Audio Video News

Check Out HomeTheater.com’s New Do

Shane Buettner  |  Dec 22, 2010

HomeTheater.com has been wearing the same haircut for a good many years now. Introducing you to HomeTheater.com 2.0 really takes me back, as I was intimately involved in the last design updates we did a few years ago, when we added the Buyer’s Guides and built out a lot of the content you see today.

This new design is up to the bleeding edge modern, with chunky images, large fonts and a very clean aesthetic that we think you’re really going to like. But a lot more function will follow the form too.

Navigation is improved, and our search functions will finally work exactly like they’re supposed to, meaning you’ll actually be able to find the content you’re looking for. Some seemingly simple operations we’ve wanted to incorporate for some time will now be a reality. For example, if you’re reading one of Tom Norton’s video reviews, a quick click on this name will show you all of the articles written by him in our archives. This new site is not just new, it’s a totally improved experience.

Sign Up and Talk Back
One of the best new features of HomeTheater.com 2.0 is that you can talk back to us. That’s right, we’re opening up all our reviews, features and articles for you to post your comments and interact with our writers and editors. Talking back to us isn’t just for Blogs anymore, although you’ll certainly be able to chime in our Blogs as you always have.

There’s one simple catch. To talk back and participate you have to sign up and become a member. We need your to supply a valid email address (which will remain private at all times) and you need to create a password.

For any other issues with registration, contact our webmaster.

Welcome to HomeTheater.com 2.0, we think you’re going to like it. Feel free to email HTLetters@sorc.com to let us know what you think, and thanks for your support!

COMMENTS
kevinmahaney1's picture
Submitted by kevinmahaney1 on December 22, 2010 - 6:32pm

I, for one, like it.

JimB's picture
Submitted by JimB on December 30, 2010 - 11:27am

Would it be possible to see some articles for those of us that have a layman's understanding of home theater. I think that from an operational viewpoint I could get more out of the gear I own but how to approach the set up of each component would be helpful. I find many of the terms used in the manual confusing and often find myself searching the internet for definitions that do not shed light on how I should set my unit up.

Other than that I really enjoy the magazine.

Cheers
Jim

kujomujo's picture
Submitted by kujomujo on January 1, 2011 - 8:09am

Love the new haircut!

Keep up the good work guys.

KM
http://www.myhometheatersecrets.com

Colin Robertson's picture
Submitted by Colin Robertson on January 1, 2011 - 12:54pm

Stereophile's too... Guys, this isn't a blog. I liked being able to see content that has been organized into different sections at a glance without scrolling down a blog-like page. If the goal was to clean up the site, I would start by making the MASSIVE header more trim. With an ad, it takes up a quarter of the page real-estate! And I have a 24" monitor!! I would also have re-organized the content to be more visual and interactive, such as having all recent reviews in a slideshow frame and having snippets from recent blog postings pop-up in the blogs column.

Also, having a dedicated side bar for ads and sponsored links is a nice way to train your readers to completely ignore that wall of content, so dispersing them and forcing readers to scan past them would probably be more effective. Also for those of us with AdBlock, it's just an empty chunk of space. iPad users will double tap to frame the content and never even see the ads!

It's not all bad though. In theory, I'm sure having the buyers guides at the top of the previous site design made sense, however they were not updated regularly enough to have them hold such a prominent spot, so that change makes sense.

Anyways. The new design is so bad I have a hard time enjoying reading it now; it's more of a chore. Sorry, but I hope it doesn't last.

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