Re-Organizaing TPR's Front Page

[robbalvey]

Hey everyone,

 

I've been doing a little bit of re-organization of the TPR front page over the last couple of days and I need your input since all of you reading this visit the site on a regular basis and it's important to me to know if you guys like the idea of a new look or not.

 

Today I did a little test on how to re-organize the front page into categories.

 

First thing to know is, I DO NOT LIKE MAJOR WEBSITE CHANGES!!!

 

So you won't be seeing complete overhaul's here, at least not anytime soon. I also like to try to keep things "simple" which is why I originally chose one list of featured items and just added a new feature to the top each time there was an update.

 

So why the re-organization?

 

I feel that as the site has grown considerably in the amount of content we have it makes it harder for people who do not visit the site on a regular basis to get "caught up" on all the different updates.

 

And some people come here for different reasons. Some people come for the daily forum updates, some are here for our official TPR updates, and some like our "giant trip updates."

 

So I've broken the front page down into categories, and here is a "test" of how it could look:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/newindex/index_new5.htm

 

Some questions I'd like to get some feedback on:

- Is it "simple" to understand or is it too "busy" or "confusing?"

- Is the font too small?

- Are there any errors in your browser?

 

Again, this is not something I'm absolutley doing, but it's just a "test".

 

Please let me know what you think.

 

--Robb

 

EDIT: Also, just so you know things that are on my "to do" list:

 

- Tweak border colors (too much white border)

- Make the TPR logo flush with the rest of the tables.

- Space out the menu options better.

- Overall, just "clean it up" a bit more.

 

This was litterally about an hours worth of messing with tables, just to see if people like the idea, then I'd go back and make it a bit sexier.

 

--Robb

[Schmoofy]

I like the new page, but I do have a suggestion. (Possibly more later on)

 

The search box is on the left hand side of the new home page you have made up. It stretches the screen farther left than it should be, in IE and FF. Perhaps moving the search box to a different place on the page would make the page not stretch that far? I'm annoyed by pages that overflow to the sides of the screen, especially home pages of sites.

 

Otherwise, it's a really nice design.

[Vekoma Fan Boy]

Please, don't do it. Nothing wrong with it, and it is your site, I'm just a person to resist change, it's hard enough dealing with the new headings. I like things the way they were.

[robbalvey]

^ I'm not sure what you mean by "stretches it farther than it should be." This is how it looks on my screen. Does it look different on yours?

[Wes]

I really like it. My only suggestion right now is to make the tables a darker shade of gray than the main div.

[robbalvey]

Also, just so you know things that are on my "to do" list:

 

- Tweak border colors (too much white border)

- Make the TPR logo flush with the rest of the tables.

- Space out the menu options better.

- Overall, just "clean it up" a bit more.

 

This was litterally about an hours worth of messing with tables, just to see if people like the idea, then I'd go back and make it a bit sexier.

 

--Robb

[Carnage]

I kind of liked the old version better.

 

On this new version each item looks too small to me.

 

And the search box having a column of it's own seems to get in the way. Is it even needed?

 

I see where you're trying to go though.

[Vekoma Fan Boy]

^ I'm not sure what you mean by "stretches it farther than it should be." This is how it looks on my screen. Does it look different on yours?

 

Okay perfect example of what he is saying now that that picture is in your post, now if you computer's resolution is the same as mine (I'm not sure what it is, my dad set it when I got a new monitor) you need to scroll left and right to see the whole page. And i personally hate that too.

[Schmoofy]

My screen must not have the resolution yours does, because mine shows as this picture included in this post does. Maybe I'm the only one viewing it with this resolution?

 

Anyway, like I said, it's a much more convenient design instead of the current one that's a big long page.

[coastrfreak2000]

I like it. The only problem is the search column. It should go somewhere else.

[robbalvey]

Here's what it would look like with the search function back on the top of the page:

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/newindex/index_new2.htm

[coastrfreak2000]

That is perfect.

[Vekoma Fan Boy]

Hmmm... For some reason that makes me like the change a little bit but I'm still not sure. Wow 3 posts in the same thread in 5 minutes. I must be really bored.

[Schmoofy]

That is perfect.

I'll second that. Your second version of the new home page looks better with the search button on top. That, and everything else is more centered.

[Fallen Heretic]

I like it. But I agree that I would rather have the search box on a bar along the top or on the right.

 

My screen is a little smaller than the layout (Im on old onboard graphics so I cant increase it any more) so having the search box on the left means I have to scroll to see the right hand column. It looks like a big grey area of nothing on the left.

 

EDIT: Damn, beaten to it several times. Yes, second version with the search up top is great.

[Reality15]

Yeah, I must say, I like the search box on the top of the page like that instead of in its own column. Other than that, I love the change, really. Makes it a lot easier to get to what you want.

 

I've never figured it out though... what is the font you guys use?

[Wes]

I like it better with the search bar on the top. I think you should change the table colors of the section headings to something like this.

[Shavethewhales]

 

This was litterally about an hours worth of messing with tables, just to see if people like the idea, then I'd go back and make it a bit sexier.

 

--Robb

 

Ah, what are you using to make this site? If you're still messing with tables, I seriously suggest you invest some time in learning a bit of CSS. It's not hard to learn, and once you start using it, making massive site-wide improvements are a breeze. Not to mention all the new stylistic possibilities you'd have. I like the site as it is, but if you ever wanted to take it up a notch stylistically, either learning CSS or getting a free CSS template off the net would help you out a lot.

[robbalvey]

^ Yeah, see, that's what I meant by "no major overhauls" in this revision. I just don't have the time to learn new stuff like CSS, even if it easy. So if I can't do it in Front Page, it won't appear on TPR, at least not any time soon, sorry.

 

Also, keep in mind that TPR is now about 5,000 .htm pages, so for me to make any kind of site-wide change, it's going to be VERY time consuming to do.

 

--Robb

[Shavethewhales]

^Yeah, I get your drift, but just remember if you ever decide to divulge into a 'TPR 2.0'. CSS would make a world of difference.

 

For now, I'm going to side with everyone else and say that last version is just about perfect.

[robbalvey]

^ Trust me I know. I did the css for the forum. It's not really that I don't know how to do it (although I know only the basics) it's more about the volume of time that would take to change over all the pages.

 

There are still too many "old school" TPR pages on the black background that I never got to when I made the last update in 2004.

 

--Robb

[sixflagsmagicmountain]

Yeah, I like the second version a lot, it's very nice.

[Neogreeneyez]

The borders on the two top don't really fit in like the rest of them... on my comoputer...

Borders kinda out

[robbalvey]

^ Um...we're not talking about the current front page, we're talking about the new one. Did you even read the first post in this thread?

 

Here's the one we're making comments on:

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/newindex/index_new2.htm

 

Here is one concern I have about it. Does anyone think it's "too busy?" One thing I liked about having one list of updates is that it was easy to see what the most recent update was. It was on the top of the list. Now with multiple tables, is it still easy to figure out, or is it confusing?

 

--Robb

[Neogreeneyez]

durrrrr my bad... I meant to put this pic....