New changes to yahoo answers. Your thoughts? What would you like to see (*cough* green design back!)?

[Velocity]

Yahoo answers is going to introduce some exciting new changes!!
And you get the chance to comment and suggest ideas~ so what would you like??

You will have received an email today from yahoo about this~ the link in it takes you a suggestions page.
So far, half the comments are asking for a return of the green design, half saying how awful the new changes sound.

Personally, i just want to go back to green.
This section ~ uk travel~ used to have about 45 pages of open questions. There are now about 7 (the green design is still available on safari on ipad/iphone, so i can compare).

Thats an *enormous* drop off. This is true across the site.

The new changes are about only askers being allowed to award BA and that kind of thing.

What would you like to see changed on this site?
Or would you simply like to return to the old design which worked perfectly well?
@ grey woolf.~ yes. Im a graphic designer~ everthungbin the new design is counter intuatitive, laboured and just baaaaaaad design.
*everything!! Sorry~ major typo!!

[Chell]

I like the green design. I don't mind minor changes, but the white with slight purple didn't even feel like the same site when it first came around. After quite a few months of not coming on, I saw it, and wondered what I did wrong and tried to get to Y!A. I didn't even know I was actually in the right place.

[HispanicGuy]

I loved the Green Layout of Yahoo Answers! Like Chell said, I didn't get on a whole lot, and so when I started getting back on, I didn't think I was on the correct site, so it took me a while, before I realized I was on the correct site.

I would also like to see a more current, modern, look to it too, with a more User Friendly way to do things.

[Greywolf]

1. A fast response interface. This one is SLOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW get rid of most of the fancy Javascript, only leave what is truly necessary, cut number of database accesses to minimum, currently it takes three/four slow accesses to fill my screen, draw the screen ONCE ONLY))
2. Menus with full list of options (no 'More>' items). Minmise number of clicks to move around.
3. Full use of the space on the screen (does your code at present even look to see what the screen width and height are? I thought not)

AND THEN do not allow gurus to have "opinions" or "taste" on usability - measure it. Usability is defined by (1) time taken by typical user to complete a task (2) number of errors made by typical user. The best design is the one that minimises those factors.

So get your programmers to act like professionals, not like prima donnas.

[luddite]

I don't like it.
This new Yahoo is slow and the colours are wrong and hard on the eye.
They should have spent the time and effort on sorting out the trolls.

[Quiet Rebel]

It will take a while for me to get used to it; it seems that any popular site nowadays changes its format every month. I do like that now only the people who ask questions can choose the best answer, as I felt that the community vote was often unfair or inaccurate.

[RR]

I had hoped we had seen the last of the horrible blue format. I thought Yahoo had listened to us. It looks like someone in Yahoo has to justify their job by changing thigs.

[Maxi]

What would I like
..........back to Green
........ stop the silly new voting as most will sit un-voted for
........ stop the TU/TD to move answers up/down the list as that increases negativity

What do I think? ..... the new design is boring, unfriendly as well as clinical

What will YA do?.....NOTHING
Do they care about suggestions/comments?...... clearly not!

[Skylark ♥]

I'm not as knowledgeable about the technical aspects of the site as some of the others who've answered, so unfortunately I can't give suggestions on par with theirs. I do think all the complaints are valid, and I agree that the site needs to revert to the previous organizational structure and color scheme. I've acclimated quickly to the cosmetic changes to the site in the past, but the current issues involve more than aesthetics. If it was just a matter of adapting to purple over green I'd be fine, but the way the site is organized now is counter intuitive and byzantine. From a marketing perspective it seemed like a really poor idea because it radically altered the brand identity. I get that Yahoo was wanting to make Y!A into more of a social networking site but they could have done so by implementing changes to the former structure instead of just tearing it down and launching this one. I dislike it so much I used the link you gave me to the old format until it eventually switched to purple too. I then installed an agent switcher on Chrome so I could select Internet Explorer 6 and have the old green format back whenever I pop on here. It's free to install and simple to use. I'll post a screenshot below so you can see how you make the switch. Just do a Google search for an agent switcher for the browser you prefer and then download the extension. Voila.

I get bombarded with email so I haven't read the one from Y!A yet regarding new changes. Based on what others wrote here I'm guessing that they are doing away with the community voting. Eh. In some regards that seems like an improvement because so often people just vote for their own answer so the "best answer" isn't a reflection of the quality of the answers or of their helpfulness to the asker.

The only change that I do like with the new format is the ability to insert media directly into your question or answer instead of using a link.

I dislike:
~ The severe character limitations on questions. With the old format your questions could have 5000 characters. Now you are limited to 1500. I realize that most people prefer shorter questions, and therefore you're more likely to get answers if you're succinct but some questions require more explanation. I'm totally fine with the lazybones who answer "TLTR!" to my lengthier questions because I have awesome contacts who will actually read my whole question and give me equally detailed answers in response.

~ The way our profiles are shown now. You can't even properly format them with spaces in between separate paragraphs / links. It's all bunched up and sloppy.

~ The keyword specific ads that are below the questions. I know they are especially vexing to the regulars in the cancer section because many of the ads are for products that are actually harmful, like "vitamin B17." Thankfully I have an ad blocker on my laptop browsers, but they appear on my iPad.

~ Having to perpetually hit "more" to see anything. This is especially annoying when you're on your iPad or phone. You can't just view the whole question immediately. You can't just see all the categories laid out. Viewing your own activity isn't as simplified either.

~ The lack of stars! What happened to our lovely stars? I know it seems juvenile, but whatever, I've been on here since I was 14 and I loved the thousands of stars I accumulated over the years.

~ The fact that overall usage seemed to decline but some of the same long-term trolls are still here. There's a pedophile who has been trolling here for years asking variations of the same question. You'd think by now Y!A could have banned his IP address.

~ The reporting and penalty system. It's jacked up. That is all.

~ Having your follower's thumbs up activity on your recent activity log. It just clutters everything up.

As for the changes I'd like to see~

I asked a question last summer about modifications to the site and I liked the thoughtful answers I received, including yours. I'd like to see them implemented as well as the format reverting to the way it was previously.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...829AA8jEFM

I think having the option of more synchronization with your other social media sites would be positive. I thought they had it so you could share your answers / questions on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and such, but my weary brain isn't noticing it at the moment.

I hope you're happy and well!!!!!!!! I'm glad that you and some of my other contacts are still here despite the irritations of the new format.

[Tony]

i hate the new design. put the green back