[TFN] The new TheForce.net

Sooner or later the site's visitors will decide what the site looks like and how it works. If people don't like it, they'll stop visiting. The biggest mistake in web design is to ignore the users.

Exactly. I have stopped visiting three or four sites in the past few years because of major, UGLY page revisions:

1) CountingDown.com
2) ComingSoon.net
3) Corona/ComingAttractions (merged with Cinescape)
4) SuperHeroHype! (I can't visit their site unless I have almost all images turned off)

I just don't understand what the obsession with gaudiness is lately with movie sites.

 

Man, I just finally figured out the old site's layout! (I don't visit much, granted, but that's because it all seems to be about toys, and I'm not a big toy collector.)

Okay, first impression on loading the page: I like the site navigation/search function and the way that looks. Banner at the top, not so good, but hey, Christmas Yoda!

Everything else . . .

1. Font is way too small. It's very hard to read, even on 1024x768.

2. Layout should be wider.

3. The ads between the boxes are distracting and confusing.

4. Links to Hyperspace stuff are just mean. Not everyone has Hyperspace (I don't).

5. I agree about putting the date beside an item [12/3], because it tells you when it was added so you can more easily find new things.

6. I don't mind that the banner along the side is an internal one, going to the Fan Film section . . . but that will probably change on reload.

7. Very hard to find the section you're looking for. They're all crammed together. I LIKE the section headers, in theory, but they're too small. And again, poor choice of font.

8. I like the polls at the bottom.

9. I wouldn't mind the ads so much IF they were kept to the sidebar, and weren't instrusive. I realise the point is to be seen, but there's a difference between tasteful advertising and handing someone a page full of ads and saying, "Would you like some Star Wars content with that?"

10. Banner's a little . . . blah, honestly, but it can be changed.

11. I actually like the grey background with the white over it. I think, though, that if there are circles in the navigation bar under the banner, that theme should be extended to the section headers, rather than the slanted things. From an aesthetic viewpoint, anyway. Keeps it consistent.

12. I like that it's colourful, but it's kind of coming off as "We couldn't decide ona colour scheme, so we picked ALL of them!"


That's about all I have to say about it at this point. It's starting to grow on me, but simply from a usability POV, it could be improved. As my design teachers are always, always saying, "Keep it simple, stupid." (Not that anyone's stupid, that's just what they say . . . perhaps a little too much.)


Dana

 

People love the feel of this style...why do you think it is the most popular site?

No, it's because TFN updates daily and always has most of the latest news. That's why people come here. Not because of the design. Hell, I come here (and most SW fansites) in SPITE of the design. This is not a fandom for cutting edge web design by any means.

The content is the heart of the site, and any popular site. Why the hell do people visit, say, AICN? Not because of how it looks, that's for damn sure.

A few people might stop coming. But most will adapt.

 

Are the forums really going to look like that?

I really wouldn't like that but that's just me....

 

I didn't read one reply in this thread, but I love it. It will be so much easier for the nOObs to navigate.

 

Hmm... doesn't feel like home.

It feels rather sterile. I simply have a fondness for the old design. Sure it looks the same as IGN, but it had (and has) its own character.

 

Listing news one one page is sooooo much better and its the most popular way to do it.

 

It's more machine now than man, to use a tired old movie quote. Hey, someone was going to do it sooner or later.

The layout itself is good. I like it. However it took with it most of the character that TFN web pages have on them, and that I think is why a lot of people don't like it. It looks less organic and more like a PHPNuke clonepage.

Figure out a way to put the character back in, because right now it's starting to look like Windows XP's default theme. Either that or MSN.com. The main page is a little too colorful.

I'd wager a lot of it has to do with the custom banners for each subsection of the website and the rotating banners for Fanfilms. Put those back in, albeit a little less gaudy, and you'll be on your way at least to pulling a good look out of this layout.

 

I didn't like it at first. But, like General Grievous, it's grown on me.

Yeah, so it's full of adverts and looks a little bit too Hyperspace-y - in some strange way - but I like it.

Dunno if it's good enough to replace the current design, but it definately seems like you guys have worked hard on it. And there're loads of neat little touches all over it - good navigation, OS-style links to related articles and forum threads. The movie Databases sound interesting.

I hope TF.N will capitalize on the design and try and add more features to it above and beyond the regular news reports.

