Unless this is the first time you’ve ever visited this site* – you probably noticed that we’ve inverted the color palette on the Blog. The aim wasn’t to save your eyesight (though this configuration apparently is easier on your eyes), and we didn’t just make a change for change’s sake.
Rather, we “bleached” the Blog to match our big brother, us.PlayStation.com. In case you haven’t clicked over to the homepage (and you should right now), we’ve redesigned the site to make it easier for you to use.
There are lots of changes – this isn’t just a re-skinning:
- New navigation makes it easy to find games, TV series, movies, and original shows from any page and browse the entire site from one interface.
- New search is powered by Google and lets you find what you’re looking for, instantly.
- Interactive marquees give you video, screenshots and more info about our most exciting content.
- You can easily share anything from videos and screenshots to whole pages with your friends using the “Share” icons on each page.
- Our new Web platform is keeping everything running fast and smooth.
- Finally, and most importantly :-), the PlayStation.Blog is more prominent. You’ll spot new posts on the homepage and throughout the site.
This is our baby, so obviously we think it’s beautiful and perfect, but there might be some hiccups as we get everything up and running. Please be patient while we iron out the inevitable kinks.
Please note that this is just the first phase of improvements we’re planning to make the site easier to navigate, faster to use, and more interesting to visit. And right now we want your input – what do you love? What do you hate? What suggestions do you have?
As far as the Blog is concerned, we’re currently gathering ideas for a full-on redesign, but in the meantime we hope you enjoy the lighter, more readable PSB.
*If this is indeed the first time you’re visiting the PlayStation.Blog, welcome! We’re not always this self-referential.
Jeff,
Along the lines of #10’s question about API’s, I was wondering if there is any intention to start to open up access to trophy information to other website and social networking opportunities on the interwebs.
In particular, many of us are aware of Sony’s active attempts to block/threaten to block some sites access of trophy information.
For instance, raptr.com pulled their trophy support for PSN sometime ago, because of requests from Sony to stop gleaning trophy data. From my perspective (as well as those of others) this seems largely counterproductive. Your competitors have willingly made their achievement/game play info available to raptr (and other sites) as a way of encouraging community development. Are there any considerations being given to change this apparently restrictive policy? Perhaps there’s some technical issues that are being worked on behind the scenes, with the intention of eventually opening up access to trophy info. If this is the case, please let us know!
Thanks!
Well another playstation bookmark deleted…What a shame…NEXT !!!
kind of bright but whatever works
I miss the black background
It’s looking good Jeff. BTW I’m not sure where to send this too, but on the us.playstation.com site I’ve noticed since the update that my number of friends online isn’t accurate…. ever. It’s always zero even though on my PS3 I can clearly see 13 of them (like at this moment) online lol. (Browser is Chrome, haven’t reinstalled firefox since I over hauled my PC last month or updated IE which I hate)
Also are there any plans to tie messaging in between the website and the PS3? Maybe even a feature that would forward such messages to my cellphone. Some of my friends are a little slow to the fact that I don’t get PSN messages until I actually turn my PS3 on lol.
Oldrer entries button should be cyan.. inverted red.
Jeff i think it would be nice if we can choose our own color style just like the playstation forums
I’d like to see links on the blog to the main PlayStation Homepage & the PlayStation Forums.
looks like just about any other website now… boring… white backgrounds are always boring…. i prefer the black…. ill still visit, but it wont be the same…. I dont like it….
Okay guys.. the home page and navigations are fine, but:
1. The blog page is just too washed out, there’s not much contrast.
2. At least give us the option to choose between the two style layout..via radio buttons or so.
3. If sticking with said layout make the text BLACK and not grey.
4. Maybe my eyes are going bcuz of too much gaming lol …but I dont see a “HOME” tab on the blog page.
P.S: It’s clean and refreshing and now reflects the Playstation brand.
Not impressed at all. I really don’t like the way the white looks. I’d love the option (when signed in) to have both us.playstation.com and the blog to be black again. Again, not a fan of the new look whatsoever.
I think the frame around everything (the line of this comment box for example) should be darker. And text (of all color) should be darker.
Personally i do not like the white background, i’m snowblind.
