Interscription

I thought I might drop a quick note on the Xbox.com redesign.

The DLB frequently utilizes the term "meh", and I believe this is a great time for it.

So, in the plus column, there’s a fancy "flash card" app that sits in the center of your personal Xbox.com page.  While visually appealing, I’m not sure this fills a "need" that was previously apparent.  What it does do is compress the amount of real estate your useful information takes up.  (There are also a couple more changes that achieve a similar end, such as showing the last five people who logged onto Live on a mini Friends List, as well as a well designed "footer bar" at that frames your data with a few frequently used buttons like Manage Profile.  All-in-all, everything that you could access is still accessible, even if the reorganization of the data has moved it a click or two further than it used to be. 

Now, this economy of space would be a welcome addition if it was making room for more useful information about you and your "Live life".  It’s a bit depressing that Microsoft has decided to fill the newly reclaimed land for more ads.  Yes, it seems that the varying degress of important information that we had at our fingertips has been stored into the subterranean depths of the Xbox.com website to make room for banner ads.  These are the same adverticles (I’m hoping that’s a word) and banner box that graces the home page of xbox.com.

In closing, this update really has no intrinsic value for the end user, and that, boys and girls, is a shame.  What are your thoughts?