After more than 2 years of existence for How-to-hide-ip.info, I have decided it’s time for design upgrade. Firstly, I need a logo, plus the blog structure was a little bit old and outdated.
It took about 3 weeks to get it done with the great help from the Reflection Media guys. We are not quite ready yet, but it’s about 95% done.
So, please, take a look around and let me know what you think. As always, your feedback is much appreciated.
- How do you like the logo? Do you think it’s appropriate?
- Is the home page structure more useful?
- Does the sidebar contains enough info?
- Is the footer an improvement?
- What about the post page? What do you think it should be added?
Surprise Giveaway
For those of you who comment on this post I’ll giveaway 5 1-month accounts for a VPN service.
All you have to do is to post a comment regarding the new How-to-hide-ip.info design and on February 15th, 2010 I will randomly select 5 readers to get a VPN account. Enjoy!
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21 Comments
Surprised to see your new look. Nice it is.
Home page is more attractive now, according to me. But how do you relate the new logo “Hat” to your blog?
i totally surprised that i am the first one to post this comment.
the new design is impressive and the interface is clear and adorable. and i love it
Great new looks. Long live “HOW TO HIDE IP”.
Hi HideIpAdmin,
I think the new look is almost perfect,Please add more colors making it more vibrant and cheerful.Overall,everything looks good.Your surprise giveaway is just too generous and considerate of you,but overall your site has become one my favorite,Even though the Internet wasn’t designed for security and safety,I definitely hoping one day we will get all our rightful need of total security and especially privacy on the Internet…
p.s.Is 15th february,the birthday of how-to-hide-ip.info?
I think the colors are nice.
I personally don’t like the logo. i would prefer something to do with an outlined figure of a person. just to get an idea check this.
maybe i didn’t notice this before, but the translater thing is really nice.
about the ebook, i think it should have a special title and color and logo. like for instance, the green book of anonymity, the green anonymity guidebook.
about the categories part, i think it should be somewhere up, and in front. for instance, up in the page, in a slim vertical column.
thanks for all the good job
hello admin!
my remarks.
1.site seems lighter now.that’s very good.hat logo is ok.
2.home page structure seems to me a little uncomfortable.i find it less easy than before to find latest topics.new topics are compressed on left column.also you should make easier to find the order by date of publication of threads.
For example we have on left side last topic from date (January 27, 2010) .how to follow day by day earlier posts from january -december etc?
3.recommended and popular columns are ok and helpful.
4.the sidebar should contain latest comments as before and an archive of posts month to month so we can find articles posted before.
5.you could add more links on blogroll sites.
6 white skin is neutral.maybe a little color is nice.
7.keep up the good work!we expect also the other promises made on post that you announced on january the new design!
8.ps.you should delete-update alonweb vpn from reviews and polls since it has ceased atm operations!
I don’t like the hat trick theme / logo. It makes me think you’re pulling a fast one (or that you’re looking to defragment my hard drive or sell me some registry fixing software). I think the logo and site colors should be more geared towards security users who are interested in security tools and VPN networking information. Also, I don’t like all this China firewall content. There are enough security concerns here in the US without clogging the VPN / anonymity networks with millions of Chinese teenagers who play Farmville on Facebook and who want to check out their MySpace pages.
I’m surprised to see your page. It seems a bit cleaner than before. It is simply neat. I love the interface. I also love your giveaway. Congratz on the new look!
There is a MAJOR difference… Even though im biased, i prefer black so maybe a black background will be better than white (or have a theme changer)
Nice JOb
it has an interesting design and a clear and aforable beautifulky smooth interface
Yeah man,
a little hat with a walking stick, but you have helped so many people on here, that you should have had a little logo showing a hand pulling a rabbit out of that hat! BECAUSE YOU ARE A MAGICIAN!
@patrick feenan – @bella george – @Wesley Hsiao – @rEnr3n – @Zoe Strickman – @xantzaras – @Moh – @kingpin – @Maxwell – @katie – @hideipuser – Thank you all for the feedback!
@hideipuser – To be totally honest the hat was the suggestion of the designer. At first, I did not think it was appropriate, but I kind of like it now. It suggests that you can “magically” hide your IP address
@kingpin – The colors were my choice because I wanted to have a clean and light blog. The plan is to make it more vibrant with the content, but I may add some colors to the design later. February 15 is not the birthday of How-to-hide-ip, it’s just the half of the month. Not special reason for choosing it
The actual birthday of this blog is December 11th 2007.
@Moh – Thank you for being honest. The logo seems to be liked by some and hated by others, but I think I’ll keep it for a while. Thank you also for the other suggestions. I will take them into consideration.
@xantzaras – Thank you for taking time to evaluate the new design.
2. You can find the latest post on the left column. Not it shows the posts correctly.
4. I’ll add them soon.
5,6. Also on todo list.
7. I will. I’m preparing a new giveaway and a discount offer for the next week.
8. Thanks for the tip. I’ll update the posts and remove alonweb from the poll.
@Zoe Strickman – I appreciate your feedback. As I said, maybe the logo it’s not the best idea but I think that it’s interesting and I’ll keep it for a while. Regarding the colors, I don’t think that all security/anonymity site should be black or dark colored. My goal was to redesign the blog into something easy to read by all kind of users. The dark colors usually attract several categories but scare most of them. How-to-hide-ip.info is not a hacking site (even if some methods presented here could be used in this way), it’s more a blog that fights against censorship (that explains the content related to Chinese firewall), helps people to browse anonymously and to unblock georestricted websites.
@patrick feenan –
) I think will pass the rabbit this time.
Yes, I like it seems open clearly laid out and attractive to read. Very user friendly. I hope it will attract more users too. I like the magic logo, yes you are magicians teaching us how to hide ourselves behind a cloak.
