Redesign of BYOAC

[saint]

So . . . with the book essentially out of the way now, once I take a few weeks off to rediscover home and family, I intend to start work on the replacement web site for BYOAC.

Now seems a good time to see if anyone wants to chime in with design ideas, likes, dislikes, etc.

Nothing formal here, just a free-flow of ideas to help steer the direction of the reborn web site.

Couple of thoughts I have, in no partticular order, and certainly not comprehensive. I'm free-associating here . . .

1. Little to no java or javascript. Too many browser dependant issues.

2. No heavy reliance on flash or other such web design methods. Fun and flashy, impressive, but slow and browser dependant issues once more.

3. Think trim and lean, without sacrificing eye appeal. Not sure if they are mutually exclusive ideas. The site will remain graphic heavy, so I want to be trim and lean as much as I can otherwise.

4. Probably mysql/php based, using CSS and dynamic html. Currently reading "HTML For The World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS" by Elizabeth Castro...

5. Iffy on the resolution to design for. I think it's hard to get it all in on anything less than 1024 x 768. However, I know that you're supposed to design for 800 x 600. Thoughts?

6. I insist on sticking to standards wherever possible, for cross-browser-platform compatility. No proprietary Internet Explorer crud. I want the site to look good in Mozilla, Netscape, IE, Opera, Konqueror, etc...

7. Toying with the idea of the news page being portable device friendly (WAP?)...

8. Looking for advice on color schemes. I'd like something that smacks somewhat of the environment we're after... blacklight carpet, flashy arcade machines, etc... while not being hard or painful on the eyes. I kind of like the Downloads page scheme for instance, but don't know that it's particularly easy on the eyes to read...

9. I want to have to do very little manual page editing. Pages built from mysql databases on the fly that can be updated online instead of with a HTML design tool or manual editing (I do a lot of that!) would be great.

10. I think frames are going to go unless someone wants to convince me otherwise.

Guess that's enough for now, let's see if this generates any feedback

--- saint

[SirPeale]

5) Design for any resolution.  It's not hard.  My site uses tables.

I like the color scheme on the boards.  A similar scheme would blend well.

9) I know a package I think would work well, PM me and we'll talk about it.

10) Good!  Frames suck.

[rampy]

I too know of a package that will work =)

and no it isn't http://www.postnuke.org   (although there is some merit to using that -- as witnessed on randomdrivel.com and byopvr.com )

BUT I've recently found another open source php/mysql package that is more CMS than "portal" that we are using in projects at work...  mambo

Saint, I'm not so hot on the design side ... but if you want php/mysql help customizing postnuke or Mambo I'd make my services available to you without hesitation... to pitch in and help byoac.

let me know if you'd like to some sort of tour or recommendation or *Shrug*

rampy

[DrewKaree]

I don't know JACK about coding a board, so this may all sound like "you effin' idiot" speak to you, but here:

Using buttons for the links to different forums.  I've seen it at other boards, seems to take up less space and give a tidier appearance to the top of the board, also, in the reply/reply w/quote area, it would standardize text size.  

If there is ANY POSSIBLE WAY to make any posted images adhere to browser resolution so that there isn't the mega-browser window I have to scroll side-to-side as well as up and down to view?

I'm not sure if this would be just butt-ugly, but a black background w/grey text isn't overly obnoxious, I've found, but as long as it isn't black on yellow, I probably won't mind whatever you decide.

Lastly, a sticky to start off the new board...re: descriptive subject lines so as to help someone help the poster.  It'd also help (IMO) eliminate SOME of the multiple-posted questions because someone didn't realize their question was asked a day/week/month ago.  I may be guilty of this myself (I haven't checked) but I've read 200+ pages on this current board and DL'd a year's worth of the archives and sifted through them and there's tons of stuff to wade through that makes me ignore the "problems: please help QUICK!!!" post and search for something relative to my problem or something I feel capable to answer to help another.

Let my flogging commence.

[SirPeale]

They're not coding the board, just the arcadecontrols.com site.

As to buttons/text labels, text take up far less to transmit than buttons ever would.  It's a bandwidth thing.

[Sasquatch!]

My $0.02:

As long as javascript isn't used for anything criticial to navigation, it would probably be all right...although you'll likely find the use for it unnecessary.  And yeah, kill the frames.

