Homepage Layout Re-Design

[MarkG]

Apolyton is not "a leading epicenter". It is THE most popular Civ site--provable with traffic stats.

we're modest, you ought to have noticed that by now!

[Immortal Wombat]

I like it. Much better than the old one, but I never look at it anyway, so I don't really care

The only thing that does look wierd is the logo lost in the middle of the menus left and right. Could the menus be dropped down so the logo becomes more central or something?

[Andemagne]

oh no. again. can wehave the old one back? please.

[Mercator]

The "My Apolyton" thing is a great addition... I'm almost inclined to set the homepage in my bookmarks now, instead of my control panel.

I still get a horizontal scrollbar though (IE6, 1024x768 with the Favourites "bar" opened up on the left so the actual window is exactly 800 wide).

[MarkG]

I still get a horizontal scrollbar though (IE6, 1024x768 with the Favourites "bar" opened up on the left so the actual window is exactly 800 wide).

how about making it 802 or 804?

the page fits on "real" 800x600(which is actually a bit less than that due to the window borders), it should fit in "exactly 800"

[DanQ]

Originally posted by GP
Rewrite the welcome paragraph and I will be happy. It is too wordy and pretentious in style. (DanQ strongly needs to read The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.) In addition, it leaves out some vital descriptive info:

-Apolyton is not "a leading epicenter". It is THE most popular Civ site--provable with traffic stats.

-The welcome paragraph should mention/describe the forums/community. This is the biggest part of the site. It is what makes Poly, Poly. Emphasizing "Storage and retreival" while not mentioing the forums is disingenuous. (Several people have said that other sites have better download sections.) Noone would contest that we have the most active forums.
-------------------------

For new users, this paragraph is their intro to Poly. A less wordy, more content-filled paragraph will help lure them into further exploration of the site.

1) I agree that the lack of direct mention of the forums is a valid point to raise. Added 'interactive discussions' to the sentence that discusses the 'late breaking news' and 'hottest customized downloads'.
3) There is now a link in the paragraph that directs visitors such as yourself to an "Introduction" page, elaborating on what is introduced in the 'maiden paragraph'.
4) As for your reading material suggestion, I'll pass along one of my own: "Everyone's-Style-Is-Different-And-That-Does-Not-Necessarily-Make-One-Better-Over-Another" by me, myself and I.



---------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

[JohnIII]

Mark, thanks for the fixes! I like the factt hat the intro link is slightly different to the rest.

Dan, that isn't a suggestion at all, that's an excuse. Being wordy and pretentious is not a matter of style, it's a matter of not knowing how to write.

The welcome paragraph sounds like a badly-written politician's speech, and doesn't really tell you anything, apart from:
1) Civilization.
2) Founded on 26th July 1998.
3) Civ.

Founded on July 26th, 1998, this site has since proven itself as a leading epicenter of activity in the community as a one stop resource for all things "Civ" from late-breaking news, interactive discussions to the hottest customized downloads.

[Lemmy]

hmm, i don't like, it seems to crowded, but i never look there, and almost never will, i don't even remember what the old one looked like, so it could be a huge improvement for all i know.

[J Bytheway]

It doesn't all fit on my 800x600 (see attached picture), though I suspect that this is because I am subscribed to CtP2 - General/Help/Strategy/Multiplaying and CtP2 - Creation/AI/Mods/Scenarios, which stretches out the central section. Why are these forum names so very long? I never understood it. It would suffice to say CtP2 - General/Multiplaying and CtP2 - Creation.

[J Bytheway]

What a surprise - forgot the attachment

[Hywel Dda]

Personally I like it a lot - and certainly a lot more than the previous designs. Good enough for an A, and no major complaints.

[MarkG]

J Bytheway, what about now?

[JohnIII]

Mark and Dan, I have another problem.

The Welcome paragraph is in the middle of the page. Fine. But when you click on the link to the Apolyton intro, the text is one the left. This makes your mind do a double-take, as you're expecting the ext to be in roughly the same place.

I'm not sure what you can do about this, though, as having every page like the homepage would be just silly.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by MarkG
J Bytheway, what about now?

Much better, no scrollbar - but now one of the CtP forums' names is split and also the table of subscribed forums is very tall because the dates are split over two lines.

[MarkG]

you should be ok now