New Site Design

i know we have been talking about interface changes and whatnot and how the site is getting better, but slowing becoming more cluttered. i have had some ideas to make the site more simple as well and using all our ideas i want to show you how it could work. for now i only have the homepage as i want to know what you guys think before i do much more.






so what do you think? i made it much more simple. the first thing you will probably notice is that the logo has changed. i wanted to ramp it up a bit, but still looks familiar and make it fit with the website design. below that you will see a map. on each region you see a place to go, and when you hover your mouse over one it lights up, as demonstrated on north america/maps. i did just a rough draft of it since it would be hard without the original file. on the top left you can see your profile pic, and next to it is an icon. click on it and it expands more options. on the top right you have your notifications. the text will glow white when you have something new.

so i can do more if you want but i wanted to give you a taste of what i had in mind. if you guys really like it i'll redesign all the pages using the ideas we have been talking about. 

one word, Epic!

There are either two possibilities.
1. This is a spontanous action to try to change the complete lay-out of the website.
In that case its better to start the full website over again, both layout and code, which might actually be an extremely good idea considering the code quality (xD). But considering the amount of time that would cost, its just too much, way too much.
So no, I don't think this whole site will get a redesign.

2. Its a reaction on Cireon's post about interface changes ( http://www.dominating12.com/forum/?cmd=topic&id=771&page=1 )
In that case you misunderstood him.
What Cireon did not say was this:
'The whole site layout looks bad, and needs refinement'
What he did say was this:
'The create a new game page has too many options, and is too complicated.'
He also states what he wants to be changed in that page, for example a good map browser, instead of just a huge dropdown box with all the maps...

You see, there is quite a difference between the interface of a number of pages, and a redesign of the whole website

Having said that it's better not to continue with this, I wil lgive some comments on the design anyways, because I know you like to design and get better.

The first remark is that it looks awesome.
It is however a bad design for a website. You see, a good design doesnt only look awesome, but must be very practical in use as well.
Your top bar is alot larger with the avatar on it, making the website steal alot of space from the screen.
Maybe that is not such a problem on huge screens, but you also want to be able to view from a laptop or phone.

The logo is big, too big. This way it takes alot of space.

If the menu is a dropdown menu, than it's not very clear there is a dropdown menu there, so lots of people are not going to find it.
If its not a dropdown menu, and we would make the logo smaller, than there are going to be problems with the map and the menu, because they will intersect...

You use some really nice fonts for the big letters. That is a good thing on itself *.
However, you use the same font for the small letters in the bottom, making them not very well readable.
That is the reason that every good website you look at uses a very 'normal' font for all their text, and if they use awesome fonts like yours, these are usually only used for som really big texts, and are pictures instead of text.

The difficult thing about designing websites is that they do not only have to look epic, but also have to be very user friendly


*(except that you have to be sure everyone has these fonts installed. Not every computer has every font installed, making the website look really ugly on their screen. But this is another problem entirely)

thanks for the comments. and matty i did get exactly what Cireon was talking about but i thought it would be fun to go all out. i never expected you guys to wave a magic wand and make it happen, but i thought it would be cool to show you what it could look like in years to come.

so technically you could say its both 1&2 haha

curious though, is there a way to have a separate draft like page or something on the website? something that people cant see or only admins can get too? cuz if you could maybe it could be a side thing that you chip away at every now and then, so only working on it when you feel like it and having no pressure in getting it done at a particular time.

we could use beta.dominating12.com

Your design looks like a tablet app.

I personally don't find anything wrong with the overall layout of the site. There are just certain pages on it that need redesign e.g. like the create game page.

"lightbulb"

If only it is possible to create a tablet app (perhaps for android and iOS).

I like the simple layout of the page, as it is now and coming from other sites I find their home page to generic...I get lost and ours is easy and looks different then the other sites. Plus I have a hard time using their web front page and then give up trying.

K.I.S.S.

I agree with Matty.

The site may need a few touch ups here and there but the layout should stay the same. I came here to play but the simplicity (and of course the community) made me stay.

I totally agree with Fendi. It is always good to keep on improving, but in Catalonia we say "a poc a poc i bona lletra", whic more or less means "slowly and with nice letters"