WTF, Gawker? You Redesigned All Your Sites?

This is the new Gizmodo? Really?
This is the new Gizmodo? Really?

    Gawker launched a site redesign today. And it’s not very good. At all. Also, the right-side navigation doesn’t ever seem to load completely. But wait! Doesn’t Gawker own several *really* popular websites? Why yes, yes they do. And as it turns out, they launched this new design across *ALL* of their websites: Gawker, Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Kotaku, Jezebel, IO9, Jalopnik. Yep. This new format is live on all 8 sites. That’s not good at all. I suspect they will be taking some heat on this one, especially in the short term. I mean, really. It looks like a frames-style site from 1998.

    One of the things that is bothering me on the SEO side of things are the URLs. All of the links to posts have a hash (#) in the URL, just after the domain. This is not good. Check it out:

    Gawker URL with # (New Site Design Feb-2011)
    Gawker URL with # (New Site Design Feb-2011)
    Deadspin URL with # (New Site Design Feb-2011)
    Deadspin URL with # (New Site Design Feb-2011)
    Lifehacker URL with # (New Site Design Feb-2011)
    Lifehacker URL with # (New Site Design Feb-2011)

    Probably the most glaring mistake they made is loading all of their content via AJAX and javascript. For example, if you disable javascript and try to load the Gizmodo homepage, this is what you see:

    Hey Gizmodo. Disable Javascript and this is what you see: Nothing.
    Hey Gizmodo. Disable Javascript and this is what you see: Nothing.

    On another interesting note, you should take a look at the cached version of each of these sites:

    That can’t be good! After trying to load the cached versions of these pages –  it seems that the request is just repeated over and over again for a while – and then I’m directed to a Google page that says:

    Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network

    Also, if you’re not a fan of slow loading times, you’re not going to enjoy this site right now. Get used to this gif:

    To be fair, I’m sure that much like all new website launches and redesigns, this project was not 100% complete. There are probably still some glitches that need to be fixed. And maybe that’s what I’m seeing with the URLs. But seriously, my first take on this new design is that it’s terrible. Maybe it will prove to be awesome once they fix everything. And who knows, maybe these sites are the first to move away from the typical blog-style template that has become so popular in the past 5 years. Were they trying to make a statement? Or were they trying to make a better product for their massive fan base? So many questions…

    I’m very interested to see how this one plays out. BTW Gawker, I’m still a big fan. Cheers!

    16 Replies to “WTF, Gawker? You Redesigned All Your Sites?”

    1. I’m sorry but the new Gizmodo site is awful!!!!!! Not one of my friends or collegues like it, it stinks

    2. It’s true. I came to this website by Googling, “not a fan of lifehacker website redesign.”

      It. Sucks.

      But on a scale of 1 to 10 of suckiness, with 10 being Angelfire, Geocities or a Web site built with blinking HTML tags, it’s like a 9 for suck. Just because nothing pisses me off more than a blinking HTML tag, or stars/snowflakes falling from the top of the screen.

      They should have offered a link to “Classic LifeHacker” or “Classic Gawker” site… or even “LifeHacker Lite” like Facebook USED to have.

      My largest gripe is that I can’t scan what the stories are anymore. I don’t have time to visit the sites every day, or every hour, so I liked going to the site and quickly browsing through the line up of posts, and looking through the archives.

      Aw well.. guess I’ll just spend more time on Wired or NY Times now.

    3. I was never a huge fan of Gawker, but my girlfriend got me hooked… and who knew… before I knew it, I was digging it too. Never a fan of the New York pretentiousness of it all and could never seem to get a comment published. Nevertheless, it is humorous news entertainment.
      Anyways,

      YES. The new site sucks really bad!! The loading times are absolutely terrible… .and there are corporate ads everywhere.

    4. that design is so bad I check the site maybe once a week omg I’m laughing so hard just got deleted from my bookmarks

    5. It’s terrible. I’m not sure what site I’ll be using now but I can’t stand the redesigned Gizmodo site or Lifehacker.

      Maybe I’ll go back to engadget and slashdot

    6. Its good being a web developer. I just use firebug and nuke that stupid side-bar, and then I can sort of read my article in peace and without distraction. Still not as good as the old sidebar. Time to get to work writing that greasemonkey “un-fuck gawker-media” script.

    7. It may be too early to tell, but Gizmodo seems to be taking a nosedive on Alexa.com since the redesign. Gawker should look at an other similar site for inspiration, Engadget.com!

      Oh yeah, Engadget also has higher rankings than Gizmodo on Alexa.

      JE

    8. Haha…you hit the nail on the head, it’s an old frame style. It’s an old design from my old geocities page in the 90’s.

    9. I was a fan of gizmodo (us) but , maybe im stupid ?, i dont how to navigate it !!! I return to gizmodo.fr i hope they not gonna change there site 🙁

    10. Gawker has lied about, character-killed, and attacked good kind people and felt they could get away with it because of something called the anti-SLAPP laws but now Gawker is screwed all the way to hell because the new cybercrimes laws are going to bring them down. They cannot escape the cyber-bully laws in all of the states they operate in and the federal laws nail them good on cybercrime. Additionally, 4 new precedents allow anybody that Gawker attacks to sue GAWKERS SPONSORS and WIN! That’s right, if you have ads on Gawker you better pull them and cancel your ad budget with them forever because now Gawker will be the cause of their sponsors bankruptcies.

    11. Agreed. WTF Gawker? Have you all abandoned desktop browsers? Guess I’ll be using the mobile (m.*) sites or RSS feeds until this is ditched or I find someplace else to frequent….

    12. Hoo Hoo Haw Haaaa Gawker/Gizmodo (Same site), that front group for the young scientology crowd (Yes, Denton, the owner, mostly hires scientologists)got screwed today when Google changed their algorithm to put Gawker, Gizmodo and all of Denton’s crap sites into the lowest search levels. (Google people HATE Scientologists).. I love it! Gawker screwed with the wrong people this time, didn’t they?

    13. They’re trying to reinvent wheel. Unfortunately, that’s square wheel that can’t be used in cart, can’t be used anywhere.

    14. and still nothing has changed….terrible website with horrible navigation. I hate incredulous SEOs like this.

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