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Rate our current design!

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:40 pm
by SSCBen
I'm wondering at the moment what people think about our current design. I am considering making a second one for a new update, but if I don't really need to, I won't.

Don't just simply rate a 10 or a 1 - please provide reasons and criticisms about our design. This is not an evaluation of a design, but an evaluation of our design in context. I've read that simply looking at a design to evaluate it's effectiveness most times is ineffective (especially with "filler" content which may seem safe to work with, but never matches real content).

Please post about what you like and what you do not like. If you have ideas or suggestions, feel free to give them. Criticism is welcome and wanted too.

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 10:37 pm
by Neuro
Personally I like the way the design is now, my only problem with it is consistency, particularly the section hierarchy. E.g. sometimes one thing is a subsection of another thing and sometimes it isn't. I also still say the whole dealie needs to be migrated to an RDBMS ;)

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 5:11 am
by NiborDude
I like it. It fits the site well. I don't see any reason to change it. The front page looks great, everything is organized in tables and the pictures you have work very well. I especially like the banner.

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:45 am
by SSCBen
Well, I guess with responses like this, I'll hold off on the redesign efforts and focus more on the backend.

I'll make a quick copy of what I had been thinking of and let people make a comparison to see if what I planned has any merit. ;)

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 1:09 pm
by RacerSoaker445
I like the design, however, the fourm needs some color changing to match the main site.

Nice job, I've never seen anyone do so well in just GIMP.

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:31 pm
by hotshotwithcps4100
I like it. However, I think it would look better if you changed some of the colors.

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:45 pm
by SSCBen
RacerSoaker445 wrote:I like the design, however, the fourm needs some color changing to match the main site.

Nice job, I've never seen anyone do so well in just GIMP.
Let me clear this up... this is NOT about the forum at all. The forum has little to do with this descision. However, I will say that Freakymist is going to work on a new forum style to match the site. Also, I'm still yet to receive any style recommendations aside from Hyper9's (which I installed immediately)...

Thanks for the comment on the forum though.
I like it. However, I think it would look better if you changed some of the colors.
Thank you, but this is exactly what I wasn't looking for. Which colors should be changed in your opinion? What should they be changed to?

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:08 pm
by Spinner
8. Very neat design, just needs standards-compliance (I don't think it was last time I checked).

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:08 pm
by SSCBen
I now see that some people voted 4 and 5. These are the people I would like to hear from the most. What don't you like about out design? Where could the design improve? Please tell.

Standards compliance is something I consider extremely important... that will be the largest change I'll make to the design given it's kept. I now evaluate acessibility as well. A few changes will be made to fit accessibility standards if this design is kept. ;)

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:25 pm
by CPS
the design is good, but the site has a lack of content, example: the other day i was trying to fix my max-d 6000, there was an article on the site, but contained 2 fuzzy pictures and a sentence or two.
the site also needs a site index or search function. it dosn't matter if the design is great, it the content that matters (look at microsoft).

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:56 pm
by SSCBen
CPS, this is only an evaluation of the DESIGN, not content. I don't know where you were getting the impression that this is an evaluation of our site as a whole.

We have a site map (the link is on all pages last time I checked) and we used to have a functional search tool as well. I'm also still looking for the article with the fuzzy picture and sentence or two about repairing Max-D 6000s. I also don't know how you can complain that we lack content when we literally have over 400 pages of content, and at least 150 are articles or reviews.

If you could post at our forums about your broken Super Soaker Max-D 6000, I'm fairly sure you could find a repair.

Also, when are you going to start using capitalization?

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:30 am
by Hunt_and_Annoy
I think that the logo at the top of the forums should also say sscentral on the top, not just have the guy with a 2000.