New Website Design Issues.

[Gydian]

Hello everyone,

I'm the person currently handling the integration of the new main website design. You will notice over the next day or so, some areas may appear to load incorrectly. This is due to the new integration occurring on the website.

I require your assistance. As there are quite literally, hundreds of pages, if you could post up here as you stumble across a page that loads incorrectly, I would -greatly- appreciate it.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Benjamin D. Garner

[Garland]

Hey man, I appreciate the fact that you're helping Ralph out with a new site design and everything, but the logo and the placement of links looks... Terrible!
Where is the front page news? Why are all the popup adds taking over the upper right corner of the site? Plus the new logo looks kind of scattered and not very SOLID. I could also go on about how the temp forum skin is still blue, but i have the feeling that some of these problems are due to the fact that you're not quite finished. Anyway, if you need any ideas as to what to do next, give me a ring.

[Gydian]

Originally Posted by Garland

Hey man, I appreciate the fact that you're helping Ralph out with a new site design and everything, but the logo and the placement of links looks... Terrible!
Where is the front page news? Why are all the popup adds taking over the upper right corner of the site? Plus the new logo looks kind of scattered and not very SOLID. I could also go on about how the temp forum skin is still blue, but i have the feeling that some of these problems are due to the fact that you're not quite finished. Anyway, if you need any ideas as to what to do next, give me a ring.

Not too sure why the front page news isn't working, but I'm guessing it's due to a VB Hook not being enabled, however, I'm not sure which hook it is. Looks like it stopped working when they upgraded the forum.

As for the logo and link placements. That's outta my hands. I'm just following orders. I didn't design the template, I just coded it and integrated it.

The ads, again, just following orders. That's the ad codes I was given to place.

And the forum skin, again, following orders.

In the end, I'm only doing what I've been asked to do. If you don't like it, there's really nothing I can do about it.

[Garland]

I understand. You're just the technical guy. But would it be rude of me to ask as to whose orders are you following?

[Gydian]

Whomever has been telling my boss what is to be done with this site. My boss gets directions, and in turn tells me to implement them, so I do as I have been asked.

[RedCloud]

...what happened? The old design was much better. All I see now are glass buttons and ads. The colour scheme and the banner could have been thought out more as well. I know you're just the technical guy Gydian, so it's not your fault, but pass up to the head huncho that the site's skin is a downgrade in my opinion.

[Garland]

I second Redcloud's opinion.

This new mysterious pyramid of power is a little unnerving. Who was your boss? (the guy who gave you the directions)

[kinkarso]

This is Donny, a friend of Ralph's. I want to quickly clear up exactly what's going on as far as the redesign is concerned.

Ralph came to me a while back looking for a re-design of ffextreme that basically models after one of my own gaming communities which is doing fairly well.

Ralph is my boss for this project .

Ben up there is basically one of the subcontractors for this project - the programmer/tech guy . He did not design the template, someone else did.

I appreciate your opinions on the redesign. You may think it's not extremely attractive with all the additional ad spots and everything, but I can assure you that each element of the new template is designed to benefit overall conversion rates (for both ads and registration/navigation).

- Donny

[RedCloud]

I could get used to it, but the BIGGEST thing that is annoying me is the corner 'o' ads at the top of the screen and the banner, which just looks kind of empty and boring. As a graphic designer, I'd know what I mean. You should redesign the banner at least.

[Gydian]

Originally Posted by RedCloud

I could get used to it, but the BIGGEST thing that is annoying me is the corner 'o' ads at the top of the screen and the banner, which just looks kind of empty and boring. As a graphic designer, I'd know what I mean. You should redesign the banner at least.

'o' ads? o.O

You mean the emoticon ads by tribal fusion? If so, I agree.

[RedCloud]

Originally Posted by Gydian

'o' ads? o.O

You mean the emoticon ads by tribal fusion? If so, I agree.

Yeah, those are the worst ones. It becomes the main focus of the page and is extremely annoying.

[Gydian]

Ok, I made quite a few modifications. The forum I'll change tomorrow as it's already 3am and I'm exhausted. -_-

[Gydian]

Alright, I modified the forum a bit more. Any suggestions?

[RedCloud]

Looks better.

The boxes and posts are too white and bright. I think they should be made like how it was before, with darker backs and white text.

[Garland]

I can appreciate the grey more than the blue. The blue looked too much like our cousin site which is kinda drab. I might go for one or two shades darker though. Sure we can't move those adds to the bottom in a compressed folder? xD
Atleast the smily popups are gone..

[EdgarAnTerraFigaro]

I think a whole new design should follow.
This one is fine in all, but it doesn't say Final Fantasy Extreme at all. I
mean the logo, why just two final fantasy games up there? Add more!
The colors should black and blue, the ads should be at the bottom of the page,
and the font color should be different as well. And, the forum part is kinda plain... I'm sorry if i sound mean.....
But I'm not the boss or the designer anyway, so.....Don't mind me ^ ^

[RedCloud]

I know the ads can never be moved because you need some sort of income to the site, but the banner sure does need redoing. It doesn't speak like the last one did.

And yeah, the forums need to follow the look of the main site more, with the buttons looking less generic and more unique.

[EdgarAnTerraFigaro]

Yeah, what RedCloud said!

[RedCloud]

Yeah, I can't help it, being a graphic designer I just can't stand when things just don't look right.

[Gydian]

I agree on the buttons aspect. I hate the stupid VB Generic buttons. But alas, I suck at design. I'm just a code monkey. :P