Redesigning and re-branding EN World

[Morrus]

EN World's been the same for about a year now, and I feel the need to freshen things up. It's started to sprawl, get messy etc. Well - it started doing that a long time ago.

Anyway... I had that recent site redesign contest, but I wasn't really inspired by any of the (admittedly good) offerings. I'm seriously considering redesigning the whole thing from scratch.

I'm also very seriously considering rebranding the site. Problem, is, I don't know what to. I hate exotic, flowery names - simple and functional is the way I like it.

So, what we're possibly looking at here is, essentially, saying goodbye to EN World and creating something new and fresh from the ashes. The content will all be the same, of course (I'm not planning on losing anything).

There's no rush to do this - certainly not before Gen Con. I'd welcome any ideas, thoughts, comments etc. that you might have. Be as radical or as conservative as you like with these thoughts - I'm interested in hearing them all! The only caveat - don't suggest any big new complicated feature, because I won't have either the time or the know-how to do any programming or coding.

Anyway, let me know what you think. When I get back from Gen Con I'll be making changes for certain (maybe even some before Gen Con, time permitting).

-Morrus

[Edit - since this thread started, it has turned into more than a discussion on layout etc. I recommend that you take the time to read the whole thread to get a good picture of what's going on. I realise it's a lot to read - sorry!]

 

[dreamthief]

Well one thing I'd like to see would be consolidating some of the forums. Some of them are, well, dead. I think judicious use of [ tags ] to denote a particular topic or subject would help.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Hm...maybe if you do some sort of "Newspapery" look, with big headlines and then stories found with a click of the link. It could let you sort the news stories by categories...WotC News, d20 Publishers News, etc. A big database of all the articles ENWorld has covered.

Maybe even start doing comic strips, "special pieces," etc....

Prolly a good chunk of work, but just a thought. Since this is basically "d20 News," it'd certainly fit.

 

[ATO_DM]

I don't have any bright ideas on site design, but I do have some ideas related to content which may in part be related to the design of the site. I have followed this site since it was created and combined with the d20 reviews site. Basically, I agree that the content has kind of become a little less focused and the site needs to be freshened up a bit (no offense intended, if any is taken).

Anyway, I'd like to see the site break down like so:

-Community
-D20 News
-New Products
-Reviews of Products
-Player's Info Area
-DM resource and info area
-Archives (Black Pages)
-Links

Basically I think it would be a great boon to the site if the site itself had Resources, Visual Aides, etc. I really love knowing when products are coming out and what is happening news wise, but the resource area just seems like an extension of the Links page. I have also noticed that there are a lot of players on the boards that are fairly new to the Role-playing experience and I think that Player and DM info pages would be very helpful to them (and myself as well).

I hope at least some of what I had to say is helpful, and that your post was intended to be responded to in this manner. I'm excited to see a new style to the site after Gen Con.

 

[hong]

"Morrusworld" springs to mind.


Hong "all rides at Morrusworld 20% off this weekend!" Ooi

 

[Morrus]

Hm...maybe if you do some sort of "Newspapery" look, with big headlines and then stories found with a click of the link. It could let you sort the news stories by categories...WotC News, d20 Publishers News, etc. A big database of all the articles ENWorld has covered.

I think that qualifies as a "big new complicated feature".

 

[Morrus]

Basically, I agree that the content has kind of become a little less focused and the site needs to be freshened up a bit (no offense intended, if any is taken).

None taken! I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[reiella]

Personally would like to see it stay ENWorld, nostalgia and all.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Morrus -

I wouldn't consider rebranding the site - the EN awards are still in their infancy, and you'd need to change the name to match, which would probably hurt their continued growth as a "serious" award.

That said, you could probably get by with changing the banner name to something like "3EN" for "3rd Edition News".

Personally, I like the look, but change is relatively good. From the sounds of it, your real problem with the current site seems to be its organization (or lack thereof). I can't help with the pretty graphics (no artist me), but as for organization...

Here are my suggestions :
1) Retain the daily news on the splash page.
2) Retain the "Product Sidebar", but reduce the graphics from all upcoming releases to a "d20 New Releases" (current week maybe?) and a randomly selected product from the various top 20 product lists. A kind of "Have you read?" reminder about good stuff people might miss. (You can see an example of this at http://www.nocturnis.net)
3) Consider adding a few more "levels" to your site's tree. Right now, you essentially only have two (maybe 3) levels. This will let you "group" things a little more broadly. As top level divisions, I'd recommend

-"Community" (the boards and chat)
-"Products" (Upcoming releases, shop link, new products, reviews)
-"Industry Resources" (lists of publishers, adverting info for the site, etc. You already include this from the reviews link, but it's probably a good idea to make it more visible)
-"Fan Resources" (hosted sites, archives, player info, gm info, etc)
-"Site Admin" (you know what goes here. News archives as well, I'd say)

BTW, I'm glad to see the new server is working so well. It's really nice.

 

[Morrus]

That's the sort of thing I'm looking for - thanks, Guardian. Keep those ideas a'comin', folks!