PS I won one of your your Christmas prizes so don’t enter me for the draw
Wow what a pleasant surprise it was to see the new look of your site, i really like the colors blue and yellow they go together well.
Keep up the good work
Thanks
boyzee
I think it very impressive. I caught the fact the hat meant magically hiding your IP which is a good reference.
A few more colors would enhance interest i think,
Keep up the good work and keep this site open please.
Thanks
Hi,
Well, this is quite some change – to the better that is. Everything looks definetely more up to date and sends out the message that the owner of the site really cares about what he’s doing here.
My first thoughts:
1. The pages load/ render faster, which is a great improvement.
2. The logo is well made (artistically), but can be interpreted two ways as to what this site represents and stands for (already pointed out). Regarding your statement “I’ll keep it for a while” – if I may say so, since you’re doing a “big” change, it’s better to stick with your choices longer than just “a while”, as frequent changes can also send out the wrong message.
3. Light colors seem more appropriate to this site. My only objection here is the tone/ shade of that yellow: it sticks out as too intense in relation to the tones of blue and grey used. I think, something more “pale” would match better (but that’s just me).
4. Home structure: left & central part serves the purpose of checking things out in a glance well. Right side (is that the sidebar?) sort of screams “I need more content” – I always found the blog archives to be really handy, maybe you could put them back there. Maybe the “Categories” would fit better here as well.
5. Subscribing via email should move up to the top: if one does not scroll down to post a comment or read all the comments, he’ll think subscribing is only possible via RSS – maybe you want to promote that way over email, but you might loose potential subscribers who don’t like/ want live bookmarks.
6. Is “Categories” part of the footer? The whole bottom part doesn’t attrack your attention, I think because of those pale grey fonts on pale grey background – maybe try something with the fonts or consider a different color match between fonts & bakcround?
7. I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “the post page” – are you refering to the post comments section or the contact page? If it’s the first, the space for comments could be a bit bigger – that scrolling bar kicks in way too soon. A preview would also be nice, though I’ve only seen it on forums and don’t know if it can be implemented as easily as said.
8. You need to put a Privacy Policy statement, with clear & honest statements on privacy – personal data AND the web bugs on the site. It always raises distrust if one is not provided, even more if it’s missing on a site like this one. The Policy could surve you also to stress out the positive aspects of this site – one can post here without allowing cookies (positive), so why not let people know about it?
9. I don’t know how you feel about adding an “About Me”, since this is a site about “concealing” who we are – it’s just a thought, given since it’s more reassuring to know at least a bit about who’s running a site.
Ok, I think I said enough – maybe even more than enough, but all in good faith.
One last thing: All the above is based on the fact that my browser’s configuration cuts off or alters the look of a lot of stuff, so the content I see might be quite different from the actual one (though I allowed javascript in order to have a better look).
Thanks for the improved looking & working site,
ad_infinitum
@ad_infinitum – Thank you for taking the time to review the new design.
1. Indeed, it loads faster and I’m very happy with it.
2. You are absolutely right: I’ll keep it a while longer
3. The yellow stripe indeed stands out, but I like it.
4. Again you have a point. The sidebar needed more content. I have added some and I’ll continue to add and remove widgets until I get the best (in my opinion) combination.
5. The subscribe via email is not present at this time in the design but I’ll add it later this week. It will be difficult to find a proper place for it.
6. Yup, that is the weak part of the design. I have to find a solution to make the footer more vibrant.
7. I’m not sure it is possible, but thanks for the suggestion.
8. Indeed, How-to-hide-ip.info needs Privacy Statement and I’ll do it soon.
9. This site is about privacy and anonymity, but I’m not hiding. I just don’t feel it is very important who I am. But if someone is interest I could do a more detailed About me page
I’m very grateful to you and all those who posted a comment on this post. You helped me a lot to make How-to-hide-ip.info. THANK YOU!
good work ,we need you
Hi,
@HideIP Admin
If I may reply back
1. Previous point 5: Why do you say “The subscribe via email is not present at this time in the design”? I can see it right here, just under “POST COMMENT” – it reads “Subscribe without commenting” and the “Subscribe” botton is clickable. Does it not subscribe you?
2. Previous point 9: It’s up to you, of course, but it adds to the trust aspect. Oh, and no one’s asking for your CV (we seem to have …hired you already, lol).
And one new point: I know this is a site about privacy & anonymity and I do understand that keeping it up & running doesn’t come free, but – if I may and with due respect – the web bugs seem to compromise the goal of this site right at base level. Unless one chooses/ acts on opting out/ preventing their tracking business, he/ she has already shared more info about him/ herself than intended (that’s why I stressed out that the Privacy Policy needs to clearly make aware of their existence & what they do; depending on the browser used & its configuration, readers might not even realize they’re here).
Hope the above is ok with you,
ad_infinitum
@ad_infinitum – 1. Ok. I understand now. The feature you mentioned allows you to subscribe to the comments of an article. I was reffering to the newsletter subscription that was also present in the page and it is not anymore. But it will be back soon
2. I will think about it and I’ll try to find the best way to present myself in a way that not affects my privacy
. Anyway, my name is Adrian 
3. The Privacy Policy is also on todo list.
Thank you again!
The hat logo is great!
An image of an empty hat and an hat with a rabbit in it, alternating
in a .gif image would be even better!
I like the blue and yellow bands on top which really grabs your attention.
The translator is a nice touch, but I think, it should be placed somewhere in the top and definitely not where it is now.
The scrolling window is nice but it goes too fast for anyone to read and grasp what’s available. And there seems to be no way of stopping it. One should be able to halt it temporarily either with the help of a pause button or by placing your cursor on your topic of interest.
All in all, the site looks great and with my suggestions implemented it should look smashing!!