GN 4.0 Discussion

[t27duck]

In case you've missed the FREAKING HUGE hint on the front page of the site...

I GIVE YOU THE FUTURE
http://www.gonintendo.com/t27duck/site/nintendo

Fair Warning: Crap is going to break...
For now, this new site will auto-sync with the current site as far as stories go every ~2 hours.
There is also a mobile version at http://www.gonintendo.com/t27duck/site/nintendo/m. For now it will let any browser in, but I will eventually lock it down to just mobile devices only.

Tested on IE 8, IE 7 (sort of), FireFox 3.x, Chrome, Safari, Opera.

- The front page has the most stuff going on. Once you get past page one or view a story, the announcement box and - forum infos go away.
- There is a way for cort to still do user-submitted banners, but it'll be a bit different.
- "On this day" is located in the search pop up.

Please direct all hate mail regarding the site layout to cortjezter@doesnotgiveadamn.org


3, 2, 1 DISCUSS!

[cortjezter]

also keep in mind that it is still a WIP; some things do need to be polished, but definitely chime in, even if your suggestion is one of the obvious things that needs finishing.

also, the current 'announcement box' is not a permanent part of the layout, so it will only appear when we have something important to say for a day or two. i understand it gets on the busy side with it showing, but it IS temp, and at least it's not a popup

[Chosenoneknuckles]

Well, it works on Firefox [beta 9].

Though AdBlocker fails to notice two or so ads on the loaded page [unless those were for some sort of testing purpose or something] between stories and off to the right side [unlike every other day when my homepage - GN - loads up].

I've only started learning web design in the last half of 2010 [with only my portfolio site to my name, as of now] to add to my graphic design skill-set, so I'm not really sure what advice I could give to you regarding the layout, coding etc - as the links, show/hide and the like functions all seem to work and it looks fab.

Maybe, perhaps, tweak it somewhat so that the actual posts [and Announcements] content are further up the browser viewpoint [not almost below the visible screen]?

So, umm, yeah, I look forward to the revamp [hopefully with less tantrums this time]!

[t27duck]

Well, it works on Firefox [beta 9].

Though AdBlocker fails to notice two or so ads on the loaded page [unless those were for some sort of testing purpose or something] between stories and off to the right side [unlike every other day when my homepage - GN - loads up].

Those are litterally just static images we've hacked together to use as placeholders. The real Ad code is disabled for now.

[MAGNUS-8M]

I like the idea of recent chatter, looks like a good start for showing off the forums a little bit. Otherwise I love having all of the important stuff at the top, and the rating idea is interesting(although I figure it'll quickly be abused by trolls and 'care trolls' alike).

[t27duck]

About the ratings:

- Each user can only "rate" 3 stories a day.
- For testing purposes, a story is "hidden" when there an overall rating of -3

[Popple]

My few thoughts:

- I like the way the banner is now (and I don't like the idea of the logo being centered as it is in the current site) but I wonder if there may be a little something you could add to the "other side" or somewhere to 'balance' the banner. I don't want it to get busy and I don't even know what I might be envisioning but I know that since the banner had to be changed because of Nintendo's complaint I've always missed the characters that were there previously. I have a bad feeling that that empty space is just going to be gobbled up by an advertisement and I'd like it to have a better use. Certainly doesn't have any effect on the site, just a slight cosmetic change.

- I mentioned it to tduck before but is there any possibility of the tabs (Latest News, Top Stories, Media, etc) just reloading the stories within a frame (sorry, I don't know the web development lingo) instead of reloading the entire site? I don't frequent IGN - nor do I EVER EVER EVER want GN to turn into an IGN or for the website to mimic IGN's site - but as an example I noticed that switching between the "Top Stories" and "All Updates" on the site merely reloads that part of the site, not the entire thing. I don't know how much more work that is/might be but IMO it would be a pleasing addition to GN. Sort of along the same lines (and I hate to keep referencing IGN) but I noticed that when hovering over the "Xbox 360", "PS3", "Wii", etc menus at the top, the menu that pops over will linger for a brief second before disappearing if you take your mouse off of the heading. When going to another heading, obviously, the 'old' menu disappears immediately so the other one can show up but when you move your mouse to empty space, the menu stays for just a fraction of a second before disappearing. Is that possible to implement on GN? Again, this does nothing for the usability of the site but IMO it's nice eye-candy. (That one is hard to explain so try it for yourself and you should see what I mean).

