Boards New Look. Give us your advice...

DeVore

http://www.boards.ie/newlook/html/index.htm

This is the suggested first round attempt at a newer look for Boards.ie

This is all in flux at the moment and is quite changeable (altho I like the general layout).

Give us your feedback on what little details might make it better. I cant say we'll include them (they might be very hard to program etc) but we'll certainly conside them.

This is IE 4+ only at the moment as we havent NS'ed it at all...

Hope you all like.

DeV.

Kali

you asked for them here they are

dark green, dark red, mustard.
no thanks, perhaps might blend nicer when corners are rounded off as would probably be done.
imo the lighter colors on the current page look a lot nicer.

the list of boards down the right side:
main categorys that dont have sub-boards look like they are just empty .. err let me see if i can explain that..
e.g. For Sale looks like its just an empty category, whereas Games/After Hours look like they're full.

at res > 800 you get two large white spaces in the middle as the two side bars are aligned left/right.. perhaps make all the news and other stuff in the middle 100% width?

those happy characters at the top.. they give the place a sense of community.. making them smaller detracts from that as well.

listing news is a good idea but would/do the majority of the boards members actively read newsgroups? and use boards.ie/news ?

MiCr0

if possible change the size of the ppl in the middle
they look a bit lost in high res

GreenHell

Its not so much a new look but a new version.

I like it.

Shiminay

I'm not very keen on the mustardy colour - maybe the colour of the text on the "Advertise Here" buttons along the left might work better.

I agree with Kali's suggestion that the For Sale and Work sections look like they're empty or someting. Perhaps the DHTML drop-down menu's like you currently have on the boards pages proper??? I know it's a "Quick Links" section and that it makes sense to show all the forums.
Perhaps you could "fabricate" some boards to go in there (e.g. wanted and available in the For Sale).

The BG Colour on the "Comps for Kids" pic is slightly off from the Teal background (at the time of writing!) - make it transparent

Aside from that, it looks spot on. The general layout works well.

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All the best,

Dav
@B^)
My page of stuff

Hecate

I preferred the old one tbh, mabye with more accesibility to the other boards from the front page.

The new design is ok, but its far too spread out, hard to pin down whats wrong with it exactly, I'm sure other people have noticed it.

2040

make it dark, like the old boards color scheme.

SantaHoe

Waow, that colour scheme is pretty whacky, too many... argh... hard to focus on one thing without being blinded by another.
IMO - less is more...

You'd also expect those little pics over "Register", "Chat" and "News" to be click-able.

The layout is fab, but the colour/design is mank.

But then what the **** do I know?!

Karla

Yeah Dead-o's right about those little fellas over Register etc. You'd think you could click on them. Plus the logo at the top is way too small, and you can tell it's just been reduced in size, not designed at that size.

What was wrong with the old one anyways? I thought it was really good, weird colors but nice all the same

I'd definetely advise rounding off all the corners too, t'would make it a lot prettier.


But still, why change? The current one is really really nice. Seems to work well too, and hey, if it aint broke, why fix it?

All the best

Karla

Kali

i'd hazard a guess that they're trying to integrate community news and a list of newsgroups on the main page,
that seems to be the only reason to change.

DeVore

Pretty much...

Our front page needed a clean out, and we needed to improve navigation.

I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about the changes and how to make the front page something more useful.

We'll look again at the colours and slight rounding of the boxes (though I am unconvinced about the corners). The quick links are for people who just hit the site and dont know what to do (yes I've seen people not realise they just click one of the five guys.)

We'll make the guys about half way between their current size and the original size (they were a little too big, now they are a little small).

More as I think of it and keep the suggestions coming.

DeV.

madyoke

Dev I don't mean to diss the work or anything, I really respect what this group have to offer and all that...

But you need to scrap the look. Start fresh, something clean, crisp, sharp and minimal.

It's the first impressions that count, so make it the best you can. You'll always have us regulars, you got to attract the newcomers.

DeVore

um, if they are newbies, surely this *would* be new and fresh to them.

Also we want to do the ads on the left and the fast links on the right (or somewhere but those would seem reasonable locations)

We want to keep Freaks men (who I think you'll agree, rock) and we want a post of the month and community news (for Lans, ****ups, National games, server news etc etc etc).

I dont really see how we can do this any other way...

We'll go back to the drawing board but I dunno if theres any other way it all fits together..

DeV.

PhilipMarlowe

My head is up my **** when it comes to websites but you asked for opinions...

My impression of the new look is that it does look very good..i like the colours etc but my main issue with it is that if you were new to the site, you (I) would be unsure exactly what is going on...i feel it needs a short welcoming sentence that sort of explains the 'raison d'etre'of the site...now don't get all smart and say that "ffs it is called boards.ie and wtf do you think its for..."
My opinion on this is that if a page is for newcomers, it should offer a limited amount of navigational options...say what you got to say and then steer them to where you want them to go...maybe this being the community news page or whatever...
the register link also looks a bit ominous...ok i know that you need to register to post a message but ppl will figure that out from the individual forums..? It might put some people on their guard...i dunno..

I suppose the essence of this post is that IMHO, i prefer an entry page and then a news page....if these were split up, you should be able to better explain the forums...if i'm a regular i know where to go....fastlinks are fine...but if i'm new...i would like a little text there too..

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www.licksy.net
info@licksy.net

Paladin

Swap the sides of the ads and links i rekon.
Also a diff color scheme for the news part.
<snip>I might post an example someday if im bothered

[This message has been edited by Paladin (edited 28-06-2000).]

