This is only the beginning, and dealing with the files was the hard part. More on-site features will be coming in the future<1>. Before then, I want to get the old version of the site offline.
http://test.athas.org/
Look it over, browse around a bit. I want to see what the site looks like under load, and I want to hear what you guys think about it. It's not fully polished yet, and I need to fix some of the dates on various products, but it is viewable and, hopefully usable. So, let me know what you think!
<0> You would not belive what a pain in the rear file-uploads and managing file-product associations can be.
<1> As a teaser, I have a design for presenting 4e races on-site in the works...
IMO that would just be more evident as if even the categories are links, it is not evident that there is more products than those listed, sat least not for someone you is the first time on the site.
Is it possible that you add ''more'' at the end of each of the 3 categories: Rules, Setting, and Adventures, that would get you to the same page as the aforementionned categories.
IMO that would just be more evident as if even the categories are links, it is not evident that there is more products than those listed, sat least not for someone you is the first time on the site.
It's a consideration; I played with it briefly last night. Because the text of the lists aren't equal (some lists line-wrap) it ended up looking really nasty, so I left it at the headers as links.
That's still something I'm experimenting with, I'm not really happy with the product callouts yet... If there are thoughts, lay 'em on me.
I like the new site, it looks good... the only thing I'd suggest changing is to add a "more" link as suggested by Meth.
Oh and when you click on Rules, the DKoA book shows up in the list, among all of the Athas.org rule books
Did you intend to post a link to the Legends of Athas?
Good eyes. yes, but I wanted to wait until, oh, now, to make the announcement. So I can be on-call if things went south.
I like the new site, it looks good... the only thing I'd suggest changing is to add a "more" link as suggested by Meth.
Oh and when you click on Rules, the DKoA book shows up in the list, among all of the Athas.org rule books
Ah. The links to the lists aren't quite filtered right. Though, I'll need to update the tags on the TSR products ...
All in all, it will be a nice change to see something new about the web site. Though, I would have like to see athas.org become more like this site :
towerofthesun.com which is the RPG Lone Wolf fan community.
One suggestions, expand the description of the return links a little. For instance when I am in the Legends of Athas page on the bottom are the links to return to rules and to Epic. Could the link be expanded to say "Return to Rules Section" or "Back to Epic Section" instead of just "rules"?
It is a little confusing. Not so much for the rules but for other products like adventures. When on one of the adventure's pages I thought I may get more information about the adventure by clicking on the adventure instead of being returned to the adventure listing.
The site looks go for a start. Some navigational problems that others have already pointed out.
One suggestions, expand the description of the return links a little. For instance when I am in the Legends of Athas page on the bottom are the links to return to rules and to Epic. Could the link be expanded to say "Return to Rules Section" or "Back to Epic Section" instead of just "rules"?
It is a little confusing. Not so much for the rules but for other products like adventures. When on one of the adventure's pages I thought I may get more information about the adventure by clicking on the adventure instead of being returned to the adventure listing.
They're tags, not return links. Products aren't lumped into bins and a tree-navigation structure, so much as they are marked and filtered.
Would this be more clear?
Tags: rules, Epic, Dragon, Avangion
Better differentiation between the News column and the navigation Links on the front page. The link bar at the very top of the page is easily lost in the page, ie: not easily noticed, it blends in, but since the navigation bar is redundant this may be a feature rather than a bug.
The navigation is...odd. I click on the "Setting" link (or either of the other two) and it brings me to a page labeled "Products". This is confusing. Is it possible to rename the page as the tag it is searching on? Also, a box of descriptive text based around tag would go a long way towards clarifying where one is (if that might be possible).
Second, clicking on, frex, "Rules" brings up ALL the rules books and so forth, not just the Athas.org books, which are likely what folks will be searching for and what is expected will pop up on the following page given the sub-navigation. The fact that a person clicks on "Adventures" and gets a list of ALL the TSR published adventures when the sub-navigation lists just the Athas.org adventures is counter-intuitive.
Finally, "Articles" is a bad name for what is Site News/Site Updates. I expected a list of...well, articles; either magazine-style articles or the old list of non-canon fan-made articles, not the archive of site news.
I have some other suggestions, as well, but as they may become irrelevant once there's more content on the site, I won't bring them up.
(And, heya, I'm back from my break/internet hiatus.)
Layout suggestions (I know you're tweaking these, but for completeness):
Better differentiation between the News column and the navigation Links on the front page. The link bar at the very top of the page is easily lost in the page, ie: not easily noticed, it blends in, but since the navigation bar is redundant this may be a feature rather than a bug.
I'm still pondering what the heck to do with the front page stuffs; At this point, I'm thinking about moving the Rules, Setting, etc. lists over to the sidebar on the right, where I originally had them. Solves a lot of the problems with balancing the lists.
The navigation is...odd. I click on the "Setting" link (or either of the other two) and it brings me to a page labeled "Products". This is confusing. Is it possible to rename the page as the tag it is searching on? Also, a box of descriptive text based around tag would go a long way towards clarifying where one is (if that might be possible).
