You spoke, we listened: some new improvements

Since FairSpin launched a few weeks ago we’ve been constantly gathering feedback from our users and looking for ways to improve the service.  A few common themes have emerged, and today we’re taking action on them by making some improvements to FairSpin.

New condensed layout

FairSpin’s homepage now features a 3-column layout instead of the original 5-column approach.  It still shows you all the top news from left to right, but in a manner that is less overwhelming and easier to digest.  This is the new default view but you can easily switch back to the original 5-column layout if you want a more detailed view of the political spectrum; just click the “Increase spectrum detail” button:

Activity bar

We also heard from some users that they wanted a better sense of what the FairSpin community is doing, so we have added a new information bar on the right side of the homepage.  This bar shows you vital stats (such as the number of stories and votes in the system) as well as a summary of the most voted-on items and most-read stories.

This bar is kept constantly up-to-date so you can always see what stories, authors, and sources are most interesting or popular.

Welcome screen

Finally, we heard that some FairSpin visitors were having trouble figuring out where to start and what to do.  We’ve added a new information screen that is shown to all new visitors.  Or you can also view it directly at http://fairspin.org/welcome if you’re interested in seeing it for yourself.

We hope you like these latest improvements.  Please keep the feedback coming, and thanks for using FairSpin!

— Dave and Stephen