| Followers of this topic may continue discussion in the club here: http://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=38107 |
dperolioJul 18, 2013 11:28 AM
| Looks promising. I can't really tell right now because it doesn't work properly on my phone but ill check it out at home later. |
| Don't like it as much as your original which was way cleaner and more pleasant to the eyes. I spend a lot of time on MAL and this is tiring to look at. Way too busy looking. But I like the improvements that you've 'implemented' - sliders, alternate names, won't watch options and a whole lot more. I just want it cleaner looking. |
TsukikageRanMay 8, 2013 6:22 AM
TsukikageRan said: Don't like it as much as your original which was way cleaner and more pleasant to the eyes. I spend a lot of time on MAL and this is tiring to look at. Way too busy looking. But I like the improvements that you've 'implemented' - sliders, alternate names, won't watch options and a whole lot more. I just want it cleaner looking. Awww, disappointing, but understandable. The design is certainly a bit busy. I think this design/layout would take some getting used to, but in the end you would probably like it and have a much better experience imo. But yeah as I said, the metro look (which I can tell is what you like) is very popular at the moment, and for good reason. |
gundam34 said: I wish you could give us a preview on how the profile page would look, since to me that's one of the most important parts of the website. I also liked your original design way better, since I tend to like cleaner and simpler looking websites. I also would put the Staff in the main page before the User reviews, since I consider them more relevant. Yeah I can't give a preview of the profile yet. :p I can tell you it won't be wildly different from the anime page though. User reviews are pretty important, to me. Staff has never mattered at all to me. But yeah those types of things certainly vary from person to person. All you have to do to see the staff is click one button though. :p NFH said: As others have said, your original design was much better. To me, you have put aesthetics before usability here. For example, if I want to know what the name of the director is I have to go to another page since all the main info page offers is some fancy photos titled "staff". In MAL, you have all that in one single page so you don't need to go to another page just to know the most basic information like who the director of the series is. Also, the removal of core MAL features like clubs won't sit well with much of MAL userbase, I believe. I think the usability is much higher here personally, much simpler to understand and use. I'm still considering adding "Groups" and leaning towards yes, but we'll see. And MAL users will have to get over it if they want to use the website. :p MAL doesn't have any of the social features or lots of other stuff it will have either. It's not really fair to nitpick that way. I'm not going to include EVERYTHING MAL has because this is a different website, it's not MAL. That being said, if enough people find a feature useful, I will certainly consider implementing it, unlike MAL. I really don't see the big deal of clicking one link to see the staff anyway; it's right at the top of the page and will take 1 second to load. I still am considering adding staff and characters to the main area and removing them from the sidebar, but I also don't want the page to be too long/cluttered. I'll think more about it though. Thanks for the feedback. EDIT: In fact, I think I will. Thanks again. |
dperolioMay 8, 2013 10:16 AM
| Not really a fan of the red and dark blue tbh :S And I agree with Tsukikage that its too busy looking. Just reduce the number of graphics and/or change the color scheme, and I reckon it's pretty fantastic :) I also like how someone finally added IMDB's episode guide, but I don't where one could source the episode summaries for anime :S Being able to listen to the OP/EDs can lead to some legal issues as well :S But anyways, decimal scoring!!! :DDD |
| I'll have to start following the updates of this. Seems like it has promise. I'm not a fan of the red on the black/dark blue. But I'm not opposed to the black at all. Maybe you can give us an option on the secondary color for users or make it a skin thing? As for actual critiques I have issues with menu bars covering up too many things/too much space, the current 'more' options for anime, manga, and community is fine, but maybe make it a little smaller? I also really like how the General info column stays fixed until you finish scrolling through the reviews. Really handy. The userpanel up top is nice too. I also have to agree that the episode guides could probably be compromised to 3 episodes? 1 would be a good preview, but I think 5 is too much especially if your just starting the series. 3 would be a good median. The only thing I can see that would need definite constant updating on is the Opening and ending previews. Depending on if you use song links or vid links. Either way it is nice to have those. All in all not bad. Look forward to seeing more. |
