Hello, and welcome to a brand new look for TheSixthAxis!
After many months of planning and experimenting, and longer than we anticipated in trying to implement things today, we’ve taken the first steps toward thoroughly overhauling our website with a new design that’s just a little bit more up to date.
We know that change is scary, and we liked a lot of the simplicity of old design and layout, so this first update retains as much of that overall feel as possible. You’ll still find a list of news articles down the left hand side of the home page, with a grid of features on the right, but you’ll also see how we want to diversify our content with dedicated blocks for videos and previews as you scroll further down. This is just the first step, as this new theme lays the foundations for future changes and updates to how we deliver our writing and content to you, but more importantly, how you can get to the gaming news and features that matter to you.
One thing that we’ve always held dear is our community, but the forums have been a home to tumbleweed for quite some time now as people moved on to Twitter. With that in mind, we’re opening a Discord channel for general community chat, which you can find here.
While we hope you like the new design, we’re also eager to hear your thoughts on the new look whether it’s good and bad, bugs big or small – don’t worry about holding back, we’re an old site so there will be teething problems! – and will use that feedback to shape where we go next with our plans.
Thanks to David and his team at MCA for getting us up and running!
three_leg_jake
I like it too but can’t seem to get rid off the privacy notice at the bottom on mobile.
Stefan L
Yup, noted. That was one of the last thing we implemented and something that we’ll alter soon.
Also get your thing about comments. I’ve turned them on for the front page, but they’re a bit hacky and don’t work alongside the other metadata, so I’ll probably turn them off and reconsider how they can be styled.
wonkey-willy
Can we edit our posts when we make a mitsake?
Stefan L
No, but you’ll be please to note I can edit Tuffcub’s typos. ;)
three_leg_jake
I also miss the comment count on stories, it was a simple way to see if anything new had been added.
TSBonyman
I’m liking the new design but it might take a bit of getting used to – i was actually looking out for this article but didn’t spot it until today. I also don’t see a publication time for articles, just the date. The /vertical version of the site isn’t as useful as it was before, only shows the most recent news articles where it used to show all most recent articles – although oddly it has a comment entry box which doesn’t seem to be tied to any article.
I’m a little bit torn about the banner on top – it provides a handy way to browse and find stuff but it also stays there when you scroll down the page – that’s actually one of my pet hates with some websites but at least in this case it’s fairly trim and doesn’t cover a third of the page like some sites do. I think i have to accept that’s a fair compromise.
I used to hate the website changes but now i find it reassuring, that you folks won’t become too complacent and are always looking ahead at ways to improve.
Stefan L
Thanks!
In the grand scheme of things I consider the actual time of posting to be fairly unimportant in a chronological list, so that will probably remain gone on the homepage, but I get you for the mobile/vertical view.
There’s a few too many news items before we get to the features a moment, but we typically post 3 features a day, and those are heavily represented at the top of the homepage. Mobile and getting the layout just right in a dynamic theme such as this is very, very hard.
no idea where you’re seeing a comment box on the homepage, though. Can you email me at teflon [at] thesixthaxis.com with a screenshot or something?
TSBonyman
Sending a pic now. Also i think the /vertical is actually showing me most if not all articles now so that’s good. Probably time i switched to the proper front page all the same :)
Stefan L
I’ve redone the Vertical page, so it should be back to being a bit useful. :)
TSBonyman
I’m not cribbing but i think you actually broke /vertical now. xD
I just get a blank page with thumbnails and loads of space between them.
Don’t worry, as i said i’ll prob switch to the proper front page anyway. ;)
Stefan L
It was working perfectly fine this morning! I do not understand.
duke
I like it.
But I’m unable to edit my avatar.
Stefan L
That’s done via Gravatar, IIRC. Log in or create an account with the same email address as you have on TSA and you can update it there and it’ll be pulled through.
Andrewww
First impression is quite good, looks good, I almost exclusively access it on my mobile, though, so I can only talk about that. Login works so much better, that is great!
Some contrasts don’t seem ideal, but I will get back with a quick roundup about accessibility, if you’re interested.
The Lone Steven
Been a while since I logged in and commented along with likely giving Tef’s sanity a much needed break.
The redesign is good. Seems to be average and it more or less reminds me of Eurogamer but it is far better then the old one. Are the forums now offically closed? That died on the second redesign and really needs to be overhauled, IF it’s being overhauled at all. Discord is a good idea.
The background is a bit naff though but i suspect it be changed in the future.
Oh and I’M BACK, BITCHES! YEAAAAH!, Wooo, other insane related hijinks, TEF caused teacups to become sentient etc..
Shadowtheedge
I like it, its more professional though I have to be honest that I’m one of those ones that unfortunately loathed the previous design, it put me off visiting the site in favour of Eurogamer, Push Square or Destructoid for news & opinions.
Again I see Twitter is blamed for a low-numbered community? There’s been no fix to log-ins for six years since the reader would easily miss it. Even now in this design I see that its just a small icon next to social media platforms. It just seems to me there’s no desire to attract more readers.
I liked visiting Thesixthaxis years ago for the PlayStation news and to engage with fellow fans. I just worry that its struggling to find its own identity.