Topic: Welcome to Nintendo World Report

[Shift Key]

Quote
Originally posted by: TrueNerd
Although, I do wish the ads were a little more subtle and not so prominent, but that would be my only complaint.

Kudos!

Firefox + AdBlock = BAM!

[WindyMan]

Quote
Originally posted by: mantidor
the design is ok, but to be honest, I never go out from the forums, and since the news get their own automatic thread I've never seen a need to do it. I thought the forums were going to get a redesign as well, but if its not the case, then I'll barely notice the change.

We're going to eventually tweak the color scheme of the boards a bit, but they should remain largely unchanged besides that.

[Plugabugz]

It looks really good! Tiny suggestion, add a breaker line between the new content and the old.

The flow of text is a bit force fed down your throat.

[Galford]

Wow, I really don't know what to say about the new design.  
I guess I'll have to give it a while.

No more PlanetGamecube?  Well I guess it's the end of an era.
I remember the night PlanetN2000 changed to PlanetGamecube,
now I see it again.  

The new name should prevent this site from
having to change it's name again.

[Dozy Boy]

I'd like to second the "next screenshot" issue. It may be convenient to have the picture load up without actually navigating to a new page, but if I want to look at all the screens in sequence (and I almost always do) then I actually need MORE mouse clicks and location-keeping-track-of than before. I would love to see the exact same format as it is currently but with next and previous links implemented. That would be perfect.



Please?  

[Ian Sane]

"On behalf of TYP who has worked hella hard on the redesign I want to tell you that although we value your opinion and want to hear if you like it or don't, we really do not have time for suggestions and will be honoring absolutely none of them."

Sounds like something Nintendo themselves would have said.  HA!

[Svevan]

I try.

[Mikintosh]

The new site doesn't really have any character to it, sorry.

[couchmonkey]

I know this stuff's definitely not easy to change, and I'm not expecting any miracles or anything, just giving my feedback for future reference.  I totally appreciate how many other important things must be going on since I code, write and design my own site.  I've been working on an overhaul like this and I've spent two years to get worse results than NWR has managed in just half a year.

Two more things I noticed:
- I like the colour coding on the system names in the news (eg. orange for Game Boy Advance)...I missed that before (maybe because there are so many Wii articles)
- In Firefox 1.0.7 (yeah it's old) the menu bar sometimes appears above the rest fo the content instead of beside.  Most noticeable on the splash page.

[Dozy Boy]

Whoops. Sorry for the suggestion. Seriously, I didn't even read Sveven's original post. My bad. That'll learn me to just hop on and reply.

[Robageejammin]

I really think you have a great design on your hands that only needs a little tweaking. There are so many great things working on NWR its unbelievable. The displayed time since the article was made, the new image viewer, the categorizing of everything, and not to mention the amazing improvement on the reviews pages. I have to applaud everyone who worked on this for putting so much time and passion into something purely voluntary. I think that all of these features will bring in a much wider range of people to the site but at the same time, I can see some of the aesthetic qualities throwing people off.

Like I said, I really do think you have a great design. It just looks a bit unfinished. The most noticeable part of this is how little separation there is between different sections of the page. The gradient on the top is a great start, but I think more of that could be implemented to further this. The 3 flash boxes are also a great addition but seem a little lonely compared to the rest of the non flash site. Again, just more of this would be great. The last thing I'll say is that the brand new name of the site, Nintendo World Report, should take up much more room on the page. I think its such a great, strong name that needs to be a much more powerful part of the site.

I made an example of some of the things I talked about, along with some of the suggestions we've all talked about recently which you can find here...

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-2/947569/nwrsample2.jpg

I would love to know what everyone thinks, what you think works, doesnt work, and maybe we can solidify some of our concerns for the best Nintendo site on the planet.

Also, I just want to make it clear that I am in no way trying to push anything on the staff or telling anyone what to do. These are purely just ideas I'd like to share with everyone. After all, it is a forum.

[BigJim]

Quote
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-2/947569/nwrsample2.jpg

I'd hit that. Did you try silver stripes along the top before choosing the blue? Might be a tiny bit too much blue on the page, but I'm not sure if silver on the top would be any better. Overall awesome.  

[KirbySStar]

Robageejammin, that can't be too hard to pull off.  It's a very simple suggestion and the contrast does wonders.  It looks much like the forums do right now which are more pleasing to the eye right now than the main site.  Too much white is a terrible thing but just the right amount of contrast will let you escape from flashbanging yourself whenever you load the site in a dark room.

I know that there are still bugs and things being worked out and perhaps small additions in usablity to the site but once that is done I highly recommend you use Robageejammin's example as a template for the site.  It will do you a world of good.  It can't be that hard to implement.  At least do it to the center.  That's where it needs the contrast the most.  

[KirbySStar]

Also, you guys need to change your google ad coloring to match the new site.  Seriously, the purple google ads really clash with it.

Oh, and the forum colors are perfect.  Perhaps the only thing you'd need to change is maybe the dark purple to perhaps dark grey or blue.  Keep the the rest of the colors though.  

[Robageejammin]

Yea, I was messing around with different gradients so much that I lost focus. When its desaturated it a bit it looks much better.

[Smash_Brother]

Cheers, guys.

To many more successful years!

[Tuxedo.Bond]

First thing that hit my mind was if I had hit a bogus page, then a split second after I figured it was the new site. However I am definitely not a fan of pure white web pages, as they are much harder on the eyes (to me at least...).

A few suggestions:

Add some borders and/or color to the site and it's side bars and stuff.

Increase the font size a little bit. Although I can do that with my Opera browser, it would still make it nicer. Possibly think about changing the font type.

And did I mention that you are paying for my glasses after I go blind from the brightness of the white? The bill is in the mail. Thanks.

Now for the things I do like:

I like how easy it is to see the past weeks news on the bottom, as I sometimes don't check back for a while and i don't like strolling through the news pages for stuff I missed.

The way the pictures are now displayed is very nice. I can view them and navigate the photos easier and faster.

The information displayed for a company profile is nice and easy to see all on one page. Although I must be blind (possibly from the *Wii White* scheme) or something, because I don't see a link to the company profiles on the front page...

And I think the images that tell you what the posting is for (news, screenshots, etc) and for what system (DS, GBA, Wii, etc) is really nifty and easy for me to find what I want really quickly.

[IceCold]

Welcome to Planet Meteos..

[decoyman]

Robageejammin, it's great that you worked something up, but I don't think the site needs that much change... there's a subtle balance between minimalism and being busy in this case. There are too many gradients, and (believe it or not) too much color. A couple well-placed gradients are more than enough, and minimizing the colors is the idea here. I honestly think this design is really really close to being great...

This sort of style calls for a light hand, a delicate mark. I think, as I mentioned before, that some masterfully-placed light grey rules would help immensely, along with doing a breaker between the days in the news items. Again, it's the textual hierarchy that needs a little TLC, and this may be accomplished with just these minor suggestions.

EDIT: Forgot to list what you nailed, Rob- The size of the site name is spot on – That's exactly where it should be. Also, I think the light grey bars separating news items is a decent idea as well, but the same might be accomplished with rules instead of shades of grey, which migh be a better option. The grey bars could be used to separate the days, perhaps... again, we basically have to see it before we can know if it works.

EDIT2: OR, (I don't know if this is feasible from a technical standpoint) maybe the headlines from the current day are blue, and the headlines from past days are grey... that would be another way to differentiate the days anyways. When I visit the site, I'm most interested in what's new anyways.