HubNuggets Update & New Look on Topic Pages, Forums, and About Us Page

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   Simone Smithposted 12 years ago

   Hey everyone! As we recently announced on our blog, we have given a new look to some pages. Check it out!
   
   Here's the Food and Cooking page with a new, more magazine-like look.
   
   Here's our spiffy new About Us page.
   
   And of course, you'll have already noticed that we have new styling in the Forum!
   
   What's more, we've re-naming the HubNuggets Program as the Rising Star Program to make it more clear, and moving voting so that it takes place exclusively on these recently-redone Topic Pages.
   
   I hope you like the updates! Big thanks to Derek Gulbranson for the styling and Edward Zhang for the implementation.

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      janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi,
      What's the formula or criteria used to determine the order of the hubs shown on the topics pages? Does it cycle?
      Thanks,

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         janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I noticed that a large proportion of the ones on the front page for various topics that I looked at were written by 'a' writers - Is this a deliberate HP policy?

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            Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Hey janderson99!
            1. I don't know the exact formula, but yes, it does cycle
            2. Though a high proportion of those Hubs may be Apprenticeship Hubs, Hubs by Apprentices don't have any special tags on them, so they're treated the same as any other Hub. I reckon the reason why they're doing better is that they meet higher standards (because they have to!). One doesn't have to be an Apprentice to create Hubs that are more likely to be featured- going for the elements highlighted in our Learning Center guide on stellar Hubs makes all the difference.

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               janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Do hubbers in the 'a' program bypass the 'pending for 24 hours' in a similar way to writers with hubber scores over 95?

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                  denisemaiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I'm an apprentice and my hubs take at least 24 hours to get out of pending status. My last one took 3 days. But, then again, I think there was a site crash during that time so I forgive them. Also, I have a habit of looking at my hubs on my Kindle after publishing and then spotting total bonehead errors that need to be corrected, so, that apparently adds to my pending time. Maybe it has more to do with the time we are publishing. It could be we publish at a time that is heavily used by everyone else. Who knows? I just don't bother sharing them until they are out of pending status. I can't control it, so, what else am I going to do?

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                  Millionaire Tipsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  My new hubs pend too.  My guess is that those two people who didn't see their hubs get pended just got lucky with the timing.  If the sweep comes around at noon, say, and they publish at 11:58, they wouldn't have time to see the pend, but if you publish at 12:01, you have to wait all day.  Again, just my guess - I don't know if it works that way or what time the sweep happens if it happens.

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      Rochelle Frankposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The new "Rising Stars" logo looks familiar.
      

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         WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         Brilliant find, Rochelle!

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            Rochelle Frankposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If you look at Google images under "star and wreath" you will find many variations of this-- mostly on flags of communist countries.  I think we need a 'do over' on the logo.

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               janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Nah! Just make it red and add a sickle Loving It!

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         Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         My stars and garters, that is hilarious!! I SO want to add a sickle now.

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      jacharlessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Very Nice.
      Now tell me how they got that corner shadow on both sides of the vertical separator, pretty please
      James

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   rebekahELLEposted 12 years ago

   I love the new About page.  It's engaging and easy to read.  There are two links that go to 404 pages, the Find out how... and Bring Someone along...
   
   Will those links be periodically changed to feature different hubs?
   
   The forum change will take getting used to, maybe it will encourage posters not to always reply with the entire reply from the previous post.  (Because it takes up so much space)  Sometimes a page can be repeat reply posts down the page and the actual response kind of gets lost.

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      livewithrichardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I noticed the same things.. and wondered too why certain hubs are singled.
      
      There needs to be some major fixes on the forum.. there is just too much white space... I haven't looked at it on a tablet or iPhone but I can only imagine what it looks like.  On my laptop it looks terrible and hurts the eyes..

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      Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hey y'all!
      
      rebekahELLE, thanks for pointing out those 404s.
      
      We may change out the Hubs featured on that page, but not in any regular, organized manner. They were chosen as good examples that reinforce the text that links to them.
      
      As for the forum and all the design changes- it's a wrok in progress! Rest assured we'll find and settle in on whatever works best for everyone.

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      Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh! Oh! One thing though. I would LOVE it if you could recommend someone's Video for the "bring someone along" link, because the only travel video on HubPages that acts as an example of that is one that I made. If you know of one, send me an email!

