I love this site, but it really needs some graphics and a logo for both the forum page and the main page. It's not essential, but why dont we at leat try to make a cool header logo for him? :)
Bri
Well, a logo would perhaps be a nice touch but I like the site like it is now. It's very light and clear and easy to use. I wouldn't like to see more graphics.
replacing the forum logo won't cost any more bandwidth, provided the new one is the same filesize. There was a discussion about this when the forum first started, but nobody seemed to want to make one.
Joined: 4/15/2004
Posts: 12
Location: South Holland, IL
Keep it clean. Keep it simple. I am more impressed by the videos then by the site. That's the way it should be. I hate 30 min flash intros then 30 random pictures and then it is impossible to find what you want. http://www.speedruns.org/ is the perfect example of crappy design. My apologies to the webmaster.
At least you apologise your words about my work :)
It would be great if you could give me some suggestions perhaps how to improve it or what you do not like exactly so i could change that perhaps. saying that the design is crappy may be your opinion but it does not include any arguments.
Well, if nothing else the following message shows up at the top of the screen in Firefox:
Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/www/htdocs/speedruns.org/index.php:7) in /home/www/htdocs/speedruns.org/mainfile.php on line 171
I can't right click anywhere except on the flash graphic, which makes it a pain when I'm trying to copy the above message (have to hit ctrl+C to copy). A quick look at the source reveals right-clicking is explicitly disabled. Why?
Annoying music greets you on the front page. I heard that enough watching the LoZ speedrun, thank you very much. I suspect it's part of the flash graphic at the top, though I'm not quite sure.
Speaking of flash, I'm not sure what that thing up top is supposed to be, aside from a bit of buffer from the rest of the page, much less why it's in flash. I'm of the school of thought that thinks that if you can't do something useful in flash you probably shouldn't be using flash at all.
On the left side, the Speedruns.org graphic is covered up by the main menu. I'm not quite sure why this is the case, but the center column appears to be as wide as it would be if the right column wasn't there (as is the case on some pages but not others). This screws up the center table (there's a space between the right edge of the table and the right end of the column)
The main menu text is smaller than the rest of the text on the page. This is a bad idea for a main menu.
When I first came here I couldn't find where the speedruns. The table on the front page, with all the speedruns on it, has absolutely nothing to indicate that they're links and not just plain text listing everything that's available via the "downloads" link in the menu (which also looks like plain text). Links should look like links.
What's with those annoying scrolling forum message things? They're a bit down on the page, but if you really *must* show the last few forum messages in that much space, just show the last five or so messages and screw the scrolling.
I must have seen those entries at the bottom at least a dozen times before but until about a minute ago I never realized they were supposed to be news messages.
Remember, I'm using Firefox, and... A quick look at the page in IE... My goddess, it looks even worse, with text bunched together, the four links in the "links" part are scrolling, and... just ugh.
What's with "Registered Users Only," anyway? Are you intentionally trying to scare people off? Granted, it saves on bandwidth, but if you have flash animations at the top of every page I think you can spare the bandwidth for those who just want to see some speedruns and don't want to jump through registration hoops to do so.
Whew. That's the main page. I'll critique the rest of them in a little bit when I get back from the store.
nifboy, SpeedRunner obviously put a lot of time and effort into creating an attractive site, and I think he has done it. Frankly I am offended that when he asks for suggestions on how to improve, you address him with such obvious disgust, disrespect, and disdain.
Now to address the few issues you brought up that aren't matters of pure opinion:
I can't right click anywhere except on the flash graphic
I, too, find this annoying. Because I have a slow connection, I don't like to reload script generated pages every time I press << or >> . I pretty much always right-click links and open them as new pages so that I can continue to browse the one I'm at while the new one loads. Please enable right-clicking.
Annoying music greets you on the front page.
The music is hardly annoying, but automatically loading music is generally considered unacceptable. Many people listen to music while browsing the net. Two songs at once is never fun. I suggest the music be disabled by default.
