Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Feedback on past, current, and future development.
JSchmidt
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Jan 2022, 05:05
Gitlab profile: https://gitlab.com/innovativestudios

Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by JSchmidt »

I wanted to open a thread for the users to provide feedback on the website revamp that I'm working on. It is also a proof of concept for the "Leave a Comment" feature that blogs on the website can utilize. Feel free to post your requests and suggestions for the website here. https://innovativestudios.gitlab.io/openmw-hugo/
polynomial
Posts: 14
Joined: 31 Jul 2021, 21:57

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by polynomial »

Looking good! Just my 2c - I think it's worth having more items listed out on the menu/navigation bar, similar to the current website. For example, list out all items instead of using the grouping "Community", "Contact", and "Contact". Makes navigation more approachable for first time visitors, IMO. Especially the forum link. Also may want to make menu navigation font more contrasted or bolder. Also think "Source Code" link to Gitlab is worth including.

Does anyone like how a readable blog was included on the home page? I did, and it's what really drew me to the project.

Also, may way to add artist credit in some way as the old site has it. Not sure, just mentioning.

Hope this is at least moderately constructive! Just what I caught. Great work.
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mikeprichard
Posts: 113
Joined: 16 Dec 2018, 19:42

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by mikeprichard »

As I mentioned recently on git, I love the work going into this. One minor suggestion is that "Contact" be removed as a separate menu, with "Community" instead including the four entries "Issue Tracker", "Forum", "Discord", and "IRC". As a larger point also raised by polynomial above, I liked the "Blog"/"News" on the front page as well. In any case, the current "Home" page data on the test site seems to be redundant to the separate "FAQ" page; I think this redundancy should be avoided. The structure of the home/front page also seems to be different in the test site from what was planned at https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issu ... _803985489 ("clearly labeled download links, followed by screenshots/summary text" - though the change is not necessarily a problem). Overall, working from the test site as a new base, I suggest something like the following for the top banner from left to right:

News (i.e. the Blog; this should be the front/home page)
Download (adding also a clearly labeled link to the source code on gitlab)
Media
About (including FAQ, then Wiki, then Team)
Community (including Issue Tracker, then Forum, then Discord, then IRC)

Cheers!
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lysol
Posts: 1513
Joined: 26 Mar 2013, 01:48
Location: Sweden

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by lysol »

I almost veto against blog on the first page. It is great for regular visitors, but that's it. For first time visitors, having the blog on first page is terrible. First time visitors need to quickly be able to get an answer to "wtf is this". Regular visitors already know that we have a blog, so for us, if it is such an inconvenience to go to a separate "blog" page, then just type "openmw.org/blog/" in the URL instead.
mikeprichard
Posts: 113
Joined: 16 Dec 2018, 19:42

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by mikeprichard »

If it is decided not to have the blog/news on the front/home page, at least I'd suggest that the entire FAQ shouldn't be listed there - it seems a bit messy and overwhelming. Maybe a concise summary of the project with a link to the detailed separate FAQ page instead.
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lysol
Posts: 1513
Joined: 26 Mar 2013, 01:48
Location: Sweden

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by lysol »

mikeprichard wrote: 21 Jan 2022, 07:47 If it is decided not to have the blog/news on the front/home page, at least I'd suggest that the entire FAQ shouldn't be listed there - it seems a bit messy and overwhelming. Maybe a concise summary of the project with a link to the detailed separate FAQ page instead.
Oh right. No, the FAQ is just there temporarily, don't worry.
mikeprichard
Posts: 113
Joined: 16 Dec 2018, 19:42

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by mikeprichard »

OK, cool!
polynomial
Posts: 14
Joined: 31 Jul 2021, 21:57

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by polynomial »

lysol wrote: 21 Jan 2022, 05:45 I almost veto against blog on the first page. It is great for regular visitors, but that's it. For first time visitors, having the blog on first page is terrible. First time visitors need to quickly be able to get an answer to "wtf is this". Regular visitors already know that we have a blog, so for us, if it is such an inconvenience to go to a separate "blog" page, then just type "openmw.org/blog/" in the URL instead.
Even though when I was a first time user, the blog is what drew me in -- I agree that it'd still be beneficial to have "wtf is this" right on the home page.

I think the Dolphin Emu site is a great example of having a "wtf" and blog: https://dolphin-emu.org/

As a counterpoint to my own point, here's a good example of not having a blog: https://openrct2.org/
darkbasic
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Joined: 18 Apr 2016, 15:45
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Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by darkbasic »

+1 for the blog on the home page
mikeprichard
Posts: 113
Joined: 16 Dec 2018, 19:42

Re: Website Feature Requests and Suggestions

Post by mikeprichard »

My third time posting here so I'll stop after this, but the combo of a brief (one paragraph/set of bullets) "wtf" summary + the blog on the home/front page sounds great - very intuitive and I've also seen it on many easy-to-use sites, so not sure why I didn't think of it myself earlier. Just one obvious relevant example: https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org
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