September 7, 2009 at 9:17 am
A categorical change
Over the last few days, we’ve been rolling out a new design to the Category pages that should help you find the questions you care about more quickly. Starting today, these changes will be a permanent feature in your Answers experience.
Here are some of the changes we’ve made:
- Easier Category Navigation: We’ve moved the list of categories and subcategories from the left side to the top of the page. This should make it easier for you to visit a different category without having to scroll down the page.
- More Space on the Page: Just like we did with the Question page last year, we wanted to offer you more space in the Category page by moving to a wider page design that’s optimized for a higher screen resolution.
- More Prominent Leaderboard: Who doesn’t want to be famous? The right side of the page now lists the top 10 answerers for the category or subcategory you are browsing. We wanted to give more prominence not only to the category leader, but to the rest of the top contributing answerers as well. We also heard from the community that when a category was being sponsored, you still wanted to be able to see how you were doing in that category’s Leaderboards. The new category design allows this.
- More Prominent Question List: You visit the Category page to look for questions to answer, right? We’ve made the question list wider and more visible to help you submit your answers faster.
- Sort by “Most Popular” Questions: We’ve added a “most popular” sort filter on the sidebar so you can see what the community is most interested in with just one click.
- Sticky Question Tabs: Open, Resolved, and In Voting tabs are now “sticky,” meaning that as you move between categories, your tab choice will persist for the session even as you vote for questions in different categories.
We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for you to use and participate in Answers, and we hope these changes continue to help you find the questions that may be most interesting to you.
As always (but especially when we change stuff on Answers) we would love to know what you think —check out the new Category page and leave us a comment with your feedback.
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Lipstick on a pig. So you gave us some “artistic” changes to the pages. No fixes to the many bugs, no new features that have been requested for YEARS including sorting and searching, no changes to the profile pages where we need the “sticky” and additional tabs, etc, etc.
And the leader boards have never worked for any extended period of time over the last three years. Looks great, but if the usual breakdown occurs, what good does this “here they are trolls” list do for anyone.
My guess is the staff is handcuffed on what they can do by corporate, but until you start interacting with the users and addressing things to actually make the site work better and add features where none exist, it is just lipstick on a pig.
I don’t like the new look of Yahoo Answers. I like when the categories were to the left side of the page.
I like that the new categories pages follow web standards. I use Opera and I could never get Y/A to display correctly until now. If only you guys would make the cooresponding changes to the Y/A home page.
BOO!!! The new Y!A SUCKS!!! I liked the old one better.
Your improving things that don’t even need improving…BOO!!!
This new outfit is good especially it makes the navigation to every page easier.
OMG YAHOO ANSWERS!! PUT THE QUESTIONS BACK ON THE RIGHT SIDE!!!!!!!
You mean we’re stuck with this? I thought and hoped it was just some kind of bug that messed up the layout and would be fixed soon. I don’t like seeing all the questions all the way at the left side, and I really, sincerely hope something is done about this.
I think this is stupid. We liked it the old way anyways. You should do e-mail a vote to every user of Yahoo Answers to see if everyone likes your changes. If no one likes them just accept it and just take it down. No one likes it. We want new features and you haven’t given us any. We have requested them for years and years and yet you still ignore us!
I don’t really like it, but I suppose I’ll get used to it.
I always hate when sites update themselves, but I guess it becomes okay after 4 or 5 weeks, hahaha.
Most users don’t care about cosmetic changes. Most users would prefer bug fixes and a better reporting system.
I found it much easier to get around when it was in sidebar form. The new format just pushes the questions down. It’s not *horrible*, but I’m having a lot of trouble adjusting and I think it was much more intuitive before.
Do these upgrades require a particular version of Windows? I’m unable to see/access any contacts.
I hate the new look. The list of questions is smaller and harder to read. The leaderboard is a waste of space; I really don’t care who the top answerers are. Also, moving the list of categories to the top isn’t that helpful. Now if I’m at the bottom of the page I have to scroll all the way to the top to switch categories.
Rather than playing around with the look of the site, why don’t you fix the actual problems? Give us new features that really work, not just useless cosmetic changes. Focus on getting rid of trolls and spammers, and give us back the ability to rate questions.
