Oh hey I'm a moron, the name AND description of the comics do appear, but take forever thanks to the javascript. :/

That's a pretty annoying issue, specially since it closes the tabs after you move away from the page. Also, did you guys cheapen the cost for ads, I'm seeing a ton of ads for DD comics that never really appeared before.

ozoneocean

TheMidge28
not trying to be a pompous arse, but did you guys run any usability test with a sample group before going forward with this?

The admins here got to use it… We pointed out all the same issues and suggestions already :)

Its good to know the admins got to test it out.
In my job I have had to test out several programs and web based tools and the process is a long and arduous ordeal. It takes a long time and I can see people have put a lot of time into this with some great ideas that just needed some finishing touches and tweaks.

Is there a time-frame as to when everything is finished?

If I may give my opinions on this interesting change of scenery around here.

1: I hate the white color. A lot of people have already complained about it, and they're right; it is an eyesore and it distracts.

2: I love the random comics on the frontpage, and it seems to work pretty good.

3: The idea of a MyFavorites tab sucks. Sometimes it doesn't load in on my browser and I have to click it open and closed repeatedly, much like deviantART's previews and whatnot. Otherwise, the idea of being able to see, at a glance and without those silly stars, what comics have updated it awesome.

4: The text is too small in the forums, as has been noted before. I'm nearly blind as it is, what are you trying to do, finish the job? I jest, but only barely. :)

5: Did I mention the white? I did? Well I'm mentioning it again because it's driving me nuts.

Otherwise, this new look seems slimmer and more streamlined in a lot of ways. A bit more spit and polis hand we'll have a winner here!

I see you flushed the color on the front thumbnails. That makes it way more bearable, good idea.

ABSOLUTE MUST:

Switch back to old color scheme, enlarge text, switch back to old color scheme, switch back to old color scheme, switch back to old color scheme.

ANNOYING, BUT NOT TOO BAD:
Extra ads, loads are slightly longer sometimes.

I don't like the new design…No, I don't think I'll get used to it…isn't it possible to have TWO designs? like for instance, their could be a button that switching the site templates to however you like it best…I've seen it on some sites…liked the old design better.

therealtj

therealtj
Maybe an “account preferences” where you can choose how big you want text to appear? Anyway, I like how It's showing banners of DD comics in the ad banners now.

Also, maybe a color option with that? Just my two cents.

I like!


Also, I would like to say, I'm already getting used to this design and it is better than I was thinking. Needs a few fixes, but I can tell that you're working hard, so I won't bough you down with any more little complaints.

I've been talking to Mishi over AIM, and apparently it takes her five minutes to load a page now.

Can you make the font size in the forums bigger? I've got the browser compensating for the tinyness with an increase of 1 and it looks fine like that.

And viewing the front page the first time my first reaction was “wheres all the content? all I see are these images everywhere.”

The place looks horrid with adblock on yet it loads like tomato sauce out of a bottle with adblock off. Why rely on the ads so much to bring color into the site?

I don't really like the new layout, but I'd be fine with it.

Just one thing, the collapsed favorites and my comics are definitely a problem. If they could stick open, or have a preference where they're automatically open or closed when the site opens, that would be great.

Gordon CSA
If they could stick open, or have a preference where they're automatically open or closed when the site opens, that would be great.

Seconded or third'd or whatever.

I like it collapsed so yeah, make it a preference.

The gray background and faded thumbnails definitely look better than it did before. :)

Personally, I feel the design is a bit of an eye-sore. Too much white flushes out everything else. (The page could literally hurt my eyes if my lights were off right now.) The design is very image/script/plugin heavy and under certain connections could be very clunky and slow. While I like the new sidebar concept, I believe its execution could be a little better. Snapping it to the right side of the screen instead of the left side of the page content would (personally) be better.

Also, I feel that banning LowResAtari was a little unfair. He simply and frankly stated what everybody else has been sugar-coating. You guys are getting way too heavy with the ads, placing them in very annoying and unneeded locations, and making the site look very cluttered and unattractive. He was banned for sharing his opinion? I guess everybody who complains about ads should be banned.

That's just my opinion.

Zac
Heya Volte,

1. There's a lot of white. So it's a little like staring into the sun.

3. The tiny font.


Other'n that, cool beans Volte. Good to see you're still working on the site.

1. Needs more contrast.
3. Ctrl++

Okay, I'm only going to say this about the new design once and then I will hold my peace. Here are my problems.

1. More ads drawing the eye than comics.

2. Visually confusing and cluttered. Everything looks smashed together and pained.

3. Impersonal. It's like some high end business-y site where no human has laid a finger. One thing Drunk Duck has always been is community and this feels like an inhuman machine.

Sorry folks, I don't like it.

Ohhhh, that grey is a relief. A huge improvement over the white. *thumbs up!*

I was worried, when people expressed their concerns, yet the design was implemented just as the preview was that our concerns would not be listened to- but plenty changes have already been made, and so it's nice to see that this really is a work-in-progress and we're being heard.

Ok, I noticed that you darkened the background a bit.

It doesn't hurt my eyes anymore, but I still say that the old colors were much, MUCH better.

Said it before, and I'll say it again. To all who are bitching about ads:
It's your own fault for using IE.

TheMidge28
Its good to know the admins got to test it out.
In my job I have had to test out several programs and web based tools and the process is a long and arduous ordeal. It takes a long time and I can see people have put a lot of time into this with some great ideas that just needed some finishing touches and tweaks.

