Dragongirl
First Post
Oh ya, and please make your news links open in a new window.
Redesigning and re-branding EN World
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
How I use site.
Main page.
-Site updates
-Product announcements
-Industry news
Forums
-----------------------------------
Suggestions
-No name change
-3 levels
-Be carefull with background and text colors
-Publishers post their press releases in special forum(or sent to you, this is where they go)
-Ditch righthand column
-Todays news only, put previous news in a special forum(sans graphics)
-When a new product is available at enworld rpg shop this goes on news page, at top, only exception to one day rule(no more than a week though)
2cents
Main page.
-Site updates
-Product announcements
-Industry news
Forums
-----------------------------------
Suggestions
-No name change
-3 levels
-Be carefull with background and text colors
-Publishers post their press releases in special forum(or sent to you, this is where they go)
-Ditch righthand column
-Todays news only, put previous news in a special forum(sans graphics)
-When a new product is available at enworld rpg shop this goes on news page, at top, only exception to one day rule(no more than a week though)
2cents
Hey Morrus.
I registered just to comment on this. I am all for making the site more personal and community based. Right now I basicly come just for the product news, but I agree that removing press releases from the main page is a great idea. This issue is not about redesigning the site, it is about your integrity. You may not put it this bluntly, but there is no reason for you to pimp yourself off for publishers, so make any changes you want.
I like the idea of making publishers post their press releases in the forums. When there is a new press release just update the main page saying something like "Press Releases Updated in Publisher Forum" that provides a link to the form and thats it. No need to even identify the publisher. This also may create more traffic for the forums, and then fans of certain publishers will be more likely to reply to the press release, that will lead hopefully to more interaction between the publishers and the fans. Communications between fans and publishers is always a good thing. The will also de-businessfy the front page.
Remove the upcoming products from the front page altogether(instead just have a seperate link altogether). That will definately shift the tone of the main page. Instead of having an upcoming products page, try to find popular threads about products on the message boards and link them to the main page. This will let you know what products we are intrested in, and therefore what is newsworthy for the main page, plus more traffic for the boards means more interaction between fans and hence a better community.
Editorial - You should write some editorials (if that intrests you of course). Maybe once every two weeks on something that strikes you about either the Industry, Fan Community, or maybe just nifty spell that you found and how you used it in a campaign etc etc. Even take editorial submissions(an editorial on the whole forgotten rums thing would be cool)... maybe put up a fan editorial once every two weeks (hence you would switch off with a fan)... as a fan, I think it would be cool to see an article I wrote on the main page(if it was good enough of course)... This would hopefully inspire those not participating in the community(other than just reading the front page) to do so....
I never had an interest in the forums before, but the message board round up has me browsing the forums alot more often. That is way I suggest just puting stuff in the forum and linking it to the main page.
I like good meaty interviews with game designers. Some interviews are fluff, but I remember liking some of the interviews that were on the site a while back (my memory fails me). Interviews that just pimp a product just suck. I thought Monte's Line of Sight was lost forever when he went two weeks with just having what seemed like scripted buy my stylish product interviews with Bruce and Sean, luckily his have gotten back to being more interesting.
Maybe once a month feature a homebrew campaign site that you found interesting. I've found a few that are quite detailed, are of professional quality, and better than some products out there. Along the same lines, once a week feature a fan created spell, item, monster, or story that you liked. Erics idea of removing company text from the D20 idea is really good also.
The D20 product reviews(when they are from a reliable source) are a great help, but these don't need to be on the main page.
I have a general distaste for the way the business game is played in america (especially corporate america) and wouldn't mind seeing a shift to a community site and less buy our product type PR.
Thanks for making a great site.
Hawkmoon
I registered just to comment on this. I am all for making the site more personal and community based. Right now I basicly come just for the product news, but I agree that removing press releases from the main page is a great idea. This issue is not about redesigning the site, it is about your integrity. You may not put it this bluntly, but there is no reason for you to pimp yourself off for publishers, so make any changes you want.
