new toolbar is up!

Message

stampsyne · #46 Post by **stampsyne** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 5:45 am

My opinion: Now it seem that everything is DOUBLE BANNERed because of the toolbar and then the introduction image. Maybe if they took out the images like the one on Pet Central that says

it would look a LOT better.

And there would be the same amount of scrolling as before.

Huggles · #47 Post by **Huggles** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 5:48 am

I hate it. I really do. Especially the ads for Neopets itself. The few sponsor ads I've seen for Ebay are completely static and semi-easily ignored. The ones for Neopets have tons of animation and if I see that usul win an usuki in auction with tons of neopoints falling from the sky, I think I'll scream. I really don't see the point of advertising for something when we're already there. The Bank? There's only one so it's not like anyone could use another if they wanted to. Still, it's an eyesore with slower loading times to boot. Then there's the fact that we still have the old one too. Honestly, I would have prefered that we didn't have the top banner and reversed the ads on the smaller one from 8:1 in favor of sponsors. It defeats the purpose of advertising when you only see one ad for something other than Neopets every couple hours.

I also hate the event image placeholder. Text events were not only efficient, but convenient. More useless fluff to download and waste time. The sidebar skins are a plus, but I refuse to except them as a tradoff. I've been playing for more than four years now. Inflation, poor user support, missed deadlines and delays that TNT sets for themselves, and the fact that the BD is no longer enjoyable if you don't make millions each month, leaves very little that keeps me here. I pretty much stay only to zap my pets and check out new colors. I really really don't want that banner there, and if it stays, I go. *shrugs*

Oh, and I'm 22 years old. I work 6-7 days a week, 9 hours each day, and have no kids or pets. I have gobbles of extra cash I would spend buying Neopets paraphernalia, if those longstanding issues were addressed.

Gobbles.

hiddenneggs · #48 Post by **hiddenneggs** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 5:55 am

Count me among those the flashing banner gives a fierce headache.

I'm a fairly serious player -- serious enough to have been able to buy a Draik Transmog Potion, anyway -- with two accounts and plans for more, spending a whole heck of a lot of my free time on Neopets. And I may be dropping it because of the banner.

Kitten Medli · #49 Post by **Kitten Medli** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:03 am

I'm just.. curious.. why would someone leave because of a banner? I mean, I get the headache thing, but.. why leave just because you don't like it?

I'm not trying to push any buttons, I'm just.. I dunno.. wondering into stuff that probably is not my business to wonder into.

Optimus · #50 Post by **Optimus** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:07 am

I like it. It adds a touch of "newness" to the site. Anyways, I feel sorry for people who have special userlookups. I was lucky, All I had to do was shift my banner a little to bottom.

Huggles · #51 Post by **Huggles** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:15 am

The banner is just the straw the broke the apis's back really. If it were'nt for a very long list of other things, I at least wouldn't care as much. Still, it's incredibly annoying in and of itself and makes nonflash games like Pyramids and NeoQuest a pain to play, and makes the site take longer to load for those of us stuck on dial-up. It's very hard to see pressure being put on TNT by sponsors for this when there's rarely ever a sponsor ad there. Instead of being able to grudgingly accept that they need to pay bills, it seems like a random pointless annoyance. There are very few sites that I visit on a regular basis that have those banners. Casual players might simply choose to go elsewhere rather than deal with it.

everconfused · #52 Post by **everconfused** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:21 am

I too tend to avoid, whenever possible, sites with large banner ads. Now I know this new one is "industry standard", but does it really have to be "standard". And I can't think of a site with banner ads that have quite so much going on ... there's alot of stuff moving around on these banners.

Besides the physical problems I am having with it - even doing the scroll down fast thing - that doesn't always work, some of the pages are kind of "hanging" so I can't scroll. It seems now like all you really see IS the sidebar/topbanner. It's almost overwhelming in relation to the actual page you're on. Just too much. Maybe it's all that yellow?

