Mod Browsing Overhaul Open Beta

[JustThatKing]

We are making changes to parts of the site that have not been updated for over a decade. This is part of our ongoing plan to improve your website experience when browsing or searching for content.
To see the updated pages, simply click the "Join Beta" button on the banner at the top of the changed pages and your device will be opted in.

The key pages we’re focusing on for feedback are the Games and Mods listing pages, as well as Game homepages. We have also released an early version of our new quick search, this is limited to mods for now, but we’ll follow up with further updates to include all content types. While there are some minor styling updates across the rest of the site, these pages have the most significant updates and are our main focus.

 

As part of the new update, we are removing the left and right side adverts on the new pages. Whilst adverts are a key part of what keeps the lights on, we felt this was the right move to try to improve free users' experience. 

 

Why Update Now?
One of our key goals this year has been transitioning to a modern site architecture. The current system is challenging to maintain, slowing feature development and innovation. Moving to a new framework enables us to improve the user experience, experiment with new features, and keep pace with the evolving needs of the modding community. While this transition temporarily mixes old and new designs, it’s a necessary step toward a better site. 

Key Improvements

A More Consistent Experience
Any site that’s been worked on for over 10 years will inevitably accumulate design and technical inconsistencies—think mismatched button styles, typography, and colour schemes. While subtle, these details make the site feel less polished. This refresh introduces a new design system, standardising the fundamentals of our colour palette, typography hierarchy, iconography, spacings and grids. These foundations underpin reusable components (e.g., buttons, forms, tags), making the site more consistent and easier to update. With this system in place, we can focus on solving problems and building new features instead of fixing small UI details.

Easier Mod Discovery
We’ve started with updates to browsing and searching for mods, including improvements to game pages and mod listings. Filters on the mods listing page are now always visible, making them quicker to use. The UI should be clearer to read making it easier to scan through multiple mods. Next, we’re enhancing search to let you find content across all types, including users, for a more intuitive experience.

Improved Accessibility
We believe modding should be for everyone. This refresh prioritises accessibility, ensuring the site is easy to perceive, navigate, and interact with for all users. Updates include: Support for screen readers, Visually accessible colours, Readable typography, Flexible input methods. By following standards like WCAG we’re creating a site that isn’t just inclusive but also easier and more enjoyable for everyone.
 

Refining the User Experience
Nexus Mods has grown immensely, adding features that make it what it is today. However, there are areas to improve and simplify while keeping the features long-time users love. We’ve approached these updates thoughtfully, aiming to balance simplicity and functionality for a diverse community. This is a challenge! We won’t always get things right the first time — this is an iterative process of improvements — but your feedback helps us refine and improve.

What’s Next?
The next big update focuses on search improvements, making it easier to find the mods and content you’re looking for. We’re also working on an overhaul of the mod page, this is a much larger chunk of work that we’ll aim to ship later in the year. We’ll continue to share our progress and welcome your feedback along the way.

 

How to give feedback

We are looking for feedback on the following pages:

• Game Home Page

• Game Listing Page

• Mods Listing Page

If you have feedback for us, please use these forms:

General Feedback
Quick Search

 

Please ensure that you have ad-blockers disabled, as they will interfere with the feedback pop-ups that gather your feedback.

Whilst we love talking through all of your feedback on the Forums or on Discord, we don't make any guarantees we will see it if it is posted there. We are primarily collecting feedback through site usage metrics and the popup surveys found on each of the pages.

[perchik71]

In the new theme, there are a lot of cool shades (there is a lot of blue channel). This somewhat worsens the quality of life when reading text, as the white text becomes very corrosive to the eyes. 

For example: Discord RGB(49, 51, 56) not so much blue and not so dark. 

[Qrsr]

I wish you add the option to let mod authors merge their mods, i have alot of mods i would rather combine to reduce clutter.

[Halotroop0]

I said it once for the author page update, and I'll say it again for this. There's way too much wasted space. Images are just a bit too large, while the gaps between them feel unnaturally spaced. Sure it's sleek but it's not as refined as the previous state.

Edit: If we're improving accessibility and the user experience, why not offer some customization options? I for one would really prefer not having collections on a game's frontpage, as even if I were to engage with Vortex (I don't use Vortex in the first place), I wouldn't be using collections.

[Aether]

I would like to have an option to not see "Popular Collections". I feel it takes the focus away from new mods. I have never used collections before and have no intention to ever do so, that's not to say they're a bad thing, I just don't want to see them.

I agree with the assertion that there is too much wasted space. The game title header takes up way too much space, I'd prefer if it wasn't even there. There is too much vertical space between sections (Trending Mods, Popular Collections, More Mods). It would also be nice if the page automatically expanded horizontally to fit the browser's width, allowing more mods to be shown in the "More Mods" section.

Visually, I dislike the new color scheme and how the game's icon determines the background color for pages. The new mod page colors feel harder to read text on.

EDIT: The new NEXT mods section UI is wonderful, it feels much more intuitive to search for and see mods.

[llihP]

Loads of wasted space, you only need to put classic vs new next to each other in separate windows to see where it's not being utilised :/

[methoz84]

I hope this stays optional forever, because the new design is cluttered and I don't like it at all

[mohoyuan]

1. Restore the top pagination navigation bar.
2. Posts page needs a more compact layout, optimize timeline and clarify mutual reply relationships.
3. Collapsed sticky posts should keep collapse after turning pages.
4. Waiting for supplement.
5. For those who complain about wasting space at mods page: You can hide filters manually, it will keep hidden until you click Show again.

Edited Tuesday at 11:59 AM by mohoyuan

[MIKE20160236]

I notice in the Webpages beta, the collection section is being added on top of the normal mods, I don't think this is a good idea.

[OmenCorsair]

We believe this update brings a much needed Quality of life improvement to a very old style website.
This new update brings a more modern take, it also sheds light on mods I haven't noticed before by giving the spot light to trending mods more clearly.
There is one small tweak we would love to see and that is making the trending spot a bit smaller so that more can be seen equally.

Top 5 Mods can easily fit on there in medium sized boxes for many to view at first glance.