My Biggest Complaint About The Old Design Of My Biggest Complaint

OK, so it’s not old yet. It will be in a couple of days because we are happy to announce that we are completely redesigning the look and structure of our site.

Don’t panic. Don’t complain… yet.

First things first - why redesign?

When we started My Biggest Complaint a few months back, we did not anticipate the huge community that has formed. We thought we would try to have a cool little site where people could post the occasional complaint about some bad restaurant food or some crappy book they read. We just wanted to make things fun.

We didn’t realize the “fun” would be the community that sprung up around the site.

The user base we have generated has been overwhelming. We already crashed a few servers here and there (mostly there), and along the way we learned a lot about you, the user. In fact, we have a tough time wrapping our heads around the fact that this site is no longer really ours. It’s yours.

The thought that the site had become a community was the driving force behind the redesign. We thought long and hard about how to put you, the contributing user, up front and foremost. We think the new design pulls it off and we are completely happy with it. We hope you will enjoy it and get a lot out of it.

So what’s new?

We’ve continued to build on our “Friends” system. Our “Friends” system was written from the ground up and many of you are already having fun with it. The new design makes it easier than ever to keep up with posts and comments from your friends.

We found out most of you track posts on the home page to find what’s popular, but sometimes the homepage can be pretty fast moving. A post can get bumped before you’ve had an opportunity to read it. A few great posts might slip off the front page before you’ve had a chance to read them.

To help you track things better, we have changed your user page and turned it into a sort of “command central” for you. From your new user page, you can track the posts and comments of your friends even if the post has fallen from the front page before you had a chance to see it.

We have created a “user block” that will be displayed on all of your post pages and your user page. Your “user block” contains as much information as you want it to. You can now display instant messaging addresses and an extended profile blurb if you want to. Your user block will also display your friend’s list so that others can see who is in your list. Avatars are clickable and lead to user pages. Clicking an avatar displays user posts, comments, votes and votes received.

Although the front page is still the place to be to see what’s new and popular on a site-wide basis, your user page has now become a customized portal to the site you want to see.

We’ve ditched the sidebar fast complaint form. Why? All indications are that most of you use the larger single page complaint form. The larger form is easier to type in anyway. The fast complaint form has been replaced by your “user block” which also has a nice big shot of your mug.

Oh wait, that’s right… your mugs. That reminds me. Your mugs are now everywhere. You won’t be able to miss them so get something good in there besides that default avatar. And don’t be afraid to post some real pics of yourselves. Your complaints are great, take credit for them.

And to you lurkers out there who haven’t registered, (yes, Mark, a.k.a, the world’s most prolific commentator - we mean you), register for crying out loud. Post your mug, file a complaint, shake it but don’t break it!

Enough already.

I agree, that’s probably enough hype for now. I know what you’re saying… “If that guy doesn’t shut up and let me see this thing, I’m gonna post a complaint about it!”

When can you see it? We have one or two things to tweak out but we expect to turn it loose to registered users in the next few days. We will let registered users play with it for a while before we crack the champagne bottle on it and set it off for non-registered users.

Registered users will be able to access the new system by clicking a special link visible only when logged in. Once you have been activated on the new system, you can switch back to the classic view for a limited time until we retire it officially.

Lastly, we busted our ass on this thing and if you’re still viewing it in Internet Explorer 6 or lower, please do all web designers and yourself a big favor and upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 or better yet…
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Thanks for everything and let us know what you think.