our new front page

[MightySpork]

In the bottom flash section, the sequential animated rectangles above the section titles are distracting and busy, imo. Could they be removed?

Those rectangles are meant to be a visual cue that one can stop the animated playback and view one particular slide. But as your confusion illustrates, it's not nearly as clear as it ought to be.

It might help if the rectangles were instead thumbnail versions of the larger pictures, and if there were a more dramatic effects to make clear that they are being cycled in sequence, and to indicate which one is currently on view.

[MightySpork]

DEF. think you need the age verification stuff...you dont wanna get slandered for being dangerous for kids to stumble onto etc.
but, my opinion doesnt really count coz I'm not a paying member...but, my opinions are pretty much the same as everyone else.

Actually, as a model, you should be just as concerned about this as a paying customer. You are involved with this site and its reputation affects yours to a small degree.

But the broader truth is that adult sites are often having to defend their reputations to people who aren't even customers: Critics, censors, feminists, social conservatives. Although I'm not an expert on this, it seems very likely that the age verification/ASACP stuff helps keep these mosquitoes at bay.

[Havemercy]

Those rectangles are meant to be a visual cue that one can stop the animated playback and view one particular slide.

Thanks, o mighty wielder of the spork. Now that I can stop and read each panel, the solo panel could be improved, I think. Calling something raunchy, dirty, or lewd does not reflect what sets AW apart. Maybe that's meant to result in more search engine hits, but how about "ribald", "risque" and "revealing"?

HM

[MightySpork]

Thanks, o mighty wielder of the spork. Now that I can stop and read each panel, the solo panel could be improved, I think. Calling something raunchy, dirty, or lewd does not reflect what sets AW apart. Maybe that's meant to result in more search engine hits, but how about "ribald", "risque" and "revealing"?

Wow, I never even tried to read that text because the transitions were so fast, but now that I have read it -- WTF?! "carnal, dirty, lewd, fervid"? I'm not sure what this is trying to tell me, apart from "someone at AWHQ just bought a thesaurus." And girl-girl is "heartbreaking"? In what sense?

However, the wisp of text for the Intimate Moments topic is actually pretty good -- but that picture has got to be replaced with something that emphasizes the orgasm. I would recommend a facial closeup of a model at the moment of ecstasy -- that's what really conveys the idea of "real orgasms."

Also, HM, depending upon how those animations were created, the words within them might not even get indexed by search engines, but there'd be no value even if they were. They're too arcane.

[garionhall]

After looking at the front page I decided to take the tour and found it a bit frustrating to constantly have to look for the "continue" arrow. Could this be located in the same place on each page so customers can walk through the tour without taking their eyes off the screen??

Hm. I'm not sure what the mean? The continue button is pretty much int he same place on each page, apart from occasional and small height change.

It's possible your briwser is rendering it wrong, or that I don't know what you mean - can you please provide more info?

[Grakoni]

HATE that fact that the IM shot is anal...

i agree. anal fingering is not representative of IM's at all.

[cleo]

actually, yeah the words on the shots are probably not what I would've chosen. I thought it was all about girls having fun? Have we strayed from that now???

[Frans]

DEF. think you need the age verification stuff...you dont wanna get slandered for being dangerous for kids to stumble onto etc. but, my opinion doesnt really count coz I'm not a paying member...

The frontpage is also quite possibly the first thing future models see, that's why the 'model for us' link is there. It's always good to get a view from several different people so you're most definitly encouraged to comment !

Seems the opinion on thr IM-pic is universal btw.

[Frans]

Hm. I'm not sure what the mean? The continue button is pretty much int he same place on each page, apart from occasional and small height change.

The next button is always placed directly below the text of the middle column, but the content of the column varies and thus the height of it. Sure the change is small, but it does require moving the mouse in order to click the next button.

If you give the middle column a fixed height (say.. 565 pixels) the 'next' and bottom 'join' button will always be at the same vertical position. The advantage for the viewer is that he/she doesn't have to move the mouse at all in order to continue to the next page (and end up on the join page 'cos the last 'next' is in fact a 'join' ).

