I wanted to address a change that went “live” today on OMAAT, and explain why it was made.
Changes to the homepage & blog page
At the end of May we launched the new OMAAT site, and admittedly that was a drastic change to the format of the site (and it wasn’t easy for me to get used to either, as someone who hates change).
To give regular readers the option of having a similar experience to what they had on the old site, we set up the onemileatatime.com/blog page, which just listed all the blog posts in chronological order, and nothing else.
As of today, that page is just redirecting to the site’s homepage, onemileatatime.com (so you can update any bookmarks if you’d like, or just leave it as is). To go along with that, though, we’ve redesigned the homepage to once again prominently display blog posts in chronological order, to give a very similar experience to what was available on the “/blog” page.
Why we made these changes
Let me start by saying:
- If you don’t like the change, I’m the only person to blame, because I pushed hard for this and insisted it was a good idea (so oops if it’s not)
- My motive in pushing for this change was purely about user experience, and nothing else; believe it or not, I spend quite a bit of time navigating around this site as well 😉
When the site was redesigned, we received a lot of feedback about the homepage of the blog, and frankly I shared the frustration many expressed. The goal was to give regular readers the content they enjoyed, while also making it easy for new readers to find their way around.
But I also didn’t like that the homepage was no longer the focal point of the site for regular readers. Furthermore, I thought it was confusing on how many different pages the same posts were being displayed, and I know the “/blog” page created confusion among some. Therefore I asked that we once again integrate all blog posts into the homepage of the site, in a way that makes it easier for people to read, similar to the old experience.
So yes, the “/blog” page is now gone, but blog posts are now loading in the same way on the homepage of the blog — they’re in the same location on the page, they’re in the same format, and you can click “Load More” to read as many posts as your heart desires.
I hope readers like these changes to the homepage, and that this is a good solution that works for both new and existing users. There are some other (legitimately) cool things planned for the front page, but go figure they weren’t quite ready when the site relaunched, which is why the homepage was kind of lame initially. When they go live, they won’t “push down” where the recent blog posts are.
We’re going to try to rotate the posts both in the featured post space, and also underneath the blog post section, to hopefully make for some interesting reading from the archives.
I of course welcome constructive feedback here (if I’m totally off base, feel free to tell me), but this was something that I requested as a genuine improvement to the user experience. I appreciate all the feedback that has been provided in general — we’ve made a lot of updates since the site relaunched, and there are more tweaks coming to hopefully make the experience better.
Bottom line
When OMAAT relaunched, we set up a dedicated “/blog” page, for readers to be able to get the same experience they had before with reading posts. That was largely because the posts weren’t as prominently featured on the homepage.
With the change that went live today, posts are once again prominently featured on the homepage, and I hope that most readers find that this is a good solution. Thanks for reading — I appreciate every one of you!
New and improved, I don't think so. The "upgraded" site is annoying with endless adds. No matter what browser the site doesn't appear to view correctly. Scrolling up or down and the page fills with adds to the point the content is lost. The site reads like a cartoon with little content and endless pictures. Who is "we"? The site is your site or it isn't your site? Without prior knowledge of the site one...
New and improved, I don't think so. The "upgraded" site is annoying with endless adds. No matter what browser the site doesn't appear to view correctly. Scrolling up or down and the page fills with adds to the point the content is lost. The site reads like a cartoon with little content and endless pictures. Who is "we"? The site is your site or it isn't your site? Without prior knowledge of the site one would imagine the "blog" portion of the site is to present the façade of an amateur blog to a commercial site. Cannot determine what is an add and what is content. And yes the comments section is horrible.
As with others, I really don't like the comments being in a side box, even though you've made it bigger. Just a waste of screen space and constant scrolling.
Or the read more button.
Can you give us a choice, to have the traditional way or your new way for those that do prefer it?
Nice idea. Something tells me it's unlikely.
