[scorcho]

at this stage i think it's better to first mock up a wireframe absent design chrome so that we could judge the layout(s) on content alone. presenting a 'finished' page so early usually devolves into picking apart eyecandy (logo x looks great! love the color!) and not focusing on usability or how the content flows.

[Burger]

Before any mockups are created, a wireframe should be completed and finalized. Trust me, I do this for a living. Check out balsamiq, great tool.

I'm happy to spend an hour of my weekend having fun with a concept for a website I love (I have a vested interest in seeing the logo updated, I have to look at the current one every day), but I'm also happy to draw the line there. I don't do web design anyway!

From what I understand, NeoGAF is a commercial, for profit enterprise and I wouldn't think it fair to expect anyone to go down a that road without some sort of renumeration.

I'm sure there are some out there who are however, further cheapening value of people who earn a living doing this.

[MRORANGE]

LIVE DEMO

it's best if we can put the designs online for critique (even if it is primitive)

edit: you can download the files here to edit, btw this css file has been modified from another template site, apologies if the css is a mess and for the missing div's, also most likely it will look like shit in IE.

[ScOULaris]

LIVE DEMO it's best if we can put the designs online for critique (even if it is primitive) edit: you can download the files here to edit, btw this css file has been modified from another template site, apologies if the css is a mess and for the missing div's, also most likely it will look like shit in IE.

That's really nice actually. I like how you can access your post and thread history right there from the front page.

Just slap on Burger's logo and we're set. ;)

Sorry, but I'm still gonna keep subtly supporting a logo change.

[Xun]

I'm happy to spend an hour of my weekend having fun with a concept for a website I love (I have a vested interest in seeing the logo updated, I have to look at the current one every day), but I'm also happy to draw the line there. I don't do web design anyway! From what I understand, NeoGAF is a commercial, for profit enterprise and I wouldn't think it fair to expect anyone to go down a that road without some sort of renumeration. I'm sure there are some out there who are however, further cheapening value of people who earn a living doing this.

Agreed.

That's really nice actually. I like how you can access your post and thread history right there from the front page. Just slap on Burger's logo and we're set. ;) Sorry, but I'm still gonna keep subtly supporting a logo change.

Tadah? (using my ever so slightly modified version of the logo though)

[MrBig]

LIVE DEMO it's best if we can put the designs online for critique (even if it is primitive) edit: you can download the files here to edit, btw this css file has been modified from another template site, apologies if the css is a mess and for the missing div's, also most likely it will look like shit in IE.

So much empty space! Use it for something interesting more interesting than a few lines of text and color blocks. And as has been stated, the thread icons aren't really feasible, and could easily end in content problems.

And yeah, I like Burger's logo quite a bit

[mescalineeyes]

LIVE DEMO it's best if we can put the designs online for critique (even if it is primitive) edit: you can download the files here to edit, btw this css file has been modified from another template site, apologies if the css is a mess and for the missing div's, also most likely it will look like shit in IE.

This doesn't work for so many reasons. The first one is hierarchy.

[Sentry]

For future reference, since a lot of these mocks are lacking elements that are currently accessible from the home page.. basically everything currently in place should be in a redesign (in some capacity) imo.

-Advertise link
-Archive link, with immediate access to sub-forums
-TOS link
-FAQ link
-Privacy link
-'Forum Leaders' (aka admins/moderators) link
-Store link
-Mark forums read link
-# viewing X board
-# of threads/posts in a given board
-Last post in any given board, including by whom and time stamp (as well as jump link)
-GAF stats, overall number of threads/posts/members, etc
-Current # of active users, and welcoming newest member
-Most users ever online timestamp
-Welcome text, last visited timestamp etc

All of that is on the current home page. Most of which is lacking from almost all the mockups being proposed. Not to be a downer, just that some of these are fancy and pristine but lack actual merit/function.

+1 on the wireframe idea, I think i'd do that first and then throw it to the designers to sexify.