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   livewithrichardposted 12 years ago

   I like the look of the Food and Cooking page but the ease of search sucks.  There is no way to search each sub topic which is a huge turn off for someone searching for recipes.  I would rather go to a recipe devoted website and search what they have than try to surf through the thousands of of unorganized hubs as they are now.
   
   I know this is a site for writers but who are we writing for, ourselves...fellow hubbers?  NO
   
   We'll give you the content but you guys at HP have to make it easier for the general public to come search for specifics.

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      Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for that feedback, livewithrichard. I appreciate it.

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   Mutiny92posted 12 years ago

   I like the looks of the new topic page. 
   Great job.  It looks very professional!

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      Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yay, that's what we were going for! Thanks so much.

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   Rosie2010posted 12 years ago

   I like the new look of the "Food and Cooking" and "About Us" pages.  I also like the new name of HubNuggets Program... "Rising Star Program"... much better.  I also like the Rising Star Program accolade... so cool.
   
   

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      Rosie2010posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh I forgot to mention, the new forum layout looks much better now too.
      
      Great changes!

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         watergeekposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I don't like it. As someone mentioned above, there's too much white space. I used to be able to quickly skim the entries, but can't anymore. This forum layout is uncomfortable to me.

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            TamCorposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Again, I agree--can you guys PLEASE do something about all the white space on the right?  I know not everyone has a problem with it, but I think quite a few people do, including myself.
            
            I am on a laptop, and I have to prop a notebook up to hide the right side of the screen, where all the white is, because the glare bothers me so much.  Dorky, I know--but what else can I do if I want to read forum threads???

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      Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks so much! Derek also designed that new Accolade, and I like it much more, too.

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         quicksandposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Talking of accolades, I am certain that I had more than I have right now. Is that possible?

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            Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Some can go away depending on the conditions that cause them (e.g. Great Commenter). It all depends on your cumulative recent performance and activity.

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   denisemaiposted 12 years ago

   So far, so good! The serif font is more readable and better suited for body text. I can't remember the statistic, but, I do know from my days in advertising that serif fonts for body text will keep readers reading better than sans serif. I like the About Us page. It's great for writers who are interested in writing. It would be wonderful if you also had an improved landing page for readers giving a good sense of the types of articles they can find on the site.
   
   Thanks for all of the hard work improving the site. We all benefit in the end!

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      Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm so glad to hear it! I've read the same thing, too.
      
      We are indeed hoping to create an improved landing page explaining HubPages to writers- so much to do, so little time!! We'll get to it once we tackle some more time-sensitive projects.

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   ivanmarginalposted 12 years ago

   I love the old forum layout...

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      Simone Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'll agree that changes is not always fun- but we updated the forum layout to make it more readable and easy to work with. We hope that once you adjust, you'll love this new layout, too!

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   Sally's Troveposted 12 years ago

   On the Food and Cooking page, there's not enough space between parentheses to allow for the "s" at the end of "followers" when there are more than 999 followers.
   
   (999 followers) vs. (1,805 follower)

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   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   It will take me a bit longer to get used to the new forum layout, but the new, magazine-style Explore - or Topics - or Whatchamacallit - pages are AwEsOmE. Awesome!
   
   I stumbled across one of those pages by mistake earlier this evening, and I could hardly tear myself away. You all sure did a good job of making us look good. Better than we had done on our own. Wowsers! I hope visitors will spend some time browsing there, the way I do on Slate magazine. I'm pretty blown away by the look. Way to go, Derek and Edward!

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    rcrumpleposted 12 years ago

    I love the look of the new Rising Star accolade.  It's going to be a great award for those just coming in to HP.
    
    The only problem that many of the previous Hubnugget winners are talking about is that, "We didn't win a Rising Star, we won a Hubnugget."   
    
    The general feeling among previous Hubnugget winners is that it makes no sense to take away what we won and replace it with a new accolade that we didn't compete for.  Just because the design is more attractive, it is simply not our award.  Ours was the Hubnugget.
    
    Awards given are not changed after the fact.  When a competition takes place, the award is presented.  Personal achievement and attachment is formed.  There may be "old styles" and "new styles", and even the names may change for future winners, but award groups don't go out and collect old awards and replace them with the new.  It would only lessen the value and the meaning of the award.
    
