If you visited a Topic Page recently, you may have noticed that it looks a little different! Read about the redesign in today's blog post!
Update: Since several Hubbers were asking about this: to get to the Feed, hover over the explore menu in the header and click the link. Or go there directly.
I like the redesign. It definitely makes the topic page look cleaner and is more attention-grabbing (imo).
I don't like it. Before my profile came up and it would tell me if other hubbers commented on my page. This is just a screen of a ton of hubs. Not even the special feature hub. I will have to learn how to navigate. Two people left me fan mail which I approved, but could not find out how to reply and say thank you. I guess I am just someone who hates change. Why fix something if it wasn't broken. I guess I will have to learn how to navigate all over again on this site like I did when I joined in 2013.
I like the latest post where i can find new post on the list. Very satisfied with the new image.
I suggest that the 'Latest' listing (and others) should only show HUBS, not Forum posts and Q&A. The latter may have dubious benefit for external readers and may be controversial. Otherwise the update is good.
There are some glaringly obvious dangers with the 'Best' and 'Hot' listings. Not sure of the criteria used to select these.
Thanks for the suggestion. FYI signed out visitors only see Hubs in all three of the listings.
Could you elaborate on your feedback about Best and Hot?
@Marina RE: Could you elaborate on your feedback about Best and Hot?
I have sent you an email.
Another question: Do hubs appear in the 'Latest' before they pass QAP. Does this not pose a risk of promoting poor quality hubs?
Pending Hubs by more trustworthy Hubbers WILL appear in the Latest list but they will fall out of the list if and when they become defeatured.
Signed out visitors only see Featured Hubs, i.e., those that have passed the QAP.
The new paint job will take some getting used to! At first I thought my browser was displaying the Mobile version of the site by mistake! haha
I see that HubPages' programmers have been very busy with all the new features added recently. I like the new topics list for the home page. It's makes sense to only show hubs to outsiders and all the rest to signed in users. That was good planning.
I'm glad we didn't lose the feed page (now under the explore submenu). I use that a lot to see what's going on with topics and Hubbers I'm following. But I think the added ability to see the questions and discussions across the board in the home page (when logged in) is useful. It gives us the opportunity to discover more of what's going on.
I like the new front page, and it's about time the scope of HP was more accessible for everyone.
However, I am also worried about the 'Hot' best hubs tab... If they are anything like your choices for Hub of the Day, there will be some seriously goofy-looking hubs in there that shouldn't be.
They make us and Hubpages, in general, look stupid and always have. I mean, things like grammar and correct spelling ARE an important part of writing an article worthy to be called out as exceptional.
I really hope you're taking the quality of that section a LOT more seriously than in the past.
I see that the new design has affected our profile/subdomain pages as well. I like the category/subcategory in red over the hub title. However, the hub title font looks heavy and boxy.
Regarding the new topic page design, are the hubs that are featured on this landing page come from only hubbers who have opted into Editor's Choice?
Nope! Both subdomain and EC Hubs can appear in all three (Best/Hot/Latest) listings.
Could this thread be renamed please? Like several others, I arrived on HubPages this morning to find my feed apparently gone, and I was annoyed. I felt that HubPages had made a major change without announcing it.
Now I see you have announced it, but under a title which means nothing to me - what you've done is replaced the feed page with a new topics page as our "home page". I'm sure I'm not the only one who missed the announcement as a result.
I agree with Marisa. I was mislead by this title too. Instead of calling it "Topic Page Redesign" it should be called "Home Page Redesign."
It should also be made clear right up front that the feed page is still available under the "explore" pull-down tab. Before I read that in the blog post, I was also annoyed - thinking it had been removed.
Updated the title of the thread! I'll add an update to the OP here about the Feed. Thanks for the suggestions.
Does this change also mean that HOTD will no longer be featured on the home page, it's an internal feature on the feed page for signed in hubbers only? Fine with me, just wondering.