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| If you want to build up a following for this website quicker once it's up and running, I think it would be really helpful if there was some sort of tool that would allow you to transfer your MAL list to this website. Some of the features on your website such as episode summaries and letting us play OP's and ED's look really cool so I would definitely try this new website out, but it would be such a hassle to move my entire anime list over to this new website. Unless it would become easier to move my entire list over, I probably would never fully switch over to this new site because I'm already so invested in MAL. Those are just my thoughts, but these new features you have do seem like they'll be really fun and helpful to use |
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| It looks nice and all, but I feel like it has a lot of stuff thrown onto it that's not useful at all. for example: -Characters, Staff, Images to the left hand side isn't needed; just clicking the links to go to said place is better. -User recommendations feels too big, making them smaller would look better or making only 2 of them instead, until you click the link going to said place for the recommendations. -Episode guide is very unnecessary -Tone down the size for ED/OP section. -Club section? -Fansub groups? Overall the site looks nice, but it feels way too cluttered and busy looking. People like having something looking nice but simple too. Also I still don't see the "Fansub Groups section," many people rely on that to see what group is the best to chose from. |
TyrelMay 9, 2013 12:24 AM
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| I just noticed the "Go Premium" button. I don't think that would be received well by people. At all. |
| I liked the old design better, this one there's way too much in just one page. Pretty much what some have already said here, especially Tyrel. That's not just for the design though, if you're planning on implementing this on MAL - then give up now because that webpage sure is going to put strain on the servers (see characters and more images that load without people actually wanting to see them). Go Premium button is scary. Very scary. That will be reason enough for people to rage. The page also lags a little, something that didn't happen with your old design. That's mainly my fault for having a fairly old laptop though. |
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| as others have said its too busy, go for minimalism |
| A better age rating system would also be nice. One that actually states which states the reasons (nudity, gore, etc) that's specific to each anime. MAL just has umbrella ratings, which isn't very helpful at all. |
GoldenBRS said: looks cool. Thanks. jojovonjo said: I like it. I already have lists on 4 sites so whats one more. I like the dark colors and the overall layout. Only thing I would suggest is only listing the first episode for any given show in the episode guide, before clicking "show all" of course. Five is just too much information and it looks a little cluttered. Other than that I quite like the layout. Thanks. I'm actually going to keep listing 3, but have decided to have it not show the episode summary until you click on the episode's title row. This will remove the "clutter" and lower the risk of spoilers. *Suggested by a member of Hummingbird Ambient_ said: Not really a fan of the red and dark blue tbh :S And I agree with Tsukikage that its too busy looking. Just reduce the number of graphics and/or change the color scheme, and I reckon it's pretty fantastic :) I also like how someone finally added IMDB's episode guide, but I don't where one could source the episode summaries for anime :S Being able to listen to the OP/EDs can lead to some legal issues as well :S But anyways, decimal scoring!!! :DDD Source? Like taking it from another website? I'm hoping people will write and submit their own summaries of course. :p Original, quality information is a good thing, and episode summaries aren't too hard to write. Yeah the music things may be an issue, but I don't believe so. I think the difficulty will be in maintaining it with working links honestly. You like the decimal scoring? I'm glad. :D I think that will be the thing people have the hardest time adjusting too, and for good reason. But I've really wanted to do a 90-point scoring system and I think people will get used to it. buwie said: I'll have to start following the updates of this. Seems like it has promise. I'm not a fan of the red on the black/dark blue. But I'm not opposed to the black at all. Maybe you can give us an option on the secondary color for users or make it a skin thing? As for actual critiques I have issues with menu bars covering up too many things/too much space, the current 'more' options for anime, manga, and community is fine, but maybe make it a little smaller? I also really like how the General info column stays fixed until you finish scrolling through the reviews. Really handy. The userpanel up top is nice too. I also have to agree that the episode guides could probably be compromised to 3 episodes? 1 would be a good preview, but I think 5 is too much especially if your just starting the series. 