Reddit has been experimenting with a new default look for the website, and it is slated to be in-use full-time starting soon.

You can see how this sub will look at: https://new.reddit.com/r/japanesejazz /

Reddit has been working on the redesign for a while, with user commentary being mostly negative. They have asked for feedback, and have said they will make changes; however, as the redesign is eminent and still few changes have been implemented, it is looking like we are going to have it handed to us as-is.

Some of the less savory aspects of the redesign:

• Ads are inserted directly into a sub, and are made to look like posts from users. These are treated as 'static' ads, and currently ad-blockers do not remove/hide them.
• User Flair. I know we do not use it here, but most subs do. In the redesign, flair is limited to 15x15 px, which is so tiny as to render most images indistinguishable blotches.
• Link Flair. Every post here has a link flair assigned to it ([CPU], [MONITOR], etc). These are used to categorize post, and allows people to skim through and pick deals that are more relevant to them. Besides being a handy way to categorize post for easier indexing, they allowed users to search for deals. It looks like that feature is not available in the redesign, although you can still manually search for a product. It's possible this function will be added later though
• CSS. I know the design work I have done here isn't exactly loved, so maybe this one won't be as upsetting to some of you? But once the redesign goes live for everyone, you will be forced to use their new layout, with no ability to change or alter it in any way.
• Sidebar: Even what we have in our sidebar is being taken away. The new redesign will use 'widgets', that do have some functionality but will not allow us to improvise as much with what we can put on a sidebar.

link to the new design sub: /r/redesign

link to the ProCSS sub: /r/ProCSS

If I had to summarize the new reddit redesign, I would say it is a dumbed down user experience geared to draw in the facebook crowd.

This isn't a call to arms, just a general heads-up of events that are forthcoming that we (individual sub mods) have no control over.

Solidarity

• /r/nfl
• /r/baseball
• /r/cfb
• /r/collegebasketball
• /r/NBA
• /r/soccer
• /r/colts
• /r/hiphopheads