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DalediegoLady Kestrelwalas74

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Front Page Update Feedback

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Total Posts: 84

Joined 2014-11-04

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Having the “Trending” and “quick Links” at the top makes the page look really busy, particularly with nothing but blank space to separate all of the areas. I feel it distracts from the articles and the news, which should be more eye-catching to people.

     
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Joined 2004-03-09

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DrewClue - 16 July 2018 02:25 PM

Having the “Trending” and “quick Links” at the top makes the page look really busy, particularly with nothing but blank space to separate all of the areas. I feel it distracts from the articles and the news, which should be more eye-catching to people.

I’ve been trying this out for a few days and have to say that I’m agreeing with you, there’s a few other things I’m exploring but I’ll most likely remove this again soon.

     
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Joined 2012-01-02

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I think there is a problem with the front page with Android that i can’t easily scroll up down, something that I never encountered before, it seems like a bug with my mobile but used another and it’s the same.

Also the first page doesn’t look so inviting now with only articles links shown with no iamges as with PC.

     
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Joined 2004-03-09

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Advie - 08 August 2018 08:47 AM

I think there is a problem with the front page with Android that i can’t easily scroll up down, something that I never encountered before, it seems like a bug with my mobile but used another and it’s the same.

Also the first page doesn’t look so inviting now with only articles links shown with no iamges as with PC.

Hey Advie,

Do you have this issue with this newly design frontpage as well?

https://adventuregamers.com/home/index2

Also, recognize the feedback on no images on mobile, looking into that as I feel it would be nicer if we do have them present.

Ivo

     
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Total Posts: 8720

Joined 2012-01-02

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No, not at all, great design.. love it!

Thanks Ivo

     

Total Posts: 106

Joined 2003-09-13

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Huh? The whole thing is pretty rough. Like you’re trying to be the Drudge Report of adventure gaming? And ultimately it’s all just to accommodate 50% more of each section than before. Worth it? I can’t see how striving to be more like the Just Adventure home page could benefit anyone lol. Well, “so long” to that classic desktop friendly design of many years, hello drudge report, I suppose…! Collapsing/expanding elements would be cool, but this full layout is forced. As such it just seems the “prestige” element AG’s homepage has been known for, has been replaced, canned. RIP.

     
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Total Posts: 1341

Joined 2012-02-17

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Whoa now, easy on the sky-is-falling pronouncements. Wink

I’m not speaking for Ivo here, but the design is still very much a work-in-progress. There are actually a lot of benefits to the new layout over the old one, but of course we gladly welcome feedback, including criticism if it’s constructive.

It’s really not clear to me from your post what it is you don’t like, or miss from the previous layout. It’s not like any elements are GONE now. In fact, more have been added and others better emphasized.

Having never heard of the Drudge Report, I had to look it up, and I must say, I don’t see the resemblance at all. Tongue

I know Ivo is toying with the notion of giving people the option to choose between new and old designs, so even for those who don’t like the changes, hope is not lost. But it does help us if people actually give the new one a chance to see what works and what doesn’t. (And not just first reactions, as every change takes some getting used to.)

     
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Total Posts: 5813

Joined 2012-03-24

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Sorry, I don’t like today’s front page - there’s just too much there hitting you in the face. I liked the layout yesterday or was it the day before far better with the prominence on the left side of the page with mainly the latest reviews, previews etc. If you don’t mind me saying so you really don’t need the latest screenshots or the latest videos featured as they I would think be better accessed if you’re interested in the game they’re linked to?  Smile

     
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Total Posts: 1341

Joined 2012-02-17

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Do others feel the same about screenshots and videos?

For games people are really looking forward to, I agree it’s a bit redundant. But most games don’t fall in that category. I tend to find that a lot of people miss new game announcements (although that should be less likely in the newer design!), or forget what they know about a game until they see new images or video to remind them. So the pic/trailer galleries can be useful refreshers.

But maybe that’s not as true as I’ve been led to believe?

     
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Total Posts: 8471

Joined 2011-10-21

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Well, I actually like the fact that there’s easier access to screenshots and videos on the main page.

My biggest gripe with it, is the “two equal columns” design. I prefer the older “3/4 column and a smaller side column” concept. It makes it clearer what is considered the “main” content, and what is “side” content.
Now it seems like too much info in one screen to take in, like it’s too “busy”. And to me, that makes it just as easy to get lost in and consequently miss a news item about a new game, despite the instant availability of screenshots and videos.


It seems like you’re trying to keep up with the latest web design concepts. I’m not sure that’s really necessary. The adventure genre probably has a user base where the average age is a bit higher than that of the general gaming community, so let me make a leap and insinuate that that means we’re slower to take in loads of info in one glance. Either that, or *I*‘m starting to get old… Tongue

Anyway, the previous concept was in need of a little tweaking, but for me personally, it still worked better.