Oh and that auction ad -- I got that one. I was sitting on my chair and unfortunately looked at it just as the usul started jumping around and all the coins started falling. Found myself on the floor

Alex · #53 Post by **Alex** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:45 am

Istanbullfrog wrote:I haven't had any ads for non-neopet stuff yet in the past hour, and my account knows I'm 19. Is this only happening for US players?

No. I'm 16, from Australia, and just got an ad for Ebay.

Aside from the Non-Neopets ads, I actually don't mind it. I was part of the 'beta' so I've had some time to get used to it.

ice_maiden87 · #54 Post by **ice_maiden87** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 7:06 am

Ugh, I REALLY HATE THE TOP BANNER too. I don't see why we need it. Why can't they just put the headers of different pages into the top banner instead of having the distracting ads? Geez!

And the event notication icon is soooo easy to miss because it's yellow like the banner and I always scroll down when I reach a new page. IMO, there's really nothing new or good about the new toolbar except for the NST clock.

#55 Post by **Shoyru_Lover** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:27 am

The connection isn't balanced. It feels very left heavy because the top and left are joined and the content is left to stand out there.

SierraRaven · #56 Post by **SierraRaven** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:35 am

Sapphire Faerie wrote:Maybe the reason the top banner doesn't bother me is because of the way I view pages. When I click a link to go to a new page, I automatically start scrolling my mouse wheel, so that the page I'm going to scrolls down as soon as it loads.

That's exactly what I do, start scrolling as soon as I click on a new page. The new ads aren't bothering me too much, per se, except for the d/l time if they aren't already in my cache files.

Evilone · #57 Post by **Evilone** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:47 am

I'm just wondering why they bothered asking for user feedback at all, as they seem to have steadfastly ignored all of it. The following seem to be the complaints:

a) Flash banners give some users headaches etc, as they contain a lot of fast moving pictures

b) The page proportions are ruined, especially by the old "top banner" things still being left it, especially on games like neoquest.

c) The size of the username etc in the bottom left has been reduced, and thus has become quite hard to read for some users

d) They have adverts for eBay even though many users have been frozen for saying the word eBay in non-neopets contexts. If that isnt hypocracy I don't know what is.

d) And of course: the banner is completely unrequired, and only there to allow them to plug outside sites.

Chances of them admitting any of these problems in news or the neopian times? Nill.
Chances of them rectifying any of these problems? Nill.
Chances of them increasing the number of adverts for outside sites, and introducing popups? Increasing every day.

Athara · #58 Post by **Athara** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:19 am

The pages still load relatively fast with me, but I wonder if that will still be the case when I get a slower connection next week. I do find the flashy banners very annoying, and they're all Neopets banners as of yet (I'm 19...).

The only pro I could find is the clock. Rather handy, not having to go to the world page all the time to find out what time it is (Neopian Time).

Still, I'm not very impressed (yet?)

Crimsonmon · #59 Post by **Crimsonmon** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:31 am

rageaholic wrote:Download Firefox and then get the extension adblock. Then it'll give to the option to block certain ads from ever showing. This is good for blocking certain ads, I'm not sure what you'd want for blocking all of them unless you take the time to block each one as you see it.

Blocking the Top Ads

Step One: Download Firefox.
http://www.getfirefox.com/

Step Two: Within Forfox, install: http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=10

Step Three: Click: http://img67.exs.cx/img67/5530/neo-step-01.jpg

Step Four: Highlight and delete everything after 'http://images.neopets.com/ads/' http://img67.exs.cx/img67/444/neo-step-3.jpg

Step Five: Add an asterix, '*', to the end of 'http://images.neopets.com/ads/'. And click ok. http://img67.exs.cx/img67/7596/neo-step-03.jpg

Ta-da.

http://img67.exs.cx/img67/2182/neo-step-04.jpg

twinklyspangle · #60 Post by **twinklyspangle** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 10:28 am

People are always resistant to change of any sort. I like the new toolbar and the banner and everything. So far it's reminded me to play games that I had forgotton about.

I see what you mean about ebay, that seems really strange, perhaps there allowing ebay in controled circumstances. Someone should write to the editorial.