Choose the AGS Website of the future!

[m0ds]

Why don't we just leave the site as it is?

[Klaus]

... I can't even imagine wanting to read a longer piece of text in a 150 pixel height window, that's just too annoying.

I already mentioned this: The height is dynamic depending on your screen resolution so it usually is much larger...

I personally think that Darth's, with all it's navigational links right at the top, makes more sense than Klaus', whose links are not centralized.

Perhaps you missed the main difference: My layout does not only offer links to the main pages (community, links pool, ...), there are also tabs for separate areas withing these pages (information, features, ...). Also I wouldn't say that they are "not centralized" as they are always at the same place.

At the moment I still can't see how this navigation is handled in Darth's layouts: They end with a border but only contain a part of the first page's whole content. Where do I find the features and the other sub topics? How will the layout work then? Is there still that border that fits so nice with the end of the image bar?

For loominous design these questions don't appear as it is exactly the required redesign of the website. It sticks to the current way of navigation. But here we still have the problem that Rick mentioned and that I also had in mind:

There are a number of pages that I have no idea how to get to from the main page.  The only reason I know about them is that someone posted a link to them at one time or another in the forum.

I think the optimal  solution is to  incorporate Darth's and/orLoomis' graphics in to Klaus' navigational system.  Maybe scrap the iframes in favor of a "more.." link at the bottom of the box.

I think without the iframes my concept wouldn't work that well. The tabs will turn to simple links. Of course this is also possible but not the intention of this layout. So it must be changed completely if no iframes are used: The navigation icons at the bottom could disappear with long contents and need to be put to the top. In the end we have a completely different thing. Perhaps it would look like one of the other versions with an additional sub menu line... Okay, not for real but who knows?

In any case it makes little sense to not use some kind of portal or content management system to render the site.

Doesn't Chris already do this in "some" way? I thought so...  

Using this methododolgy Klaus was able to deliver a working model in the same time frame the others were able to deliver only screenies.

Nice that at least one person takes this into account. But as you see: It was a mistake.

Why don't you guys, Darth, Klaus, and Loomis,  get together and come up with a solution that incorporates the best features of each of your submissions?   Let this discussion be your guide.   8)

Yes, that's one way to go...

Why don't we just leave the site as it is?

...and that's the other way

[Fuzzpilz]

In order of preference: loominous, Darth new, Darth A.

I think the optimal  solution is to  incorporate Darth's and/orLoomis' graphics in to Klaus' navigational system.  Maybe scrap the iframes in favor of a "more.." link at the bottom of the box.

I think without the iframes my concept wouldn't work that well. The tabs will turn to simple links. Of course this is also possible but not the intention of this layout. So it must be changed completely if no iframes are used: The navigation icons at the bottom could disappear with long contents and need to be put to the top. In the end we have a completely different thing. Perhaps it would look like one of the other versions with an additional sub menu line... Okay, not for real but who knows?

That would make your design (which I like, visually) better, IMO. Iframes are the devil. There are very few ways of organizing a site that annoy me more.

[DragonRose]

Out of curiosity, when does voting end?

[Nacho]

Neva!!1! Teh webmaster ares too lazy to change the whole site again11!!1

[Pumaman]

Out of curiosity, when does voting end?

Sorry, I should've made it clearer - voting is over now. It's between Darth's New design and Klaus's design. I hadn't realised that people would feel so strongly about it, so since the votes were so close, I'll allow the discussion to continue for a while to see if we can mutually agree a way forward.

If people are still split at the weekend, I'll make an executive decision and go one way or the other.

[Ben]

In my opinion, a site combining Darth's new design and Klaus's tab idea would work best. Each link at the top could go to a section of the site, then each section could have tabs that bring you to sub-pages. The design could go something like this:

AGS MAIN section:
--ABOUT TAB- the "what is AGS" stuff, with news and screenshots in side culumns
--FEATURES
--LICENSE
--DOWNLOAD- Engine, Demo

RESOURCES section:
--DOCS tab- beginners tutorial, plugin docs, etc..
--PLUGINS- the plugins database, which at the moment is hard to find from the main page
--FONTS- the old page with the SCI font pack
--EXTRAS- useful stuff like Wurd Proplems, links to GUIs, Instagame

GAMES section:
No tabs.. or the categories could be tabs..

COMMUNITY section:
Links to forums and irc.. may not need tabs here either

LINKS section:
Tabs could separate types of links, though it may be simpler to just put them all on one page..


