Front page

[Scarborough]

Easy to read fonts are best.  Old English is -not- easy to read.  Also, if people don't have that font installed on their computer they don't see it anyway.

[amoeba]

The problem with using odd fonts is that not all computers have them installed, so the browser often picks what it thinks is a close match. The end result is often awful, and not what the designer intended.  The only way to insure that the fornts are accurate is to create them graphicly.  This increases the download time of the page, sometimes dramaticly, is very hard to maintain, and the search engine web crawlers can't read them to populate search engines.

[Anonymous]

My favorite style is the antecedent of the current site format. The one most appealing, in my opinion, should resemble the format of the latter style. However, I do understand that the current style is merely a transition.

Semper Pax,

Dirr

[Stroker]

The one most appealing, in my opinion, should resemble the format of the latter style.

So much for the ability to proofread three sentences: the bold word should be FORMER not latter.... apologies.

Semper Pax,

Dirr

[path]

I also would like it if the sand looked more like sand.

[Scarborough]

Here's one:  or... or.  

Real sand/dirt might be too much to look at.  I think what's used as a background presently is neutral and easy to put things on top of.  Even if those sands I posted above were toned way down -- lightened -- they still might be too busy.

[Cale_Knight]

I like the Web site. The Arm home page is not the game, and I don't agree that it needs to evoke the same kind of feeling as the game itself. The home page is a portal to information, and that information needs to be as quick and easy as possible to access.

Beyond that, a MUD is a text-based game. Graphical advertisement for a MUD is misleading in a way. If a player is turned off by our Web site because there's too much text... well, he's probably going to be turned off by the game itself.

[jhunter]

I really like that first one you put up there Scarborough, that would look great as a background with the pages  front of it. It would fit nicely and is much more eyecatching than the current backgroud.

[Tamarin]

I think it would be a good idea to put a link to some player logs right on the main page, so that people can instantly see what the game looks like when you're playing it.  Maybe even put a few snippets right on the main page, and link those to the rest of the logs.

Also, the link to connect to the game (telnet://64.252.79.51:4050) should be close to the top of the page.  It should be like the second thing you see, with the title being the first.

[jhunter]

I think it would be a good idea to put a link to some player logs right on the main page, so that people can instantly see what the game looks like when you're playing it.  Maybe even put a few snippets right on the main page, and link those to the rest of the logs.

Or perhaps some screenshots of someone going through the character creation process. *shrug*

[spawnloser]

If it was to be done, I prefer jhunter's idea of screenshots of char-gen.

Scarborouch, I LOVE that first sand shot...but indeed, WAY too busy.  In the current style, it could replace the parchmenty background, but the text itself would have to be on something much like the neutral background that we currently have for just behind the text.

[Nao]

I think the whole website needs to be rearranged... All the information is there but it'sso hard to find and really badly organized... even the sitmap where you might find stuff is hidden somewhere under comunity resources.

It might be some work to rearragne al that stuff into categories that make some more sense and fit the page better but it's really necessarry. I don't know how much of this is done in the website revamp but even if the new website is made with the current sitemap it needs to be changed. Place links to the same document at more than one place on the page if you have to, but make it findable. I've looked over the website and tried to sort stuff a bit different... It's definitely possible, and in a way that makes more sense than the current one, wherre it seems that bits and pieces ave been added at whichever plac they seemed to fit best over years, making everything pretty messy..

Oh, ans 'm all for using that second sand picture somewhere in the background.  

[amoeba]

Beyond that, a MUD is a text-based game. Graphical advertisement for a MUD is misleading in a way. If a player is turned off by our Web site because there's too much text... well, he's probably going to be turned off by the game itself.

I was waiting for someone to say this.  It is not that it is "graphical" advertisement, it is that you need to get people to look at the site long enough to elicit enough interest to actually read the content.  It is a fallacy to think that many people stop to actually read the contect of the websites.  It is also bad marketing practice to draw the (incorrect) conclusion, that only people that take the time to srutinize the site will translate into potential players.

The point is had you never seen the site before, and and happened upon it while casually surfing, the current site gives a feel of a dry, academic documentation website.  It is not a window into the atmosphere of the game.  The animated ad on TMC does a far better job of that.

[jhunter]

The animated ad on TMC does a far better job of that.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Don't like the feel of this new thing. I know your just testing it out for the right now until things are finished with the other one. I liked the old one and felt fairly comfortable with it.

[LauraMars]

This is much better.  Far less tacky than it was, very clean and professional.  The little jewel bullets next to each link still make me wince, though.