/me seconds this proposal.Lackadaisical wrote:Maybe it's a good idea before someone just starts making something to have a list of other sites to get sort of a feel of how the new style should look like.
New site theme
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*bump*
Ok I guess Kamp is afk, but when I read about lot's of whitespace and contrasting colors I personally think about websites like this:
http://www.jasonsantamaria.com/articles/
http://www.underconsideration.com/
http://www.avclub.com/
http://alistapart.com/
So would a site like that be a good/bad thing? I'd really like to see clear and readable design like that be succesfully adapted to something as a gamesite, so if anyone knows about one, or has any other ideas don't shy away from posting it!
Ok I guess Kamp is afk, but when I read about lot's of whitespace and contrasting colors I personally think about websites like this:
http://www.jasonsantamaria.com/articles/
http://www.underconsideration.com/
http://www.avclub.com/
http://alistapart.com/
So would a site like that be a good/bad thing? I'd really like to see clear and readable design like that be succesfully adapted to something as a gamesite, so if anyone knows about one, or has any other ideas don't shy away from posting it!
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I really like the idea, and I'm willing to contribute by coding/designing something which is not taken care of (my amount of time is limited though).
About the forums: from my expierence and things I learned at university (user interfaces etc.) lines and borders tend to confuse. People are used to reality where things are either separated by free space or block the persons view to the "objects" farther away. Instead of borders try to use shaded boxes / layers stacked on top of each other (to achive some kind of pseudo deepth perception).
If you look at the design around this post, just try to count the number of borders.
Better: use more free space and slightly darkers colors for the not so important user profiles and other parts. The main post should be the focus of peoples attention.
Also picking a good display font, size, colors and perhaps limiting the amount of text per line can make text easier to read.
*I'd vote to ask around if we might be able to get some artist / designer to voluenteer for the basic design concept.*
Implementation of that concept on all levels will take some time. I guess.
----
But there are things everybody can do to contribute. Because the design is one piece, what really needs to be carefully examined is which parts need to accessible and what is rarly or never used in a given context.
Hiding forum features can really make a website easier for kids or players never having used a forum before.
*We need to analyse the desired/required structure and provide it.*
@kamp: you observations are excellent
, I guess the next levels will be more difficult though, but should atleast be considered now to some degree.
Take a look at the FAQ on the wiki (and shorten / update the FAQ with the really FAQ questions and precise short answers). The question and headlines there need to be shorter too.
About the forums: from my expierence and things I learned at university (user interfaces etc.) lines and borders tend to confuse. People are used to reality where things are either separated by free space or block the persons view to the "objects" farther away. Instead of borders try to use shaded boxes / layers stacked on top of each other (to achive some kind of pseudo deepth perception).
If you look at the design around this post, just try to count the number of borders.
Better: use more free space and slightly darkers colors for the not so important user profiles and other parts. The main post should be the focus of peoples attention.
Also picking a good display font, size, colors and perhaps limiting the amount of text per line can make text easier to read.
*I'd vote to ask around if we might be able to get some artist / designer to voluenteer for the basic design concept.*
Implementation of that concept on all levels will take some time. I guess.
----
But there are things everybody can do to contribute. Because the design is one piece, what really needs to be carefully examined is which parts need to accessible and what is rarly or never used in a given context.
Hiding forum features can really make a website easier for kids or players never having used a forum before.
*We need to analyse the desired/required structure and provide it.*
@kamp: you observations are excellent

Take a look at the FAQ on the wiki (and shorten / update the FAQ with the really FAQ questions and precise short answers). The question and headlines there need to be shorter too.
Something like this?Lackadaisical wrote:I'd really like to see clear and readable design like that be succesfully adapted to something as a gamesite, so if anyone knows about one, or has any other ideas don't shy away from posting it!
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I like that. Before I saw that page I was going to suggest a few things to be prominent on the home page. Those would be: the client on all platforms, a brief description of Arma, and screenshots/video.MaZuffeR wrote:Something like this?
Now, how to design without borders and still look "armagetron-y"? It seems strange since the game is based on a grid in a box and drawing lines around stuff. Kind of a paradox if you ask me. It's hard to pull a design motif from the game that translates to "open space" since the game is inherently claustrophobic.

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Can I volunteer even though we're trying to correct my mistakes in the first place?joda.bot wrote:*I'd vote to ask around if we might be able to get some artist / designer to voluenteer for the basic design concept.*
I had some time to burn this morning, so I made a mockup. I tried to combine the different things mentioned in this topic.. not so sure how i succeeded. Feedback appreciated.
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That looks pretty neat, personally I would prefer a lighter color scheme, but I'd ask for other opinions before I'd say no to dark.
Where would quote/edit/ip/delete buttons go? I use those quite frequently. Ranks and post counts would be good to see too. Same for avatars and location. I don't personally use the buttons under the posts that often, but maybe a link to the profile would be good to maintain. The "Armagetron Forums Index -> Armagetron -> General -> A Modest Proposal... " links would be good to retain.
How would something like that translate to the main site or the wiki? Keeping the same type of feel and organization for the cross-site conformity.
Edit: signatures?
Where would quote/edit/ip/delete buttons go? I use those quite frequently. Ranks and post counts would be good to see too. Same for avatars and location. I don't personally use the buttons under the posts that often, but maybe a link to the profile would be good to maintain. The "Armagetron Forums Index -> Armagetron -> General -> A Modest Proposal... " links would be good to retain.
How would something like that translate to the main site or the wiki? Keeping the same type of feel and organization for the cross-site conformity.
Edit: signatures?

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Heh, I expected to get some comments on the dark background light text. I googled a bit and there doesn't seem to be a consensus on it; some people prefer dark on white while others prefer it the other way around. I suppose this also has to do with how the environment looks where the website is viewed in. I don't really care either way, but the reason i picked light on dark was because armagetron has such a scheme as well.
Maybe just offer an alternative?
Maybe just offer an alternative?

Yeah didn't want to spend too much time on it, the quote/edit buttons and the sigs would just be at their usual place. I'd personally be in favor of text-only sigs, but ehh. Avatars would just be at their normal place, I've seen at a forum once where you could press the name of a poster and more info expanded below, I think that would be nice to have to keep clutter to a minimum.Tank Program wrote:Where would quote/edit/ip/delete buttons go? I use those quite frequently. Ranks and post counts would be good to see too. Same for avatars and location. I don't personally use the buttons under the posts that often, but maybe a link to the profile would be good to maintain. The "Armagetron Forums Index -> Armagetron -> General -> A Modest Proposal... " links would be good to retain.
Edit: signatures?
attachment added for how a wiki page would sort of look like.Tank Program wrote:How would something like that translate to the main site or the wiki? Keeping the same type of feel and organization for the cross-site conformity.
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