Welcome To The New ThinkProgress
Welcome To The New ThinkProgress
Welcome to your new and improved ThinkProgress! As you can see, we have given the site a fresh look while preserving the integrity of the old design. In addition to enhancing the graphics on the site, we’ve added a variety of new user functions that we hope you will use often. Here’s a summary of the new features:
– Most Popular box. On the top right hand corner, you will see a new feature that will allow you to view the most popular ThinkProgress posts according to three different metrics: 1) individual posts that have been most frequently linked to by other websites, 2) posts that have received the most number of comments, and 3) posts that have been most frequently e-mailed. [Update: We're still working on populating this box.]
– Search function. We have instituted a new Google search appliance that will hopefully provide for better search results.
– Tip box. On the right-hand sidebar, you will see a new tip box. If you ever have a news story or an idea that you would like to pass on to us, please use this feature. We love receiving tips!
– Progress Report graphic. Also on the right-hand sidebar, there is a new graphic that features the Progress Report, a daily e-newsletter written by the authors of ThinkProgress. The graphic will be changed each day to reflect the main item of that morning’s Progress Report. You can subscribe to receive the newsletter in your inbox by clicking here.
– “Share this.” At the bottom of each blog post, you’ll now see a “Share this” button. Click on that to see a variety of options that allow you to disseminate our content to your social networks.
– E-mail a post. By clicking on the “share this” button, you will see an option to e-mail a blog post. If you like our content, we hope you will send it to your friends and encourage them to visit ThinkProgress more often.
– Print a post. At the bottom of each post, you will see a print option. We created this option because many of our readers have asked us to provide an easier way to print out TP posts.
These are some of the important new features, but you’ll encounter many others as you browse around the site. We’d like to thank our friends at New Signature along with the tech staff at the Center for American Progress Action Fund for developing and implementing these new design concepts. We’ll continue to work to improve the site in whatever way we can.
Let us know what you think of the new look. We’re anxious to hear your feedback. Also, there are many more big announcements coming in the very near future. So stay tuned to ThinkProgress, and as always, thanks for reading.
UPDATE: We’re still working out some kinks this morning so please bear with us.
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Not every one knows HTML.
Formatting tools are helpful.
Maybe TP will be kind … *hint*hint*
.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:51 amDo you plan to re-center it?
March 14th, 2008 at 7:52 amYou have a “Most Popular Box” ; I suggest a “Least Popular Box” for the GOP/Chimpy putzes , so they can “shoot for the stars” , too ………Brown stars , but stars , nevertheless.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:56 amMy first post, although I am a long time reader.
Think Progress is a great site and is a part of my BlogRoll. Thank you for all you do!
March 14th, 2008 at 7:57 amBy not allowing us to use BOLD print or other formatting tools they reduce and control the impact of our posts. They’ve knocked us, the people who post, down a notch. TP must’ve felt we were upstaging them.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:59 amLove it! In fact, Think Progress is my favorite blog site and I even subscribe to it on my Kindle so I never miss a thing. Great upgrade – great blog site. Great job, Faiz!!
March 14th, 2008 at 8:00 amThis is only a test
Let’s see if this works. I’m far from a computer expert.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:01 amWe’ll work on getting the formatting tools for the commenters back in. Thanks for the feedback. Meanwhile, for those who are proficient in html tagging, you can still do the bolding, italicization, etc.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:02 amChorus:
TP come back
Any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
TP come back
You can blame it all on me
I was wrong and I just can’t post without you
All day long wearing a mask of false bravado
March 14th, 2008 at 8:05 amTrying to keep up a smile that hides a tear
But as the sun goes down I get that empty feeling again
How I wish to Allah that you were here
We’ll work on getting the formatting tools for the commenters back in. Thanks for the feedback. Meanwhile, for those who are proficient in html tagging, you can still do the bolding, italicization, etc.
I’m lucky if I can turn my damn computer on correctly ……
March 14th, 2008 at 8:07 amNO FORMATTING?! This won’t do…
March 14th, 2008 at 8:53 amSorry MCMetal – didn’t see your post.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:54 amPerhaps TP has saved all the reformatting for the trolls. We’ll see later if they are even bolder and more slanted than before.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:03 amLooks good, but no choice goodies for the people that post here? Looks like the upgrades are focused on the occasional guest.
OptimisticMF-ing Hussein
March 14th, 2008 at 9:05 amFormatting? We don’t need no stinkin’ formatting.