I agree that it should be referred to as a Home Page redesign, but whatever you want to call it, I think it's awesome. Love the bigger thumbnails, and the layout makes me want to dive right in to explore content. Nicely done!
Please consider making Best or Hot the default instead of Latest. Even in signed out view, the Latest feed is filled with a lot of borderline low-quality hubs and about half the titles are not written in proper title case, which reflects poorly on the site. In Best and Hot a much smaller proportion of titles are capitalized incorrectly.
Agreed. "Latest" fills my topics page with uninteresting, poorly written articles that make me question being on the site.
I don't know if you meant in reply to my suggestion http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/132313#post2755787 but if the ranking of 'best' and 'hot' includes scores and traffic then that's better than nothing, which is the problem with making 'latest' the default.
With 'latest' as the default a person visiting HP's front page for the first time will assume HP is a repository of very bad poetry (and a significant amount of it written by people with a poor command of English) -- a charge which the soi-disant poets of HP will get up in arms over I'm sure.
In contrast, what's available under 'hot' and 'best' is pretty good for the most part.
I think that there are real dangers in highlighting hubs that
have received a recent surge in traffic or activity, and therefore may be particularly noteworthy
unscrupulous people may take advantage of these lists in various ways.
Then perhaps 'hot' is also problematic, so the default should be 'best.'
Hot is our version of "trending" content, which has proven to be something readers are interested in and is ubiquitous across the Internet. Hot Hubs are more highlighted now, but we believe the advantages of increased visibility and readership outweigh the risk of theft. Our opinions and advice on content theft is explained in detail here and here.
@calculus-geometry asks:
Can you change the default listing from latest to best?
Janderson99, it seems I am a ghost and only you can see my posts. Could you ask Marina about changing the default listing from latest to best?
woooo wooooooooooo
I'm sorry, c-g! We plan to experiment with the default list, but are starting with Latest.
This is a huge ask, but is there a way users could tell the link on the Hubpages logo to go to the feed instead of the topic page? I'm 90% sure that's where it used to go. The new topic pages look left-balanced and barren.
Not sure that I like the latest hubs being shown first. A person may come to the site and read some pretty weird or badly written stuff, as I did when I first landed there this morning. I can't see how introducing HP with possible rubbish could help the site.
Highly appreciate the recent makeover. May we now just get a bit more colorful HubPages?
I think this is relevant: would you mind if I post what I said 9 months ago? Hope not. Here it is:
"...I like this site (HubPages). And I would really appreciate a makeover of the site's interface. It's not really a fancy idea. Every (good) architect and designer know that the overall 'look' of a 'product impacts heavily on the mood of the end-users.
In the end, it means influence on productivity:
Just imagine: How would feel if you were to use a 'Black-themed' (or 'Orange-themed') Facebook - even for a day?"
http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/126357
Yup, just this morning when I logged in there were a oouple of items on the front page that were obvious spam, and one that wasn't even in English. If casual web surfers see that they're going to click right off and go somewhere else.
Also, this "new" front page design seems to have done away with the Hub of the Day. If that's the case, it should be re-instated immediately, if not sooner.
Thanks for the observations and input. The Latest listing has its flaws, and we will continue to work on refining the existing filters to minimize the rate of spam items. We have done several assessments on the listing and can confirm that the vast majority of content shown is not spam. Of course, that does not speak to the overall quality of the items. Most readers know what to expect when they see a Latest or New listing. Apart from the few low-quality items, what is your impression (as a Hubber) about the listing? Do you like finding recently published content on HubPages or not so much?
Hub of the Day is alive and well, but it is no longer promoted on the homepage (it is still in the Feed, however). Previously, the homepage contained a carousel of five Hubs. Now that it features many more Hubs, it offers a superior browsing experience for readers.
Even in signed out view there are hubs that are still pending in QAP, so could you not simply set a filter to only show the latest passing hubs to signed out viewers, the general public?
