Can you see me yet?
Visual comparisons of old and new
Wednesday, January 5, 2005 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
So how are we doing? Let's take a look at the new WinCustomize and the old WinCustomize side by side. here's what they looked like to the typical user.
The new site doesn't have the theme system in yet (allowing users to customize the look and feel of the site). It's in the work queue but it won't be ready for a bit. Lots of little features and bugs and glitches to work out first. So what I'm looking at is how much information is conveyed in both while at the same time how complicated or how simple are these designs?
Let's put them directly side by side:
On the new site, you can see about half of the skin galleries. On the old site, you could only see the top 4. On the new site, you can see the top 5 skins. On the old site, you could see the top 9 without scrolling. On the new site the featured skin and screenshot are together in one area. On the old site they were separated. On both sides you can see the featured premium suite but the new site also lets you see the featured articles on the page. Both have a banner ad at the top if you're not logged in and both have a randomly selected item from the store. The new site doesn't have a sponsor button at the top - it's been moved to the bottom.
I personally preferred the old logo. I think we'll have to find a way to work that one back into the site. If anyone wants to volunteer to try to put together the old logo feel free. I think there's a version of it in the shirts area of the graphics gallery here.
What we have tried to do is have a site that is much cleaner and more easily understandable by new users while at the same time vastly increasing the amount of "stuff" that one might get to. The tabs are a big part of that and having a lot of the key data available on the home page without having to scroll down.
So what do you think? Do you like the direction the new launch has taken so far?
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Reply #22 Thursday, January 6, 2005 9:28 AM
Reply #23 Thursday, January 6, 2005 9:49 AM
Reply #25 Thursday, January 6, 2005 9:56 AM
I also think that something should be done about getting back to the gallery when viewing an individual skin. There isn't a link on that page anywhere to go to that (or any other) library. Takes a couple extra clicks. No biggie, but it would really be nice.
Reply #27 Thursday, January 6, 2005 10:19 AM
| Which part of the old site did you like better? |
The word "Wincustomize", Our titles
and the skins 
Reply #28 Thursday, January 6, 2005 10:31 AM
Reply #29 Thursday, January 6, 2005 10:31 AM
Reply #30 Thursday, January 6, 2005 10:53 AM
Reply #31 Thursday, January 6, 2005 10:56 AM
Old logo was also beter imho..
But anywayz good job at this site,keep it going
Reply #32 Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:12 AM
Reply #33 Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:17 AM
1. Please total all the skins info on the "my skins" page.
2. I have YET to be able to "search" thru the Articles to find anything, nothing ever comes back.
3. I hate to click on one of my skins, and then have to click on the "comments" button to see the comments, thats 99% of what I'm going to the skin to see!
4. I can Never seem to find any article I have looked at.. or at least not without a ton of hunting all over.
I see an article on the left, i look at it, leave a msg, and when i come back later in the day i can never find the stupid thing.
5. Email icons on My Articles still show that someone has put a new message or comment on them when the last person was me and it was like 45 days ago.
6. The "Watch" button on an article has no real meaning to me, what is it SUPOSED to do? I would like that when i click the "watch" button on the main body of the article it would then EMAIL me when someone adds something, or even show up in my "watch list" somewhere... this is not happening. Unless I'm just not seeing how this works, I look at my watch list, and its stuff i dont even know what it is. Its just wierd.
7. Is there ANY way to have an email sent to me when someone Comments on one of my Skins? I dont look at the list every day, and i had someone asking me a question on there for a week before i noticed it. If we got an email like we do with the Forums, etc, that would be be great.
8. If a WC member signs my Guest book, can it not put a link back to their wc page? This way i could more easily return the favor of the signing.
Other then all that.. i love the new site, i like the User page, im ok with the layout of the gallery etc. You guys are doing great, and the site is looking better all the time!
Man that was a lot of bitching for someone who seems to LIKE the site.. LOL
Reply #34 Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:21 AM
Reply #35 Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:37 AM
Reply #36 Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:43 AM
Reply #37 Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:49 AM
I'm not understanding what you mean with regards to the skins page. This is a sample of mine:
http://frogboy.wincustomize.com/myskins.aspx
So I have the same info I had on the old my skins page already. I'm not sure I'm understanding that.
Reply #38 Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:58 AM
Reply #39 Thursday, January 6, 2005 12:10 PM
I think what folks are looking for are two things. First on the My Skins page at the old site there was totals at the bottom for each column and an average overall rating for all your skins combined. The other thing was when you clicked to see another persons skins via their profile it brought you to the gallery sorted to just show those skins with previews. This function from the old site has been replaced by personal pages, I believe, which everyone can access from the skinner's profile.
Reply #40 Thursday, January 6, 2005 12:15 PM
Big Kudo's to your staff, I think the transition has been very smooth.
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Reply #21 Thursday, January 6, 2005 7:51 AM
Another useful thing would be to have a simple search box with a popup menu for selecting the library you wish to search at the top right of the index page. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough, but hopefully you'll get what I mean.