Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman said last summer that his site felt old and that they didn't want to be associated with old. To address the matter, the self-proclaimed "front page of the Internet" managed to raise $200 million in venture funding and now has something to show for its money.
Reddit this week announced it is beginning to give a small group of users access to its redesigned desktop interface. Users selected to participate are being chosen at random, we're told, and Reddit is going slow to test server load. In the coming weeks, the opt-in will be available to everyone.
If you are selected to test the new design and find you prefer the older layout, you can revert back to it by visiting old.reddit.com.
It's worth noting that Reddit doesn't have plans to do away with its current design but rather, wants to give users more choices with regard to how they view the site. That's probably a wise move for now considering most major site / app redesigns don't usually go over well with users at first. Once people have had enough time to get used to the new designs, I suspect Reddit will start to phase out the old layout.
What are your thoughts on Reddit's new look? Personally, I don't much care for the Card view as it too closely resembles a social media site like Facebook or Twitter. The Classic look seems to be most in line with the current design albeit with a few changes and of course, Compact would be ideal if you're short on time or are interested in mass consumption. If I had to choose one, it'd be the Classic version.
