Trenchwars Needs Web Designer For New Website

[Jason]

okay, so off-topic stuff aside, these days i'm pretty damn slow at putting together designs. :\

i suppose i've finally started to outgrow some of the "geekiness" i had as a younger guy. or maybe it's just that i have a pretty sweet life with an even sweeter woman so i like to spend more and more of my time with her as opposed to sitting in front of a computer tinkering with code.

so i guess what i'm saying is, i'll definitely work on this project and i'll put as much (likely even more) heart into it as i did with this forum theme, but my effort is going to be put in on a relatively piecemeal basis.

if cambia, or anyone else for that matter, wants to have a crack at it, by all means, please go to town. i know we have plenty of talented folks among us.

[Cambia]

Came up with a rough draft of the home page. You can see it here: http://integra-fg.com/TWNET/index.html
Obviously not everything is done and the graphics aren't polished and what not. But.. I think it fits the criteria of what is needed.

[Jason]

fantastic :shocked2:


edit: it's funny you're using the google fonts api for your replacement because i was literally just talking to p_l about that the other day.

edit 2: i could very easily work with you to get the forums to fit in with that feel. i really dig it.

[Cambia]

Thanks Jason.

I really like the smooth gradients in your forum theme and I think that would transition over well into the main site. I would like for the design to be a mix of old and new school. It's hard to make everything shiny and nice when the actual game graphics can't match up with it. I think we're on the right track so far though, hopefully some more replies roll in.

[Dezmond]

That's fucking awesome Cambia, I like u, let's be friends?

[Zazu]

Came up with a rough draft of the home page. You can see it here: http://integra-fg.com/TWNET/index.html
Obviously not everything is done and the graphics aren't polished and what not. But.. I think it fits the criteria of what is needed.

I'm gonna have to say I don't like this design at all. It's kind of a dissapointment considering you are a professional webdesigner. I would not pay for this, but that's me. Sure it's a draft (quite some HTML & CSS issues, 300px empty gap below content, ...) but I would not accept it.
I know you are doing it for free, and you have probably put this together in a few hours, but I think it is not very good mostly because of the color scheme and the layout of the content. I seriously have to pinch my eyes 3 times to read the orange text on the gray background.

Another thing is that it is too plain.. HTML like it could have been done 10 years ago. What I would like to see is something special. Web 2.0 a-like. Simple and clear but effective. While this is pretty hard to find the proper content, imagine having any sort of visual impairment. The best website I always refer to is Skype (http://www.skype.com/intl/en/welcomeback/). Be creative!

I don't know.. I don't want to offend you and make you stop supporting us, but I am simply not convinced of this design. I hope you can accept that.

[Cambia]

I'm not offended at all. You are absolutely right, I spent maybe 4 hours max on this. The HTML, CSS, and colors were done quickly to get the layout together, not to showcase the final design aspects and optimization of content.

Anyway, you shouldn't be disappointed in my abilities. This is how I work. I do a quick rough draft to get a feel for what people are thinking and then things progress from there. The front page layout is simple because I thought that was what was wanted. It's not much different from http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/ which is the link that was provided as a "good example".

So no deterrence on my part. I'll come up with a few different layouts later in the week and post them up.

[M_M God]

Looking good, I see some nice team work coming up! This is good news for our TW Community
Just need to get everyone together, work out the parts that need to be changed or whatnot, but I have confidence in zazu, jason and you to get this working soon

[Slum]

Nice one cambia, I'ts nice, although i see a lot that'd i myself would like changed, but i'll stay put for now and watch it develop

[Ilya]

every link posted so far is disgusting.

here's some of my greatest works prophetstatement.com

[Zazu]

I'm not offended at all. You are absolutely right, I spent maybe 4 hours max on this. The HTML, CSS, and colors were done quickly to get the layout together, not to showcase the final design aspects and optimization of content.

