New Mahalo Design Feedback

I was away for Canadian Thanksgiving last weekend and missed out on Jason Calacanis unveiling the new Mahalo. The new design is something I've been excited about for awhile and I must say it looks great. Take a look for yourself.



One of the Mahalo Tech guys, Chris Finke, explains why you might find it so impressive pretty well here...

The old Mahalo homepage had, at any given moment, between 8 and 10 content images. (By "content images," I'm referring to images that are not design elements, like backgrounds or logos.)
The new Mahalo homepage, which packs much more data into the same space, has at any given moment, between 75 and 80 content images. (This isn't obvious from a screenshot due to the number of tabbed sections; for example, in the top left section, each of the five tabs contains 10 items, each of which usually contains an image.)

So the front page is work of genius and art. Where I have been putting all my energy in Mahalo is to making sure the content within the Archives is top quality. I've always looked at each page as convenient place for users to find quick information about anything they search for. The Old Serp design was immaculate in its simplicity and design. My one complaint is with the new Serp design dropped all the dividers. Take a look at the Doctor Zoidberg Serp with the New Design.

For me it's very difficult to read and to understand what is going on. The blocks of text, the picture, the videos, the list, the links, the adds, no division its all erratic on my end and in great need of deciphering. With this new Serp design, a hate to say it, but I am lost. I think going back to the original dividing the Guide note from the Links would do users a great service.

Without a divider:


With a divider:


You may have noticed in the screenshot with the divider I also snuck out the 1st Google ad. I know ads make the world go 'round, but the top add right now really jumbles up the page for me. I am afraid of the users who hit our pages now see Ads before Content (without the guide note divider I am no longer drawn to the note..but to these ads)

I would love to see Mahalo fight off the temptation to putting Google text Ads above the Mahalo Top 7 I just hate seeing ads before our Links. Of course I shouldn't be touching that, we need to make money right? I would love to see a the day when classy companies are paying premiums to sponsor our beautiful Archives.



Otherwise, ads aside, I think the Devs did a great job and crazy big kudos to them.