I like the idea of making publishers post their press releases in the forums. When there is a new press release just update the main page saying something like "Press Releases Updated in Publisher Forum" that provides a link to the form and thats it. No need to even identify the publisher. This also may create more traffic for the forums, and then fans of certain publishers will be more likely to reply to the press release, that will lead hopefully to more interaction between the publishers and the fans. Communications between fans and publishers is always a good thing. The will also de-businessfy the front page.
Remove the upcoming products from the front page altogether(instead just have a seperate link altogether). That will definately shift the tone of the main page. Instead of having an upcoming products page, try to find popular threads about products on the message boards and link them to the main page. This will let you know what products we are intrested in, and therefore what is newsworthy for the main page, plus more traffic for the boards means more interaction between fans and hence a better community.
Editorial - You should write some editorials (if that intrests you of course). Maybe once every two weeks on something that strikes you about either the Industry, Fan Community, or maybe just nifty spell that you found and how you used it in a campaign etc etc. Even take editorial submissions(an editorial on the whole forgotten rums thing would be cool)... maybe put up a fan editorial once every two weeks (hence you would switch off with a fan)... as a fan, I think it would be cool to see an article I wrote on the main page(if it was good enough of course)... This would hopefully inspire those not participating in the community(other than just reading the front page) to do so....
I never had an interest in the forums before, but the message board round up has me browsing the forums alot more often. That is way I suggest just puting stuff in the forum and linking it to the main page.
I like good meaty interviews with game designers. Some interviews are fluff, but I remember liking some of the interviews that were on the site a while back (my memory fails me). Interviews that just pimp a product just suck. I thought Monte's Line of Sight was lost forever when he went two weeks with just having what seemed like scripted buy my stylish product interviews with Bruce and Sean, luckily his have gotten back to being more interesting.
Maybe once a month feature a homebrew campaign site that you found interesting. I've found a few that are quite detailed, are of professional quality, and better than some products out there. Along the same lines, once a week feature a fan created spell, item, monster, or story that you liked. Erics idea of removing company text from the D20 idea is really good also.
The D20 product reviews(when they are from a reliable source) are a great help, but these don't need to be on the main page.
I have a general distaste for the way the business game is played in america (especially corporate america) and wouldn't mind seeing a shift to a community site and less buy our product type PR.
Thanks for making a great site.
Hawkmoon
talien
Community Supporter
My Suggestions for Redesign
Hi Morrus!
Looking at the site from a design perspective, here's my advice:
Studies show that a reader's eyes, when browsing the web, focus from top left to top right in a straight line. Then, depending on what the next element is, the reader's focus moves to that item (say, a flashy graphic) or alternately moves diagonally downward. In that relatively small, one screenfull of space, you have to get your points across or you're losing readers.
As of right now, that 3E design sucks up bandwidth and is unpleasant looking. It could just as easily be a black background -- it serves no purpose as it is not effectively branding the site since we can't see it hidden in the background.
So Step #1: Get a better logo. The logo should probably tie in the 3rd edition part. New viewers who look at this site have no idea what in the world the site has to do with the letter "N". It needs to be more obvious, more flashy, and incorporate the Third-Edition News aspect. I'd say run a contest for that before jumping to web site design.
Step #2: If you recall my comments at the beginning of this post, the eye starts in the top left corner of the screen. The first impression is created there. This is where you get my attention, ever so briefly, so you must use it wisely. This is what I see now:
A) The logo. Good, I should know where I'm at.
B) The advertiser. Not so good. One second into the site and you're distracting with an advertisement. Which is, in essence, encouraging me to go somewhere else. Between the logo and the advertisement, there needs to be more content about the actual site. And I say this knowing that I'm one of those advertisers.
My eye scrolls back in zig-zag fashion to the far left again, and this is what I get:
C) Support EN World. Whoa. I don't even know what your site is about and the first thing you're conveying (at this point, third thing) is that you want me to support you? It comes too early.
D) Contact Me. Important info -- but contact you about what? I haven't actually read the site yet.
E) Logos. Logos for what? Logos for who? ENWorld logos? Why do I care about this?