Try looking at this website on a 50″ or larger screen late at night and you will find yourself blinded or your room lights up the whole neighborhood. Thumbs down from me. Booooo!!!! Gonna have to keep some shades next to my remote now, thanks alot.
I’m not sure why some people would think a white background is easy on the eyes. It the opposite for me. The black background was much easier to read and created way less eye strain for me. Viewing it at night or in the dark just magnifies the problem for me. The original theme set playstation.com apart from other sites. It looks very generic now. The overall design is an improvement but please change the color scheme back or give the user the option to toggle it.
Ow my eyes. Damn man I don’t like the white. The color was perfect the way it was.
I can FINALLY login it seems. Alright, I’ve got some notes:
First and foremost, the login screen is seriously screwed up- the drop-down box for my name appeared at the very bottom of the screen, the password isn’t saved anymore (that may have been intentional, but I prefer it the other way) and after trying to login thrice and giving up, I strangely logged in three minutes later without doing anything.
On more aesthetic notes, The white seems to be just a continuation from one spot to the next. The PlayStation Conversation box’s header should probably be a (slightly) different color, along with the links to the posts at the top right. (Maybe a gray outline to give them a 3D effect) The black drop down menus really don’t fit either.
On a final, concerning note: after implementing this, I haven’t been able to post in the PS.com forums. The “Reply” button doesn’t work. Please fix this.
Oh, right, and I really don’t like the white. I get the feeling you guys are really set on that, since both sites are this way, but I’d just throw my lot in with the crowd at large.
will all future playstation units be white too?
i thought part of the reasoning for having black background was to match the branding/color of the unit.
i liked the black scheme better, an option to have either a white or black theme seems the best idea to me.
Regarding the comments about selectable colour schemes… perhaps you guys could look at the TV.com website – in particular, their ‘Lights On/Off’ option at the top right of the site.
Something like that here would probably make everyone happy.
Jeff Rubenstein | March 8th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Might be easier to read, but we’ll have a more comprehensive PS3-browser version coming later this year.
I wanted to follow up on this response-
Will the PS3 Browser be improved, or will there be a PS3Browser specific version of the PS webpages?
I remember a time when videos worked on the PS3 Browser in the Blog site, they havent for some time now.
Everyone complaining about the white background hurting their eyes should check out the greasemonkey add-on in Firefox. To put it simply, it lets you change things on your end. If there’s a way to use it to keep facebook looking old-school, I’m sure there’s a way to use it to keep PS Blog looking the way it used to.
Or at least put a drop-down menu at the bottom of the page so we can revert to something that’s easier on the eyes.
As the blog is right now, it looks horrible. Like those cache sites you enter from google. The images (updates and banner) looks more oriented to a darker color scheme too which makes this site look more crappy (without some kind of border or something, the clash between the images and the white BG looks bad). Plus, the blog doesn’t looks remotely similar to the main PS page. Your missing shadows and gradients, and they do make a huge difference specially when the skin is so simple. And BTW, the gray background’s gradient is supposed to be inverted = gray > white > black from bottom to top.
I hope you guys redesign the blog soon. About navigation, I’ve never had a problem, but then I don’t… navigate, around this blog alot. I just look at the latest news. -_-
Liking the white, but the fonts could still use a bump-up in size.
Now I can stop using my black-on-white CSS bookmarklet. :)
Not really feeling this, Jeff. The white is blinding and the avatars in the comments look terrible now. If you ask me the blog has been in need of a complete overhaul for quite some time, now more so than ever.
Looks erm cleaner ;D
it’s a change… but it’s looking good so far. A few more graphical tweaks along the way and it will look pretty sharp.
Looks great! Do you guys have any plans to do a weekly podcast?
I do dig that the main page has more than 5 stories per page so I don’t have to navigate through so many pages to find something from earlier in the day (if it was a busy day on the blog). Kudos.
A change to this commenting system would be nice, but I guess that is coming with the full on redesign later in the year?
I like the new color scheme, I loved the black background but after a year it is nice to see some change! Keep it up you all, definitely my favorite company – community – user blog Ive seen and love to follow (especially with exclusive news and announcements first seen here!)
change it back or at least give us the option to toggle between a white or black background
I definitely like better the black background, everything else is fine.
