06-11-2013, 12:14 PM
Transferring this over from the V:FT redesign thread to keep things tidy.
This is originally from Arik:
There have been a number of thoughts and comments recently from the moderators and community earlier this year about the OA homepage- mostly that it could use a bit of improvement. It's a minor thing, but would be nice to change when the time comes.
Personally, I'd like to make the homepage a more visual, and to take advantage of the imagery that could be displayed to show off the universe.
My current problems with the homepage include:
-The image in the back is blocked by all of the text. If there's going to be an image on the homepage, it should be shown off, not hidden.
-an image of a planet is a fairly generic choice for a site like this, or any science fiction universe. What makes OA special is the posthumans, transapients, known net, and ringworlds- so that's what should be in an image on the homepage.
-there's a lot of black space around the content on the homepage, so that could be filled.
-the font colors are a too bit bright and 90's-style website for my taste. But you may disagree..
-all that text on the bottom advertising books would be nice to clean up or move to a more appropriate place.
Possible Improvements:
-would it be cool to have Encyclopedia Galactica updates on the homepage?
-multiple images as background on the homepage- slideshow style every few minutes, or when you hover over one of the headings? (an image of the known net is the background when you hover over the "discussion groups; image of cool world when hovering over the "Encyclopedia Galactica)
-although I'm using movie and video game websites as inspiration, I understand that this site is a hobby worldbuilding site and therefore has very different wants/ needs than a professional entertainment site.
This is originally from Arik:
There have been a number of thoughts and comments recently from the moderators and community earlier this year about the OA homepage- mostly that it could use a bit of improvement. It's a minor thing, but would be nice to change when the time comes.
Personally, I'd like to make the homepage a more visual, and to take advantage of the imagery that could be displayed to show off the universe.
My current problems with the homepage include:
-The image in the back is blocked by all of the text. If there's going to be an image on the homepage, it should be shown off, not hidden.
-an image of a planet is a fairly generic choice for a site like this, or any science fiction universe. What makes OA special is the posthumans, transapients, known net, and ringworlds- so that's what should be in an image on the homepage.
-there's a lot of black space around the content on the homepage, so that could be filled.
-the font colors are a too bit bright and 90's-style website for my taste. But you may disagree..
-all that text on the bottom advertising books would be nice to clean up or move to a more appropriate place.
Possible Improvements:
-would it be cool to have Encyclopedia Galactica updates on the homepage?
-multiple images as background on the homepage- slideshow style every few minutes, or when you hover over one of the headings? (an image of the known net is the background when you hover over the "discussion groups; image of cool world when hovering over the "Encyclopedia Galactica)
-although I'm using movie and video game websites as inspiration, I understand that this site is a hobby worldbuilding site and therefore has very different wants/ needs than a professional entertainment site.