It's possible. The entire page is basically done as a set of searches/filters off a table that includes _all_ products. Filters are done by tag, publisher and you can search on a name fragment (also includes abbreviations, though each product only has _one_ abbreviation applied, which doesn't necessarily reflect actual practice). I can pull the publisher, or tag, out of the parameters and use that to produce the page title easily enough.
You're the second one to call me out for mixing the TSR and athas.org products. The beta products aren't labled as such on the index page, either.
I'm not necessarily sure I want to bury the old, gotta-buy-the-pdf products though. Some of them are still very good background, and not terribly linked to the ruleset in use at the time, and not everyone is an old hand at the setting. Gotta think on it, I suppose.
Second, clicking on, frex, "Rules" brings up ALL the rules books and so forth, not just the Athas.org books, which are likely what folks will be searching for and what is expected will pop up on the following page given the sub-navigation. The fact that a person clicks on "Adventures" and gets a list of ALL the TSR published adventures when the sub-navigation lists just the Athas.org adventures is counter-intuitive.Finally, "Articles" is a bad name for what is Site News/Site Updates. I expected a list of...well, articles; either magazine-style articles or the old list of non-canon fan-made articles, not the archive of site news.
There are articles, they're just in the back of the bus. As it turns out, we havn't written a new article in ages, so they fall back in line... I also need to remember to import all of the old fiction from the site, as those were never actually stored in the database ...
It was an early decision to intermingle the articles and the news updates, in part, I guess, so articles got front billing as well. Reflecting on that, it probably isn't a very good way to draw attention, and my plans for what I want to do with articles have extended to the point where having them share a base class is kind of silly.(And, heya, I'm back from my break/internet hiatus.)
Good to see you again. Welcome back. B)
If you want to contact me over email with the other suggestions, feel free. I have some feature plans in my head, but would like to hear your thoughts.
Or, Thusly:
One thing that might be of note, in the sidebar in the current layout, there is a more conversational overview of stuff, which I think might work out better than the lists. If given a better header, so that it doesn't blend in quite so much.
Also, should have some kind of "what is dark sun" overview on the front page, above the news. If that's there, the three lists push it down to where it's mostly below the fold...
:D
I've not been here for ages. ^^ Just popping in...
. Either way, it's a big step forward. Good work!An opening blurp about DS would be a nice way to kind of intro the site, though I think that there could be a better comment then the one on the current (old) site - sorry squidfur-
I love the background - so props to you for getting that map up!
If I had a vote on the layout, I would almost like the top of the page to have little "tabs" that one would click for Core Releases, Adventures, Articles, ect... but the products section does need some work. I believe someone already stated this, but having to wade through every DS product created by TSR in order to locate the athas.org documents is a bit more then I wanted to have to do. Perhaps having the old material under a References tab would be the best route.
Will there still be the fan fiction stories up on the new site as well? I always copied them to hand out to people who were completely new to the setting to give them a bit of a taste of it.
Overall - I like the new site and it will be a nice overhaul in timing with 4e!
I'm not necessarily sure I want to bury the old, gotta-buy-the-pdf products though. Some of them are still very good background, and not terribly linked to the ruleset in use at the time, and not everyone is an old hand at the setting. Gotta think on it, I suppose.
I agree. I don't think they should be buried, either, but there needs to be a way to separate out the content a little more into more easily browsed categories, with Athas.org material clearly separated out (and maybe even 1st Edition and 2nd Edition? Though that may be too fine-grained).
It was an early decision to intermingle the articles and the news updates, in part, I guess, so articles got front billing as well. Reflecting on that, it probably isn't a very good way to draw attention, and my plans for what I want to do with articles have extended to the point where having them share a base class is kind of silly.
Honestly, I saw a long list of news/site articles and never would have thought to browse through looking for game content articles. I don't think I'd be the only one, either, so a different class for the articles themselves would be a good idea.
Good to see you again. Welcome back. B)
If you want to contact me over email with the other suggestions, feel free. I have some feature plans in my head, but would like to hear your thoughts.
Thanks!
When I get a decent moment to do so, I will.
BTW, I, too, like the second layout you posted better than the existing, though at the same time I think, "But straight two-column has been done to death. Boring. Not grabby. Too linear." So, hrm...don't know if there's something else readable to try that could be implemented with ease.
Add my name to the list of "Thusly" please.
Okay. Deployed.
I am considering a thread I pulled from one of the comments about keeping the intro; maybe redoing the product listings in a more conversational tone. "You are probably here looking for ... Or perhaps you might be interested in ... ?"
That'd go in the front, main section.
Either way, I really need to get some kind of introductory "what is Dark Sun" blurb in place front-and center as well. That might require moving the news over to the right hand side(widened a bit, of course) so they're both visible...
Also working on breaking apart and separating articles and news. Fit in with my "next item" well anyway. That should be done fairly soon.
Okay. Deployed.
Legends of Athas is gone from the test site now...
Legends of Athas is gone from the test site now...
It's still there:
http://test.athas.org/products/LoA
I think we should lose the tags - or make them invisible. If they are to be used, I would include them in a search function.
Planned. They're already functional, there just isn't a form field in place for searching them yet. however, the links for the tags are all hot (not on news at the moment, no) and lead to a page filtered by that tag.
http://test.athas.org/products?tag=rules
http://test.athas.org/news?tag=rules