Thank you for working to improve the site and listen to readers. I agree the biggest issue with the redesign is the comments. It makes it almost unreadable and hard to go from comments to the website on a mobile device. The previous version was better. Also it's easy to accidently click comment when you are reading comments. It makes it so hard I have stopped coming to the site as I loved seeing the...
Thank you for working to improve the site and listen to readers. I agree the biggest issue with the redesign is the comments. It makes it almost unreadable and hard to go from comments to the website on a mobile device. The previous version was better. Also it's easy to accidently click comment when you are reading comments. It makes it so hard I have stopped coming to the site as I loved seeing the comments and your replies. It's just so clunky that I find myself going to other sites instead and you do have the best content so please continue to improve the functionality ! The reason your site is different than others is the comments and engagement so please continue to make that a focus otherwise if I'm just reading an article I have many other options. Thank you
I'm with @FNT Delta Diamond, the experience reading comments is important to me and the format now is not what I enjoy.
I am just adding one more data point, but yeah, I agree with everyone else, the separate flyout for the comments is horrible. I never comment anymore.
Thank you, Ben. The best change for me is something you only touched on in this entry: the "load more" button, which is now scripted to expand the page rather than refresh it. Small details like this have a big impact on the user experience.
I like the new 'interface" but I could not just get along with the non chronological blog style that I was used to. I think this change is a good compromise.
Thank you Lucky. I like this format better. Easier to navigate. :)
The new comment section is much worse than the old one, per all of the reasons already mentioned. Also, when posting a comment, sometimes it hangs, and sometimes it looks like it works, and sometimes it looks like it hangs but then tells you you are posting too soon or you posted it already.
Another annoying aspect of the comments window is that if you want to Like someone's comment and you're not logged in, logging in will then throw you out of the window. You then have to log in, open the window again, and then find the comment again that you wanted to like. That's infuriating. It seems a very amateur design.
Yes, I agree @Malc, this is crazy - I just gave up on clicking the 'helpful' button because of it.
Obviously, I love the site so much and still check multiple times a day (thanks for all your hard work, Ben, and being willing to listen to feedback) but this, along with the new font being too narrow (I.e. not bold enough) to read comfortably without straining eyes on a mobile phone, remain points worth addressing if possible, please.
works much better Ben, thanks . I had a book mark to the blog page as the new home page was too messy for me. I want to see posts cronologically so am happy
@Lucky -- first, a typo: "onemileatatime.com.com."
Second, I agree with all the others who loathe the separate window for comments. When Tiffany asked for feedback on the redesigned site, it was by far the most objected-to aspect of it. It's been annoying from day one and it still is. I'm not one of these people who will throw their arms up and say they won't visit the blog again. I visit this website more than...
@Lucky -- first, a typo: "onemileatatime.com.com."
Second, I agree with all the others who loathe the separate window for comments. When Tiffany asked for feedback on the redesigned site, it was by far the most objected-to aspect of it. It's been annoying from day one and it still is. I'm not one of these people who will throw their arms up and say they won't visit the blog again. I visit this website more than any other; I love it. But the comments section was a disaster from day one, and nothing will change that.
As others have said, the featured comments aspect is worthless, and I'd like to be able to scroll down and read the comments without always having to click something else and open an annoying little box.
Well this slight update is irrelevant to me. I had changed my bookmark to go straight to the "/blog" page. Odd that a website that is a blog, changed format to require readers to go to some "main page" then click to the blog.
Agree with many that the "Featured Comments" are worthless. Random comments taken out of context so there's no conversation. I do like the threaded "replies" to comments. Other than that, just...
Well this slight update is irrelevant to me. I had changed my bookmark to go straight to the "/blog" page. Odd that a website that is a blog, changed format to require readers to go to some "main page" then click to the blog.
Agree with many that the "Featured Comments" are worthless. Random comments taken out of context so there's no conversation. I do like the threaded "replies" to comments. Other than that, just keep the comments in order. The separate comments window doesn't bother me since I'm on a PC, but agree I liked them better when they were below the post. Perhaps only show the most recent 3 comments at first, and have the "read all comments" button work the same as the "load more" button ... add to the bottom of the page for those that ask for it.