Don’t be afraid of the HTML, TPers — be the HTML; use the HTML… If you HTML it, they will come…
Congrats, TP — great upgrade.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:05 amWow — it IS different. But I think I can adjust. It looks like everything is still there (except the formatting tools, but they’re coming) — I just have to learn where stuff is. I look forward to using the “most popular” buttons once they are populated.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:09 amFaiz — you know that little thing up in the upper right corner that says that I’m logged in as missmolly? It’s not there. Are you putting that back?
March 14th, 2008 at 9:13 amI am assuming that because of the work going into getting the new interface up and running, we have no ThinkFast this morning? Or will it be coming later?
March 14th, 2008 at 9:14 amIs the Thinkfast thread gone?
‘Sup, TP?
March 14th, 2008 at 9:15 ambuelahman Says:
March 14th, 2008 at 7:57 am
My first post, although I am a long time reader.
———————-
You picked a good time to begin — now you don’t have to “unlearn” the old like the rest of us.
Welcome, and I look forward to seeing your comments.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:15 amMarch 14th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Looks great. You need formatting buttons though.
And I agree with missmolly:
“Faiz — you know that little thing up in the upper right corner that says that I’m logged in as missmolly? It’s not there. Are you putting that back?”
It would be nice to know were actually signed on.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:32 amCool beans!!
March 14th, 2008 at 9:32 amLooks great. You need formatting buttons though.
And I agree with missmolly:
“Faiz — you know that little thing up in the upper right corner that says that I’m logged in as missmolly? It’s not there. Are you putting that back?”
It would be nice to know were actually signed on.
- – - -
Am I the only person here who only posts under one (admittedly, incredibly stupid) name?
1) If you are logged in you get to recommend / report abuse
2) If you look under “Leave a Reply” it says “Logged in as…” Not as convenient, but still there.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:53 amNooooo!!!! I am a conservative, which means I scared of change!
This new look frightens and confusions me!
Seriously, looks nice….Good luck with it!
March 14th, 2008 at 9:53 ami cant post!! :(
March 14th, 2008 at 9:53 amoh wait never mind. LOL
was gettign time-outs 2 minutes ago
bold
March 14th, 2008 at 9:54 ambold
[b]bold[/b]
hmmm… Love TP, don’t think the new look is any better. In fact, I think it is much harder to read and actually took a big step back in appearances. Sorry, but as a web designer myself, the former look was much, much cleaner and more legible.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:57 amThis is a test.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:07 amTesting
March 14th, 2008 at 10:07 amLOVE the new formatting. Couple of things:
Formatting tools, as previously said. The basics are good but href is a killer to remember properly.
I often access TP on my Palm. It would be really nice if you considered mobile users. I spent LOTS O TIME in airports so that whole mobile thing is critical for me. I am sure there are others, too. Just FYI.
Great job again!!
March 14th, 2008 at 10:09 amThis is a test.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:09 amBTW, that would be I SPEND alot of time in airports, not I spenT lots of time. Alas, I am still airborne as much as I am grounded. :-D
March 14th, 2008 at 10:11 amI like the new look. But I think the posts are running together.
Another line break or two after “Recommend | Report Abuse” would help a lot.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:14 amSo far, so good.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:21 amBut it will take a bit of getting used to.
Gotta run now.
PLEASE don’t eliminate “Expand Post.” It was one of my favorite features on this site because I could read more without having to load another page. Those of us still stuck with 20th century dial-up connections would appreciate it.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:27 amMy recommendation would be to add an anchor to the beginning of the comments section so that when a user clicks on the Comments button from the main page, the individual post page loads and goes directly to where the comments start.
This would avoid having to scroll through the post just to start reading the comments.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:28 amLooks great. Thanks. I would like to have the content centered in the view port, rather than left aligned. Those of us using larger, high res monitors (I have 1800 px width setting) would find it easier on the eyes. Thanks again.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:30 amBetter is the enemy of good enough. Formatting buttons?
March 14th, 2008 at 10:38 amGood Morning poster’s and TP…..The new site look’s nice but I think it is harder to read….To tight or close…More spacing between may be helpful…..Like the colorful back drop like we use to have….More flashie is good…..Blessings
March 14th, 2008 at 10:38 amLooks great! Your site is my homepage both at home and at work. I so much appreciate everything you folks do.
Indeed, what would bloggers and diarists who post on the other “popular” blogs do if they didn’t have your site from which to mine their content. Heh.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:10 amHmm. Wondering. HTML codes work in here?
