An hour or so ago Digg’s expected design update (as indicated by a blog post by Kevin Rose) went fully live. While the site still fairly resembles its old self, a lot of minor changes were put forth. The major change in this release is an “All” section, which brings together content from all categories — News, Videos, and Podcasts — to the homepage, rather than limiting the spotlight to just news. Unfortunately, the long-requested Image section was not included, though it’s set to go live sometime in October.
In any case, here is a breakdown of the stuff we could notice that’s changed. Most of this is roughly covered in a blog post by Digg designer Daniel Burka:
Revamped Header: While it may look similar to the old one, a lot of UI and placement changes have occurs. “My Profile” and “Submit” link are now in the right side, with an unusual focus on “Friends Activity.” Sections now have drop-downs to show subcategories, and stuff visible can be customized. Additionally, the “Popular” and “Upcoming” tabs have been moved to the righthand corner, and an RSS feed icon is available where applicable.
Page and Story Layouts: Font changes, the source URL now has more visibility, and the submitter name is dumped somewhere in the bottom bar. No more “submitted x hours ago” for the homepage, only “made popular.” Revamped icons and one-click burying options.
Flexible Page Layout (as opposed to fixed): Presumably to make better use of widescreen browser real-estate. As a result, story summaries are one-to-two liners now, than whole paragraphs.
The Small Stuff: “Top 10″ on homepage has more links, and focus is put on getting the widget for it – presumably to attract bloggers. AdSense is only on homepage, and 300×250 rectangle ads are everywhere — literally.
Overall, we like it. Still eagerly looking forward to Images and better comment section — why make us wait so long, Digg?
