New [H]ard|OCP Design [FINAL]

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haiku

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Jan 25, 2004
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Hi again everyone!

After a week of feedback and a few rounds of revision, today's final round of revisions has yielded what Kyle and I have decided is the final new [H] design. yays!

So, for your comparison:

Here is where we originally were.

Here is where we are.

What changed? I'll tell you!

  • Fixed width went from 955px to 972px. This allowed for more space between individual elements.
  • Latest Headlines got moved over to the right and was allowed a wider treatment because of this.
  • Shack Headlines get to divide the two ads on the left, and they received a different treatment.
  • The tabs were significantly adjusted to have a more interesting display that wouldn't keep them looking dropped back and wouldn't make them over-take the current News tab either.
  • [H]ard|OCP is now a registered trademark. No more TM! The days of the circle R have arrived! What a dumb change to list!
  • News divider line has a more consistent tapered fade treatment.
  • The Planet's logo placement and treatment was finalized.
  • The announcements section was treated and placed in the mockup for evaluation
  • The main section headers were slightly altered
  • This is getting boring. Just open both in a tab and flip between them and make a game out of spotting the differences. Call it the haiku sucks game.

And there you go!
 
Well, looks great and professional. Not much of a footer, (offscreen most likely) but who looks there anyway. =)
 
Looks good to me. The biggest issue I have had with the new designs is the 'blah'ness factor to the new [H]ard|OCP logo The plain red logo with the silver outline just looks too basic and kind of blends into the site so you don't really see it.

Other than that, I like the looks of it. Still not sure about the fonts and the use of flash for certain text, but I guess it will just take seeing the actual product in action, and getting used to it.
 
It's alright.

One thing I've always disliked about this site is the color scheme. It burns your eyes after being here for more than 10 minutes or so. That's not really your call, but yeah. I do love the buttons (the series of buttons with the Forum link...) they look kinda radioactive with that inner glow. :D

Definitely a step up from the first. But I do have a major problem with it being fixed width for the 1024 crowd. Even on sites frequented by web developers and geeks, this isn't the best idea.... Not everyone browses at 1024.

Good work, for the criteria you're working with.
 
I just thought I would thow in my 2 cents. I've been comming to this site for about 5 years now. I visit it daily. IMHO the new site looks way to busy. Now I might get used to it but that was the first thing I thought when I opened the link.

Please take with a grain of salt as I don't mean any disrespect and it's not my site. I'm just a long time reader giving my honest thoughts.
 
Any chance for a non-image page to check under the hood? This is [H]ard Forum, after all...
 
looks great hiaku

any criticism i might have is just gonna have to wait for another time, i'm tired as fuck right now
 
i like the re-working of the tabs on top. very good work in fitting a boat-load of info into an organized and easy to use design.
i especially like how you managed to retain enough of the original look and feel to maintain "brand" familiarity, from a marketing and communication perspective, that's an excellent approach.
 
I don't know if this is just an issue with the capture, but what's up w/the blurry news text? I did a side by side, and the current text is much sharper. Is it just the image?

I like the modifications, it looks a lot less confused. For the nitpick in me though, the Planet and the HardOCP logos look really one dimensional and unfinished. At any rate, I can't wait to see this implemented. Of course since I'm pretty interested in all 4 of the new sites, I'm apparently going to be spending a lot more time reading here every day. Which is of course the point. ;)

doh said:
Any chance for a non-image page to check under the hood? This is [H]ard Forum, after all...
Click to expand...

I'm w/doh. If not here, possibly in Genmay? I know we'd all love a more lively version to peek at.

Outstanding work.

 
I like how it's a little brighter than the first shot... Looks good. A bit busy, but good.
 
I like it. Now I am going to have to get used to a new HardOCP page all over again, but that's ok, I'll manage. :p Great work haiku! :)

Edit: Although the logo could stand out more. I mean look at the current page. The [H]ard|OCP logo seems a lot bigger than on the new site, and then right below the ad on the left there's this bigass [H], just in case you are stupid like me and forgot what site you were looking at in the span of that ad.
 
The changes from the first mock up to the "Rev 2" are subltle, but damn effective. I see the incorporation of a great deal of the feedback from "Rev 1" throughout the layout. The impact of reducing the number of article headlines into each section to five was dramatic. Yes, there is a hell of alot going on, but since the [H] is expanding into broadend areas, getting the "front page" to the point where it is a gateway into everything else was a hell of a chore.

The Navigation tabs on the top are more distinct and easier to see / find. The recent [H]eadlines to the upper right is perfect - that's where one's eyes are trained to look for things (think of it as holding a newspaper and that's where your right hand is.

