The New Shiny Escapist
- Thread starter Trujkin
- Start date
Yeah, our sizes changed just a *wee* bit, and we haven't caught up with all the assets we had to replace yet. So a few things still look squishy or stretchy. It'll all be fixed bit by bit...though, I dunno, I kinda like Shamus looking all Stretch Armstrongy. Makes me chuckle.MattAn24 said:
The Daily Drop logo and Shamus Young look awfully stretched. As far as I'm aware, Shamus is awesome. Stretching that logo like that? Not as awesome. The Shamus must be obeyed!
Also, folks, this should go without saying, but we're far more likely to listen to your feedback if you're not being a total cock while delivering it. (This obviously doesn't apply to to the post I'm quoting, which is perfectly fine.) We're not trying to fuck anyone over, or trick anybody, or just generally ruin your experience because we think it's hilarious to watch you all freak out. We launched the redesign in response to a great deal of feedback that we got, over several years, that our old site was confusing, cluttered, and just plain hard to use. If the new design we've chosen needs a bit of tweaking yet, that's ok - we didn't really expect it to be perfect right out of the gate. That's why we're asking for feedback, so that we can focus on the areas that really, truly don't work for you guys and try to find some kind of compromise.
Speaking to us like we're all clueless jackasses who just got drunk one night and decided to fuck up the site just for kicks doesn't help anyone. We all work very, very hard on The Escapist, not just because it's our jobs, but because we believe in it. We want it to be great. We want it to be something that you genuinely look forward to visiting every single day. And we're pretty sure you want it to be that, too.
So how about giving us the benefit of the doubt that we genuinely want to move forward in a positive way, and stop talking to us like we're beneath your contempt?
I tried not to be picky, but I also don't like the new layout. It feel like everything is floating in a diffuse space, it don't make navigation tempting. And it cold generic design kind of lack identity and personality. I will probably forget the site for a while, then I will miss it features, come back and get used to it.
...what a waste of time and effort. Way too spread out and having the parts so isolated is just bad design. Plus it just looks... bad.
I miss the sidebar with all the latest videos. I miss the small box at the top corner that made getting to the latest news easy as hell. I miss the previous news articles being grouped along the bottom of the page. I feel that the new color scheme seems........cold, if that makes any sense but that could just be the unfamiliarity.
I do like the little section that shows the last couple of threads I posted in and I like the new way of checking through the most recent threads at the side. However I keep being notified of new post in Pub Club exclusive threads even though I'm not a member, leading me to try check it out only to be told I'm not allowed in. Makes me feel all excluded and whatnot.
Quite happy that the speed issues appear to have been fixed.
(Please don't swear at me Susan, this is the best way I can think of wording my feedback. >_<)
I do like the little section that shows the last couple of threads I posted in and I like the new way of checking through the most recent threads at the side. However I keep being notified of new post in Pub Club exclusive threads even though I'm not a member, leading me to try check it out only to be told I'm not allowed in. Makes me feel all excluded and whatnot.
Quite happy that the speed issues appear to have been fixed.
(Please don't swear at me Susan, this is the best way I can think of wording my feedback. >_<)
Well...I'm not a fan. I really liked your old layout, and never found any problems with it. Looking at a screenshot of the old theme reminds me how good it looked; properly web 2.0, making full use of gradients and 3d effects. On top of this fonts were big and bold, making them easily readable.The menu bar at the top had this neat little tab effect. Everything was neatly categorised into boxes.
Now it's like you've gone back to basics...TOO basic. I haven't really noticed the brightness like other users, but it looks bland, dull. That list of news items at the bottom made it easy to keep up to date with articles I might have missed between visits. Now news items are just thrown across the front page with little thought. And, while there's nothing inherently wrong with it, the navigation bar now looks rubbish.
These changes aren't enough for me to cry "boycott!" or anything like that, but they sure are disappointing, like you've undone the good work of previous.
On the plus side, I like the drop down boxes,and I'm glad the forums haven't changed.
Now it's like you've gone back to basics...TOO basic. I haven't really noticed the brightness like other users, but it looks bland, dull. That list of news items at the bottom made it easy to keep up to date with articles I might have missed between visits. Now news items are just thrown across the front page with little thought. And, while there's nothing inherently wrong with it, the navigation bar now looks rubbish.
