"We have a little surprise in store for you, loyal readers of Above the Law. We hope you like it."

The hour or so where ATL rendered as Fashionista certainly was a surprise. Well played, sir. Well played.

Original was better.

lat..im sure you have realized already but you need to fix the way your quotes work in the new format. that willkie post is gibberish without the blue boxes of old.

left hand text? wtf? this is america, lat!

and i'd like to shake the hand of whoever figured out how to make a slow loading website load twice as slow as before. you are a man among mice.

left hand text? wtf? this is america, lat!

and i'd like to shake the hand of whoever figured out how to make a slow loading website load twice as slow as before. you are a man among mice.

terrible new format

This looks pretty shitty, but at least the ads are on the right side. Loads slow as hell too.

The new look is great, it loads a lot faster, too!

If it ain't broke...

Wow. Fugly with a capital F U.

Lat - webdesign is for professionals. Don't try it at home. Agree with 10:59 - this is shitty. Now ATL looks like every failed lawyer's blog. I'll have to start reading Outhouse . . . . nah, nothing's that bad.

Gotta be honest - this new design is terrible. I actually liked the old design. Change it back!

I'm no accountant, but having the number of comments appear in red and parentheses is making me think they are negative comments. Or the opposite of comments. Whatever, it's distracting.

No longer looks unique. Looks like every other blog page out there. Plus I need to load an additional page to post a comment. That's annoying.

What will also be annoying will be those pics that people will insert next to their messages.

I don't know why people are complaining. The site is clearly cleaner and more feature-rich. Change is tough.

Gotta be honest - this new design is terrible. I actually liked the old design. Change it back!

Doesn't this post deserve a "bad ideas" tag?

I approve.

Eww. This is so terrible. The black and red is creepy and would only be appropriate for some bizarre website where single men discuss hair loss and sexual problems.

WTF, my RSS feed from this blog is full of blog posts about fashion. Lawyers know nothing about fashion. Worrying about fashion = less billable hours.

This is horrible..could actually cause me to stop visiting the site I don't have time to wait for this shit to load.

Dealbreaker looks a lot better. As someone who's done some web design before, these style choices are just horrible.

The header? Gross.

sexist! I want a woman silhouette!

i hope the extremely slow load times are just a product of the switchover.

I'm not a fan, but it's mostly because there are so many bugs still carrying over from the fashionista site that was obviously the model...

oh god no. i was afraid this was what coming. the old interface was so much easier to read and less busy.

this is the same crap they have on dealbreaker now.

Takes longer to comment as guest (new page load) = decrease in comments. Design looks terrible - page length will be very long for clusterfucks with the image ids. Why change a good thing?

Takes longer to comment as guest (new page load) = decrease in comments. Design looks terrible - page length will be very long for clusterfucks with the image ids. Why change a good thing?

wow. you all are a bunch of drama queens.

Takes longer to comment as guest (new page load) = decrease in comments. Design looks terrible - page length will be very long for clusterfucks with the image ids. Why change a good thing?

Takes longer to comment as guest (new page load) = decrease in comments. Design looks terrible - page length will be very long for clusterfucks with the image ids. Why change a good thing?

boring.

I think the new page looks great. The font is very "Law and Order" ish.

Good job.

and now you can't make jokes where the joke is who's posting. seeing "guest" is so much worse than seeing FRATSTUD or L2L or Hof1L.

This is really, really, really REALLY bad

The old design was so dated... looked like a site from 1997. I like the idea of the new design, but some flaws need to be worked out. No doubt lat is all over it tho

Nice, Lat, and I don't get re-directed to Fashionista like earlier today.

Tragically hip

I like the design, but not the comments, as every lawyer and law student is going to post as a guest, so those sexist silhouettes are going to be on every line

Hey guys, check out the new "Community" section:

http://abovethelaw.com/community/

It basically allows you to post an "open thread" on whatever topic you want. Then people can comment on it.

everybody hates change, especially change that sucks, and this fits perfectly.

way to eff it up by making it "better"

several design rules were violated in this redesign. someone should have taken a course in human-computer interaction before messing with the site.

well, all the more reason to make my infrequent trips here even more infrequent.

hmm.... actually, maybe that's why Lat redesigned - readership is probably falling because there's a lack of good content recently. solution: change the dressing and call it "new and improved."

i can't tell if the site actually loads slower.. but having the text on the left takes some reorienting because i was so used to ignoring everything the left before..

while we have more time on our hands than we let on, we're absolutely stingy when it comes to wasting our unproductive time waiting for ads to load.. keep things fast.. keep the news dirty, relevant, and real..

i miss the old format

You stole this design from a FASHION website! Weak...

http://www.fashionista.com/

If it's slow to load, it's because there's two to three times more articles posted on the front page. If he makes it only 5 posts like before, it should be fine.

another vote here for the old format.

this new one takes too long to load!

I liked the old logo, this is just generic looking

New design is clunky and ugly. Looks pretty amateur. You should go back to the old look.

way to look like every other lame blog on the interweb. at least adblock still works.

I'm not sure if your advertisers will be thrilled, but the left-hand format actually makes it easier to ignore the ads.

Count one more superdelegate vote for going back to the old format.

The old version actually resembled a tabloid. This resembles nothing.

So, format aside, what are the real differences?

Most significantly, it looks like we join and all posting will no longer be (as) anonymous. So, what's the point of that? Trying to build a community of overworked, bitchy lawyers? That doesn't sound like people I'd actually want to get to know...

