On my quest to simplify the site layout, and give more of the screen area to the reviews and comments, I’ve just uploaded a new layout for Carsurvey.org. The Motorcycle and Mobilephone sites still have the old layout, if you want to compare. Highlights of this change include:

• The navigation bar area on the left has changed from 336 pixels to 250 pixels wide. This gives more space for content
• On the reviews and comments pages, the 336 pixel wide navigation is gone (including the similar reviews box). Again, this means more space for content
• Search has moved to the top right corner
• There are more ads on most pages, but they are almost all smaller and better blended into the content
• The photos have been removed as a temporary measure. If this layout is made permanent, I’ll make the necessary changes to restore them
• The tabs for the other sites have moved across to the left to make way for the search. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to make the black border under the “Cars tab” disappear across all browsers yet (Internet Explorer is proving difficult)

The new layout has been tested on Internet Explorer 5.0, 6.0, Firefox 1.5, Safari 2.0.3, and Opera 9.00. It also seems to cope with fonts set to one size larger than normal.

Hopefully this new layout will be a big improvement for people using 800×600 and 1024×768 screens.

As always, feedback is welcome, and there is the option for me to revert back to the old layout if that’s what people prefer.