This is a test
This is another test
I have to look up styles again to test to see if style=”blah” works.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:12 amI’m not crazy about the new design and it isn’t at all clear to me what the point was, but I no longer can claim to be a graphic designer, so I’ll just survive. However:
I like having the commenters name at the top; this has long been a request from a number of people.
There is not enough room between the “recommend” buttons in one comment and the number and name on the comment below. Perhaps the designer has been viewing this without being logged in; if the buttons are not visible everything looks fine.
The color schema does not have enough contrast; it would, I am sure, fail to meet ADA requirements. Look at “jump to top” for an example. Light gray on dark gray? Please.
Also failing the visibility test is the font size for the article’s author. Much too small compared with the font size for the article and another size for comments.
These remarks based on observations in Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7.0.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:16 amI think the username and date are a little distracting. I AM a graphic designer. It’s cool to have the hotlinks to each but I’m not sure it works where they are. I think they’d be better placed if they were in the same line as the “Recommend | Report Abuse” links. I don’t think they need their own separate line.
And I would add a touch of space between each comment – the Recommend line is almost crashing on the following comment. This could also be a mac issue as I’m on Safari.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:27 amI’m not so crazy about the fonts… at least I’m finding it a bit harder to read than it used to be.
After adjusting the text size w/ Firefox it looks a bit readable, but I miss the old font.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:45 amThanks for the comments — We’re collecting these suggestions and working on a few adjustments, so hopefully some of these issues (comments section, font sizes) will be addressed soon.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:48 amThe new design looks great. The only thing I’d suggest is adding more space between the comments.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:56 amLove the new doo. But Could you make the font bigger for us half blind types?
March 14th, 2008 at 11:57 amIt’s looks too squished. Maybe have alternate comments shaded?
Love the commenter name at the top, and the font is slightly larger — that’s really helpful to we half blind people.
Looking pretty slick, TP!
March 14th, 2008 at 11:57 amHeh. Jinx, Somona Rus!
March 14th, 2008 at 11:58 amThis will take just a little getting used to like anything new. I’ll give myself maybe 5 minutes.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:02 pmNow, let’s start slaying the trolls!
G’morning Zooey. Whaddaya think of TP?
March 14th, 2008 at 12:03 pmHi, Mr Evil.
TP is like that lover you just can’t get over. We laugh, we cry, we argue, we don’t speak for weeks — but there’s always that irresistible pull….
Heh.
You mean the format? It’ll do. :)
Do you like it?
March 14th, 2008 at 12:09 pmCenter the Site on my browser and I will be all good.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:23 pmWhile you guys are working on re-instituting the format buttons, how about some spacing between the comments? They now run together and it’s more difficult than it used to be to follow the thread.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:29 pmThis is my first comment on TP, so formatting of the comments section is not important to me.
I want to echo other posters, the new site is very difficult to read. The old site was very good and useful. The new site looks a mess in my estimation.
my .02
March 14th, 2008 at 12:32 pmWhew, this is a relief. I didn’t catch the announcement about the redesign, and when I tried the site last night (overnight) All I got was a database error. I couldn’t even get a cached version from Google, and a Netcraft inquiry resulted in a blank page.
I figured it was some kind of maintenance or server trouble, but today I was happily surprised to see a facelift!
Now if only there was a way to *plonk* the trolls..
March 14th, 2008 at 12:39 pmSo it’s still only occupying half of my browser space. Is it downgraded to the lowest denominator, 640×480?
March 14th, 2008 at 12:46 pmPS: I agree about the spacing between comments. I don’t understand the comments about font size though. That’s easily adjusted [to your personal preference] from within your browser.
I too have aging eyes, and I use a Firefox extension called “No Squint”( http://tinyurl.com/3c7opl ). It will save text size preferences for each web site if you want it to so you don’t have to adjust them each time.
Cheers
March 14th, 2008 at 12:56 pmI don’t understand the comments about font size though. That’s easily adjusted [to your personal preference] from within your browser.
- – - – - – - – - -
It’s not so much the font size as the style. I had to program Firefox to use only Times Roman because the font that the site was using was all squished together and hard to read.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:04 pmFirst of all, thanks to the TP staff for the hard work they put in this site every day, and specially now for the redesign. Now the suggestions:
- Funny characters appear in the page when special signs such as apostrophe and double apostrophe(can’t remember it’s correct name in english) are used. Most probably, it has to do with the page character set, being a non standard one.
- If you put a toolbar with formatting buttons, please, mind to put also buttons to change the size of the text in the page. I’ve seen in other pages and I find it very practical for people with sight deficiencies.