[alexbee]

Hm. I'm not sure what the mean? The continue button is pretty much int he same place on each page, apart from occasional and small height change.

It's possible your briwser is rendering it wrong, or that I don't know what you mean - can you please provide more info?

Tried the tour in FireFox and IE7 and there is a big difference in location of the continue arrow in both.

It seems to get placed right after any of the text on each tour page (along with the "Join Now" field), and since there's a big variation of the amount of text from page to page, the arrow placement varies too.

Pages like "Get To Know Her", "Nude Girls", "Girl On Girl", "Girl Girl Fun", "Girl On Girl Makeout", "Know Her Personally", all have varying amounts of text and the arrow hops up and down.

Just my feedback. Take a look, IMO its not just an "occasional and small height change".

YMMV

[Marcio]

I think the layout and technology are great but some of the content of the portal is not what I thought paradigm was (but there again I've been surprised on that one before). And I agree with the the others, some of the text is a joke. It's the kind of breathy stuff you see in bad sex novels (or so I'm told...). I too would love to see the GG that's heartbreaking!

Unfortunately, it is another reminder that this site as we knew it is (let's face it guys) moving inexorably away from what it was, presumably to compete with mainstream US porn. Why else have a picture of a model with her finger up her butt? It's gross. (BTW, if I was lured in on the pretext that this was typical I would be disappointed-so why put it there?)

Come back Abby, all is forgiven...

[newgrange2]

I preferred the old page. It had a certain classiness about it.
It worked perfectly as a tempting shop window to glimpse what was inside the site. This new page is like someone has rifled the shop's drawers and thrown it all out on the street for the world to see.
I think it's sleazy.
Seems I'm outnumbered though.

[Frans]

Is the old VNL still on the frontpage ?? Tour got updated, frontpage didn't appearantly.

The text for the Solo-bottom-pic needs some work, it's a weird collection of words now. Something like 'get to know her' would be good there. 'raunchy' isn't a very positive word from this side of the world, I'm told aussies view that differently but still... it doesn't appear to fit with most of the Solo's I've seen. From 'empowered' onward it's mostly buzz-words to me. 'deep penetration' is sorta rare during Solo shoot, and why would you include 'dirty' in the description? Read the tour pages a couple of times and you'll find better words.

Come to think of it, you don't need that many words in the bottom-anim. Just enough to get people interested and follow the tour. This frontpage is trying to hard to impress.

If you start at this frontpage and go to the tour, you do get a nice sense of relaxation from the tour.. Makes you appreciate that aspect even more, not sure that's intentional though.

Btw. is the idea that the bottom-anim-Tour button will link to a different tour (solo/im/gg) based on which of the three is active? I ask 'cos that's not obvious now and people might end up on a tour that's showing them what they want.

[Frans]

Seems I'm outnumbered though.

Welcome to the forum newgrange2

What makes you conclude you're outnumbered? Granted not everyone on this thread has used as strong words, but certainly a lot of criticism has been posted (good thing Garion hard that flame-retardant suite on heh).

I do like the shop-window comparisons. The (perceived) trouble seems to be that a more quiet/classy window doesn't attract all potential customers/members.

[MightySpork]

If you're looking for a different compromise on whether the video should start playing right away, take a look at the movie ads that sometimes appear on the Internet Movie Database. Right now, there's an ad for a movie in which the trailer starts playing, but the sound is mute until the user un-mutes it.

All ads appearing on the IMDB that play video seem to have this feature, which makes me suspect that it's a policy of that site.

[Stonefly]

I am still stunned and offended by this front page. As though discovering that someone I really liked and really respected is actually a real drag and not at all pleasant. For starters, and as Marcio put it (above) -- the new front page is not representative of what's inside -- so why try to lure people in that way?