I definitely agree that the comments should be on the right, as they were on the old site. Otherwise, I kind of like the new format...but the black/gray/red is just painful to read. Plus...Men? In a Suit?

Um...Lat, 50% of all incoming associates are female, and I am one of them. I do NOT like seeing a man in a suit next to my name.

"Say, Ambular! Was That You Going Through My Laundry?"

Reader Lexi reminded us of a shopping dilemma we haven't thought about in years - "Would you buy something you know a friend already owns?" I was immediately brought back to tenth grade lunch where my best once friend proclaimed....

"Say, Ambular! Was That You Going Through My Laundry?"

Reader Lexi reminded us of a shopping dilemma we haven't thought about in years - "Would you buy something you know a friend already owns?" I was immediately brought back to tenth grade lunch where my best once friend proclaimed....

nice redesign. i like it.

Hate the new design.

I like it. Stop whining.

new design is terrible

Yo this sh** is wack!
-token brutha

You're all a bunch of whiny little pussies.

That said, it's lame to have to load an extra page to comment.

looks like a half-assed linkfarm

looks like a half-assed linkfarm

not good

meh....changing the site is like polishing a turd. It's still a turd.

i hereby register my discontent with the new site design. poor layout; poor color choice; poor everything, methinks. i'll probably be less inclined now to visit ATL. i know nothing about web design, but the old site design was at least splashed with bright, clear colors and non-chunky things.

HATE the new format.

HATE new interface

I miss being anonymous

I like the new look. But the comments font (aka, the "fontment" looks horrible in IE 6.

stop moving my cheese

I don't care that much about the new design, but the site is even slower than before.

I don't care that much about the new design, but the site is even slower than before.

Also, the comment mechanism is wonky. Hard to tell if the comment was actually posted.

Fugly and slooooooooooooooooooooooow.

The font on the entire website doesn't work on my firefox. It's all stuck together and hard to read.

No more choosing our own anonymous names? Just "guest"? This sucks! Now to see how slow it is to upload...

this format may not be unique, but at least it's not as tacky as the old one

Lat, this really blows. Especially the guys in suits, and having to click guest in order to make an anonymous comment. Nobody wants to identify themselves.

this really sucks, my main complaint is that the option to post with a witty, topical, fictitious name is now much more time consuming, but at least I can bill a bit more for it.

-Fast Eddie P.

I like the new layout. Much cleaner. Don't like the new comment system so much. Bring anonymous back, down with guest.

Are all your commenters males wearing bad suits, or is that just the standard look? Why aren't there any fake women icons? What about casual looks? Will they all change to open neck shirts and cardigans on Friday?

Are all your commenters males wearing bad suits, or is that just the standard look? Why aren't there any fake women icons? What about casual looks? Will they all change to open neck shirts and cardigans on Friday?

lat this is the worst thing you've ever done. thanks for ruining the last good thing in my life.

Love reading the comments over here. Makes me somewhat enjoy working for you lame's!

-that sexy secretary you all want to bang

Wow, this really proves lawyers are such dinosaurs!

Lat, the new look is GREAT. It's very functional, easier to read, and I love the fact that the text is now on the left side. Comments are better organized, too. All these negative posts only show people can't adopt to change.

11:20 Here you go

My two cents: I don't like the fact that you now cannot see who posted (i.e., Lat, Kash, or whoever else Lat has picked up on the street and has guest-blogging that day).

My two cents: I don't like the fact that you now cannot see who posted (i.e., Lat, Kash, or whoever else Lat has picked up on the street and has guest-blogging that day).

11:20 Here you go

My eyes!!! What the hell is that? Ugh, please stop.

PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK!! This is worse than that Percy guy.

I twice tried to comment and both times the site timed out (using same hardward as in my previouis comments). Lat - look at how few comments the other posts are generating - its due to the format. Its fine to change the layout, but this is both aesthetically displeasing and a lot less user friendly.

Terrible format. Switch back and hope your readers forget you were dumb enough to think this was a good idea.

I would be interested to know how or by whom the new site was designed. The comments about it being terrible and fugly are somewhat exaggerated, but I would say it is not an improvement. You can't go back to the old though, because web sites do need to be changed and updated every once in a while.

Plus:
Text on the left, after you've adjusted to it.
Somewhat cleaner layout.
Avatars.

Minus:
Generic, undistinctive design.
Black and red colors clash.

Not a big fan at all of the new site David. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Also, what is with having to click in order to get to the comment box?

This font is horrendous. Please change it to something easier to see without squinting.

The font is too small and the letter spacing makes it hard to read. There are visual gaps between some letters in the same word. Plus there seems to be a gray streak to the right of the words, like skid marks?

Hate having the extra page load for anonymous pages. PITA and everyone is anonymous anyway.

Hate the bald black man shadow.... we are not all bald black men, FYI. Not that anyone wants to load his or her real photo. The photos that will end up being used (if any!) will be cutesy kittens hanging from a tree branch with "TGIF" in a silly pink font. Skip the pictures, please. I don't want to waste uploading time so I can see folks' goofball pictures.

I too, prefer the old look. At least if you're gonna change the look, go for the now-cool WHITE & BLUE text on a BLACK background. Easier on the eyes. (for example, the footer/header)

100th!

jus sayin'

Old one was way better!

Yuck what an awful layout! this SUCKS! for the first time I'm doubting lat is actually gay....how could a gay man choose such a dreadful layout!