Bethanny's profile
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5.6K Messages

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58.7K Points

Thursday, October 20th, 2022 2:07 PM

IMDb Name Page Redesign

IMDb Name Page Redesign

Image

 

We are excited to announce the launch of IMDb’s redesigned Name pages! These pages are meant to make your IMDb experience easier and more enjoyable by providing better access to photos and videos, an upgraded view of an individual’s credits, and improved mobile navigation making it easier to view IMDb features on the go. These enhancements reflect changes suggested by IMDb customers, as well as our own in-depth research designed to enhance entertainment content, discovery, and navigation. More information is available in the FAQ on the help page.

We hope you enjoy these latest improvements, and thank you for continuing to make IMDb the world’s most trusted source for movie, TV, and entertainment content.

— The IMDb Team

 

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4 Messages

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98 Points

2 years ago

I actually think the redesign is really good, especially for sorting and filtering. For the past few years, actors' filmographies have been bloated with short-form video being given equal heirarchy to major movies, which is a challenge to solve. Take a look at this excerpt from Leonardo DiCaprio's page. 
One of those credits is quite unlike the others! But this has been perfectly addressed using the sorting and filtering options, so I commend the team for this. Sorting by "Project Type" is the trick to get the retro IMDb feel, and early 2000's layout!
However. There is one issue I still find less than desirable, and seems to go against best practices for readability, accessiblity (around text contrast), and even consistency with the mobile app: the "Year" field has low contrast text and is separated from the film's title with a really large amount of white space.
This makes it harder to read somebody's filmography list, while quickly flicking your eyes over to check the year. The whitespace is jarring - especially when you're unfamilar with the actor/filmmaker and there are large time intervals between projects. Here's Roland Joffé's name page (1080px screen, desktop):
I think there's definite opportunity to increase the readability of the list, by making the year more prominent, especially for fast readers who might browse several name pages in a session. The primary goal of a list is to enable reader's to quickly absorb data, and I'm sure increasing quick readability might help the overall impression of the page.

(edited)

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

I'm very disappointed that the problem of the gigantic gap between the title of a work and the calendar year of release of said work, on each row, hasn't been fixed in the redesign. Why doesn't anybody seem to notice how hard it is for the eye to pan back and forth? That shit bugs the hell out of me. When the Name Reference View from the generation before last was retired, I had to create a script to manipulate the document object model (DOM) in such a way as to close the gap for the last generation name page layout, and then I was satisfied. Now, I have to repeat that same process again. Unfortunately a vast majority of the people who visit the site don't experience any discomfort from this gigantic gap of which I write.

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@dcarley​ Thanks for the feedback ...

However. There is one issue I still find less than desirable, and seems to go against best practices for readability, accessiblity (around text contrast), and even consistency with the mobile app: the "Year" field has low contrast text and is separated from the film's title with a really large amount of white space.

The team will see the above point, thanks.  This came-up previously where we noted: We had a more compact two-column view of the credits in the beta version which was tested over the summer. Unfortunately, the customer feedback at the time showed that overall there were too many changes in the beta for people to handle at once.  The version you see now is a compromise and we will keep monitoring feedback such as yours as the new design settles in.

Your point on the visibility of the year is well-made though, thanks.

4 Messages

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98 Points

@Col_Needham​ Thanks for your reply. Sounds good to me. I wonder if there's a solution that keeps the one-column list view, but brings the Year field closer? I look forward to seeing what the team come up with.

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Most likely some of these new problems will be sorted out in due time. If not soon enough, then I expect to hear from y'all folks in the coming months, like in January, February March, etc., and I'll be disappointed if there is nothing but crickets chirping on this forum regarding this matter.

3 Messages

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134 Points

2 years ago

So, anyone that objects to your decisions to change the layout, you block?

Way to go, ignore & remove criticism to avoid looking bad and ignoring people's requests!

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Hi, Mike456​. I'd imagine the only people who've been blocked were the ones carrying themselves in a belligerent manner, or otherwise cleverly-disguised sockpuppet accounts.

3 Messages

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134 Points

I wouldn't say I was "belligerent", and certainly not using any "disguised sockpuppet account", but I sure as hell wasn't rude, just stated the obvious as many others here pointed out.