F) Advertising. By this point my impression of this site is that it is a news agency. Which is precisely what people see it as -- everything here is about 1) getting money for the site (advertising, supporting EnWorld) or contacting the site owner to help advertise the site (logos, advertising, contact me). None of it has anything to do with the site's PRIMARY purpose.
G) Links. Good, but again this is another incentive for me to leave the site.
H) Reviews/D20 Guide. AH HA! Here it is. This is what I came for. Why is it all the way at the far end of the navigation? It should be first, way before Supporting EN World.
We're not even at the news yet.
The next thing I notice is that big, gold medal. Oooh, SHIIIIINNNNYYYY. Except I can't read it (for some reason, it's cloaked in shadow). This is the right place for such a medal to be -- it's the only graphic element on the page and it caught my eye. But it really should incorporate the ENWorld logo into it (these are the ENnies after all). Heck, it could temporarily replace the logo -- you'll recall, that's the #1 best spot to advertise what your site is.
Then we have the STUFF. And boy do we have a lot. The stuff categories include Community, Guides, E.N.Zines, The Black Pages, Resources, Settings/d20 Games, ENnies, Email Updates, and Donations. That's just the left side.
On the right side: Current Contests, Online Store, Hosted Sites, WotC Product Schedule, and Future Rumors.
In the middle: News and Archived News.
Let me state up front the top three reasons I come to ENWorld:
1) News
2) The Messageboards
3) ENWorld Guides to companies/publishers (because I freelance)
I think the top navigation has it right. So why reproduce it? Let's take the categories already created by the top navigation and lay them out a little better.
ADVERTISING: Why not have a link under the advertising banner which says "if you'd like to advertise in this space, click here"? Under this category F) which is how to advertise, and E) logos which is more advertising. Community Supporters belong in this sub-page too.
SUPPORT EN WORLD: It's really obvious that EN World really really REALLY wants to be supported. It's listed first in the top left navigation, then under Community, then in the bottom left. This strikes me as unnecessary. Once is fine.
REVIEWS/D20 GUIDE: The fact that this has a slash in it is a hint. I do not associate Reviews with D20 Guide. A guide is not a review, and a review is not a guide. They are two separate things -- one presumably being more impartial than the other. This distinction is preserved in the top navigation, but not the left, where the Guides category contains the D20 review information. I suggest breaking this up into two categories: a guide for those interested in learning about companies and products, and a review section for those who are just interested in the reviews.
LINKS: To where? This doesn't explain to me why I should go to those links. Nix it.
COMMUNITY: Moving on to the left navigation, this is a good idea. It's one of the main reasons I think many people visit ENWorld. It deserves to be on that top bar navigation. Get rid of Community Supporters and Support ENWorld.
E.N.ZINES: What? What are these? Why should I read them? Perhaps put a small graphic that represents the covers for the two zines. Titles alone don't draw me. What are they offering that ENWorld doesn't already? Why should I go there?
THE BLACK PAGES: Okay, Black Pages to me means that you're boycotting something. Remember that? This doesn't mean anything to me. It's content. Looks like a guide to me.
RESOURCES: This is like the Links section. Isn't everything a resource? It looks like these are guides too.
SETTINGS/D20 GAMES: More content hopping off the front page.
ENNIES: Here we have the ENnies again -- the archive should be linked to that big gold medallion. That's all you really need (and certainly, if they're important, they don't belong in the bottom left corner).
STORE: Of all the things on this page, the store is the most appropriately placed. I won't look at it every time since it's in the place I read least (the far right hand side), but it's got pretty graphics to draw me over there. I would leave that.
CONTESTS: The Contests, on the other hand, dont' belong there. If they're urgent contests that fluctuate often, it should be on the left -- where my focus is.
HOSTED SITES: More links to other places.
PRODUCT SCHEDULE: Like the store, this is ideally located on the right. Not a lot of content, but lots of flash.
NEWS: Ahhhh, news. Sweet news. It's the number one thing we read. So why is it cloaked in gold lettering on a black background, which is not easy to read? Why do I have to scroll down to read the other days? This is what I suggest:
NEWS ARCHIVE: Even better, a little calendar (that can easily be done in HTML) which links to each day for the past month would be great. So if I want to see what happened last Thursday, I can just look at the calendar and click down. This would fit on the left/right columns and would work well as a flashy item.