Trojan

Tom,

I'm on a half-decent connection here at work, but what's it like to download over modem? Say at 33.6? Are your pages big?

Just wondering...

Al.

spod

I've got no colour co-ordination skills but even I am aghast at the colours. Just not nice. Painful. Seem tres EGA in some bizarre kinda way.

teal is the colour of satan. beige and brown aren't far behind.

Minimalism is good. Far too crowded. Knowing when to have space as opposed what to fill it with is important.
http://glassdog.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi is an actually *nice* ubb site, look n feel wise imho.
http://www.k10k.net/ - is a v. nice front page for a site with alot of content/areas.

Not saying rip off either site, but they're alot cleaner/easier on the eyes the your proposed new look.

Viewed full screen the right aligned right table and the left aligned left table, and the fixed width middle table make for v. unpleasant large white gaps between the columns.

Someone else suggested a clean slate as opposed to trying to fit more into the original look/feel, I say think about it.

Gerry

I agree, I think the colour scheme needs a rethink, also the boards logo itself is a bit plain. Maybe a return to the days of the black background?

Nitro-G

I think it looks great, and is easier to find what your looking for, which is always a big plus

Jamie www.irishplayer.com

FreaK_BrutheR

Well another guy...ie a games guy will mean six wee guys on the page which will effect the whole layout alot i'd say. I'll prolly have to redraw all six to make them work properly. I like the quick links. Bit too blocky. I quite liked the rounded corners and folder thingies on the origional page. There'd be no point in a wee flash intro thingy would there? There was origionally roll overs for those wee register guys etc. maybe they should be put back in? Lot of bare naked space around if you're in 1024x768. Maybe try and make the colour scheme match a bit more with the acctual forums?

Trojan - the loading time is okish...its gonna be cached in most users cases anyway as its a site they will return to regular likes so i don't think this is a MAJOR concern.

Bard

Oh no! Black background baaaaaaaddd...

The new look is quite good ... except for the main banner and images at the top/middle which just seem a tad too small to me. Then again, I am viewing in 1152x864, but the site should really resize to compensate for practically any res. .. or are yiz of the train of thought that 'well, we can't satisfy all the people all the time' ... eh?

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Bard

home page

[This message has been edited by Bard (edited 29-06-2000).]

Pretence

I like the new layout. I like the way you don't have to maximise the window to see everything.
Tis quick and easy.
The colours are fine imo.

One thing you could do.... Maybe a scrolling marquee thingee with some sort of message, short and sweet to express quickly to newcomers what the board is about.

One way or the other I think its look great.
Too much analysis of anything and you will never be satisfied.

Bard

I wouldn't totally agree with the scrolling marquee idea- generally I think they're a pain in the ar$e... but something similar like the news ticker in a box, where the clickable article link scrolls up, pauses and scrolls out to be followed by another, would be better.

Personally, I think yiz have had enough feedback at this stage to go and act on it. Let it go too long, as Pretence says, and ye'll never be satisfied with it...

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Bard

home page

Cloud

Here's my attempt:

http://www.boards.ie/images/jboards.gif

It's designed to work from 640x480 upwards.

Comments here please.

John.
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Irish Newspapers
http://www.irishnewspapers.com/

Pretence

Good, more logical order of links and easier to navigate. It makes more sense and I can now fit it in an even smaller window

Colour is more appealing also....

Kali

cloud those colours are a lot nicer..
more friendlier feel to it as well and better to navigate...
it looks like it might have the same vertical white bar problem though?

WhiteWashMan

and maybe a nice little clickable that says...

FIRST VISIT...CLICK HERE!

and it'll give you the whole FAQ page and why register etc.
so, those that really dont have a clue will go there, those who visit everyday know aht they are doing. and those that are used to the web and have a good idea what they want will find it regardless.
covers all really.
i like the bright layout of the page. leave the sides the same, just expand the centre piece out to them as it looks a bit silly with the big white stripes between
and yes, the cion dudes could do with being about 150% larger....

Bard

Colours look better and site looks more organised, Cloud. Will it resize ok?

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Bard

home page

ThunderingMike

THE SIGNS MAN!!! THEY TURN RED WHEN YOU TOUCH THEM!! Sorry. To cut a long story short , I would say maybe a little more...activity. There are no Animations. I am not talking about something totally over the top , just make the guys faces move when one puts the cursor on them or something. Aside from that I think the colours blend surprisingly well and the latest version looks real nice even if you do not put in any lame little animations. Thats my half-baked suggestion anyway.

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So the pope puts down the webpage and leans over to me and says , 'At HTML my son , I 0wnz j00'. Before I could speak in walks Harry Knowles in a giant Silk Worm costume and just then...it started to get weird...

[This message has been edited by ThunderingMike (edited 30-06-2000).]

Shiminay

You should definitely stick with the new break-down of the boards - Games and After Hours as seperate entities looks better and makes more sense (besides, we don't want the newbies stumbling into something they shouldn't!!!).

I'm still not convinced about the yellow/mustardy colours. I don't think they work well enough with the teal and red

I think a new colour scheme *might* be a good idea, but graphics and design really aren't my forté.

Keep it up lads - it's definitely coming together!

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All the best,

Dav
@B^)
My page of stuff

Pretence

I'd agree with WhiteWashMan on a FAQ for newbies definately needed.

Would encourage a lot more people who visit the site for the first time to visit again.