Looks terrible.

The description and specs have been displaced by advertisements under the guise of "Woot Plus". From a design point of view, the layout is far too busy, relying on tilings of content that appear almost randomly juxtaposed: Why is Woot Plus next to "Join the Discussion" and the links to the other Woot sites? Why are the latter two in the same column with the too-brief product description? And it's not that there's too much white space, it's that it appears in random places, making the site look both busy and full of holes.

As a one-time web designer, I'd say this is a mess. As a long-time wooter, hiding the description and specs -- particularly the former -- damages what is best about Woot. Heck, even listing "X% off List" is a mistake, I think, because it turns the excitement of a Woot deal into a mundane sales price.

there are a lot of good things about this redesign. i believe based on my previous experience in deploying redesigns at work about two-thirds of the problems people have will be fixable relatively quickly and easily and suddenly most people will love it.

plus, many of the early responding rage-oids will feel a sense of community with woot, and empowered and enabled in their relationship with woot, when their complaints are quickly addressed.

its really fiendishly clever.

LEM- wrote:

The ugly

• The whole big on scripts flashy design: YUCK!!!!! I'm with all the comments above about keeping it simple! Give us one page for each site and skip the fancy tabs. The old was WAAAY better!
  
• Not cell phone and tablet friendly! Again, one simple page per site worked great on a cell phone.
  
• Overloaded. Overloaded. Overloaded. Simpler is better!
  
• Again agreed, Woot is starting to look just like another fancy storefront from yet another skimpy online retailer with questionable reputation. Liked it better the other way: simple storefront, awesome service! I know the service is still there, but the front looks too similar to those other fancy-shmancy sites with little backing.
  
• Especially hate the "List Price". WHY does Woot want to look like the rest of the internets? The whole beauty of Woot is that it IS NOT LIKE THE REST. And just like it's said in comments - that list price is pretty worthless... Instead show us last few quality posts on top of the main page, they will probably have the actual price check post in them instead!
  
• Did i mention that I prefer to keep it simple?
  

I should have added all these.

Unable to view any version of the site except home.woot.com for some reason. Any other tab/link (whatever they're called now) just turns it in to a quick-rendered our-website-is-getting-lots-of-traffic type of view. IE9 if you're curious which browser.

We need the Shirt Woot sales numbers for us number nerds!

I have an Amazon Prime account... where is my free shipping option :D

I'm not really loving the redesign, mainly because it doesn't work in Chrome 19.
To view it, I had to find and open Firefox. Not a huge issue, but kind of annoying.

*EDIT* I just checked Chrome again, and it's working now. Something must have reset itself when I restarted Chrome. Apologies for the false alarm...

Top bar cool. Rest is a bag of c r a p ...

I'm with most people here -- we're here for the daily deal and the writeup! That's what Woot's always been about. Now the deal is barely the focus amid all the clutter -- and you have to CLICK TO A NEW PAGE to read the writeup!? That's just ridiculous...

A redesign should be all about streamlining and simplicity -- this is the total opposite. Really not a good move for a deal-a-day site.

Also I hate all the social media crap, but that's more a personal problem I guess.

Edit: Oh and the forum is too thin, my handle is cut off...

kutulu13 wrote:Top bar cool. Rest is a bag of c r a p ...

But wait... Bag of crаp is a good thing! Are you trying to say you love the new design? Or you are saying that the beautiful and magnificent BоC is now a bad thing???

Had a feeling that this would go this direction when woot! sold it's soul to Amazon.

May the 'innovators' of the new site design [I suspect new management with glory in their eyes and change for the sake of change (and recognition) in their hearts] are willing to step forward when third and fourth quarter 2012 sales plummet. Twernt broke, folks.

"All things must pass", I suppose. R.I.P old WOOT!

Not liking the redesign. Way too bright background (oh the migraines). And it no longer fits in my window (1024x768) without side scrolling. Text at left margins is too close to the left edge of my display.

Main page is too busy, and I preferred being able to read the description on the main Woot item of the day without the constant 1 paragraph then "Read more" that every other article on the internet has begun insisting on. Even newspapers handled their article continuation with less teasing.

I liked having the preview of the top Deals.woot items in the horizontal scrolling box, rather than 1 item unless I click to switch pages.

Oh yeah... where the heck are you going to have the links to switch between Woots (menu bar at top that won't scroll away, page bottom strip, or the set under the Discussions)? One place is enough, the rest is unnecessary clutter. Besides, the ones under the Discussion is not even a consistent location - not there on other pages (no, we are treated to Woot Chatter instead). Stop being jerks and clean this up a bit better, please.

