First impressions...

They have: 41 posts

Joined: Sep 2002

Dunno if this belongs in this section, its not really a critique...its more of a 'first impressions' between 2 different designs.

Some of ya might recognise my name...well, last week the site i worked for merged with another 2 sites and turned into a massive headache, over 800 pages of HTML and there is now 11.56gb of game files and 'stuff' on the server, bandwidth has crept up to 200gb this month...lots of visitors.

Surprsignly...that is the problem...LOTS of visitors, about 1000 on average per day, with about 200 to 300 of them coming in from Google (one thing im good at is meta tagging) The design for the new merged site is basically nothing more than the design for the original Star Trek Clan Directory with new graphics...something new is needed...

What i want is a first impression...i know a lot of you in here do not play trek games and only have a passing interest in Star Trek itself, i need the input of a casual visitor...someone who came in from Google Smiling

http://www.stcd.sgnonline.com is the current design

http://www.stcd.sgnonline.com/test.htm is the half complete test design

Which one strikes you the most in the first few seconds of entering? As we all know those first few seconds count...if they stay in there for the first few seconds then it's a good chance people coming in from google/yahoo/dmoz or any other search engine will stick around and look through more pages.

It isnt easy being this tall....

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

I have moved it to the concepts section and I'll look at it when I have a minute as I'm just passing through right now Smiling

They have: 41 posts

Joined: Sep 2002

Ohhhh.... "Concept, Layout, and Graphics Design"

Didn't even see this forum...oops Smiling

He has: 13 posts

Joined: Dec 2003

I was look at your two links that u put up, after looking at the two designs in the first few seconds of looking at each site the current design that you have at the moment caught my eye. And i am a moderate star trek fan, I think you should keep the design you have currently. Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Chig P.
Partner in Development- Hot new buddy icons and hilarious jokes at Abuddy.com!
Email: [[email protected]][email protected][/email]
AIM: scouchman2

Chig P.
Partner in Development- Abuddy.com Great new Buddy Icons and Jokes daily!
Email: [email protected]
AIM: Scouchman2

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

How many times do you revamp this?

I prefer the general feel of the new look as it does remind me of the star trek computer panel but the graphics need to be a bit better IMO as the rounded corners are jaggedy.

You need to sort out the BIG horizontal scrollbar at 800*600 though.

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

They have: 41 posts

Joined: Sep 2002

Yeah, the updates are getting scary, i counted 3 major design changes in 6 months Sad

The big vote is now taking place for the STGD visitors but i have a feeling the LCARS look will win, although LCARS trek sites have been getting a bad reputation lately with people going WAY overboard using the panels, i hope this new one will be a hard average.

As for that horizontal scrol bar, yeah, thats being worked on right now Smiling

It isnt easy being this tall....

Suzanne's picture

She has: 5,507 posts

Joined: Feb 2000

the test one is far better. It's more in line with the image of the content, plus it's a better layout and not that deadly medium gray + poser. Smiling

druagord's picture

He has: 335 posts

Joined: May 2003

Yes i like the test better to still need some work but i think your on to something good

He has: 9 posts

Joined: Jul 2003

I like the first one best (although the starring face kinda annoys me). The test's colors look like theyre from a 70s game show....... But Id have to see the banner, maybe it would tie it together.......

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