Exciting news! Today we have updated profile pages to match the design of the rest of the site. Profile pages are the last holdout, so after today, all of HubPages will have a consistent look and color scheme. The new design is fully responsive, meaning it resizes and functions more smoothly on smartphones and tablets. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you notice any bugs by starting a new forum thread in the Technical Questions forum. We hope you like the new look!
Thanks for your feedback, everyone! We're hearing that most of you are happy with the design but would prefer articles to be the default when landing on a profile. We're working on making that change now.
Christy, if articles are going to be made the default again, it would be a good idea to bring back the option to filter by topic. In addition, making the filter option obvious would be useful too. Many people didn't even know that option was available when it was there. It's mostly useful for Hubbers who cover many different niches.
One last thing, I'm afraid the plan is to simply switch the default, making the bio the second grade content of the profile. I wouldn't like that. What do other's feel about that? I think the bio is important for SEO purposes.
I agree. Ideally, bio and articles will both show on the default page. Even if it is only the "latest" articles or something like that.
Perhaps we should have tested the new profile page for a few weeks before the default was changed back to' articles'. I hope that HP pays more attention to those writers who really do understand SEO better than I do, especially if the change made were to increase earnings.
The images at the top of the page are still skewed. Hopefully, this can be addressed when time permits.
Thanks for hearing it all and for efforts to improve.
Don't change it!!! HP got it right the first time!!! Not even 1% of our article traffic comes from the profile page!!! And the occasional visit that does come is almost always from one of us ad-blind Hubbers anyway!!!
Oh, well.
Ha Ha. You made me curious. You're right! I just checked my GA stats. Only 0.18% of my total traffic in the past week was to my profile. Even the behavior flow shows few people clicking to the profile after reading a hub.
Thanks. Yep, the article list as the default is a waste of bandwidth.
Yes, I do agree with that. As I stated earlier, it's good for SEO to have faster loading. I even left out the full list on my index of my hubs on my author site. I just have a list of my topic categories. Visitors can click the topic they want and THEN they get a list of articles.
Bah, Humbug!
However, serves the silent majority right. This is what happens when the silent majority remain silent.
The engineers tell me that it doesn't make a difference as far as load time or for SEO whether "Articles" or "About" are the default for profiles, so making articles the default shouldn't cause any issues.
Thank you for changing to Articles as default. Looks much better.
Per my request 8 years ago, I'm still waiting for HP to play the last part of the William Tell Overture whenever we visit our stats page. Oh well.
Thanks for listening and changing it to articles. It looks much better, IMO
I would prefer the articles to be the first thing you see and notice that my images are stretched and skewed. I have a feeling that now that the social feed buttons are really obvious that traffic will be diverted to those areas rather than to our articles on HP.
That is right. I noticed that too. The first thing I saw was the stretching images. I thought there was something wrong with my browsers.
I would like the article view to appear first as well.
Don, click the HubPages logo on top of any page to get to your feed page.
Thanks Glenn - I went away for a few days and change attacked me! LOL! Oh, Well, I don't care where it is, jut that I can entertain myself over my Coffee each morning! ;>)
DON
Two things: I agree that articles should show first, just as before and also...what happened to giving readers the opportunity to email us? Am not seeing this.
Very pleased about the default update ...
Thanks for your concern and diplomacy, Christy
Blessings
Just wanted to let everyone know that the engineers are tackling the issue of the stretched carousel. It's not an easy fix, so it might take some time, but we're working on it.
Can't edit the "about" section on my profile page. Not sure if it's a bug or not.
Yes you can!
Just go to your stats page and select PROFILE on the top menu.
Also saves bandwidth, but also enables additional ads. Works for me!
I like the new design except for the fact that it loads with the About page showing. If people have written a short description about themselves, the visitor sees a page with very little writing and two ads visible without having to scroll down the page, which doesn't look good to me. A longer description means that a visitor has to scroll down to see the second ad, which is fine in my opinion.
