D&D 4E Video Review of the 4E D&D Website

[Scribble]

Haven't watched the video (I'm at work) and I'm not a web designer... But I want to make a few comments anyway.

1. I agree the site needs a few mods and tweaks. My guess is they will happen. I doubt WoW's site happened overnight.

2. I think a lot of the problem stems from 4e not being out yet. The site is designed to work with, and promote 4e material, yet there isn't all that much of it (that has been released) yet. It's like if you decided to open an awesome new amusement park destined to have killer rides and things to do, but none of the rides were installed yet except for a couple of merry go rounds and tilt a whirls you got cheap from an old church function... To the people "previewing" your fair grounds... it looks kind of lame.


I'm going to go out on a limb and say once 4e is released the site will see much more uber.


3. I've noticed the majority of people who seem to be bashing the site are web design folks. Which is natural. Especially in an artistic field. I';m trained in cinematography and film making.... When I see bad film making (and there is LOADS of it I'm looking at YOU Hollywood!) my natural inclination is to point out the flaws... Yet most of the people I see movies with, either never notice, or don't care about that stuff.

Part of an artists talent (in my opinion at least) comes from a competitive place. I think the phraze "I can do better then that" is probably the reason 90% of the art in the world is made.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Ability to use Frontpage and Dreamweaver is pretty much the extent of WotC's web design crew's talents - I know this from working with them. That code is NOT done by hand and it shows.

Please tell me you didn't say Frontpage... It's five years old for crying out loud! Even so, it doesn't take more than Dreamweaver to layout a good looking website. Custom coding certainly has its place, but that's no excuse for them. I could design a site 10 times better using just Dreamweaver CS3.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Personally, I couldn't give two tugs of a dead dogs c*ck how the site looks as long as the game is good. I'd rather they spent time, energy and resources on the product.

The site is just the 3rd Edition site with some 4th Edition logos glued to it... It's obviously not meant to be there forever, and I'm sure it will be upgraded or renewed. But right now, it's not a priority, not even close...

So why now to bitch about it? It's been up for years! Why is it so important to inspect the ghost town? If in a years time it's still in this state, fair enough... Feel free to mock them no end... But really, right now? When all attention and focus is clearly going to be (or bloody well ought to be) on getting 4th Edition ready to sell?

I think the reason to address this now is because they area releasing the new edition. People excited to know more better find a site that can serve to represent the new game. People will want to get information, and when they don't find it, they will be disappointed, and this will fall back on their view of 4E.

And it's getting even more important with their goals of the DDI - the websites have to be top notch to sell this. Even if the content is great, it still needs to be accessible.

 

[Aluvial]

I would like to add that I could care about the WoW website...

To make the comparison was inflamatory to this PnP gamer. Whatever.

The issue at hand should be a discussion of the WotC website and how it stinks to use.

Again, some of the features are nice, most are not. Just take a look at their SRD . Thank goodness some others spent the time to hyperlink it, resort it for better function, and spend some time on functionality...

The reviewer was spot on with regards to function of the WotC site and more importantly the aesthetics of the site.

Aluvial

 

[Chibbell]

@charwoman No offense taken. Just more encouragement to keep up the new exercise routine. Sorry you found the video too snarky for your taste. I do agree with you on my lighting. My office is NOT the place to film. Next time!

@morris Happy to put my knowledge at your service. Will look over the dev site today.

@scribble - Your amusement park analogy is great. I certainly hope WotC does something with the site as 4E launches. I remain optimistically reserved about the whole affair. I see your point about most people not noticing. But they certainly do notice when something is very well done.

@mustrum You said it better than I could.

@alluvial Aesthetics are one thing. I am a happy user of some sites that I don't particularly find to my tase. A horrific UI though is a great sin in my eyes.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

The video review is ludicrously bad. Particularly the contrasts drawn between the WoW site and the D&D site. "Tiny menu font?" The WoW site's side-menu font is maybe one point bigger.

I won't try to redeem the Wizards site, but the WoW main page sucks just as badly. Both sites have all of their useful content embedded in a weird maze of menu options and fill up the front page with useless crap and overblown Flash animations.

And just to make sure I piss off everyone, the default ENWorld layout is pretty lame, too. The repeating "3" logo in the background, the overly-textured black marble, the inability to search threads without paying money... pretty much all inferior to a standard phpBB layout. Which goes to show, I guess, that site layout isn't the end-all for making a good web community.

 

[Bagpuss]

lol! Yeah, thinking about it, that's exactly what I do, too!

EN World = WotC's index

It's more than just WotC's index.

You are much more likely to get a response from a WotC employee here than at there own website.

 

[Dragonblade]

I won't try to redeem the Wizards site, but the WoW main page sucks just as badly. Both sites have all of their useful content embedded in a weird maze of menu options and fill up the front page with useless crap and overblown Flash animations.

I think overall that the WoW site is slicker than the DnD site, but totally agree with you on your critiques of the WoW site. Although I think their menu system "looks" better the the DnD site, I don't find it that much easier to navigate.

And just to make sure I piss off everyone, the default ENWorld layout is pretty lame, too. The repeating "3" logo in the background, the overly-textured black marble, the inability to search threads without paying money... pretty much all inferior to a standard phpBB layout. Which goes to show, I guess, that site layout isn't the end-all for making a good web community.

I will say this, though I would like a free search feature, I can understand why they do it the way they do. Hosting a site the size of EN World is expensive and I don't know if the EN World shop totally covers their costs. It makes sense to charge for a feature like that to keep server strain and cost down.

 

[webrunner]

2. I think a lot of the problem stems from 4e not being out yet. The site is designed to work with, and promote 4e material, yet there isn't all that much of it (that has been released) yet. It's like if you decided to open an awesome new amusement park destined to have killer rides and things to do, but none of the rides were installed yet except for a couple of merry go rounds and tilt a whirls you got cheap from an old church function... To the people "previewing" your fair grounds... it looks kind of lame.


I'm going to go out on a limb and say once 4e is released the site will see much more uber.

As it is now, the problem is more the opposite: There's only a little information on the site, but it's already lost in a labyrinth of overlapping categories and not-always-updating news blocks. When there's even more content, then any particular content will be even harder to find. To use your example, imagine if you had the amusement park, and the entire field was bare except for one ferris wheel that for some reason you can't even find. Adding more ferris wheels is just going to make it harder.

 

[Scribble]

As it is now, the problem is more the opposite: There's only a little information on the site, but it's already lost in a labyrinth of overlapping categories and not-always-updating news blocks. When there's even more content, then any particular content will be even harder to find. To use your example, imagine if you had the amusement park, and the entire field was bare except for one ferris wheel that for some reason you can't even find. Adding more ferris wheels is just going to make it harder.

Eh not really because the site is being utilized kind of incorrectly. The designer of th fasir grounds was given a few old rides and told "Make soemthing cool!" Once the new rides come into play the odd twists and turns make more sense. "Oh so now that I'm done with the barfomater 500, it puts me right in line for the pukatron 65 hundred??? Sweet!"

The site we see now, I'm betting, is just a place holder.

I think once the actual functions start up (like insider, and game table, and the digital books) not only will the content change, but the way we use the site will completely change as well.