06-03-2002 10:26									#1
	New Homepage Layout Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Apolyton's homepage has been given <A HREF=/forums/"http:/apolyton.net" TARGET="_new">a significant makeover</A> to primarily reflect the site's coverage evolution. Check it out!

To comment on this new look, simply respond to this thread. To exercise the option of giving the re-design a letter grade, see the polling area above.

----------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

	06-03-2002 11:13									#2
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

I think it should also list the hottest threads on Apolyton.

But it's much, much better than the old layout!

	06-03-2002 11:20									#3
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Nice. I like it.

It looks a lot better than the old one.

	06-03-2002 12:35									#4
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

I didn't even notice a change

Is that a good thing?

	06-03-2002 12:37									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

whoops I thought you mean the forums page for some reason

I still enter poly through the smac section (despite not having played since 1999 ). old habits die hard.

undecided = banana

	06-03-2002 13:14									#6
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

i gave it an A- i like it
it is better than the old page

but you guys spelled center wrong
(hehe you could just call it the news desk since that would be a continent neutral spelling)

and i agree with asher, it would be nice to have like a few of the most active threads for the past 24 hours on the site (one in each section perhaps)

	06-03-2002 15:56									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

A+ for sure! Great work guys!

	06-03-2002 16:04									#8
	Great look... Inflate your Upload Space

How about a 'register here' in the space next to the intro bit?

	06-03-2002 16:20									#9
	A thought Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

It would be real neat to have a "active threads"-list, on the forum page; to keep track of the various threads you post in. If you post in several threads in a couple of forums itīs a veritable ***** to keep track of your posts.

	06-03-2002 16:27									#10
	Increase the size of your Attachments

Looks too... simple.

	06-03-2002 16:43									#11
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Simplicity is hard to achieve, Eli. Itīs what behind the simplicity thatsīs interesting...

	06-03-2002 18:14									#12
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Much, much better! Though it looks a little inconvenient on larger text sizes (IE6), with a low resolution.

One question, why are SMAC and Civ2 classics, whereas CtP is still a current title?

	06-03-2002 18:18									#13
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

As a staff member I'm not allowed to insult admins (not that I would, not that I would! ), so I'll offer some constructive criticism instead.

What are you trying to achieve with this layout? Why were the design choices made the way they were?

What appears on the first screenful to lure in the prospecting Apolytoner? The main focus of attention seems to be the UNHCR ad in the middle of the page. That's what your eyes are drawn towards. Why is there so much white space? Should the "News headlines" bit be either outside the first screenful or fully inside it? Is there enough on the first screenful to tell people what this site is and does? Sure, there's the filler text, but how many people read that first thing?

Why such a variety of styles? Why the low-kerning (undoubtedly CSS, which many browsers aren't compatible with) titles on the "Current Titles" (etc.) sections? Why use underlined text at all? (I keep trying to click it!)

Why do links to most sections appear twice on the page? Why do the section links on the left take up so much space? Why is Call to Power a "Current Game" while the newer Alpha Centauri is a "Classic"? Why isn't the white space below the section links filled, or unevenly filled?

Why the chosen design for the "News Centre"? What relevance is today's date? Why is it blue, seemingly in contrast with the Red/light blue Apolyton colours? Why use such a strange border on the news table?

Why isn't the horizontal line, banner ad, filler text and News Centre aligned on either the left or right side, nor in fact the centre?

Why the horizontal line at the bottom?

Why is the "Top Downloads" section much shorter than the "Top Headlines" one?

Is there any sort of thought behind the relative left/right alignments on the page?

Why the aversion to using images? Doesn't a pure-text page look paltry these days?

I give it a C+; it's not exceptionally clearer than the last page and it's pretty Uugly compared to most sites.

	06-03-2002 18:45									#14
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Overall, not bad. I haven't had time to check compatibility across browsers, which is usually the most critical single factor. But the use of much text (vs using graphics to convey textual info) will result in much better load times and that can't be bad.

Is this page designed for newbies or the community? If it's for the existing community, it doesn't prvide enough drilldown navigation (like Javascript dropdown menus could provide). If it's for newbies, it should be a little more specific about what the site is (like maybe using the word "game" somewhere...).

News from October?? If you have a section referencing "today's headlines" it seems pretty silly to have so many old headlines. There's no requirement that there be 3 "current" headlines in every news category!

"Current Titles" sounds like items for sale.

Seems odd when the #2 listed "Feature Section" is Miscellaneous. Again, rollover menus of some sort would help make it clear.