My short attention span has me focused on the big sea of gold text only for a few seconds. Rather than make me work for what I'm looking for, how about summarizing the categories for each day. Each short intro would be a link further down the page.
SITE NEWS: Site Redesign
NEW AT WOTC: Random Encounters, In the Works, & Olidammara's Dice...
D20 SYSTEM NEWS: Fantages Studio, Ral Partha Europe, & Fiery Dragon
COMMUNITY NEWS: Emerald Night, Call of the Horn, Netbook of NPCs, Tablesmith
REVIEWS: Blight Magic, Occult Lore, & Way of the Ninja.
You've just made my browsing a thousand times easier. Better yet, I can now decide what I want to read about what happened on Monday in a flash. I then click on any one of the above links and instantly scroll down to the anchors on the page.
You can do this for each day and then make better use of the space on the right or left by putting in the previous day's summary. It's short, catchy, and most importantly useful. It gets me the news I want right away.
Since the site scrolls a lot, the other links off the page (ENZines, D20 worlds, etc.) are best served by small icons identifying them and distinguishing them from each other -- almost as if they were products out of the WOTC catalog on the left. That would definitely get my attention when I scrolled down. Little is served by simply having a static link on the left-hand side. That leaves more room for navigation.
To review. Across the very top: ENWORLD LOGO | ADVERTISING
Second row: D20 GUIDE | REVIEWS | COMMUNITY | CONTACT
Left Column: NEWS CALENDAR | ENNIES | CONTESTS | ENZINES | D20 GAMES (each treated like a separate product with icons rather than a list)
Middle Column: NEWS SUMMARY | NEWS
Right Column: ONLINE STORE | WOTC PRODUCT SCHEDULE
Hope that's helpful!
Mike "Talien" Tresca
http://www.retromud.org/talien
Hi Morrus!
Looking at the site from a design perspective, here's my advice:
Studies show that a reader's eyes, when browsing the web, focus from top left to top right in a straight line. Then, depending on what the next element is, the reader's focus moves to that item (say, a flashy graphic) or alternately moves diagonally downward. In that relatively small, one screenfull of space, you have to get your points across or you're losing readers.
As of right now, that 3E design sucks up bandwidth and is unpleasant looking. It could just as easily be a black background -- it serves no purpose as it is not effectively branding the site since we can't see it hidden in the background.
So Step #1: Get a better logo. The logo should probably tie in the 3rd edition part. New viewers who look at this site have no idea what in the world the site has to do with the letter "N". It needs to be more obvious, more flashy, and incorporate the Third-Edition News aspect. I'd say run a contest for that before jumping to web site design.
Step #2: If you recall my comments at the beginning of this post, the eye starts in the top left corner of the screen. The first impression is created there. This is where you get my attention, ever so briefly, so you must use it wisely. This is what I see now:
A) The logo. Good, I should know where I'm at.
B) The advertiser. Not so good. One second into the site and you're distracting with an advertisement. Which is, in essence, encouraging me to go somewhere else. Between the logo and the advertisement, there needs to be more content about the actual site. And I say this knowing that I'm one of those advertisers.
My eye scrolls back in zig-zag fashion to the far left again, and this is what I get:
C) Support EN World. Whoa. I don't even know what your site is about and the first thing you're conveying (at this point, third thing) is that you want me to support you? It comes too early.
D) Contact Me. Important info -- but contact you about what? I haven't actually read the site yet.
E) Logos. Logos for what? Logos for who? ENWorld logos? Why do I care about this?
F) Advertising. By this point my impression of this site is that it is a news agency. Which is precisely what people see it as -- everything here is about 1) getting money for the site (advertising, supporting EnWorld) or contacting the site owner to help advertise the site (logos, advertising, contact me). None of it has anything to do with the site's PRIMARY purpose.
G) Links. Good, but again this is another incentive for me to leave the site.