If this is the case, then it's a bug. Signed out visitors should not be seeing pending Hubs. Do you have an example?
Marina, I have an example for you. It's a good one by a good Hubber. Nothing wrong with this one. BUT it's an example of one that I found on the front page while NOT logged in. It presently is not in the listing on his profile, which indicates that it still is pending QAP. Here is the link:
http://markeli.hubpages.com/hub/NewHorizonspassesPluto
I agree with the others that if new hubs show up for outsiders to see on the front page that did not pass QAP, then there will be a chance of showing the worst to the public, and this may hurt HubPages tremendously. Hubs MUST pass QAP before listing on the front page for signed out visitors.
Thank you and c-g for the examples. Both of these Hubs are Featured, but for some reason they're not on the authors' profile pages. I will check with engineering to find out why.
As I've mentioned already, we never intended to show Pending Hubs to signed out visitors. So we're on the same page!
Please do not show UNQAPed articles on the signed in home page - It is far too depressing!!!
I saw a hub with one paragraph, a misspelled title, and not in English. When I looked up the hubber, it said he is banned from the site. I was signed in.
Do you happen to remember what account this was? If so, can you please email me the details? Thanks!
Another example I saw on the front page in signed out mode
http://krsrathore.hubpages.com/hub/Vastu-for-Interiors
This hub has not passed QAP.
I also see this one when signed out, and it's not in his profile page so it's clearly pre-QAP.
That's a good example of a really bad hub. Too many of these will destroy the integrity of HubPages as a site with superior content.
Just look at the nonsense in this hub… At one point the author says "So keeping cash chest along the Southern wall ensures the safety and retention of your money because of the impact of Mars…"
What kind of gibberish is that? Please fix it so hubs that didn't pass QAP do not show up on the front page for signed out visitors.
EDIT: Marina - Just saw your answer posted at the same time I posted this one. I understand what you said, but this hub clearly couldn't have passed QAP. Look at it!
The QAP has an (low) error rate. Keep that in mind! One of our ongoing goals is to improve the accuracy of the QAP. When you see Featured Hubs that you think are undeserving, please report them. It is incredibly helpful to us.
Yes, I know the QAP is not perfect. But this hub was NOT featured and still showed up on the front page when logged out.
Glenn, the Hub is Featured. You can see for yourself on Google Search. I'm not sure where people are getting the idea otherwise. Every example Hub that was posted about this IS Featured.
There is a bug delaying the Hub from appearing on the author's profile page, but that is a separate issue.
That explains the discrepancy. I was assuming that if I don't see it on the author's profile then it's not yet featured. I guess the others thought that too. But I understand about the delay.
Besides all that, we still have a concern about low-grade hubs being shown to outside visitors. What would be the problem with just changing the default to show "hot" or "best" rather than "latest". Is that such a problem? It would eliminate all the concerns everyone has and it will most likely benefit HubPages' business.
The "hot" or "best" selection process is dubious and very mysterious. The listings don't change very often. It is hard to understand the rankings as the selection criteria are not defined in the Q&A. Number of comments seems to dominate.
The concern is definitely noted. Over the weekend, Paul posted the reasons we chose to start with the Latest listing. We are not committed to it indefinitely, but the hope is that putting the newest content in the forefront will send a positive signal to search engines.
Yes, but I think search engines would rank HubPages better with quality in the forefront. Just my opinion.
I always attributed the downfall of Squidoo to when they moved away from listing the best lenses on their home page. Traffic generally took a massive hit.
Hubs that bad shouldn't be passing, and if they are then all the more reason not to show Latest as the default to outside viewers.
I think we have the answer to whether or not the hubs in latest have passed the filter
I took a look at the Arts and Design category I've got hubs listed in and this came Top of the Latest List. I've made the name anonymous and left everything else exactly as listed.
Can somebody explain to me why anybody - including signed in members - should be made to look at this rubbish and generally gain a very unimpressive perspective of Hubpages filters?
