AfterDawn redesign - public alpha

First impression? .. The page is HUGE .. it must be 300 lines long. I thought my forums were a bit big with too many headings but...

51 items before getting to "more news" .. and then 50+ more topics.
I would say most people would take that as information overload and never bother to look below the bottom of the screen, let alone scroll down for an age.

Think it needs to be much more concise. Maybe more columns for the different news types and certainly a lot less duplication of items.. say 1 entry for klite new releases. I think I counted the last 4 minor updates listed in the general overload... software mixed with news? Right now as it stands the central column has way too much in it.. it's far too long and looks a mess. On 1280x1024 it's 16 screens long.

Overall it looks nice, apart from my comments about the central heap of stuff... I like the dark background and the layout renders properly. The tabs seem to work properly, though the general width is a bit on the narrow side with large wasted borders. Is it set to 80%?

As for the overall news clutter.. how about making some frames for every large company.. apple.. sony.. microsoft etc and sticking them where the borders are currently doing nothing and keeping those to maybe a maximum of 5 latest entries on the front page with the frame header linking to a full company news page.. each item link taking you to the part of that page where the story is.?

Something to chew on anyway.. The colour scheme is certainly easier on the eyes than the current one.. in fact it's sweet XD

 

admittedly it's a bit buggy.. but it is on.. iceweasel3.6 64 bit, java6 something..

will have a look on a different browser and different java version later.. I guess it's not rendering quite right for me then? (grrrr.. java is a menace)

afterdawn.fi was taking an age to load (must remember to turn off my tracker sometimes).. a few refresh cycles changed things considerably.. still a bit long but much better.

I like it overall .. very sleek.

 

spam edited by ddp

 

thanks for your posting. I will check it and then let you know about how it went. So far everything is fine.

 

I like it but the forums look a bit too typical Bulletin Board Engine-That-Nearly-Every-Site-Uses (Can't remember the name off hand). Oh yeah, If you go on a news item, then on topics, then on whatever, it brings up a 404. Going to go on the stories section on The Nexus Forums... I will notify you of more bugs if or when I find them... Have fun !

James

 

I also can't edit any settings or account info... When I go to create a profile it reverts back to original Afterdawn, not sure if it is meant to do that... Have a good'n

EDIT: I love the feedback button on the side, How it doesn't clip or lag.
EDIT2: I can only see image sigs after I have posted a thread on a thread where people have image sigs. E.g. If I click on this thread, I can see my text but not my mygamercard.net sig. After I had edited or posted however, I can see them fine until I change pages again. Hope it helps.

 

SPAM removed

 

I just have to say the design may get some getting used too but i have to say i love how everything is broken down to sub catogories and like the software section. I love how we have options for drivers and programming etc...

 

is AD going back to 90's style? theres way to much crap on one page.
Cant find half the stuff im looking for.

i do like the categorized selection.

 

hi
i guess you've spent an awfull long time and a lot of work on the new look...but...AD is unique and has a look all it's own. the new look is like so many others on the web and a bit cluttered

 

Looks like all the bugs I reported have been fixed. I agree with gurnard and hope that Afterdawn v3 will be available after the redesign goes live although I understand if this can't be done (server space and all that).

 

I like the new forum setup in v4 it looks good.

 

V4 seems a bit slower. Site takes a while to get used to, but I like it, and looks nice too. May I suggest maybe widening the borders/boxes/lines where the text is, for example there's too much "free space" on the left on right sides. That should make it less "long" (vertically). You have to scroll down more on V4 then compared to the "old" Afterdawn.