Lipstick on a pig. So you gave us some “artistic” changes to the pages. No fixes to the many bugs, no new features that have been requested for YEARS including sorting and searching, no changes to the profile pages where we need the “sticky” and additional tabs, etc, etc.
—————————————————————————–
Would you really expect them to make changes that are actually useful? Come on now!! This is Yahoo we’re talking about.
I like the new yahoo answers.It’s a lot easier to get around!I don’t know why so many people are complaining.I guess they just dont like change.
“Lipstick on a pig” is putting it mildly. Not only is the “new improved version” less friendly, but it has slowed down navigation considerably. Eventually, Yahoo Answers management will figure out that slow and undesirable sites attract less visitors, and accordingly bring LESS REVENUE. Sadly, one can drag a horse to a water trough, but cannot force the beast to drink. It only drinks when it gets thirsty, and I surmise that the management of Yahoo Answers reacts accordingly.
I HATE the new look. Add my vote to saying it looks TERRIBLE and you should go back to the OLD style of having the category on the side. Oh yeah so instead of having to scroll down, which I could look at questions as I did, I have to scroll all the way to the top again if I don’t want to answer any of the questions as I went down to look at the rest. Let alone how annoying it looks now.
I don’t like the new layout. Like the first poster said, “Lipstick on a pig.” In my opinion these changes weren’t needed, especially those of adding the leaderboard on the front page. Now the pages at Answers look cluttered, with the pics of the people asking the questions plus the leaderboard pics too. Plus I think it might encourage trolling.
The old layout was better. Please go back to that.
Allow higher-level answerers to put the questions in the categories to which they belong. I keep finding math and science questions in “Word and Wordplay.”
Also, the new Sorting features are bad as well. It was better and easier to use, the way it was before. The whole change just isn’t working. Please change it back to the way it was before. Just looking at the cluttered pages gives me a headache and makes me not want to visit Yahoo Answers anymore.
I really don’t like it. Yahoo, please change it or give us the option of Yahoo! Answers classic or something.
Maybe instead of pissing all of it’s users off, Yahoo should leave things that aren’t broken alone, and fix it’s bugs.
this stinks! bring back the old design! why do you have to fix things that don’t need fixed…if you’re bored go mess with something else please….i like answers…
I haven’t noticed changes mentioned, but when you changed the spelling correction mechanism a long time ago, I have struggled with it. When I start to click on it, it dissapears.
Changes sometimes inspire, sometimes frustrate. People generally like things they are used to.
You know what? If any of you have been on Yahoo Answers for 2 years or more, you know about Y!A’s changes. You know that everytime Yahoo Answers changes a new layout, people say they hate it. Once the new layout’s been there for a while, everyone starts liking it. Then everyone doesn’t care about how the layout is. Then when Y!A changes the layout again, the whole process starts all over again. It’s our personality.
If you think the new layout sucks, after a while, as i said, you’ll get used to it.
I absolutely despise the new YA! format, to say the least!
Please keep us users happy & change it back, I said “please.”
Almost everyone was happy with the former format.
Can we vote on the new layout?
You know the old saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
“Out with the new, in with the old!”
The people have spoken!
It sucks, ever heard the expression if it isn’t broke then don’t fix it? It’s honestly annoying to look at, I don’t think I’ll be using answers anymore I can’t get used to how it looks now I agree with the person that says it looks cluttered, it really does
“Easier Category Navigation” Useless, all this does is take up far too much space. Put it back on the side so that people can see a list of questions instead of an oversized panel with a few text links on it!!
“More Prominent Leaderboard” Sorry to bust the ego bubbles, but nobody cares who the top answerers are.
Useless…a more shockingly poor and ill-thought out piece of work would be difficult to imagine.
I absoloutley hate the new layout for yahoo answers. The questions are pushed down because of this huge category box that takes up over half of the screen, and now that you mention it, I don’t like the Yahoo layout either. It’s very hard to get used to and I don’t think it’s a very nice layout or colorscheme. I want the old stuff back!!! D:
So here it goes again. They give us new stuff, but it is stuff none of us wanted. Try fixing problems that actually need fixing. And the leader board is just posting up names of perfect candiaftes for any troll to see.
