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BS01's New Front Page

Zox Tomana

Entry posted by Zox Tomana

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I like the look. I hate pretty much everything else. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how the content blocks are organized, and the fifteen-link matrix of categories is daunting. And it'd be nice if G1 and G2 Bionicle had distinct sections of the site so that newcomers to the site wouldn't be bombarded with irrelevant and confusing G1 info when they first visit the site.

 

Then again, it's been a long time since I was actually active on BS01, so I doubt my opinion's all that important.

Figured I'd just make my own blog entry about this, since I was/am so involved in the project.

 

Alas, the separation of G1 and G2 has been quite a talking point, and it's hard to represent both simply and efficiently (at least, we haven't had any good ideas on it). As the guy who actually did the leg-work of making the design: we wanted the Welcome, Notices, and Social Media to be at the top, Partners at the bottom, and we tried to get the Featured Specials relatively close together (you can see that we failed with the Featured Page) as well as wanting the Featured Project near those and with Maintenance. The current set-up is the result of trying to make everything line up in certain ways, not to mention multiple attempts to get it to work with Internet Explorer (which it still doesn't do properly and I'm not happy that there isn't a fix for that in place). The matirx of categories... that goes back to representing the breadth of our content properly and it's hard to do =/ We were doing pretty well with the slider bit, but someone decided it wasn't ideal for our purposes. I dunno *shrug*.

 

Anyone's opinion on this is welcome, whether or not it's been years since they've been on BS01! Even if you aren't a member, feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

Now, I spent hours on this thing, and I do mean HOURS, trying to make sure it would go well with Dorek's new look. Unfortunately, there are two things about the look I don't like, and that's the blue UDD and the MoCreation_2 logo. The latter just isn't the BS01 logo to mean. Yes, I've used the VS01 skin for the vast majority of time I've been on BS01 (until it went MIA), but if you asked me to associated BS01 with a logo, that logo has to involved the Avohkii, plain and simple. The Avohkii has been the symbol of BS01 for way too long to change that into the default, permanent logo that visitors of the site will be seeing.

 

The Blue UDD? I see stairstep curves on it. It be rather obviously pixelated on my screen and that doesn't look good. Yeah, we're technically an amateur group (this isn't any of our jobs), but we like to say we hold ourselves to a higher standard, and I'd like to think that higher standard involves our presentation to the public. Looking closely at the original Monobook, I can see the stairsteps, but they aren't nearly as obvious. Clearly we need to get better images for our backgrounds, but I'm not staff (Dory gave me temp Sysops, but I ain't staff :P ) so... not my job.

 

Oh, one more thing. Vector offends my sensibilities. I just don't like Vector based skins. I very much prefer the clean lines and divisions of Monobook. To me, if we could make sure the new set-up works right across the major browsers, it +Monobook & Avohkii + better UDD backgrounds would be a step in the right direction. Keep the dark bg and MoCreation_2 logo as a G2 Skin option for people already committed to the site.

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Kayru

I know I'm not the only one who would've liked to be informed about this and/or review it before it was put on the website. Good grief, as a staff member who actually gets paid to do this for a living, I would have REALLY liked for one of the things actually ON MY RESUME to actually look tasteful. 

 

For the record, you can have cleaner lines with vectors if it was actually done right, but there you have it. Lyichir was right in that the grid is all over the place and, while things line up, that doesn't mean they make any visual sense. There's no guide for the eye to follow. There's no consistent hierarchy or order. It's a flipping wall of blocked-up text. This also is a huge step backward for mobile friendliness, which I thought we were working toward. The social section is double-blocked for no discernable reason. There's not enough contrast between text and header to actually make it aesthetically clear, and I won't even get started on color.

 

Sorry but I'm not going to pretend to be OK about this. I'm mad.

At the very least, this is NOT ready to be the default site skin.

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Zox Tomana

No it's not. And yes, you should have been given the chance to preview/review. I'm probably gonna still keep working on it, trying to make it work, but hey, the only project near and dear to my heart is my Histories: if you and Swert (and others) feel this is the wrong steps to be taking, step in. I would love to be a part of designing a new front page that actually looks good AND brings the content of the page up-to-date (because it felt like a third of what was originally there is defunct at this point).

