Folding Forum

I fold 24/7, but I do not visit the forums or the general FaH site very much.

However, I recently stopped by, noticed a new client had been released, went to download it and...then I saw the new webpage.

It is wonderful.

Really, really wonderful.

You people make me proud of the human race.

Fold on.

Quite the opposite reaction when I popped onto folding.stanford.edu. Fortunately there is a link to the old site, where I can actually find those links to the stats. I personally find the new page to be aimed at the computer illiterate. Really, some silly video and big 'click here' buttons, that's what the F@H team has sunk to? For Shame.

I don't know about the intentions of the designers, but from my perspective, I think folding.stanford.edu is more of a landing page for new folders than a homepage for existing folders... To entice new folders on board the initial message needs to be as clear and simple and straightforward as possible. Get 'em hooked quickly then develop their knowledge.

For me, http://folding.stanford.edu/English/HomePage (which is linked at the top of the forums) is my go-to for official stats.

b.sogard wrote:Quite the opposite reaction when I popped onto folding.stanford.edu. Fortunately there is a link to the old site, where I can actually find those links to the stats. I personally find the new page to be aimed at the computer illiterate. Really, some silly video and big 'click here' buttons, that's what the F@H team has sunk to? For Shame.

This is my exact opinion as well. It looks to me like it's just a big advertisment (well, it is) like the kinds people see every day. I can easily imagine replacing the "start now" or whatever with "find your credit score now" and it would have the same feel to it. I think people who are looking at running some unknown closed source software on their computer will want a more professional looking webpage like the old version. It just seems more trustworthy that way.

Now, I don't have any installation statistics so it might well be for the best of the project and I could be dead wrong, so this is just a guess.

Face it, guys and gals. FAH is not turning against those of us who have folded for long enough to appreciate the science and to be familiar with all the ins-and-outs of the tech feel that we've gotten used to. You're still an important segment of the people who fold. There still are millions of computers owned by non-scientist, non-geek types and they can contribute a lot to fah if they can be convinced that it's not too hard to do. Fah has put a lot of effort into a simple web client designed to get non-geeks folding with almost zero effort and the new homepage supports that effort.

I'll bet you know a lot of people who have a computer which is hardly ever used. Recommending that video to all those people who find their too complicated to use for more that email and google. Those folks are not like you but if you can convince them to run the client maybe 50% of the time and they don't really care about maximizing their points, they're still contributing to science.

Also, face it, advertising works. Enough people do "find their credit score" to keep those sites in business, especially at those sites that say you can get a free credit report and then end up selling you extras that aren't free.

codysluder wrote:Also, face it, advertising works. Enough people do "find their credit score" to keep those sites in business, especially at those sites that say you can get a free credit report and then end up selling you extras that aren't free.

Good point.