Digging it, thanks! It looks good on my desktop and mobile.
Prefer it if the default page was 'articles' and not the 'about' page.
@paradigmsearch, I tried your suggestion before my initial post,
but to no avail. Now that you mentioned it - I retired but still can't edit in the about section.
Nice job! Thanks! Though I think I'd like it better if the articles page was the default page also. The pictures from each article just make for a more interesting and colorful appearance.
I like the latest update in our profile. It looks very clean and easy to navigate. I agree with Nathalie, it's better if the article page is the default page as well. Just like in any other blogs or websites where they put the about the author page at the right part of their menu. Overall, great job!
In all honetsly prefer the old view where articles instantly available
Basically when someone clicks on my profile button in an article now, they're sent to a page without my articles and with tons of ads instead. Readers have to "work" to get any information about what I do. Everyone knows a two-step process will lose at least half of those initially interested in my work, probably more. I think it's a terrible change for traffic and business for us writers. But let's see if the numbers back me up a month from now..
When I go to a profile page I want to see what else the writer has written. I am really more interested in finding their work than I am in reading their bio. Also when I refer someone to my profile, I want them to see my articles.
I agree, Rochelle. Timing is not on my side. I just shared the link to my profile page yesterday on a fb group for fellow therapists so they can see my articles. Oh well.
I am very upset that my readers have to jump through hoops to find my articles. You cut down what was shown by less than a quarter of what I had. Newcomers won't even know where to go to find the larger body of our work.
À very good move by hubpages. Congrats and thanks! Great job! Keep it up!
Interesting that HP decided to remove the "Search & Sort" option that sat underneath the Featured Articles display - the helpful user field made it easy for the reader to sort & find what type of other articles were available by genre. So now after this design change - if a reader is only looking for "Health" articles - they no longer have an option to narrow down what they are looking for - especially if the writer has more than one niche or several different topics that are not related to the readers intent. Instead, the reader has to spend time scrolling down the article list which takes time - granted those who do have the time might find something off topic that piques their interest - then it's a bonus for all - but most likely because of time constraints in today's world with the ever self-gratifying "I want it now" attitude - I think that many will quickly lose interest hence a loss of traffic to other articles and the writer. I've noticed the Profile pic on the BIO page is a bit larger and really nice for display but I'm thinking the accolades may not really matter to the outside reader who is not related to the HP world and looks kind of odd sitting below - and lastly, the ads appear blatant and possibly a quick turn-off to the serious-minded reader who is bombarded with ads right away - albeit again, we all want to make that money! - just my two cents and takeaway on the newest changes.
Having worked for a few major corporations over the years - I know to expect that things will most likely change. Sometimes for the good - sometimes for the bad - in observation - the new design is neatly tailored to the eye but as far as a traffic motivator - this may not be such a good move for the HP Network or its writers. But maybe good for the Maven Network? Good for the entity in that it still has a search & sort option (by genre) planted on the HubPages Network to reroute possible traffic yet we no longer have the ability to display that option within our own network.
At any rate - we shall see
Just gotta roll with it
Hard Eight Baby
Cheers
The new format distorts images in the spotlight section. Previously the boxes were square and now they are rectangular. As a result, faces look much wider, as though somebody’s been visiting the cookie jar too often.
Is there a way to access the forum/feed/article section as before? Overall, I rather preferred the previous format but I understand the need to improve it for mobile users.
It looks really good, but I wholeheartedly agree with what some others are saying about having the articles on the first page. I think it is a huge mistake not to do have it set up this way.
When people Google you, this is the page they arrive on. They should immediately see more of your articles and not have to hunt for them. Your homepage is your business card. When readers arrive your want them not only to see your profile blurb, but also the articles you've written.
This is even more important for those of us who write in a niche. If readers find one article they like, we can assume they'd like to read more of them. If readers have to hunt around and click again to find those articles, chances are equally good that they will simply go away. We need to make it easy for them.