I think you meant to include an example Hub in your post, but I don't see one.
As for your question, it's already been answered in a handful of other posts:
http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2756583
http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2755873
http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2755629
Of course I didn't include a specific hub in my post. That would be "calling out" a hub and I thought that was against the rules.
What I did instead was include a quotation of the specific gobbledygook text included in the hub as listed right at the top of the Arts and Design 'Latest' category. All you had to do was review that category!
Somebody has removed the text of that quote in your quote - I'd include an image here but I don't know how to. However I checked and the complete text of my original quote is still included - in the ORIGINAL quote
Here it is again
I'm sorry, I don't feel that "the vast majority are not spam" is good enough if a hub is profiled and listed on anything that is representing HubPages Content.
If the HubPages conviction is not "100% are not spam" then there is absolutely no way Hubpages should be using the "latest" listing as the default and you certainly shouldn't be listing anything which hasn't passed the filters. To do otherwise is IMO wholly disrespectful to others who have their non-spam content on HubPages and provides a considerable incentive to remove it.
If such text is getting past the filters then HubPages has a MAJOR PROBLEM.
I have to agree. Until this can't happen, human eyes should be reviewing what is appearing on the "latest" content page and it shouldn't be the primary tab. I've seen some junky stuff too and have been waiting it out to see if things would improve in a few days. I am concerned about the quality people are being shown as well. Also, I miss clicking the logo to go to my feed, but I can get used to that.
I'm also seeing several hubs in a "best" listing in an Arts and Design category occupied by hubs which have not been updated for six years and all have the same logo image to do with some sort of Hubpages challenge
I assume from this that the following count for nothing in the filter which decides which are "Best"
1) unique and appropriate/relevant images for the hub i.e. not used by any other hub by that author
2) an update in the last year
It wouldn't be my definition of "Best" if that were the case.
It appears that the Hub of the Day is now displayed on the log-out screen, which seems like a waste - nobody will take notice of it there. It should be on the front page, whether a person is logged in or not.
The HOTD will always be seen by logged-in users on their feed. It's still there on the feed.
True, but if I had a H.O.T.D. I'd feel kind of gypped that I would no longer get that "premium" spot on the front page for a day. That's some prime real estate!
The front page is what used to be the feed. With the new format, hubbers will still see the HOTD when they visit their feed (which is now under the explore tab). Others (who are not logged in) will see it on the new front page. So everyone gets to see it. It's not lost.
This ^ I don't like that at all. I'm not thrilled with the latest content that's displayed either as I've seen some questionable stuff, but I think HOTD needs it's front page honor as it's always had.
Today is the first day I've really had a chance to look at this. I have to agree with what a lot of people are saying in regard to the "Latest" content appearing before it passes QAP, even for signed-in users. Just this morning I've run into some seriously ugly stuff. It's not going to pass QAP (I hope) so there is no point in flagging it, but why should I be greeted by semi-pornographic material or invitations for escort services every time I sign in? I have to say, I don't like that one bit.
Furthermore, for my big niche account it seems readers sometimes join HP to get updates when I post something new. That's my optimistic view of it anyway. Maybe they just think they need to sign in to comment, or maybe they plan to steal my stuff. But in the event that the first scenario is true I really don't want potential followers freaked out by the idea that my content appears on a site that also supports offensive and dubious content. That's a pretty surefire way to demolish your authority and credibility with a reader straight out of the gate.
In summary: Please reconsider the way Hubs are appearing on the main page, even for signed-in users.
I would be okay with latest as the default as long as the hubs that didn't pass QAP or are pending aren't on there. At least showcase quality featured hubs in the "latest" section.
If anything it should be the other way around, let signed in loyal users see pre-QAP crap, they'll probably not be scared off. But new visitors need to see only the good stuff.
