I’ve been blogging since I turned 20 in November 2004. In that time period we’ve only done 2 major site redesigns. In 2007 I was able to grab the DansDeals.com domain name when the previous owner let it expire. You can still see what the original ctownbochur.com blog looked like from the 2004-2007 era here.
People complained bitterly when it was time to change, but I customized a blog template to create the original DansDeals.com site and used it from August 2007 through July 2017. Thanks to the Web Archive you can see what it looked like here. It became outdated rather quickly, but site traffic grew by 10,000% during that time period, so perhaps it became successful in spite of the design. However in August 2007 there was no such thing as an iPhone and by July 2017 a significant portion of site traffic was coming from mobile devices.
Finally last year, my brother JJ worked with Jack Vershubsky (DDF member Suave) to create a new mobile friendly and responsive site and a fresh new logo with Yossi Belkin. Baruch Hayman (DDF member BAHayman) has been instrumental in debugging and keeping this site up, even when facing crushing levels of traffic.
Of course nostalgia is powerful, but a year later, I think the project has been a success. Many sites undergo change and make the functionality worse in just about every way, just look at the new Google Flights versus the far superior old version! Change is a necessary evil when it comes to web design, but I think the key is not stripping away functionality and usability.
The new DansDeals site has a clean and modern look that works on all devices and saves readers time by avoiding the necessity to scroll through every post in its entirety in order to see the next deal. Readers who don’t like the new look can use the gear icon to switch to the old legacy mode format or to ignore expire deals. Readers can also reply to individual comments rather than the old system of replying to someone dozens of comments later.
You can also choose to get notifications via Telegram, Twitter or an in-browser push.
What do you think of the site redesign now that we’re a year in? Are there features that you would like to see added? Sound off in the comments!
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98 Comments On "A Year After The DansDeals Redesign, What Do You Think?"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
great site, nice job!
Thanks 🙂
Site looks fine. Finish your trip reports 😉
+10000000000000000!
Need a slick notification system
If only it would do asking me to send in-browser notifications….
This! Why do I keep getting asked?
+1
Once you answer “no” it shouldn’t ask you again from the same browser.
Unless you use incognito.
Why use incognito?
I guess there is a reason this feature exists…
Lots of people are using shared computers and only use incognito. There are also those who think that incognito prevents the site from seeing their visits.
i dont think we want to know
It prompts me many times without using incognito mode.
Same
+1
Keeps on asking me.
But it does….I don’t use incognito and get asked every time I go on the site. It’s really annoying.
Otherwise the site is amazing, as is the content! Thanks for all your hard work!
Check the setting in your URL bar as pictured here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/site-announcements/sms-deal-notification-issues-try-options-dont-miss-another-deal/
Unfortunately, it re-asks and re-re asks and re-re-re-asks every time I visit from the same phone/browser or computer/browser. No incognito mode. *VERY* annoying. Otherwise, the site design is good.
Great site. Good job!
Overall it offers a whole lot more than the old version offered, there are some things, however, that still make me miss the old version.
a: The cleaner look, without so much intrusive irrelevance, like on the sidebar. These things make it too jumpy for the eye.
b: The comments section in a threaded way really makes me lose track of what I read and what not. The old site had it better when I knew till at which comment I left off, and from where to start reading. I suggested this in the forums a while ago (when I was still active there…) that perhaps every time someone visits a page of a deal all new comments should be a different color (comments and replies), and at the next visit or refresh those should become the standard color, while yet all the current new ones should have the unique color.
c: Another thing that doesn’t really have to do with the new site is when you update a deal with either a price change or a “dead” alert, you should write what time it was updated. People want to see the course of things and how they change.
There are more things, but these two stand out the most to me. Otherwise, it’s a great update, and I’m waiting for the app… 🙂
A. I personally prefer the newer sidebar, but I guess that’s a matter of preference.
B. It’s certainly a trade-off, but I think most people prefer being able to do a nice reply like this one, rather than after all of the comments. I’ll see if there’s any feasible way to do what you suggest, but my guess is that would only be possible with a login feature which we don’t have.
C. That should be fairly easy to do, will try to keep that in mind.
Re C, thanks, I know it takes effort from your part, and I appreciate that! 🙂
B. That’s why cookies exist.
If you can find a wordpress commenting plugin that offers such a feature, please let me know.