Navigation on the new site is horrendous. Didn't the old site have a "directory tree" layout ? IE: I could click "Hotels" then from that list click "Hyatt" then have a list of relevant keywords to choose from. The new "I'm interested in" is just huge looooong list of all keywords. If I'm interested in subject "x", I don't want to know about "x" at every hotel brand in the world, only Hyatt. Granted, I haven't tried the actual search function yet, but in general they tend to return a lot of unrelated stuff to sort thru.
The font doesn't bother me because I have my browser set to over-ride and use a large font for all sites. I suspect that's what's causing the top of the main/blog page to be garbled. I get a huge picture with what looks like a clickable list of certain posts to the right. But I can't read that list because there's a series of yellow icons on top of the list. The icons seem to be giving the same options (News, Reviews, etc.) as the menu bar near the top, so I'm not sure why they're there. The old format didn't have all this clutter.
And why the HUGE picture at the top of every page ? I doubt my large font option is causing that. I can't see "what's up" today without scrolling down a page. I know it's a minor issue, but is another item that causes the new format to appear cluttered.
I like your blog (except for all the credit card advertisements) so will try to adapt to whatever changes you make. But a few months of using the new format and it hasn't grown on me. If it ever came to a reader vote, I'd vote for the old, cleaner and more intuitive format.
I think the new format works. However do note that when i open the web in some of my handheld devices (apple), it keeps opening previous preview (with older news). The blog button was the only thing thtat allowed me to get the new content, but now it keeps showing me old post as if they were new. I erased cookies, still won't work.
Thanks for a great job
man and I FINALLY got used to typing /blog everytime I visit lol. Thanks for adjusting and bringing back chronological order!
PS: The ability to edit comments would be nice. Some forums allow editing within x minutes of posting, e.g. within 5 or 10 minutes, so that an obvious typo or wrong word/awkward phrasing can be corrected, but no "taking back what was said" beyond that limited time period.
Another change I would like is when you modify/update an existing page with new/corrected content that you somehow highlight that info so we can easily see what is new/changed. Maybe in a different text color or highlighted (background) color? So many times, I come across a blog post in the chronological order list and sometimes not even realize it's an old-but-revised post until I get to the comments and see some of them dated from months before.
I still have issues on my iphone, using Safari.
Clicking on "News", as of 9/3/2021 8.30am EST, it shows Alaska Lounge SF now open as most recent post (that was from 3 days ago).
Any trick?
Thank you for this! I had to set my bookmark to the /blog page to avoid the seizures that I got trying to make sense of the "upgrade" of the main page.
I agree with the other comments on the comments section - the old comment section, where I could just scroll down was much better than this one, and was easier on the eyes.
I don't have the time to spend moving around the website. I need one and done. I'm not interested, for the most part on all the comments in the blog, just the new news from the website author. The "new" format does not work for someone like me who was other wise loyal.
Not to beat a dead horse here since everyone else has chimed in, but the new comments section was the biggest failure of this whole “upgrade” and it’s still not being addressed. I appreciate you taking reader feedback, but it seems like the comments section was the most loathed part of the whole change and it’s still terrible. Comments are engagement, and you’ve made it harder to engage, the format is a massive blunder.
This new homepage change is AMAZING! It was so hard to navigate before this current change! Thanks so much!!!
Awesome
Take that TPG
OMAT > TPG
I'm glad you made the change but I agree with the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it". I used to love your blog but almost always now I can't see all the comments and it's too much hassle and takes too much time to try to read the comments.
Blogs shouldn't be this difficult.
I agree this is a very positive change - well done Ben!
Given that a lot of “constructive criticism” seems to be “I liked the old format; I don’t like change” I’d like to say that I find the new colors/font very easy to read and a very nice update to the site overall. I view on mobile daily and have always seen the posts in chronological order since the refresh, which is ideal. It took me a few days to get used to the extra click...
