New Nexus Mods design launched

[phreatophile]

Aesthetically speaking I'm really not a fan of the new layout, but I am notoriously resistant to change.

 

Then I went to my tracked mods and there are at least some sorting options. I like that very much, I suspect that as a poke around I'll notice all sorts of little conveniences I was missing and some I never knew I needed.

 

Regarding the sorting options in the tracked mods page(s), after 6 or more years, there can be a lot of mods there. Can we get a sort by date tracked option?

 

On another note the search function seems to be broken on both versions. A search, even with a copy/paste name from the mod page, and filters cleared will frequently show no results. Google allowed me to find the mod I was looking for on the Nexus but the Nexus' own search function sure didn't.

Edited November 4, 2017 by phreatophile

[JJhookah]

Personally I'm 50/50 on the new design vs the old, there's a lot I like and a lot I don't, my biggest gripe would be the colours, the problem is a lack of contrast between text and background, the old design was bright, clear and easy to read but the new is dull, faded and seems harder to read even though some of the text is larger.

 

Would you consider using all the old designs colours and contrast levels on the new version ?

 

I have noticed quite a few other people have mentioned the colours as well but not really specified what it is they don't like.

 

Regards.

 

 

[VermillionRED]

In response to post #54924528. #54925803 is also a reply to the same post.

AbobosFist wrote: Visually, the new design is serviceable and I can see a few perks to it, but limiting non-premium members to only 20 mods per page while browsing a page is horrid compared to the old designs 30. It shouldn't be a feature just for premium members. If you want to make this design accessible for users, this is NOT the way to do it. It just comes across as greedy for what is a very basic option.

fireundubh wrote: Why do you need to see more than 20 mods per page?

While a "very basic option" on the frontend, every time you ask for 20, 30, 50, or 100 mods per page, you're executing queries for each mod—unless they're using a more sophisticated solution. Multiply those queries by the number of active users on any day, and you have an astronomical number of queries being executed. These "per page" options can get very expensive on large sites, especially when those queries ultimately serve images and other data to users.

Just as an oversimplified example:

- 13,597,383 users executing 20 queries per day equals 271,947,660 queries.
- 13,597,383 users executing 30 queries per day equals 407,921,490 queries.
- 30 queries per day per user produces 1.5 times more cumulative queries.

So, a reduction of just 10 queries per day per user represents huge savings.

Reducing the number of queries overall saves the Nexus a good sum of money, which is used to keep this platform operational. In addition, reducing queries reduces the traffic load on the database and other backend services, which improves overall performance for more users. It's perfectly fair that only users who pay up can use more of the platform's resources, and I'd bet that the vast majority of users don't need to see 30 mods per page, let alone 20.

You're missing my point entirely and your numbers are largely inaccurate. Using Chrome's handy dandy developer tools while searching through Skyrim's armor category on both the new and old site, I can get the exact numbers for the requests and the data requested from the servers. You can see these numbers yourself in Chrome by pressing F12 and clicking on Network before reloading a page.

New Design: 84 requests - 260 kb transferred - Finish: 6.26s - DOMContent Loaded 1.88s - Load 2.00s
Old Design: 96 requests - 195 kb transferred -Finish 4.98s - DOMContent Loaded 1.27s - 1.32s

Sure the requests on the old version of the site are higher by a very small margin, but the data usage and other stats are lower on the old site. If anything it proves the new design is actually less efficient in this circumstance. I would suggest you not pull numbers out of thin air to support an argument.

My point was that when this new design becomes permanent, free users are going to be limited by something that really shouldn't be limited in the first place. If I'm browsing a mod category, I'm going to be loading the images and text for the mods on the next page anyways. If anything I would be saving on bandwidth if I only load the text and images required instead of having to load a new page, making additional requests for data that I already have cached.