- Showing and hiding all or one story doesn't have the nice "collapse" feature of the current site. I'm sure this will be fixed by release, just mentioning here.

- Finally, what email am I supposed to use??? The main page says cortjezter@doesnotcare.net but this thread says cortjezter@doesnotgiveadamn.org. Do they all just get forwarded to the same place or what? I'm so confused.

[t27duck]

My few thoughts:

"Few" is 3. I see 4 bullet points.

- I like the way the banner is now (and I don't like the idea of the logo being centered as it is in the current site) but I wonder if there may be a little something you could add to the "other side" or somewhere to 'balance' the banner. I don't want it to get busy and I don't even know what I might be envisioning but I know that since the banner had to be changed because of Nintendo's complaint I've always missed the characters that were there previously. I have a bad feeling that that empty space is just going to be gobbled up by an advertisement and I'd like it to have a better use. Certainly doesn't have any effect on the site, just a slight cosmetic change.

Ad placement is contractual.

- I mentioned it to tduck before but is there any possibility of the tabs (Latest News, Top Stories, Media, etc) just reloading the stories within a frame (sorry, I don't know the web development lingo) instead of reloading the entire site? I don't frequent IGN - nor do I EVER EVER EVER want GN to turn into an IGN or for the website to mimic IGN's site - but as an example I noticed that switching between the "Top Stories" and "All Updates" on the site merely reloads that part of the site, not the entire thing. I don't know how much more work that is/might be but IMO it would be a pleasing addition to GN. Sort of along the same lines (and I hate to keep referencing IGN) but I noticed that when hovering over the "Xbox 360", "PS3", "Wii", etc menus at the top, the menu that pops over will linger for a brief second before disappearing if you take your mouse off of the heading. When going to another heading, obviously, the 'old' menu disappears immediately so the other one can show up but when you move your mouse to empty space, the menu stays for just a fraction of a second before disappearing. Is that possible to implement on GN? Again, this does nothing for the usability of the site but IMO it's nice eye-candy. (That one is hard to explain so try it for yourself and you should see what I mean).

Again. Ad agreements. Reloading a "frame" doesn't reload the top and side ads, nor does it trigger hits on the analytic trackers.

- Showing and hiding all or one story doesn't have the nice "collapse" feature of the current site. I'm sure this will be fixed by release, just mentioning here.

Forgot about that. I'll see if I can re-add that in.

- Finally, what email am I supposed to use??? The main page says cortjezter@doesnotcare.net but this thread says cortjezter@doesnotgiveadamn.org. Do they all just get forwarded to the same place or what? I'm so confused.

That.... was a joke dude.

[Popple]

Ad placement is contractual.

Not the answer I wanted but understood.

[joeshabadoo]

Ooooo a more prominently featured 728x90. Nice! I hope it brings RMC and all directly involved some juicy new ad revenue. Also I do like the new format and highlighted features, but I'm easy to please

[cortjezter]

- banner

- tabs

- "collapse"

- email

• the header area has a logo on the left, and the leaderboard ad to its immediate right. yes, unfortunately, we are required to have ads, and put them in certain places. since we really don't/can't put any character art in the banner, right now (v3) it is a LOT of wasted space, and to be frank, boring because of it. might as well get a little more bang for the UI buck.
• i don't pretend to understand t27's development voodoo, but if he knows of a way to use an ajax-type call to reload the stories AND refresh all of the ads along with the analytics that feed disturbingly specific traffic info to our sponsors, all while keeping within performance guidelines for the site/server load, i'm sure it's a spell he would offer to cast.
• lol... shame on you for implying the REST of the design isn't eye candy enough.
• yes, i guess in a way they both go to the same place.

[Nintend()\/\/|\|312]

Everything looks awesome, guys! I can't wait for GN 4.0 to be fully implemented. I need a good site redesign to help wash the taste of the new YouTube homepage out of my mouth.

[Mako]

I was going to say that it looks way too crowded towards the top of the page and even made a mock up to try and spread it out better a bit better, but not everyone uses widescreen so that wouldn't work anyway... Besides, once you get past page one it looks better. Everything else looks pretty good. I like how you can now filter through the "type" of stories and the new look of the banner. The rating system seems intriguing as well.