3 would be a good median. The only thing I can see that would need definite constant updating on is the Opening and ending previews. Depending on if you use song links or vid links. Either way it is nice to have those. All in all not bad. Look forward to seeing more. Yes, I've been considering offering color theme styles and or a high contrast version (where everything is dark in stead of a mix of dark and light). I can make the sub-menu items a bit smaller. Episode summaries has been touched on. I agree @ opening and ending previews. haremking said: If you want to build up a following for this website quicker once it's up and running, I think it would be really helpful if there was some sort of tool that would allow you to transfer your MAL list to this website. Some of the features on your website such as episode summaries and letting us play OP's and ED's look really cool so I would definitely try this new website out, but it would be such a hassle to move my entire anime list over to this new website. Unless it would become easier to move my entire list over, I probably would never fully switch over to this new site because I'm already so invested in MAL. Those are just my thoughts, but these new features you have do seem like they'll be really fun and helpful to use I'm glad you think so, after all I'm making this for people like you. :) There will definitely be an option to import your lists from aniDB and MAL and even vice versa eventually (hopefully)--- we'll be working on our own API of course. Tyrel said: It looks nice and all, but I feel like it has a lot of stuff thrown onto it that's not useful at all. for example: -Characters, Staff, Images to the left hand side isn't needed; just clicking the links to go to said place is better. -User recommendations feels too big, making them smaller would look better or making only 2 of them instead, until you click the link going to said place for the recommendations. -Episode guide is very unnecessary -Tone down the size for ED/OP section. -Club section? -Fansub groups? Overall the site looks nice, but it feels way too cluttered and busy looking. People like having something looking nice but simple too. Also I still don't see the "Fansub Groups section," many people rely on that to see what group is the best to chose from. Very good points actually. Characters and Staff sections on the sidebar will be removed and short section added to the main body instead. I will be adding a "Similar" section to the sidebar in it's place which will show 4 random "recommended" anime generated by our recommendation algorithm engine--- I had been thinking of a way to incorporate both an algorithm-based recommendation while also maintaining user recommendations, because I feel both are important/useful. I think this will incorporate with it just fine. Episode guide is being "minified"--- see above. I like the idea of limiting the recommendations to only 2 since it will help shorten the page (along with shortening the episodes) to make room for a short intro to characters and staff section in the main body. Unfortunately, the only way to tone down the OP/ED sections would be to remove the listen option. Trust me, I've tried. It's a flash player embedded code from Soundcloud though, and I can't scale it or do anything with it really. They also have an HTML5 player which I was able to manipulate basically anyway I wanted, but I found them to be extremely laggy. As much as I really like the listen now options though, I may be forced to remove them because even these flash players causes a heavy strain on page load, will be difficult to maintain, has legal implications, and as you said causes the section to be much larger than necessary. We'll see though... I'm still considering my options to what I think would be the best route. I'm going to add a short Groups section actually. I was planning to wait on groups, but I can see how they would be more of a necessity even if they aren't greatly used. Fansubs on the other hand I'm not too keen on. I can see how they would be useful to some people, but I'm not really interested in including them. It could be possible if there's enough support for it though, but I really feel like it would add more page clutter than usefulness. Ambient_ said: I just noticed the "Go Premium" button. I don't think that would be received well by people. At all. The premium feature will just be for added benefits and possibly customization. Removing ads would be one of them. It's more of a "donation" to show support for the website. If you have the money and want to help us out, great we'll have some small benefits to offer you. If not, that's okay you too, you won't be missing out on vital features. I haven't decided what special features or things premium users will receive yet though. But I don't think it should be something to be worried about if you don't have money or don't want to go premium, they will just be bonuses. Niyawa said: I liked the old design better, this one there's way too much in just one page. Pretty much what some have already said here, especially Tyrel. That's not just for the design though, if you're planning on implementing this on MAL - then give up now because that webpage sure is going to put strain on the servers (see characters and more images that load without people actually wanting to see them). Go Premium button is scary. Very scary. That will be reason enough for people to rage. The page also lags a little, something that didn't happen with your old design. That's mainly my fault for