These changes aren't enough for me to cry "boycott!" or anything like that, but they sure are disappointing, like you've undone the good work of previous.
On the plus side, I like the drop down boxes,and I'm glad the forums haven't changed.
I'm getting used to the layout, but good god is the background bright.
Make it a little darker, and make the "new messages" thing in the upper right more noticeable (and maybe move it to the center like it was before) and I can approve of this design.
Make it a little darker, and make the "new messages" thing in the upper right more noticeable (and maybe move it to the center like it was before) and I can approve of this design.
Another facet I dont think has been mentioned yet is visual accessibility and variance.
Back in the early days of the mainstream net you had this pop up a lot when you had different people view a webpage via different browsers. You would get certain elements of that webpage displayed in different ways.
Ive found the same to be true here. For example when I added my first bug report It was extremely difficult to edit it on the fly. The text box was a table element that was wedged underneath other page elements such as the posts feed, bug report, write for us, etc. The reason for this is because I am currently viewing the page on a 62 inch LED television at 1900x1080 resolution. This PC is one that is being used in a "10 foot GUI" and as such sizes must be increased such as fonts and icons. When you use the instant resize functionality (Control + Scroll wheel) in firefox it increases the size of every element within the page. Of which that means enterable text tables are also increased in size as well even if that creates layout overlaps or not. With normal page elements its of little concern, however when you add things like flash driven elements to a page that will let you see thru unused spaces but will not allow you to access them because they are being blocked by invisible spaces for what will represent contextual flash menu popups it renders the obscured element inaccessible.
Now, with that said, and I also need to point out, that scenario just described is one that is specific to me, one that I expect would only truly effect a microscopic amount of people. Hell on my laptop or my main desktop it would never even be an issue. It is only an issue because of the specific setup that is being used to view the page. However, That is not why I bring it up. I bring it up to illustrate that there are infinite ways of to view a page in infinite variation. It is sort of like what game developers have to consider when designing games for the PC. You as a developer have no way of predicting how every single person will access your content. So, you have to take that into account and work to make your content as accessible for the widest set of configurations possible.
One extremely important element is to limit usage of superfluous items such as scripts, applets and flash.
Simply put The golden rule of page design.
Functionality > aesthetics.
And remember the distinction. that refers to the USERS functionality, not the developers. Users come first, developers invariably must come second in that equation.
Back in the early days of the mainstream net you had this pop up a lot when you had different people view a webpage via different browsers. You would get certain elements of that webpage displayed in different ways.
Ive found the same to be true here. For example when I added my first bug report It was extremely difficult to edit it on the fly. The text box was a table element that was wedged underneath other page elements such as the posts feed, bug report, write for us, etc. The reason for this is because I am currently viewing the page on a 62 inch LED television at 1900x1080 resolution. This PC is one that is being used in a "10 foot GUI" and as such sizes must be increased such as fonts and icons. When you use the instant resize functionality (Control + Scroll wheel) in firefox it increases the size of every element within the page. Of which that means enterable text tables are also increased in size as well even if that creates layout overlaps or not. With normal page elements its of little concern, however when you add things like flash driven elements to a page that will let you see thru unused spaces but will not allow you to access them because they are being blocked by invisible spaces for what will represent contextual flash menu popups it renders the obscured element inaccessible.
Now, with that said, and I also need to point out, that scenario just described is one that is specific to me, one that I expect would only truly effect a microscopic amount of people. Hell on my laptop or my main desktop it would never even be an issue. It is only an issue because of the specific setup that is being used to view the page. However, That is not why I bring it up. I bring it up to illustrate that there are infinite ways of to view a page in infinite variation. It is sort of like what game developers have to consider when designing games for the PC. You as a developer have no way of predicting how every single person will access your content. So, you have to take that into account and work to make your content as accessible for the widest set of configurations possible.
One extremely important element is to limit usage of superfluous items such as scripts, applets and flash.
Simply put The golden rule of page design.
Functionality > aesthetics.
And remember the distinction. that refers to the USERS functionality, not the developers. Users come first, developers invariably must come second in that equation.
