Working on something...

[LightPhoenix]

It loaded slow for me as well.

Morrus, I want to make clear that I'm trying to provide constructive criticism in the following paragraphs. I don't really know what I'm talking about, so please don't ban me!

I think there could be less space between the boxes. Especially, between the horizontal banner and the "forum" name, between boxes in the center column, and between the three columns. It would free up a little bit more real estate.

The news box is very cluttered. There should be some spacing between news stories. Also, the dotted list takes up a relatively large portion of the box. It also looks weird without some margin on the right as well. I'd recommend removing it. I'm not sure how possible it is (again, don't really know anything), but I'd break up each day into separate boxes.

I think the "My Account" box could be moved. My preference would be to remove it; there's a link in horizontal bar and the log-in status in the title bar. If it were kept, I'd probably put it in one of the side columns, right at the top.

The "Main" box feels very cluttered with the whole bit about what ENWorld is. If it's possible to change it, I'd put it where the Community Supporter box is, perhaps only viewable if you are not logged in.

The page as it is on the whole seems too long. My estimate is that it is 4-6 screen heights, depending on the monitor. I highly doubt most people will scroll all the way to the bottom. I'm not certain the past week is needed on the front page. Optimally it would be based on how much news there is; realistically and simplistically (is that even the right word?) I would only have the last three days worth.

This next part is completely my own preference, and I'm sure many would (and will) disagree with me. I don't like the three column format for web pages. It works for newspapers because there is a lot of horizontal room and the "zoom" and "pan" are easily adjustable. I'd get rid of one of the columns; personally I would get rid of the left column. Some of it, like the links, I would find room for elsewhere. The rest of it I would flat out drop.

 

[Morrus]

It loaded slow for me as well.

Yeah, that's a problem in itself. It's a very heavy page!

Morrus, I want to make clear that I'm trying to provide constructive criticism in the following paragraphs. I don't really know what I'm talking about, so please don't ban me!

Believe me, I'm aware it is *very*flawed - I'm not at all happy with it!

 

[cougent]

I do like it, not waffling here...

BUT if it is going to be so busy and slow to load, could some of the stuff be shrunk down [+ and - on boxes] or linked instead? It is kind of interesting to have all the birthdays available, but do I really need them every time I hit the front page? Just an example / suggestion. I personally would find the option of a great deal of information at my fingertips just as appealing as having all the info splayed out in one monster long page, other opinions will vary.

 

[blargney the second]

Why not make a social networking page and an industry news page, with a single clear link from each to the other?
-blarg

 

[Morrus]

I do like it, not waffling here...

BUT if it is going to be so busy and slow to load, could some of the stuff be shrunk down [+ and - on boxes] or linked instead? It is kind of interesting to have all the birthdays available, but do I really need them every time I hit the front page? Just an example / suggestion. I personally would find the option of a great deal of information at my fingertips just as appealing as having all the info splayed out in one monster long page, other opinions will vary.

Well, eveyr box closes by clicking the icon in the top right, and opens again when you click it again. So the page lets you choose which items you want to see each time and close the ones you don't (which reminds me - gotta make sire the ad box can't be closed!)

 

[Creamsteak]

Looks very much like I would imagine the front page would look.

I do agree that there's probably too much on the page at once for something that people might just flip through without even reading it. There are a couple different solutions though.

You could actually cut stuff.

You could have a slimmed down template for users that are not logged in and as default. Then have options in the user controls to display more on the front page.

Or maybe you could switch more of the content to default to closed (minimized) instead of open, and instead of a simple show/hide function, you have the divs load ajax requested content when they try to open them. This would create more load time/calls on a page when someone wants to open every single thing, but would create significantly lower load time when someone doesn't need to open the other divs.

 

[Creamsteak]

Also it looks like the d&d insider box is broken when I refresh the page with it closed.

 

[cougent]

Or maybe you could switch more of the content to default to closed (minimized) instead of open, and instead of a simple show/hide function, you have the divs load ajax requested content when they try to open them. This would create more load time/calls on a page when someone wants to open every single thing, but would create significantly lower load time when someone doesn't need to open the other divs.

That is what I was trying to say, make more of it minimized as the default.

 

[Morrus]

I've tried something else - splitting the content over two pages.

 

[blargney the second]

Diggit.

A few minor suggestions to tighten up the News page:
1) move My Account to Social (this would also bring the Daily News above the fold, as it were)
2) move Marketplace Featured Ads to Social
3) move Current Poll to Social
4) pop Tags over to the left sidebar
5) maybe pop Reviews over to the left bar if the layout needs balancing out