Re: TradeFortress:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker_Media#2011_redesign_and_traffic_lossOn February 7, 2011, the Gawker sites underwent a major design change and were quickly met with significant backlash from users.[14] A beta run a week earlier on Io9 was also met with the same backlash.[15] Numerous bugs have been noted by users[16][17] which range from making the site unreadable, to unnavigable, to unusable, as well as a sizable increase of in-page pop-up ads covering articles, the removal of Gawker's "Fusion" Option, which allowed users to merge news feeds from multiple Gawker sites, and the increase in difficulty in reading older news posts. Numerous users have called for the old design to be reinstated or made accessible, at least until the new design is operational, having likened the redesign to the failure of New Coke.[14] Pageviews since the redesign have gone down significantly, with many users either leaving the site or viewing international versions of the site, which haven't switched to the new layout.[18][19] Gawker's sites saw an 80% decrease in overall traffic immediately after the change,[20] from 1.75 million average views a day to less than 250,000,[21] with a consistent decrease in overall traffic since, as of March 17, 2011,[18] which has caused Gawker to have a "massive" loss in ad revenue.[21] Founder Nick Denton has insisted that everyone should "Stay cool: we've been through worse backlashes", and it has been revealed that he has created a bet on the new design with New York-based digital media consultant Rex Sorgatz after Sorgatz wrote on his blog that the design would "fall flat", which would see the two check Quantcast on October 1, 2011, and that for every million pageviews/month over or under a total of 510 million starting from February 1, they would have to pay out $10, and that if the design is restored to the original format, Denton forfeits the bets and must pay out $1000. Some have already cried foul of the bet, as the site has tried to introduce a blog view that is a blend of the two formats, but this blend has been poorly received as well.[21] As of June 27, 2011, the total was approximately 220 million pageviews/month for the U.S. domain (as foreign domains have refused to switch to the new design and thus are not counted), and despite a traffic boost in June from E3 2011, the monthly page views were still 10–20 million below those from before the site redesign. By early October 2011, visits had only partially rebounded, and were still generating an average of 200,000 less hits than before the redesign.[22] Denton ended up losing the wager, as it was determined that the total pageviews was 500 million, 10 million short of the agreed number.[23]
As of October 24, 2011, a button in the shape of an eye was placed at the top right hand corner of the webpage, giving the reader the option to choose from three view options: Traditional (entire page scrolls), Two Panes (side bar scrolls independently), or Blog View (listing of stories by date).
Btw, i don't think the digitalpoints falldown to be completely and only design related.
