i'm on the fence about the beta control-strip. i'm okay with the drop down menu options but i agree with ben t that the menu items could be spread out a little more. also, too much redundancy in some of the options...if "compose" is going to be at the top why include it in the "my vox" drop down. same thing with "groups"... its in the controls strip menu and also in the "my neighborhood" drop down.
Why are you doing this? Have you gotten lots of complaints about the current navigation system used in the Vox interface? One of the reasons why I switched to Vox was that I liked its simple, yet elegant menu and control structure system. A number of people are saying that the new control strip looks like the one used in Live Journal, and I think it looks similar to the system used in WordPress. My dislike of WordPress motivated me to look for a better way to blog, which I found in Vox. If users wanted a blogging system like LiveJournal’s or WordPress’, they’d be using Live Journal or WordPress; not Vox. I think people like using Vox because it’s Vox, which is different from the other systems that they don’t like. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
I rather like it, except for having to remember (scroll through) each to get to the link I want. I don't think it's nearly as confusing or redundant as LJ's control strip (there are plenty of things about LJ that I don't like, and the complexity/confusion of their control strip is one of them). But I do like the convenience of going directly from the beta control strip to the page I want, instead of having a "gateway" page to deal with.
I wasn't too keen on it at first, but I tried it, and it seems... very well done. I'm not much on drop down menu navigation, but this seems a lot more organised than what's shown on other sites, such as LiveJournal. As long as it stays similar to how it is now, I would definitely not mind seeing this implemented. Also, LiveJournal could use this simplicity, haha. Pass the word along!
I submitted positive feedback via the "beta feedback" form. The new control strip has really grown on me. I look forward to the implementation of activating the drop down menus only when scrolling over the arrows, rather than inadvertently activating a drop down menu when quickly moving the pointer across the page. I don't mind the redundancies of links listed in various menus. I also love the new option of changing the color scheme of the control strip. I hope additional color options (black, steel bluish gray, navy, and red, for example) will be implemented at a later date.
However, I do feel the new control strip is a bit crowded (due to the strip possessing two lines nearly full of text). Maybe combining the Account, Messages, Help and Invite links (and possibly Sign Out) under one drop down menu onto the second line and moving the search bar to the top line might clean up some of the clutter.
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I agree about the redundancy with "groups" and "compose", though I had actually never noticed that tiny "compose" button at the top until just now.
I also agree that "my vox" items could be more spread out.
But, we'll see.
However, I do feel the new control strip is a bit crowded (due to the strip possessing two lines nearly full of text). Maybe combining the Account, Messages, Help and Invite links (and possibly Sign Out) under one drop down menu onto the second line and moving the search bar to the top line might clean up some of the clutter.