H) Reviews/D20 Guide. AH HA! Here it is. This is what I came for. Why is it all the way at the far end of the navigation? It should be first, way before Supporting EN World.
We're not even at the news yet.
The next thing I notice is that big, gold medal. Oooh, SHIIIIINNNNYYYY. Except I can't read it (for some reason, it's cloaked in shadow). This is the right place for such a medal to be -- it's the only graphic element on the page and it caught my eye. But it really should incorporate the ENWorld logo into it (these are the ENnies after all). Heck, it could temporarily replace the logo -- you'll recall, that's the #1 best spot to advertise what your site is.
Then we have the STUFF. And boy do we have a lot. The stuff categories include Community, Guides, E.N.Zines, The Black Pages, Resources, Settings/d20 Games, ENnies, Email Updates, and Donations. That's just the left side.
On the right side: Current Contests, Online Store, Hosted Sites, WotC Product Schedule, and Future Rumors.
In the middle: News and Archived News.
Let me state up front the top three reasons I come to ENWorld:
1) News
2) The Messageboards
3) ENWorld Guides to companies/publishers (because I freelance)
I think the top navigation has it right. So why reproduce it? Let's take the categories already created by the top navigation and lay them out a little better.
ADVERTISING: Why not have a link under the advertising banner which says "if you'd like to advertise in this space, click here"? Under this category F) which is how to advertise, and E) logos which is more advertising. Community Supporters belong in this sub-page too.
SUPPORT EN WORLD: It's really obvious that EN World really really REALLY wants to be supported. It's listed first in the top left navigation, then under Community, then in the bottom left. This strikes me as unnecessary. Once is fine.
REVIEWS/D20 GUIDE: The fact that this has a slash in it is a hint. I do not associate Reviews with D20 Guide. A guide is not a review, and a review is not a guide. They are two separate things -- one presumably being more impartial than the other. This distinction is preserved in the top navigation, but not the left, where the Guides category contains the D20 review information. I suggest breaking this up into two categories: a guide for those interested in learning about companies and products, and a review section for those who are just interested in the reviews.
LINKS: To where? This doesn't explain to me why I should go to those links. Nix it.
COMMUNITY: Moving on to the left navigation, this is a good idea. It's one of the main reasons I think many people visit ENWorld. It deserves to be on that top bar navigation. Get rid of Community Supporters and Support ENWorld.
E.N.ZINES: What? What are these? Why should I read them? Perhaps put a small graphic that represents the covers for the two zines. Titles alone don't draw me. What are they offering that ENWorld doesn't already? Why should I go there?
THE BLACK PAGES: Okay, Black Pages to me means that you're boycotting something. Remember that? This doesn't mean anything to me. It's content. Looks like a guide to me.
RESOURCES: This is like the Links section. Isn't everything a resource? It looks like these are guides too.
SETTINGS/D20 GAMES: More content hopping off the front page.
ENNIES: Here we have the ENnies again -- the archive should be linked to that big gold medallion. That's all you really need (and certainly, if they're important, they don't belong in the bottom left corner).
STORE: Of all the things on this page, the store is the most appropriately placed. I won't look at it every time since it's in the place I read least (the far right hand side), but it's got pretty graphics to draw me over there. I would leave that.
CONTESTS: The Contests, on the other hand, dont' belong there. If they're urgent contests that fluctuate often, it should be on the left -- where my focus is.
HOSTED SITES: More links to other places.
PRODUCT SCHEDULE: Like the store, this is ideally located on the right. Not a lot of content, but lots of flash.
NEWS: Ahhhh, news. Sweet news. It's the number one thing we read. So why is it cloaked in gold lettering on a black background, which is not easy to read? Why do I have to scroll down to read the other days? This is what I suggest:
NEWS ARCHIVE: Even better, a little calendar (that can easily be done in HTML) which links to each day for the past month would be great. So if I want to see what happened last Thursday, I can just look at the calendar and click down. This would fit on the left/right columns and would work well as a flashy item.
My short attention span has me focused on the big sea of gold text only for a few seconds. Rather than make me work for what I'm looking for, how about summarizing the categories for each day. Each short intro would be a link further down the page.