I don't know if my post was too spot-on or had too many (a somewhat semi-long post) points.

And as an IMDB user of near 20 years, I think I have the right to voice my opinion, so anyone that simply blocks my account, without a reason, I believe can go to h3ll for all I care.

If the reason is just that, too spot-on, I think the people hired to admin this forum need to get a better job if they can't take negative feedback. But, I'm at the same time surprised to find other posts here that are about the same level as mine was. I haven't updated the page yet, so they might be gone too.

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Just to note, some people's reluctance to beat up on Col Needham has less to do with the fear of being booted out of here than the thought of how much more terrible things would be if he got frustrated and abruptly retired, abandoning that which he founded. (I don't think he would ever willing do that.) I suspect that he is doing the best he can. Furthermore, I'm not necessarily trying to pin the blame solely on the Amazon company or anything like that, because without some kind of support, the IMDb wouldn't have gotten much farther than where it was back in the late 1990s, unless volunteers were actually responsible for keeping the hardware running and up to date. We can see pros and cons, like with what happened to Linux, Mozilla and DuckDuckGo, when Google started being involved and Gnu was ever so slightly pushed aside. Those are just examples, because this whole "big tech" thing involves Apple and Microsoft too.

11 Messages

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376 Points

2 years ago

Regarding the new format……………
I DON'T like it.  EVERY time you change something, it's WORSE, not better.  When I go to someone's "resume" page, I want to easily see EVERYTHING they've done.  This showing "what they're most known for" is BULLSHIT.  You're making it MUCH harder for me to do the kind of research I use your site for.

I strongly urge you to allow the OLDER format as an option that one can turn on in a user's SETTINGS, so a person can do it ONCE and not have to bother with this CRAP nonsense ever again.

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@henry_kujawaYou might find our update from yesterday helpful, particularly the point around the “All credits” view -> https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/imdb-name-page-redesign/6351563ae7100d725d54c0bb?commentId=63878b2b038ef261b8f4b7fb

7 Messages

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150 Points

@Col_Needham​ The original designers got the credits right.  They showed a limited number of credits for each TV show, which allowed them to show the entire show/movie list for a person without a lot of scrolling, and with no "more" buttons required (now I not only need to click to see the list, I then need to click again for various episodes.  Click click click).  Then if you wanted to see the entire credits for a particular TV show, you did click the more button, but that was unusual for me.  The "All Credits" shows me all lines as if I went through on the old page and clicked "more" for each TV show, something I would never do, and that makes scrolling on the All Credits page difficult.  Again, the original designers obviously thought and thought about this, came up with a method that worked, and now it's gone.

(edited)

1 Message

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60 Points

2 years ago

Where's the original???

This is too confusing. 

Don't agree with the changes

48 Messages

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1.4K Points

2 years ago

Using View All Credits doesn't allow filtering (maybe intentionally) nor does it show which items I've already rated. Only thing of use, to me, is the See Also/By Rating option, but of course that means scrolling and clicking. Not sure, but it's probably only slightly more trouble than before. It's just none of this is obvious -- we have to hunt to find where IMDb developers have hidden what we want/need. :( That's also frustrating.

16 Messages

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562 Points

2 years ago

Honestly, the Name Page redesign is awful. The old Name Page displayed every single television series episode in which the actor appeared beneath that particular television series. Now to see which episodes an actor appeared in, I have to click on a link for which a pop up listing the episodes to come up. The page is also harder to navigate and unattractive to boot. I suggest you return to the old Name Page or at least give users a choice of the old Name Page or the new Name Page.

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@terence_towles_canote​ You might find our update from Wednesday helpful, particularly the point around the “All credits” view -> https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/imdb-name-page-redesign/6351563ae7100d725d54c0bb?commentId=63878b2b038ef261b8f4b7fb

16 Messages

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562 Points

@Col_Needham​ The "All Credits" view is much better than the Name Page right now, but one problem I have with it is that it is sorted by Year, not Project Type. I have always preferred sorting by Project Type to Year, so that an individual's movie, television, et. al. credits are separate. With regards to the Name Page redesign's approach to television show episodes, how about instead of opening in a pop-up window there was a drop down? For example, on James Arness's Name Page, beside Gunsmoke it would say, "635 episodes" beside which there would be a little down triangle ▼. You click on the triangle and, voila, it lists all the episodes! It would make the Name Page much more usable.

