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what happened to wordpress.com homepage's tag cloud

  1. goodflagbetsy
    Member

    hello;

    as of several days ago the worpress.com website's homepage had a tag cloud on the right hand margin, which I believe is the means by which most people use the wordpress.com website ... if you want to read about food then click on the 'food' keyword within the tag cloud;

    however, today I see that the homepage is quite different, with the tag cloud having been removed;

    does anyone have any information as to what happened to the homepage and its tag cloud, and why would the tag cloud be abandoned ... is there another way to navigate through the hundreds of theme-based posts within wordpress.com?

    thanks,
    Shannon

  2. tellyworth
    Key Master

    You can see the complete tag cloud here:

    http://en.wordpress.com/tags/

  3. sorrentolens
    Member

    It would help if you'd add that back to the Wordpress main page.

  4. misterbooks
    Member

    Good lord the homepage makes it look like there is only 9 blogs out there. How are people going to browse and see the good stuff that WP has to offer. Two steps backward here...

  5. timothyfarley
    Member

    I agree. The tag cloud needs to be easy to find - not buried somewhere. I do not like the new homepage.

  6. beingbrenna
    Member

    Yes, agreed. I want the old Wordpress homepage back. ASAP

  7. johnlvs2run
    Member

    I just now looked at the wordpress home page, and have to agree. It looks terrible.

    There is no content of any interest on the bulk of the page.

  8. husdal
    Member

    It looks a bit better if you're logged out. At least there's a sidebar on the right.

    While I think the new design is better than the old i its basic approach, if I were a first-time visitor, I would have a hard time figuring out what wordpress.com really is about. There's nothing that tells me that the 9 highlighted posts are taken from blogs on wordpress.com or where I can read more blogs or read more blogs with some tags that I might be interested in. And the sidebar thingie doesn't make me want to sign up with wordpress.com. Even http://www.typepad.com does a much better job.

  9. misterbooks
    Member

    I like blog/tag surfing, my favorites being writing and reading...but now, when logged it, the option of going to wordpress homepage and just hitting the tag cloud is now gone. Of course, put writing in the search bar and I got 0.

    All this, and being addicted to Wordpress, aaaiiieeee......

  10. misterbooks
    Member

    But of course, wordpress.com is free, and has a great admin....

  11. justjennifer
    Member

    So, the footer is now the "header" on the homepage? Rather a pain usability wise, really.

    I'm with husdal on how difficult it is to figure out what's going on on WordPress.com. There's only 11 blogs featured; how do visitors get to the remaining "2,146,576 active blogs"? If we're all about content, where is it? It isn't exactly out there, just sayin'...

    And I'm not going to say a thing about the sidebar, because I didn't even know there was one.

    (And, FWIW, in the language drop down box, I have two arrows.)

  12. misterbooks
    Member

    Good points justjennifer.

  13. husdal
    Member

    I like the new way the featured blogs are presented in Magazine style, but Jennifer is right, how do you get to all the other blogs? The search box has disappeared into the new top bar and is barely visible unless you literally search for it. The sidebar lists a mere three features: themes, stats and widgets, and IMO, sorry for saying this, is almost useless as it is now. And it isn't even well aligned with the 3x4 box of featured blogs. Better use that space for the tag cloud, and move the 'Sign Up' button and a (big) link to the 'Features' page to the top, across the featured posts. That's what I would do.

  14. claudecf
    Member

    I don't like the new homepage much. It feels like it's advertising for blogs which don't really need it. Plus I also preferred it when the links that are at the bottom were at the top! Were easier to see as one usually reads from top to bottom ;)
    But then, maybe I'm old and don't take to change very easily

  15. husdal
    Member

    Well, blogs were advertised before, too, but maybe not so prominently and without a photo to go with. I like this way better. And I don't think taking change has anything to do with age. People are very habitual, regardless of age, and shuffling content around so totally as here is always confusing. I hadn't noticed it until now, since i always go straight to the Forums page first and hardly ever visit the main page first.

  16. johnlvs2run
    Member

    I don't like the magazine style.

    My first impression was that it looks like people magazine - all fluff and no substance.

  17. misterbooks
    Member

    Maybe I'm nitpicking, as I thought this would be a bigger issue with WordPress users. Did I miss a notice about this in one of their month-end wrap-ups. Kinda seems out of the blue...

  18. husdal
    Member

    Good point, John. I thought the new design was rather minimalist at first, which is something I do like, but I see what you mean.

  19. husdal
    Member

    @misterbooks
    It wouldn't be the first out-of-the-blue 'great leap forward' coming from WPHQ...

  20. misterbooks
    Member

    @husdal
    True, I've been around here awhile, in various forms, but this one really seems to be such a upfront shock...

  21. aw1923
    Member

    The whole right half of the homepage is missing for me. It actually didn't look like that the 1st time I visited but the 2nd time and there after, the right half of the screen is missing. It looks awkward http://sensico.wordpress.com/files/2009/08/wpfrontpage1.png

  22. johnlvs2run
    Member

    Egads, every time I look at that wordpress home page it looks worse.

    Why do they have "TypePad is the world’s premier blogging service" on the typepad site? They are very small compared to WP aren't they, and WP passed them up long ago?

  23. husdal
    Member

    You mean in number of people using it? That is probably right. It doesn't necessarily make the 'premier' wrong, though. Whatever motto companies market themselves with is up to them. I used to be with TypePad before, and in terms of functionality and adaptability, particularly if you are a business blogger, TypePad is the better choice, if you don't want to go for wordpress.org. However, comparing those two would be like comparing apples and oranges, they are very very different blogging platforms. Besides, TypePad is a paid service, that alone qualifies for the term 'premier'. Anyway, I just used it as an example of a front page hat tells you straight away what the whole thing is about, there is no 'all fluff and no substance' here. It makes you want to start blogging, the new wordpress.com doesn't...IMO.

  24. husdal
    Member

    Oh...kewl...just noticed...now wordpress.com put up a poll in the sidebar where users can leave feedback.

  25. lettershometoyou
    Member

    It's a cluttered mess. Why do we have to click through pages to find what we're looking for? It used to be all on one easy-to-navigate page. I also liked how the posts on CNN blogs etc were in one column, by real bloggers on the other, so I knew which ones to avoid. Now there's no way to tell.

  26. tellyworth
    Key Master

    The new home page is a live redesign - we'll be changing it over the course of the week.

    It now includes a link to a survey where you can give us your suggestions.

  27. lisajan
    Member

    I want the tag cloud back, too.

  28. misterbooks
    Member

    bump

  29. husdal
    Member

    I understand you reasons for bumping this, but leaving an actual comment is likely to generate more responses and keep this thread alive than a simple 'bump'. IMHO.

  30. raincoaster
    Member

    It'll also avoid that "looking like a noob" thing.

    I will say that aesthetically I like the design. I'm quite sure, however, that it's not the world's most efficient for delivering information. And I sure hope they fixed that "missing 'get a blog' link" for existing users issue.

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