What you've told us,
and what we're doing about it ...
Posted Jun 11th 2007 10:12PM by Lisa Edwards
You've provided us with a lot of feedback on the new AOL.com homepage design since we launched the first beta test back in April. We want you to know that we've reviewed it all: the good, the bad and the ugly. Now that our blog is up and running, we wanted to highlight the major feedback themes and issues you told us about in the Feedback Survey and let you know what we're doing about them.
So without further delay, here are the major feedback themes:
- I can't customize the page. The majority of comments in this bucket focused on the ability to add/remove modules, the ability to move modules around on the page and a few comments on wanting the ability to increase/decrease the amount of content within modules.
We couldn't agree more! AOL.com is your homepage and you should have the ability to make it your own. We will provide several customization options in the next round of beta updates to be rolled out the week of June 18th. Features include the ability to add and remove modules in the Preview Panel area that currently features Mail, Weather, Radio and Horoscopes. You'll be able to change the color of your homepage and will even be able to choose a narrow version of AOL.com to be your home page.
- I can't change the color of my home page. This could have grouped this with "I can't customize the page" but due to the sheer volume of feedback on this topic, we chose to break it out separately.
Again, we couldn't agree more! As mentioned above, we will provide you with the ability to change the color of your home page in our next round of updates (week of June 18th). Our design team has cooked up five color options, in addition to the standard color, that we think you'll really like. And we hope to introduce even more over time.
- I don't like the color of the new home page.
It's hard to please everyone when it comes to color. But we are providing the ability to change the color of your home page in our next home page update, including the option of a more "traditional AOL Blue" if you prefer that. So we think we'll be in a good place in addressing this one, but if you're not satisfied with any of the new color options, let us know.
- The new page is too wide / too crowded.
We are introducing a narrow (two column) version of the homepage in our next update. The standard view of the new page is definitely wider than the current version of AOL.com. But the majority of you, AOL.com users, have higher screen resolutions, and we decided to go wide to take advantage of the extra screen real estate. The wider page lets us get more content above the fold line (less scrolling for you). A lot of Web sites have migrated to wide body page layouts. But bigger clearly is not better for everyone. So, you will be able to choose the the narrow version to be displayed on subsequent visits to AOL.com.
- What happened to the AIM button?
We're sorry! Please forgive us. We are bringing back the AIM button in our next update. So you will once again have direct access to AIM Express from AOL.com.
- The New Page Looks Exactly Like Yahoo!
We received more feedback on this topic than any other since we launched the Beta test. So we're glad to have an opportunity to address the issue, and to share the history and thought process that led us to the first Beta design. When we're done, you may still not agree with the approach, and that's OK. But most importantly, you will understand how we got here.
So how did we arrive at the new Beta design? We started designing the new AOL.com over a year ago. We spent months in the concept phase, conducting focus group and lab tests to create the next generation AOL.com homepage design. We looked at data, studied our competition and talked to users. We produced numerous home page concepts, at least three or four of which were radically different, both from a design and feature perspective, from other home pages (ours, Yahoo!, MSN etc.).
What we realized going through this exercise, however, was that there are a number of standards and "best practices" that have emerged in how good home pages are designed. Looking back at what we had done in previous home page designs and what Yahoo!, MSN and other leading sites had done over the last several years, it became clear that we had been borrowing good ideas from each other for many years. In fact, many of the elements of our new home page that might remind you of Yahoo!, like the "channel strip" with its colorful icons, are in fact elements that we have used successfully on our homepages for years.
That said, Yahoo! is a Web site that a vast number of people use on a regular basis, and they built a great site. Of course we've looked at what they've done and tried to learn from it to make our product better. In some ways you can look at the AOL.com Beta design that you see today as a competitive benchmarking exercise against Yahoo! (all good companies do this). We've been testing it out with a small group of our users (you), and we've learned which elements work and which don't. The important takeaway, however, is that this design was and is a starting point for us. We are making changes to the experience and introducing new features based on your feedback. And you will see these changes roll out in the coming weeks.