1 Message

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60 Points

2 years ago

Please don't hide information on credit items and show full list of credits directly (I don't like [See all] link). Even [View all credits] page (in old style) does not have information on season and episode number - if we can see a name of an episode we can see numbering too.

Thanks

16 Messages

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562 Points

2 years ago

Okay, I have two more thoughts. First, could it be fixed so that our filters can be saved, so we aren't constantly having to reapply them? I don't want to have to apply the filter for "Project Type" every time I visit a Name  Page. Second, could we be given a "View All Credits" (text only) page that is sorted by project type? Both would make this redesign much more reusable. As it is, I think I will still be complaining about it a year from now.

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@terence_towles_canote​  Thanks for the feedback ...

First, could it be fixed so that our filters can be saved, so we aren't constantly having to reapply them? I don't want to have to apply the filter for "Project Type" every time I visit a Name  Page.

We will be including this suggestion in our post-launch review, thanks.

Second, could we be given a "View All Credits" (text only) page that is sorted by project type?

The "All credits" view is for a very specific purpose, sorry.  As you aware, the credits can be grouped by project type via the filter options in the main view so the suggestion stands less chance of being practical, sorry. 

Hope this helps. 

2 Messages

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90 Points

2 years ago

This new layout/version SUCKS so bad

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Can we opt to have the older version of IMDB?

11 Messages

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132 Points

I agree.  It takes too many clicks and too much time to get the same results.  Not to mention the info on the screen is so large that it takes additional scrolling and extra clicks.  I really liked it when IMDb was lean and mean and data search was easy and fast.

Not all change is good and change for change's sake is only good for the programmers who want to keep their jobs.  Help us keep it simple and fast.

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@renkessler​ You might find our update from Wednesday helpful, particularly the point around the “All credits” view -> https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/imdb-name-page-redesign/6351563ae7100d725d54c0bb?commentId=63878b2b038ef261b8f4b7fb

2 Messages

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70 Points

2 years ago

every time I find myself on the 'new', I find it even worse than the last time

it is just awful;  loads slowly;  worthless features;  links to no content pages;  need to click to see more content rather than just load if you continue to scroll down;  overall style is terrible;  oversized fonts;  crams in pictures where they make no sense

it's just terrible;  whoever came up with the new 'design' should be fired

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled go back to old site

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@fairbsYou might find our update from Wednesday helpful, particularly the point around the “All credits” view -> https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/imdb-name-page-redesign/6351563ae7100d725d54c0bb?commentId=63878b2b038ef261b8f4b7fb

1 Message

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60 Points

2 years ago

HELP! I have always counted on being able to get a list of films by IMDb rating. That feature is now GONE!

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Hi, rinard. Welcome to the IMDb Community forum! Have you tried clicking the "All topics" button and then navigating to the "CREDITS" heading and clicking "by Rating"? Using the IMDb name page for Alfred Hitchcock as an example, this process would lead you to https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?sort=user_rating&explore=title_type&role=nm0000033.

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@rinard​ As noted by @jeorj_euler above (thanks), the “All topics” menu in the upper right of each name page provides access to all of these views and more.  There are screenshots earlier in the thread at https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/imdb-name-page-redesign/6351563ae7100d725d54c0bb?commentId=6358cfc5ef90664918a5bd64&replyId=6358e79b232e4267b00341c6

Hope this helps. 

1 Message

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60 Points

2 years ago

This new look is NOT ACCESSIBLE for those with reading disabilities/challenges. I cannot believe in 2022 IMDB would be so discriminatory. The text alignment is too close together and the page is way too cluttered and crammed with information to be easily read. Very disappointing that you have chosen to exclude the needs of the visually impaired community.