Chipmunk, your blog is guilty of a violation, and 10 points has been deducted from your score. What’s that? You want an explanation of why? Sorry, I follow the Yahoo! Answer rules, and no explanations are given.
I absolutely despise the new Yahoo! Answers layout.
Yahoo! should change it back, pronto.
I hope they do realize that most people don’t like it.
I want it back the old way.
Could you also stick a link back to the main catagory when you’re in one of the Sub-catagories?
I HATE this new layout. We should AT LEAST have the option of which layout we’d like to use. Besides, there are more people using this layout than there are people who were/made this mistake. If the users don’t like it, then what’s the use for it? NONE!
There are MANY problems on Y!A that needs to be taken care of NOW, but of course, like Y!A always works, nothing has been done about it.
I get change, but all of us users should have a say in it.
I believe your first answer hit it right
on every point —-
You people spend all your time on changing “appearances” instead of
adressing the REAL problems
It’s like putting a
band-aide over a bullethole
and then you want to pat yourself on the back
with these blogs like you have actually accomplished something when in reality you
haven’t accomplished anything
**
Like most everyone else, I don’t care for the changes. It makes it a lot harder for me to read.
Either YA is completely out of touch with their users or they simply don’t care what’s important to us.
I’d prefer to give the benefit of the doubt and simply think that YA is out of touch. I guess this is common in many companies today. They really don’t know their customers and their needs/wants.
You could give us the choice of this new and “improved” version or the previous version. That way we can choose which one fits our needs better.
There is no use in complaining here. The users are not important to Yahoo! They think they know what is best for us. I could say more, but I don’t want to lose my account. That is an ever looming threat for all us users.
There needs to be a category for wrist watches. Watch collecting is a big hobby you know. Lots of people have questions about models, styles, and who makes what. Help us out by really having useful categories. The way it is now, if I want to post a question about a wrist watch, I have to post it in Fashion -> Other, which is totally not appropriate.
Fix the problems. I don’t care about the look.
This sucks. I prefer the old layout. Oh well, I enjoyed it whilst it lasted. Now to move onto something else like StumbledUpon.
*Thumbs Down* the new layout.
I find it much easier to scan down a single vertical list than a grid of items.
While the 60 minutes of effort it took your web programmer to make this minor change to the style script is most appreciated, it is, in my opinion, a poorer design.
Please consider changing it back, or consider giving us the option to use the layout we prefer.
Thanks.
I guess I’ll use Answerbag.com for now on, oh wait, there interface is far more cluttered and head ache inducing than even the new Yahoo Answers! I guess I’ll stick around after all.
I like it no matter what other people say.
Making type smaller as persons age is pathetically poor judgment. The old system of allowing persons to look at top answerers made more sense, especially as Yahoo has done nothing to eliminate those who post bad answers and then use multiple identities to vote these inferior answers as the best answers.
When I look at the category leaders in categories with which I’m familiar with, I just get angry. I see persons who post worthless and even inaccurate answers moving up the list. Those who used to post excellent and informative answers rarely bother to post answers any longer.
Another problem NOT addressed is that many major cities such as Minneapolis are omitted from categories such as travel. Why didn’t you deal with this problem?
The Yahoo Answers staff in my opinion merely has shuffled the seats on the Titanic while ignoring the icebergs.
I don’t like the new Y!A. It is very hard to read. I liked the catergories on the left side of the page. I don’t understand why you insist on changing things that were perfectly fine.
So long as the “OOPS! Yahoo Answers is not available” page shows up with every third click, changing the categories navigation represents nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
You guys should be ashamed of yourselves for focusing on the aesthetics when the primary mechanics of your site are so messed up.
bla bla blaaaaaaaa
I’m pleased to note that you have curtailed your coffee breaks…at least to some degree…but suggest that you work on REAL problems next time you put down the cup, not just work on cosmetics of no consequence.
To expose yourself to these REAL problems, try reading the Forum posts…the many glitches interfering with the smooth operation of this site, including my pet peeve: ‘technical dificulty’ truncating the answers I post with much labor.
BTW, I see no way to give this blog a ZERO rating…another glitch, or don’t you want to know what the community really think of your ‘make-work’ efforts?
