[JKR]

Well I guess I still think it's too big, but the idea makes sense. I'm with the others who aren't fans of the ad though. Yes, paying the bills is good, but it's still distracting.

Oh well.

[ozzie]

Yeah, I know that the news and article boxes were already there in the past layout, but they weren't as distracting, flashy and big. They fitted better to the design and didn't pop immediately into sight.

What's even worse though is that there is much wasted space when you haven't logged in. Basically, the username and password box are on the right and fill up maybe a quarter of the available space of that row and the rest is just white.

I thought it was a really nice touch that you integrated the forums better into the site.
But now, with the special boxes, they, ironically, feel more seperated again.
Hrm.

Oh, and I still think the old, non-flash picture gallery was much better, because more usable and simple.

Some thoughts.

[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by tabacco

Also, a similar news feed was in that exact spot for years, so only people who joined within the last few months should really notice any difference

It was no where near as big an obtrusive.

I hate it.

You already have links to the main site at the top for people to visit the main site. I don't see how putting a stonking great big flashy banner is going to make people more likely to visit.

[Marek]

Originally Posted by Giligan

Thumbs down to the "paying the bills" sign under the advert, though - it seems like someone's telling you why they have to do this and that they're sorry, just before they shoot you in the head.

The old Comedy Central website put that phrase below ads instead of "Advertisement" or "Our Sponsors". I thought it was cute so I blatantly copied it.

You already have links to the main site at the top for people to visit the main site.

Yes, but for many people it's still not enough to click on it. They really need to see that something new is there.

There's always been a big disconnect between the forums and the site. There's been cases where people asked for things that were obviously on the main site, but weren't aware of it at all. Heck, even one of our mods (sorry... ) recently said "I don't visit the main site as much as I would like" after missing a new blog post. So I think we really have to do this. Yeah, we're kinda shoving the content into people's faces, but it's because there's some great content there that's frequently being ignored.

Regarding the ad, I removed 728x90 sized Google ads from the main forum page and thread indexes and replaced it with this 125x125 sized square ad, so there's a bit of tradeoff there. Also, we no longer have ads inside the threads themselves, like we had in the beginning. I'm trying to keep these things balanced.

Of course, if you don't like the banner, there's always a simple solution: scroll down...
(I know that's a super lame answer, but it IS kinda true.)

Ozzie: I have to admit the navigation of the screenshot galleries isn't as good as it could be. I was really pleased with it at the time, because it fits so neatly into the site's frame (meaning I didn't have to design a whole separate template just for the galleries), but over time I've gotten to dislike it. I would like to create new non-Flash screenshot galleries at some point, but I've got a lot on my plate right now (and Doug's time is very limited) so it might not happen.

[Kurufinwe]

Why does that banner show 3 comments for the Sam & Max contest when there are actually none?

(And I also hate it, especially because it looks particularly out of place in the wider layout I use for the forums, but don't let that stop you. Still, I don't really see why you bother trying to force the main site's content down the forum regulars' throat, as most of them hardly ever seem to play adventure games anyway. )

[Marek]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

Why does that banner show 3 comments for the Sam & Max contest when there are actually none?

Good question. Let me fix that....

[Panthera]

Is it just my banner there's something wrong with, or isn't there any news right now? It just looks so empty.

It takes some time to get used to, but I see it now, every time I change forum. When it was placed under the forum I kept forgetting to scroll down, and instead just went to the main page every few days to see if anything was new.
I'm a bit sad that you removed the list over recent items though. I like to read it in the order they come, so I liked being told how many new items there were..

[Marek]

Originally Posted by Panthera

Is it just my banner there's something wrong with, or isn't there any news right now? It just looks so empty.

What browser do you use? It was tested in IE6/IE7/Opera/Safari/Firefox. It should fade in and fade out different news items.

[KFMN]

I like the banner, doesn't bother me at all, but then again I hardly ever use the forums, only when I see an interesting thread on the main page.

About the gallery, another annoying thing with the scrolling screenshots is that when you click to enlarge it opens a new window instead of just enlarging onscreen, that would be a much better solution and it shouldn't be that hard of a task to simply have an enlarge/decrease function when clicking images. I have seen it at several sites.

[Merricat]

This site seems to be fairly thoughtful with regard to balancing function with aesthetics. Honestly, I think that people in general resist change and like to complain, and since you're never going to please everyone, you may as well be true to the vision that you continue to develop for AG. Evolution is a process of refinement, after all.

[Panthera]

Originally Posted by Marek

What browser do you use? It was tested in IE6/IE7/Opera/Safari/Firefox. It should fade in and fade out different news items.

I'm pretty sure I'm using the newest version of firefox (think it upgraded last week)..

I often have problems with showing the site correctly too. Sometimes all the design disappears..

[Jatsie]

Originally Posted by Marek

A lot of forumites actually admit to rarely ever visiting the main page because they always head straight to the forum index.

Guilty.

Me

The only thing I have to say with regard to the banner, it about its exact location at the top of the page. Personally I would prefer if the positioning was altered to be as such:



I just think it looks better, and would be more functional. (and by "more functional" I probably mean "I'm lazy and wouldn't have to move the cursor so far to check my PMs or click the search button. Which is important, as when you're using a laptop touchpad, every stroke of the finger counts." lol)

[Marek]

Hmm. That's a reasonable suggestion. I'll consider this change.

[SSH]

Perhaps the comment bubbles and counts should be up beside the heading, since as it is they sit there eating space.

[Marek]

Making the header space less wide won't look good, though. You might get something like:

"Sam & Max:
(signed!) Season
One giveaway"

...even if you were to use just 30 pixels for the comments icon.

[Erwin_Br]

Everyone's a webdesigner.

--Erwin

[Trumgottist]

Except me.