Given that a lot of “constructive criticism” seems to be “I liked the old format; I don’t like change” I’d like to say that I find the new colors/font very easy to read and a very nice update to the site overall. I view on mobile daily and have always seen the posts in chronological order since the refresh, which is ideal. It took me a few days to get used to the extra click to open the comments, but it has now become second nature and not a problem at all. Keep up the good work, Ben.
Do you have any plans to revamp how we can access different trip report series? The "tiled" setup if you go into "Reviews" is cool and all, but I really miss having a proper list grouped by year like you did on the old site -- it was super convenient to be able to go back and read through my favorite trip report series when I'm bored. I might be in the minority here, though ...
I know I’m in the minority (based on the comments), but I like the way the comments section is set up. But can you add back the previous/next post navigation?
Ben, thanks for restoring the latest stories feed on the home page! The comments page, although improved, still sucks. Why not just list the comments at the end of the page like you did before? There are 3 issues with the current format: 1. Readers have to click twice to read all the comments and 2. I would prefer for the comments section to be as wide as the browser window. 3. I would prefer for comments to be on the same page as the post.
I agree.
TOTALLY agree. The small window for the comments is annoying at best and makes me not want to read the blog at worst.
Thanks for bringing back the original home page. However, can you please disable the web app coding on iOS so it doesn’t load without browser bar or controls?
Just to clarify - the issue is when you crest an “add to Home Screen” shortcut on iOS it saves a web app version that makes the UX horrible (no browser bar or controls). This should be a simple fix for your developer to remove this in the coding so it opens like a normal website
As someone who only used the /blog link, good! A few hours ago I mentioned in the Conrad post that the blog page wasn't working anymore.
I'm curious was percent of people were clearly going straight to blog which prompted this change. And I hope whatever consultant you worked with that insisted on a different from page gives you a refund
Addressing the comment issue a lot of people have, I think there are merits to both what most of us and Ben are saying. I get why the site collapses the comment section, since someone may want to see more posts below the section, but I also think the solution is wonky. I think the best way to get past the dilemma is to:
a) Have all the comments directly below the post sorted by...
Addressing the comment issue a lot of people have, I think there are merits to both what most of us and Ben are saying. I get why the site collapses the comment section, since someone may want to see more posts below the section, but I also think the solution is wonky. I think the best way to get past the dilemma is to:
a) Have all the comments directly below the post sorted by date but have the "Meet Ben Schlappig" and posts to the right of the comments, similar to how YouTube does it.
b) Use a bar with two choices that allows you to reveal the comments below with an option to sort by oldest, newest, or most helpful comments. If someone doesn't want to see the comments, then they can click the other choice of suggesting more posts.
There must exist a way to incorporate both the ability to easily access more relevant posts and looking at the comments without having to switch in and out of the comment section. Also I wonder why you had to convince the people who help manage the site to change the blog format. Shouldn't you have the final decision on making changes?
Hi Lucky, is there a way you can list the travel reports (those that you always create names for) similar like what you had for the old site? It's impossible to scroll through all the airline or hotel reviews to get to the ones needed. Thanks.
Good change. I always just went straight to the menu and clicked Blog to get the chronological order. I suspect many readers were doing the same.
Thanks God!! The past version was a pain. Also, for the next change, commenting using a phone is also a pain. It opens this “Conversations” page that takes the entire screen and it is hard to navigate and scroll up and down. Fix that please!!!
I check OMAAT a dozen times a day. I have no idea what format people are talking about. I’m gonna frequent the website either way. I learn a lot on here about airlines , hotels , and credit cards.
Much prefer this. Good for you to recognize the mistake.
One last request is that the articles start too far down the page. The header section is much too large.
For someone who views the site multiple times daily I want to see if something new is posted. On my 13in MacBook I have to scroll and entire screen to see if anything new has been posted… an entire screen of header and ads doesn’t make for a great experience!
Agree with Andy. I'd like to read all comments at once
“I’m the only person to blame, because I pushed hard for this and insisted it was a good idea (so oops if it’s not)”
Who were you pushing against?