I'm about to upload the revamped arcadeparadise.org done entirely in XHTML and CSS, and it's very groovy.  The bandwidth savings alone will make doing this worth it for you.  This goes hand-in-hand with your wanting to stick with web standards too.  And this ALSO goes along with the page being accessable to portable devices.

Peale's right: design it for ANY resolution, and with XHTML/CSS, this'll be a snap.  At the very least, I would consider designing for 1024 x 768 to be way over the top.  Think of how many of us won't be able to bring up BYOAC on our cabinets, because they're running at 800x600! or 600x480!  

Color schemes: Once again, if you do the page in XHTML/CSS, you can change all of this "on the fly".  I'd personally steer away from "flashy", but that's just me.  

[voodoochile]

I think it would be great if everytime you load the main page a new cab would refresh...I went thru the examples page and there where sooo many cool cabs I forgot about. It would be kind of cool just as a reminder of what some folks are missin, a featured cab if you will.

Other than that the site has always functioned well. Just my buck oh five!

...Oh and a WAP enabled page would be the bees Knees, I surf alot from my Pocket PC when Im out of town and such....Really the news (main page) and related article just needs to be wap enabled.

[Jakobud]

We have to get rid of the "blog style" sections.  Look at the Monitors section for example. Its just like this one huge webpage that's not easy to sort through or find exactly what you are looking for.  Its a very old webpage design type.  Every little tip or tutorial should in its own little page (or series of pages).  

Saint, perhaps you will give a big handful of people here access to adjust and change content of the server.  Like a handful of us who have been here for several years.  This could take load off your back and it could make the site more useful since it will be easier for information to end up actually IN the faq, instead of just the message board.

[RetroJames]

Frames and "log" formatted pages gotta go.  

I agree it should be simple.  Everytime I go to mameworld.com I have a seizure.

What about a simple, clean, tight, intuitive, toolbar, and a cycling image, ala KLOV's machine of the moment, that contains choice shots of the cooler projects from within the board.

Hey now, it might be pretty cool to have a section with a KLOV type entry for selected machines.

[Mooters]

I agree with the others mainly with this although i wouldnt be included

Posted by: Jakobud
Saint, perhaps you will give a big handful of people here access to adjust and change content of the server.  Like a handful of us who have been here for several years.  This could take load off your back and it could make the site more useful since it will be easier for information to end up actually IN the faq, instead of just the message board.

Just my opinion.
           Spyder

[Nailz]

You're running a great site, but the one thing i'd like to see, and I don't know if this has to do with a site update or not, but an improve search engine would be great.  At best, searching on this site now seems like a hit or miss.

[Dartful Dodger]

It's almost May, get rid of the snowy hills background.

Everything else about this site is great.  Keep up the good work.

[bigmoe]

One thing that could really be cool is to be able to mark threads as "watched".  Then, have a user-portal type page where links to watched threads will show up.  Then make it easy to "watch" and "unwatch" threads.

I would find this extremely useful...the current email approach, while better than nothing, I do not find particularly useful.

Maybe yabbse already has this I didn't know it .

Thanks!

[Howard_Casto]

hmm didn't I post to this thread?

Oh well.. I'm too lazy to repost all of my comments in full....

To summarize:

Color code the sections using style sheets and the button colors to the left.  It would make a clean, professional look if done properly.   Remove the annoying background images.   While they give the page "heart" they also make it look a little amateurish and might scare away any credibility the site would have to a first time visitor.  It's literally the only complaint I've ever had about the site.

Getting the environment you are talking about with actual bg images seems impossible to me as arcades are inheriantly tacky by design.  They are like Tide boxes... loud and annoying so you'll see them from a mile away.  

Code for 1024x768, it's what everyone else codes for anymore (although I agree that with minimal effort the page code be coded to scale itself). Regardless, find me a person who doesn't have at least one computer running at 1024x768 or the ability to do so.  With all due respect if you have web browsing in an arcade cabinet then you have other issues I don't want to get into.  

The message board is fine... it works great.... everyone please stop complaining about it.

[bishmasterb]

The site is great. My few requests are:

1) I was going to second Howard's request to remove the background images, but they seem to be gone already...?

2) The site has to work on 800x600. There are far too many corporate systems, smaller form factor, tablets, etc. I agree it should be auto-scaling and take advantage of larger displays. I know our home systems are all set to 4096x4096, but that's not the case everywhere else.