But at the very least it’s thrilling to see things evolve on an almost daily basis. Gives a dynamic “we’re actively working here” vibe, and that’s a big plus! Thumbs Up

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Total Posts: 1782

Joined 2010-01-10

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The one thing I discovered when writing databases for 3rd parties is to keep the UI as simple and clean as possible. The more there is to assimilate on one page the less likely the user is in navigating properly.
Each page should be defined by what it is trying to do and a welcome page or front page should be just that and little more. What it should have is a clear layout pointing the user to wherever s/he wishes to go to. By all means, as this is a website primarily for entertainment rather than hard information, make it a fun and open first page with, for example, a running banner under the “index” (to give it a name) with the latest news for example. Making the front page too dry would be counter-productive.

Tim’s point regarding age isn’t quite accurate in my view. It’s not the ability to take in data that’s the problem but knowing what you want to find in amongst the clutter. When teaching older people on how to use the internet (and I don’t mean 60+. The same problems have been encountered with younger people who were just starting out but this has become rarer) they tend to hate to have a whole page of pointless images and text that is totally irrelevant to them to have to navigate. They know why they came to the site and want to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. It’s not as true for younger people. I’ve been helping a 5 year old get used to the internet and she loves clicking on anything and everything. For her it’s fun. She’s also capable of remembering what interested her and repeating the steps needed to get back to that which is good but, in the main, she’s enjoying herself. Those in their teens I’ve noticed prefer to see lots of images, particularly moving ones. Although this is very much a generalisation it appears to me that they find it harder to concentrate on any one thing where “entertainment” is concerned. When looking for information, notably within an education environment, they, like their elders, want to find quickly, easily and accurately.

There’s no way at all for any site to please everyone and if you try you’re going to fail abysmally and please no-one. It’s all about balance and avoiding the current fads of the day.

Hopefully I made that reasonably clear Laughing

     

Life is what it is.

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Total Posts: 724

Joined 2004-03-09

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Thanks for the feedback everyone so far, it’s certainly not easy to make a site that everyone enjoys using, but I will do my best to make it as enjoyable and useable to many as possible.

When designing (and I’m certainly no designer!) I try to focus on what I believe is useable, as a result I do iterate a lot to get towards a good place. The current design is a result of doing this for quite a few months, it will probably keep changing, evolving, that’s how I believe you get to the best results.

What was lacking in the previous design, was a good way to highlight the “New game announcements”, as a result not many people read those news posts and would miss a lot of relevant content. Now that we’re going to try and intensify that even more (as there’s just so much coming!) we needed a better way to represent that. Is this the best way? Not sure yet, but I believe it’s going there.

Another factor was the increasing resolutions of screens everywhere, we were simply not using a lot of the real-estate on the screen that was available, especially on bigger resolutions you’d see a tiny speck of website, while now we’ve tried to increase the size to better utilize the space we have.

More then 80% of all *our* Desktop users have a resolution that’s wider then the *new* max width of the website (being 1200 pixels). I realize some people have a screen width of 1024 still, and they now have a full width website, while in the past there was some space. This is now more in line with a tablet, and although it means getting used to, the biggest gain is ensure that we utilize the screen real-estate more towards modern standards.

     
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Total Posts: 23

Joined 2009-04-08

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What happened to the news section? Its split in 2 now? That rolling titles and the new game annoucements below?

I am a guy who reads absolutely everything that is published on the website. Having rolling titles like it is now makes it impossible for me to follow which news i have read and which i havent reat. A fixed (not rolling)list of news in chronological order is so much better. I dont understand the point in having those rolling moving titles. Its confusing.

Also, now i can find the same news article also in both categories? In the rolling section and also in the new game annoucements? Thats even more confusing for me and makes it impossible for me to read all content and follow what i read and what i did not read. The rolling titles contains also all the new game annoucements? Or whats the idea?

Make at least a fixed list of news titles, maybe with date mention on every title. A moving rolling list of news titles without dates makes it really impossible for me to continue to read the adventure gamers news for now.

I mean its just a bunch of random rolling moving news titles. I cant even see which is the oldest and which is the newest.

     
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Total Posts: 724

Joined 2004-03-09

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Good point SD, I’ve made changes now so it excludes game announcements that would already be shown below (no need to have it twice), also it now no longer scrolls and simply shows the latest 6 ‘updates’.  Will think if I can add a date easily or if I’ll leave it like this.

     
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Total Posts: 724

Joined 2004-03-09

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CaliMonk - 30 August 2018 09:12 AM

Good point SD, I’ve made changes now so it excludes game announcements that would already be shown below (no need to have it twice), also it now no longer scrolls and simply shows the latest 6 ‘updates’.  Will think if I can add a date easily or if I’ll leave it like this.

Actually. How about this (see main page)

 

     
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Total Posts: 23

Joined 2009-04-08

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CaliMonk - 30 August 2018 09:16 AM
CaliMonk - 30 August 2018 09:12 AM

Good point SD, I’ve made changes now so it excludes game announcements that would already be shown below (no need to have it twice), also it now no longer scrolls and simply shows the latest 6 ‘updates’.  Will think if I can add a date easily or if I’ll leave it like this.

Actually. How about this (see main page)

Great job CaliMonk! Now it is so much better! Much appreciated. Thank you very much!

Also, View more News » actually takes you to view the articles.

I believe it would be a good ideea to have a button which could take you to see all the news and new game announcements in case you could not access the site for more days. If i click on News on the top tabs (News, Articles, Games, Videos, Forums) it shows only the new game announcements (without the news).

 

     

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