I'll give it some thought. I'm good with GUI design but not with graphic design implementation.
The good thing is you are starting out with a strong basis on which to build, so many sites start with the pretty stuff then work on the functionality as an afterthought.
Juradai might have some insights. He needs to come over here anyway, I'll ask him.
aspro73 said:I'll give it some thought. I'm good with GUI design but not with graphic design implementation.
The good thing is you are starting out with a strong basis on which to build, so many sites start with the pretty stuff then work on the functionality as an afterthought.
Juradai might have some insights. He needs to come over here anyway, I'll ask him.
It was definitely usability first. Unfortunately the paper design didn't fully work out, so here we are.
I mainly just want to make the design very simple. I've done a quick edit of the stylesheet to get a look and found a colour balance I like, but it needs adjustments in the layout that I can't put my finger on.
The trickiness is in the menu as it relates to the logo. The logo's too prominent right now -- it needs (apart from a redesign) to be smaller and moved to the top-left corner. But then that means the menu needs a place to live.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile
It's such a shame that I dont have a decent package at home because design is basically all I am doing at the moment. I was just doing a logo for a company yesterday.
All I can say is that have a colour scheme that uses no more than say 3 colours, make sure that there is a nice contrast to it. Make your text clean and readable, arial is fine I know that you are limited in fonts on net coding etc.
Clean lines, everything structured. Perhaps a nice background that isn't too busy.
You want a vibrant looking site so use strong colours. Try and work something up in photoshop first and then try to mimmick the look in coding terms I know that can be hard. Page framing works too, if subtely done.
Ravenprose said:I have no design talent, so I'll leave that up to you guys. However, I'd prefer a black or dark background with white or color text. This white background with black text hurts my eyes. It's not that big a deal, but I thought I'd through it out there.
I'd be the opposite.
gamingeek said:
Ravenprose said:I have no design talent, so I'll leave that up to you guys. However, I'd prefer a black or dark background with white or color text. This white background with black text hurts my eyes. It's not that big a deal, but I thought I'd through it out there.I'd be the opposite.
It's neither one or the other. Plain white on black is too harsh of a contrast for anything of length, and white on black is even worse. What's required is an off-white or off-black background to make it easier on the eyes.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile
Ravenprose said:I have no design talent, so I'll leave that up to you guys. However, I'd prefer a black or dark background with white or color text. This white background with black text hurts my eyes. It's not that big a deal, but I thought I'd through it out there.
i don't know how scientific it is but i think it's generally accepted that white or light text on a dark background tires out most people's eyes much faster than the other way around.
to me the site has worked fine for the most part thus i have no major suggestions. i like how there is the ggweekly basically as a place to casually hang and i think it also helps in not getting the forum overcrowded with unnecessary threads, so i would suggest keeping it. it's something which gives the vgpress more personality and which a lot of other places lack.
design wise, i pretty much agree with the pointers gg gave. i make stencils so aesthetically i like sharp, clear shapes and images, good clear contrasts and unclattered layout
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
SteelAttack said:I want the front page to have a huge pic of my penis. I'll be sending you guys pics of it today to judge its girth and veins.
To make your tiny penis look good they will have to blow the pic up so big that it would go out of resolution and be all pixellated.
My penis is naturally pixellated, for her pleasure.
bugsonglass said:to me the site has worked fine for the most part thus i have no major suggestions. i like how there is the ggweekly basically as a place to casually hang and i think it also helps in not getting the forum overcrowded with unnecessary threads, so i would suggest keeping it.
Has not stopped Steel trying. See I have a bloody nose thread 
About the design, I liked Yarco's The VGPRess: we have <class> and <style>.
I was thinking making a glossy look, a bit like apple of the websites. Minimalistic and with a good overview. We should look like a chique and professional, a place for the people who want their news correct and with none of that childish flash.
A no nonsense place. Again like Apple. That should be the first thing the site screams at people when they lay their eyes on it. Of course looks are deceiving, we shall fill it with fake and comical news. We shall fill it with trash! 
bugsonglass said:i don't know how scientific it is but i think it's generally accepted that white or light text on a dark background tires out most people's eyes much faster than the other way around.
