Website redesign

[melkior]

We all know that the content of TMW's website is a bit dated. So is the design. Some two months ago, whenever I had some free time (a rare commodity), I'd fiddle with a potential redesign. This is a rather rough result of my efforts: http://awethor.github.io/themanaworld.org/

I was hoping to have the whole site finished by now, but I have other obligations and other projects that keep taking up my time. Sad thing is, this all could be finished in two afternoons, but they'd have to be uninterrupted, instead, the best I can do is throw in an hour here or there, and I lose half of that time trying to figure out what I was working on.

First of all, think of this as a sketch and a proposal. Nothing is set in stone. You can say that it sucks and I'll gladly throw it away.

But if you like it, and think this is worth pursuing, I could use your help. I (mostly) know what's broken with the site. Testing is still far away. I need people to help out with fixing things because I simply don't have the time. This is the GitHub repo address: https://github.com/Awethor/themanaworld.org

Some of the things that need to be done:

• Fix issues where the layout gets broken
• Copy for the full site
• After the copy has been written responsive hiding/showing
• Cross-browser testing (I've been building this through webkit browsers)
• Iron out Firefox peculiarities (i.e. dark overlay not fitting the TMW preview canvas etc.)
• Menus/organization/links
• Other things I have overlooked/forgotten to mention

This proposal has been built on top of Bootstrap and uses melonJS for the splash page bling. The idea was to use open source technologies to make a site that's easy to update and maintain.

Now, I'd like to hear what you think.

[Freeyorp101]

Firstly, this is awesome, and that's really all there is to say on the matter.

Secondly, I'm using Firefox and can't see anything wrong. What are the peculiarities? The mouseover demo shade seems to fade in (and fit) fine here.


---Freeyorp

[melkior]

The overlay doesn't fit the game canvas when Firefox window is smaller (anything less than 800px). At least that's something I'm experiencing all the time.

[Freeyorp101]

Hm, less than 800px and the game canvas disappears altogether for me. I presume that's the bootstrap responsive layout?


---Freeyorp

[melkior]

Wow, you're right. The problem is gone. I haven't checked in a while to be honest, and Firefox *has* updated a couple of times since my last check.

And yes, that's the Bootstrap responsive layout kicking in, there's no sense in loading a fairly big demo for tablet/mobile users.

Speaking of, it would be awesome if one of the mappers would create a custom map and tileset to show off different parts of TMW, I've used Hurnscald because it's a fairly familiar and not too big area.

[o11c]

Before we actually commit this, I need to move the registration page under server.tmw.o

And of course, it actually needs to be finished. But other than that, I like.

[Kazenawa]

OMG it looks so nice to me...

I see nothing wrong about the behaviour using chromium 27.0.1453.
Edit : No problems with Opera 12.16 too.

[AnonDuck]

Works well enough on Firefox Extended Support Release, Firefox Mobile, Android browser, and iOS Safari.

There's a few glitches if I resize the window from small to large, but really.. who does that?

[EJlol]

It is possible to walk over the south wall. Same for trees.

Also unlike the rest of the internet, I'm not a huge fan of flat designs. But that's just my personal opinion.

[Reid]

It is possible to walk over the south wall. Same for trees.

Also unlike the rest of the internet, I'm not a huge fan of flat designs. But that's just my personal opinion.

Same here, in my opinion a flat design is not that good for a game site.

[melkior]

Yeah, I'm aware of the problems with the game preview, and have been from day one. I am hoping that one of the mappers will come up with a custom preview map, and then we can work on that.

I honestly have no special thoughts about flat design one way or another. That said, a flat design has certain advantages — it's easier to change/tweak into something else, and serves as a much better base for future redesigns than a skeuomorphic/textured design.

Finally, this is not just a game site, it's also an open-source project site.

Anyway, that's why this is a proposal. And if it gets used as the official website, well, with the Bootstrap base, you'll be able to easily redesign it into something much better.

[Chicka-Maria]

It is possible to walk over the south wall. Same for trees.

Also unlike the rest of the internet, I'm not a huge fan of flat designs. But that's just my personal opinion.

Same here, in my opinion a flat design is not that good for a game site.

+1

[melkior]

As nay-sayers have suddenly sprung up, I've re-edited the first post to include a poll. Please vote on it.

My free time is very limited and if this design doesn't work out for the community, I'd rather not lose my time on this. Please, don't take this as an angry reply to negative criticism, I'm just stating the truth — free time is a a rare commodity for me this year, and I have other projects, which have been put on the back burner because of this.

[tux9th]

looks good.

I think it's not compatible with IE8 although that might be intended.

[v0id]

The debate "flat design doesn't fit a game website" doesn't matter that much.
As Melkior mentionned:

Finally, this is not just a game site, it's also an open-source project site.

And this design serves better that purpose than the current design. So yes.