SITE NEWS: Site Redesign
NEW AT WOTC: Random Encounters, In the Works, & Olidammara's Dice...
D20 SYSTEM NEWS: Fantages Studio, Ral Partha Europe, & Fiery Dragon
COMMUNITY NEWS: Emerald Night, Call of the Horn, Netbook of NPCs, Tablesmith
REVIEWS: Blight Magic, Occult Lore, & Way of the Ninja.
You've just made my browsing a thousand times easier. Better yet, I can now decide what I want to read about what happened on Monday in a flash. I then click on any one of the above links and instantly scroll down to the anchors on the page.
You can do this for each day and then make better use of the space on the right or left by putting in the previous day's summary. It's short, catchy, and most importantly useful. It gets me the news I want right away.
Since the site scrolls a lot, the other links off the page (ENZines, D20 worlds, etc.) are best served by small icons identifying them and distinguishing them from each other -- almost as if they were products out of the WOTC catalog on the left. That would definitely get my attention when I scrolled down. Little is served by simply having a static link on the left-hand side. That leaves more room for navigation.
To review. Across the very top: ENWORLD LOGO | ADVERTISING
Second row: D20 GUIDE | REVIEWS | COMMUNITY | CONTACT
Left Column: NEWS CALENDAR | ENNIES | CONTESTS | ENZINES | D20 GAMES (each treated like a separate product with icons rather than a list)
Middle Column: NEWS SUMMARY | NEWS
Right Column: ONLINE STORE | WOTC PRODUCT SCHEDULE
Hope that's helpful!
Mike "Talien" Tresca
http://www.retromud.org/talien
Nail
First Post
FWIW, I use ENWorld for:
Anything else can be stuffed into a box an' shoved under th' guest-bed.
....But seriously, bottom line is jus' do what interests you. The rest o' us are jus' along fer th' ride.
"Stay good, Morrus! Stay good!"
- WotC gossip (that's distinct from "press release")
- other publisher gossip (again, not their press releases)
- Messageboards (Story Hour, Rules, General)
- Product reviews
Anything else can be stuffed into a box an' shoved under th' guest-bed.
....But seriously, bottom line is jus' do what interests you. The rest o' us are jus' along fer th' ride.
"Stay good, Morrus! Stay good!"
The top ten reasons i come to ENWorld is News, Reviews, and messageboards. Repeat as necessary to fill out the rest of the top ten list!
I took a look at those sample drop down menus and i have to say i think they are VERY nice. I have no idea how difficult or expensive they might be, though.
I took a look at those sample drop down menus and i have to say i think they are VERY nice. I have no idea how difficult or expensive they might be, though.
Talien, without realizing it, points out a decision that needs to be made - optimize the site for new users, or for older ones?
Much of Talien's advice is very good - if the point is to grab and keep the attention of a new user. But by Morrus' reports, the site is plenty "sticky" as it is. Even with a sub-optimal design, the site sees more use as time goes on, rather than less.
Someone familiar with the site doesn't need a logo telling them more about where they are. They don't mind, and probably even want, attractive, on-topic advertising near the top of the page. They'll want the contact links easily accessible near the top to report scoops, and suchlike.
When redisigning, it helps to keep in my the purpose of that redesign.
Much of Talien's advice is very good - if the point is to grab and keep the attention of a new user. But by Morrus' reports, the site is plenty "sticky" as it is. Even with a sub-optimal design, the site sees more use as time goes on, rather than less.
Someone familiar with the site doesn't need a logo telling them more about where they are. They don't mind, and probably even want, attractive, on-topic advertising near the top of the page. They'll want the contact links easily accessible near the top to report scoops, and suchlike.
When redisigning, it helps to keep in my the purpose of that redesign.
Morrus,
Regarding your desire for EnWorld to be viewed a community site and not just a tool or resource.
Have you had a look at sites like http://slashdot.org/?
This allows a display of stories and allow any members to comment, they have moderation (by the users with "sufficient karma") so comments that are interesting, entertaining or useful stand out while chaff fades into the background.