Here are some of the remarks I earlier sent using the Instant Feedback link:

I have been a member for several years and find your website a beacon of taste and a source of artistic beauty. Every shoot, every page layout, every feature is carefully chosen for its beauty, diplomacy, and taste. Having said this, how can you ask what is 'wrong' with that front page? Gee, "Let me count the ways"

1. It's tawdry. Ugly. Large garish displays of women's bits flashed on the screen.... just like every other rude and demeaning porn website? It's gross.
2. Ugly layout, disjointed panels, flash movie, this button that button. Rude. Just like every other website. Which is why I don't patronize those others.
3. Garish color palette making this look like a carnival peep show. Yuck!
4. A lurid display that seems intended to entice the casual person who has somehow been directed to the site -- just like the thousands of other porn sites. I suggest that this attempt is seriously flawed. You have a high class product and an enormous reputation in this business. You don't need this garish and tasteless display. People are coming to you because they've heard (or seen samples) of the great stuff inside. Moreover, by putting out all this garbage you look exactly LIKE the others. Why should anyone stop here?
5. It seems likes it's promising the "cum drenched sluts" that I know you detest so much. So do I!! That's why I'm a subscriber. I don't LIKE that demeaning stuff. I hate it.
6. The reviews and awards touted do not seem to have credibility. The viewer seeing this page is not seeing something where such credits and distinctions seem appropriate!! Do you understand the apparent contradiction here? They are being asked to believe that the contents of your site are special and different and award winning, yet the front page display has this garish, flashing, tasteless artistic design just like a thousand other sites. Yuck!
7. The "see this!" "See that!" are so TRITE, tasteless, and tired. They are exactly like every other site. You have gone from being different and special to being another one of thousands.

I hope you see your way through to a return to a front page where the viewer sees that there are wonderful, tasteful, gorgeous pictures inside of amateur, very beautiful Aussie girls. Photographed with loving care and shown as they really are.... some big, some little, some white, some black, some busty, some flat chested, all believable, all friendly, many with great smiles and good senses of humor, etc. etc. etc.

There really is no need for gross, tawdry display. AW has something inside that millions of men (and some number of women) just urgently long for. Just seeing lovely beautiful girls undressing is like a dream come true. What additional benefit do you think will come from this garish display?

[MightySpork]

Here's how I would have redesigned the home page. This represents a 1024x768 screen, but I've reduced it. I apologize for the graininess, but I've reduced the color palette to keep the file size under the forum limit.

My big regret about the new home page is the way it reduces the emphasis on the photography itself, which is the site's main claim to superiority. This layout makes the photos big again, and overlays message elements on top of them. The text, VNL window, awards and quotes can sit in a sidebar on the right. This would require the page to scroll up and down.

I haven't accounted for all the elements on your current home page, but it wouldn't be hard to find a place for everything in this layout. For example, the quotes could be overlaid near the top of the frame and slowly float left and right independent of the action below.

Another idea: When the user clicks on the VNL, make it expand into the center of the frame and begin playing. Turn off the animation below to prevent distraction.

[rogueman1585]

That's a pretty cool redesign Mighty. It maintains the classy image of the site, while displaying all that they have to offer. Sans the small things like tour link, etc... I really like it. Thanks for sharing.

[got2seeit]

I like 'Sporks redesign!
(wish I had the skill to just throw something together like that)
I do understand that change is a given, but the amount of change we are seeing, and the blending of so many of the elements of "typical porn sites" makes me wonder if the "AW edge" is going to be lost in this sea of change. The current page would not have gotten me to bite. (I have been a subscriber off and on since 2000 or so).

I'd hope this change is an april fools joke gone bad, but it's not even April 1, err 1, April yet in OZ.
Please reconsider! Give back the classy design- and the age verification, and loose the bits in your face look!

[Frans]

I see the VNL got updated and I think the 'play with me' overlay got the play-button added, which is smart. That way people will move to the play button, activating the actual play-bar.

[audun25]

I'm wondering how many members really use the frontpage and then click 'member entrance' ?

Never used it. But if youre not a member yet, its very importent! Some (many) people have their first entrance to porn by a portal like this. To them I think its great to think of this as "My Entrance". Keep the "Member" button.

[Marcio]

Stonefly, where have you been all my life. You think exactly like me. And I love MightySpork's redesign.