Anyway, that's my take on it. There might be a better way to organize the sections-- I was just tossing out ideas. Another idea, instead of tabs, is to have drop-down menus, though that would still give us problems with compatability.. Whatever we do, we need to make sure the site is user-friendly and efficient.

[Darth Mandarb]

I had originally thought of using drop down menus ... something like THIS, which is a site I did for a client of mine.  That should be accessible to almost all major browsers. (It doesn't work in Netscape 4.x but if you're still using a 8 year old browser that's your problem )

A dropdowns system could be like this:

About AGS
- what is AGS?
- features

Games
- Award Winners
- Short length
- Medium length
- Full length
- MAGS games
- Non-adventures
- Joke games
- Demos

News
- Recent News
- News Archives

Downloads
- Download AGS
- Fonts
- Plugins

Forum (no dropdown needed)

Resources
- FAQ Docs
- Knowledge Base
- Tutorials
- Extras

Links (no dropdown needed)

So it would look like this:


Sorry for throwing yet another design out there ... but I want this to be the best it can be.

(The top 'bar' thingee would expand to resolution (going all the way across) and the content would be centered underneath it.)

~ d

[AGA]

dhtml makes my eyeballs bleed. Plus it can introduce all sorts of compatiblity issues on various browsers.

[evilspacefart]

klaus because i like the little pictures on the bottom (the blue cup is especially nice). i just think the style is really nice with the pretty colors and the fonts. darth's menu thing is cool too, but i'm a sucker for color schemes, which attracts attention before you know even there's a cool menu.

darth: that cargo guy page rocks! :o

[MrColossal]

I just like all the publicity 6 Day Assassin is getting from this little contest

[DGMacphee]

* DGMacphee , under the spell of subliminal messages, downloads 6 Day Assassin, even though he already has a copy on his hard disk.

[MrColossal]

now play Ace Quest

[Ben]

Well, if we're worried about compatability, we could just make the drop-down menus optional, and have alternate tab links for each section. I just like drop-down menus because you can get to any page on the site directly from any other page-- nice if you're on dial-up, and you don't want to wait for a page to load if you're just going to skip the main page of a section to get somewhere else..

One more nitpicky thing I noticed: In darth's newest, the columns are all different lengths.. They should be the same. Also, I think the columns would look better if you used percentages for their widths instead of centering them.. The games column would probably look better static, but the center column should definitely change if the screen is big. Imagine loking at that page on a 1600-pixel width monitor..

[Czar]

Oh, and about the banner thingy, i think everybody (or not) would like it in one piece with the gradient way, and those stripes in the middle...

[Pumaman]

Firstly I'd just like to thank everyone who submitted entries for this contest. They were all excellent, and I'd be proud to use any of them for the AGS website.

It has now come to a point where we have to make a decision and move forward with it. It's been really interesting reading everyone's comments, and seeing what you do and don't like in a website.

So, after due consideration, I have decided to go with Darth's New design (see below for a reminder of which one that is). I really liked Klaus's design as well, and it was a tough decision to make. Also, well done to Klaus for coming up with the idea of including the News on the main page.

The main reason for my choice is that nobody has said that they dislike Darth's design. Klaus' design invoked some fairly passionate responses against the technology used (eg. iframes); and even though the complaints weren't really justified IMO, we have to accept that people have these opinions, and therefore using it as the website could put some people off.

Thanks again to everyone who entered.

Here's a reminder of the new design:


Now there are the details to consider. Here's some ideas to consider - opinions are welcome:

* adding back in the green 'bullet-points' for the hyperlinks from the Darth A design
* strazer's idea for modificiation of the top banner
* dropdown menus
* reorganisation of the overall site navigation

In the meantime - Darth, do you have an HTML mockup of that design?

[Ben]

Good choice  

I like the bullet points.. They don't have to be green, of course. I was thinking something like this:



As for the banner, I like the idea of having a few different ones. I do think they should be more colorful than the one in Darth's mockup, though. I think the blue tint makes it blend in too much.. I like the banner in the forum, because it has a nice range of colors in it. I think it's nice to have a little contrast from the blue color sheme..

[Privateer Puddin']

I enjoy the banner loominous used. Do we need games merged into the banner? we have the games down the right and on the forums already

[Nacho]

I think that the decission of choosing the design who hasn't disliked anybody is wise...

[Ben]

I enjoy the banner loominous used. Do we need games merged into the banner? we have the games down the right and on the forums already

Heh.. Well, a collage-style thing is sort of eye-candy. I think that's why people like a banner with scenes from games. Loom's banner looks good too, but it's a bit plain, IMO. Maybe it's just me, but I like the idea of a banner with a lot happening in it..