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Post by eday2010 on Dec 20, 2007 22:51:06 GMT
Withdrawn!
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Post by Sinistral on Dec 20, 2007 23:18:23 GMT
I like it. I have a few questions i hope you don't mind answering? I take it this site is optimised for 1024x768? That’s one of the things we need really. That navbar looks complicated. How easily editable is that to regularly add/remove stuff? Would this design be in xhtml? Would it be w3c standards compliant? There’s a fair bit of white space down the left hand side. Would the navbar allow multiple headings to be opened at a time and use this space or does opening another heading close the previous? The logo at the top with sonic, is it conceivable that we could have a flash animation in the background with sonic running through the level? Most other things look the same, the background checked pattern looks a little off, but I understand this is a tiny detail. "design by wn studios" - would you really be wanting to take full credit for the website - it would surely still be running sega8bit.coms original server side coding/db and using most of the images we have already? Overall, I like the look. But being honest it doesn’t do anything that our site doesn’t already. It just seems an awful lot of work for me to integrate our all the server side stuff into this without fully understanding the coding behind the site. It’s no copy and paste job for sure. Things could get messy.
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Post by eday2010 on Dec 21, 2007 0:03:01 GMT
I take it this site is optimised for 1024x768? That’s one of the things we need really. Yes. That navbar looks complicated. How easily editable is that to regularly add/remove stuff? Easy. None of it would be images. It would be CSS and XHTML. Would this design be in xhtml? Would it be w3c standards compliant? Yes and yes. There’s a fair bit of white space down the left hand side. Would the navbar allow multiple headings to be opened at a time and use this space or does opening another heading close the previous? I don't know. I would have to test that out. Though white space is not a bad thing. The logo at the top with sonic, is it conceivable that we could have a flash animation in the background with sonic running through the level? Yes, if you want. I think it could be randomly plopped into place like an image. But making the flash animations could be a lot of work. Most other things look the same, the background checked pattern looks a little off, but I understand this is a tiny detail. Keep it mind this is only a mockup. The grid would be properly proportional. It's also not at strong because it makes the text harder to read. "design by wn studios" - would you really be wanting to take full credit for the website - it would surely still be running sega8bit.coms original server side coding/db and using most of the images we have already? Not full credit; just the design. That doesn't include the back end stuff Overall, I like the look. But being honest it doesn’t do anything that our site doesn’t already. It just seems an awful lot of work for me to integrate our all the server side stuff into this without fully understanding the coding behind the site. It’s no copy and paste job for sure. Things could get messy. It wasn't supposed to change what the site does. It was only supposed to update the look. It was just an idea; nothing you had to act on. Basically your server side stuff would plug into this layout the same way it does in the current one.
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Aypok
Sonic the Hedgehog
Posts: 2,372
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Post by Aypok on Dec 21, 2007 2:55:12 GMT
It was just an idea; nothing you had to act on. Basically your server side stuff would plug into this layout the same way it does in the current one. The thing is, there is no "seperation of concerns" as far as the Sega8bit code goes - the design and code are not seperate. To change the layout means to change the code. I'm not having a dig at the way it's written - I'm just trying to clarify the situation. :) Anyhoo; as for the design: bits of it are nice - bits of it look crap. The over-all idea is good and I like the execution - on the whole. Bits I like: the logo, the border and background. What I don't like is the content, the menu and the headers. It all look very... amature, if you'll excuse the phrase. It's mainly down to the font and blocks of solid colour. Maybe "jazz" it up by adding dithering, shading, or some sort of text/pattern. This is supposed to be constructive criticism, not just a "blah blah it sucks blah blah" post. As I say; it has potential. The only real problem is, as Sinistral pointed out, implementing it. Plus, the current site doesn't look too bad. :) Maybe you should turn your attention to Sega16bit - that does need a redesign. :)
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Post by rupert on Dec 21, 2007 8:22:08 GMT
I think overall it's a nice job you have done there, Could the current site not just have minor modifications to make it looks abit like that anyway? I.e. change the colours and main logo area at the top?
