Raven Daegmorgan ([info]greyorm) wrote,
@ 2008-05-04 06:33:00
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Current mood: frustrated
Entry tags:bitching, web design

On a Wild Hunt

I've been aware for some time that the Wild Hunt Studios website isn't exactly a stunning piece of visual design (though the coding was a pain in the ass), and since your website is basically an advertisement for your company and products, it needs a facelift.

The current design was originally thrown together as a placeholder until I could come up with something a little more catchy and visually intriguing (never underestimate the ability of a design to draw visitors, who may come just to look...but note, they did indeed come).

The aggravating part is that I used to be a world-class web designer and worked in the field for years, but for whatever reason once I left the business my design skills left me. Design work has been frustration and failure over the last few years. For examples, note the differences in design between Electric Ghosts and ORX, or my websites from the 90's and my current set of sites.

Seriously, I used to receive actual fan-mail about my sites that read along the lines of, "I have to confess, I browse to your site daily just to look at it. It's beautiful!" This wasn't fan mail about the content, just the presentation.

Thus, obviously I can do it...but where did it go? The stuff I have now is tame, constrained, uninspired. So I'm soliciting feedback, suggestions, and pity (hah! This is LJ, afterall). Seriously, though. Other sites to look at, specific designs to take inspiration from, critiques of the current layout/graphics/design would all be appreciated.



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[info]tundra_no_caps
2008-05-04 08:07 pm UTC (link)
Get rid of dead links (Way of the Magus's RPGNow link), and friggin' get rid of that whiteness at the bottom, it reduces visibility and adds nothing, bleah!

Also, push the sidebar further from the center, and get rid of the boundaries around the main text.

This will push you more towards ordinary, but right now, you're in the wrong direction from ordinary, not spectacularly well done, but spectacularly crappy.

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[info]greyorm
2008-05-04 11:27 pm UTC (link)
Browser? Color depth? Screen resolution? On which pages specifically is the mist interfering with readability?

If I push the sidebar any further right, it breaks the site at 1024x768. I should be able to push the central text left, however.

Also, could we avoid subjective negative comments about design choices (that white stuff at the bottom you dismiss took me forever to code correctly). "It is interfering with my ability to read the text" and "I don't know it adds anything to the aesthetic design" are things I can process and try to fix or at least discuss. I can't process or discuss "Ugh", so it makes me go "eh...fuckingwhatever".

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[info]tundra_no_caps
2008-05-05 02:25 pm UTC (link)
IE 7, 32 BIT colours (highest), 1280x1024.

The mist interferes on each page where there is information I can scroll down to read.

Just noticed this, but seeing how little content is on the main page, and my huge resolution, why do I still need to scroll down to get the whole page? I get that you might want to hide the technical data, but when we see we can scroll down, we'll see what's there.

The mist interferes less with the technical data, "Powered by...", because it's black on white, whereas the regular text is white, which ends with white on white.

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[info]greyorm
2008-05-06 06:33 pm UTC (link)
Ok. Thanks for your thoughts.

I have to balance function and design, and I guess I'm willing to sacrifice a few scrolls for the aesthetic. It's possible as a compromise that I could reduce the size of the mist so it doesn't take up quite as much space. I'll look into that as another option.

Regarding the tech data: like I said, the coding was a pain-in-the-ass, and after working at it for far too long, I found the only way I could make the design cross-browser compatible was by setting it up so that the tech data was always below the viewable window.

The site is updated. Let me know if you have any further thoughts.

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[info]greyorm
2008-05-05 01:06 am UTC (link)
RPGNow must have changed their database around sometime recently; the link is now fixed. Thanks for the heads-up.

(BTW, for reference, links leading to things that still exist are "broken links" while "dead links" are links to things that no longer exist. There is a difference: I would get rid of a dead link, but I would fix a broken link. Chances are, if a company is selling a product and the link doesn't go to the product, it's broken, not dead.)

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