So how are we doing? Let's take a look at the new WinCustomize and the old WinCustomize side by side. here's what they looked like to the typical user.

The new site doesn't have the theme system in yet (allowing users to customize the look and feel of the site). It's in the work queue but it won't be ready for a bit. Lots of little features and bugs and glitches to work out first. So what I'm looking at is how much information is conveyed in both while at the same time how complicated or how simple are these designs?

Let's put them directly side by side:

On the new site, you can see about half of the skin galleries.  On the old site, you could only see the top 4.  On the new site, you can see the top 5 skins. On the old site, you could see the top 9 without scrolling.  On the new site the featured skin and screenshot are together in one area.  On the old site they were separated.  On both sides you can see the featured premium suite but the new site also lets you see the featured articles on the page.  Both have a banner ad at the top if you're not logged in and both have a randomly selected item from the store.  The new site doesn't have a sponsor button at the top - it's been moved to the bottom.

I personally preferred the old logo. I think we'll have to find a way to work that one back into the site. If anyone wants to volunteer to try to put together the old logo feel free. I think there's a version of it in the shirts area of the graphics gallery here.

What we have tried to do is have a site that is much cleaner and more easily understandable by new users while at the same time vastly increasing the amount of "stuff" that one might get to. The tabs are a big part of that and having a lot of the key data available on the home page without having to scroll down.

So what do you think? Do you like the direction the new launch has taken so far?