Random Human
They were trying to grab your prize. They work for the mercenary. The masked man.
Kinja, huh? Well, at least thanks to this thread I can put a name to the site design I hate so much.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The A.V. Club has moved to Kinja (i.e. Kotaku/Deadspin layout)
- Thread starter ZeoVGM
- Start date
J.W. Stillwater
Member
Its really just the final nail in the coffin for me. The AV Club was a site I visited multiple times every day. Reviews of pretty much any TV show on air, O'Neil Newswires, My Year of Flops, Inventories, etc. It was very formative in my teens.
The site has gone the way of almost any other one that relies on the written word. Most of their traffic comes through social media, so it devolved into a bunch of "hey, here's this viral video, I guess I'll write 250 words about it." and their review coverage makes me sad. Most of their talent left a long time ago, though, so its not like they're being wasted.
The site has gone the way of almost any other one that relies on the written word. Most of their traffic comes through social media, so it devolved into a bunch of "hey, here's this viral video, I guess I'll write 250 words about it." and their review coverage makes me sad. Most of their talent left a long time ago, though, so its not like they're being wasted.
MikeOfAllTrades
Member
That navigation bar isn't rendering in Chrome for me. No adblock either. Opened in in Edge and I see it. Weird.
Despite not actually watching that much TV, I really enjoyed the A.V. Club's reviews (and even the comments at times). I've learned a lot about critique from them over the years, and their feature work can be great.
But they've definitely been on a downward slope for the past few years (see 2014 when they lost a bunch of their best writers at once) and this new layout is just an awful match for what they put out. I'm repeating what others have said but the single-column chronological format sort of works for news sites like Kotaku, but when a big chunk of the site's appeal is reviews and features that aren't immediately time-sensitive it becomes a mess. Unless you start bookmarking categories*, you won't be able to see new reviews without scrolling through pages of celeb headlines and Great Job, Internet! and guessing what's actually a review.
*(Bonus: when I checked earlier today the categories for an individual TV show's reviews aren't chronological at all - going to Doctor Who spits up reviews from series 4 above reviews from the episodes that aired in June.)
I realize the actual content of the reviews and features aren't changing with this redesign, but I just can't see any benefit at all to the new layout.
But they've definitely been on a downward slope for the past few years (see 2014 when they lost a bunch of their best writers at once) and this new layout is just an awful match for what they put out. I'm repeating what others have said but the single-column chronological format sort of works for news sites like Kotaku, but when a big chunk of the site's appeal is reviews and features that aren't immediately time-sensitive it becomes a mess. Unless you start bookmarking categories*, you won't be able to see new reviews without scrolling through pages of celeb headlines and Great Job, Internet! and guessing what's actually a review.
*(Bonus: when I checked earlier today the categories for an individual TV show's reviews aren't chronological at all - going to Doctor Who spits up reviews from series 4 above reviews from the episodes that aired in June.)
I realize the actual content of the reviews and features aren't changing with this redesign, but I just can't see any benefit at all to the new layout.
OneEightZero
aka ThreeOneFour
The AV Club was always a site I experienced through RSS. I don't care how the site is designed as long as I can read it. This Kinja thing doesn't bother me in the slightest.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
From an hour or so of looking, Uproxx seems to be closest to getting "What's On Tonight" correct:
Main listings page:
http://uproxx.com/topic/whats-on-tonight/
Click on example daily article:
http://uproxx.com/tv/whats-on-tonight-the-sinner-usa-2/
Unfortunately although their main design is good and clean they have all the standard internet bullshit you need to make money in 2017 (subscribe to our newsletter, you might also like, share this on facebook/twitter, asshole bar following you as you scroll, infinite loader loading random ass articles you don't care about when you get to the bottom, etc.) They also have a shitty autoplay video ad that follows you.
I used the following filters to make the design somewhat less bad:
! Autoplay video ad
uproxx.com##.uproxx-featured-video-wrap
! Comments section and newsletter garbage
uproxx.com##.hide-before-done.uproxx-below-post
! More garbage at the bottom of articles
uproxx.com##.hide-before-done
! Infinite scroll loader
uproxx.com/uproxx_single_infinite/*
! The loading spinner for the infinite scroll loader I just blocked
uproxx.com##.infinite-loader
The downside is that the descriptions are more like TV Guide episode descriptions than show descriptions, and they include some trash reality tv that no one would care about. An upside is that they explicitly list late night guests, which I thought was cool.
