On the front (home) page, we've reinstated the short article teaser's that we had before, and now include a list of the latest swapmeet items. Several folks asked for these. We also changed the way links are presented to make the front page a bit more responsive.
On the Subscriber front, there is big news. Subscribers having the No-Ads option can not choose alternate content to fill the space that the ads once occupied. We call these 'widgets' and will continue to fine tune them to find the right balance. If you have the No-Ads option, which includes Forum Subscribers, Premium and Platinum subscribers, you can now choose what sort of content that you want. Just go to the My Account page, which is on the main menu under your callsign.
The new feature is called Custom Content Options and it currently permits you to choose either 1) to show Ads as usual, 2) to show the new Extra content, or 3) to show nothing at all.
Right now there are 4 different widgets that appear in various places on the site, including the front page. They are: Current Swapmeet, Hot Callsigns, Hot DX Spots, and Top Webcon calls.
As we move forward, we're looking for suggestions on what other types of widgets you'd like to see and where you'd like to see them. We expect that eventually our Subscribers will be able to choose not only whether or not the widgets will be displayed, but which ones and on which pages.
Please let us know what you think.
P.S.
A few have commented that they "hate the new format", or that they wish we would "put it back the way it was". We're sorry about that, but it is a given than whenever any popular website changes a look-and-feel item, some users are outraged. That's life. Web sites that never change are known as "cobwebs" for a reason. I also take amusement in noting that over the past 18 years, we've been down this road several times. I can still remember the howls of disappointment when we started using the "old" system, i.e. the one that we just retired. Keep smiling, and keep sending me your suggestions. I'm a programmer by trade and what I do for a living is write software. I can guarantee you that QRZ will always reflect that.
Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ
Publisher, QRZ.COM
aa7bq@qrz.com
