Welcome to WCF Redesign 2008

WCF Redesign 2008

By Brian Potter
October 30, 2008 12:45 AM
Filed Under: Announcements

Manufacturer fly out menu returns
Simplified site design
Reader polls
More categories
Improved photo gallery

Visual impact has been a key element in WCF's web design. It established credibility in the early stages and helped set us apart from the competition later on. However, for this latest version, we took a step back, listened carefully to your feedback and hit the drawing board.

This year's redesign focuses on improving the overall visitor experience with greater emphasis on functionality instead of visual impact. We've scaled down the size of the article top photo and reduced the number of headlines on the main page for easier scanning. Our old “Jump to a Manufacturer” expanding navigation menu has been resurrected for easier and faster navigation throughout the site.

Long overdue, you can scroll photo album high-resolution size images via “Next photo” and “Previous photo” buttons. Furthermore, simply clicking directly on the photo advances to the next photo in queue. Thumbnail images of the entire photo album are now viewable at the bottom of every photo page for easier previewing.

The featured stories sliding menu on the main page has been expanded. Top headlines won't fall off the front page so quickly as stories get updated throughout the day.

In addition to a new “Asian” home page, we will add more categories to the navigation menu over the next few days. They include: Hybrid, Electric Vehicle, Supercars, Special Editions, Awards, Nurburgring, Entertainment, Production, Records (World), Pricing, Gadgets, Facelifts, Diesel, Teasers, Design, Lifestyle and Video Games.

Other near future plans:

Spy Photo and Tuner widgets added to manufacturer pages
Daily Formula 1 news

Your feedback has played a decisive role in this redesign and we thank you for all of your support. As always you can send us your comments at: feedback[at]worldcarfans.com

email print digg facebook fark reddit delicious myspace

WCF Latest Updates (11 comments

Comments

Motor_Yakuza

October 30, 2008 1:14 AM

Hmmm, formula 1 it's kinda boring right now, u guys should turn ur eyes to WTCC, FIA GT and and Japan's SuperGT championship that it's real racing, oh and bigger fonts for the names of the guys who send comments will be nice, like someone said it's a lil' bit hard to see who is the author of the comment, keep the good work

AmazingJerry

October 30, 2008 1:37 AM

F1 is just as active in the off season as during. Congrats on the new layout. I like it.

carcrazy1234

October 30, 2008 1:49 AM

umm please WCF... PLEASE redesign the comments section... hard to see the commentors names... and its kinda hard to find ur own comment when theres like 35 comments on one picture... and also... when we click on pictures to view seperately... the ads are on the top of the picture... and it gets annoying :P... please put those UNDER the picture :D:D

Thanks

deliverinsanity

October 30, 2008 2:07 AM

The main problem with the new layout is... the unbelievable amount of advertising! I know, you have to support the website somehow, but really this is a bit over the top. I suddenly don't like WCF as much as I used to.

jwil6902

October 30, 2008 2:18 AM

I just use the AdBlock Plus plugin for Firefox to block all the crappy adverts that WCF throws onto every page. It works wonders in cleaning up their poor design so I can focus on the news.

A tip to WCF: I wouldn't do that if you didn't overload EVERY damn page with advertising. If your click through rates are low, then it might be from your users going to extremes to avoid your advertising.

carcrazy1234

October 30, 2008 2:18 AM

just use firefox with the Ad Block Plus addon hahah... what a weak complain... legit, but still weak :P!!! haha

Joe_Limon

October 30, 2008 3:43 AM

I agree with the comments, the user names are really inconveniently placed. Also, ad between comments is sad. I thought the random word links on the old design were bad, but that takes the cake. Oh, and if you are updating... how about some edit functions on the comments?

foose1397

October 30, 2008 2:30 AM

WCF..I know most people have to get used to anything new however this is a poor choice of updates. Lower contrast, more advertising and less direct links to information on the home page. Also im disappointed in the large boring logo you chose to add to your banner.