First one on Google: https://wordpress.org/plugins/unread-posts/
Google: https://tinyurl.com/y8djmko9
Hasn’t been updated in over 3 years, probably hopelessly out of date.
Regarding C, that is the reason why I only read the comments once they accumulate…
*Regarding B
I’m.with you on B!
Much better than original. Especially the fact that there is no need to read though newer articles to scroll down. Was almost unusable before.
Glad you enjoy!
Wish there would be an app with push notifications as to when a deal is posted.
Thanks for an awesome site
Why would that bet better than using the Twitter app for push notifications? Or in-browser push notifications?
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/site-announcements/sms-deal-notification-issues-try-options-dont-miss-another-deal/
Because I don’t have Twitter on my phone as I don’t like to use social media to waste time and I have a safe browser on my phone which I don’t have open. If there was app that popped up with a notification with customization for notifications, that would be ideal. Regardless, thank you for helping everyone save on everything under the sun. You have helped countless upon countless people and family from all walks of life while making a kiddush hashem every time. Yasher koach.
It would also be easier to see replies to comments. Once there is a discussion about an app maybe an app for the forums as well?
Thanks
All you would need to do is setup Twitter once, no need to ever use it again or waste time on it.
Otherwise, what about opting into the browser notification feature?
An app is always on the table, but making a good one with robust notifications would be very expensive.
New Site is great!
You don’t even need to set up a twitter account. Just text ‘follow @dansdeals’ to 40404
That feature stopped working a while ago, at least for me
Or use Telegram.
I agree. Dan you need an app. Not everyone has a browser on their phone. Sometimes I miss deals because im away from my computer
Did you forget to mention how it became a secure site? I was it the whole and it was only new for DDF?
Indeed, we were able to add SSL to both DD and DDF over the past year thanks to BAHayman!
I’d recommend taking a page out of the Reddit comment feature. Let people “like” or “dislike” comments. The parent comment with the most likes appears atop the list of comments. Sometimes I scroll thru 10-20 comments searching for something useful. Would be better if they were auto-sorted by most “liked”.
That would exacerbate the problem described by Work-for-ur-muny above as it would be even harder to find the new comments. There are no one size fits all solution to comments, that’s for sure.
Comments are one of my favorite features of a blog though, I’m amazed when I see a blog that don’t allow commenting. It’s a great place for both positive and negative feedback as well as fostering a sense of community. Always open to suggestions of good WordPress comment plugins to look into.
True! But Reddit also let’s you sort comments by “Top” and by “Newest”. Best of both worlds :p
True.
See any WordPress plugins that do that?
I may be a little late to this but Dan asked for WordPress plugin to sort comments by Best and Newest. I’m no webmaster but I came across this: https://wpbuffs.com/18-best-comment-plugin-for-wordpress/
and looks like #3 on the list: wpDiscuz may be good
Very nice and slick.. Love it!
Sleek?
I don’t like the google ads, many of them are not tzneius. The old site did not have that issue. Knowing that there are only kosher posts, is a big reason I visit this blog instead of the other non-frum ones.
I’ve never seen any, but Google ads are based on your browser history.
You can turn off ad personalization in your Google settings.
You can also email me the URL of the advertiser to block.
I know, but because i search a lot of travel like united and spg ect. i get a lot of vacation ads. Ironically, my filter doesn’t let me put on any extensions so I can not put on adblock. I try exing the ads for inappropriate but I don’t think google gets it. That is a good idea I’ll try shutting off personal ads. Thanks for the great website don’t mean to kvetch. Emailing you the URL of the advertiser, that I don’t know how to do.
Can’t believe it’s been a year!
Generally I enjoy the improvements.
The one small thing I don’t like is that when a deal does it says expired. I liked it better with the dash and dead sticker.
I don’t like the fade out.
Otherwise great job!
Heh, many people say they love that change 😀
Wow a whole year has passed already?!
I like the new design but I’m waiting for a app…
Twitter doesn’t solve it cause I follow other stuff too so I’m ignoring it when busy.
Crazy, right?
You can set Twitter to only notify you of select accounts.
