I never was a huge fan of the RSSmeme layout and design. I had several problems with it:
- It was never clear to the user what page they were currently looking at and where they could go.
- Messages got lost in the data.
- I was running out of space for links in the header.
- The curved corners only worked in Safari and Firefox; normally not a problem but RSSmeme is predominantly visited by IE users (70%).
So I’ve done a refresh. It still feels familiar and comfortable but the new look has a number of improvements that alleviate my issues.
Clear sense of location through tabs
RSSmeme now utilizes tabs to give the user a clear idea of where they are and where they can go. When you visit a page that is not a default tab it is injected into the menu (similar to FriendFeed). The tab menu also now has more space; allowing me to add back in the “This Week” view.
Distinguishable messages
Information messages are now highlighted in yellow and error messages are shown in red. These are shown to inform the user about what the data on the page means and were difficult to see amidst all the rest of the information on the page. Now that they are highlighted it will make it easier to find and understand.
Source favicons
Source links now have their favicon’s right next to them. Yes; I’m hotlinking them. If anyone complains I’ll remove them ASAP. But favicon’s are small so I’m hoping it isn’t an issue.
Update: favicons disabled for now until I can come up with a solution for when they don’t exist (IE renders a broken image but Firefox just skips it and carries on).
So; do you love it or hate it?