Dark Mod Website

[Subjective Effect]

Hi guys,

 

I know it's been a long time since I've been over here (and many of you have had antagonistic communication over at TTLG with me ) but you know, I love TDM because, well it's awesome.

 

I was really pleased to see the mod of the year win and I came over to the main site and guess what? It's not on the front page. Okay, it's on the news page, but that's at least a click away.

 

I think main page could do with a bit of an overhaul, and getting the Mod of the Year somewhere obvious and visible would be part of that. Why not center the page? On a widescreen display there is a lot of real estate wasted and although the main idea is really important the news should, imho, be front and center. The Pingbacks could be a sidebar... I dunno. I think it needs an overhaul.

 

And that Mod of the Year needs to be up in the corner permanently or something!

[Springheel]

I was really pleased to see the mod of the year win and I came over to the main site and guess what? It's not on the front page. Okay, it's on the news page, but that's at least a click away

 

It was on the front page until we released the new update last week, but point taken.

[Bikerdude]

@Subs, would you be doing the work then..? if so I think you'd need to talk to Taaaki and Greebo.

 

@Springs, isnt our website part or whole based ona Wordpress backend..?

[New Horizon]

Is there anything wrong with the current layout? Seems pretty nice to me.

[Springheel]

I'm not especially interested in changing the layout, but having something permanent about the MotY award on the front page is something that should be done.

[Bikerdude]

but having something permanent about the MotY award on the front page is something that should be done.

We could just overlay the Moty logo on the corner of the background images, which is easy enough to do.

[Springheel]

I was thinking of something like that.

[Bikerdude]

I was thinking of something like that.

Do want to do do it or shall I..?

[Springheel]

I'll do it. I've wanted to update some of those background images anyway.

[Springheel]

Actually, I'm not going to be able to get to this anytime soon. Too many other things on my plate and I still haven't sorted out the new server details. If you've got time to do it now then go ahead.

[Bikerdude]

Did you want to link me some new BG images that I add the logo too..?

[Springheel]

Is there a way to just take the logo and have it appear as an overlay, the same way the clock does? That would be enough for now.

[Bikerdude]

The only way I know to do it is to overlay the logo in paint.net or gimp, but I think what your asking is to overlay the logo on the website..? I guess that could be done as long as the logo haeva transparent background and the website can be told where to place it..(Im not sure on this part)

[Subjective Effect]

Is there anything wrong with the current layout? Seems pretty nice to me.

 

The layout is nice, especially the clock which is f*cking fantastic actually. Every time I see it I'm reminded of the awesome feeling I got when I first fired up TDM and the menu music kicked in. I damn near teared up it was so beautiful.

 

It looks good.

 

It just think that there are few things that could be updated from an practical and functional point of view.

• The left-justified nature of the site looks great on an iPad or a Nexus 7. But on a larger screen it just seems very old fashioned, especially as it's a straight cut-off. If you have a look at The Circle (the TTLG site) you can see that they tried to accommodate for this by having a wide image that would fill the screen to the right even on larger monitors, whilst not messing up the main layout. Even that has been surpassed in width now, even on a 13' Mac Air! My suggestion: centre the site and increase it's default width. Make it responsive so it still looks good on a smaller screen.
  
• I don't think TDM needs a fully mobile site, but it wouldn't hurt. No one is going to download anything on a mobile but having a mobile version of the site for information purposes would be nice. And the forums don't seem to be Tapatalk enabled. My suggestion: a mobile version of the site, that's cut down and arranged just for mobile. Tapatalk integration including a link to Tapatalk from the mobile version of the site.
  
• The structure of the site could be improved, especially if you're widening the default frame. Ditch the Main section and replace it with News. Have the Reviews (which should be renamed "what people are saying" or something like that since they aren't full reviews and don't link to reviews) as a panel and the Pingbacks/Comments as a panel. In actual fact these should be combined into one section and the Reviews should definitely have links back to the original documents.Instead of the Main section, which tells visitors what TDM is, have an About section. The Download and Missions pages can be combined into Download with a subtitle "Get TDM & Missions" in smaller text or something. The Download section already has a link back to the Missions page, which tells you that they are closely allied sections. Again, with a wider default you could have side by side panels for TDM, Source code, etc and Missions.
  

So you end up with News, About, Download, Forums, Team, Media.

 

And the media page needs updating.

 

And put the GotY logo in the top right corner, opposite the clock and paste it again on the top of reviews panel.

 

In answer to your question Bikerdude - yeah, I'd help with it. Always happy to help on stuff like this. Been trying to get the TTLG main page sorted out for a few weeks now, along with others at TTLG, which is why it's changed (still not happy with it but they're a little less proactive at change over there). I've tried to get the TDM GotY win announced in a news bit on the main page but as you can see, it's still not happened

[Bikerdude]

Right then mister, do you have admin rights on the web page otherwise I will have to do tomorow.