I LOVE THIS CHANGE! I enjoy coming to the home page and seeing all the articles in chronological order.
Thank you!
The ‘original’ new home page was horrible (sorry)! I never used it as I liked the chronological format and clicking through to the blog link felt like an unnecessary barrier.
Looks like most readers don't really care, lol.
Here is what I would change. On mobile, I would put the icons (news, guide, reviews...) right below the logo and perhaps incorporate the icons and the background into the same color background as the main logo to make it more aesthetically pleasing. I would also eliminate the text "The latest airline news..." and the accompanying paragraph with links entirely because with the large font I'm unable...
Looks like most readers don't really care, lol.
Here is what I would change. On mobile, I would put the icons (news, guide, reviews...) right below the logo and perhaps incorporate the icons and the background into the same color background as the main logo to make it more aesthetically pleasing. I would also eliminate the text "The latest airline news..." and the accompanying paragraph with links entirely because with the large font I'm unable to see the latest article unless I scroll down (my resolution is 3040x1440). If you must have the text there, I would make the font at least 50% smaller so it looks cleaner (again, I prefer no text but I understand why it's there).
I don't scroll much lower than that (well, I was only using /blog before), so I can't comment on the design after the latest articles.
Hope this helps.
Like what you did, but my biggest complain that I would really love to have fixed is section of reviews. Before it was quite easy to search for reviews of hotels, lounges and airlines. Nowadays, you go to the main search but it gives you also results from posts that you have made about certain product but that also are not the reviews i'm looking for or worse, a forum from Ask lucky. Its quite messy tbh. I missed the previous format mostly because of that.
Happy you went back to the old chronological format, and happy to know that any new features won't push the blogs posts down on the page.
I'm with those who don't like that the comments are in a separate window, though I do like that they can be threaded.
Two comments:
1) I did like the style of the previous “new” home page. It’s nice having one or two featured articles with bigger pictures. Just more aesthetically pleasing.
2) The search is terrible. I can never find the article that I want. I guess I can always use Google to search your site, but that’s a bit cumbersome.
Nice! one less click to get to the blog page. Also having that dreary filter removed from the background pictures that made them have a yellow tint is a huge plus. It was such an eyesore opening up ommat getting to the blog page. I missed the days of bright and clean looking.
Ooops, stand corrected. Opening page still has yellowing filter.
Much better, thank you, Ben!
Thank you Ben for making this change. It felt strange as a loyal reader of several years to have to click on the blog button. The homepage really felt like it wasn't for your regular readers as we'd probably already read that content several times over. Anything you can do not to become the pointsguy would be greatly appreciated.
One positive change is that it no longer scrolls to the top after clicking Load More…
Oh thank goodness! I kept forgetting to go to the /blog page and then clicking through never loaded right until I refreshed. Excited to have the posts back on the main page!
Agreed - I always had to look for the "take me to the old format / blog layout", so this is definitely a benefit for me!
what's up with the OMAAT logo one of the ugliest thin i have ever seen
When is this change suppose to go live? The main page for me is still the old one.
@ Guy -- The change is live. Do you not see the grid with blog posts underneath the heading section? If not, maybe try a different browser, hard refresh of your browser, etc.
I am also not seeing the latest posts.
The latest news in my default browser (firefox) is united cash and miles award.
Yes. it is fixable by switching to Safari - but...
Also, I miss the option to be notified of new comments by email
I had bookmarked /blog and absolutely never used the new home page, so I'm 100% with you on this - I much prefer it with the chronological posts on the home page!
A step in the right direction, But fix the font and the comments. The comment section is horrible.
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- Curious what you don't like about the comments? We introduced threaded comments per reader feedback. And I know at first there was frustration with them opening in a separate window, but now that window is much wider, hopefully making it more readable. In part we're having them open in a separate window to keep pages loading fast.
I'll jump in here with the comment section. I enjoy reading the comments (well most of them) and I don't like that now I need to click twice - once to open the article and another click to see the comments.