- Please reduce the contrast between the color of the background of the page (dark gray) and the main box of post’s text (brilliant white!). It’s killing my eyes right now, and I guess the ones of a series of other people here.
- It has been mentioned above, pero I find it important too: please, increase the spacing between posts, and/or use the trick of changing the background color lightly (white, very light gray?) alternatively for posts, this will increase the legibility, IMHO.
Well, maybe I’m being petty, but well, it’s for what a suggerences entry is, isn’t? :)
March 14th, 2008 at 1:06 pmOh, and when not logged, the right set of tools (View most popular, etc), is shown under this thread, in lieu of the right upper corner.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:07 pmFantastic new look! Congratulations, Faiz, and all the staff at TP.
I agree that the formatting buttons should be restored, and you might want to check out the Sort by Top Rated feature. I tried it on the most recent McCain thread and it didn’t do anything (sorting wise).
Looking forward to the additional changes ahead. Keep up the great work.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:49 pmLooks AWESOME but it’s too wide for those of us with small monitors. I dont want my browser to the fill the screen, so it’s about 850px wide. Now I have to scroll side to side. sigh. May I suggest using a fluid site layout instead of fixed width so that larger monitors benefit from more room, but smaller monitors are not screwed?
http://blog.vftw.com/view/web/constrained-fluid-layout/
March 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pmThanks for the good-sized black print on the white background–so much easier to read.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pmThanks for spacing out the comments, TP.
I hate to nitpick, but would it be possible to put the commenter’s name in BOLD letters? It would be easier to spot, especially with the date and time line underlined.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pmThis looks absolutely great!! As the commenters have suggested, there are a couple of small things that could use some tweaking, but I’m sure you’re already on it.
Overall, a fantastic job! Congrats, and looking forward to many more years of my daily dose of TP!
March 14th, 2008 at 2:11 pmOverall, I like the new look very much. I do miss the way stories used to expand without reloading the whole page (Ajax). I guess I’ll learn to live with it, but I suspect I’ll drill deeper less often – impatient as I am.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:22 pmThanks for the spacing. I agree with Zooey… Bolding the commenter’s name or some other way to really separate the posts (visually) would be great.
Thanks TP! Looking good!
March 14th, 2008 at 2:31 pmYikes!
I prefer the old look. This is more attractive than the old version of BradBlog, but that used to be so horrible I couldn’t read it. This is better than that.
Like others, i prefer main content centering and
March 14th, 2008 at 2:37 pmI prefer white walls to the dull gray.
Echoing EvilSpaniard, Zooey, and ParrotLover (on fluid rather than fixed).
Regarding mobile, on the road/airport I get this through GoogleRead on my Palm, so the design is a non-issue.
I don’t fully get the reasoning behind seperate items visually tagged as “ThinkFast” – i rather liked the ThinkFast brief to start my day ;). I also like a brief with a link to the full article page, so i can rapidly scan between endless meetings.
One minor additional note: having the commenters name on one line, and then the date on the next, is really screwy.
Otherwise, pretty flashy. Great tools!
March 14th, 2008 at 5:39 pmOh, and spending n pixels for a silver bar on the top of a dark page to allow selection between only two items wastes space and is basically visual clutter. If you had 10 entries, maybe – 2? pointless.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:42 pmHi TP! Looks great but agree that centering would be ideal.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:08 pmAs no one else mentioned it:
Allow us to go back and edit our own posts after they have been posted. Its a bummer when you leave something out which changes the meaning or makes it unintelligible.
I also agree with the type font not being the best choice and the size which should be larger. (Rather than having to adjust it from my end.
And the run together look of the comments. A bolded poster name a couple of point sizes larger would do the trick.
Being able to post a reply directly to the post you are answering is something to consider. Have it as an option perhaps (Not choosing to do that would simply put it at the bottom normally.
Keep the “expand post” ability.
How about a button next to the “abuse” word that indicates how many people have reported abuse? You have one for recommends.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:10 pmJust like to chime in with another request to recenter the site. Way too much blank space on the right for those of us lucky enough to have widescreens.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:03 pmI second and triple the above. Center the blog and it will be perfect. Widescreen owner here too.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:31 pmOther than that, it looks much nicer. I hope you’ll be adding more features.
I love the new look, but would recommend perhaps bumping up the line-height for the text in articles. it all seems a little too tight to me. a little more space between rows would increase legibility i think. otherwise, i dig it! well done!
March 16th, 2008 at 11:24 am