Certainly, Susan. Nonetheless is the site as it was redesigned ... not much aid to that goal of making it more streamlined. Yes, the old site was cluttered in some parts and I agree that it turned out better - in those parts. But the mainpage is still a clusterfuck of randomness.Susan Arendt said:
(And it was before just as well, the main difference people see now, though, is that it has much less visible structures than before. But for instance the complaints about the randomness with the sizes and positions of the features on the mainpage are considerably misplaced, as the old mainpage had the same issues, just not as obvious as now.)
That said, I'm a Web Developer, not a Designer ... I can only tell as much, it's merely a radical turn that has some major flaws in some departments, but also some major improvements in others, and as such gives the viewer this classy "It's change, and I see bad points!!!!" feeling.
That doesn't mean, though, that, when people complain about the current design, it's an issue of them actually hating it overall. It's more that they feel the need to address those problems first of all, to get them solved immediately, or at least as soon as possible. And, in all honesty, I understand that. And I know that it's an issue of a bunch of hours to get everything done properly when such complaints pop up. And I understand that some things read like a slap to the face ... But that's what our, and our colleagues' jobs are like, and will always be like.
Dramatic calls for a boycott, or leaving the Escapist, may not be the most appropriate or most desirable way to express ones' complaints, but it's one that needs to be seen as a statement. People wouldn't leave, if their complaints didn't have at least some grounding - unless they wanted to leave anyways and just looked for a reason.
Sooo ... what did I want to say with the core of this post again? .. Ah right ... Noone wants to call you guys drunk clueless jackasses. But it's the way it reads, as the negative points are what immediately jumps to ones eye, and need to be solved asap. And that's all the community wants to tell you guys ... Wrong wording at some points, sure ... But it's neither anything new to the Internet or the Escapist. Heck it isn't even new to the human kind overall. That's how people express their issues with anything they don't like ... Stomping their feet. Either with rather ... soft and respectful wording ... Or with a can of shit spurted out.
Both are valid and both are just as true. The latter does sound worse, disrespectful and whatnot. But it's the same thing, and something one has to deal with in this environment ... As offensive and disgusting it is, it's unavoidable, sadly ...
Do not like.
But people have said that many times.
So some constructive ideas before I whine:
-Make avatar picture bigger, and give it a silver box or something! My avatar looks Hideous on the top bar.
-Please make the boxes at the top navigation bar look more... enclosed, they just irritate me as is.
-Please, and here I am begging you, please put the hot and recent topics section at the top of the page.
-Less White, my eyes kinda hurt.
-More compact, and a nicer font on the navigation bar. The Current front page and Zero Punctuation page daze me for a second before I can do anything with all this seemingly random stuff floating around in a sea of light colour.
-Maybe make the light blue, everywhere, slightly darker.
-Less square please. That needs no explanation.
Whine time:
My eyes don't feel so good (still), blue is not great, feels less homey, less compact, there is no feeling behind the design, the colour of the bar at the bottom of the page works nicely though, darker and with gradient
Honestly, the relics, like the bar and layout at the top of the forum and the bookmark, topic index et cetera buttons, look the best on this whole page. The new stuff neither fits with it nor looks good. And add some deviders! NOT sharp square ones please >.<
But people have said that many times.
So some constructive ideas before I whine:
-Make avatar picture bigger, and give it a silver box or something! My avatar looks Hideous on the top bar.
-Please make the boxes at the top navigation bar look more... enclosed, they just irritate me as is.
-Please, and here I am begging you, please put the hot and recent topics section at the top of the page.
-Less White, my eyes kinda hurt.
-More compact, and a nicer font on the navigation bar. The Current front page and Zero Punctuation page daze me for a second before I can do anything with all this seemingly random stuff floating around in a sea of light colour.
-Maybe make the light blue, everywhere, slightly darker.
-Less square please. That needs no explanation.
Whine time:
My eyes don't feel so good (still), blue is not great, feels less homey, less compact, there is no feeling behind the design, the colour of the bar at the bottom of the page works nicely though, darker and with gradient
Honestly, the relics, like the bar and layout at the top of the forum and the bookmark, topic index et cetera buttons, look the best on this whole page. The new stuff neither fits with it nor looks good. And add some deviders! NOT sharp square ones please >.<
This site is popular. No one ever complains about the layout or aesthetics.
Lets overhaul the entire site.
Sense make none does.
If this is what it takes to justify the web designers full time position...
Lets overhaul the entire site.
Sense make none does.
If this is what it takes to justify the web designers full time position...