I'm with the rest of the universe. Too much crap going on, too much product-whoring, amazon-clones etc. etc.

But most importantly...TOO MUCH WHITE! BRING BACK THE GREEN GOODNESS!!!!!!

SERIOUSLY! THE SHEEN OF THIS BLINDING WHITE JUST WOKE UP MY GF'S BIRDS AND NOW THEY ARE SCREAMING AND I CAN'T PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS HAPPENING ON YOUR BUSY PAGE! AHHHD;KJFS;LDKFJS;LDF THE BIRDS!!!! THE BIRDSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

(p.s. I think we all deserve a Bouts of Consternation for our pain and suffering and maybe some woot lights circa 2009 with coupons. kthnx.)

Really bright. Can't find any of my normal things. My eyes go everywhere and no where all at once. This is too much for me. I'm going to bed, maybe the morning light will make things better....

I love the new design of the site; it feels fresh like I'm at the shore and staring out the beach-side bungalow window with the sea breeze billowing in and the week ahead holds great promise and treasures abound...

Logged in, has me there but when I try and check account, or stuff bought, it takes me to log in screen (no matter which site I'm on). Then tried to re-log in and tells me user name and /or password incorrect...multiple times. When Woot went live again it did that and the only way I could log on was to change my password. Such a simple thing...a bigger help button would be nice

PS. Third time a charm..reset password again, everything working now...may have to break out the duct tape

No, no, no, no, no. This design is clutter-ific. The eye doesn't know where to go, plus the site has lost its personality, especially with the descriptions truncated and buried on "page 2."

This design looks as cheap and gimmicky as every other deal-of-the-day site out there.

The auto-scrolling "discuss this deal" is utterly useless, unless you sit and wait for it to scroll, whereas the previous LIST of quotes was useful AT A GLANCE.

The Woot Plus is too prominently featured and distracts from the primary deal.

Worse, the cutesy new font (reminiscent of the gawdawful Comic Sans) is used WAY too liberally, to the point of distraction.

This is Web 2.0 for the sake of Web 2.0. It's been designed for the designer's own pleasure, and to drive more sales, but definitely NOT for a better user experience.

robio wrote:No, no, no, no, no. This design is clutter-ific. The eye doesn't know where to go, plus the site has lost its personality, especially with the descriptions truncated and buried on "page 2."

This design looks as cheap and gimmicky as every other deal-of-the-day site out there.

The auto-scrolling "discuss this deal" is utterly useless, unless you sit and wait for it to scroll, whereas the previous LIST of quotes was useful AT A GLANCE.

The Woot Plus is too prominently featured and distracts from the primary deal.

Worse, the cutesy new font (reminiscent of the gawdawful Comic Sans) is used WAY too liberally, to the point of distraction.

This is Web 2.0 for the sake of Web 2.0. It's been designed for the designer's own pleasure, and to drive more sales, but definitely NOT for a better user experience.

Also, one still can't choose one's own avatar without linking to a social networking service.

While it's very smooth, I'm not terribly excited about the change. It's not a bad layout, but I miss the simplicity offered by the old layout. This one is just too busy.

I'm sure I'll get over it; free Baskets of Candles wouldn't hurt, though.

I can't find the quarky and unique item description? Where is the left margin? Further, I've been having trouble locating the single daily great deal in recent months. Are B.o'.C.s a thing of the past (Bouts of Consternation, really?)?

Overall, pretty succesful bait and switch - reminiscent of Super Greg, da numba 1! Many thanks to the Originators of Woot for paving the way for several simpler, now superior, alternatives. Peaceout.

matthew wrote:Nope! Still on the front page. Here's this week's podcast.

It's just harder to find with all those ads the size of your head.

avann2006 wrote:I'm with the rest of the universe. Too much crap going on...

[snip]

(p.s. I think we all deserve a Bouts of Consternation for our pain and suffering and maybe some woot lights circa 2009 with coupons. kthnx.)

I'm afraid there are no Buckets of Caca coming our way. No woot-offs either. Where would they put the woot-off lights?
Sorry woot, you can have your exclamation point back when you get this fixed.

Parting jab: Two words... New Coke

oops... too messy.. from an artist point of view, very cool looking site. from a user point of view, dude, please, turn that thing off!

Absolutely terrible and does not encourage me to visit more. I will never get why websites decide to redesign completely when its visitors/customers never asked for the change (ok I do get why - $$$$ but it's still stupid).

Facebook is the perfect example of this, but what they keep doing is far worse. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Capisce?

JalenJade wrote:The front page just looks ugly and repulsive. I want to close the window as soon as I see it. Please go back to the simple design.