"Logon and stay informed." -- This should be a link to the logon function.

Need to actively encourage new registrants on this page as well. Didn't notice an easy way to join the community.

While that seems like a lot of criticism, I still give it a B for layout and loadtime improvements. (FYI -- I manage my company's Web presence, currently consisting of 4 sites.)

	06-03-2002 18:47									#15
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I'll vote when I see it at home, in my 14" monitor, at a 800x600 resolution. I'm at work, with a 17" 1200x1024 resolution.

But Snapcase has pretty good points! While the change was for better, there's nothing we can say "wow!". The only flash is still the banner ad...

So far, a B. Won't give anything better than this. But I'm sure I won't give any D, there is a clear improvement!

	06-03-2002 19:43									#16
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

it looks...........almost entirely the same

	06-03-2002 19:51									#17
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

It looks good, I feel a little lost right now with the links I use on the other side of the screen, but I'll recover.

	06-03-2002 21:01									#18
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

It didn't thrill me.

A "C".

	06-03-2002 21:42									#19
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Sorry, still don't like it

	06-03-2002 21:50									#20
	Increase Your PM Length

I want the old one back.

	06-03-2002 23:09									#21
	Inflate your Upload Space

i like it more than the old one, despite my tendency to resist change. it seems to be less "cluttered" and easier to use.

i suggest that "classics" be moved under the "current titles" section, to keep all the games grouped together. current games, older games, features is a more natural progression IMHO than current games, features, older games.

	06-03-2002 23:29									#22
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Link the apolyton logo to the forums page. This is done on every page, but the home page.

Like this:

<a href=/forums/"index__quot_>_<_img.html src=/forums/"apolyton_cs-logo_2-300.gif" border="0" alt="Apolyton CS Forums"></a>

	06-03-2002 23:33									#23
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

So different, but oh so similar.

	07-03-2002 00:27									#24
	Tired of ads?

I like it. Loading time has decreased and the layout seems... streamlined? Oh, my! Firaxis designed the new 'Poly homepage!

Just kidding...

EDIT: Hey, I'm a Prince!

	07-03-2002 01:14									#25
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I like it, but I have a few suggestions:

-Link the logo to the forums page.
-The UNHCR ad in the center of the page doesn't seem right.
-A new background (to replace the whiteness) would be nice.

Other then these, I like it much more then the previous one. A.

Steele

	07-03-2002 01:35									#26
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by Kamrat X Simplicity is hard to achieve, Eli. Itīs what behind the simplicity thatsīs interesting...

Yes, but this is too simple.
Only text and rectangle ummm... whatever the word is.

And I also constantly try to click on all those underlined stuff.

	07-03-2002 01:42									#27
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

what happened to the SMAc section on the front page? i admit that there probably isn't much traffic to that or anything, but shouldn't it at least be under classics? i also want the news headlines for the hosted sites back. I need to know when the SL page finally gets updated!

	07-03-2002 01:52									#28
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I agree with Eli.
The page looks like you couldn't decide whether you wanted a simple introduction page (e.g. in the style of the more and more popular flash intros etc. with nothing more than a few links to the main sections) or a full-blown front-page (e.g. newssites).

The homepage should be the kind of page people want to bookmark because there's interesting stuff to find, not just to find their way to their favourite section and never see the homepage again. And that's what it is like now, even more so than before.

	07-03-2002 02:19									#29
	Tired of ads?

I designed the new layout of the homepage. I also know that there is no pleasing everyone. There have been a lot of questions/comments put forth and it's going to take me a bit to sort through them. I have, however, decided two things thus far.

* <I>CTP</I> has been moved to under the "Classics" bar of titles, just as <I>SMAC</I> was earlier today.
* "Feature Sections" renamed back to "Other Sections".
* "Miscellaneous" section sub-links 'Forums', 'Chat' and 'Links' returned (and thus 'Forums' no longer listed as distinct separate section).
* The most previous version of the homepage -- the standard variant that displayed all headlines in individual blocks, including those of the hosted sites -- will return ~soon~ as an alternative layout should you wish to use it (and for those who no matter what changes I make to appease you now in the future you'll still thrash it ).

By and large, the immediate feedback so far is a moderate reception which is the best I could have hoped for , and I hope that it will continue and sooner if not later improve overall.

-----------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

	07-03-2002 02:25									#30
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

I would like a picture of Alexander's horse pissing on the OT.