WHY WHY WHY ? If it aint broke dont fix it….what was wrong with the old version and why did you think you had to change it? As has been said, who cares who the leaders are….you can always access that info on the old format if you really had to know…….and to lose a third of a page to this?..and having the questions run across the age on the new version is a strain on the eyes; with the older format, only having limited display space for a question sometimes lead to pleasant surprises when you clicked on it to find the whole phrase (!) and rewarded those clever enough to phrase their question as a tease…
and most importantly , why was this format imposed on the ‘answers community’ without any warning? Couldn’t you have offered a beta trial version and had us, the ‘community’ which is supposedly so important to the YA team……vote on it?
I acquired over 20,000 points on the previous version and had few if any complaints with the format…..this new version is the pits…..can we have an option to use the old one?
Thanks. Function over form.
It’s ugly, annoying, and I really don’t like it. Please put it back to the way it was.
I like change.
I really don’t like the new look of Y!A. I liked the old one better.
I don’t like it. They haven’t fixed the problems we have been having but have given us a new layout which I personally don’t like and find harder to navigate.
Typical, more cosmetic changes (not needed) and no attention to fixing the true problems with this site such as the broken Community Moderation system and the lackadaisical system of justice (needed). You claim to want to improve the answers experience for the users yet you don’t listen to the users. Sometimes, I think Yahoo views customers as an inconvenience.
Why the heck did you make the page so huge? I have to open it all the way now. Same with the new Yahoo homepage. I like to use multiple sites at the same time and having to open one up to maximum makes it a pain to access my other pages.
Another point, your leaderboard is obviously a bunch of trolls and hackers. I am at a higher level than some of them legitimately and I haven’t even answered as many questions as they have best answers. If they had that many best answers for real they’d be at a much higher level than myself. Nobody cares about your stupid leaderboard if you can’t keep the trolls out.
please keep this layout!!!please, do NOT add any of these changes your about to do!!!
I hate the new Y!A!!!!!!!!!!!!! it’s so confusing and there was nothing wrong with the old one except for the occasional “coffee breaks”
How about instead of making things pretty, you work on the real issues? I’m not going to list them, because it’s the same list as everyone else has been having for over a year now.
oh lol…everyone hates the new thing until they get used to it and it gets changed for something else.
Relax folks.
However I would be ever so greatfull if Yahoo could fix some real buggy bugs. For example, I get the “oops” page half the time I try to open a question.
The leaderboards don’t get updated to show when cheaters, point-gamers, spammers, etc get their so-called “Best Answers” removed, so the boards are meaningless. As a member of one, I don’t like being party to such a farce or having my name displayed so prominently.
I don’t hate the new layout. It doesn’t bother me. I just think a cosmetic update isn’t as important as fixing rampant bugs or giving us new features we’ve been requesting for years.
it’s very good thnx
Hate the new look.
I dont like it
I LOVE it!
but it lacks one detail…
It would be nice if there were a more complete list of all the categories and their sub-categories, and the 3rd level sub-categories.
A Map , so to speak, for the categorically-impaired like myself!
I answered a question once a couple of years ago, in the “alternative fueled vehicles” category….
I still can’t remember where to find that category again!
..LOL
I think it STINKS!
“More Prominent Leaderboard”? Most of the people on it in the politics section are nothing but trolls.
Who’s ‘ we ‘ ? I honestly don’t think there’s anyone there. Everytime I attempt to appeal a question that’s been removed, I get the same ol’ ‘ canned ‘ response. I’m almost certain it’s computer generated. So, why don’t you deal with the real issues instead of constantly making meaningless changes…?
Obviously, everyone agrees that the new layout is terrible. You didn’t fix the bugs, but only changed the look. I don’t like it at all, and you really should put the answers back on the right side. Also, you should remove the top answerer column, because no one cares for that.
The old layout was better. How about gettingsome input from users before making changes. The comments show most people dislike it
I don’t like this new Y!A at all. Yes, maybe some of us don’t like change. With as much as I have to deal with in my life, I liked the comfort of knowing I could hop on Answers…and now THIS has changed! This is my 3rd year here and while I have no choice but to adapt, I am not happy about it!