having a fairly old laptop though. I'm sure many people will like the old design better, especially MAL users, especially initially. "Change is bad" tends to be human nature, and this is very different from what you're all used to. The other design I did was meant to be for MAL, while changing nothing vital about the website, in order to keep even those who dislike change happy. It also has a "metro" type look which is very popular. Forget about that design though-- it doesn't look like Xinil/MAL is interested in it at all. I have no intention of trying to use this design on MAL. This design is for an entirely new website project being created from scratch. The character and staff images are being removed from the sidebar and a section is being placed in the main body. Those thumbnail images will not load by the way, until you scroll down the page to them, and even when you do, the full images will not load until you click on the thumbnail. We're talking about nearly 0 server load, I don't think that will be a problem. ;p See my response above about going premium. It should not be a scary thing at all. Thanks for the replies guys, some good suggestions here I think. Appreciate the responses. |
dperolioMay 9, 2013 7:50 AM
dperolio said: I have no intention of trying to use this design on MAL. This design is for an entirely new website project being created from scratch. The character and staff images are being removed from the sidebar and a section is being placed in the main body. Those thumbnail images will not load by the way, until you scroll down the page to them, and even when you do, the full images will not load until you click on the thumbnail. We're talking about nearly 0 server load, I don't think that will be a problem. ;p See my response above about going premium. It should not be a scary thing at all. Nah, If I were afraid of change, Windows 8 would not be installed here. The design is not bad though, but for MAL users it wouldn't be a good choice (especially because it's busy looking) thus I gave my 2 cents about it. Now since it's for another website (something totally new) then I can see it working out, and a lot better. If you implement some of the suggestions other users here gave, then you've got yourself a long path ahead. As for the premium, it doesn't seem bad now that I know what it will be about. Not sure if the "no-ad" will help though, most people are aware of Adblock and such. Do you plan to put a message for Adblock users to help with donations/purchase a premium account then? Seems to be a fairly popular measure in those cases. Be careful though - we are focusing on design here but you should also take a pretty good time thinking about functionality and other issues that will come up when people actually start using the website. |
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Niyawa said: dperolio said: I have no intention of trying to use this design on MAL. This design is for an entirely new website project being created from scratch. The character and staff images are being removed from the sidebar and a section is being placed in the main body. Those thumbnail images will not load by the way, until you scroll down the page to them, and even when you do, the full images will not load until you click on the thumbnail. We're talking about nearly 0 server load, I don't think that will be a problem. ;p See my response above about going premium. It should not be a scary thing at all. Nah, If I were afraid of change, Windows 8 would not be installed here. The design is not bad though, but for MAL users it wouldn't be a good choice (especially because it's busy looking) thus I gave my 2 cents about it. Now since it's for another website (something totally new) then I can see it working out, and a lot better. If you implement some of the suggestions other users here gave, then you've got yourself a long path ahead. As for the premium, it doesn't seem bad now that I know what it will be about. Not sure if the "no-ad" will help though, most people are aware of Adblock and such. Do you plan to put a message for Adblock users to help with donations/purchase a premium account then? Seems to be a fairly popular measure in those cases. Be careful though - we are focusing on design here but you should also take a pretty good time thinking about functionality and other issues that will come up when people actually start using the website. Trust me, I didn't spend nearly 600 hours working on this web design alone. :p I've spent the majority of my time thinking, debating, and deciding I would say. There are some tough choices to be made, and you can't please everything, but I want to at least try to create a great experience for a lot of people, in my own way. Also, most people don't like Windows 8 from what I've seen. :p I personally love it, but unfortunately can't use it anymore since this laptop can't even run Windows 7... But anyways. It will indeed be a long road. For what I want done, I can't imagine it taking less than 1-2 years honestly. But only time will tell, it's hard to put an estimate on these things. Dibes said: Niyawa said: dperolio said: I have no intention of trying to use this design on MAL. This design is for an entirely new website project being created from scratch. The character and staff images are being