Speaking of flash, I'm not sure what that thing up top is supposed to be, aside from a bit of buffer from the rest of the page, much less why it's in flash. I'm of the school of thought that thinks that if you can't do something useful in flash you probably shouldn't be using flash at all.
Flash stores such vector based graphics very efficiently. The banner at the top, which is quite attractive in my opinion, only weighs in at 50k. I challenge you, nifboy, to construct a GIF with equal framerate and resolution at only 50k.
When I first came here I couldn't find where the speedruns.
Did you have trouble finding how the grammar when you made your post?
The table on the front page, with all the speedruns on it, has absolutely nothing to indicate that they're links and not just plain text listing everything that's available via the "downloads" link in the menu (which also looks like plain text). Links should look like links.
Do you think a lack of sheer stupidity on the part of the user might clue one into the existence of links? Obviously not in your case, nif.
*sigh*
Look, I'm sorry if my somewhat hostile tone has sparked emotions and will soon culminate in a massive flamewar which will soon envelop the entire board.
I'm also sorry if I don't immediately recognize plain text in a table to be a link, or if I don't recognize the point of a 750x125 graphic that does nothing but look shiny, Flash or no Flash. I may be stupid, but so are a lot of people who may want to come and look at his site.
I pretty much always right-click links and open them as new pages so that I can continue to browse the one I'm at while the new one loads. Please enable right-clicking.
holding Shift while clicking a link does the same thing.
... hostile tone has sparked emotions and will soon culminate in a massive flamewar which will soon envelop the entire board.
<rant>
Don't get too self-aggrandizing. I forsee the moderators abating flames the same way firefighters do.
Oh yea, I find it quite interesting this thread for talking about Bisqwit's GFX turned into a critique for http://www.speedruns.org
Personally I don't mind the layout, and that's what all of these are - opinions.
To the person tongue-and-cheek spitting on SpeedRunner's hard work, I expect no less, so you don't disappoint me, but it saddens me that there are those who simply can't get around the fact people create differently... Art is varied, and yes I am saying wedesign is an art. Granted it's generally a practical art.. where e-commerce comes into play on practically every banner-click , but its still creation.
How's that for a whole $0.25?
</rant>
As for the topic at hand... how about a contest creating a replacement graphic for the standard phpbb forum picture? Currently: GIF format, 7973 bytes, 200x91 px
At least you apologise your words about my work :)
It would be great if you could give me some suggestions perhaps how to improve it or what you do not like exactly so i could change that perhaps. saying that the design is crappy may be your opinion but it does not include any arguments.
You really should read that before screaming at nifboy for "tongue-and-cheek spitting on SpeedRunner's hard work"
The web admin doesn't have to do as he says, but he did ask for nif to elaborate.
thanks a lot for all of your words. that is very important for me cause only with opinions i know what i can improve at all. so at first i removed the music (couldnt hear it myself any longer :D) and the no-right-click. the site was made for 1024*768. of course it looks a bit strange when you use other resolutions. i will try to get this error message away. do not know why it occurs yet.
registration: if i would allow everybody to just download would make no sense. deep links are dangerous for me because traffic is really expensive in germany. so i think its not too much to registrate, and it does not even takes a minute. dont know your experiences but the downloads are really fast, i get 512 kbyte/sec in several tests. think about how much traffic could it be in a month if there would be many traffic thieves... :-/
every webmaster wants as much satisfied visitors as possible and as many as possible. registration makes people coming back.
if you got more critics or suggestion please tell me. you are always welcome.
i know. your site works great! its more more famous than mine so i have to do so ;o)
due to bittorrent you got nearly none traffic. and by the way its not possible to post in forums without registration as well here.
Or how about the people who say "case and point"?
The first thing that bothered me about the site was that the table of links didn't actually link to the runs of the respective games, but to a whole new page of the runs. And of course the "YOU MUST REGISTER! YOU MUST REGISTER!" screen.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
