Site redesign suggestions...

Started by JC, July 14, 2008, 10:26:30 pm

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JC

UglyJoe and I are working on a complete redesign of the site, with FW coming up on 3 years. I'm hoping you all will offer some suggestions. What do you like about FW? What do you hate about FW? What would you like us to preserve? What would you like us to improve? Any comment will help! Thanks.

133MHz

The forum layout is awesome! please PLEASE don't change it.

JC

Quote from: 133MHz on July 14, 2008, 10:28:24 pm
The forum layout is awesome! please PLEASE don't change it.


Forum won't change.

Dr. Morbis

Hey JC, I use your cart and FDS database a lot and I'm sure a lot of other lurkers do as well.  It's nice to have an English site that is attempting to catalog all these famicom games, but I know that it's a lot of work to create and maintain a database such as this.  In a perfect world, this is what I would like each game's page to contain, in addition to what's already there:

-Game's (official) name in Japanese text
-screencap of the title screen
-in-game screencap (or two) of the game play

I know this is a daunting task, but if, after the site was revamped, you gave access to let privileged people upload pics and edit info and whatnot, I'm sure it would all be fleshed out in no time. I'd certainly sign up ;)  ...and it would make the database infinitely more usable to collector's like myself who constantly run into games we need identified.
I didn't die - my man was stolen...

thegreatgonzo

I really enjoy reading the various reviews from diiferent reviewers. Wish there were more.... ;)
Dance, puppets... dance!

Mo

IMO the site still looks dope!!  Maybe use the Famicom colours White/Calipso Red with Gold text.....
Plant you, feed you, grow you like a flower, like NINTENDO now you're playing with power!!

PatMan33

That'd be a cool color scheme option!

JC

Thanks for the suggestions. Anything you've got will be helpful. Keep in mind that we're redesigning the site, so content won't necessarily play much of a role at this point. But, if you're having trouble with anything or just hate the way something looks, now's the time to mention it. Trust me, I won't be offended if you have something negative to say.

Quote from: Dr. Morbis on July 16, 2008, 10:40:26 am
-Game's (official) name in Japanese text
-screencap of the title screen
-in-game screencap (or two) of the game play


Yes! We'll be adding the Japanese name for every game. We'll have screens, just like every review has four. It is a daunting task, but we're shifting the site to allow members limited access to help us build our database. FamicomFreak was great in helping us acquire the screens we've got up right now.

Quote from: thegreatgonzo on July 16, 2008, 11:24:52 am
I really enjoy reading the various reviews from diiferent reviewers. Wish there were more.... ;)


We'll keep working on these. I love writing them, but haven't had time. We should have a new review coughABcough soon. Everyone is welcome to write reviews or add to reviews. All you have to do if follow the format and send them to me.

Quote from: Mo on July 16, 2008, 04:56:42 pm
Maybe use the Famicom colours White/Calipso Red with Gold text.....


I think featherpluckinfilms' site will be those colors (if he ever gets it running). We'll likely stick with our general color scheme, which is Disk-kun yellow, black, white and splashes of red. Might mix it up a bit. That isn't 100% decided.

ckenda1

A feedback forum.  Threads would be the buyer/sellers forum name.  Buyers or Sellers would post a positive or negative comment in the thread.

This would be a lot easier to look at than the current feedback situation.

ericj

I would kindly suggest  :) that the forum topic names and "Started by..." words be changed to a different font color or the background color be made lighter. I find myself constantly adjusting my laptop screen 's tilt so I can see the subject/topic. The black on dark gray color scheme isn't good for all lighting conditions. Maybe use the famicom gold or white for the words? Thanks for your consideration  :)

JC

Quote from: ckenda1 on July 18, 2008, 02:55:43 pm
A feedback forum.


I'm against a feedback board, only because I like to keep things looking simple. I think our feedback thread works fine, so long as people use it as intended.

Quote from: ericj on July 19, 2008, 05:52:27 pm
I would kindly suggest  :) that the forum topic names and "Started by..." words be changed to a different font color or the background color be made lighter.


I noticed that a long time ago. There's no doubt we need to do something. I had assumed no one bothered to look at the words there anyway. It's been a looong time since I've messed with the forum files. I'll have to remind myself how to do it so I can accomplish this.

Stan

August 05, 2008, 09:07:55 am #11 Last Edit: August 05, 2008, 09:16:19 am by Stan
Hey guys, sorry I haven't been on in awhile, but the site and everything looks great from when it first started, which I remember vividly.  Man, hard to believe it was like three years ago.  Anyway, I've been busying with a TON of stuff including writing an SMS programming tutorial, so I apologize for not having contributed anything in awhile.  The main problem is I dumped most of my Famicom stuff awhile ago and only play my old set of multi-carts from time to time.  Thus, I don't really have any cool information to provide.  The only suggestion I have, or rather question, is how you guys would handle the Russian market?  Currently, though newer systems have the bulk of the market, there are a ton of people that still play the Dendy and its variety of different clones.  Thus, there are still games being made, some specific to Russia.  They even have a handheld model that's fairly new.  Check it out here: http://www.newgame.ru/8bit/index.htm  One more thing you may consider is adding a live chat to the forum.  We did it over at Sega8Bit and though people weren't sure at first, in time it got a lot of usage and I talk to people on there all the time.  Just an idea.

JC

Stan, good to hear from you.

Quote from: Stan on August 05, 2008, 09:07:55 am
The only suggestion I have, or rather question, is how you guys would handle the Russian market?  Currently, though newer systems have the bulk of the market, there are a ton of people that still play the Dendy and its variety of different clones.  Thus, there are still games being made, some specific to Russia.  They even have a handheld model that's fairly new.  Check it out here: http://www.newgame.ru/8bit/index.htm


Good question, and I've given some thought to it. One of the things I've always wanted to do is integrate a world map with FW that'll show Famicom gaming around the world. So, you click a dot in some country somewhere and it'll pull up info about Famicom from there. Someday we'll get around to making something like this, even if it's not an interactive map, but just individual pages from various countries. I've never been sure about how to treat the Russian market. They do have new games out at times, but some of them -- at least the ones I've seen -- are more like homebrews. I don't like to include homebrews, but I'd be willing to include on the site any game that purports to be made by a company, as we do with many unlicensed games.

FamicomFreak

put the mario and luigi turning the famicom world banner up there different colors you know those FDS mario & luigi...then again that could be asking too much...
Retro Gaming Life  www.retrogaminglife.com

Stan

Sounds awesome, and it is one thing I can help with since I speak Russian and I'm familiar with the scene there, I saw it myself when I last went.  I think I may even have pictures of the store I frequented, or at least their sign with Rash on it from Battletoads.