removed from the sidebar and a section is being placed in the main body. Those thumbnail images will not load by the way, until you scroll down the page to them, and even when you do, the full images will not load until you click on the thumbnail. We're talking about nearly 0 server load, I don't think that will be a problem. ;p See my response above about going premium. It should not be a scary thing at all. Nah, If I were afraid of change, Windows 8 would not be installed here. The design is not bad though, but for MAL users it wouldn't be a good choice (especially because it's busy looking) thus I gave my 2 cents about it. Now since it's for another website (something totally new) then I can see it working out, and a lot better. If you implement some of the suggestions other users here gave, then you've got yourself a long path ahead. As for the premium, it doesn't seem bad now that I know what it will be about. Not sure if the "no-ad" will help though, most people are aware of Adblock and such. Do you plan to put a message for Adblock users to help with donations/purchase a premium account then? Seems to be a fairly popular measure in those cases. Be careful though - we are focusing on design here but you should also take a pretty good time thinking about functionality and other issues that will come up when people actually start using the website. I can see where you are coming from in the sense of it being busy-looking, but everything has a purpose and it has been very thought out in terms of usability. I've been messing around for a few days now, and find most everything usable. The design is centered around on a fully featured site, which is very cleverly laid out to not overwhelm the user, but provide plenty of options for things to do. There is a lot of stuff we want this site to be able to do, and trying to cram it all in while having it still look good has been a challenge for dperolio, but I feel he has done a great job to compact it and make it super functional. This is one of my back-end developers Dibes, so he's a little biased probably. But thanks for the comment Dibes. :p |
dperolio said: Fansubs on the other hand I'm not too keen on. I can see how they would be useful to some people, but I'm not really interested in including them. It could be possible if there's enough support for it though, but I really feel like it would add more page clutter than usefulness. I can tell you that lots of people are Keen on it. I know for myself that I've always looked at which group was best voted by/how many votes they've had throughout their subbing duration, and then I go and download said anime. IMO it's needed for a Anime site. Maybe adding a separate page for it? But I honestly can't see myself having an Anime site without it. Most newcomers wouldn't know what group would be the best for quality, etc. Only veterans would know what groups are in the peak. |
TyrelMay 9, 2013 10:04 AM
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Dibes said: I've been messing around for a few days now, and find most everything usable. The design is centered around on a fully featured site, which is very cleverly laid out to not overwhelm the user, but provide plenty of options for things to do. There is a lot of stuff we want this site to be able to do, and trying to cram it all in while having it still look good has been a challenge for dperolio, but I feel he has done a great job to compact it and make it super functional. I've mentioned the circumstances so I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me, but I'll say I get it for convenience's sake. Just a question, you said you've been using it for a few days when it's been only out yesterday... huh how does that work? I've visited his website before but he never posted this layout there. Edit: Oh now I get it. You're helping with stuff, I thought it was weird. @dp I see. I'm all for this project friend. I'll keep an eye here and provide much as feedback as I can for now. |
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| Like someone else said, I would really like a preview of what the profile page would look like. Anime and manga list too. Of course it doesn't have to be now, but that's what we mainly would use an anime listing site for. That "go premium" button. I know you explained the purpose and I understand. But having it everywhere and being called "go premium" doesn't sound good. It follows you while you're scrolling down t he page and it's advertised near the reviews. The wording itself sounds not good, I don't know how to explain it. Going Premium reminds me of facebook games and porn sites. Even if someone has donated money, it still sounds weird to separate users like that. That's something MAL doesn't do, that I like. Also the taking away of ads is not that interesting, as most people use Adblock anyways. Though there are probably some people that would donate. I like how MAL has the characters and staff on the front page, for yours it feels just like a small add on (granted, because it doesn't go anywhere, I can't tell how I feel completely about it). I feel like it should be an important part of the anime page. I see that you are planning on adding it back as a small addition in the middle, that sounds nice. Like in your previous page, the OP and ED section is