Welcome to WCF Redesign 2008

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

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.