    That's the way of the world.  There's no logical reason for it to be different here.

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       WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       My hub nugget accolade, for a lens that won Hubnuggets 2 years ago, has automatically been changed to a rising star one. I don't have my accolades set to viewable, but can reverse that for a few hours if anyone wants to check.

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          Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Congratulations!
          
          I never got one.  It is something I have come to terms with although it still rankles a bit.  Mostly I sleep but my doctor prescribes something when it all gets too much.
          
          Fourth I came.  Fourth out of five.  Not once but twice.
          
          As I think Kipling said "If at first you don't get an award move to Wizzley".

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             WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Well, I was a bit sad at the time, because although I won by quite a large margin, as far as I can make out, it was never featured as a winner in the Newsletter or anywhere else. Rather put a downer on my excitement. It was about that time that I decided there was no point to the accolade system, because winning the nugget barely brought in any more views to the hub.

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       Robie Benveposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I love that my nugget-looking accolade became a rising star, I like the name much better too.
       Great change. : )
       I'm not so fond of this new forum font. On the laptop it's too big and I find it too "classy". I'd like a cleaner, more contemporary look... just saying. : )

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    jpesch1posted 12 years ago

    I agree with WriteAngled.  Never did see my hub featured in a Newsletter.  Still the accolade came at a time when I was needing some kind of affirmation to keep writing and I had a momentary feeling of elation for being chosen.

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    tillsontitanposted 12 years ago

    As always changes made are exciting and visually pleasing.  It takes a bit to get used to change but Hubpages continues to move onward and upward   Pending and Zzzs will take a while to get used to, but we will.
    Thanks guys for all that you do and all that you bring to us.

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    Pearldiverposted 12 years ago

    I would LOVE to report this spammer above me...  BUT
    
    But Alas... the accolade fairy has once again removed from my profile, my accolade for being helpful with advice for newbies and reporting spammers to moderators etc> 
    
    So.... let me say (helpfully) to this newbie french spammer -
    "Bonjour... bon chance.... vous c'est mort!" 
    
    The accolade fairy didn't award my Hub Nugget when I won 3 years ago... it was a non event and it was not given until someone mentioned the fact in a forum and then, after 20 months it arrived!  But now it has little relevance because accolades tend to be given to be taken away!  During my time here, I must reported well over 2000 spammers and I don't believe that I have never helped helped a newbie!  
    
    So where do we manage to keep a track of the number of Forum Posts we have made during our time on this site?  That figure is an important one to many of us..

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    Pearldiverposted 12 years ago

    Now that I'm back being valued at an 89... I might add SA on mine

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    psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

    The laurel crown is a universal symbol of excellence based on ancient roman tradition. It is used to mark a massive number of achievements from naval rank to post-graduate degrees. Unless you think Mercedes Benz, Amy Winehouse and the Olympics are/were communist too based on using a laurels logo?

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       Rochelle Frankposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       It seems  to vary. Sometimes it looks like a laurel wreath, and sometimes wheat is used-- which goes better with the sickle.

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    LetitiaFTposted 12 years ago

    Looks wonderful. The sleek, professional & readable look of HubPages is part of what sets it apart from the likes of Squidoo and co., and it just keeps getting better. The notion of "rising star" is much clearer too. Thumbs up.

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    GoldenThreadPressposted 11 years ago

    I do like the new layout changes on HubPages. In as much as we Hubbers need to periodically re-evaluate our Hubs, so too, I think it's good to look at HubPages as a whole and tweak it here and there. And, in as much as life (and dare I say the Internet/Google/etc.) is a work in progress, our Hubs and HubPages also must follow suit. Some changes require us to get used to them, while other changes will eventually fall by the wayside to be replaced by better serving ones. I guess that's how we make progress and making this site better (as well as our Hubs) is something I relish and definitely look forward to. Kudos!--Deb

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    tillsontitanposted 11 years ago

    As always a great job.  You guys are so dedicated and provide us with so many innovations.  Just as in the past not everyone will appreciate all the changes, but time heals all wounds   Seriously, this is a great way to promote the hubs written with such love and care.

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