Also, if possible, is there any way we could get some sort of "box" under "affiliates" on the right column that displays the ten recent "threads" we posted in and the ten recent "news stories" we posted in. And maybe have different color font for when there are new posts in those threads/ stories? I know this is asking a lot, but it is sort of tedious to get back to news stories you posted in. I've seen this done on other sites and it is much easier than looking through forum sections... Just a suggestion.

[cortjezter]

mock up

suggestion.

cool. although it still has the same problem of "stuff in the way", which seems like a contradictory statement from anyone who spends enough time on a site devoted to nintendo news overload to have an account. anyone who is put off by a neat, compact arrangement of stuff at the top is likely to be balanced by someone who prefers some clean, empty space on the page. i opted to keep the layout consistent, vertical and compact, and give your eyes somewhere to rest on either side of the content, while being as friendly as possible to the most popular monitor sizes of our visitors.

have you ever used THIS before? what about THIS? it's actually the link i bookmark in my browser for the forums; lets me see all of the new posts, as well as all those that i have posted in, respectively. stories, comments, and forum threads will all effectively be the same thing (they sort of now are already; they just look different on v3). as for inserting these features on the index; i'm sure t27 can speak to it more eloquently and technically than i

that said, i think it would be easy enough to insert those two links in the community box, under the recent chatter, for easy access from the index. thanks for the idea!

[TheBitBlock]

I really like, looks very clean and it's easier to navigate. Awesome work guys and t27duck.

[t27duck]

A complement, directed at me, from Wiifolder? That's MADNESS!!!!!!

[KingBroly]

So wait a minute. You're actually giving a damn about the forums now?

I...I could cry. But I can't because I AM A MAN. Men do not cry. I also literally can't cry. It's a condition, seriously. No joke. STOP MOCKING ME!

[Mako]

1. cool. although it still has the same problem of "stuff in the way", which seems like a contradictory statement from anyone who spends enough time on a site devoted to nintendo news overload to have an account. anyone who is put off by a neat, compact arrangement of stuff at the top is likely to be balanced by someone who prefers some clean, empty space on the page. i opted to keep the layout consistent, vertical and compact, and give your eyes somewhere to rest on either side of the content, while being as friendly as possible to the most popular monitor sizes of our visitors.

2. have you ever used THIS before? what about THIS? it's actually the link i bookmark in my browser for the forums; lets me see all of the new posts, as well as all those that i have posted in, respectively. stories, comments, and forum threads will all effectively be the same thing (they sort of now are already; they just look different on v3). as for inserting these features on the index; i'm sure t27 can speak to it more eloquently and technically than i

3.that said, i think it would be easy enough to insert those two links in the community box, under the recent chatter, for easy access from the index. thanks for the idea!

1. That's why I pretty much took back my statement once I realized it it would be too wide for some, and that information doesn't appear on every page.

2. No I haven't really used those links. Thanks, those could come in handy!

3. Wouldn't that change the height of the row going across though?

Also, just noticed that the news stories always show the number of comments now instead of that function disappearing after a certain number of pages. Also a plus!

[cortjezter]

3. Wouldn't that change the height of the row going across though?

Also, just noticed that the news stories always show the number of comments now instead of that function disappearing after a certain number of pages. Also a plus!

it would by at least one line unless we replaced one of the 5 list items. i thought we used to have a 'more' link under the top stories glance, but maybe that was lost because of the story filters, which do the same thing. we might also think about using that box for hiliting user content, like reviews (which that system is getting a revamp as well). anyway, i think if we added a row, we could make use of the few extra pixels just fine

did you know you can already use the forums to bookmark/subscribe to discussions and even get email notifications when someone replies? that may be of similar use to people who want to have more detailed attention to who says what. you can already do a little bit of this with the blog in v3, but it's not a complete (two-way) solution unless you use v4. likewise, if you notice when you type replies here on the forum, just above the submit/preview button are some checkboxes. one of them is 'notify me of replies'.

yeah, i know, so many little features here and there; casual users might not notice (or need) them, but avid users are more likely to on both instances.

glad most people are enjoying it... it's been a fun but bumpy ride over the years to get even this far!

[joeshabadoo]

Hey everyone, KingBroly can't cry, let's mock him!

also, are there now more posts per page, or am I just trippin?

[Kolma]

I really like, looks very clean and it's easier to navigate. Awesome work guys and t27duck.

