Topic: Push Square's been redesigned

Hey guys as you may have noticed the new Push Square is now here. Leave any comments, thoughts, suggestions below.

Massive waste of screen real estate at the top with tiny ads in a huge empty area. AdBlock tightens it up nicely. Screenshots:

I'm not against ads (I have a few on my own site), as long as they fit with the layout of the site, don't pop up over content, and don't play video with audio by default. Just in my personal opinion, this waste of space issue needs resolving.

@Paranoimia There are ads that will fill that space, it's just you happened to get served one that didn't. Feedback noted, but the page needs to be built around a number of different size standards.

Looking at some of the other gaming websites in the same bracket as ours, I think we're very discreet with the advertising — you won't ever find pop-overs and noisy ads here, for example. All AdBlock does is steal revenue from us, but it's your prerogative if you want to use it.

@Paranoimia you've just got a smaller ad appearing, most of the time it will be a full billboard size, so we locked the space to avoid the page jumping around depending on the size of the ad - which causes people to click things incorrectly.

Obviously we much prefer if people don't use adblock - otherwise we don't get paid - so I doubt we'll do much optimisation for those users.

Maybe we should create a paid ad-free membership scheme?

I don't generally have AdBlock active on this site, but I just enabled it to test and highlight the issue.

You're right, Sammy - you are more discrete with them than some others. Certain other PlayStation sites are a nightmare, with ads popping up and obscuring not only content but sometimes each other - which I'm pretty sure is against most ad agency policies.

Anyway, I've refreshed a number of times, and I'd say roughly 8 out of 10 I'm getting the smaller size. Why not just pick one, small or large, go with it, and design the site around it? If you're going to fix the size of the area, you may as well fix the size of the ads in it. Just my opinion, but it looks pretty messy and a little unprofessional.

Also, please consider this more an observation than a complaint.

The option of a paid, ad-free option for the site could be worth considering. I know PSNProfiles.com do it, and others have monthly subscription and 'lifetime' options available.

@Paranoimia thanks again for the feedback, we'll certainly be looking into this as I don't like the small ads myself either. However, I'd rather that than having the page jumping around though (as it takes a second or two for ads to load). Tricky one.

@antdickens The only problem with having a add free paid version is when sites start hiding stuff behind a paywall. I mean besides having no adds what would subscribers get over new subs? It's a tricky balancing act.

@antdickens I don't know the specifics of ads, and I don't know how much each visitor is ''worth'' in terms of ad revenue, but it can't be a whole lot right? I'm already donating to a couple of YouTube users through Patreon, just a $1 a month or something like that. I do know that it's worth more than the revenue they would gain from me through the YouTube ads themselves. I would seriously consider subscribing to a paid version of this site, just to get rid of the ads.

One thing you need to change that's been driving me absolutely mad is the description for the PSVR forum:

"PlayStation VR (PSVR)

Are you ready to see deep the rabbit hole goes?"

Please for the love of god put a "how" in that sentence, it drives me mad!!

This looks even more dreadful than the NL redesign...

@Rukiafan7 It's not as bad as that site "wiiwarewave.com" though

@kyleforrester87 I've changed the description

@Rukiafan7 thanks for your constructive feedback, as always.

@antdickens Urgh, i miss it already (Thanks!)

@KratosMD I sure hope so

on the subject of a paid for 'ad free' option, what could the site offer that can't be seen without ads using an ad-blocker. If certain parts are behind a paywall, it's got to offer great value for money as there are a lot of other sites that offer gaming news and reviews etc for free. Maybe not that many dedicated PS websites but certainly enough that you could easily get all the information elsewhere - maybe not with the same delivery that Sammy has for example or with as great as a community. I hear most news on Youtube before I read it on PushSquare for example.

Point I am making is that if PS goes the paywall route, would they lose a significant portion of their readership, lose most of their community because most of what's on this site can be found for free elsewhere. Would they have enough people subscribing to an ad-free version? Whats stopping people from viewing everything ad-free now using an ad-blocker so why subscribe if its not behind a paywall?

As it stands at the moment, PushSquare doesn't hide anything away whether you use an ad-blocker or not. Obviously from their perspective they prefer it if we don't use ad-blockers (understandably) but part of the reason Magazines are not popular these days is because all the info they offer can be found free online.

I am sure I will get used to the design over time. I still don't like it (my opinion - don't hate me - I was a graphic designer and designed websites myself) but its not the worst I have ever visited and the community is great.

@BAMozzy to be perfectly honest I don't think we will ever go down the paywall route, we will always remain free (ad supported).

That said, it might be good for us to offer a subscription for people who don't want to view ads and still support the site and what we do. Only like $2-3/month (less than a cup of coffee).

Anyone who uses an ad blocker isn't really supporting what we do directly, although of course there are still some benefits as to not to block those users completely - which we could easily do.

Around 1/3 of users on gaming sites use ad block, which means we loose 1/3 potential revenue. It's already hard enough to run a site like this on a low budget, but ad block hurts.

@antdickens I understand that and its good to know that where possible, you intend to stay subscription free - at least as far as accessing all content goes. A subscription based option for an ad-free option isn't a bad idea either and you could add something to their Profile pics (a badge or something) as a 'supporter' of the site. That way they get some recognition rather than just an ad-free experience which is not that different from those that use an ad-blocker. It may only be a token but its more enticing than paying for something that's effectively free - even if its not beneficial to you.

From an outside perspective, Paying for an ad-free (only) experience for something they can get for free by using ad-blocking add-ons doesn't make sense. They don't care whether you get paid or not - at least not until the site can't afford to keep going by which time its too late. Having something - even if its just a badge on their profile, something that others don't for a little cost and ad-free is more enticing than just paying for an ad-free experience alone.

I assume that having the high traffic is beneficial in getting review copies of games, getting a higher calibre of advertising and maybe a higher rate of money too from that advertising and being taken seriously by other gaming professionals. I am sure that reviews are a form of advertising for publishers and they are less likely to send out games if you don't have a high enough readership. Aren't likely to want to talk to you etc so I can understand why maintaining a high readership is also important.

I'm not dead keen on the forum on mobile. When you go into a sub-forum you don't see who made the last post and at what time it was made. Anyway this can be added?

@kyleforrester87 Sheesh no need for blatant insults, besides I doubt ANT could do too much better with Forumotion's limited tools.

It's not an insult to @Antdickens it's just that my forum host, while easy to use, isn't very flexible in-terms of customization.