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Post by playgeneration on Dec 21, 2007 10:20:39 GMT
The main changes you've made are the bits I don't like I'm afraid. Having hidden menus you need to click on just means it takes far more time to see all the options in the menu. The current menu is quite big, but is quick to simply scroll through it, and theres a few bits that could be tidied up on there. Not keen on the Box style Tab at the top either, uses space for no functional use.
It does look cleaner, but then its missing a bunch of stuff thats on the current front page. Ditching things like the Web ring, and links - when theres a seperate page for that anyway will achieve similar results. Also enlarging the fixed width from its 800x600 size will help in that regard.
As rupert says, with a bit of alteration the current site would look like that. I think its a higher priority to sort out the fixed width, having a less restricted review format, and simply adding more content.
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Post by eday2010 on Dec 21, 2007 14:26:04 GMT
What I don't like is the content, the menu and the headers. It all look very... amature, if you'll excuse the phrase. It's mainly down to the font and blocks of solid colour. Maybe "jazz" it up by adding dithering, shading, or some sort of text/pattern. Again, FIRST DRAFT :). I just used Arial because it's clean and on every computer out there. It can be changed to an websafe font easily. As for the solid headers, it's actually not amature. A lot of Canadian government websites are using similar heading. They might look amature here because they are bigger than I would normally make them. Same with the menu, since I made those things bigger more for ease of viewing than accurate representation of what the site would look like. As for the content, talk to Andy ;). I just used what was already there ;D. The thing I like the least is the tab at the top. You also mentioned 16bit; I left a post there, but it's so barren over there that I was going to message you today about doing something over there ;) I think overall it's a nice job you have done there, Could the current site not just have minor modifications to make it looks abit like that anyway? I.e. change the colours and main logo area at the top? I don't know how the site is set up and how easily that could be done. when I floated this idea out as well as the first draft, I didn't expect it to be embraced or acted upon since I don't know what's involved in changing things on the site. I just wanted to do something that could that the site could look updated while keeping it's 8-bitty charm. Plus having a site that is more visually appealing than the other SMS sites doesn't hurt either. The main changes you've made are the bits I don't like I'm afraid. Having hidden menus you need to click on just means it takes far more time to see all the options in the menu. The current menu is quite big, but is quick to simply scroll through it, and theres a few bits that could be tidied up on there. Not keen on the Box style Tab at the top either, uses space for no functional use. The menu can easily be made fully visible. Just envision each red menu item having a bunch of burgundy ones underneath. The expanding and contracting menu was just an idea, but because the main page is so long, it's not necessary. The contracted menu would be useful on pages that are much shorter, but again, it works having it all visible too. And it takes no JavaScript to have it visible all the time :). I also dislike the box tab, so we agree there. It does look cleaner, but then its missing a bunch of stuff thats on the current front page. Ditching things like the Web ring, and links - when theres a seperate page for that anyway will achieve similar results. Also enlarging the fixed width from its 800x600 size will help in that regard. It's actually not missing anything that is on the current page except the graphic about writing reviews, and that's only because I decided the image was long enough and was too lazy to start moving things around. But everything else is there, it's just rearranged. As rupert says, with a bit of alteration the current site would look like that. I think its a higher priority to sort out the fixed width, having a less restricted review format, and simply adding more content. I don't know how easy it would be to make a few alterations to the current site. I don't know how it works. In any case, the design wasn't meant to be taken as a whole, or even at all; it's just a set of ideas. Maybe out of the whole thing, Andy might like the logo banner at the top and will want to do something like that. Or maybe he likes the starburst. Or maybe changing the background colour from black to white or something since black is very passé. Or maybe nothing at all. They can fight over it; I just felt like being creative. Aypok mentioned 16bit. Maybe I'll withdraw this design and use bits of it over there since that site is butt ugly :)
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Post by Stan on Dec 21, 2007 22:01:07 GMT
Hmmm, I don't know, I don't see any problem with the way the site has always been, but a change could be good I suppose. I know it's a rough draft for now, but I don't like it, so it would take something pretty spectacular to sway me, I think the current design is just fine. Some of the organization could maybe use some updating, but not the entire design in my opinion.