[Rocket Scientist]

Judging by this thread... GAF is going to be even more epic than it already is. Holy crap.

[Future]

I think the designs that add personalization are the best so far. Besides design style, if the front page had unique information regarding my:

posts. Often you make a post and recheck the thread to see if there is a direct response

recently read posts. Almost like a temporary subscription, an update on a recently read post may be attractive

Activity of posters I like to follow

posts I may want to read based on read history (like YouTube recommended vids)

Posts I may want to read based on preference (based on search tags I like, such as Prometheus, community, last of us, etc)

Then I'd check it everyday

[MetalFearSolid]

Some great concepts, looking forward to see the best ideas come together for the final product.

[M_Night]

i would personally love user info on the front page when logged in, especially 'who quoted me'.

[Tunesmith]

LIVE DEMO it's best if we can put the designs online for critique (even if it is primitive) edit: you can download the files here to edit, btw this css file has been modified from another template site, apologies if the css is a mess and for the missing div's, also most likely it will look like shit in IE.

Just a note, the huge orange bar at the bottom is a big big no no. Keep staring at that rather than the content.

[mrklaw]

Divvys is nice, but I'd also like somewhere that is my personal space. Perhaps you can have a section that for new users/not logged in, is 'hi this is neogaf' etc, and when you are logged in that becomes your info centre - a list of your subscribed threads based on activity (most recently updated at top), possibly a link to quote notifications, the ability to pin topics maybe.


Mrorange's design is cool, but I'd like to not necessarily jump off to new pages for subscribed threads etc. currently that is just a link, it doesn't tell me if there are any posts or not. Have a number showing how many threads have new posts, or if you click eg 'subscribed threads', it expands down to give you a view of your subscribed threads, so you can see more information without having to leave the front page

[Sentry]

Here's a quick wireframe, sort of sloppy but you get the point. Some of you might need to use your imaginations a bit, but hopefully I will (or someone else?) get around to making actual mock design based on it.



Entire side about GAF/register pane would be replaced by your general profile info along with a quoted by/subscriptions list.

[legacyzero]

New front page huh? Niiice.

One other thing that would be cool would be to bring one of the Mobile sites features to the full site.

I really like how my posts show up green, and anybody quoting my post shows green too. It's an awesome touch.

[Divvy]

New front page huh? Niiice. One other thing that would be cool would be to bring one of the Mobile sites features to the full site. I really like how my posts show up green, and anybody quoting my post shows green too. It's an awesome touch.

There's a chrome extension for that.

[MrBig]

There's a chrome extension for that.

And a grease monkey extension. But it doesn't work the pro dark gaf script, so it's useless to me unless I feel like I want to have my eyes burned out with 311 square inches of pure white. So it would be nice to have native support for it as well as a dark theme like the mobile site.

[legacyzero]

There's a chrome extension for that.

First, I use FireFox. Second, wat?

I wouldn't know how to use them. I've read that FF has extensions too, just gotta figure em out I guess...

[D4Danger]

First, I use FireFox. Second, wat? I wouldn't know how to use them. I've read that FF has extensions too, just gotta figure em out I guess...

1) Install this -> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir.../greasemonkey/ (just click 'add to firefox' and restart your browser when it tells you to)

2) come back here and click this

You'll get a little popup that says it's trying to install a script. Wait for the countdown to end and press install. Refresh the page and your posts should be green.


* the original script is here but I edited the one above with your username already set

[George]

First, I use FireFox. Second, wat? I wouldn't know how to use them. I've read that FF has extensions too, just gotta figure em out I guess...

It's easy!

download the greasemonkey add-on for firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir.../greasemonkey/

once that's installed go here and download the NeoGAF User Highlighter
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/77218

Then in firefox go to Tools -> greasemonkey -> Manage User Scripts -> NeoGAF User Highlighter -> Options -> Edit. scroll down a bit and you will see where to enter your username. right under that you can change the highlight color from the default green to something else using the color codes found here http://www.december.com/html/spec/color.html

Click File -> Save, and your're done.