King Tubby
Member
The new layout just does not work at ALL for what The AV Club is. The blog is only a small part of the website. And the comments section is likely destined for decline the same way Deadspin's fell off after their migration.
mea culpa
mea culpa
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I went through the day's twitter reactions. I counted about 500 distinctly negative reactions and 2 clearly positive reactions (one appeared to be from a bitter ex commenter more happy that the old site was dead than that the new site was better).
The main announcement post from the AVClub account had 59 replies, and all of the ones that were germane and expressed a position were negative. The TV Club had 23 replies, all negative. The likes on the tweets seem mostly from spambots, and the public retweets are almost entirely self-retweets from other accounts associated with the Gawker / Kinja / whatever brand.
I don't think I've ever seen such a lopsided reaction. What's worse is that many of the comments read something like "I've been reading the AV Club every day for a decade, I have 10,000 comments, it's the only media site I read, and I just deleted my bookmark and won't be migrating my commenting account." -- like it's not just "this is bad", it's "I no longer want to be a part of this at all."
The main announcement post from the AVClub account had 59 replies, and all of the ones that were germane and expressed a position were negative. The TV Club had 23 replies, all negative. The likes on the tweets seem mostly from spambots, and the public retweets are almost entirely self-retweets from other accounts associated with the Gawker / Kinja / whatever brand.
I don't think I've ever seen such a lopsided reaction. What's worse is that many of the comments read something like "I've been reading the AV Club every day for a decade, I have 10,000 comments, it's the only media site I read, and I just deleted my bookmark and won't be migrating my commenting account." -- like it's not just "this is bad", it's "I no longer want to be a part of this at all."
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I basically ceased to read io9 because of Kinja.
It's not only unintuitive and ugly as few others, but an extremely poor fit for long form articles. Kinja is barely adequate for PR/YouTube shitposting as it is. IIRC Gawker had the balls to make it about empowering reader comments and whatnot, but it basically ruined them.
This reeks of top management meddling.
It's not only unintuitive and ugly as few others, but an extremely poor fit for long form articles. Kinja is barely adequate for PR/YouTube shitposting as it is. IIRC Gawker had the balls to make it about empowering reader comments and whatnot, but it basically ruined them.
This reeks of top management meddling.
What a mess, I was trying to read a couple of Twin Peaks reviews, I managed to get to the "Season 3" page, but you just have a bunch of articles with random titles and you have to open them one by one to find out what episode they're about, unless it's mentioned in the short description of the article.
I loved how simple the old layout was, being able to see every season and every episode in chronological order with the score right next to it was the main reason I visited avclub.
I loved how simple the old layout was, being able to see every season and every episode in chronological order with the score right next to it was the main reason I visited avclub.
What a mess, I was trying to read a couple of Twin Peaks reviews, I managed to get to the "Season 3" page, but you just have a bunch of articles with random titles and you have to open them one by one to find out what episode they're about, unless it's mentioned in the short description of the article.
I loved how simple the old layout was, being able to see every season and every episode in chronological order with the score right next to it was the main reason I visited avclub.
It's such a mess, you basically have to go looking for new reviews, there's no subsection, they look the same as news articles so it's really hard to find them. I'm sure they'll iron out the kinks eventually, but I have no idea why they launched it in this state.
johnnyquicknives
Member
Everyday at lunch the first thing I do is pop open a tab for Gaf and tab for AVClub. I was genuinely gutted when I opened it today.
This basically sums it up for me, and I'd also kill for a recommendation of a decent replacement site. Mostly for daily TV reviews/whats on but I did also read quite a few articles from across the site.
This basically sums it up for me, and I'd also kill for a recommendation of a decent replacement site. Mostly for daily TV reviews/whats on but I did also read quite a few articles from across the site.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
I saw this earlier. It's horrendous.
Really sucks because I love AV Club.
Really sucks because I love AV Club.
So The AV Club is going to continue having Gameological Posts, and those will be branded separately then Kotaku?
Also, when drilling down to a show review, you need to now drill into each post to see the score?
Univision trying to consolidate all of their brands makes a lot of sense but this implementation feels off.
EDIT: There is a blatant defect when you hover over The AV Club in the top bar, the dropdown shows content from other Kinja sites instead of The AV Club. Did anyone test this?
Also, when drilling down to a show review, you need to now drill into each post to see the score?