Not a positive reaction overall, I think. In fact, I think this is the strongest anti reaction I've ever seen. There is a clear view that this is taking us where we don't want to to go. But I was under the impression Abby had the artistic input and Garion was the business guy-or that's what someone who knows these things (I think Arsby?) pointed out to me a couple of months back. So presumably Abby put this together? Seems hard to believe. Or perhaps....no, that can't be true. Can it?

[sqrt17a]

I think I agree with Stonefly. I'd never use words like tawdry, garish or demeaning to prevent myself looking like a gobsmacking conservative, but I think the ass-to-face-ratio is too high, and generally the tour is oriented too much towards a cumsloaked-slut-fancying audience who I always pictured as not being the main target group for this site. Maybe it's just plain wrong to sneer at those people who come to the boards and say they want more anal, bigger dildoes and more moaning since they also help pay the bills, but I've got the feeling that the tour should in some way also show the soul of the AW thingie and not some decontextualized orgasming.
As the porn market expands, there are a lot of people who are just into passionate encounters, wouldn't know what unscripted means unless you explain them, and would also count jumping on your bed while naked as action. And both these and potential models will get driven away if AW presents itself as a big, soulless, boob-squishing, shrieking monster with lots of tentacle sex.
(The nice thing about AW, as I see it, is that you have both the delicate little snowflakes and the sex-godesses)

I'm not sure about MightySpork's redesign proposal, since a real tour would need to contain lots more information, but I definitely like the choice of images that wouldn't be disturbing for a non-porn-savvy person.

[audun25]

I think I agree with Stonefly. I'd never use words like tawdry, garish or demeaning to prevent myself looking like a gobsmacking conservative, but I think the ass-to-face-ratio is too high, and generally the tour is oriented too much towards a cumsloaked-slut-fancying audience who I always pictured as not being the main target group for this site. Maybe it's just plain wrong to sneer at those people who come to the boards and say they want more anal, bigger dildoes and more moaning since they also help pay the bills, but I've got the feeling that the tour should in some way also show the soul of the AW thingie and not some decontextualized orgasming.
As the porn market expands, there are a lot of people who are just into passionate encounters, wouldn't know what unscripted means unless you explain them, and would also count jumping on your bed while naked as action. And both these and potential models will get driven away if AW presents itself as a big, soulless, boob-squishing, shrieking monster with lots of tentacle sex.
(The nice thing about AW, as I see it, is that you have both the delicate little snowflakes and the sex-godesses)

I'm not sure about MightySpork's redesign proposal, since a real tour would need to contain lots more information, but I definitely like the choice of images that wouldn't be disturbing for a non-porn-savvy person.

What kind of message you think the "old" portal sent to may be new members? I like the new version. Stonefly want to keep AW as a secret for himself. "Members only" and he wants to be tough on that.

[MightySpork]

What kind of message you think the "old" portal sent to may be new members? I like the new version. Stonefly want to keep AW as a secret for himself. "Members only" and he wants to be tough on that.

That's an odd interpretation of Stonefly's post. The old version of the home page hardly kept abbywinters.com a secret. Various versions of the former design seem to have done a good job of driving visitors into the tour and other key destinations for many years. If not, they would have been replaced much sooner.

The reason for the change now, based upon AW public announcements, is twofold: The site plans to split into three sites, and the home page needs to make this structure clear to the new visitor; and the company wants to generate more sales of DVDs. Both of these goals are sensible and necessary. (Just to be clear, I am not an abbywinters.com employee, and have no special knowledge beyond what's been announced.)

The new home page certainly accomplished the practical goals, but does so in a way that is garish, unfocused, and lacking the positive feeling the past home pages had. To answer your question, let's look at the former home page and examine the message it sent:



This is a screen capture of the home page courtesy of the Internet Archive, a search engine that retains old versions of pages for historical interest. Since the Internet Archive does not get past the AW age-verification mechanism, we are looking at the version without nudity.

The centerpiece is the Yoga Girls shoot, the company's most ambitious project to date. It is also one of the most meaningful and subtly feminist pieces of erotica I've ever seen, and it's the perfect symbol for the company's well-known dislike for the cliches of mainstream porn.