Is there a time-frame as to when everything is finished?

It's cool to know what your job is Midge! ^_^
We didn't test to that professional level, just a normal user level, with user perceptions and taste. I don't know if there as more involved testing in the Platinum offices, but since nothing is really broken at all, whatever was done seems sufficient. :)

As for time frames, I could not say. Volte will keep tweaking things till he gets it to a good level and till other job priorities supersede. That's how it goes.

Okay as of today.

+ I like the controls are now over the ads.

+ I like the grey color as opposed to white, I suggest however a gradient might be more visually appealing. It might make the page look more full and proffesional.

+ Descriptions working on places other then the main page.

* Suggestion: Allow us to collapse the criteria section in the browse section.

* Suggestion: Allow people to give feedback on tutorials

- Given how fast comics update around here I think the “Just In” catagory's space could be put to better use. I suggest replacing it with a "my favorite column or something like that when people long in the displays a random sampling of their favorited comics.

- Now that all comics have a description & thumb nail it makes the featured comics seem much less impressive. I'm not sure how to improve this.

- The new forum text is hard to read.

- I can't tell which of the top comics have updated today on the main page anymore

- The Save Preferences window seems bugy

- The page feels a little content light with the news and other features gone.

Ano… how do I delete comics from My Favorites???

* Suggestion: Why not just put the news under the thumbnail sections? I think that would allow us to have news without detracting from the new focus on the thumbnails nor forcing the content to be re-arranged.

Well, I'm kind of divided on it.

I like that the comics list shows the last date updated, and the page stats. Now I won't keep missing comics, like I was.

I don't like the way you have to make an extra click to get to the news, then click on a link to actually get to it. This way, I'll forget to read the news, then I won't find out about all those undiscovered comics out there!

I also don't like the fact that many of the datalists (Top 10 Strips, Recently Updated, et cetera) have vanished. That said, since there are new lists (Quail's Random, This Just In) I think I can live with it.

I most especially don't like the way the feature blurbs got shortened. Sometimes you just need the longer one. If you change nothing else on the site, I suggest you change this.

Aaand that's my verdict.

Here's what I think…

I like:
- the faves list with the date of last update (since some update shortly before midnight, so after midnight the asterisk was gone and I didn't know they updated)
- all the featured comics thumbnails showing at the same time
- Quail's Random - that way everyone has a chance to be noticed

I don't like:
- the fact that the news, that I feel simply BELONG on the main page, got moved to such a weird place
- the loading times - the main page and everything takes a lot more to load for me than the previous version
- the fact that some very annoying glitches present in the old version weren't fixed (i.e. when I log in and want to skip directly to my stats, it says I need to log in again)

I'm completely with LowRes.

Someone
The site looks horrible and loads even slower than it ever has because of the new ads you decided to plaster all over every freaking page for no reason.

Remove the ads above my account info you cash-cropping sellout.

Thanks for making Drunkduck load even slower for me.

freefall_drift
The balloon overs on the front page do not display in Firefox. They flicker in and vanish.
The balloon over in IE have a strange grey box in the middle on each side.

All Fixed. Looks great. I especially like the random column. I like that all the columns can be customizable. Great update.

Everyone else is doing it, so why not:

Suggestions/Requests

1. DYNAMIC COLOR. I cannot stress this enough. The grey is beyond boring. Even if it remained grey, doing something fun like in the old scheme with the slightly darker dots (or were they lighter, I forget), would be such a vast improvement. It would really help wash out some of the more painful adverts.

2. KEEP IT OPEN. Many have said it, but having to reopen Favorites, Comics, etc. is a bit of an inconvenience. I like to know what's going on with my fav comic updates instantly.

3. NEWS. If you don't want to put the full news articles up on the main page, at least put a snipet of it and link to the rest of it somewhere on there. Maybe in between the Featured and the Lists, that way there is something to divide the two a bit better, tone down the hyper-image oriented main page.

4. FONT. Yeah, it is really small and light.

5. DISTINGUISH ADVERTS. Keep em on the top and bottom, if you are going to have them on the side, only one side please. And above all else, even if you are going to have a thousand adverts, PLEASE keep them distinctly separate with borders or colors or something! Because this is now a highly image oriented main page, there needs to be distinct zones so that our eyes can focus and not just be overwhelmed.

Well, that is what I think needs fixing. Pretty much the same as everyone else I suppose. Nothing you haven't heard, but maybe there are some useful suggestions in there. I must say that of all the things you have changed, the greatest thing was adding that Random Comics list. A very fine idea. Second greatest thing is showing the thumbnail images for every comic. Seeing an image from a comic is the greatest initial draw, but as others have said, images can be over done without some sort of grounding/context.

Keep up the hard work. Can't wait to see where this all leads in the end…

Back to working on it today some more. Expect to see more changes.

MarcusRaven
Also, I feel that banning LowResAtari was a little unfair. He simply and frankly stated what everybody else has been sugar-coating. You guys are getting way too heavy with the ads, placing them in very annoying and unneeded locations, and making the site look very cluttered and unattractive. He was banned for sharing his opinion? I guess everybody who complains about ads should be banned.

That's just my opinion.

Actually, he resorted to personal attacks and insults. Not too smart of him to attack me personally. Luckily it was only a temporary ban.