17 replies to this topic

[comp2y]

Has anyone been to the homepage of Trap17.com lately. It looks like it was a good template at one point but now I can tell it hasnt been changed in a long time. It looks very cluttered and is kind of confusing to some people. The forums here are great and the people seem to really know there stuff and I would just like to see what some of the creative minds here can come up with. Maybe even hold a contest. Trap17 is a great place and I think the homepage should show it. I challenge you to design your version of what it should look like with out loosing any important information.

Happy Posting
comp2y
PS please dont think im trying to offend.

[DeM0nFiRe]

Haha, yeah I know what you mean. It is very disorganized indeed. There's definitely way too much stuff going on there XD I don't think it would be a bad idea to go through an re-do the website. After all, it takes more than a name change to be a different place

[comp2y]

Well lets have a contest to see who can do the best. As long as its ok with the admins here. Place links to your projects here.

[rpgsearcherz]

I found it pretty confusing to get around too...In fact the last time that I reformatted my PC I went to trap17.com to get to the forums and if I remember right I had to scroll over each link until I finally read one that had to do with forums in the bottom...There was no real "Click here to visit the forums!" or anything link there.

[TheDisturbedOne]

I don't like the homepage either. The Flash icons are fine, but I think they should get rid of the sound, and make the site have a bigger width, with a center column that is larger than the other two, instead of three equal sized columns.

[comp2y]

Ok people lets see some work, I know there is alot of talent on this forum. If you need space to host a demo site please let me know. Also I would like some input form admins and mods. Any work is accepted, now I dont really have any incentives to give but thank about how you would help the community.

[TheDisturbedOne]

I agree. I think the admins and mods should post here first before anybody takes time to make something.

[Bluebear]

I think people who are actually interested in hosting would be able to find the link to the forum quite easily as it is not "secret" that is hidden. The template looks just fine, nothing special but it is bad either. Yes, lots of stuff going on though I never visit the "front page" so I do not mind. For new members it would be nice to arrive at a website which is tidy and clean... Even though I see no reason why they should rush this.

[shadowx]

I too dislike the homepage mainly because of the squashed up feel, however consider resizing your browser to 800X600 that page fits PERFECTLY in that size! and that, presumably, was the intention! If your users turn up with 600px wide screen and your page is 700px wide you've lost that visitor right there!

What i think could be done is a more dynamic page. So on the left you could have "features" "news" etc... all as links, when clicked the central area changes to fit that description, this could be done with Javascript to prevent the page reloading or frames (or even a php dynamic system )

Im not a designer so my input is limited, but from a coders point of view i can see so many dynamic things that could be done with that page to give the user only the info they want (plus a little extra but not much) but still keeping access to the huge amount of info there!

but at the end of the day Trap17 is changing a lot, so perhaps theres something planned!

If not then it wouldnt take much to de-clutter the page, perhaps remove the boxes within the centre info panel and add more dynamic, and clear links

Its still not terrible though!

[OpaQue]

I m confused between having a CMS as my home page or a Static CSS website

[comp2y]

I wouldn't do a cms most updates are done on the forum. One think that would be nice is to intergrate the rss into it so you see the most recent post like the top 10. Also like shadowx stated have the left side as links. I am also putt in a pop-up that shows when you click forum it gives you the option to go to the full version or low bandwidth version. Plus if the site is made correctly then you can add ads that wont be intrusive and will add more revenue. I think were getting some really good feedback.
Please remember im not that good at web design so don't judge to harsh on the image above. Its for demonstration only.

Edited by comp2y, 26 October 2008 - 04:53 PM.

[DeM0nFiRe]

Yeah, it seems to me like the page started off somewhere where it should have been, but then as things got added to the front page nothing was removed. Maybe all it really needs is a little pruning, although updating the design wouldn't be a bad idea either. The design as it is kind of gives the site a dated feel.

[csp4.0]

The frontpage of Trap17.com looks very clustered up and quite messy... I would recommend having a centred section at about 66% width and 100% height... Or... 1000 pixels should do the trick...

Make the background a VERY light grey or VERY light teal/grey-blue colour as it'll give the site a little bit of "contrast" between the background and the main "section"... Have padding-left set to around... 10px-15px (sorry, I don't use em mainly because I can't "count" the pixels on my screen )...

Have the sidebar at around 20%-25%, the centre section at around 50%-60% and the right side to about 20-25%... That way, you can have the sidebar with all the links/plans etc, the centre section devoted to the main articles and the right section devoted to all the news etc... Also, keep the flash header the way it is (Just a bit wider and have "Forums" in it as well...

I would personally get rid of the iFrame lest it be hijacked and used for malicious purposes...

Also... Have a link to the Trap17 readme and AUP/TOS/WIGAWIB/HYSUTSP (What is Good, and What is bad/How you should use this service properly respectively)

It should be plain CSS+XHTML as then you w on't have to care about a CMS getting hacked or something, though you would have to edit the files manually... Which wouldn't be very convenient...

And some tips...

Use lower case letters for all the HTML tags, add a DOCTYPE for a HTML/XHTML version you wish to chose, avoid the in-line CSS...

And try to use layered divs instead of tables...

[TheDisturbedOne]

Maybe add a few pictures of some servers and the two plans should be updated. Also show that you can get free domains , VPS, and dedicated IPs just for posting.

[miladinoski]

Yeah, the front page really needs to get an update, at least to the plans that Trap17+AstaHost that now offer, side by side posting and making myCENTs ([offtopic]why are they called 'myCENTs' in AstaHost and myCENT in here?[/offtopic]), also all the new offers + free domain offer (for posting ofcourse ) and so on...

It really needs a rewriting, adding a DOCTYPE and using small letters for the tags and validating the page too as csp4.0 said before me.

Hope this gets done quickly!

[Spyda]

I think the current trap17.com homepage is fine at the moment. Though, as I look into it, it seems like the homepage will be changing soon, as the CH main template has changed.

I think since trap17 is mainly a forum and since more time is spent on the forums then the homepage that the homepage shouldn't matter as much

[TheDisturbedOne]

I sort of disagree with you, bk2070. The home page gives the first impressions, but everybody should visit the forums anyway.

[joeblogg]

yeah the homepage is very cluttered and confusing. its nowhere near as good as the forum homepage. i think they should change it.