3) It would be really nice if the Subject/Message filters on the search page worked, or am I missing something? I search for "PacMan" subject only and get plenty of messages that don't contain the word "PacMan" in the subject line. Let me know if that's not what it's supposed to do. If they do work differently than I'm expecting them to, perhaps re-wording the page.

The fact that you're only getting nit-picky responses is testament to the site's overal great functionality. Keep up the good work!

[Felsir]

My request:

RSS feed. A good RSS feed makes it very easy to keep track of news and updates in de BYOAC site.
An example RSS feed: Mameworld,
http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/rss/instantrss.php?url=http://www.mameworld.net/

I use the Trillian RSS Plugin and when a new item appears on the site I receive a message. I would like to have that too for BYOAC :-)

[barvaz]

My request:

RSS feed. A good RSS feed makes it very easy to keep track of news and updates in de BYOAC site.

I second that. RSS is a great tool. Especially for people who find themselves trying to keep track with large amount of websites. Please do try to support RSS if possible.

[saint]

Any good RSS tutorials recommended?

[barvaz]

Any good RSS tutorials recommended?

this RSS tutorial is pretty detailed and helpful.

For RSS client, I personally think that RSS Bandit is one of the best out there.

- barvaz

[Jam161]

may I suggest phpNuke with phpBB

[SirPoonga]

5) Design for any resolution.  It's not hard.  My site uses tables.

Tables for website design is depricated, you need to get modernized with CSS.

[Jakobud]

5) Design for any resolution.  It's not hard.  My site uses tables.

Tables for website design is depricated, you need to get modernized with CSS.

I second that.  Tables are slow nowadays.  Yes, my little website still uses tables because I have never bothered to learn enough CSS stuff...

Anyways, saint how is this stuff going?  Any headway?  You seriously need to recruit a handful of BYOAC members who are webdesign savy to help you out.

[AlanS17]

I'd be willing to help out where possible, though I may be slightly limited these days. I could do some grunt work, though. Here are a list of ideas and "dittos" in no particular oder:

I like the concept of a rotating "cab of the day" kind of thing. Color coding sections by their equivalent button color at the left is also a good idea. The log-style pages are difficult to sort through to find what you're looking for, and breaking them down into seperate pages either by a "Next>" sort of hyperlink or just good submenuing would be preferable. Obviously most broken links will be found in the migration, but there are plenty of them out there right now. A good search engine is a good idea. I love the WAP idea as I'm always using my phone for web surfing. That's easy enough, though.

My biggest suggesstion is to put more emphasis on the examples and submissions section.

[SirPeale]

5) Design for any resolution.  It's not hard.  My site uses tables.

Tables for website design is depricated, you need to get modernized with CSS.

I second that.  Tables are slow nowadays.

What exactly does 'slow' mean in this context?  Slow to draw?

Although there's nothing wrong with CSS, there's also nothing wrong with tables.  Older code or no, it works just fine for a simple application.

[SirPoonga]

Advantage od CSS (over tables)

1) CSS minimizes server space and bandwidth.  You don't have to have repeat code in all your html pages.

2) Much more control of design than tables.  Like you could put text over an image as an example.

Many other reasons.

For something simple, yeah.  But tables are depricated now.  So browser designers are going to get away from displaying tables the same per browser.  They don't display the same now.  But with CSS they should.

I am going to be converting controls.dat site to CSS sometime

[SirPeale]

I see.

My site uses a PHP/MySQL setup, which generates the pages on the fly.  So the overhead is negilgible.

[saint]

By the way, the status of revamping the web site stands with me reading "HTML For the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS" by Elizabeth Castro. I'm happy to get help from willing folks, and very greatful to boot, but I need to understand the fundamentals first.  I've been hard coding ugly html for a long time, so I have a lot to learn and unlearn

--- saint

[mahuti]

FYI, If you guys need design help (especially in the area of user interface design & usability) I'd be glad to help out. It's what I do... large scale site design & architecture for big companies like sony, mattel, lincoln, landrover, etc, etc  

Anyway, if you would like the help, my company is at your disposal. We do a number of freebies each year, and I'd be happy to make this site one of them.

 

[Lilwolf]

It seems like everyone is talking tools... not content.

I would like to see a few things.

Better / easier to update faqs and links.  I hear about people that come and give up because all the links are so outdated.

I would like to see a best off / archive for topics.  

[PixelCloud]

Please rid us of the horrible layout and design!! (no offence)

just remember

keep it simple, clean, stylish, and most importantly ORGINIZED!!!