[slippyguy]

In response to post #54895693. #54896418, #54898518, #54900213, #54900778, #54901488, #54902628, #54905558, #54916983, #54925898, #54925983, #54926948, #54948183 are all replies on the same post.

bigd4450 wrote: I felt so uncomfortable with the new Nexus. It just seems to be to "fiddly", push this button to push this button to push this button to find what your looking for. Old way, click here to see more and scroll, click to the next page when you get to the bottom. I'm kind of an old guy and I see the trend all over the place to get more info and more options out in front of "the people". But, that being said, I always tried to live my life the way I was taught, the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid. And boy do we seem to be veering away from that idea.

fireundubh wrote: "push this button to push this button to push this button to find what your looking for"

What are you talking about? If anything, the navigation path is actually shorter than the old site.

bigd4450 wrote: What do I mean? Well I go into Skyrim SE want to see what's going on with mods. Well, this page just shows me todays mods. Wait a minute, I can see todays, this weeks, popular (30 days), popular (all time), trending, etc. I just want to see some mods, scroll to the top, okay a drop down, there's mods. What am I looking for, a ton of choices, there it is "Browse all mods". Oh wait, do I want to sort them by time, when they were published, or maybe description, nope, just want to look at some mods, losing interest, too much B.S. going on.

Old way, pull up Skyrim SE, oh, there's recent mods, do I want to see more, sure. Click here to see more, scroll to the bottom, page 2, continue, pretty easy.

I realize that what ever I say here will make no difference what so ever. It's just a trend that I see and really don't like, buttons cluttering up pages, spend more time messing with the buttons, (and half don't work) instead of just going where your trying to go. Just my humble opinion, and opinions are like ----- we've all got one.

Zaldiir wrote: Clicking the "Explore all mods" on the front page gives you the same list that you had in the old design. With the new design, the things that were hidden away are now more visible and easier to use, making life easier for those who want to get more refined results. Life for those who follow the KISS principle remains the same; press a button to see all recent mods, scroll down, page 2, continue.

fireundubh wrote:

Oh wait' date=' do I want to sort them by time, when they were published, or maybe description [...'] too much B.S. going on.

Sounds like a personal problem.

buttons cluttering up pages' date=' spend more time messing with the buttons, (and half don't work)[/quote']
Not really. On the new site, if you click "Mods" or "Browse all mods" at the top, you get a better layout of the old "Files" or "Browse files" page, which, by the way, has a sidebar with a long advanced search form, of which the most used options are now simple dropdowns in the new layout. Talk about buttons...

Compare:

- Browse all mods (New) vs. Browse files (Old)
- Recent activity (New) vs. New recently (Old)
- Top files (New) vs. Top files (Old)
- Mods of the month (New) vs. Files of the month (Old)
- View all images (New) vs. View images (Old)

Anyone objective can plainly see the new layouts are less cluttered, easier to navigate, and easier to read.

axonis wrote:

- Top files (New) vs. Top files (Old)

Anyone objective can plainly see the new layouts are less cluttered, easier to navigate, and easier to read.

Easier to read ?

I can read USSEP's description in the old design, but not so in the new design because most of the text is faded to make way for the image. This mod however, like many other mods, cannot be represented by an image.

fireundubh wrote:

I can read USSEP's description in the old design' date=' but not so in the new design because most of the text is faded to make way for the image.[/quote']
By easier to read, I was referring to the font size. On a 27" monitor at 1920x1080, I shouldn't feel like I have to squint.

And, personally, I don't need a wall of text to determine whether I want to learn more about a mod.

The faded text is a good thing and acts as an "effective" character limit, hopefully encouraging modders to be concise and not include extraneous details.

The fixed-size result tiles also prevent modders from abusing the length of the brief description text to expand the size of their tiles and unfairly draw your attention away from other mods. As a modder, I see this as something that helps level the playing field.

axonis wrote: Comparing a 54-word paragraph to a wall of text is exactly why mod authors have such a serious problem with users who refuse to read instructions.

Not every mod has a graphical function. I'd rather trade that huge thumbnail for text; losing the "oh no, wall of text" users would be a most welcome bonus.

fireundubh wrote:

Comparing a 54-word paragraph to a wall of text is exactly why mod authors have such a serious problem with users who refuse to read instructions.

