Welcome to OmniNerd Version 5. We’ve implemented a completely new color scheme, changed the header and front page layout, and even added a little dose of Twitter into the mix. We got a lot of negative feedback regarding the v4 layout to include things like “not intuitive,” “too blue,” and “too much going on.” Our response is v5, which we hope is more intuitive, color balanced, and simple.

	OmniNerd as we mixed it with all the new ingredients.

Shades of Orange and Brown

I’m a web design guy. I’m good at structuring data, talking to databases, and caching everything I can get my hands on. Choosing colors, well, let’s just say it’s more of a guessing game than anything. Moreover, with every combination I do find, when I show it to people it seems it’s always split 50/50 (or worse) in terms of love it/hate it. But this time something strange happened. When I got these colors up on our development site the feedback was primarily favorable. There were a few that thought it was “ok” and only one person I know that actually gave me feedback that they didn’t like it at all. Score 1 for the out-of-his-league web guy.

Colors aside, we also ditched the old “O-N” logo for many of the same reasons. We hope you don’t mind too much. If you own an old v1 shirt or mug, your gear is probably worth much more on the black market due to its rarity. You may thank us later.

Structural Changes

The old site just had too much stuff in the top header section. We thought about what really needed to be up there and moved the rest to the new and improved footer. Put simply, it’s content and users up top, OmniNerd and tools at the bottom.

The biggest structural change with regards to content is the front page. We came up with a new “nerdiest”/main page selection algorithm that will avoid articles bouncing all over the place in terms of the order they display. Given the increased stability of the front page, you’ll see there are some “filters” listed in the black sub-header. These highlight what’s new, good, or common with regards to recent content.

In addition to what you see now, we’ve got a few more additions in the works that are the result of your feedback. Things like “content by people like me” and detailed nerd rank insight are being developed. If you have additional thoughts on existing/new features, please send us your feedback … which is an excellent segue into my next point.

Twitter

OmniNerd is officially on Twitter. If you’re not on the Twitter bandwagon yet, stop complaining about how it “doesn’t make sense” and just try it out. We’ve helped you take the first step. In the footer of the page, there’s a link that says “Twitter.” Click it.

There are 3 panes:

1. The first is the @omninerd account. We will use this in the future to make site announcements. This account will make infrequent posts, so we encourage you to “follow” it so that you’re in the loop for any big news.
2. The second is the @omninerd/staff list, i.e., anyone that’s on the OmniNerd staff that uses Twitter will have their content posted here. We’re using accounts that are for OmniNerd-related content only, so don’t worry about Brandon tweeting about the last hot dog he ate. If you’re curious about what we’re working on internally, you can listen in here. Or better yet, if you want to provide quick feedback, contact us on Twitter either individually or @omninerd.
3. Lastly is the #omninerd tweet search. Basically anyone in the world that mentions OmniNerd will have their tweet listed here. You’d be surprised at what people tweet about. So get the word out. If you do tweet about us, be sure to throw “omninerd” somewhere in your tweet so you’ll be on our list.

So what are you waiting for? Go try out the new site!

This article was edited after publication by the author on 31 Jan 2010. View changes.