GT front page looks horrible

[Kossak]

I'd like to say that GT front page looks horrible. GT forum in contrary is done very well and it's the best of all in my opinion, but the look of front page is worst. For example: half of the writings are in bold, why? too much very contrast colors, too much dark/black, too much writings in white and on the same page writings in black on light background. That doesn't attract people's eyes, instead it makes them tired. I almost never go on the first page, and hang out only on forums. On the internet there should be many nice themes for different portals/purposes, maybe it's worth trying them? Just my opinion, what do you think about it?

[Razgon]

There is a LOT of text on the frontpage - But I dont think it looks horrible though, just a bit text-cluttered...

[th'FOOL]

Well, we are certainly open to suggestions. I am, in fact, re-examining the lower half right now and plan to make some changes (too much static down there and I never really liked it). In regards to themes, that's pretty much out of the question since the entire site is custom built.

I think the text-clutteredness is a result of the previous design not having enough text on the front page- a kneejerk, if you will. Looking to improve on that.

[EngineNo9]

Yeah, I have to admit that since the redesign I visit the front page for even shorter periods of time than I used to.  Part of it is the Latest News looks like Google AdSense text advertisement, and sits right next to another ad.  And the headlines there are sometimes too short, cut off, or just not indicative of what they link to.

I also still find it weird how you can have the same main "featured" image on there for weeks and then in the course of a day cycle it between a couple different ones.

And why is E3 Special Coverage still on there?  In general it just doesn't seem like a timely source of easily gathered information.

Oh, and I can't click the "Latest News" heading at the top of that column to bring me to the actual news page, you have to go to the bottom and click the little grey "more news".

[th'FOOL]

Yeah, I have to admit that since the redesign I visit the front page for even shorter periods of time than I used to.  Part of it is the Latest News looks like Google AdSense text advertisement, and sits right next to another ad.  And the headlines there are sometimes too short, cut off, or just not indicative of what they link to.

Not sure what to say about it looking like adsense text. We went from having a very short headline only that barely said anything about the news item to a longer headline with a brief snippet from the article.

I also still find it weird how you can have the same main "featured" image on there for weeks and then in the course of a day cycle it between a couple different ones.

A lot of this is indicative of how busy I have been with work lately and the dearth of articles or reviews that we consider feature worthy. That will obviously change up more often in the coming months

And why is E3 Special Coverage still on there?  In general it just doesn't seem like a timely source of easily gathered information.

That was a temporary solution for our soft relaunch right around E3. That is going away.

Oh, and I can't click the "Latest News" heading at the top of that column to bring me to the actual news page, you have to go to the bottom and click the little grey "more news".

I never really thought of making that header clickable (none of the headers on the page are). I can look at that.

I'm looking at ways to test some new layouts for the front page, I'll keep y'all posted.

[EngineNo9]

Cool, thanks for responding man.  Also hope I didn't come off too critical there, just trying to think of things that could be improved or that stopped me from using the site in full.

[th'FOOL]

Cool, thanks for responding man.  Also hope I didn't come off too critical there, just trying to think of things that could be improved or that stopped me from using the site in full.

No problem, this is actually good timing as I am in the process of rethinking the home page

[pr0ner]

It still looks like ass in IE6.   

[Kossak]

when i open it i see 3 big black holes - probably ads blocked by my ad-blocker

[th'FOOL]

when i open it i see 3 big black holes - probably ads blocked by my ad-blocker

Yeah, I made the backgrounds black for just that reason.

[Knightshade Dragon]

It still looks like ass in IE6.   

Friends don't let friends use IE6....

[pr0ner]

It still looks like ass in IE6.   

Friends don't let friends use IE6....

It's not like I have a choice in the matter at work.

[DarkEL]

It still looks like ass in IE6.   

Friends don't let friends use IE6....

It's not like I have a choice in the matter at work.

Yeah - for the product we built at my company, we tried abandoning IE6 as well, but too many companies are still forcing all their users to use IE6. So we just finished the first phase of a major re-hauling of all of our tools to make them IE6 compatible. Now Microsoft has finally come out and declared that IE6 will continue to be supported until 2014. So it's a problem that's not "officially" going away anytime soon.

Not suggesting you guys should support it, you've got more options since you're an personal entertainment oriented site.  I was really just bitching that I have to support it still since my company is dealing directly with enterprise level corporations.

[CeeKay]

I snuck Opera onto the work PC.  I left the dekstop IE icon working fine, but if you click on the quick launch IE icon it runs Opera.

[pr0ner]

I snuck Opera onto the work PC.  I left the dekstop IE icon working fine, but if you click on the quick launch IE icon it runs Opera.

I tried sneaking Firefox onto my work PC.

I could download and install, but it freaked out if I tried to run.

[mytocles]

Just my 1.5 cents and late to the party comments:

I think the major thing on the Front Page, to me at least - is that the jarring of the stark black vs. white is a bit harsh.  Maybe the contrast between the bolded black text and the stark white background is not the best display of the Home Page for some of us.

It may be different for me, because I chose the option to display the "not black" background with white text - I really dislike black backgrounds/ white text, so I had chosen the one that produces the blue and black text with alternating light blue background for the Forums (probably a "vanilla" selection, not too jazzy or modern for us older types!)

I think a different color scheme - maybe a light tan background behind the bolded black print, instead of a black and white, might work a little better.  Or, for that matter, bolded blue print for the titles and headings, instead of the black, could soften it as well.

None of this is a deal-breaker for me, at all, though I think it might look better to some people -  I'm just ruminatiing on what some folks (ahem, read: older folks) may think about the section of the Front Page that is a bit stark in the black-and-white presentation.)  Then again, we who are at the upper end of "middle-aged" all need bifocals and such, so this might just be a load of hooey!

Oh, and with inflation, in the time it took me to type this - it is now officially My Two Cents Worth!   

[Blackjack]

My .01 cent is I wish there was a way to "filter" the news by platform. I'm really only interested in PC and handheld news these days.

[Knightshade Dragon]

My .01 cent is I wish there was a way to "filter" the news by platform. I'm really only interested in PC and handheld news these days.

That functionality is top on our list.  Duly noted.