You do realize who you're talking to' date=' right?

axonis wrote: No I don't and I don't see how this is relevant. There's nothing personal in my argument; I just think that your statement about mod descriptions is wrong and I argued against it.

fireundubh wrote: I am a mod author. I had around 60 mods on the Nexus until I moved over to GitHub last year or the year before then. You don't have to tell me about user reading problems. I fully understand the background of your argument, but I still disagree with you and would prefer even shorter short descriptions.

axonis wrote: Very well we can disagree on that, but asking mod authors to rewrite their descriptions is not simply a redesign but a reorganization. We already have this issue with the mod's background bar which has to be remade but this is acceptable as part of a redesign.

bigd4450 wrote: All right, spent the last couple of days giving the new version a chance. Still uncomfortable, though I was able to find the "Explore all Mods" button, thanks Zaldiir, I began to realize why it was so uncomfortable. As I said before. too fiddly, or, too busy. As I pushed my glasses up on my nose and moved my head around trying to take in the whole page, the buttons, the over sized tiles, the smaller tiles that run from edge to edge of the screen, trying to find things that were familiar to me and use them to see what they did, my eyes began to hurt, yep I know "personal problem". With in 5 minutes I began to get quite a headache, again I know, "personal problem". Being an older guy that has to wear glasses to enjoy my computer, and games. I have to move my eyes all over that oversized screen, the tiles, that do remind me of Bethesda rejects, looking for the buttons. Uncomfortable, yeah I know.... But, by reading a lot of the other comments I can see that I'm not the only one that has this problem.

Sorry but I don't understand why does this have to be redesigned for the phone? I've been using Nexus for a few years and at least 90% of the time it's been on my phone with no problems. I go through during the day and find things I'd like to look at later that night when I get home.

Will I still use Nexus? Sure, if I want to still use mods. Will I still spend as much time browsing around the site? No, the headaches suck.

Sorry but I don't understand why does this have to be redesigned for the phone?

It's not for phones, nor is it being redesigned exclusively because of a less-than-stellar mobile experience with the last layout. Mobile is just being taken seriously as a platform this time around.

Edited November 4, 2017 by slippyguy

[fireundubh]

In response to post #54924528. #54925803, #54950168 are all replies on the same post.

AbobosFist wrote: Visually, the new design is serviceable and I can see a few perks to it, but limiting non-premium members to only 20 mods per page while browsing a page is horrid compared to the old designs 30. It shouldn't be a feature just for premium members. If you want to make this design accessible for users, this is NOT the way to do it. It just comes across as greedy for what is a very basic option.

fireundubh wrote: Why do you need to see more than 20 mods per page?

While a "very basic option" on the frontend, every time you ask for 20, 30, 50, or 100 mods per page, you're executing queries for each mod—unless they're using a more sophisticated solution. Multiply those queries by the number of active users on any day, and you have an astronomical number of queries being executed. These "per page" options can get very expensive on large sites, especially when those queries ultimately serve images and other data to users.

Just as an oversimplified example:

- 13,597,383 users executing 20 queries per day equals 271,947,660 queries.
- 13,597,383 users executing 30 queries per day equals 407,921,490 queries.
- 30 queries per day per user produces 1.5 times more cumulative queries.

So, a reduction of just 10 queries per day per user represents huge savings.

Reducing the number of queries overall saves the Nexus a good sum of money, which is used to keep this platform operational. In addition, reducing queries reduces the traffic load on the database and other backend services, which improves overall performance for more users. It's perfectly fair that only users who pay up can use more of the platform's resources, and I'd bet that the vast majority of users don't need to see 30 mods per page, let alone 20.

AbobosFist wrote: You're missing my point entirely and your numbers are largely inaccurate. Using Chrome's handy dandy developer tools while searching through Skyrim's armor category on both the new and old site, I can get the exact numbers for the requests and the data requested from the servers. You can see these numbers yourself in Chrome by pressing F12 and clicking on Network before reloading a page.

New Design: 84 requests - 260 kb transferred - Finish: 6.26s - DOMContent Loaded 1.88s - Load 2.00s
Old Design: 96 requests - 195 kb transferred -Finish 4.98s - DOMContent Loaded 1.27s - 1.32s

Sure the requests on the old version of the site are higher by a very small margin, but the data usage and other stats are lower on the old site. If anything it proves the new design is actually less efficient in this circumstance. I would suggest you not pull numbers out of thin air to support an argument.

My point was that when this new design becomes permanent, free users are going to be limited by something that really shouldn't be limited in the first place. If I'm browsing a mod category, I'm going to be loading the images and text for the mods on the next page anyways. If anything I would be saving on bandwidth if I only load the text and images required instead of having to load a new page, making additional requests for data that I already have cached.

The Chrome inspector can't show you the number of database queries executed. You're talking about HTTP requests. Entirely different.