EDIT: i was badly beaten.

[Vinci]

Of these, xintin's is my favorite. Perfect balance of function and look.

[legacyzero]

1) Install this -> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir.../greasemonkey/ (just click 'add to firefox' and restart your browser when it tells you to) 2) come back here and click this You'll get a little popup that says it's trying to install a script. Wait for the countdown to end and press install. Refresh the page and your posts should be green. * the original script is here but I edited the one above with your username already set

It's......BEAUTIFUL.jpg

Thanks! so awesome.

[Epcott]

I'm liking these ideas!

Could there be a link on the front page for GAF made gifs, or a link specifically made for comics made by Gaffers, or is that going too far?

Wow... loving Burgers "NeoGAF" logo design.

[Piano]

Lovin this although what I love most about it is the redesigned logo (complete with new font) now I cant look at the old one! go away

Seconded on all counts. Burgers design wins for me as far as keeping the look as forum like as possible. And the logo is a VAST VAST improvement.

I also love Xuns above posted design, but more as a non forum front page like the site used to have. Which may be unnecessary.

[Tuck]

Aside from the logo, not a fan of this. Basically the exact same as what we have right now, but with a style that doesn't match the forum (Not sure if you intended to change that).

This one is great. Or the other one that is similar to this one.

[trinest]

MRORANGE in regards too your live one. Looks good.

In general I'm starting to think your design has to much "white space" above all the content were the logo is. Maybe find something to fit there? An ad maybe?

Also can you make the brakes have some kind of style? (like make them just a flat black line etc.) default br settings make me feel icky.

Probably might get rid of the thin orange line as well? Or make it thicker? It just seems out of place.

[Entropia]

Scorcho and Sentry are on the right track. It's nice that there are some hi-fidelity wireframes/mockups being posted but you need to take it back a step and do wireframes before you worry about the colors scheme, logo, etc.

[FollowSmoke]

I love the idea of the front page being a tool for the users rather than an area in which GAF's contents are presented. Like one of the first mocks, a hub where the user can edit what the main page shows. That way, when I come in, I can pop into whichever communities I normally visit with one click. And if one community dies out or I move onto another game/topic, I can pin that to the front page. Also, the main boards shouldn't be allowed to be removed from anyone's hubs.

Also, perhaps give non-members profiles so they could do the same. They couldn't post, but there's a huge amount of lurkers out there. Why not give them the ability to set up the page the way they like? I've found that GAF is a site I'll read if I'm a member or not and to be able to use it the way I'd like to, even if I'm not allowed to contribute, would be great.

I think the most important thing should be user interface. But I also don't know the complexities of any of this, so... :)

Edit: Also, frames. More frames.

[Sklorenz]

I've been watching this thread for the last few days, and I've liked a few designs visually speaking. However, I just thought I would voice a quick opinion:

To keep the main page relevant to me, as a member, I would love to see:

-Who has quoted me
-Top ten or so most recent updates to my subbed threads

Highlighting popular/high activity threads on the front page is kind of pointless. They'll be at the top of their respective forums, so it's not like you'll miss them. It's a total waste of space. What's helpful is seeing the most recent subscription updates and who has quoted me (because given how quickly GAF moves at times, this may not be in the most recent subscription updates, or it could be pages back and I might miss it). That's super useful. The stats that EviLore mentioned would also be nice, along with purging the massive "Who's online?" list.

The "featured community threads" ideas are also a complete waste on the front page. Those are either already in your subscription page, or, if you don't use subs, they're something you're constantly checking anyway. The most popular community threads are generally on page one anyway, as new community threads appear far less frequently. Therefore, there's no point in highlighting popular ones... it makes no sense.