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Meiko

Just going to link to what I said in the topic about it on the forums: http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/17672-bs01s-new-skinlayout/?p=879115

 

As to what Kayru said...

I know I'm not the only one who would've liked to be informed about this and/or review it before it was put on the website. Good grief, as a staff member who actually gets paid to do this for a living, I would have REALLY liked for one of the things actually ON MY RESUME to actually look tasteful. 

 

For the record, you can have cleaner lines with vectors if it was actually done right, but there you have it. Lyichir was right in that the grid is all over the place and, while things line up, that doesn't mean they make any visual sense. There's no guide for the eye to follow. There's no consistent hierarchy or order. It's a flipping wall of blocked-up text. This also is a huge step backward for mobile friendliness, which I thought we were working toward. The social section is double-blocked for no discernable reason. There's not enough contrast between text and header to actually make it aesthetically clear, and I won't even get started on color.

 

Sorry but I'm not going to pretend to be OK about this. I'm mad.

At the very least, this is NOT ready to be the default site skin.

I definitely agree I would have liked to be informed about this. Thankfully this isn't one of the wikis I have on my resume, but it definitely doesn't look very pleasant.

 

I'm rather tired of all the ugly blockiness and boxes all over BS01. Bionicle never had boxes as a part of its visual identity, so why have a site about Bionicle look nothing like Bionicle ever did design-wise? Even back in 2001 when most of the web was boxy, the Bionicle website had more interesting designs than haphazard blocks everywhere.

 

And exactly. Never make a design the default before anyone else sees it and provides feedback+criticism on it.

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Dorek

On the UDD thing: Swert/whoever makes the skin always uses the image we have on BS01, which has said granulation. It's always been like this, just obviously more noticeable on a darker background. I'd like it changed too, but the source image is bad; I don't know where we'd get a better one.

 

As for the logo... too bad, mister! Swert will probably change it back at some point anyway, but we've been using the same logo for years and it's boring. It was always boring and will continue to be boring. New fresh and exciting is where I'm at.

 

And Vector is still up in the air. I hardly notice a difference from monobook myself, but Meiko suggested a few other skin types we could use, so we can explore those options.

 

Sorry but I'm not going to pretend to be OK about this. I'm mad.

At the very least, this is NOT ready to be the default site skin.

You know what happens when I ask for opinions, input, HELP, etc? Nothing. So I did something (obviously with help from Tomana and Akihabara and Morris but ANYWAY).

 

If it's visually inconsistent or somehow at odds with design principle, there's probably a reason for that: I'm not a visual artist/web designer/anything of the sort. To me, it looks cool. Fun. Different. Better than the stuffy two column system which was previously there. It's not perfect, and it never will be without proper assistance, which I mentioned is a rarity.

 

Mobile will likely use something completely different; the old site wasn't mobile friendly either, so I was always going to have the two divested anyway. It'll probably take a while; I refer you to my previous statements.

 

I would absolutely love help, assistance, input, etc. but I'm not going to pretend that it's ever forthcoming, available, or regular. I make do with what I have, and like having a bit a fun. This fit the bill. Thus far, comments have ranged from "put it back" to "neat!".

 

And maybe it won't be the default skin in the future; the only way to actual elicit any sort of opinion or emotion was to default it so that people would actually see it. This has always been the case with BS01 (or at least for the past half decade), so I do my best to put things in a position where they can evolve.

 

tl;dr Tomana did an amazing job helping design it, haters gonna hate.

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Zox Tomana

And maybe it won't be the default skin in the future; the only way to actual elicit any sort of opinion or emotion was to default it so that people would actually see it. This has always been the case with BS01 (or at least for the past half decade), so I do my best to put things in a position where they can evolve.

 

tl;dr Tomana did an amazing job helping design it, haters gonna hate.[/b]

Considering the comments from people who actually know what they're talking about, I'm not sure I did so well :P

 

Dorek is right, though, in that--while the design has been on the site to be seen for a while now, and for a few days took up a huge chunk of the RC for everyone to see, I certainly didn't get terribly much input either. Personally, I'd be all for a MP Redesign Contest: see how, say, Meiko might break us out of our front page boxes. If no contest, can I ask for help with getting the thing to an actual working form? Clearly, very clearly, I have no idea what I'm doing.

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