New Website Layout - VERY UNHAPPY

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One of the great features of Seeking Alpha is that it spans a wide range of contributors and readers and all sorts of investors...day traders, DGIs, short-, long-, sector focussed...etc etc...  Some of the authors and analysts write phenomenal articles and lay out their thesis for debate.  I wouldnt visit this site if it wasn't for that !

What it looks like now is like one of those cheap investor sites that throws masses of basic trading data at you thinking that it makes it look more professional.  Sorry, but think again.  Bad choice.

Previously, when clicking on "Your Porfolio", you immediately had a list of the latest articles of your portfolio-stocks alongside with the curent stock price... then you scroll, click, read and enter the discussion.  Please bring that back.

Also, in the previous layout, a NEW TAB would automatically open when you clicked on a link referencing another article or source.  Switching back and forth between tabs with different information/companies is an absolute MUST feature.

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SA Admin Kushal Mehrotra
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Hi,

Regarding the issue with opening referenced articles in a new tab, I have relayed your concern to our tech team and we will resolve the issue very soon.

Regarding the new portfolio page update, I have tried to address some of the most common concerns below.

The new portfolio page is packed with a lot of useful features while keeping everything that you loved about the old portfolio.
1. JUMP TO ARTICLES - You can jump to articles related to your portfolio by clicking on 'View Headlines' on the far right or you can collapse your list of stocks by clicking on your portfolio name (Portfolio 1, in this case) and clicking 'All Portfolio'



2 EDIT HOLDINGS - You can edit shares in a lot by clicking on shares and then choose to edit or add lots:
A.

B.

C.

D.

3. SORT ALPHABETICALLY - You can also arrange your stocks alphabetically by clicking on the symbol column, and then arrange them in ascending/descending order and you can also have a custom sort on any other column like 'Change %', 'Volume' etc. Your desired sorting will be saved by default.

Additionally, you can view a lot of helpful metrics like Earnings (to track earnings call date), Growth, Performance etc. that will aid you in managing your portfolio.
I'm sure in due time you will find the new portfolio page very useful and friendly.

Regards,
Kushal Mehrotra

Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

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PaFrank

EXCELLENT RESPONSE!

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Jack Reacher

I agree with you 100%. Someone in web design had no idea how this site was being used.

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Tridente

Forgot to mention, the "My Portfolio" page loads painfully slowly...because of all that unimporant data.  

When you then scroll down and click an article, even at that level, it doesnt open up a NEW TAB...  Very annoying.


Avatar
SA Admin Kushal Mehrotra
  • Answer
  • Completed

Hi,

Regarding the issue with opening referenced articles in a new tab, I have relayed your concern to our tech team and we will resolve the issue very soon.

Regarding the new portfolio page update, I have tried to address some of the most common concerns below.

The new portfolio page is packed with a lot of useful features while keeping everything that you loved about the old portfolio.
1. JUMP TO ARTICLES - You can jump to articles related to your portfolio by clicking on 'View Headlines' on the far right or you can collapse your list of stocks by clicking on your portfolio name (Portfolio 1, in this case) and clicking 'All Portfolio'



2 EDIT HOLDINGS - You can edit shares in a lot by clicking on shares and then choose to edit or add lots:
A.

B.

C.

D.

3. SORT ALPHABETICALLY - You can also arrange your stocks alphabetically by clicking on the symbol column, and then arrange them in ascending/descending order and you can also have a custom sort on any other column like 'Change %', 'Volume' etc. Your desired sorting will be saved by default.

Additionally, you can view a lot of helpful metrics like Earnings (to track earnings call date), Growth, Performance etc. that will aid you in managing your portfolio.
I'm sure in due time you will find the new portfolio page very useful and friendly.

Regards,
Kushal Mehrotra

Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

Avatar
KCOC10
Quote from SA Admin Kushal Mehrotra

Hi,

Regarding the issue with opening referenced articles in a new tab, I have relayed your concern to our tech team and we will resolve the issue very soon.

Regarding the new portfolio page update, I have tried to address some of the most common concerns below.

The new portfolio page is packed with a lot of useful features while keeping everything that you loved about the old portfolio.
1. JUMP TO ARTICLES - You can jump to articles related to your portfolio by clicking on 'View Headlines' on the far right or you can collapse your list of stocks by clicking on your portfolio name (Portfolio 1, in this case) and clicking 'All Portfolio'



2 EDIT HOLDINGS - You can edit shares in a lot by clicking on shares and then choose to edit or add lots:
A.

B.