So, will there still be similarities with Yahoo! after the beta test is over? Absolutely! There will also be similarities with MSN. All home pages must deliver a basic set of features and functionality (e-mail, search, news, Weather, navigation) to meet users' needs and expectations, and we all learn from each other in how we best deliver these. As the home page space continues to mature, design standards have and will continue to emerge that we will all adopt: left hand navigation, ad banner sizes, search treatment and placement etc. So standardization of fundamental page elements is not a bad thing (much like you have certain basic expectations of how a Web e-mail or instant messaging application will be laid out).
But having said this, we do spend our days in the office working on ways to truly differentiate the new AOL.com in areas that matter the most to you:
- Making the home page faster: We know you don't like to wait (neither do we).
- Ease of use
- Highlighting the great content you care about
- Useful functionality: We want to make AOL.com a place where you can get things done and not just find things.
- Personalization
- Local functionality like Events, Traffic, Gas Prices and more
We will continue to work on ways we can make the AOL.com home page better in all of these areas, and we look to you for feedback and ideas on how we can do that.
Lisa
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About The Team
My Name is Lisa and I'm the Product Lead for AOL.COM. In short, I lead the team that designs, builds the new versions of AOL.com and make sure that current experience run smoothly. My mission (the team's mission) is to build the best home page for you and everyone that visits AOL.com. This is definitely NOT a one person operation. It takes a village! And I'll be introducing you to the team behind the scenes in the coming weeks.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 13)
21. Great new home page, like it much better. Keep up the good work
Posted at 7:52PM on Jun 26th 2007 by jkc855
22. No go back to the old way it was working so why fix it? The page is to big there is a lot on it and you lost a lot of the good thing that is AOL. Go back to the past.. Thanks for asking but no thanks.
Charles
Posted at 8:49PM on Jun 26th 2007 by Charles
23. The new ads on the bottom of the home page are very annoying. The old-film look and rapid movement with simulated scratches is very distracting. It gets my attention, but I don't want to be distracted. My response is to sign off. I do not look at the ads.
Posted at 9:05PM on Jun 26th 2007 by dkellermei
24. ITS FRIGGIN' UGLY AND IT HURTS THE EYES!!!! I SUFFER FROM MIGRANES AND THIS IS SETTING IT OFF!!!!!!!!! PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK OR AT LEAST MAKE IT DARKER SO THAT PEOPLE LIE ME DON'T GET HEADACHES!!!!!!!! HERE'S ANOTHER OPTION MAKE IT AN OPTION TO GET THE NEW SCREEN AND LET THOSE OF US THAT DON'T WANT THE NEW TO KEEP THE OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE I BEG OF YOU
Posted at 10:23PM on Jun 26th 2007 by vikki
25. I'm not sure this is the right place to comment on this, but it's the only place I could find (Complaint #2!!). Complaint #1 is about Spam: There used to be a "Report Spam" button; now there's just a Spam folder, and sometimes junk sits there for a few days. Is there a way I can report it & get rid of it, or do I just delete it, or am I just stuck?
Posted at 11:02PM on Jun 26th 2007 by Debra
26. Since I switched to broadband, I always get a message "pop-up window was blocked". What happened?? And signing in is s-o-o slow. I have been happy with AOL until I switched to broadband.
Posted at 11:47PM on Jun 26th 2007 by ggmuriel
27. iHATE that if AOL is your home page and you go onto the internet by clicking on the Internet Explorer icon, it places the cursor right in an AOL search box instead of the web address entry box.
I tried to enter a website in this search box (ex. google.com) and instead of taking me to the Google web page, it gave me a list of possibilities to click on.
Posted at 12:50AM on Jun 27th 2007 by cren33
28. I love this new home page it make much easy to find anything I need....Thank You!....Good Job!
Posted at 6:00AM on Jun 27th 2007 by countrymidway
29. I am having no luck in viewing my email this morning...help. I have a lot of email and am almost at the 1000 limit before you reject email. By not getting access this morning, I am not able to get in to clean up a few of the messages so I can continue to receive emails.