Sorry WCF...for real car fans isn't about the glitch its about the stories and access to them.

foose1397

October 30, 2008 2:31 AM

ohh...and im impressed that you can squeeze an ad between comments, sad really sad

BabyMilo

October 30, 2008 3:17 AM

hmm i dont know what i think, i like some parts of it but im not sure about the others, like putting an add in the middle of comments thats bad, i like the poll idea... wait! were is the reply buttons?? that is bad and there should also be an edit coment. becuase i live in australia i hope that WCF is abit quicker to load becuase the old one took abit of time. (and ive got pretty good internet for australia)

coopergt

October 30, 2008 4:37 AM

wow, not like it used to be and all those ads, this looks like a cash cow now rather than a great site it used to be.

Kepe

October 30, 2008 4:46 AM

Oh dear..! I just had to disable ad-block plus and check out the new site. It looks like it's all ads, and then a little something (your stories etc.) squeezed in between them. Why only four headlines on the top of the front page? Because there's now an ad taking the space of the two headlines that used to be there. This is not the way you should go when trying to improve the site. What you've actually done here is you've just made more space for even more ads. And I'm amazed that with all these changes, we still don't have an edit button so that we could edit or remove our comments! I liked the old WCF better.

Kepe

October 30, 2008 5:01 AM

Oh. I just did some testing. I have a 2048/2048 kbps Internet connection and I'm from Finland. It takes 0,6 seconds to load the front page with ad-block plus enabled. Without ad-block, it takes 3,3 seconds! 0,6 seconds translates roughly to 100-150 kB. 3,3 seconds is more than 500 kB. That doesn't sounds too bad actually, but when you think that some people still (have to) use a dial-up connection, there's a huge difference in the time it takes to load the page with or without the ads. This is not good. And this is exactly why I use ad-block! It saves bandwidth and my nerves as there are no stupid ads everywhere.

Kepe

October 30, 2008 5:15 AM

I did some more testing by loading the front page about 20 times with and without the ads.

It took 0,5 to 0,9 seconds to load the front page without ads (0,6 seconds being the average). With the ads, it took 3,3 to 9,4 seconds with an average of 4,5 seconds. I got the 9+ seconds result when it took some time for some ad server to respond before anything else on the front page could even be loaded.

This is sad... I used to like WCF.

BabyMilo

October 30, 2008 10:19 AM

i did some testing to and i only get 1126kbps and it took 35 seconds to load the main page and 42sec+! to load the main page on my wirless, and becuase i mainly use my wireless this is very annoying WCF

BrianWCF

October 30, 2008 10:04 AM

Hi Everyone, we absolutely can appreciate your disdain for the ads. If we could, we would gladly leave them out, but this is how we stay alive and provide WCF at no cost to you the readers.

Please keep in mind the number of ads units has stayed the same as the previous design. They have only been moved around in the layout. Therefore, the ad blindness you have developed over time has worn off and you see the ads again. As a result, they feel like they're in your face and too obtrusive.

Please keep the comments coming in. Nothing is written in stone, and we will continue to make adjustments such as clearer commenter user names.

jwil6902

October 30, 2008 2:39 PM

Uhm...bullshit. There are hundreds of other free blogs on the internet that don't have the ungodly avalanche of advertising that WCF has. You want all this advertising there because it more advertising = more profit for you. Don't play it off like you're doing us a favor.

BrianWCF

October 30, 2008 4:50 PM

jwil6902, your reply is quite unfair. Can you give me some examples of advert free blogs that are comparable in content and size to WCF - particularly non Wordpress or Blogger sites that don't pay for server infrastructure? Just want to make sure I understand you standard of measurement.

foose1397

October 30, 2008 5:02 PM

Brian...First i commend that your interacting to the feed s, nice to see. Thank you for that

As for ads. I understand that you must have these to have your website survive. However i think it is more the placement and execution of them within the website. The size of the left and right bars are quiet large and my biggest issue is the reduction of space that is caused by ads, latest photos (which i see on the home page once prob don't need to see it 20 times), and "top stories" on the right. Also WCF should have a committed logo, the last one was better and took up much less space.

The articles are key and there size and of course it is all perception

BrianWCF

October 30, 2008 5:57 PM

Foose1397, I appreciate your comments. Regarding what you said about ad placements - that's exactly the dilema that not only WCF faces but every small site faces (that doesn't have a professional sales force or conglomerate media company behind them). If the ads are positioned poorly, they perform poorly resulting in less earnings. The past year has been a very volatile year for us - almost to the point of extinction. Therefore, we have been more strategic with the placement of the ads as a means of survival, not getting rich. It's a doubled edged sword that we have to balance on.