C.

D.

3. SORT ALPHABETICALLY - You can also arrange your stocks alphabetically by clicking on the symbol column, and then arrange them in ascending/descending order and you can also have a custom sort on any other column like 'Change %', 'Volume' etc. Your desired sorting will be saved by default.

Additionally, you can view a lot of helpful metrics like Earnings (to track earnings call date), Growth, Performance etc. that will aid you in managing your portfolio.
I'm sure in due time you will find the new portfolio page very useful and friendly.

Regards,
Kushal Mehrotra

Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

I would prefer the default view when I click on a portfolio to pull up like it used to with the articles easy to access on the right side of the page. This info you are showing now can be helpful, but it should be accessible as an alternate view or in a tab not the default view. I mainly come here for the articles/discussions and that feels disembodied in this new setup. 

Avatar
MJF_111

I have to agree with everyone's comments here.  I was very unhappy when i got to the website tonight.  I can find the portfolio information in the format you are showing at a number of websites.  I come to SeekingAlpha for the ARTICLES.  In specific, articles relating to my positions and the old format provided me witha convenient reading list of new articles each day. And I know your response might be "they are still there after the portfolio", but this new format makes my process so much harder than the previous one.

Before:

- Articles appeared to the right of my portfolio list.

- Click on an article it opens in a new  window.

- Done with the article, close the second window and the first window is still in the same place where you left off.

- Go to the next new article to read.

I could repeat this until i got to the last article I read the night before.

Now:

- Navigate to the bottom of the portfolio.

- Click on an article and it opens in the same window.

- Done with the article, I have to go back or click on my portfolio again, both of which bring me to the top of the portfolio page.

- Once again navigate to the bottom of the page determine where I left off on my reading list.

Grrrrrr.  I may actually end up spending LESS time on your website because of all the navigation I have to do.  NOT HAPPY.

Avatar
MJF_111
Quote from MJF_111

I have to agree with everyone's comments here.  I was very unhappy when i got to the website tonight.  I can find the portfolio information in the format you are showing at a number of websites.  I come to SeekingAlpha for the ARTICLES.  In specific, articles relating to my positions and the old format provided me witha convenient reading list of new articles each day. And I know your response might be "they are still there after the portfolio", but this new format makes my process so much harder than the previous one.

Before:

- Articles appeared to the right of my portfolio list.

- Click on an article it opens in a new  window.

- Done with the article, close the second window and the first window is still in the same place where you left off.

- Go to the next new article to read.

I could repeat this until i got to the last article I read the night before.

Now:

- Navigate to the bottom of the portfolio.

- Click on an article and it opens in the same window.

- Done with the article, I have to go back or click on my portfolio again, both of which bring me to the top of the portfolio page.

- Once again navigate to the bottom of the page determine where I left off on my reading list.

Grrrrrr.  I may actually end up spending LESS time on your website because of all the navigation I have to do.  NOT HAPPY.

For anyone who has the same issue I do, I found a work around that give me a similar process to my old one.  

- Navigate to the articles list under the portfolio.

- Hover over the article you want to read.

- Right mouse click and choose the first item "Open in New Tab"

This keeps your first tab where you left off on the list and you can read each article individually without lots of navigation.

BTW - Did I say I dislike the new format?

Avatar
Tridente
Quote from SA Admin Kushal Mehrotra

Hi,

Regarding the issue with opening referenced articles in a new tab, I have relayed your concern to our tech team and we will resolve the issue very soon.

Regarding the new portfolio page update, I have tried to address some of the most common concerns below.

The new portfolio page is packed with a lot of useful features while keeping everything that you loved about the old portfolio.
1. JUMP TO ARTICLES - You can jump to articles related to your portfolio by clicking on 'View Headlines' on the far right or you can collapse your list of stocks by clicking on your portfolio name (Portfolio 1, in this case) and clicking 'All Portfolio'



2 EDIT HOLDINGS - You can edit shares in a lot by clicking on shares and then choose to edit or add lots:
A.

B.

C.

D.

3. SORT ALPHABETICALLY - You can also arrange your stocks alphabetically by clicking on the symbol column, and then arrange them in ascending/descending order and you can also have a custom sort on any other column like 'Change %', 'Volume' etc. Your desired sorting will be saved by default.

