New Site Feedback

[Snowcone]

All,

Since many of you are accomplished designers and artists, I wanted to get your feedback and input on some of the things I'm doing on the new site. Here's what I've got for the new main page as of now:

http://v4.thecoverproject.net/new_index.html#

Option 2 would be to pull the covers in a bit and put a sidebar similar to what we have today on the right with recent forum posts.

Any initial thoughts on this?

[shenske]

As much as i like it i really do like some of our "old" features. I like having the systems on the left side and the most recent forum topics on the right like they are currently. Alsol, instead of having the "new" feature in the middle like we do on the current site; how about putting up a simple 'about tcp' right on the main page?

[FritzWhite]

I'm just a TCP noob, but I'm resistant to most change most of the time. I'm comfortable with the current format, but I'd prob figure out the new site soon enough. It looks like a lot of work went into the new setup, so thank you. Personally, I'm happy with the way things are currently.

[Snowcone]

There are a few drivers for a change:

1. It's ugly as sin
2. I want to rebuild it and add features such as comments and ratings and don't feel like building it into code that I wrote 7 years ago.

Shenske - Did you see the drop down for the categories? I could potentially push the covers in the middle and put category nav on the left and re-add the sidebar to the right.

[e_brugal]

it looks good, but still need to see more to tell you if is a good option the change. The page is easy to use right now.

[shenske]

Shenske - Did you see the drop down for the categories? I could potentially push the covers in the middle and put category nav on the left and re-add the sidebar to the right.

I did see the drop-down but to be honest i'm not a huge fan of drop down menus. Reason being on certain browsers and mobile devices its really hit or miss if they actually work or bug out.

I would like having the sidebars as you mentioned. Not trying to be "stuck in my old ways" of the site's current design but the layout is not broken or anything. I think it has a nice balance personally. The color and presentation is what makes the site look dull.


EDIT:

I really like the way your other site Snackbar Games looks.  Their are a lot of things aesthetically that i think would lend itself nicely to our site. 

[Snowcone]

I'm trying to give this site it's own brand and not have it perpetually be tied to Snackbar Games. That's another reason for the change. I'll see if I can come up with an option that includes sidebars.

[Dravenae]

Since I have only been on the site for the past year, I realize that my opinion may not mean much, if anything at all, but I genuinely like this new template, but there are some issues I have with it. I think there's nothing wrong with the links structure on the side, and that the drop down box is adding nothing bar an extra task to search for your desired system.

While I do like the clean, stripped down look of the new site, my studies in HCID are gnawing at me.

Personally I would keep both the console links and recent posts as they are, but obviously fitting with this new design. I like the placement of the navigation bar and search bar, but I would suggest adding a register/sign in section just under the navigation bar.

In my personal opinion, when developing my own pages, I like to make it so the user can login/register and navigate to any part of the website, from any page, to me, that is just a smart design. Taking as many tasks out of the equation as possible makes for happy users and less maintenance. As a developer I also acknowledge that you have a certain sight in mind when developing the site, so at the end of the day, it's really up to you. Anything I say is mute and void if it contrast your grand view. I imagine the usual's will continue to use this site regardless of what adjustments and changes you make.

[palmer6strings]

As I am typing this message I notice that the new site is being worked on when I refreshed it. But I will say I highly agree with Shenske that the drop down menus can be a bit of a pain on mobile devices at times.
The games list on the left hand side has always been really nice and the recent forum topics on the home page is nice too.

The only thing I would prolly add was a quicker and easier way to get to you personal profile.

All in all Snowcone has done a great job since I've been here. Thanks man!

[Snowcone]

I am indeed working on it real time to make some tweaks based on feedback. We are the top video game cover site on the internet and I'd like this place to have a bit more polish.

[Anubis]

I like it 
About the sidebar, I would like a design similar to that of Google, but it's not necesary to be a drop down menu:



I mean, using a bigger font and including the logo of each system next to their names.

[Snowcone]

I'll clean up the sidebars and add styling later on. Logos and Icons would be far too busy so I'm not considering that at this point. Hit the link again for an updated view

[palmer6strings]

That's looking really good Snowcone.

Is there going to be anything for a login/sign up or profile on the main home page?

[Snowcone]

That's looking really good Snowcone.

Is there going to be anything for a login/sign up or profile on the main home page?

Yes of course. I'll put a login link that creates an overlay for you to login to the site. I just haven't done it yet.

[Snowcone]

Ummm... In regards to the home page. I like the colors; orange, black, white and gray. Keep it simple. I'm not sure about the cluster of covers in the middle. That looks a bit busy. The greater work needs to be done on the data base. It needs to be scrubbed of low quality covers or maybe a rating system should be added to the covers. There should also be three sections in my opinion: Retail, Custom, and Placeholder. So we can get cover off the forums and make them searchable though the data base. Oh, and make Arseen a cover admin for the purpose of accessing cover that have been submitted to the site.

The covers in the middle is supposed to be a new take on the "Most Recent Covers" from the current homepage. The idea being that usually when people visit the site they are here to look for cover art or see what we have that is new.

As for the database, i'll handle that. I'm going to expand the data we collect on each cover and I'll setup some search and filtering capabilities that allow users to quickly find covers by:

Name
Artist
Console
Case Type
Cover type (Retail, Custom, etc)

Tell me more about this Placeholder type and what we would use it for?