At the very least make the link to find the articles more prominent, and not blended into a menu where readers have an equal chance of clicking on "Activity".
That's my 2 cents, for whatever it is worth.
I don't like the large ad that continually shows on my profile because it includes negative, offensive political slogans I never use, in a variety of formats, like T-shirts and others. The ads imply to readers that I belong to far right and far left political groups, depending on which ad is up and I resent this. This will kill off some of my readership as well as give a false impression of me.
Nor do I ... None of my articles are about online gaming. Weird
Patty, ads are based on your own interests. Google, and other ad agencies, use your search history to decide what ads to show you.
I see you have written some politically related hubs, so you must have been doing searches for your research. That's what is making those ads appear for you.
Other people visiting your profile will see ads related to their interests, so no need to worry.
I'm thinking of the hundreds of thousands of students grades 4 through college that use my articles annually, along with their parents, and teachers - all of whom are also researching politics and job searching, usually on Bing or Google. I've already received a complaint email from a long-time reader I've gotten to know, about political T-shirts and ads for Truck Driving. Well, truck driving can be lucrative, but I dislike blame for Trump pro- and anti- T-shirts.
I'd be happy if the ad on the profile page could be moved from underneath my name/contact info on the mobile phone view.
Thanks for the info.
If the students who read your articles are also searching for politics related information on Google and Bing, and even if they discuss it in emails with friends who use gmail, they will see those ads everywhere – not just on HubPages. It's always been that way.
If it really concerns you when their parents complain, then you can instruct them how to disable "private results" in Google's search settings.
See https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1710607
Thanks for the information; that will help.
I just looked at it a little closer. It's good that readers can click on "Articles" right after "About." It's not so bad.
I like that it loads faster since the list of articles is under a separate tab. Should get ranked higher for that. I just needed to change my bio a little to relate to the new layout. I also like how the “follow me” icons are clearly labeled now.
However, I discovered a few things that may have been overlooked:
• The Accolades no longer include descriptions when clicked. One used to be able to click them for a description.
• The images of the spotlight hubs are strangely stretched.
• The ability for a visitor to filter the listing for a specific topic is no longer available.
Well now, I've tried to explain the last one ... thanks for clearing that one up with a better explanation about the removal of the filter issue. I tend to get wordy lol ... Cheers
The description for accolades is visible by browsing the cursor over the accolade icon.
But, you can't post a question from the profile page.
And, you can't visit the feed page direct from your profile buttons.
I was testing it on my iPad. You are right, though, but hovering only works on a desktop. It’s strange that they changed that since we are already up to 80% traffic from mobile devices. I guess it’s not that important since most people don’t pay attention to an author’s accolades anyway.
I don’t know what you mean by posting a question on the profile, unless you mean sending a message via the fan mail page. I do see that that was removed. Maybe another thing they missed when making the changes.
As for visiting the feed page, you can still do that by clicking the HubPages logo on top.
Posting a question in the Forums. Previously, we were able to either post questions/Answers and enter the feed page by clicking a button (that showed 3 or 4 options) at the top right side tools bar.
I don't even see accolades. I hope our articles go back to being the default.
Jean, See my last long post above ( assuming you are viewing this thread in chronological mode).
I can get to the articles now. I still see no accolades. I guess it's not so important.
You missed the latest changes discussed. You're probably in threaded view. Switch to chronological.
They changed the default to 'Articles'. The accolades are still in the 'about' page.
Thanks Glenn,
I got it now. I just had to play around and get used to it .
A correction to my above post, please. I am able to visit the feed page by clicking the HubPages logo at the bottom end of the page in the left side (near the image of the "key".
That one works too. But no need to scroll down when you can click the logo on top anyway.
How do I access the forums now? I had to google search manually to get on here. I am confused.
Kain, You can get to the forums by clicking the (≡ MORE) option at the top left of any page. It's at the bottom of the options panel that appears.