So you still haven’t done anything about the reporter trolls who moderate the board,because Yahoo!apparently can’t figure out how to do so,or the point gaming(nobody here has honestly acquired 25,000 best answers),or the idiotic thumbs up/down BS that only exists for the purpose of ruining a user’s ability to report
an actual violation?
Whoop-de-doo.
It absolutely sucks! wtf! It wasn’t broken; what the hell made you think you had to fix it?
I actually quit Y!A as they were doing this, after the update about how now report trolls can roam free reporting questions as chatter.
I just kinda got the idea that I was putting my time into something that wasn’t gonna get better, which this only proves it. Sure I still search questions but I’ve stopped answering completely. It’s just a waste of time.
I mean did they even read the comments from their last post about all the problems they’ve been giving a blind eye to and then saying things that aren’t a problem ARE problems?
I agree with several other people who have mentioned the difficulty in reading the questions. The old layout was much easier to read, and much easier on the eyes. This new layout just isn’t working, in my opinion. I don’t like that the leaders of each category appear on every page; it’s unnecessary. This whole new layout is a mess. Please change it back.
gud work buddy..but u changes too much on answer..and it affect on ur profit.also.
btw answer getting low value right now..and if the yahoo employe doesn’t understood people prob here..than they
losses their visiter. and trust .
every time top contributer abuse lower level user. and lower level a/c holder get suspended with out any reason.
how many days this evil work going on this cosmetic site..
……………………………………………..
yahoo answer value r8 now less profitable and all of us know it easily new user are not getting good impression they didn’t post any link.
i request u if u people didn’t stop to suspend a/c irregular ..than user should be avoid this useless site.
……………………….
and i hate top level contributer they don’t make any sense..just they abuse their power. and we see them on this page..
why they are not suspended..why lower level user just suspended their a/c ….this is real issue here..and u people just ignored it.
I liked the other one better. I agree with those that said it was easier to read.I don’t understand why they changed it
Im not impressed with this new layout… its not very inviting. before, if I was in the Australian Rules section, I could right away click on the Cricket link and go there. Now I have to scroll up, click on Sports, and then click on Cricket to get to the section.
Seriously, we all want the old layout back. Enhance your reporting system, I have seen a lot of personal attacks, and they end up as resolved questions.
I wd like to know who designed this nonsense???
I don’t like how the “blocked” symbol no longer appears on the questions page. I used to be able to quickly scan the page for questions to answer and quickly skip over those by blocked people (usually trolls). Now, I have to actually read the questions . . . a waste of my time since trolls dominate my preferred area. The block sign doesn’t show up until I actually click on the question to view the whole thing. Bring back the “block/no-entry” sign on the questions page!
I don’t mind the new format, but you have removed the little “blocked” symbol next to a name (on the catagory list) of the people that you have blocked. Now it doesn’t show who I have blocked until I click on their useless worthless innane question. The symbol for who is your contact is still there, but not who you have blocked. It’s annoying as hell.
Its VERY confusing!! They need to switch back to the old format!
Obviously Yahoo! doesn’t care about their users’ input. There was a large disagreement with the picture size change, but nothing was done about that, so I wouldn’t expect to get the old layout back.
Yahoo!, I think I am done with Yahoo! Answers now. The pages are too cluttered, and its a bit difficult to read the questions now.
You really screwed up. How about fixing actual bugs, and suspending users who actually deserve it (i.e., trolls) instead of adding stupid cosmetic changes without notice. You shouldn’t have just forced this on us.
The least you could do is give us the option between the new version and the old version.
I don’t like the new layout at all! It looks horrible and un-organized. I like the old Y!A better. Please, please, please! Change it back.
Just PLEASE stop messing with things. I also hate the new yahoo home page. It’s extremely hard to navigate through and looks like a jumbled mess. Work on the REAL problems, not the exterior. I am seriously considering using MSN from now on. This is BS.
I have been trying to make myself get off the net….now I dont have to worry anymore….YOU People(and you know who you are)…have made the choice for me…thanks!!!!
The new open questions is terrible. Click on Open Questions and it takes you to Catagories, but there are no catagories for Military or Law Enforcement. You have to click “Home” to get back to open questions. Please return to the old format or layout.