The objective with the "Latest photo albums" widget and "Top 20 stories" is to give readers more options. 70% of our traffic does not arrive to WCF through the main page. Therefore, we want visitors to be able to access all major areas of the site from anywhere. Then, they don't have to keep running back to the front page to see what else WCF has to offer.

I agree, the WCF brand needs a lot of work.

Bristol411S3

October 30, 2008 10:08 AM

New site looks better on an iPhone though.

And hurrrah to the F1 daily news updates!

Tuner_Mad

October 30, 2008 10:30 AM

Gah!! Too many adverters! Nice overall though.

clinton

October 30, 2008 11:19 AM

great site, keep up the good work.

AG4

October 30, 2008 12:35 PM

The page on the Next-Generation BMW 6 Series is not loading properly, I can't see the article and images.

AfterDawn

October 30, 2008 3:18 PM

There wouldn't be so much disdain for the Ads if there were less, or if they were in more conventional places as opposed to in between the comments. Visual impact has been a focus on this update - in the form of ad impact.

I think it's ultimately a failed strategy because anyone with two cents worth of sense will just use ad-block. I'd enjoy blocking that particularly garish one beside the four headline photos.

If anything, at least this change would be great. Can there be one standard position for the ad at the top of an article. When opening an article, the ad is sometimes left, sometimes right. If you could leave the text left-aligned and the ad on the right, that would be fantastic.

I'd also agree that banner needs some work. Maybe you could make it an ad?

me7274

October 30, 2008 4:25 PM

The previous wcf design is much better than this.

Sharpie

October 30, 2008 4:50 PM

Is there a way one could pay a small fee a year not to have to look at the Adverts? It would be more like a premium membership.

BrianWCF

October 30, 2008 4:54 PM

This is definitely a possibility, but our previous surveys showed that nobody was willing to pay. Perhaps we should survey again. Any thoughts about this?

foose1397

October 30, 2008 5:24 PM

payment for the website doesn't seem logical considering your competing against autoblog, jalopnik, and others which are free.

I read because im on the go and don't wanna spend the money for mag. So premium price would discourage me.

WCF needs to establish brand identity with your logos and formate and that will bring more people.

Airbag

October 30, 2008 5:38 PM

Change..... nooooo! I'm melting! Can't adjust!!! Arrrrgh!

But in all seriousness, looks good but will take some getting use to!

AmazingJerry

October 30, 2008 5:51 PM

Everyone stop bitching about the ads! The more you complain, the more it confirms that they're working! Ever think about that?

I couldn't care less about the ads. I come here for the stories and that's it. Just ignore them.

Kepe

October 31, 2008 12:28 AM

Ads are not supposed to be irritating and in-your-face. They should be placed so that they are seen, but not in your way.

Oh well, I use ad-block everywhere so I really don't care.

darko2301

October 30, 2008 9:20 PM

excellent site, but I dislike redesign -.-'

coopergt

October 30, 2008 10:19 PM

I am one of the people who think you have gone too far with all the ads, it just not have the same feel anymore, i fully understand the need for adverts, but there must be someway to combine your financial needs with the readers who have always been loyal to your site from germancarfans and on, but i for one do not feel like the direction you have taken.

Thanx

Joe_Limon

October 30, 2008 10:42 PM

I just realized that there is a gap for the articles on the homepage, atm I can't directly link to the muppet article for example.

davethepetrolhead

October 31, 2008 7:33 AM

Sorry WCF the new layout is rubbish the scrolling thing is annoying too many ads and no EDIT button please put in a edit button i always notice the typo after i have posted.

kattanh3

October 31, 2008 9:48 PM

You have a very interesting and solid site, please reconsider the redesign, the amount of adverts and the new photo navigation are annoying

RGL

November 1, 2008 1:06 PM

its quite gd but i know WCF needs advertising but not on every bit of the page but i think it was the right time to change

Robe

November 1, 2008 5:26 PM

The main page is fine but when you get to an article yo lose the feeling of reading it because there realy are a lot of ad's, and when seeing photos the next and prev page button is simply to far from the pic so its tired and makes it annoying. this 2 points where better before. Mexico

coopergt

November 1, 2008 6:08 PM

Does anyone actually read any ads on these web sites?

View Comment Rules