4 Messages

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120 Points

2 years ago

  • 👍 Overally satisfying responsive redesign
  • ❗️ Biography & Trivia is yet not responsive but the classical Desktop UI
  • ❗️ Interaction design issue regarding Tiles Swiping vs. Tiles Stepping:
    • If you swipe (scroll) tiles to the left (out of the viewport) and THEN later click the next button "→" (arrow to the right), then that button should step to the next tile from where you are currently scrolled to.
    • Instead the button goes to the next image of when the stepping function was last used (the item oder of the Javascript representation most likely)
    • The scroll order and the element order as the button accesses should be in sync, regardless whether you operate by swiping or button clicking. You should be able to mix those navigation methods in any order at free will.

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

I'm don't fully understand. What is stepping?

4 Messages

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120 Points

The new responsive website has various sections which have multiple tiles (aka "cards") combined together in in a layout row.

  • You can "step" through these tiles with the buttons [←] (previous) and [→] next.
  • Or alternatively you can scroll horizontally.

These two navigation possibilities should be in sync. That's the proposed improvement.

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Okay. Thanks. I didn't notice a problem apart from being unable to scroll horizontally while zoomed in, when using a (touch screen) smartphone Web browser.

1 Message

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60 Points

2 years ago

The new name page may be meant to make my experience on IMDb easier and more enjoyable, but has achieved the exact opposite on both counts.

You say in justification of the new style that "By default, the Credits section is loaded with filters applied for jobs that the person is most known for" but I already know what I know someone for!  That I am looking someone up is because I want to know about everything, particularly the jobs for which I was unaware, and to apply my own context on what is relevant for me to know based on my reason for visiting the site.

Having looked in my account's settings there appears to be no option to change the filters so they are not applied.  So this change also not a default behaviour as claimed but the only behaviour.

You have made my experience "easier and more enjoyable" by making me have to click twice on a page (the filter icon, then the "view all credits" link) then wait for another page to load every time I look up a person.  Does that really sound easier than just reading the page?  Does that sound more enjoyable than just being able to read the page?

Never mind it is less enjoyable and less easy when you also have to click on sections to open them.  And that the larger font makes the page feel a lot more cluttered which I find more difficult to read.

With a database derived web site it should be easy for you to create different views to suit different users.  A static page with the data sent in XML, JSON, or anything else so that it requires no extra server resources, yet users can be given different experiences based on their different needs.  Designing a single interface will never be easier or more enjoyable for everyone, rarely will it even suit a majority but only the largest minority of users.

I do not use the web site as a professional so it is not worth me paying.  And for the same reason I am also not a regular visitor to the site but only when I want to look something up.  This change makes the site so awkward to use with the extra steps, and more difficult with the more cluttered appearance that I will be far less likely to use it in future.

48 Messages

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1.4K Points

Yeah, the three things I find least useful -- what they are known for, photos, and videos. I go to name pages mostly to see what else they are in/have work on. I wouldn't care so much about the known for/photos/videos if, on my phone, those things didn't launch while I was trying to scroll down to the information I need.

I've been trying the pages on desktop and find "By Rating" gets me where I want to go. Just wonder how long before that gets hosed or moved or buried.

1 Message

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62 Points

2 years ago

based on what i read above, there is no way to revert to the better design on the old pages? a preference?

can I at least filter some stuff out like videos? if I want stuff like that I should request it, not automatically there

that one thing kills the imdb app on say an iPad, auto plays video. I do not believe most people want that

maybe a account preference?

why do I now have to hit another link to see all of an artists roles? makes it harder to find things

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

@sdbland​ 

based on what i read above, there is no way to revert to the better design on the old pages?

You might find our update from Wednesday helpful, particularly the point around the “All credits” view -> https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/imdb-name-page-redesign/6351563ae7100d725d54c0bb?commentId=63878b2b038ef261b8f4b7fb

that one thing kills the imdb app on say an iPad, auto plays video. I do not believe most people want that

You can switch off auto-play on the IMDb website by clicking the three dots menu in the upper right of the video itself (same on the name pages; the setting applies to all future name and title pages which you visit on the same browser):

On the IMDb iPad app there’s an option in the settings to disable video-auto play (“You” menu in the bottom right, then the settings symbol in the upper right of that page, it’s the “Video” menu item):

Hope this helps.