To be quite honest I do not like the changes at all. Why did you guys mess with a good thing? The pages load much slower. Please just go back to the old way yahoo. Read your comments please not to many others like the changes as you can see.
Get rid of the useless thumbs down.
Like many of the respondents here, I also wondered why did you change something that didn’t needed to be changed. I find the old layout much easier to navigate. If you were to change anything, I wish you remove the “Top Contributer” label near avatars or the Top Ten “Top Contributers” because it seems to only fuel jealosy and some of the advice given by the said contributers is not always accurate or easy to implement. Please reconsider and give us back our old layout.
I don’t see how this improved anything at all. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but I don’t like it. Whatever. I could care less about the idiotic leader boards. Anyone who purposely TRIES to get on there is just a point wh*re and probably has multiple accounts. Big whoop. I’d much rather YAT worked on the actual bugs rather than just trying to make things purty. Like the ‘oops’ half the time I answer a question. That is EXTREMELY annoying as I usually work hard to write an intelligent answer and then have to waster time trying to submit the dam* thing. Maybe spend time on that for a change?
@vicky – thanks for the suggestion. I’m collecting all the ideas and suggestions from these comments and passing them along. Mitzi – Y! Answers Team
I think the new navigation takes up too much space. Fewer questions now per page.
- It does have some better attributes, may be better with updated browsers, and more secure to protect users, less hack’n'spam attacks,
- Possibly add page layout widgets for personal setup, like “My Yahoo” profile so users can shown what they want in preferences when logging in, hmm… some users may have to update java and flash again, also notice email change, seems the top menu is not as liked as the old side bar,
- Maybe more icons for each sub category, although maybe not so much exact, but representational,
- Possibly a mouse over of category for users to scroll down and select, so user doesn’t have to click into section and back out to find correct category, possibly a contextual menu,
- Maybe add a few color options, green/ violet/ orange,
Have a nice day
I also don’t like this new look. I think there should be option for switching to classic yahoo answers, so that those who having problem with this new look and change it to old YA look.
Hope, YA team has some solution to it. Thanks
I’m not going to fuss about layout, at least not yet; I’ll give it a fair chance. What I will fuss about is the loss of a way to look for the ability to look at questions with the fewest number of answers. The “Least Popular” in the new term, given that you’ve retained a way to look at the questions with the most answers.
I used it as a handy sorter to eliminate questions about the hot book of the moment. I’ve seen calls for new Answers categories limited to Twilight or Harry Potter or whatever because there are so many questions about those topics. I don’t see that as a viable solution, because there will always be a new hot book down the line and you’ll end up with umpteen new categories. That’s where my fondness for “Least Popular” came in: sort that way, and it effectively eliminated nearly all of those questions, leaving the ones I tended to find more interesting.
My time to play on Answers is limited. Wading through page after page of repetitive questions on the merits of Jacob Black vs. Edward Cullen takes away time I have to answer anything. I usually find two or three questions in which I’m interested, spend awhile researching to back up my answer or in an effort to find an answer, and I’ve spent an hour or more. Spending twenty minutes just looking for a question I want to answer means I’m not going to be doing much answering. It becomes too much work to find a question in the first place.
I realize that isn’t much of a loss, given the size of the Answers Community, but personally it’s a loss of something that I enjoyed.
The most maddening change is that every time I click on anything, such as give a star or a thumbs up or down, the entire page reloads. This is especially annoying since I have a dial-up connection. It’s getting to the point where I’m not enjoying Yahoo! Answers very much anymore.
With Opera, the browser I use, the links at the top of the page (My Yahoo!, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, and Yahoo! Sports) are vertical, rather than horizontal. It makes the page longer than it needs to be.
I don’t like the categories being at the top of the page, either. It also makes the page longer. Also, I don’t care who the Top Answerers are in each category, so that’s wasted space, too, as far as I’m concerned.
Rather than a new layout, I’d prefer to be able to categorize my questions and answers according to my needs. There are times when I want information in an old answer, but can’t find it because there are thousands of them.
Some of the layout problems I’m experiencing don’t exist when I use MS Internet Explorer at my friend’s house, however, I don’t like IE, and don’t want to change my browser again. I already changed to Opera because it was on Yahoo!’s list of supported browsers.