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/site-announcements/sms-deal-notification-issues-try-options-dont-miss-another-deal/
It did take me some time to adapt to the change, like all changes. However, once accustomed to the new site, I prefer it over the old one.
Thank you Dan & team..!
It’s been a whole year?!!!
Time flies when you’re having fun.
Fact: A few times when I surf here…for a moment at least, I think I landed at the TPG site. FWIW. Sorry 🙂
I don’t see it. The sections make it very hard to navigate for me.
Would be cool if you had an app like daily mail has, that downloads all the content and it can be seen even w/o an internet connection. His would help while flying and have time to kill (long flights w/o WiFi). I think lots of pp would like that
Agree to jake we need an app that goes without wifi!!
A great site like this without an app….it just doesn’t go together!!
Keep it on bringing joy to the world!
I also think that it’s tome to Re-design trip reports in an easy to read order, to see best hotels to stay in, kosher places to eat and main attractions. It’s a pain to have to dig through so many trip reports to find such basic info.
Also recommend one destination page to see top airline destinations , and updated best ways to book Them with miles.
True story.
Nice site! Just miss getting the texts notifications
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/site-announcements/sms-deal-notification-issues-try-options-dont-miss-another-deal/
Love it! I was very resistant to the change originally, but new design is far friendlier and more robust.
🙂
Everything is better on the new format. Only thing I miss is the comments were numbered on the old way. This lets me know where I’m holding when I get interrupted.
Gain much lose some !
Hard to do numbered comments now that comments are threaded. But on the plus side, I can respond to you right here rather than at the end.
Prefer the previous design, but this is pretty good.
Dan keep it up. i love your site, its very clean and neat.
you should make it the website to be add a jewish rideshare feature and jobs
I agree what about you dan?
I’ve followed you for a long time, Dan. New site: Looks great, works well. Love the fact that done deals are grayed out. Thank you for this great service and website.
Love the new look. Thanks
I think that you could add the telegram link where you have the links for Facebook and Instagram and all other platforms on the bottom of the page.
I like it. Only think i’d ask for is to tighten up the desktop version a bit, there’s a lot of whitespace and you have to scroll a lot.
Love the update. I actually went back to read ctownbochur. I love the post on %20 off tours r us and you asking if you should post about your trips!
Good old days.
Honest answer:
The site is new and fresh and needed to be upgraded, but I have been visiting much less since the redesign, not sure if because of new look or if it is because I get telegram and other type of notifications and don’t have a need to visit unless there is something that catches my eye..
But overall the site is nice. If only there was a way to bring the forums past y2k
wow a year??!!!
Time flies when you’re having fun!
Liked better the old design
Love the site, and it’s the first “favorite” of bookmarked sites. The only thing I can really recall my distaste for are some occasional advertisements that “receive” hundreds of postings for a simple product- whether it be a telecom service, wine company, etc. As a potential customer of the advertised product, not only do the 150+ “in LOVE with…, best of my entire life!!!!, won’t ever leave home without it!” comments appear fictitious, but confuse me further me further about the reliability and credibility of the advertised product. Likely, the comments are from the advertiser him/herself and DD should work on trying to limit postings from a few single accounts. No reason why a bottle of wine should have 150 exaggerated postings of how their entire life is changed for the better now because they have this bottle of wine/cellphone/misc. service. Just my 5 cents, Thank you.
In that case the advertiser will learn that it’s self-defeating.
Some ads like Noach and Unlimited Israel, ask to keep comments from their ads over many years and people do love them.
With the wine it was all from unique people, but it seemed like he probably has a very good network of people to post. But I told him that I thought it did more harm than good.
Makes sense. Thanks.
I still use the older version of the site so I don’t really mind one way or the other. But I do wish I could get alerts only for a certain type of deal (e.g. Airfare) rather than every post on the site.
very nice job
Time flies (תרתי משמע)
when you go back it goes to the top of the page not to where you left off
I like the new Dans Deals better than the old. Thank you.
One thing that I miss form the old site is the right and left arrow buttons so you can scroll through the complete posts one at a time. Or just go to the next one without having to go back to the home page…
Have you tried using legacy mode?
You can access it via the settings gear. https://www.dansdeals.com/new-features/
Love the new site!! Nice clean and easy to follow… Great Job.
The old site was really starting to show its age