 

I dont have a copy of the goty logo with a transparent alpha, if you have a minute could you know one up..? as it will save me the time of doing it etc.

 

ta.

[Springheel]

We tried centering it once, but the problem is that the clock then looks awkward being cut off. It puts the whole design off balance. Maybe it could be something like the forum, where the top image is left aligned but the rest is centered.

 

I agree the gallery could use updating though.

 

Ditch the Main section and replace it with News. Have the Reviews (which should be renamed "what people are saying" or something like that since they aren't full reviews and don't link to reviews) as a panel and the Pingbacks/Comments as a panel. In actual fact these should be combined into one section and the Reviews should definitely have links back to the original documents.Instead of the Main section, which tells visitors what TDM is, have an About section.

 

I'd be on board for those changes as well. Not sure about the other suggestions.

[Bikerdude]

Might have to get Taaaki or Greebo in on this as I believe they are far more web-centric than the 3 of us.

 

Well to make a start Im trying to find a opy of the moty logo, Spring's you might have to email PcGamer for a copy...

[Subjective Effect]

I forget who did this version of the site? Was it Greebo?

 

Before doing anything this should be put up for consultation with everyone else. And I'll see if I can whip up some mock-ups.

 

 

We tried centering it once, but the problem is that the clock then looks awkward being cut off. It puts the whole design off balance. Maybe it could be something like the forum, where the top image is left aligned but the rest is centered.

 

That's what I was thinking. The Clock should stay in the top left, and the site can expand around it. the background image can be faded to black over the last 15-20% of the right edge. You could even have a right hand glow or pattern that fades in only when the site is really wide, like on 1080p and bigger. The title would stay in line with the left edge of the main content box.

[Bikerdude]

Before doing anything this should be put up for consultation with everyone else. And I'll see if I can whip up some mock-ups.

Grand.

[Springheel]

Well to make a start Im trying to find a opy of the moty logo, Spring's you might have to email PcGamer for a copy...

 

I have a copy.

 

I forget who did this version of the site? Was it Greebo?

 

I did the basic design and Greebo did all the hard stuff.

 

And I'll see if I can whip up some mock-ups.

 

That would be great.

[Subjective Effect]

So this is the type of thing I was thinking of. Seems I can't embed images so they are links. Look at them fullscreen to see the detail.

 

The main page as the news page with a panel for reviews/comments/"pingbacks", a panel for the links and a panel that lists the latest missions. The main news panel could be scrollable.

 

http://imgur.com/Z4WyNAt

 

This would be the same template for the About Page. The Media page can stay the same as it is.

 

Now the Download section. First as full-width.

 

http://imgur.com/7xgcs7S

 

And here as minimum width for people with small screens.

 

http://imgur.com/QrtoNiu

 

The background is a placeholder just to give you an idea of faded edges though I'd want them much more faded than that. I'm not a graphics artist though

[Subjective Effect]

Anyone?

[Springheel]

Is it even worth having a separate "About" section? Other than the paragraph we have on the front page, I'm not sure what else we'd put on that page. Maybe it would be better to put that paragraph where the "latest mission" panel is on the front page. I don't think a latest mission panel is really needed; with our in-game mission downloader, the mission page is not really that useful anymore. I like the idea of News as the main page.

 

I'm neutral about combining the mod and mission downloads. It`s fine when it`s wide but I don`t like the stacked version.

[Subjective Effect]

Yeah, perhaps the About section isn't necessary. Putting it where the latest missions panel is makes total sense.

 

Re: The Download section. What is it you don't like about the stacked version? Is it that you can't necessarily see the missions straight away? If that's the issue you could have small submenu under the main menu that just scrolls the page down to the missions, and buttons to scroll to back to the top again in the Missions panel.

 

You said you weren't that keen on the other ideas. The forum degrades nicely for mobile but enabling it for Tapatalk is a small job and it means that the many, many people using Tapatalk will find the forum.

 

Oh, and I like the Missions page more for the screenshots than anything else. It also shows how many missions there are without people having to take the DL plunge. Informing your audience/market is always a good thing.

[Springheel]

Is it that you can't necessarily see the missions straight away? If that's the issue you could have small submenu under the main menu that just scrolls the page down to the missions, and buttons to scroll to back to the top again in the Missions panel.

 

What's the functional difference between that and two separate menu options like we have now?

 

The forum degrades nicely for mobile but enabling it for Tapatalk is a small job and it means that the many, many people using Tapatalk will find the forum.

 

I don't even know what Tapatalk is, so I can't comment on that.