The 16 women don't all have the same cookie-cutter looks of other nude models; each one is distinct. This is a reflection of the company's core philosophy, and the image lays the groundwork for concepts that will be raised again during the tour, and conveyed via the site's content itself. The faces smile directly to us and beckon us to join them.

The background is classic and dignified, and this atmosphere reflects another core AW concept: That women should not appear in places and situations that are artificial and degrading to them, but rather in places they find natural and appealing. The close grouping and the yoga activity address basic truths about women -- a closeness and camaraderie much deeper than what men understand, and a respect for their bodies, no matter the shape or size.

Flanking this are smaller images conveying the concepts of solo and girl-girl shoots. There is no image that stands for the Intimate Moments series, a glaring omission.

Now let's look at the new home page:



Unlike the former design, there is no central focus. There are many shapes and areas, all competing for our attention. The images flip by far too quickly, but even if they were slower, they still lack the rich detail and connotations of the Yoga Girls shoot. If one starts the video newsletter, there are three animated elements running at once.

The photos chosen reflect an obsession with body parts -- especially buttocks -- instead of whole people. This completely tramples the message and meaning of the former home page, as well as the tour and the site content as a whole.

Some of the type is small or otherwise hard to read. The DVD descriptions are tiny, and the text chosen for the three awards -- white letters against a light blue background -- is awkward as well.

Elsewhere on these boards, Garion mentioned that his graphic artist hated the abbywinters.com logo, and sure enough, a rather hateful thing's been done to it. It's not only much smaller, but missing the dimensional shading that gave it heft and importance. We've been told that a new logo by the same artist is coming, and perhaps it will be presented more lovingly. But the current logo captures the company's simplicity and modesty in a way that will be hard to top.

In all, the new home page is not a complete train wreck, but it is a bit of a pile-up. One can detect the hands of too many cooks with too many opinions: Garion, marketing executives, the DVD division, and the artist himself. Elements were probably thrown wherever they fit best, and were then rearranged to satisfy different managers, not unlike the kind of jockeying you see at your own workplaces every day. Significantly, nobody asked for our input until it was a fait acompli.

And that's fine. We're just customers, and not entitled to a say. But inevitably, we will look at these radical changes and attempt to draw meaning from them. That meaning could well be this: abbywinters.com yearns to grow beyond its niche market, and to do so it must leave us behind. Over time, if I gather correctly, the entire site will be made over in this new frenetic style. It will feature an advanced interface that will confuse older users more than younger ones. The content may shift tone as well, bending to appeal to younger men used to more glamorous "perfect" women, rather than the distinct creatures we've come to love. It will be porn in which we will lose interest, made by a company that has lost interest in us.

[rogueman1585]

You've done a superb job at breaking stuff down Mighty. Like you, I also hope that the content does not change. I may only be 22, but I just can't stand these so called "glamorous, perfect women"; they honestly make me sick on a consistent basis. The distinct differences between each model on this site, plus the respect they receive from both the members and the higher ups is the reason I joined.

[doinel]

Thank's a lot to Mightyspork for his comparison of the two AW entrance pages. Your reflections express very much the feelings I have too (and me being not able to put them down so precisely).

doinel

[bookmanz]

Mightyspork, I didn't like the image they use for IM's either. It looks out of context to me. Something more like the thumb below...


"The content may shift tone as well, bending to appeal to younger men used to more glamorous "perfect" women, rather than the distinct creatures we've come to love."

As far as know, there has never been a comment stated by AW that they want to change the CONTENT. It appears they want to change how they market the site to new members.

A Marketing gal I know says people work off 5, 10, and 30 second decisions. Adding video or animations holds the attention longer than a just a text based or still graphics.

[MightySpork]

As far as know, there has never been a comment stated by AW that they want to change the CONTENT. It appears they want to change how they market the site to new members.

But the new members drawn in by this frantic new approach are likely to have very different tastes than the members the company had been attracting with its former, more gentle approach. Certainly the content will shift direction to satisfy what these new people like.