Univision trying to consolidate all of their brands makes a lot of sense but this implementation feels off.
EDIT: There is a blatant defect when you hover over The AV Club in the top bar, the dropdown shows content from other Kinja sites instead of The AV Club. Did anyone test this?
dead souls
Member
This should make me sad but it doesn't. The site's been slowly dying for the past few years and this is just finally putting it out of its misery.
It's basically assisted suicide for a website.
It's basically assisted suicide for a website.
4 is a cutie
Banned
Why Kinja? The layout is terrible for a site like A.V Club
KenzinFive
Member
My main issue with it right now is that when you're reading on a desktop (at least for me), the main text of an article takes up only the right 2/3s of the screen. The left third of the screen is a giant side bar with recommended articles, ads, and a fuck-ton of empty space. I hate it, and it's part of the reason why I stopped reading Kotaku and other former Gawker sites regularly. It's as if the article content is getting pushed off-screen to the right by a giant, pointless, mostly empty column of white.
I'd be OK with it if it was just the front page and the articles' pages were centered or took up the whole width of the screen. But no. Instead I'm looking at only 2/3s of my screen to read the content that I'm actually interested in. And what's worse, I'll always be bothered by the giant sidebar on the left since my eyes will naturally travel from left to right.
I'd be OK with it if it was just the front page and the articles' pages were centered or took up the whole width of the screen. But no. Instead I'm looking at only 2/3s of my screen to read the content that I'm actually interested in. And what's worse, I'll always be bothered by the giant sidebar on the left since my eyes will naturally travel from left to right.
bearythebear
Member
I feel really bad for their long form writers. Really good reviews/articles just get buried after half a day. It's kinda brutal.
I've been going on avclub daily for the past few years, and this is sad. The "blog style" doesn't fit them at all.
Heck, even in the apology post they can't come up with even one advantage of moving to Kinja (other then saving money).
I've been going on avclub daily for the past few years, and this is sad. The "blog style" doesn't fit them at all.
Heck, even in the apology post they can't come up with even one advantage of moving to Kinja (other then saving money).
fallengorn
Bitches love smiley faces
Ugh... that Kinja design is awful.
Random Human
They were trying to grab your prize. They work for the mercenary. The masked man.
Jesus
Sure, AV Club. Sure. One of the few sites that I really like, despite it's highs and lows, and this is just... not great. For all of the reasons mentioned in this thread.
I loved reading their site. Now it just doesnt make any sense. Unless you are visiting it every 10 minutes stuff seems like itll get buried (which is probably the idea).
I wouldve loved if The Dissolve couldve worked with some patreon service or something. Id kill to have that back.
I wouldve loved if The Dissolve couldve worked with some patreon service or something. Id kill to have that back.
What's the point of those features? Is it literally just to get extra clicks for other pages?
I haven't frequented the AV Club from the very beginning, but I have probably put in a decade or so in that site. It has had some shitty design choices, but nothing which renders the site unusable.
Until now.
It's just such a fundamentally unsuitable design for what the AV club was.
Also this:
Until now.
It's just such a fundamentally unsuitable design for what the AV club was.
Also this:
Only I wouldn't kill, am totally up for causing some grievous bodily harm in exchange for it though.
So anyone found any decent alternatives?
Vulture and variety dont seem too bad for news and some episode reviews and recaps. Ive enjoyed vultures Twin Peaks stuff.
Birth.movies.death is probably my favorite but they dont usually do consistent episode by episode reviews expect some of he bigger shows.
Vulture and variety dont seem too bad for news and some episode reviews and recaps. Ive enjoyed vultures Twin Peaks stuff.
Birth.movies.death is probably my favorite but they dont usually do consistent episode by episode reviews expect some of he bigger shows.
Puck Beaverton
Banned
/dead
Sure, AV Club. One of the few sites that I really like, despite it's highs and lows, and this is just... not great. For all of the reasons mentioned in this thread.
Chezzymann
Member
Kinja is so awful. Not sure why it has so much success.
Writing is writing. I expect the good stuff will continue to be good. My issue with the layout is that it's just that much harder to find the good stuff.
Vulture is great.
Never visited the A.V. Club much in its original form, but I've been reading Deadspin, Kotaku, i09 & Jezebel on a daily basis for 3 years or so, so I'm used to their site layout. It's not the best that's for sure and it'll definitely take some getting used to from users of the old layout.