You're missing my point entirely and your numbers are largely inaccurate.

The keywords were "oversimplified" and "example." Examples are meant to illustrate a concept. Speaking of missing the point entirely...

I would suggest you not pull numbers out of thin air to support an argument.

And I would suggest you learn the difference between a frontend and a backend - because you look like a backend with that comment. kek Edited November 4, 2017 by fireundubh

[fireundubh]

In response to post #54895693. #54896418, #54898518, #54900213, #54900778, #54901488, #54902628, #54905558, #54916983, #54925898, #54925983, #54926948, #54948183, #54954538 are all replies on the same post.

bigd4450 wrote: I felt so uncomfortable with the new Nexus. It just seems to be to "fiddly", push this button to push this button to push this button to find what your looking for. Old way, click here to see more and scroll, click to the next page when you get to the bottom. I'm kind of an old guy and I see the trend all over the place to get more info and more options out in front of "the people". But, that being said, I always tried to live my life the way I was taught, the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid. And boy do we seem to be veering away from that idea.

fireundubh wrote: "push this button to push this button to push this button to find what your looking for"

What are you talking about? If anything, the navigation path is actually shorter than the old site.

bigd4450 wrote: What do I mean? Well I go into Skyrim SE want to see what's going on with mods. Well, this page just shows me todays mods. Wait a minute, I can see todays, this weeks, popular (30 days), popular (all time), trending, etc. I just want to see some mods, scroll to the top, okay a drop down, there's mods. What am I looking for, a ton of choices, there it is "Browse all mods". Oh wait, do I want to sort them by time, when they were published, or maybe description, nope, just want to look at some mods, losing interest, too much B.S. going on.

Old way, pull up Skyrim SE, oh, there's recent mods, do I want to see more, sure. Click here to see more, scroll to the bottom, page 2, continue, pretty easy.

I realize that what ever I say here will make no difference what so ever. It's just a trend that I see and really don't like, buttons cluttering up pages, spend more time messing with the buttons, (and half don't work) instead of just going where your trying to go. Just my humble opinion, and opinions are like ----- we've all got one.

Zaldiir wrote: Clicking the "Explore all mods" on the front page gives you the same list that you had in the old design. With the new design, the things that were hidden away are now more visible and easier to use, making life easier for those who want to get more refined results. Life for those who follow the KISS principle remains the same; press a button to see all recent mods, scroll down, page 2, continue.

fireundubh wrote:

Oh wait' date=' do I want to sort them by time, when they were published, or maybe description [...'] too much B.S. going on.

Sounds like a personal problem.

buttons cluttering up pages' date=' spend more time messing with the buttons, (and half don't work)[/quote']
Not really. On the new site, if you click "Mods" or "Browse all mods" at the top, you get a better layout of the old "Files" or "Browse files" page, which, by the way, has a sidebar with a long advanced search form, of which the most used options are now simple dropdowns in the new layout. Talk about buttons...

Compare:

- Browse all mods (New) vs. Browse files (Old)
- Recent activity (New) vs. New recently (Old)
- Top files (New) vs. Top files (Old)
- Mods of the month (New) vs. Files of the month (Old)
- View all images (New) vs. View images (Old)

Anyone objective can plainly see the new layouts are less cluttered, easier to navigate, and easier to read.

axonis wrote:

- Top files (New) vs. Top files (Old)

Anyone objective can plainly see the new layouts are less cluttered, easier to navigate, and easier to read.

Easier to read ?

I can read USSEP's description in the old design, but not so in the new design because most of the text is faded to make way for the image. This mod however, like many other mods, cannot be represented by an image.

fireundubh wrote:

I can read USSEP's description in the old design' date=' but not so in the new design because most of the text is faded to make way for the image.[/quote']
By easier to read, I was referring to the font size. On a 27" monitor at 1920x1080, I shouldn't feel like I have to squint.

And, personally, I don't need a wall of text to determine whether I want to learn more about a mod.

The faded text is a good thing and acts as an "effective" character limit, hopefully encouraging modders to be concise and not include extraneous details.

The fixed-size result tiles also prevent modders from abusing the length of the brief description text to expand the size of their tiles and unfairly draw your attention away from other mods. As a modder, I see this as something that helps level the playing field.

axonis wrote: Comparing a 54-word paragraph to a wall of text is exactly why mod authors have such a serious problem with users who refuse to read instructions.