I once mentioned to Paul that it should be moved up to the top of the MORE panel along with the other commonly used options, but I guess they decided to leave it at the bottom. I know it's a pain to scroll all the way down just to click to the forums.
What I experienced over the past 8+ years with HubPages was their increasing inability to take our feedback into account. They just did whatever they wanted, it seemed. I was hoping that the "new" HP would be different, and it sounds like it is. The fact that you're even considering our feedback is a new concept, and I'm happy to know you guys are listening!! Thank you. Now I hope the changes materialize..
Come to think of it, fix it where we can choose the default.
Thanks Christy and team for taking on board our preferences re articles as default page
The profile page was the last and only place still left where we could still announce to the world what fine human beings we are. Now that is soon to be "gone" as well. Good news for HP, bad news for us.
Oh No! It’s worse now. Worse than ever!
So, the default was changed to the listing. But that defeats the purpose of keeping it hidden to enhance page load time.
Now we have a listing of everything without the ability to choose topics, and no bio!
That’s definitely not good. Most people will not notice that they can click the “about” tab for the bio. People don’t look at things that closely. All the tabs will be overlooked anyway.
Okay, here’s what my analysis is on this... Some people have a tremendously long bio that no one wants to read. They don’t realize they are losing their potential readers. So I get it — this is why the bio was separated from the listing.
But for those of us who have a short, direct to the point bio, one that’s written with SEO in mind and one that serves the purpose of attracting a reader's interest, I feel those deserve to be the main point of the profile.
So what do we do?
One option is to go back to the way it was, but with the new template that matches the rest of the site. That is, let a long bio display only when the reader clicks “more.”
Another option is to limit the size of the bio to begin with, and don’t display long bios until people rewrite them to meet the new size limit.
I’m sure there are other solutions, but that was my two-cents worth. Or was it five-cents with inflation?
Well, sports fans. The hammer fell. You got your wish. The articles list is now the default.
Glenn, you are right. To me, the profile page is now basically useless.
And Google bots will no longer create a snippet from our bio for the SERPs. That’s why, if we had a choice, the bio is more important than the article list.
I thought it was perfect before with short bio at the top, and articles underneath if you want to scroll down. Formatting is far less important than ergonomics and doing what readers want. I like the effort to change it, but I don't think it's adding to the experience in any way, and seems to be detracting. What we had was perfect, and now it's just a mess.
Agreed, I actually preferred the old setup, especially with our oddly stretched highlight pictures.
Yes, the previous setup was hands down more visually appealing IMO.
I agree, the old was aesthetically pleasing and the new seems unduly sparse. Who knows, maybe they'll let us vote as to which is preferable?
The more I am looking - yes I agree. If it isn't broke don't fix it. This is awful.
I think it's much better now that it shows articles by default. Thanks for listening HubPages! But, honestly, I think it still isn't as good as having everything on one page like it was before - bio, accolades, slideshow, article list. Also, what's with the big ad between our names and articles in mobile view?
I also strongly disagree with some the idea that nobody ever reads our profile page. As I said before, if you write in a niche your profile matters a whole lot.
A few years ago I wrote an article about a somewhat obscure topic. Back then there were few articles on the web on this topic, so my article ranked highly and got around 300 views a day. I thought that was pretty good, back then. I wrote many other articles in the same niche (though not the same topic) and had around 40 articles on the subdomain.
I also had three or four off-topic articles on that account, in totally unrelated niches. That's important to know for the rest of the story.
So, one day a major cable network decided to air what proved to be an extremely controversial program on my topic. Overnight my views on that account shot up to something like 85,000 in a 24-hour period. Jackpot!
But I noticed something interesting when I looked at my stats. People weren't just reading that article and the ones linked to it. They were reading my other articles in that niche. How did they find them? They weren't linked in any way. Even more interesting, the 3-4 non-niche articles had no change in traffic.
Looking at GA confirmed what I had been thinking. People were coming to my profile and seeking out more articles in that niche. They were ignoring non-niche topics, because that's not what brought them there.