 

Hmmm... Its too cluttered, I like the idea, buy way too cluttered

 

It will be so much easier for the nOObs to navigate.

I think anyone could figure out how to use the site. BTW, it really doesn't look any different from the one we're using now. The main page is still a cluttered mess, and it's hard to determine what's important from the fluff.

 

20 Bucks says 99% of the people complaining don't even visit the main page.

 

The Archive has it's own pages and content like humor and books, we should have our own link. Being just under the fan fic forum drop down menu isn't enough. I think this might affect how many people visit our section.

 

Any word if the forums are going to look like that yet? The article on the Beta site says they're fixing the entire site up, so that's gotta mean they're going to touch the forums, right? It's apart of theforce.net...

 

I really don't think they would even attempt that after seeing the outcry about the main page.

Most of the people that post here rarely even visit the main page and are totally against the new look and ripping it piece by piece.

Should they try to implement that look here (which I do not like at all, but i dont visit the main site so meh) the outrage expressed would be instensifed and I can only imagine the debate.

 

20 Bucks says 99% of the people complaining don't even visit the main page.

Actually, I know that Night visits the main page fairly regularly, and I know that I do a couple of times a week.

So, since less than 100 people have posted in this thread, fork over the $20.

 

I'm not digging it either. I love the current banners and such. Like many before me said, it just feels cluttered. But then, who are we to argue with it. Time will tell how its accepted. I just really hope they don't make the boards look like that. Looks too much like the OS, and I've avoided them pretty much since they changed to that format.

 

I'm not liking it.

 

* I know a lot of work went into this, but man, it should have been shown to the users - the one's who use the site all the time - first.

I like the new look, in terms of it's design. I think it's really nice. But it's a HUGE change from the old version. So much so, that it WILL annoy the regular users. So much to a point that they may leave completely.


From a user persepective, to switch the entire navigation of a site is the single most annoying thing imaginable.

People come here, they know what link to hit, and where it goes, and that's it. They don't want to have to search through an entirely new nav to find the same information they could previously get instantly.


There. Now I've said it.

 

"We will continue to tinker with the site until we are satisfied it satisfies both us and you."

Funny how they said us meaning the staff first before you meaning the people that visit the site.

It should be the visitors of the site that you should satisfy.

 

I really don't care for it either but we don't have much of a choice now do we.

 

This new design violates practically every good ethic of web design.

1) It's a fixed width design that basically wastes screen space. Half my screen is now blank space. This is quite possibly the biggest mistake any web designer can make. It's a great way to alienate users with high res screens.
2) The text is far too small and hard to read.
3) There is just a little too much on the screen at once.
4) The design breaks Mozilla Firefox if you use text-zoom to magnify the small font.
5) This fails a lot of accessibility criteria. Why no alt text for some of the image links?

The first flaw is the most serious in my opinion. There's far too much crammed into too little space.

 

Yep waste

 

I like it, although there's a lot of info being presented in a smaller space. It definitely seems to be optimized to fit within a minimized browser(safer at work perhaps?) compared to the current full screen version. Basically it's TFN Lite.

Perhaps the sections needs to be better organized, the prequel movies for example and others.

 

The content is the heart of the site, and any popular site. Why the hell do people visit, say, AICN? Not because of how it looks, that's for damn sure.


What the hell is AICN?

And people start off sites all the time...the reason they have issues with members staying, is because of the look and feel of the better security sites is just blah.

TF.n has a look and feel of easiness on the eyes and makes people feel confident that they are at a great place. The color schemes are always well coordinated, that all the links can be seen easily.

I really don't care for it either but we don't have much of a choice now do we.

If you are loyal to the JC...meaning that you spend the majority of your messageboard time here...then there is no choice.

If you care about what a site's owners think about you, then there are other choices.

20 Bucks says 99% of the people complaining don't even visit the main page.

Actually, I know that Night visits the main page fairly regularly, and I know that I do a couple of times a week.

So, since less than 100 people have posted in this thread, fork over the $20.

I visit the main page every time that I sign on to the JC. I do not list the site as a Favorite...because I like to see what news is new. Granted, news titles and links are listed, but somehow the content is not there sometimes. But I always check out the news first....everyday...two to three times a day. Most of the news means nothing to me...but every now and then, there is some good stuff.




Basically, the new stuff looks too much like starwars.com. Just no originality.