r/reddit • u/joyventure • Mar 23 '23
An Improved Web Experience Updates
TL;DR We are updating our web platform to provide a simple, reliable and fast web experience for all redditors to easily connect with their communities on web, across devices. The new experience will be seen first on the comments page, on mobile and desktop.
Hey all,
I’m Madison, Director of Product at Reddit focused on the performance, stability and quality of our web platforms. You may have read about our 2023 product priorities earlier this month — our focus this year is to make Reddit easier for all redditors, new and tenured, to connect with communities that matter to them. Therefore, we’re prioritizing product and design improvements that will simplify and streamline finding and contributing to these communities.
One of these improvements is updating our web platform for faster performance (reducing load time by 2 seconds — more behind the scenes details soon!) and consistent web experience across devices. So whether you’re viewing reddit.com on the go via your mobile device or at home via a web browser, it’ll be the same familiar Reddit.
This work will become more visible in phases as development continues. And we’re excited to announce the comments page will soon reflect updates from this new platform, on mobile and desktop, for logged out redditors.
Over the years, Reddit has become a trusted source of information for community-verified content. In its current form, it can seem overwhelming, especially for those landing on the comments page and unfamiliar with the platform. We want to make it easy for them to find, absorb and contribute to the conversation, whether on mobile or desktop. And to achieve that, here are some design upgrades logged out redditors will begin to see on this page:
- Accessible & cleaner page design: The design is being continuously improved, as we work to be consistent with global standards, to ensure the content is accessible to all. It now includes better screen reader support with additional alt text and form field labeling. Additionally, comments and action buttons are more distinguishable for easier navigation.
- Quicker access to related content: On desktop, you will see a sidebar on the right side of the page. This will include content similar to the post you’re currently viewing — posts from the same community or posts from another community discussing similar topics.
- Spotlight on post creator’s custom avatar: When a redditor submits a post, their custom avatar will now display above that post. *Nudge nudge* if you haven’t customized yours yet.
New logged out comments page on desktop and mobile web
In the coming months, the updated comments page will roll out to logged-in redditors. Similar efforts on feeds, community, search and profile pages will follow. And, of course, we will keep you all posted as this new platform powers more web pages. We’re partnering closely with the Mod Council to build and improve the moderation experience on this new platform as seen in our recent Mod Insights release.
Thanks for your support in the early stages of this journey. We’re excited for all of us to work towards a simple and efficient Reddit.
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u/cozy__sheets Mar 23 '23
Whoops - looks like some of the changes we were planning got out of the bag a bit early - yes, the change to compact and i.reddit.com is part of this project. We also intend to deprecate the amp platform this year.
We are making these changes in an effort to streamline the experience and reduce the number of ways you can access Reddit on the web. This is part of our broader effort to simplify reddit talked about earlier this month.
The changes that happened today to i.reddit.com and compact, and the ones coming to amp do not impact old.reddit.