Adding to Andy, I don’t like that you can’t see the comments in tandem with the article (at least on mobile) and have to open, close, open to go back and forth.
I also didn’t like that they weren’t in order of oldest to newest like they once were. It made it hard to follow things out of context. But now maybe that’s fixed? At least on this article, for the comments that have been written thus far, it is
Speaking for myself:
1. I find the comments font too tiny to read without eye strain.
2. It's not possible to scroll the main page with the comments window open, which would be useful for verifying some detail you're commenting about, or comparing a bit of text as I write.
3. The three promoted comments section just seems kind of pointless.
As a result, I rarely bother to check out the comments...
Speaking for myself:
1. I find the comments font too tiny to read without eye strain.
2. It's not possible to scroll the main page with the comments window open, which would be useful for verifying some detail you're commenting about, or comparing a bit of text as I write.
3. The three promoted comments section just seems kind of pointless.
As a result, I rarely bother to check out the comments or leave one myself. As for today's homepage change, I think that's a positive step. However, I still find the lack of contrast between the background color and the text in the content area painful to read. Granted, I use a browser extension to universally turn all text to jet black (which sometimes creates readability problems), and I can also set a universal font size, but that doesn't seem to work on the comments.
OMAAT's content is great, however; no complaints there. But I have to really be motivated by the title I see in my feed reader to come here now.
Agree on the comments - popping a new window and not being to look back at the article does not work. A comment may discuss something you said Ben , but cannot go back and look at it .
Comments used to be great , and were very helpful , I barely visit the site since this changed . I only visited as I saw your tweet on changes , but sadly the comments slide...
Agree on the comments - popping a new window and not being to look back at the article does not work. A comment may discuss something you said Ben , but cannot go back and look at it .
Comments used to be great , and were very helpful , I barely visit the site since this changed . I only visited as I saw your tweet on changes , but sadly the comments slide out window is still here
Not a big issues but why show 3 featured comments ? Unless people are clicking these are "helpful" just throws up three random ones
You can go back and look at it.
If you using a PC.Click anywhere outside the comments section.The window will pop off.Go up to the article you want check what Ben said.Then go down click Load all comments.The comments section will pop out just where you left.
Only use PC so don't know about mobile devices.
Agreed the comments having to pop out and seeming to have no logical order to them needs fixing.
I didnt mind the home page redesign because for new users and rookies (which drives more revenue for you) it was more helpful, for everyday readers we could have bookmarked the blog page. So thanks for changing it back but it was never a real issue like the pop-out comments.
I'll also add that restricting the comments to this narrow frame means you have to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll to read them all. Hello, carpal tunnel syndrome.
Plus, longer comments are being truncated, so "Read more" is yet another obstacle. (And this "Read more" link doesn't even do anything on my browser, with my privacy controls in place.)
Also, I think it's a mistake to require an account just to mark a...
I'll also add that restricting the comments to this narrow frame means you have to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll to read them all. Hello, carpal tunnel syndrome.
Plus, longer comments are being truncated, so "Read more" is yet another obstacle. (And this "Read more" link doesn't even do anything on my browser, with my privacy controls in place.)
Also, I think it's a mistake to require an account just to mark a comment as helpful. I'm certainly not going to create an account just for that. I suggest the DoctorOfCredit or FrequentMiler method.
Just trying to suggest some improvements; hope I don't sound needlessly critical. :-)
I don't like the separate window. As many people read your blog from a mobile device, the old site is way better. From mobile device you will have to flip to a new window/tab. And the fonts are horrible. Very light and hard to read.
On a smartphone it opens as a separate page and you can no longer read the post.
Even more wider display for comments would be better. Full width actually.
One of the biggest peeves with the comments section (at least for me) is having to click that extra button and go to the new window. Is it possible to have the comments section within the main window, and set it up so that it only loads in when I scroll down to it? Also, the 'featured comments' is often quite useless as it displays a reply within a thread with no additional context, so at first glance it looks quite jumbled.
I would strongly second the fact that the font is hard to read and the comments are far less usable when not inline with the article.