I'll continue to avoid using the front page without any useful features present. If the main point of the front page is to be more attractive and informative to new users, that's fine, but I certainly continue to pretend it doesn't exist. And if I do use it, I don't want the overall design of the front page to be totally disconnected from the actual forum. Some of the designs look great and all, but it looks like the designers just went about designing the page without considering that each link was going to send them to main OT/Gaming/Community pages, creating a fairly jarring contrast in presentation.

[Burger]

Aside from the logo, not a fan of this. Basically the exact same as what we have right now, but with a style that doesn't match the forum (Not sure if you intended to change that).

The brief from Evillore was take the front page, and lay it out in a more appealing way.

I'm aware the style is different from what we have now, it was on purpose. It is a concept, similar to the way companies create concept cars. You rarely see concept cars on the market, but you certainly see cues.

[Kwixotik]

I love most of the mock-ups in this thread. My favorite ideas are:

1. Separate home screen for guests and users.
2. "Who quoted me" feature
3. Popular threads of the day list

I like xintin's mock-up best. Also, if you could highlight unread messages in color if it's above 0, that would be cool.

[Sentry]

Highlighting popular/high activity threads on the front page is kind of pointless. They'll be at the top of their respective forums, so it's not like you'll miss them. It's a total waste of space. What's helpful is seeing the most recent subscription updates and who has quoted me (because given how quickly GAF moves at times, this may not be in the most recent subscription updates, or it could be pages back and I might miss it). That's super useful.

I disagree. The whole point of a landing page is for newcomers to know what the site is about, and the forum element is an important part of that. Listing several most recent topics across the entire site gives an incentive for someone to jump in. They see a interesting news title from an OT thread, or breaking news from a gaming thread, and they're compelled to click it. That's one less step into getting involved in the site.

Also, you mention subscriptions. Firstly, if you're not a logged in user, that would be pointless. There would be no subscriptions listing; what would fill all that space?. Secondly, not everyone on GAF uses subscriptions to begin with, so that's another issue.

[Gattsu25]

LIVE DEMO it's best if we can put the designs online for critique (even if it is primitive) edit: you can download the files here to edit, btw this css file has been modified from another template site, apologies if the css is a mess and for the missing div's, also most likely it will look like shit in IE.

this hides the gaming/ot community forums even more than the current home page does due to differences in how much text is allocated to each. Any reason why you don't show 1 or 2 threads per subforum?

[trinest]

MRORANGE has the style available to download ay? Might play around with it when I have a chance. Change a few things/clean it up.

[smothpocket]

Aside from the logo, not a fan of this. Basically the exact same as what we have right now, but with a style that doesn't match the forum (Not sure if you intended to change that). This one is great. Or the other one that is similar to this one.

I actually prefer the top one in this case. The sections are very inviting and easy to find. The bottom one looks more like an advertisement page to me.

[FliXFantatier]

New front page huh? Niiice. One other thing that would be cool would be to bring one of the Mobile sites features to the full site. I really like how my posts show up green, and anybody quoting my post shows green too. It's an awesome touch.

Oh yes please, this would then also work for my iPad browser (as i dont use the mobile Version on my ipad)
So no grease monkey script or add on will do.

[D4Danger]

This is as far as I got with my last effort

Grid #1
Grid #2

I cribbed most of the footer from Dribbble. I didn't finish it but you get the idea.

I started the idea of having a tab area for subscriptions and stuff (you get the idea with that, I'm not aligning that mess for the next 2 hours).I guess you would replace it with some welcome text and a link to signing up if the person isn't logged in.

The big grey area I thought could have an updating list of thread or something. Or just remove it.

Here's the PSD if anyone wants to use it for something. My colour settings are playing up so if you get any warnings just ignore 'em, I'm sure it'll be fine (actually, I think the pngs I've posted have shifted a little, they should be gaf blue colours)

[Dark_AnNiaLatOr]

I fully support burger's design. Btw, would this change anything in the mobile version?