Anyway, you shouldn't be disappointed in my abilities. This is how I work. I do a quick rough draft to get a feel for what people are thinking and then things progress from there. The front page layout is simple because I thought that was what was wanted. It's not much different from http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/ which is the link that was provided as a "good example".

So no deterrence on my part. I'll come up with a few different layouts later in the week and post them up.

Ye I agree that it's a good way of working. It's useless spending 3 days on designing something, only to find out that it gets rejected.
Anyway I'm not very fond of the Shaiya website either. But maybe that is just me. I am speaking out of personal point of view here. I'd like to setup a "team" of people who judge about a design, because I am pretty sure that something I like, will not be appreciated again by others.
In my opinion all these websites are too dark. I don't have to tell you that it is very hard creating a proper dark website. Armani is probably one of the only ones that manage to get away with it. Sure, now the color scheme is black/orange, but why not change it around? A lighter website immediately gives a sense of cleanliness and structure (it's not rocket science why Facebook, Google, Skype, ... are as successful as they are).

If we are to change the website, it should be a real improvement compared to the current one. And as for that design, I see a change, but no clear improvement.

[Jason]

Seems we need a bit of a designer consortium. I see what cambia was going for, a very crisp lightweight feel. I think we need something a bit more polished, but we should keep some of that simplicity as well.

One thing I think I'd like to do is perhaps focus on the mobile version of the site. Typing on the forums now with tapatalk makes me realize the power of the mobile web.

I want to help out as much as possible in a general sense as well.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[Cambia]

I think I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around the web 2.0 feel. When I think of this game I definitely do not have any web 2.0 feelings.

Maybe if you guys can explain a little more of what you want when the user first gets to the home page. Is the main focus "getting started"? You say you want a simple home page with hidden sub nav and what not.. to me that tells me you want a simple welcome page with a clear download button and to really view the website they will navigate further in or log in. Am I mistaken here?

[Zazu]

I think I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around the web 2.0 feel. When I think of this game I definitely do not have any web 2.0 feelings.

Maybe if you guys can explain a little more of what you want when the user first gets to the home page. Is the main focus "getting started"? You say you want a simple home page with hidden sub nav and what not.. to me that tells me you want a simple welcome page with a clear download button and to really view the website they will navigate further in or log in. Am I mistaken here?

No, you are right. The main focus should be on simplicity. Upon entering the website it should be clear how to get started. Download the client, do this and that and GO! If you want more information about what we are, about TWD, about TWL, about whatever, you should navigate more into depth. And we can always provide easy direct-links to these parts like it exists already (twl.trenchwars.org, twd.trenchwars.org, ...).

Again, look at Skype (http://www.skype.com/intl/en/welcomeback/). The top part is awesome. It shows those four screens that change every 7-8 seconds that informs the (new) user about some of the functionalities of Skype. Every time with a download button there. I am sure we can think of four screens that exactly describe TrenchWars in a few words, with a nice appealing image.
So that's what I like... Simplicity on the home page, showing the new user just what they need and offering the advanced user the tools to dive more into depth. After all, who cares about pubstats of a game you don't even play yet. That shit doesn't attract a player... The website should have some "sex-appeal".

And as for the web 2.0, you are right. Sure the game isn't 2011 material. But nevertheless the website should be, to show that even though the game is old, we are not outdated (graphics jumping out of the boxes, colors, shiny and simple). Am I going to live a happier live and dance on rainbows when I install Skype? Probably not.. But it does look reliable, positive and it is appealing for me to install!

[riske]

What is wrong with the current website? It's pretty clear, easy to find what youre looking for, not full of useless junk, everything is proportional to everything else so nothing is over powering, the colors contrast well enough to read, etc etc.

Yes I read the first post but it seems like the page is only missing showing recent games? Basically what I'm saying is, what youre asking for, could be added to what we have now right? Use that 'feature' area thing in top right corner of site to show some recent games, etc, have it scroll through every 10 or however many seconds, and there ya go.