I already detect a hint of where things are going in the recently-completed Jelly Wrestling Girls shoot. Although I'm willing to withhold final judgment until I see the finished product, the jelly wrestling activity has sleazy connotations built right into it, and would appeal to a very different sort of viewer than myself.

A Marketing gal I know says people work off 5, 10, and 30 second decisions. Adding video or animations holds the attention longer than a just a text based or still graphics.

Agreed, but there is a more elegant way to do it. The current home page features movement for movement's sake; there's no strategy that I can detect. Ask your marketing friend if multiple animations running way too fast are a good idea.

I think I offered a more sensible approach earlier in the thread, using animation to channel the user's attention from a product name to its corresponding picture, then to the next name and the next picture, again and again.

[bookmanz]

Agreed, but there is a more elegant way to do it. The current home page features movement for movement's sake; there's no strategy that I can detect. Ask your marketing friend if multiple animations running way too fast are a good idea.

I agree now. Lets give folks at HQ a while to digest and tweak. Much as I think the old portal is beautiful and classy, I support AW changing the portal and spicing it up a bit.

I have no fear that AW's CONTENT, which is the best around, will get into sleazy or cliche porn.

[alexbee]

In all, the new home page is not a complete train wreck, but it is a bit of a pile-up. One can detect the hands of too many cooks with too many opinions: Garion, marketing executives, the DVD division, and the artist himself. Elements were probably thrown wherever they fit best, and were then rearranged to satisfy different managers, not unlike the kind of jockeying you see at your own workplaces every day. Significantly, nobody asked for our input until it was a fait acompli.

Thanks for these comments MS, it does indeed look like the new front page was designed by a committee....

[Stonefly]

The new front page says all the wrong things about the site and does not appeal to a person who is actually likely to be interested in its content. The page's various panes are at cross-purposes with one another, exactly as Might Spork demonstrates. Not only are there competing garish displays, click this!, cum in my ass!, and look at these awards for what?? It's demeaning to women -- which seems the antithesis of everything that Abby Winters has ever stood for. I am particularly offended by the display of a big vagina on the front page. Listen folks, I love women's cunts more than anything else on earth. But I just don't see either the attraction, the value, or the purpose of putting a large one on the front page of a website. It's more tasteless than it is attractive. And yes, Mighty Spork put it very well, "The photos chosen reflect an obsession with body parts -- especially buttocks -- instead of whole people. This completely tramples the message and meaning of the former home page, as well as the tour and the site content as a whole."

Abby, who has remained faceless to us, but who chimes in on these Forums very often -- has always had a strong, feminist, independent, and very artistic personna. This front page seems like it was neither created by Abby nor something she would approve of. I can hear Luxman or Vid Dude chiming in, "That's not what our website is all about." (How many times we've all been chastised). I feel like this was something either imposed on Abby or designed as several here have suggested, by a committee. In the end, it's got to be Abby's artistic sense that drives this site. Or else, I predict we will all be out of here in fairly short order. Let us hope this tasteless effort was not forced on our dear friend Abby by corporate types throwing their weight around, because they don't know what they're doing. Alas, it looks that way.

[cleo]

To put it this way, if you were to show me this old front page and the new one....pretending they were two different sites, I would choose to model for the site with the old front page. It looks empowing towards women, the yoga shoot being something that was so unique and different. It looked like something I wanted to be a part of.

The new front page makes me feel cheap.

[Stonefly]

And not to put too fine a point on this... there are some people who think any sexual material involving women is demeaning. I have always disagreed with this point. I believe there are tasteful ways to express sexual enthusiasm. But truthfully, Cleo, wouldn't ANY woman feel cheap seeing the new front page?

[BigSpud]

To put it this way, if you were to show me this old front page and the new one....pretending they were two different sites, I would choose to model for the site with the old front page. It looks empowing towards women, the yoga shoot being something that was so unique and different. It looked like something I wanted to be a part of.

The new front page makes me feel cheap.

I would NEVER join a site that had a front page that looked like the front page currently showing at www.abbywinters.com.

Abby must be dead.

