AidanCKY Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Aiden - my concern with yours is the white text in the light gray update boxes. Doesn't allow the text to pop. I will take that on board, thanks for your comment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) DKR, I would say take everything above the MORE >>>> link and work on it being more "updated" that what we currently have. The problem is, I cannot really explain what "make it more updated" means in words. Just try a few design elements and see if any of them stick. I would also welcome anyone to take DKR's idea and do the same. If multiple people end up helping to get to one end design, I'll take care of all of you guys, don't worry. TPR has always been a team effort, and this should be no different. Edited January 11, 2012 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chroniq Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Even though I can't design, I'm always happy to share opinions whether correct or incorrect. Do you guys have any stats for the click through ratio on posts that are more than 5 deep (ie. 5 posts older than the newest post)?. I'm a huge fan of clean design and a trend has been to remove any links that have less than a 10 percent click through on the main page of a site. I see so many designs that have links that seem to exist just for the sake of having links. Another thought is the fact that if you have youtube, plus an html5/flash app on the main page that might make for a relatively heavy client. TPR 2.0 could be radically different? maybe? I was thinking something that had many less links and a super clean design so the very casual tpr member (maybe someone that has never even registered) doesn't have to think about what to click on. The other thought I had was the focus on other parts of the site that are so comprehensive but maybe less visited than the forum. Should the park index/review area have more prominence as it's now more comprehensive? -chris "I'd probably disregard this post" connolly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougMJr Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Is this better on the eyes? The featured video now will "swipe" across the "featured box." This box will rotate via flash or javascript. Click to enlarge larry, I'll definatly try to find a bus or something for the trips/events button. Thanks for the feedback. If there is any other advice you (or anyone else) can give please let me know. And Robb, I agree about the gmail thing 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chroniq Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 ^No scrolling. Tablet scalable. I'm a fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougMJr Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 ^There will be a little scrolling probably, I'm not finished yet. But I'm glad you like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Sheesh, I wish I was more experienced with Photoshop, and I wish I knew anything about Dreamweaver - not only because of this fun contest, but for more projects in the future. I'm not the biggest fan of having the announcements at the bottom of the page though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) Alright, here's the first run, with everything developing in my head during the bike ride home from work. Yea, I know I should have been focusing on my surroundings, not brainstorm web layouts My ramblings: First reading about the site layout, it came to realization that TPR could use a slider to showcase 6 of the most recent 'official' updates that users can cycle through, or click below to view all updates. Many sites these days are using these nifty things This cuts down some of the clutter on the home page and brings it down to a single column. And in all honesty, unless you're a news site (which in a sense, we come to TPR for coaster related news), home pages should (I think anyway) have a nice clean appearance. To fill the hole, I found that the "Random Update" can fit in nicely without being too hidden, and without being the first thing we immediately see. If it were me running the site, I would want the official updates to be the first thing seen, with other unofficial updates and a 'random update' as secondary. Also, I'm going in this blindly, have not looked at anyone's posts prior to doing my first run, to see what I can come up with. First runs always seem to come off rough, followed by getting 'closer.' This was the same situation with the site I did for my work. I actually lost count of how many times I went back and tweaked the home page and the template (a layout that all pages can conform to). Some post thoughts on this design from me: The background seems like it could use some work as it seems a bit plain...clean but feels like somethings missing. Perhaps this will be solved on V2 (not the coaster, mind you ) Version 1 Edited January 11, 2012 by Angry_Gumball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidanCKY Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Sheesh, I wish I was more experienced with Photoshop, and I wish I knew anything about Dreamweaver - not only because of this fun contest, but for more projects in the future. I'm not the biggest fan of having the announcements at the bottom of the page though. You dont have to be, I can design and code websites, I use PaintDotNet (free and similar to PS, but simpler) and Notepad++ to code. Simplesh! Heres an update to my design which might be more "TPR" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 ^^Angry_Gumball I like your 'big image' that will change the most of any right now. Really like that. I'm kind of liking the idea of the guy who did the pull down menus on top, then your big slider image (or whatever it's called!), then some of the 'cleaner' boxes that others have created. I think the thing that I don't like on our current page is all of the lines/boundries/boxes, whatever you want to call them. It's hard to explain, but it just seems like too many lines and not just a clean image with matched up text. I hope this makes sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I'm all for drop down menus, cleans up the nav bar and can be especially useful for jumping to a specific forum. This is all good until I get on a mobile device, where I have the hardest time using those things. I have to zoom in quite a bit so my chubby thumb can click on the correct forum. Perhaps, in the future, could we see a 'mobile' home page? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKR Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 DKR, I would say take everything above the MORE >>>> link and work on it being more "updated" that what we currently have. I don't know if you refeer as something like this, but... there it goes (sorry for the copy-paste of jaws, but it's just 2:57 AM here, and I have to go) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublestufforeo Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 This one is for Elissa just to give her an idea on what a facebook feed might look like on the site, as you can tell my design isn't done yet, but I'm getting there. (scrapped my old one.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngforever Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 My newer design. Draft two. The posts are scrollable (hence the bar on the side of reports, etc). There is a slider of the newest updates, and pull down bars like y'all said you liked. Let me know what needs to be fixed! OH... and hovering over the icon will show the description (like the SeaWorld one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Here's another take with a 'cleaner' look of the 'other updates.' Reading Elissa's point about too many borders, it is currently a bit much, especially with the white text. However there does have to be some separation between updates and I decided to give it a whirl with a little more subtle division lines. Gone is the conflicting white boundary boxes and white text. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acq10uaz Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) ^I really like your design the best. I hate change on the internet as much as the next guy but IMO that is the just the amount of change TPR needs. Again that is just my opinion... I also feel like social media feeds can become a little obnoxious because you can't really customize them to blend into the site. EDIT: I really really like Chroniq's colorless version of the TPR logo. Robb and Elissa, I don't know how you guys feel about it since in a way the color shows off TPR's personality, if you know what I mean... But I feel like this logo really shows off the sleek, modern design of Angry_Gumball's design. Edited January 11, 2012 by acq10uaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Going to take a step back from some of these as there's a LOT to look at and digest now. I'll post more comments tomorrow, but I really like to encourage some of our TPR members to post their feedback. After all, you guys are the ones who use the site the most and I need to know what you like/don't like about the current design and if these submissions resolve any of those problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Here's another take with a 'cleaner' look of the 'other updates.' Reading Elissa's point about too many borders, it is currently a bit much, especially with the white text. However there does have to be some separation between updates and I decided to give it a whirl with a little more subtle division lines. Gone is the conflicting white boundary boxes and white text. I really like the top half of that one. (The header, links, and Jaws photo) Just not too crazy about the bottom half. Not really sure what it is, but it seems to clash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Something I'll say about all of them - they are still too "wordy". While I realize that's part of the current design, that's also a fault of the current design. Remember, one of my original comments was "more visual, less text." Any way to get the same points across without as much text on screen? Perhaps each image has more of a "header" than lots of text, and when you mouse over, you get more text? I dunno....I'm not really a web designer! Just throwing that out there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 1 last take on this current layout as I was missing some key elements: social networks, disclaimer, footer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sspaz1000 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Could something like Andy's latest design have the drop downs in it, that people seem to be liking from youngforever's design? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 This is really cool. Can't wait to see the 2012 version. The freshest look and starting concept seems to be from Almerestars. If that concept is polished up a bit by a pro and incorporated some park index elements, it could be really awesome. Angry_Gumball's scrolling photo and its positioning is really awesome, the rest seems way too similar to the current page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngforever Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Any way to get the same points across without as much text on screen? Perhaps each image has more of a "header" than lots of text, and when you mouse over, you get more text? I dunno....I'm not really a web designer! Just throwing that out there.... That's what I put in mine. The scroll-over thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougMJr Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Just read robbs point about the less words thing... I guess I'll have to radically change my design to achieve that goal. I'm ok with short descriptions next to photos but I'll see what I can do. Anyway, as far as my current design goes I've added a drop down menu, the newsletter and social links, as well as a little cleaning up here and there. I think I'm done for tonight. I'll see what ideas I can come up with tomorrow. Click to enlarge. Once again any suggestions will be appreciated. I feel like this design may also work ok with tablets and mobile devices as you do not have to scroll, and you can click on the images to navigate to each post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKR Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) Last update of my layout for today. 3:42 here and I'm almost using the keyboard as a pillow... Edited January 11, 2012 by DKR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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