Here's my only problem with that (and honestly the redesign in general): The point of the feed is that we only see things we want to see. We follow Hubbers and topics we like, and avoid the ones we don't. I set up my feed specifically so that I don't have to see the garbage. Now, every time I log in, instead of seeing my feed I am greeted by madness.
Even much of what passes QAP is infuriating. I just read an awful Hub. Short. Bad information. Nothing close to HP's stated guidelines for quality content. Yet it passed QAP and is visible on the home page to whoever comes to the site. What can I do? I can't flag it - HP will ignore it. Now I can't even avoid it.
I suppose the only answer is to just ignore it. Maybe practice some Zen meditation or punch a pillow. Or both.
To your first point: the default behavior when you sign in is to return you to the page you came from (or to the page that you were trying to go to if it required sign in). If you were on the homepage, and you signed in you would be returned to the homepage. If you don't come from a page on HubPages, it defaults to the Feed.
Regarding Hubs that pass the QAP: if you do see a low-quality Hub on the homepage, you can flag it. Please do. Even if we don't unpublish or defeature it, the information is useful for training the QAP to improve.
Thank you, that's very helpful information. I come to HubPages each day (and have for over 3 years) via a bookmark on my browser that points to hubpages.com. That takes me to the new redesigned page that anyone would see. Then I sign in, and lately that means looking at the latest/hot/best page again.
By replacing my bookmark with hubpages.com/feed I can avoid all that stuff I was complaining about. Very good.
I created a thread a few weeks ago about my frustrations with flagging. I'm not going to go into it again. But if it helps the QAP at least that's something positive.
I get the impression that HP is much less open to suggestions, comments and changes than it used to be. Makes you wonder whether it is worth commenting.
But why not just default to "Best" until such time as you have a quality assurance system that works?
I see lots of people agree with my suggestion to not make latest the default. I hope HP considers that maybe we are actually right. But it's somewhat reassuring to hear that HP is not completely married to the current display.
Timetraveler2 had an interesting suggestion in another thread to make feeds show newly updated hubs, not just newly published. Though I see how that can potentially be abused, it could also help dilute the low-quality newly published hubs.
Just for fun, here are three hubs on the front page in signed out view, yes, these passed QAP!
http://thelostdutchman.hubpages.com/hub … nts-of-God
http://jeffreysoey.hubpages.com/hub/Do- … ball-Coach
http://my-zone.hubpages.com/hub/Is-It-P … e-Building
The potential for abuse is a key reason why we decided not to include recently edited Hubs. We considered it.
Does that mean the possibility of someone copying it?
One problem with showing edited Hubs in the Latest listing is that people can easily make minor edits to their Hubs in order to have them appear in the listing.
As opposed to showing people hubs which really do NOT represent the quality of content of other hubs on Hubpages well
What's the bigger risk?
I, for one, am glad that HP has made it easier to find the new hubs. I used to look at them often, before they became hidden. Maybe that should not be the default for the general public, but I am glad it is an option for us.
Huh? You don't need 'latest' to be the default view to look at the latest hubs.
Just click the category labels at the top and you will see it has three labels 'recent', 'hot' and 'best'.
How do you think we're able to see what's 'hot' and 'best'?
This site has changed so much. I am not sure if I will hang around much longer.
I didn't say it should be the default, I just said I am glad it is available.
Heads up. Going out in the next day or two is a change to the latest list that will create a higher quality list for signed in Hubbers. After it's deployed, we will evaluate and see what additional tweaks we need.
I usually stay signed in all the time, so I can quickly check on a few things. I never thought the Hubs of the Day were that good anyway, a lot of badly written things get through the cracks.
I like the new categories on the Profile page, I don't always write about the same topic, but always had trouble finding categories for some of my pieces.
I love the categories, and someone must have spent a lot of time on the profile page making the categories fit correctly. Thank you so much.
Hi Audrey,
I go nuts sometimes trying to figure out the right category for some of my hubs, so it was a nice surprise to see it was done for me!
Great news! Thank you and the team very much, Paul.
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