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Post by eday2010 on Dec 21, 2007 23:11:04 GMT
Hmmm, I don't know, I don't see any problem with the way the site has always been... I think the current design is just fine. It's ugly as sin and just as outdated . Like I said, everyone seems happy with the current site, so I withdraw my idea and will use bits of it at Sega16Bit.com
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Post by Sinistral on Dec 22, 2007 0:30:55 GMT
Cheers mate! I knew it was getting a bit long in the tooth, but its not THAT bad looking surely? With outdated I assume you mean the coding? The resolution? Yes and yes. But the site you proposed although it filled 1024x768 the usable text area still seemed to be 800x600. Aside from the navbar it wasn't that much different other than the colour usage. We could slap a huge image across the top of the site too and change the colour/size of the red cart checked background to white. If we’re going to do this were going to be stuck with the design that will last the next 6 years. It needs to be something drastic, amazingly awsome looking and have the wow factor (in an 8bit way!) Please don’t take offence any of the point I or other people have made, we had all the same criticisms when sega8bit first came along, everyone still wanted to see the old SMS.com. People seem to learn to love new designs. Just takes time. I’m still interested in looking in to this, please don’t be discouraged by the posting here, we really do appreciate your efforts. All you were trying to do is make the site better. Credit given where due.
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Post by Stan on Dec 22, 2007 1:08:45 GMT
By the way Andy, mad props for all the recent organizations you've done to the site proper. The database looks nice and feels much more user friendly though there isn't much difference.
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Post by Sinistral on Dec 23, 2007 1:41:11 GMT
Thanks. Not sure what mad props are... unless you meant to say mad poops?, but i think it's positive? Just been doing bits and pieces trying to tidy up a little. Still getting pictures together for the hardware database. Really is a mammoth task.
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Post by Stan on Dec 23, 2007 1:55:11 GMT
Just means good job. If you could, PM or post a list of what accessories you plan on adding so I don't do them myself. I doubt you have any of my third-party sticks and stuff, but I have some things you likely own so let me know if you can, don't want to take pictures and then look to see you already did some of them.
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Post by eday2010 on Dec 23, 2007 3:16:00 GMT
With outdated I assume you mean the coding? The resolution? Yes and yes. But the site you proposed although it filled 1024x768 the usable text area still seemed to be 800x600. Aside from the navbar it wasn't that much different other than the colour usage. We could slap a huge image across the top of the site too and change the colour/size of the red cart checked background to white. If we’re going to do this were going to be stuck with the design that will last the next 6 years. It needs to be something drastic, amazingly awsome looking and have the wow factor (in an 8bit way!) Please don’t take offence any of the point I or other people have made, we had all the same criticisms when sega8bit first came along, everyone still wanted to see the old SMS.com. People seem to learn to love new designs. Just takes time. I’m still interested in looking in to this, please don’t be discouraged by the posting here, we really do appreciate your efforts. All you were trying to do is make the site better. Credit given where due. I don't know exactly how the site was coded, but fro mthe brief look I had at the source code, yes the code is outdated. But when I said outdated, I meant the look. I don't remember how wide I made the usable area for text was. I think it was about 900-960 pixels in width since the whole image was 1024. When designign a site for a 1024x768 screen, you don't make the actual page 1024 pixels wide. It comes out to about 960 pixels of usable width, maybe a bit more. The anyone with a higher resolution, they would have seen the blue background on the edges. The reason I didn't change the main stuff on the site is because you requested the site keep some of it's 8-bit pizazz, and one way to do that is to keep the main content form the old site in tact. On top of that, there isn't a whole lot that can be done to make drastic changes with what is on the home page now, and I didn't think you'd want all the current stuff changed. The changes can't be too big if you want the old 8-bit flavour to remain; at least I can't think of anything and don't knwo what you had in mind. No discouragement or offense taken here . I understand how web designs are viewed. Some people liked it, some didn't, and some liked certain parts. No site design for this site or any other site on the web is ever going to please every single person. Plus Stan is a spiderpig Anyhow, you have the files I sent to you. Feel free to ask about any aspect you are interested in. Helping is fun
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Post by majortony on Dec 23, 2007 23:07:22 GMT
I used to love web design, haven't done anything in years though. Had my own "company" when I was 15, although I was basically a freelance designer with a portfolio site. Made a fair bit of money, but just got bored with it overnight.
Would've been nice to have seen this design though!
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