I think filling in the adspace with ads helped too - easire to visualize what's going on and frames in what were looking at better. Overall, it looks to be less dark and one's eyes can home in on what's there.

The "only" gripe is the HardOCP logo... it seems flat and like it's blending into the page. Pretty minor really considerting the overall scope of what's going on. Looking forward to the growing [H], especially the Enterprise section since my job is moving more in that direction :) Timmeh gets to deal with more hardware and fewer endusers!

Peace,
Tim
 
Date and Headline fonts look like they're from TrekToday.com. Eh, I guess I'll get used to it. Otherwise, I like the highlighting of the tabs and the "less grey" feel to it.
 
OK here are my thoughts:

I thought the new width really sucked on my Dell 2405FPW @ 1920x1200. BUT after looking at site while at work on my 19" Dell CRT monitor @ 1280X1024, which is much closer to what the average viewer is seeing, it looks just fine.

The "Posted by Kyle" is WAAAAYYY too small. The name needs to be much larger.

I really like the font being used for the news headlines and dates. Much better than the old version.
 
somecallmeTim said:
The "only" gripe is the HardOCP logo... it seems flat and like it's blending into the page. Pretty minor really considerting the overall scope of what's going on. Looking forward to the growing [H], especially the Enterprise section since my job is moving more in that direction :) Timmeh gets to deal with more hardware and fewer endusers!

Peace,
Tim
Click to expand...

Actually, this is a good thing to hear. One of the things I am looking to do is distance ourself from "HardOCP" and bring us closer to "[H]" sites. Quite franky, then enthusiast community embraces us much more as [H] than OCP anymore. Also, the OCP part seems to be confusing to many and the Hard part seems to put many people off as well, especially when you start talking to folks in the mainstream and our new sections are looking to exten right there.

That all said, we don't see the ethusiast section changing much at all. One of the reasons for the changes are so that we can expand and keep our enthusiast edge as well. To do that we need to make some core site changes and that is what you are seeing now.

For those of you not interested in the least with the new sections, a quick rebookmark to enthusiast.hardocp.com will be all that you need. :)
 
I like the design but something about it hurts my eyes.

Maybe it is too busy. I think there is too much text in the 'featured articles' and 'latest articles' section. Neither of which I ever read.

Color scheme is good.
 
Torgo said:
Date and Headline fonts look like they're from TrekToday.com. Eh, I guess I'll get used to it. Otherwise, I like the highlighting of the tabs and the "less grey" feel to it.
Click to expand...

Hehehe, that is a real site......http://trektoday.com/

And just to note I saw nothing as stellar as our flash font replacement, just the same old web fonts. ;)

Seriously, I can fully understand some of the thoughts around the new font, but I think it will bring an identity to us in a short time. It has a techy feel and is very strong and easily readable. Pretty soon you will be seeing it elsewhere and say, "Isn't that [H] font?"
 
I like it. You can get a lot of info just by quickly glancing at the page. The grey/black color scheme of the background is what sets it off for me. It's much more modern and stylish than the plain black that's up right now. The tabs for each section seem to make navigation relatively easy. Also, I think the font size is just about right with my LCD at 1280x1024, though the font of the [H]ard News section seems fuzzy to me. Maybe a different font or background would help clear it up? I don't know. I'm not a programmer but the layout right now is clear, concise, and fairly easy to read and I certainly wouldn't mind looking at it everyday when I visit.

Nice work!




Kyle - Oops, I "edited" when I should have "quoted," sorry.
 
x_JETHRO_x said:
I like the design but something about it hurts my eyes.

Maybe it is too busy. I think there is too much text in the 'featured articles' and 'latest articles' section. Neither of which I ever read.

Color scheme is good.
Click to expand...

I would suggest that since you never read them, they will not bother your eyes at all. :)

I have been viewing the site on my Sony notebook that has a 13" LCD that runs at 1024. I am not having any problems reading anything, but then again I do not wear glasses. However I do have to say that the font changes we have made have been so in order to not only adjust size, but also adjust sharpness.

We will be evaluating the ability to change the text size one the site design gets into production.
 
looks great. I can't stand how "thin" it is though. I have a dell 2405 @ 1920x1200. Its just annoying. I we're a small crowd though. Otherwise it looks great
 
Looking good, thought I'm a tad confused as to why on the old one the HardOCP logo is trademarked, yet on the new one it's registered. :confused:
 
Rhetoric said:
Looking good, thought I'm a tad confused as to why on the old one the HardOCP logo is trademarked, yet on the new one it's registered. :confused:
Click to expand...

read the OP
 
evilcartman said:
I like it. You can get a lot of info just by quickly glancing at the page. The grey/black color scheme of the background is what sets it off for me. It's much more modern and stylish than the plain black that's up right now. The tabs for each section seem to make navigation relatively easy. Also, I think the font size is just about right with my LCD at 1280x1024, though the font of the [H]ard News section seems fuzzy to me. Maybe a different font or background would help clear it up? I don't know. I'm not a programmer but the layout right now is clear, concise, and fairly easy to read and I certainly wouldn't mind looking at it everyday when I visit.

