jasoncalacanis’s posterous

for what it's worth, I prefer #2 because of the bettter use of space in the header without sacrificing elegence in design

Mix the two: a big search bar on top with integrated Mahalo logo. Search box is too small in #2 and theres too much lost space at the top in #1. IMHO.

No.1 is my personal favorite. The large search and textarea for answers works really well.

I'd like to suggest a trending pages and answers sections which could update real-time. First place I'd come after seeing a "live event" on twitter is Mahalo for a detailed page, links, etc.

Great update to a great service.

Prefer the first: clean design, large input, doesn't have the facebook-ish top bluebar

I like more the #2, actually more than the new one that is on Mahalo right now. I used to use Mahalo a lot for search not just for Q&A and I felt that the search part was kind of lost or minimized with the current new version, that is why after watching your #2 here I would select it as a version that keeps supporting the search and also pushes the Q&A as I assume is your strategy due the weight and real state that I see now.

I am really impress and happy of the process that you have been doing sharing all the Mahalo upgrade process. congrats!!!!

I'm a fan of #2.. it's use of shrinking the search bar makes the rest of the page much more viewable on laptop screens. (think white macbooks)

Definitely #2. The overall grid is very strict (and missing a little spark of magic) but the vertical layout of the text is particularly off in #1. Mind your leading. #2 works better, but needs some softening. Key to inspired grid-based design is knowing when to blow off the grid. #2 is on the path.

I like #1 better. Very clear presentation of the search box as well as the content below.

I think it comes down to how much of your site activity is from users searching for content, or how much of it you *want* to be from content search. I think most people understand that you can search most sites these days, so I don't think the search box needs such a prominent, oversized placement on the page as in #1. Google did that because its page doesn't do anything else.

#2 makes more sense, offers more space for the "what's going on" dashboard-like area, but still presents the search box prominently enough for when it's needed.

Option 2. Less wasted whitespace on top. Mahalo surf board is more obvious with the blue bkground too.

I definitely prefer the first one. The second draws too much attention to the small text on the top, and the second one, despite having a big heading area, with some white space (I love it btw), draw lots of attention to the right places: search bar, and mahalo answers. I'd say that it is exactly what you're looking for first timers.

Another thing that I've noticed on the first design is that you got pictures right on the edge of my fold here, that also makes ok to have less content on the top, because it indicates that there are more after the fold, and the user can notice it right away.

#2 for sure - looks great

Which is more important to Mahalo. Search or Answers? #2 down plays search. #1 keeps both prominent.

I agree with the rest that it depends on the focus of Mahalo at this time.

Personally I like #1 since it emphasizes both search and asking a question.

I am curious why the 'user interaction' (human powered search, mahalo $$, page managing, etc) is now non-apparent on the front page unlike before.

So fresh and so clean. Love it.

Though there's an excessive amount of whitespace in the header, I still prefer #2. Any way to clean that up?

Because of banner advertising, people have become conditioned to ignore a lot of detail appearing at the top of a page. Design #1 makes the search box visible, so in ease of use it's better. Who here hasn't "searched for search" on a web page? Design #2 hides it in plain sight, always annoying. If you go with design #2, you will get tons of search terms in your questions box, would be my guess. In fact, objectively that would be a good way to differentiate the results in testing. If Design #2 is producing a lot more "one-word questions" out of the questions box, that means people couldn't find the search box on the page as well.

Agree with George on the search point -- the #2 search box design (including the nonsensical non-white background color along with the super ugly/stretched button struggling to fit the grid) is pretty awful.

I don't think you'll get many search hits in your answers box (testing of course is far more valuable than my dopey opinion), but a white background, rounded corners (and/or the little magnifying icon) on the search box would go a long way to make "search" more noticeable. Look at upper right in Firefox, Safari or the Mac for clues to borrow from.

As a designer, reading between the lines I'd also note that both options hint that Mahalo doesn't quite know what it is yet. The company process itself that generated these two options should be rethought and debugged.