Additionally, you can view a lot of helpful metrics like Earnings (to track earnings call date), Growth, Performance etc. that will aid you in managing your portfolio.
I'm sure in due time you will find the new portfolio page very useful and friendly.

Regards,
Kushal Mehrotra

Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

Kushal,

I appreciate your response and that you will fix the issue of opening a "new tab" when clicking on a link or article. Very important and a good start.

But, like others have also commented, I believe you misinterpret how many use "My Portfolio". I'm just going to boldly claim here that many SA users are reasonably professional investors and analysts, who have a range of other "investment tools" available, least of which their own Excel sheet, where they have the key portfolio data personalized to their needs. They will most probably also have an active trading/investing account at some bank, which will provide most of those metrics anyway, including # of shares, value of portfolio, avg. cost, highs/lows etc. Forcing them to essentially recreate another mirror portfolio of all that, complicates things unnecessarily and misses the point.
Even the collapsed mode, which leaves you with a summary of your trading-account portfolio (assuming you actually bothered to enter # of shares and keep updating that), is more of a distraction.

"My Portfolio" is/was mostly a very useful SMART-FILTER that groups qualitative and quantitative information on stocks of interest so you can enhance your understanding of those companies. The first entry view therefore needs to contain the key/new headlines and basic stock prices. Nothing more. Then you click and scroll from there. Any web designer on Seeking Alpha should keep that objective in mind.

Frankly if you care about daily trading volume and high/lo ranges of stocks flashing at you, just watch the tickers on Bloomberg or CNBC... Not saying thats useless, but please not on the FRONT page. When you pick up the Wall-Street-Journal, the daily trading metrics are also in the back pages.


If the idea here is to strategically capture the more novice/unprofessinal retail investor, you might well estrange a lot of your loyal customers. You have some truly great and very professional contributors on here that feed off a knowledgable readerbase, otherwise they also will stop writing articles...and that will continue to lower the common demominator.

Not trying to bash new ideas...Seeking Alpha is a great source of information and ideas that I use daily.  Thanks for giving it some thought

Avatar
Tridente
Quote from MJF_111

For anyone who has the same issue I do, I found a work around that give me a similar process to my old one.  

- Navigate to the articles list under the portfolio.

- Hover over the article you want to read.

- Right mouse click and choose the first item "Open in New Tab"

This keeps your first tab where you left off on the list and you can read each article individually without lots of navigation.

BTW - Did I say I dislike the new format?

Thats a useful work-around...although cumbersome to have to do that, when it was automatic before.

Avatar
Tridente
Quote from Tridente

Kushal,

I appreciate your response and that you will fix the issue of opening a "new tab" when clicking on a link or article. Very important and a good start.

But, like others have also commented, I believe you misinterpret how many use "My Portfolio". I'm just going to boldly claim here that many SA users are reasonably professional investors and analysts, who have a range of other "investment tools" available, least of which their own Excel sheet, where they have the key portfolio data personalized to their needs. They will most probably also have an active trading/investing account at some bank, which will provide most of those metrics anyway, including # of shares, value of portfolio, avg. cost, highs/lows etc. Forcing them to essentially recreate another mirror portfolio of all that, complicates things unnecessarily and misses the point.
Even the collapsed mode, which leaves you with a summary of your trading-account portfolio (assuming you actually bothered to enter # of shares and keep updating that), is more of a distraction.

"My Portfolio" is/was mostly a very useful SMART-FILTER that groups qualitative and quantitative information on stocks of interest so you can enhance your understanding of those companies. The first entry view therefore needs to contain the key/new headlines and basic stock prices. Nothing more. Then you click and scroll from there. Any web designer on Seeking Alpha should keep that objective in mind.

Frankly if you care about daily trading volume and high/lo ranges of stocks flashing at you, just watch the tickers on Bloomberg or CNBC... Not saying thats useless, but please not on the FRONT page. When you pick up the Wall-Street-Journal, the daily trading metrics are also in the back pages.


If the idea here is to strategically capture the more novice/unprofessinal retail investor, you might well estrange a lot of your loyal customers. You have some truly great and very professional contributors on here that feed off a knowledgable readerbase, otherwise they also will stop writing articles...and that will continue to lower the common demominator.

Not trying to bash new ideas...Seeking Alpha is a great source of information and ideas that I use daily.  Thanks for giving it some thought

By the way...I would NEVER publish the # of shares I own in each of my stocks, hence my entire portfolio value, on a public website.  I might enter just 1 share to get some use out of it, but that sort of defeats the purpose.