Preview of new site look - Page 2

Pinski · 07-17-2007, 12:18 PM

Looks fine, except maybe replace "Today's Posts", with "New Posts" instead. I don't honestly see a reason to have "Today's Posts" when "New Posts" are far more important to people.

Ethar · 07-17-2007, 12:28 PM

Had a good laugh about the WoW advertisement haha.

Cupcake · 07-17-2007, 12:50 PM

I think it looks like shit. It's too cluttered and isn't half as good as the current one.

LFG · 07-17-2007, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cupcake

I think it looks like shit. It's too cluttered and isn't half as good as the current one.

I can't do advertising with the current skin. Maybe I could if I paid the old skin developer 1 jillion dollars, he's very hard to work with and wants maximum money for minimum effort and sometimes crappy results. Remember the old chat app we ended up shitcanning, and the mismatched cut and paste job on the opening window? That was him, and ended up being a total waste of money that was embarrassing.

This new skin dev we are using has a lot of patience, and we have gone a million miles between what he originally delivered as his first round design and what you see now.

I'm sorry if you don't like it, but we need the advertising revenue to pay for this site. The clutter really involves the top and left ad banners. Again, please just pretend you aren't seeing the top website display banner - that will not be permanent..

This is in my opinion is the best we can do, and Niber and I have prolly 50 hours each into working on this and going back and forth with the designer over the past month. This was originally supposed to take five days, we are now almost at the month mark.

Sorry if you don't like it, but unless you are a skin designer willing to work for free at this point, hopefully our new design will grow on you and you'll think differently in the future.

LFG · 07-17-2007, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethar

Had a good laugh about the WoW advertisement haha.

Ya, the Google bullshit ads are only up there in the mock up. We will not be using google adsense, I've signed up with Adbrite instead. The difference is that Adbrite allows us to choose our ads in advance, I check the box next to the highest paying ones that don't involve the secondary MMO market, and that's what we will be getting for this site.

BTW, I have no clue why other EQ2 Fansites use Google Adsense, they could make a lot more money with Adbrite IMO. The reason is that ads for liquor, casinos and questionable weight loss products pay more per click and per impression than plat sellers even. So to maximize revenue in addition to my matter of principle on this issue, we are better off advertising for malt liquor and cheap rum than for gold seller and hack and cheat sites.

LFG · 07-17-2007, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinski

Looks fine, except maybe replace "Today's Posts", with "New Posts" instead. I don't honestly see a reason to have "Today's Posts" when "New Posts" are far more important to people.

Niber, this is a good point, please add this to your list.

Talonis · 07-17-2007, 02:15 PM

Looks good to me, except......*cough*header sux bad*cough*.....nvm, you know. I think the feeling of clutter comes from the ads. Sounds like a great reason to appease your obsessive/compulsive complexes while simultaneously helping the site by donating for ad free display!

Header sux tho.

Looking at the header made me think. Why do I (and others) get the 'cookie-cutter fansite' feel from that header? It's the oft-used game graphics. What makes people identify with the site other than it's text-based content? The imagery they see everytime they log in or click the main page link. Why not use some of the fantastic artwork recently created for the T-shirts? They are uniquely EQ2Flames. It bridges any gap between the site and the products sold in the store. Sounds like a match made in Heaven (or the Flames of hell as it were).

LFG · 07-17-2007, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talonis

Looks good to me, except......*cough*header sux bad*cough*.....nvm, you know. I think the feeling of clutter comes from the ads. Sounds like a great reason to appease your obsessive/compulsive complexes while simultaneously helping the site by donating for ad free display!

Header sux tho.

Looking at the header made me think. Why do I (and others) get the 'cookie-cutter fansite' feel from that header? It's the oft-used game graphics. What makes people identify with the site other than it's text-based content? The imagery they see everytime they log in or click the main page link. Why not use some of the fantastic artwork recently created for the T-shirts? They are uniquely EQ2Flames. It bridges any gap between the site and the products sold in the store. Sounds like a match made in Heaven (or the Flames of hell as it were).

Sounds like your points mostly relate to the header. I'm talking to Bitmap about redoing the header. We can't do anything however, until the final design is delivered and installed, because until then, I won't know what the pixel dimensions of the header files are, so she wouldn't be able to do this until the entire skin is installed and then we will know what header dimensions we can use to replace the current header in the design.

I just know I'm going to see 20 million complaints about the header when the new skin is installed, and I'm going to have to answer and reanswer this same question that many times. I have low patience for repeating myself, so my hope is the maximum number of people will realize now that the header we get with the new skin is temporary, and won't be up for more than a couple weeks before it is replaced with something much more EQ2flameish. The header really defines the look and feel of the entire site.

Talonis · 07-17-2007, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFG

Sounds like your points mostly relate to the header. I'm talking to Bitmap about redoing the header. We can't do anything however, until the final design is delivered and installed, because until then, I won't know what the pixel dimensions of the header files are, so she wouldn't be able to do this until the entire skin is installed and then we will know what header dimensions we can use to replace the current header in the design.

I just know I'm going to see 20 million complaints about the header when the new skin is installed, and I'm going to have to answer and reanswer this same question that many times. I have low patience for repeating myself, so my hope is the maximum number of people will realize now that the header we get with the new skin is temporary, and won't be up for more than a couple weeks before it is replaced with something much more EQ2flameish. The header really defines the look and feel of the entire site.

You are correct, sir. The rest of the layout looks great, even better than the current in many ways. But yeah, I'm not reading impaired, I get it that the current header is temp. Just offering some ideas for it once it can be changed. Nice work to you guys. Looking forward to using the new layout.

Wozamil · 07-17-2007, 03:02 PM

As long as the url remains the same I'll be happy. The nazi website blocking people at work have blocked everything important to me, except eq2flames. As long as you can maintain the post bot and trackers, it's all good.

I really like the new thread and post reply buttons. The eq2flames logo on the bottom is pretty tight too. The website has a lot of similarities to other sites, but unlike all those copy paste jobs, this one still looks different enough.