[Sentry]

This is as far as I got with my last effort

Third time's the charm. :p Community stuff could be indented or somehow distinguished as mere sub-forums, but other than that it looks nice, something I would get behind.

[EviLore]

Yeah I'd look at distinguishing the community forums and either indenting them as a secondary area or putting gaming/off-topic as the first two items, but I like the basic look of d4danger's as far as navigation. No idea what we'd actually be able to put into that right pane there though without heavy custom design work, but we'll see.

[EviLore]

If you look at the home page when not logged in, you'll see we have the generic "WELCOME TO THE NEOGAF" box. With conditionals that can probably be replaced entirely by something else to appear if you're not logged in, and disappear when you are, for example in that right pane. So there is some flexibility there for the page serving a dual purpose.

[sky]

I think you guys should stop redesigning the logo, or making big stylistic changes.
It's distracting, and making something with a new design might not work with the real NeoGAF one. Though they do look nice ;).

The ones that looks like magazines or news websites look cool... but I don't feel they fit NeoGAF. Having "news" type images to update seems like a waste of time. Same goes for putting on lots of thread titles/summaries... it's too noisy.

[Utako]

What about formatting the front page like a blog? Some of these are close, but I'm saying that you can read the OPs of hott threadz in full (with a point for truncation, of course). Click the blog post's title or "Read The Thread" button, and you're whisked away to the full discussion.

This blog could also generate an RSS feed, so you can hook it into Google Reader or Flipboard.

I can prepare a demo, but this idea just occurred to me now and I wanted to float it out there for feedback.


[edit] RE: "Who Quoted Me," the board Wasting Your Life does this extremely well. The mechanic is very similar to Facebook notifications. NeoGAF (all forums!) should copy this.

[Burger]

I think you guys should stop redesigning the logo, or making big stylistic changes. It's distracting, and making something with a new design might not work with the real NeoGAF one. Though they do look nice ;). The ones that looks like magazines or news websites look cool... but I don't feel they fit NeoGAF. Having "news" type images to update seems like a waste of time. Same goes for putting on lots of thread titles/summaries... it's too noisy.

No offence, but you can't ask designers to come up with something new and then expect them to design what's already there, that's not how it works. You can't make changes if you never imagine possibilities.

I redid the logo because I hate the current one, I've made that clear enough. It was a lark, although judging from the reaction it seems popular. Whatever happens is Evillore's decision and not mine.

[Sentry]

No offence, but you can't ask designers to come up with something new and then expect them to design what's already there, that's not how it works. You can't make changes if you never imagine possibilities. I redid the logo because I hate the current one, I've made that clear enough. It was a lark, although judging from the reaction it seems popular. Whatever happens is Evillore's decision and not mine.

True, but at the same time you have to keep in mind you're not redesigning the entire site, just a new front page. There should be a minimal sense of consistency across the general forum design and a new front page, imo.

[ScOULaris]

I think you guys should stop redesigning the logo, or making big stylistic changes. It's distracting, and making something with a new design might not work with the real NeoGAF one. Though they do look nice ;). The ones that looks like magazines or news websites look cool... but I don't feel they fit NeoGAF. Having "news" type images to update seems like a waste of time. Same goes for putting on lots of thread titles/summaries... it's too noisy.

You shut your mouth! Redesigns are all that keep me going in this godforsaken life!

[Kwixotik]

True, but at the same time you have to keep in mind you're not redesigning the entire site, just a new front page. There should be a minimal sense of consistency across the general forum design and a new front page, imo.

I think EviLore is thinking more about the layout and features than the visual style. If/when he incorporates the mock-ups posted here into the eventual front page, he doesn't necessarily have to carry over the visual styles of the mock-ups.

[SquiddyCracker]

Are you going to be adding articles and stuff to NeoGAF?
Who'll be writing them if so?

[Link]

Are you going to be adding articles and stuff to NeoGAF? Who'll be writing them if so?

They tried that a while back. It's a safe bet they won't be doing it again.