All the emails I tried to access this morning hung....with eventually an error message.
HELP!!
Posted at 6:11AM on Jun 27th 2007 by lwthroop
30. When I want to look at e-mail, I want to see e-mail and not crap. Should have options to not see the good morning tab. I also know who my contacts are and how to find them, I don't want to see the contacts tab. When I log on to AOL I see a lot of crap and very little content. I don't want to watch videos, I want to read. Oh I forgot that is becoming a lost art.
Here is a concept, provide more information and less fluff.
Posted at 8:51AM on Jun 27th 2007 by lp7375
31. I like the side bar attached now it looks like a part of the home page. Before it would go behind the homepage and I didn't like it I felt that it was unhandy. I feel more at easy looking at the whole page now it looks like it belongs there.I also like that you added some new items to the side bar, Movies and some others too, and now they seem to stand out and they are easier to read. I also like that you are going to post our New mail on the side. Everything looks great.Thank you for all your hard work that you do and for helping to make the homepage more user friendly. I hope you continue making thing easier to use.
Howard&Sue
Posted at 8:55AM on Jun 27th 2007 by Howard
32. Hello there aol;
I just wanted to let you know that I was surprised and happy when I saw the new aol page for the first time pop up on the computer. it was neatly arranged and everything is now in one place and easy to find on this new web page. I hope you keep up the good work to make aol a good internet provider for everyone. God bless you all at aol.
Jeff B.
Posted at 9:16AM on Jun 27th 2007 by Optimisticjeff48
33. 1- Your revised page is hard to navigate through. 2-You should have the mail log-in field directly on the home page, instead of having to click a mail button and get redirected to log-in. 3-The 'load' time for accessing emails is a lot longer than prior to making aol a free service,this wait time is frustrating. 4- The new mail page layout is terrible-it's too busy. I want to have the preference on if/how the contact list tab (on the right of my screen) and the AOL 'top news' tab (on bottom of my screen) displays. I have to manually click on these tabs each time I access/can read my emails to minimize them. Hope to see some more revisions soon from AOL.
Posted at 11:18AM on Jun 27th 2007 by arthist739
34. Quit screwing around with the computer! You're as bad as my husband. Just when I get used to how I've set things up he comes along and changes it.
Posted at 11:23AM on Jun 27th 2007 by ndo2001
35. I'm getting tired of not being able to retreive my email. So far today I have spent 4 hours trying read my mail. I get into my mail box but am told an error occured and no messages are displayed. This isn't the first time this has happened to me.
Posted at 11:51AM on Jun 27th 2007 by beebeemarkle
36. Bright & clean. Easy on the eyes & easy to use.
Posted at 12:22PM on Jun 27th 2007 by inspdad
37. I hate this layout, and I find the FAQ section regarding it condescending. Why didn't you just write, "Too bad, so sad?"
Where are the forums? Maybe a link on a news story to comment? You really jacked it up, AOL.
I'm happy that I still can get free AOL mail though, because I sure as hell won't ever pay for AOL again.
Posted at 1:11PM on Jun 27th 2007 by streamingviolet
38. I HATE all the changes AOL keeps making the home page. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!
Posted at 3:19PM on Jun 27th 2007 by RainJFC
39. Cripes almighty! Everytime I log in, it seems, you guys have changed the layout! I can't even find the "Sign out" on the page. It is a spitting image of Yahoo (I do like Yahoo) but it is confusing to me because it IS like Yahoo. I log in over there too and so now, when I log into AOL, it's confounding -- like trying to make the left hand learn what the right hand already knows.
Can't you stick with a familiar layout???
Posted at 5:19PM on Jun 27th 2007 by zebra
40. The new layout is much too cluttered and terribly slow to respond to commands. Personally, I don't need all your messing around - just let me get my mail quickly and efficiently and, please, don't change it every day or two. I know you have to justify your existence, but I'm running out of patience.
Posted at 8:53PM on Jun 27th 2007 by vrframe