin getting ready to rewire his house before moving a file cabinet and discovering that all important cable TV jack. All of this through the magic of the Internet. We aren’t just your readers we are your friends and through you we are community. To quote Kevin “That’s what makes jkOnTheRun what it is — it’s not what James and I write, nor what we do — it’s the camaraderie and community that offers the real value.” (Kevin, the offer to borrow the slide projector still stands).
I realize that GigaOm is positioning to become a corporate player in the “market research” community and I think it’s great that they are growing a business where you can both earn a good living doing something you enjoy, writing about, and playing with, tech. If I could however offer something to the decision makers at GigaOm (and I would ask you to forward this to Om and to others for consideration) it would not be to make jkontherun into the guise of the other GigaOm blogs, it would be to encourage the other blogs to consider becoming more like jkontherun. Through jkontherun I found other GigaOm blogs (WebWorkerDaily, theAppleBlog, GigaOm) and I find their articles informative and enjoyable but I couldn’t name even one of their writers (other than Om) off the top of my head. But I can tell by writing style whether a jkontherun article was written by James or Kevin. While I have on occasion commented on other blogs in the GigaOm network I seldom check the “Notify me of follow-up comments via email” box when I do leave a comment. With jkontherun I literally smack myself in the head when I leave a comment and don’t check the box, because I’m interested in what the rest of the community has to say and in what James’ and Kevin’s response will be.
This isn’t just a blog, it’s a conversation among friends about gadgets, the tech industry, and other friends (gottabemobile and jkkmobile to name a couple). I’d hate to see that lost as it’s a rare commodity and becoming rarer and rarer. You don’t just write about the technology, you write about how it fits, or doesn’t fit, into your lives. Because of what you have created here I’m always willing to offer an opinion or answer a question (my area of interest is Information Security), or lend a hand. Your writing and sharing of yourselves sets you apart and makes the blog and podcast engaging and enjoyable, and both are on my read/listen first list when something new is published. Keep up the good work.
Kevin, please don’t be offended that I always put James ahead of you each time in this missive, I’m old enough to have been raised by a woman who considered manners very important, and she always taught me “age before beauty”. ;-)
Wow, I am deeply, deeply touched. I am also speechless, something you no doubt know is very rare indeed. Rest assured I have forwarded your comment to the entire GigaOM organization. I am so proud to be your friend, and you are unquestionably my friend.
BTW, “aged beauty” is rare but special when you find it. :)
Now that I’ve had time to think for a moment, I want to address your wonderful sentiments. You have succinctly captured why I started this blog, and why I still do it today. You are my extended family, and I mean that whole-heartedly. I share what I do because I care about each and every one of you, and the community we have is priceless.
At the base level, the changes to the site today are superficial. They are not the blog, the people are the blog and that has not changed. Think of this as a new coat of paint on the house. The same family lives inside and that will not change.
We will continue to do what we do because we love it. That has not changed nor will it. It might look different, but it still comes from the same place as always. Family.
I cant agree more with the post. I was planning on leaving a comment like it (not nearly as good though). I haven’t found another blog with the character and personality that I see everyday here on jkonthrun.
I sent Kevin an email on my thoughts on my MSI Wind. It was meant to be a quick email to Kevin. It turned into something I’m extremely proud of because its posted on jkontherun, my favorite blog. It really wasn’t the best writing of mine at all, but its on my favorite blog. Thats what makes it special to me.
These changes are superficial and only get your site moved into a template for your network. I just hope that it isn’t one of about four changes. The last change being the one that makes my favorite blog just like everyone else. I don’t think it will happen with jkontherun. I just thought it needed to be said.
Your friend,
Cody Blotske
Sorry guys, but the site now just looks like the bland “white bread” style of so many other tech sites. Flowingly neat pages of the same headlines seen everywhere. The old JK was funky and oh so distinctive. Must it be inevitable that when something or someone reaches a level of sucess and recognition that a certain blandness is the tradeoff? I heartily admit that your former site was my very first tech site read each and every morning. I don’t think it’s gonna stay that way now.
The passion in the comments of this post is as raw as I ever recall it being on a jkontherun post. It drives home to me just how special this community is to everyone and @cybertactix thank you for your heartfelt eloquence on this. But let us not let changes to some .css files distract us from the gifts James and Kevin give us every day through their writing. It’s not like we don’t already know they would do this for free: they have and I’m sure still would. James and Kevin have been great stewards of the spirit of this site since the move to GigaOm, and I can’t ever imagine that changing.
Me likee
(Steve)
My first impression that it’s nice and clean. However, reading through the comments, I can see why people liked the old design for its “homey” feel. For the most part, though, I read jkOnTheRun via RSS, so ultimately the new site design is sort of moot to me. But I’ll keep checking in whenever changes come up, just out of curiosity. :)
I guess I will get used to the new design after a while, but the first impression is that I miss the yellow colour that was so distinctive for your old design.
I think you should definitely put back the cartoon heads which surely will fit in the right column. I am a big fan of you and that has mostly to do with your personal approach, this design is a bit too generic to make me feel at home now.
I like the new look but the ability to comment should be UNDER the article not ABOVE it. Right now when you’re browsing through articles, you have to scroll back up to comment which is un-natural.
Hey you guys are back! (Well the cartoon heads are anyway lol). Now if the background could be tamed down we’d be happy with the site AND the content…
It still crashes (out of memory) Opera on my XV6800… (is there a mobile friendly version)…but I still like the old style better.
As long as the content keeps the high level it always has, I guess the background layout and color doesn’t really matter that much.
Definitely dig the new look. You guys do great reviews on mobile broadband and a bunch of other stuff. It was cluttered before but this is a lot more clean. Kudos
Bring back the orange background please, its too samey to other sites
kudos to the clean new design, the old one felt outdated ^_^
Like the old look better, but don’t really care that much. As long as you’re going with the new look how about putting the Giga OM navigation menu at the bottom as well as the top like it is on the mother ship page.
i subscribed to yalls rss feed and love it. i use rss feed on my sprint touch pro; one little thing. i only get 10 feeds at one time. i dont think its my settings. if 12 posts are posted before i have a chance to check them i miss 2. your rss feed is something i check on a constant basis but sometimes cant keep up w/. keep up the great work.
That should now be fixed. You should get up to 16 items at a time.
The new design is easy on the eye and it seems to load faster too. Nice work!
too light, too white, get back a little of the colors to ease up on the eyes.
I like the design but I really miss the tags.