My suggestions would be:
To get another color for the replies. I don’t like how red looks now. Maybe a little brighter color?
It would look better if you use BOLD in the blue font.
Maybe I’m just used to the old color scheme, but I don’t really like this new one. The screen is very bright and a lot of text is hard to read. Here are a couple of suggestions: (i) The text should be thicker enough to better stand out well in a white background; (ii) don’t use light colors for text (i.e., the light blue, orange, and grey hyperlinks are way too soft).
I suppose you’re going to ignore users who say the white is too blinding just because your studies say otherwise, am I right?
The white theme is very ill-suited for dark environments, which is where I use my laptop most of the time.
I like the fact that the PlayStation blog and forum are more cohesive. Thanks for the update and keeping things fresh for us. Some of us appreciate the hard work.
Now off I go! Time to fly on some 787s =D.
how about making the blog more ps3 friendly i still cant watch videos or comment on posts from my ps3 i have to go to the library to watch videos and post loving the new look
I really like the white design, dut it doesn’t feel like a PLAYSTATION site. Whre is the black stile of Playstation? Playstation 2 and 3 are black. This site seems like your enemies( you know who im talking about ) sites. Cool, but the black remembered the Playstation brand.
Unlike all the people complaining about the new design, I have nothing but props to you guys.
Finally you got ride out of the black scheme (PlayStation Site / Blog) which was a bit harder for the eyes.
My opinion is that finally the Blog, Site & Forum looks more professional now.
Keep up the great work!
Just one thing, currently the Friend List on the site is broken since I got this legend:
“You do not currently have any friends in your list. You must use your PLAYSTATION® 3 console to add friends.”
Obviously I have friends on my list which are listed perfectly fine in my PS3.
Any idea?
Hey Jeff welcome to the wonderfull world of “I hate this just because its different, change it back”.
The Blog itself is not so bad, The main site takes too long to load sometimes I find. Way too much flash IMO.
At least the site isn’t 100% useless that that god awfull Playstation.ca site.
Can you please get Kyle Moffatt back to answer for it? All he did was post a blog about the redesign on his way out the door for Christmas holidays and hasn’t been herd from since.
Since the blog and PS site are white now, will we be seeing white PS3’s soon? Is that the reason for the shortage? Better ship out consoles soon. People need em for God of War 3 next week. Also, the boards are lousy. Guess that’s cause of Flash huh.
hey jeff give them this idea to add where you can send your ps3 friends messages from the site please note that would be very usefull if you could send messages to your friend list from the comp so note it jeff :-)
I think it looks good however, I feel that it is lacking that something extra, or something special that a really professional looking site would have.
I know nothing about website design so I’m pretty much useless here but maybe a little more contrast between the colors or sections of the blog… Again, my biggest concern is I feel it’s a good looking blog than can be a great looking blog if it looked a tad cleaner and professional. Also, it doesn’t look very distinct, but I may be grasping for straw here.
I like the new playstation home page, make it easier to navigate.. but i dont like the white on the PSB that much… i like the black one better.. but i can live with it! As long as i get first time news on everything going on, im fine with it! :D
I like it though, even if it took some getting used to. Much cleaner and more professional looking.
I know it takes you guys a bit of time to update the widgets etc too so I went ahead and updated the Official PS3 Dashboard widget to match :) Yay HTML/CSS!
Jeff – Any site design change this drastic is going to be picked apart a hundred different ways. As a web designer with 200+ sites under my belt, I’m familiar with the time and energy it took to bring this live. So thanks for all your hard work.
My only two comments would be to change the blue link to something less bright/neon. It’s pretty round on a white background. And, change the color of the blog headings, which are links, to something other than black. Make them stand out a little from the color of the rest of the text on the page.
Other than that, I’m happy with the changes.
I agree, from a design point of view, a white background leaves things feeling half done and empty.
so, when can we expect the web improvements of the blog and forumson the ps3? thry take a while to load… especially the forums. also a psp friendly version of the blog and forums would be nice.
i’d like the font bigger, or a customizable option..
Sexy and clean.