huge. That's probably because of those listening buttons. I see what you've said about it, though I don't really understand that lingo so this might not work. But maybe you can make the listen buttons smaller(like half) but not have it play on the page, a small popup would work, with options for searching through the song, volume, etc. For the prequels, sequels, and related. You might want to make a web to better see the relationships between anime, their sequels, prequels, movies, spinoffs, specials, OVAs, etc. The side panel looks a little long because of the genres and producers being each on a different line. How MAL does it where they are seperated by commas takes up less space. Restrict the recs to two at a time(random) and maybe make the pics a little smaller. I think you might have already addressed that. Are you planning on using tags for finding anime better while searching? It's better not to use the users and just create your own way. Have tags for everything including the setting(post apocalyptic, school [maybe even specify which branch, high, middle, elementary]), characters(whether the main is male or female, etc), if it's episodic, a short, non spoiler plot points, etc. Likes - I do really like the color coded corners on the pics. Especially if that works while searching or whatever. - Of course a decimal rating system is always nice.Though the option to just input the number would be nice too. - I don't actually mind the top having that much stuff in it. Though that's not saying that it can't be changed a little, some stuff moved, removed, made smaller, etc. I don't have any thoughts as to what those are right now. Maybe the ability to customize it. - Episode summaries are cool, I always wanted those here. I see that you're going to lower it to 3 episodes on default, that is good. Having it fan supported is good, but that means you're going to have to moderate it a lot and they are going to start out empty and some may never be completed as it does take work to write them. Spammers, trolls, wrong info, could all be in there. - I like the title for the reviews, it helps you know what the person thinks of the anime before reading it. - Trailers and images to see art quality and stuff like that is nice. Just make sure that they are from the right series. I went to Hummingbird and most of them were from different series connected to the series or different season. Keep fan art out of anywhere official like character pics, images, etc. You might as well go through the site suggestions on here. You're bound to find some good ones that MAL won't implement. |
IntroverTurtleMay 9, 2013 2:26 PM
     Short of the day: Monotonous Purgatory(MAL) ✰Public Domain Club | One Piece Club✰ |
dperolio said: buwie said: I'll have to start following the updates of this. Seems like it has promise. I'm not a fan of the red on the black/dark blue. But I'm not opposed to the black at all. Maybe you can give us an option on the secondary color for users or make it a skin thing? As for actual critiques I have issues with menu bars covering up too many things/too much space, the current 'more' options for anime, manga, and community is fine, but maybe make it a little smaller? I also really like how the General info column stays fixed until you finish scrolling through the reviews. Really handy. The userpanel up top is nice too. I also have to agree that the episode guides could probably be compromised to 3 episodes? 1 would be a good preview, but I think 5 is too much especially if your just starting the series. 3 would be a good median. The only thing I can see that would need definite constant updating on is the Opening and ending previews. Depending on if you use song links or vid links. Either way it is nice to have those. All in all not bad. Look forward to seeing more. Yes, I've been considering offering color theme styles and or a high contrast version (where everything is dark in stead of a mix of dark and light). I can make the sub-menu items a bit smaller. Episode summaries has been touched on. I agree @ opening and ending previews. High contrast wouldn't be be bad. I'd like to see the preview for that before it's implemented ;) Thanks^^ That would be nice for those who have issues with things being covered up XD I didn't realize about the legality of the openings and endings until someone after me posted...hope you can find a way to deal with this if you decide to keep it ;) IntroverTurtle said: You might as well go through the site suggestions on here. You're bound to find some good ones that MAL won't implement. Like the 'won't watch'. You want to add that and I like that ;) But yes I agree with Turtle get some suggestions from here and see if they would be good to implement on Stockpile. |
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| I'm actually thinking about re-doing the design again with a simple, plain but still original approach. ;_; I thought this would be the design, but it doesn't seem to be the answer most of you are probably looking for. I need to do some soul searching. I really want to make a great design that everyone will like and use. Maybe I was trying too hard with this design and just need to keep it simple. |