There are plenty of websites that use their code (I believe the
SWRPG website is one).
You can check more stuff out at:
http://slashdot.org/code.shtml
This might be the way you want to go. You have the audience to pull this off (unlike the hundreds trying to do it from scratch).
At least then you can spend more time being a fan rather than administrator and EnWorld can become the "home" of the d20 community while still being the news resource to the industry.
(gee: I am not the only one who registered an account just to reply to this. ;-) )
regards,
Scott
Regarding your desire for EnWorld to be viewed a community site and not just a tool or resource.
Have you had a look at sites like http://slashdot.org/?
This allows a display of stories and allow any members to comment, they have moderation (by the users with "sufficient karma") so comments that are interesting, entertaining or useful stand out while chaff fades into the background.
There are plenty of websites that use their code (I believe the
SWRPG website is one).
You can check more stuff out at:
http://slashdot.org/code.shtml
This might be the way you want to go. You have the audience to pull this off (unlike the hundreds trying to do it from scratch).
At least then you can spend more time being a fan rather than administrator and EnWorld can become the "home" of the d20 community while still being the news resource to the industry.
(gee: I am not the only one who registered an account just to reply to this. ;-) )
regards,
Scott
I'd have to second a lot of what Eric said. Most of the points he mentioned he loved about maintaining the old site are precisely the things I came to the site for!
"Putting the pieces together. Detective work. Anonymous scoops." This, I think, is the CORE of the news page. In Eric's time, the front page would be full of scoops. Today, I counted only 5 scoopers on the entire page. Make sure you acknowledge every single scooper that sends you something useful, there's no better way to nurture that community feeling!
On the other hand I would devote a lot less space to publisher info, new releases etc. You could integrate "New at WotC" as a single bulletin under "d20 System News". For example, today you would have:
Overall, I would prefer the front page to be much less focused on WotC. They're just one of many d20 publishers nowadays. So get rid of that entire tight hand column, and give the main center col;umn a little more "air" to breathe. (By the way, that yellow size="-2" text you used for the redisign discussion on the fron page is almost impossible to read!)
For new and upcoming releases, you could just have a single bullet with product names and dates (if that!)
"Rules Illustrated Pieces" These were GREAT. The AoO page is a classic, and could probably be updated a little. A couple of examples along the lines of Gamestoppers (but with less errors
) could come in handy as well.
Overall, I'd like to see more gossip and utilities, and less corporate...
"Putting the pieces together. Detective work. Anonymous scoops." This, I think, is the CORE of the news page. In Eric's time, the front page would be full of scoops. Today, I counted only 5 scoopers on the entire page. Make sure you acknowledge every single scooper that sends you something useful, there's no better way to nurture that community feeling!
On the other hand I would devote a lot less space to publisher info, new releases etc. You could integrate "New at WotC" as a single bulletin under "d20 System News". For example, today you would have:
- New at WotC: Random Encounters: "Shopping, darling ..."; In the Works: D20 Modern; Olidammara's Dice web utlity.
Overall, I would prefer the front page to be much less focused on WotC. They're just one of many d20 publishers nowadays. So get rid of that entire tight hand column, and give the main center col;umn a little more "air" to breathe. (By the way, that yellow size="-2" text you used for the redisign discussion on the fron page is almost impossible to read!)
For new and upcoming releases, you could just have a single bullet with product names and dates (if that!)
"Rules Illustrated Pieces" These were GREAT. The AoO page is a classic, and could probably be updated a little. A couple of examples along the lines of Gamestoppers (but with less errors
) could come in handy as well.Overall, I'd like to see more gossip and utilities, and less corporate...
broghammerj
Explorer
Is money for the site still an issue
I was just wondering since you don't like being a tool for the man so to speak (the man being the rpg companies), how financially sound is the site? Will that be an issue in the redesign. Is maximizing advertising a prioity. Just wondering?
I was just wondering since you don't like being a tool for the man so to speak (the man being the rpg companies), how financially sound is the site? Will that be an issue in the redesign. Is maximizing advertising a prioity. Just wondering?
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