HOWEVER, the changes beyond the front page are very nice. Product info and more account information is probably the best of these changes.

First post I have felt compelled to make since became member feb 06'.. I agree 100% with JalenJade - like the new content but the basic Home Woot page was best part of Woot! Now it looks just like a commercial (Best Buy, Staples etc) page.

Having to do an extra click just to read the full story/product description makes me sad, but not the kind of sad that makes me want to buy things to make myself feel better. Also, the whiteness is kinda blinding.

On a positive note, WootPlus looks promising(but takes up way too much screen space), and new shipping options are a good thing I guess.

bauhaus1919 wrote:i'm over trying to explain why my friends should check out woot as it grows further and further from why it was awesome and unique in the first place. in one fell swoop you tripled the difficulty in pitching the hook...we've hit the threshold where now i can only explain why they should try you out because of how great you USED TO be. i'm done. i give up. i was seriously hoping that the overhaul was a return to greatness...AND throw all of this on top of the fact that both of my woot-off purchases failed to process for no reason...and i'm over it. is there a way to delete my woot account and still be notified if you guys ever come to your senses?

I wholeheartedly agree with the above post, in addition to most of the other gripes in this forum. This update is laughable and I am inches away from leaving permanently.


Crucially, however, please realize that it is the lackluster product line that is shoving people away, as opposed to this ridiculous new layout.

Besides agreeing with all the previous well argued criticisms of cluttered busyness and user unfriendliness, I can’t find a log-off button

I think the site looks a little cluttered because you've removed a lot of the contrasting colors.

Compare:

elfstone wrote:Besides agreeing with all the previous well argued criticisms of cluttered busyness and user unfriendliness, I can’t find a log-off button

Try clicking "not you". It works that way on Amazon as well, who coincidentally happens to be the owner of Woot.

I'm using adblock so I'm actually seeing a more aesthetically pleasing version of the site I guess.

This feels really cluttered. I like that it seems to have more going on horizontally (or it feels like it does?) but there's just sooo much stuff all over the place. I see a huge image of the product in the center of the page which is good but from there my eye doesn't really get drawn anywhere, the price and button on the left don't really attract my attention and it feels like there's a distracting level of detail everywhere else on the page. It drives me nuts that I can only see the top half of the home woot and kids woot product images at the bottom right of my screen, if I want to just scan all the woots at once I have to scroll down. Same with the woot+ images. The discussion thumbnail is like a postage stamp, I feel like I have to squint at it to read it. Not having the full description on the front page is odd and annoying.

woot has gone all professional-looking on us. I find it... sterile. Too much white! I liked the green background. My eyes do not like all this hospital white.

And yes, it is also far too busy. Two columns of random, unrelated articles side-by-side, with advertisements beside that.

People will always complain when there is change and I realize this and I am trying to temper my comments with that in mind, but I truly think the redesign needs more work.

The more I explore the new site, the more I find to dislike.

What I really enjoyed about the old woot was how each page was clearly divided into sections based on the color of the background. Pictures at the top on white, text in green below, divided into section "islands" by different shades of green on top of that.

Now everything is just... WHITE! At least put the islands back so I can glance at the screen and figure out exactly which part I want to read, without actually having to read it all.

Good work. Almost worth missing my Woot fix yesterday. TONS of improvements.

Nice touch: I tried to leave feedback on the beta feedback, but there is no "submit" button. So here it is:

I usually check the Woot on my smartphone in the night. When I touched anywhere (not just the I Want One button), to try to scroll right to the write-up, it went to the Purchase screen, so I had to go back, and never did get to the write-up. I just gave up on my phone.

I agree with the comments about busyness. Why not add links to Woot Plus on the top menu? That would leave room for our beloved write-up.

If this is a scam to get another day off, it worked. Take tomorrow to clean this place up and put it back the way it was. And fire whoever ordered the change to this hideous design. I know you feel bad because they've already been fired from AOL, just tell them its what Mitt wanted.

It's TOO MUCH INFO and STUFF on the main page. I know W00T has a Toshiba laptop today. THAT'S all I know. I know NOTHING about it, UNLESS I click here and there trying to find WHERE to read the specs and junk.
Before amazon/w00t, in the good ole days when it was REALLY w00t!, I can read ALL the pertinent information on the laptop to see if I even like the specs enough to WANT to READ MORE!
I DIDN'T see any info like this in this clusterF^ck of a amazon/w00t mess, so I moved on. Nothing to hold my attention.
R.I.P. w00t!, you are dearly missed ! Hello amazon deal of the day, that's not like ANY deal that you COULD have found on w00t!