Nice work!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words!

Keep in mind that you are looking at a Jpeg of the site and not the site itself. There is certainly some artifacting going on that should not be visible when you are viewing the site encoded.

Interestingly enough, I have been comparing this design with the current HardOCP and a few other websites and it makes me feel as though we have been tremendously wasteful with the realestate that we have.
 
Rhetoric said:
Looking good, thought I'm a tad confused as to why on the old one the HardOCP logo is trademarked, yet on the new one it's registered. :confused:
Click to expand...


Actually, we are making changes to show the correct marks, but it just takes some time with the changes. For the record, "[H]ard|OCP" an "[H]" are now registered trademarks.
 
The subtle changes made to the section coloring at the top really makes them stand out more. I also like the fact that you brightened up the [H] logo a bit to offset the Planet ad below it.

Looking real good and really looking forward to seeing the site grow from this change.
 
Looking better. There are still a few pixels in width you could use at 1024 by 768!

Is there a technical reason for the fixed-width? Although I'm useing a 19" monitor at this time at 1024x768, that will change, I hope...

Hell, I'll get used to whatever you do. It's not like I'd quit reading the most interesting enthusiast site I know of, because of changes that offer more content!

Sir_ReeL
 
Ingonuts13 said:
The subtle changes made to the section coloring at the top really makes them stand out more. I also like the fact that you brightened up the [H] logo a bit to offset the Planet ad below it.

Looking real good and really looking forward to seeing the site grow from this change.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that those navigation points (and any other nav points on the page) will have mouse over effects that represent the color changes for each section. Each section will have its own branding and colors. Obviously we cannot show those in a static jpeg and the fact is that we have not figured all the branding colors out just yet. The pages will all be based on the design that you see here.
 
Sir_ReeL said:
Looking better. There are still a few pixels in width you could use at 1024 by 768!

Is there a technical reason for the fixed-width? Although I'm useing a 19" monitor at this time at 1024x768, that will change, I hope...

Hell, I'll get used to whatever you do. It's not like I'd quit reading the most interesting enthusiast site I know of, because of changes that offer more content!

Sir_ReeL
Click to expand...

There are a few things such as scroll bars and browser window width that we have to keep in mind as well. So while we could probably widen it a bit more, we don't see as there is really anything to gain there.

In terms of the fixed width, studies that Mike (haiku) researched show that there are no real benefits by widening our pages beyond the given width. The width we have decided on reprsentents what we think will make our content easily readable by all that access it. That said, we DO understand that some of you want a wider width, and that WILL be looked into as we move forward, but the site will not be expandable as it currently is. There will possible be a 1280 and 1600 option in the future. But we will cross that brigdge when we get to it. Also, keeping our width fixed allows us to address many article formatting issues that have to be tackled.
 
HighwayAssassins said:
I just dont like the empty space on the sides...its way too cliche i think
Click to expand...

Thanks for you thoughts, this issue has been addressed and at this time will not be changing.
 
HighwayAssassins said:
kyle, that would be cool if you could select the width by some buttons on the top or something...just an idea
Click to expand...


Yes, I just addressed that issue in the post you quoted when posting this. Again, thanks for your suggestion.
 
Will there be a slimmed down version of the site as well? Perhaps one that makes it a fluid based layout instead of fixed width that would also remove a lot of the fluff? I'm more interested in reading the news posts than anything else, and having a huge clunky site can hinder that.

Also, it would be nice for those of us that browse at work ;) having a slimmed down version looks like something that we could possible pass off as work! Though i work in the "tech" field, and it's understandable that I would read the [H].

Still, a "print" / "low-fi" / "slimmed" down version would be much appreciated!

Regards,
Nick

ps: the design looks rad! I just think it's to busy for a news site. But all the new features of it are really exciting! Keep up the good work!

edit: hopefully this isn't a repeat of any other posts. i noticed the width issue was being discussed above this. Though i think my statement is a wee bit different.
 
doh said:
Any chance for a non-image page to check under the hood? This is [H]ard Forum, after all...
Click to expand...
I'm with doh here - I want to see how it will respond to different things I do - resize window, change text size, different browsers, speed of the site, things like that.

Is the "shacknews" section based on an rss feed, or is it direct from the horse's mouth (so to speak)?

 
I think it looks good Kyle. Solid colors and contrasts. What's the plan with the forums, exactly?
 
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