That may be true. I was only suggesting what I prefer. I've used gamespot's forums for years, and I had absolutely no problem with the black background/grey text, but this site is hard on my eyes; to the point that I had to adjust my monitor's brightness/contrast settings to be able to view it.
I would be fine with a light grey or off-white colored background too. Plain white is just too harsh, IMO.
That being said, whatever you guy's decide will be okay with me.
Ravenprose said:
bugsonglass said:i don't know how scientific it is but i think it's generally accepted that white or light text on a dark background tires out most people's eyes much faster than the other way around.
That may be true. I was only suggesting what I prefer. I've used gamespot's forums for years, and I had absolutely no problem with the black background/grey text, but this site is hard on my eyes; to the point that I had to adjust my monitor's brightness/contrast settings to be able to view it.
I would be fine with a light grey or off-white colored background too. Plain white is just too harsh, IMO.
That being said, whatever you guy's decide will be okay with me.
As I said, it's both (though admittedly, it is slanted a bit towards what bugs is saying). The reason white on black is typically worse is that contrast and brightness on people's monitors affects white much more than black, meaning that on a white page, low contrast makes the white background off-white, where as on black it makes the text off-white, which is much worse.
I'm undecided on dark or light, naturally because I'm unsure of the entire layout. Personally I'd be preferrable to something like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec sed nibh id arcu lobortis ultricies. Aenean mauris. Suspendisse potenti. Nam nec arcu. Donec accumsan ornare felis. Cras tincidunt neque quis pede. Nam purus lorem, porttitor non, honcus et, lobortis at, sem. Nulla venenatis arcu at libero. Proin a mauris. Curabitur ac turpis vehicula dolor bibendum bibendum. Mauris pede erat, feugiat eu, dictum nec, mattis ac, est. Nullam eu erat vel eros interdum accumsan. Nunc ornare. Ut dictum velit nec neque posuere tempor. Nunc diam. Vivamus viverra magna a mauris. Duis mollis faucibus nisi. Nulla et ligula.
Nullam lobortis, purus non pretium laoreet, ipsum elit posuere augue, placerat vestibulum pede dolor et lacus. Curabitur tortor dolor, pharetra sed, euismod id, semper non, arcu. Curabitur arcu lacus, iaculis eu, ullamcorper eget, dignissim a, neque. Ut arcu pede, varius sed, accumsan a, condimentum in, erat. Sed consectetur mauris nec lectus bibendum mattis. Aenean ut mi ac lacus varius aliquam. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam ante nibh, rutrum vitae, cursus ut, tristique vitae, sem. Sed tincidunt mattis neque. Vestibulum non eros blandit mauris vulputate varius. Morbi purus. Nullam pulvinar nibh in felis. Morbi in mauris. Vivamus sodales dapibus nisl.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile
Ravenprose said:I have no design talent, so I'll leave that up to you guys. However, I'd prefer a black or dark background with white or color text. This white background with black text hurts my eyes. It's not that big a deal, but I thought I'd through it out there.
As does Arial when you have seen Helvetica!
I dunno, personally both hurt my eyes if I've just been reading the other, then my eyes adjust, and I'm fine.
Arial, however, is hideous no matter what! But I'm certainly not going to be paying for a proper font, and I woudln't expect any of you to, so Arial is probably fine! 
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile
I would also prefer a darker layout, as long as the site doesn't get converted into placeholder text.
How about something more futuristic and stylish like this website?
One of the site's forefathers.
Play fighting games!
Something important to note is that in this case it's not really a matter of how the front page is layed out -- that's more of a logistical problem I'll handle after-the-fact, but rather the overall site layout in general. The logo size, design, placement. Menues and search box, and all that good stuff.
If you've got any mock-ups, I can make them happen. If anyone has anything to add to the design process, please do.
So far, there are just a few points in usability and general construct that I think need to happen, which is search box to the top-left, and no sidebar given we're heavily forum-focused, it's just not worth the page space.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile