Welcome To The New TheSixthAxis

Welcome to the new look TheSixthAxis homepage, just in time for Eurogamer Expo. Never before have we so rigorously tested, changed and rebuilt a modification to the site, but finally, after about a month, we’re happy with it.

It’s a little different, but allow us to assure you that everything’s still there, it’s all just moved around a little to make reading the homepage, which was previously nothing more than a vertical list of posts, a bit more interesting.

It’s also much more tablet friendly – the visitor numbers of readers reaching the site on iPads and other tablets have shown that there’s a real requirement to change the way our stories are displayed, and although it now fits perfectly onto most tablets, it still fits within the standard 960px width so laptops and desktops should be absolutely fine.

Posts are arranged into sections, largely chronologically, with breaks every now and again where we highlight our featured articles, like reviews, previews, features and our community posts. When a post is something we really want you to read, it’ll be subtly labelled ‘hot’ and will feature red visuals. Otherwise, posts are blue.

You’ll be able to see what each post is about directly from the homepage – that means you can see if it’s a review, or news, or a feature, and you’ll also be able to see who’s written it, when, and which formats it’s for. So if it says [PS3], it’s about a game or service on the PS3. Multiple formats just say ‘multi’, though, for clarity.

You’ll also see an image for every post, something we’ve not done for a while, and hopefully that’ll make picking out the stories you want to read all the easier.

We truly hope you like what we’ve done, but if you don’t that’s fine and we’re not bigheaded enough to force it on you – the ‘blog’ style version will still be accessible at this alternative homepage – https://www.thesixthaxis.com/vertical – so feel free to jump between the two, at least at first, and pick your favourite.

We’ve also made a couple of smaller changes around the site – the homepage should now load much faster (the loading of images is delayed until the browser window reaches them, for example) – and there’s a few minor cosmetic changes to the story pages.

Naturally, with things like this, there’ll be elements we’ve missed and that’s where you (hopefully) come in. Let us know in the comments and we’ll pick up any issues over the next few days.

And remember that our super-light mobile site is still the same.

A gentle reminder that we’re (almost) all down at Eurogamer Expo this week and weekend, so whilst the numbers of posts might not be quite as high for a few days we’re available for chats and a beer or two if anyone fancies it. The easiest way is to ping us on Twitter at @thesixthaxis and we’ll respond if we can.

Finally, thanks once again to everyone that visits, posts and spreads the word, and to those that helped test the new homepage. We truly appreciate it, and more than you might think.

<3

97 Comments

  1. First response: Woooav.

    Second response: Oh, well thats works ok.

  2. Wargh!
    As Sheldon Cooper once said….. “Change is never a good thing….”
    =P
    I am sure I will get used to it in few days time.

  3. I thought and did the same.

    Nice work guys but I just prefer the good old vertical setting.

  4. The old site was, and I quote, ‘a vertical list of posts’

    Well, maybe so, but it wa very easy to use. This one is confusing and chaotic.

    A bit like the Windows 8 interface formerly known as Metro.

  5. Yeah, I’ve reverted back to the old vertical style, much easier for me at work when I’m often using my phone and just want a quick scan through to see if there’s been any interesting updates.
    The new site does look pretty, but I prefer the old one! If we can keep this option that would be great <3

    • The option to view posts vertically won’t go, don’t worry.

      • Probably a good thing, seeing as the overwhelming majority of people will be using that, by the look of the comments :P

  6. I’ve found myself entering less due to having the uppercase headlines, which I totally dislike. Although, I prefer the vertical display (but there are capital letters everywhere, as it was).

    So I don’t know…, maybe I can do a request somewhere at the forums.

  7. I seriously have no idea where i’m looking for what. None of the layout makes any sense whatsoever to me and i can’t find anything.

    Gave ip and switched to old style. Much better.

  8. It feels far too busy and jumbled now so I can’t honestly say it’s an improvement. What was so wrong wih the long list with the sections on the top? I switched back to vertical view straight away so I’m glad you gave the option.

  9. i don’t comment on sites often but i hate this new layout. your probably looking for reasons but what was wrong with the old style

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