[Frans]

But truthfully, Cleo, wouldn't ANY woman feel cheap seeing the new front page?

Why? Honest question. I don't like the IM preview pic, without the still looks crowded for sure.. but cheap? Given the choice I prefer the old page, but I think that's aimed at another target-group so to speak. I'm not sure what this current page is aimed at.

To keep up the shop-window comparision; you can sell the best goods in the whole world, if you don't get people IN your store you wont sell any. If this page makes people take the tour (unchanged) they'll get a proper overview of what AW is, if they join based on that all components have done their job.

With another IM pic and slower changing speed for the lower anim though

[JerryOR]

WRT The Staff, The current front page is terrible. I am certain huge mounts of work have gone into making it, but the IM pic was totally wrong (IMHO). A simplier design with a bit more "wrapping" would have been better.

Sorry,
Jerry

[arsby]

I tend to agree with most of the folks here, the old front page was MUCH better, and the new front page is too... porny! I understand why Cleo had that reaction.

The old front page made us different... we're celebrating the loveliness of these girls, we're going to tease you into coming inside and seeing more of them.

The new front page says "look, we've got tits and pussy"! Just like all the other sites.

IMHO the new front page loses the focus of the brand. Where are the natural girls looking natural? As a porn lurker, first thing I see is a girl with big breasts.^* Which is misleading, because we are NOT Scoreland. Oh, and some fleeting images of kissy girls and genitalia. We're now the big tits, pussy and kissy girls site. Sound familiar? There are hundreds of them!

Not the "get to know these natural girls" site. I think Spork's "production" is awesome. Hire him!

^*(Apologies to Chloe, who I think is as sweet and as naturally lovely as can be, but believe me, that's all the lurkers will be seeing.)

[MightySpork]

To keep up the shop-window comparision; you can sell the best goods in the whole world, if you don't get people IN your store you wont sell any. If this page makes people take the tour (unchanged) they'll get a proper overview of what AW is, if they join based on that all components have done their job.

But I don't think that's why the home page got a makeover. As I suggested before, the former home page in its various incarnations must have been doing a good enough job of pumping visitors into the tour, because that format was kept basically unchanged for years. And the "take the tour" icon from the old design was every bit as prominent and eye-catching as the current one. In that regard at least, the home page hasn't been improved, it's just different.

Also, I've sampled many of the AW affiliate sites, and they seem to prefer sending customers directly to the tour start page, bypassing the home page completely. These affiliates tend to create better, more detailed "shop windows" than AW can, and they know what techniques work with customers and which don't, because the effects of every change they make shows up in their profits. Significantly, few of these affiliates waste resources on idle animation or bad free-verse poetry.

I've worked in marketing and design long enough to know that sometimes, business owners just get bored with their look and mistakenly assume the rest of the public is bored with it too. Other times, a business takes on new employees who are eager to make their mark by "shaking things up," but don't understand the company or its audience well enough to know what to change and what to leave alone. I suspect that one or both of these factors led to this redesign.

The new home page is an unsettling lurch from a mature style that honors women into a childish style that objectifies them. It's inevitable that current customers, particularly longtime ones, will be startled and confused at what's happening. Either the company carelessly failed to factor this into its planning, or it gambled that we would just shrug our shoulders and go along with it.

[Mrs Roops]

Well, I am not a marketing guru nor am I a web designer but I have perused many porn sites and now the front page just looks another porn site. Vid Dude, bless him, whilst he was a (nice) veritable pain in the neck and over-sensitive moderator, he did know his onions when it came to capturing the mood through incisive use of minimalist graphics and he knew how to draw in the viewer. He understood that less is more.

The old front page let the viewer know what aw.com was about and gave an indication of the much-vaunted paradigm. That’s all a front page has to do; get the punter to look inside. The new front page says, “buy this, buy that” and gives no real indication of what’s different about the site. There is no unique selling point. I’ll make a stab at this, but the majority of aw.com punters are older men reminiscing their courting days. The attraction of a web site showing attractive girl next-door types would have been a strong selling point. Maybe aw.com thinks there is more money in appealing to a younger, brasher audience?