Questions and comments about new homepage

[rewbs]

Good to see a homepage has sprung up on modplug.com. A few questions:

. Is this a manifestation of early parts of the new system or a completely separate, temporary thing?

. Do we really need all those adds & ringtone stuff? May I ask how much money they actually generate?

. Are you open to suggestions re. aesthetics? I think many people will feel it could be a lot slicker & more modern.

. The podcast feed is not valid XML, so will break with the more standards-compliant/sensitive RSS parsers. You just need to get rid of the whitespace before the "<?xml...>" tag at the top of the file.

[Randilyn]

It's definately time for a new design.

[LPChip]

I was as surprised to see this as you are. This is something MisterX did. I don't really like these adds too, but he wanted that.

[residentgrey]

does it have to be red and white btw? i have a few ideas that do not involve those colors at all.

[Randilyn]

[deleted]

[Squirrel Havoc]

does it have to be red and white btw?

Probably not.  OpenMPT for example seems to focus more upon light blues mixed with black/white.

To be honest, I feel like I'm in a 50's cafe every time I come here.  Which can be either a good or a bad thing, depending on your taste...

Can we get some concept art flowing in this thread?  Give me a few ideas and I'll write up a PHP template.

Just PLEASE don't follow any internet fads, like current color schemes, excessive flash usage, and whatnot. Just go with what looks good, and is (more importantly) functional

[MisterX]

Is this a manifestation of early parts of the new system or a completely separate, temporary thing?

It's "I am losing the weight and PageRank that I've spent almost 10 years building by redirecting the site to lpchip.com so I need to put a page back up."

Do we really need all those adds & ringtone stuff?

Yes

May I ask how much money they actually generate?

You can ask, but I won't tell you.

Are you open to suggestions re. aesthetics? I think many people will feel it could be a lot slicker & more modern.

See above - it doesn't matter what is on the site, as long as there was something there that doesn't redirect to another server or I lose a lot of hard work.

The podcast feed is not valid XML, so will break with the more standards-compliant/sensitive RSS parsers. You just need to get rid of the whitespace before the "<?xml...>" tag at the top of the file.

I noticed that, but I just put the podcast back to retain the keyword relevance for "podcast".

It's all about SEO, so don't get distracted with the current (old) design, I just had to put the page back on the original server since lpchip.com has nowhere near the "weight" that modplug.com has/had.

[MisterX]

It's definately time for a new design.

Yeah, it's nowhere near as cool as your average MySpace page.   :lol:

[Randilyn]

[deleted]

[MisterX]

Well, strictly speaking, I was talking about design (look/layout), not functionality.

Oh, so was I.  The design is old, yes, but it is clean and fast-loading, unlike the eyesores that permeate the myspace.com domain, that was my point.  :wink:

[Matt Hartman]

I say just keep it simple and straight forward. A design in which one can get to where they want to get quickly.

There's no logical reason why a simple design can't have mass appeal.
Color above all, sets mood, plain and simple. I suggest a 2-3 color scheme and 1 typeface/font.

I say, lose the 3D buttons and gradients. Make very little reference to logos, only when needed. Keep the layout logical, orderly and concise.

Try not to clutter the screen with too many options. Be aware of where the most important features are in contrast to composition and line direction. Does the eye lead to important links or to other less important ones?

There's much more than I can cover in one breath to designing a great site. My most important suggestions are to have it well planned out before execution.

Don't worry about pleasing everyone. You'll die before you ever do that. Do something that really captures the essence of where MPT has been and where it's going in the future.

Make it approachable and accountable. So that it says, "trust" and "reliability"

Get creative. Don't concern yourself with what others are doing on their sites. That's the biggest trap there is and ever was.

[Matt Hartman]

-Ring tones-

If that's how Mister X pays some bills, than you all will just have to understand that making ends meet is an incrediable task no man should judge.  

For those of us here still living under the roof that you don't pay for personally, once you leave the nest, you will quickly come to appreciate what I'm saying here.

[Sam_Zen]

I've posted this before on the lost forum, so I do it again, because I think it's an important aspect :
gui_rules.txt
Although I'm not myself like that (so far), the accessibility for the visually impaired is an issue to be considered. So they prefer to have only a few number of used colors, with clear contrasts. And they hate gradients.
Or text on a button as a bitmap. Or frames.

[speed-goddamn-focus]

I'm a big an of clear, easy to navigate designs. What I disliked the most about the old modplug system was that the different parts weren't more integrated, and that it was so cluttered. People are lazy, if things aren't obvious they will miss them.

[eatme]

The Modplug site is down @ renoise forum