Mind asplosion

[Ash_Pokemaster]

A much needed update, thank you guys!
I like the very refreshing, yet really familiar new GN look.

I'm also testing via Firefox 4 β9. If there's anything worth reporting, that would be some encoding issues. I'm not sure if this is a browser issue, a problem of my side, a thing of the beta or something else altogether, but the “ character (among others) does not encode in v.4. I use UTF-8 in both versions (and tried other encodings as well), but I can see it only in the old one. A minor issue nevertheless, but I thought I'd mention it.

As for the design itself, I find it brilliant. Much more eye-pleasant, not overly formal or hi-tech, but still in-line with a modern web-design. If anything, maybe I'd like the boards to widen just lil' a bit more, but this is probably the 1080p's fault.

Also, I like the idea of stories rating. This might prove useful in the future. An extension to that idea (albeit a bit different) could be popularity per views or comments. For example, when hitting 'Popular Stories per view' (or however the label will be called ), you'll be seeing the ones that pass a certain limit in attention, chronologically.

Be it game news, Video Game Art, End of Day Thoughts, or anything else. Stories that pass 20 comments/50 views/something would be promoted there, so, someone on the Go (heh! ), who wouldn't be able to browse through all pages of news per day but would like a more analytical coverage than Top Stories, would be able find out what he needs to know! So, this would be something in between a Top Story and a Regular Story -- not breaking news important, neither completely regular.

I'm not sure if you get my proposition, but I honestly think a feature like this would be very useful for busy days!

Again, congratulations for your hard work, and thank you!

P.S.: Also liking the new message boards. Leagues better than the current ones and, if I may add, motivating!

P.S.2: Is story #1 going to be the normal #138755 from now on? I hope not!

[Popple]

- I mentioned it to tduck before but is there any possibility of the tabs (Latest News, Top Stories, Media, etc) just reloading the stories within a frame (sorry, I don't know the web development lingo) instead of reloading the entire site? I don't frequent IGN - nor do I EVER EVER EVER want GN to turn into an IGN or for the website to mimic IGN's site - but as an example I noticed that switching between the "Top Stories" and "All Updates" on the site merely reloads that part of the site, not the entire thing. I don't know how much more work that is/might be but IMO it would be a pleasing addition to GN. Sort of along the same lines (and I hate to keep referencing IGN) but I noticed that when hovering over the "Xbox 360", "PS3", "Wii", etc menus at the top, the menu that pops over will linger for a brief second before disappearing if you take your mouse off of the heading. When going to another heading, obviously, the 'old' menu disappears immediately so the other one can show up but when you move your mouse to empty space, the menu stays for just a fraction of a second before disappearing. Is that possible to implement on GN? Again, this does nothing for the usability of the site but IMO it's nice eye-candy. (That one is hard to explain so try it for yourself and you should see what I mean).

Again. Ad agreements. Reloading a "frame" doesn't reload the top and side ads, nor does it trigger hits on the analytic trackers.

How about part 2 of my statement? (The hover menus)

[cortjezter]

Be it game news, Video Game Art, End of Day Thoughts, or anything else. Stories that pass 20 comments/50 views/something would be promoted there, so, someone on the Go (heh! ), who wouldn't be able to browse through all pages of news per day but would like a more analytical coverage than Top Stories, would be able find out what he needs to know! So, this would be something in between a Top Story and a Regular Story -- not breaking news important, neither completely regular.

i was actually thinking along the same lines last night. the forums can distinguish between a popular or regular thread, based on whatever number we set in the admin. i think right now it's 15 or 20 replies = "hot". i think that would be more accurate when displaying 'chatter'... the more popular conversations, not just whatever was posted last (like manateez box art or something).

i'll see if this is something we can do... don't see why not though!

[t27duck]

I'm also testing via Firefox 4 β9. If there's anything worth reporting, that would be some encoding issues. I'm not sure if this is a browser issue, a problem of my side, a thing of the beta or something else altogether, but the “ character (among others) does not encode in v.4. I use UTF-8 in both versions (and tried other encodings as well), but I can see it only in the old one. A minor issue nevertheless, but I thought I'd mention it.

For now, since it is beta software, I'm going to chalk it up to FF 4's issue. The new site should be going full UTF-8 but translating the crappy way WordPress encoded their stories was difficult so there's a chance that a couple "fancy quotes" decided they didn't want to convert.