fyi- APUG Homepage Rebuilt

[Sean]

Hi All,

I have rebuilt the homepage. This is part of an effort to start making the homepage more dynamic. Please let me know if you find any bugs or have any feedback. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks!

Sean

 

[wfe]

Looks good to me so far.

Cheers,
Bill

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I like the idea of having more dynamic content, but it looks a bit cluttered.

I'd put APUG content first--latest posts, APUG portfolios, featured member, and latest gallery images--and move the sponsor info down or to the side. As it is on the computer I'm using at the moment (my wife's Vaio laptop which has a widescreen display), I get to the front page and I see lots of sponsor info, and not much about APUG except for the mission statement, until I scroll down. If I were a new user, I'd probably think this was a site with a lot of advertising content, and I suspect that the front page is mainly for new users, since it's easier for regular users to link directly to the forums or galleries and skip the front page altogether.

By comparison, photo.net has no ad content on the front page--it's more like the table of contents in a magazine. Rangefinderforum.com is more like the front page of a newspaper--top threads on the top of the page, listing of active threads down the middle, advertising at the sides.

I'd also move "APUG buttons for your website" to a separate page.

 

[jovo]

Displaying the latest gallery images, again runs the risk of "not suitable for work" situations arising. Is there a way to hide the images for such environments?

 

[Sean]

Thanks for the feedback David, how do you think it looks now?

As for the gallery images on the homepage I can't decide if it's that big of an issue regarding work safe browsing. I'll await more feedback on that one. I still plan to implement a nsfw modification but it could be a while..

 

[Sanjay Sen]

I think this is a better version than the one I saw (briefly) earlier(?). I like how it is now. The dynamic content is much better - I was getting a little bored of the same home page!

Thanks for all your efforts.


Best,
Sanjay

 

[Sirius Glass]

Displaying the latest gallery images, again runs the risk of "not suitable for work" situations arising. Is there a way to hide the images for such environments?

I have to go with Jovo on this OR a way each user to set a tolerance level for the home page.

Steve

 

[blaze-on]

I appreciate efforts to have a new look every so often, but I think it's a bit cluttered as well.

Gallery images I don't care for there, for reasons stated above. I understand perhaps it's there to be a "teaser" of sorts to non-subscribers, an impetus to subscribe, but it could easily go against that too.

The latest "hot" thread area is insignificant for me, adds to clutter.

Your sponsors may balk at their presence being diminished some too.

All in all, I applaud new looks, but it's too much.

 

[terri]

Thanks for the feedback David, how do you think it looks now?

As for the gallery images on the homepage I can't decide if it's that big of an issue regarding work safe browsing. I'll await more feedback on that one. I still plan to implement a nsfw modification but it could be a while..

It appears from prior comments on this that the answer is: it's not an issue as long as the recent images are collectively "G" rated, but it only takes one nude to cause an outcry. You might be better served posting a static thumbnail or two there, with a link to the Galleries, while keeping the disclaimer you already have in place there.

The rest of it looks great to me!

 

[Bruce Osgood]

Well, I for one like what you got going. I don't know what it looked like earlier but it looks good now.

 

[doughowk]

Overall, I like the appearance. As far as Gallery, why not make it moderator picks of the day - that should avoid seeing nudes,etc. and would reward good images.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

This is definitely an improvement over the first draft.

The "Top 5" stats, though splits the page. Maybe there's a way of having that information in a more compact format. Do we really need "Most Popular Forums" or all the extra data beyond the title of the "Latest Posts"? How about two columns (which could be stacked or placed side by side or on opposite sides of the page--however works best with the other content) with just the titles of say the 10 latest posts and the 10 most popular threads?

You could ask the sponsors about how much real estate they want on the front page, but I think it would be in the sponsors' best interest to have a clean looking page that invites new users into the site, where they'll read about their products as part of the normal conversation and see the banner ads in the process. Too much sponsor info on the front page, and I think it will turn new users away.

The major APUG partners get the footer on every page including the front page plus banners. So do they need something this large in the content space on the front page?:

Now I'm on a 1024x768 monitor, and that's 1/6 of the page in Firefox. How about instead of the regular rotating banner in the header on the front page creating a single banner just for the front page with all four partner logos, so they get some prominent extra recognition right up front, but with a neater appearance?

 

[roteague]

Thanks for all your hard work. The front page looks great, the portfolio system looks great ... and I feel humbled being chosen to have the first Featured Portfolio.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Sean;

I love the front page and the new gallery. I love the way the gallery opens photos.

Bob, I viewed a few of your photos first. Wow! Spectacular. Thanks to you as well.

Ron

 

[matti]

I like that the gallery pictures are given more space.
/matti

 

[glbeas]

Nice. I think you need a link to the portfolio pages on the homepage as well as your featured portfolio. Only place I've found so far to acess them is the personal edit portfolio page.

 

[Sean]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I will do some more tweaking, maybe make the stip of gallery images a sample until i get the content control in place. I'll see what else i can do to reduce clutter and clean it up a bit more. As for the partners block i could shrink that a little bit (they don't have banner ads by the way) but they contribute a A LOT to our costs so I want the partners block where it is..

 

[jovo]

As for the partners block i could shrink that a little bit (they don't have banner ads by the way) but they contribute a A LOT to our costs so I want the partners block where it is..

...And so it should be. It would surprise you how often I click on sponsor's URL's and am appreciative at how available they are. I can only hope their number will grow!

I appreciate your concern for the gallery thumbnails....I simply cannot access this site in the presence of the children I teach if I have any concern at all about what may be seen. It's not an option....G rating or outa here! No choice...period!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Looks like it's starting to sort itself out!

 

[Sean]

Looks like it's starting to sort itself out!

Finished doing some stuff just a second ago and more cleaning up to do later, great feedback guys really appreciate it!

 

[Curt]

I like the idea of having more dynamic content, but it looks a bit cluttered.

I'd put APUG content first--latest posts, APUG portfolios, featured member, and latest gallery images--and move the sponsor info down or to the side. As it is on the computer I'm using at the moment (my wife's Vaio laptop which has a widescreen display), I get to the front page and I see lots of sponsor info, and not much about APUG except for the mission statement, until I scroll down. If I were a new user, I'd probably think this was a site with a lot of advertising content, and I suspect that the front page is mainly for new users, since it's easier for regular users to link directly to the forums or galleries and skip the front page altogether.

Oh No, I have a Sony Vaio notebook and I agree completely with David.

 

[Sean]

ok check now guys, maybe do a full refresh I just finished a heap of tweaking. I think it's looking very clean now..

 

[jd callow]

I love the idea and the changes. I am one who thinks the latest gallery image(s) should be available on the home page. Would it be possible to do it in a collapsable section like the 'whos on line' section? Have it collapsed by default so those at work can open the site in comfort.

 

[Sanjay Sen]

I think it looks very good now, after the tweaks. I didn't have any problems with the gallery thumbnails, but I am glad you could accomodate folks with concerns.

Thanks again for all the work.


Best wishes,
Sanjay

 

[Sanjay Sen]

I think JD makes a good point, if that is possible to accomplish without much trouble.