Not every mod has a graphical function. I'd rather trade that huge thumbnail for text; losing the "oh no, wall of text" users would be a most welcome bonus.

fireundubh wrote:

Comparing a 54-word paragraph to a wall of text is exactly why mod authors have such a serious problem with users who refuse to read instructions.

You do realize who you're talking to' date=' right?

axonis wrote: No I don't and I don't see how this is relevant. There's nothing personal in my argument; I just think that your statement about mod descriptions is wrong and I argued against it.

fireundubh wrote: I am a mod author. I had around 60 mods on the Nexus until I moved over to GitHub last year or the year before then. You don't have to tell me about user reading problems. I fully understand the background of your argument, but I still disagree with you and would prefer even shorter short descriptions.

axonis wrote: Very well we can disagree on that, but asking mod authors to rewrite their descriptions is not simply a redesign but a reorganization. We already have this issue with the mod's background bar which has to be remade but this is acceptable as part of a redesign.

bigd4450 wrote: All right, spent the last couple of days giving the new version a chance. Still uncomfortable, though I was able to find the "Explore all Mods" button, thanks Zaldiir, I began to realize why it was so uncomfortable. As I said before. too fiddly, or, too busy. As I pushed my glasses up on my nose and moved my head around trying to take in the whole page, the buttons, the over sized tiles, the smaller tiles that run from edge to edge of the screen, trying to find things that were familiar to me and use them to see what they did, my eyes began to hurt, yep I know "personal problem". With in 5 minutes I began to get quite a headache, again I know, "personal problem". Being an older guy that has to wear glasses to enjoy my computer, and games. I have to move my eyes all over that oversized screen, the tiles, that do remind me of Bethesda rejects, looking for the buttons. Uncomfortable, yeah I know.... But, by reading a lot of the other comments I can see that I'm not the only one that has this problem.

Sorry but I don't understand why does this have to be redesigned for the phone? I've been using Nexus for a few years and at least 90% of the time it's been on my phone with no problems. I go through during the day and find things I'd like to look at later that night when I get home.

Will I still use Nexus? Sure, if I want to still use mods. Will I still spend as much time browsing around the site? No, the headaches suck.

slippyguy wrote:

Sorry but I don't understand why does this have to be redesigned for the phone?

It's not for phones, nor is it being redesigned exclusively because of a less-than-stellar mobile experience with the last layout. Mobile is just being taken seriously as a platform this time around.

@bigd4450: Your browser has the ability to zoom in and out. Hold Ctrl and move your mouse wheel.

[Dark0ne]

In response to post #54935608.

ScrollTron1c wrote: Since you're working on the site design right now - are you ever going to fix the following paradox of the Nexus structure:


Let's say i find out that a mod author has blocked me from his / her mods. Which might be confusing, since i never talked to this person, commented on their mods or had any other contact whatsoever besides silently giving endorsements.

Now the (old) page informs me to resolve this amicably via private message - however if that author has turned the messenger system off, there is no way to make contact.
So either mod authors might block someone by accident, which happens very easily on the old page. Or they just abuse their power - "because they can" ?

Either way this is obviously a paradox, you are giving instructions that can't be fulfilled currently.

Just to clarify, you can only be banned by a mod author if you actually comment on their file(s). There's no option to ban a user who only endorses mods. You HAVE to comment on their file in order to be banned.

[ri2do]

new site design is terrible, completely counter intuitive.

It took me 20 minutes to find my tracked mods, and than I had to filter them by game even though i was already in FO4 selection.

 

This is not a progress but a stepback

[Ethreon]

In response to post #54957703.

ri2do wrote: new site design is terrible, completely counter intuitive.
It took me 20 minutes to find my tracked mods, and than I had to filter them by game even though i was already in FO4 selection.

This is not a progress but a stepback

Took you 20 minutes to find the tracking center which is accessible immediately as you load the website from a drop down menu similar to the one from the old layout? Took you 20 minutes to find this?? http://prntscr.com/h64mdu
And the other statement is equally bs. They are already arranged by game if you have any selected.

[Ashes2Asherz]

so is the issue with the top hot mods being hidden on mobile from the top of the page and on the trending tab going to be addressed?