Trends like this are easy to spot when you get several month of traffic in one shot. And I suspect they are much more pronounced if your write in a niche. In fact, one of my pen names for one of my niche accounts even shows up in Google autocomplete, ahead of some well-known brands.
That means people search for my name, and when they do they arrive at my profile page.
So, in my humble opinion, based on my experience, the profile page matters. If you write in a niche, it matters a lot. It should be a central location where readers can easily find what they want, and it should not be plastered with ads.
EricDockett,
My readers also find my main niche by Googling my name. I get most of my traffic that way, and repeat visitors when I write new stuff. Or new people who read an article and want to read more about the topic. I've also had offers to write on other sites by that.
I like it much better. I like how you can look at the About section without having to click the "read more". Looks slick!
Our lives have ended as we know it.
Actually, on a more serious note, we probably won't even recognize this site a year from now anyway.
Am looking forward to the next drama and intrigue.
Really! This internet thing changes every time you turn around.
I had a comment on one of my articles "I know this article is really old but I wated to ask a question anyway"
The offending material was written about 4 years ago.
Really old?
I know what you mean. I've got "2018" plastered on every page of my website. Considering indexing delays, am trying to decide when to change it to "2019".
The mobile view features the advertisement as the spotlight post on my profile!!!
Where is my spotlight space?
This is too bad.
I thought that it was great before in the original style, with the bio above and the articles listed below. But that's just my two cents.
Christy, I know the engineers are working on the profile page. I am sure it will be all set soon. However, my revolving pictures under "In the Spotlight" are skewed. Can we see more of the bio?
Is there no longer a way to see if we have comments on the profile page? It was very convenient instead of having to click on the article and scroll down to reply to the comment. I see that we can also access comments via the notfication link. However, it's not as convenient or as stream-lined as all comments together in one place, without having to go to the article. Asking for a friend.
Edit: Oops! Nevermind, that's the hub feed page. Duh! Just have to laugh at my friend sometimes with those dumb questions. SMH
Sorry don't have time to go through all the responses, I am on a laptop using Google Chrome and there is a lot of white space - like an enormous gap between the top with the picture/contact and where the tabs are. You have to actually scroll down to see anything. I guess me being on an actual computer is a rarity these days, but this looks really bad on my laptop, fine on mobile though. I see where you're addressing the wonky pictures in the carousel - that's good.
That sounds like a solid assessment--like you, I mainly access HP from a computer, which the old format seemed more helpful for, but the new aesthetic may be superior on mobile devices.
Did not read any other replies, but I use a laptop too. 15 inch 1366 X 768 pixels. And the gap is perfect. I have a mouse cursor of a gap, that's it. Are you on a very different screen resolution?
As far as that “enormous gap“ that you refer to, is it possible that you have an ad blocker that is just leaving white space where the ad normally appears?
Glenn, and Lobobrandon, do you see the spotlight hubs on your mobile view? I do not find them either on the about page or the articles (default) page of my mobile. Where are they?
It does not show on mobile view. Probably for faster load times which is good.
The spotlight is not displayed on my iPhone, but it is on my iPad. I agree with Brandon about load time. The carousel requires more overhead.
Okay, thanks to both of you for clarifying the issue.
The white space is that of the advertisement. It loads slowly after 30 seconds or a minute on my mobile.
Thanks for confirming that. In addition to slow load time, she might be using an ad blocker as I had asked her earlier.
I honestly wonder if anybody other than HubPages writers than look at my profile. According to my analytics tracking, few people do.
The new profiles look nice to me though.
Eric, what does it say on the HubPages newsletter? That always shows the number of views on the profile and the change from the prior report.
I know I get some views. I just mean not enough to worry too much. I get about like 20 views to my profile a month.
Profiles generally get little traffic anyway.
True. Nobody looks at them unless he is interested in providing or getting work from you. Some may be interested in taking a short glimpse of your articles so that he may find stuff for his needs.
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