| Is there an estimated time frame for when this site will be fully functional? Also, I think a neat function you could add in is a two score rating system. We all know that MALs rating system is broken. It would be really helpful if you could give a show a score based off personal enjoyment/entertainment and then another based off actual plot/character/literary elements, that way you get to be a critic and express how much you love/hate a show. For example, let's take Gurren Lagann; I love this show, I gave it a ten, and it's one of my personal favorites, but after closer inspection, there's a lot of flaws with the show, so my rating based off its actual merits might be lower than my rating based off enjoyment. Same goes for a show you dislike; maybe you realize that this show is good, but you just didn't like it for some reason. With a two score rating system, I think scores would be more balanced. |
haremkingMay 9, 2013 10:16 PM
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dperolio said: I'm actually thinking about re-doing the design again with a simple, plain but still original approach. ;_; I thought this would be the design, but it doesn't seem to be the answer most of you are probably looking for. I need to do some soul searching. I really want to make a great design that everyone will like and use. Maybe I was trying too hard with this design and just need to keep it simple. ye i suggest you go for minimalism dude so that the contents can breathe more some websites i like the minimalism are http://bigthink.com/ http://www.engadget.com/ |
NFH said: When I have asked people why they use MAL instead of any of the much older sites like Anidb, the most common reason they gave was that 'MAL user interface is simply much more comfortable than the alternatives.' True. dp once tried to argue with me that MAL design sucks (from a perspective of a designer) but now he should understand that what a designer can see is not the same as the user. I believe the design he created is more than okay, it just needs a few tweaks and we can get somewhere. |
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| MAL is the only site I compile my anime list on, and the only reason I use MAL (and not other sites) is due to a program that scans my PC, collects the data needed, and updates MAL for me. Much like MAL Updater. I could never see myself using a site without a similar functionality. Of course, it wasn't the MAL admins who made this software so I'm not putting pressure on you to implement something similar. I know this is probably miles away from what you are thinking about currently, but for me, it is the key feature. And I would not bring it up if not for the 22,000+ members in the MAL updater club who may think the same. But all your prototypes look great so far. I really hope it goes well for you! |
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Niyawa said: NFH said: When I have asked people why they use MAL instead of any of the much older sites like Anidb, the most common reason they gave was that 'MAL user interface is simply much more comfortable than the alternatives.' True. dp once tried to argue with me that MAL design sucks (from a perspective of a designer) but now he should understand that what a designer can see is not the same as the user. I believe the design he created is more than okay, it just needs a few tweaks and we can get somewhere. The A problem is that MAL's interface - while being really simple - lacks any modern touch as well as (smart) features and improvements. It looks like a website from 2000 that was never changed/touched since then. A lot of people find that as off putting as others convenient. A more modern design does not mean a site has to be complex or anything. But.. MAL users tend to bitch about the slightest change whatsoever on the other side making any progress impossible. And I find it better to use a different design than the other one from dperolio as this is a new site, no 1:1 copy of MAL. So this new design stands on his own feet. However, I do dislike the colors, too. Custom themes would be necessary, I guess. Not saying it's bad looking, it kicks ass its own way like your MAL redesign, it's just not my cup of tea. I'd prefer it greenish instead of red or plain white/blue like in your MAL redesign. Each his own. dperolio said: I'm actually thinking about re-doing the design again with a simple, plain but still original approach. ;_; I thought this would be the design, but it doesn't seem to be the answer most of you are probably looking for. I need to do some soul searching. I really want to make a great design that everyone will like and use. Maybe I was trying too hard with this design and just need to keep it simple. By reading what you write and how much thoughts and time you put in your designs I get the impression that you are quite the perfectionist. Put something out that you are content with, that is maintainable and easy to upgrade/change and deal with that. That's much better than put something great out and throw it all out the window again and again and again just to start from scratch. Although, I agree a more simple design would be better that doesn't mean you have to cut out the smart ideas like ep summaries. Right now you have basically 3 toolbars: That one that follows in scrolling, that one with "Hub, ..., Forum" in it and that red one with Home and Premium. These are making it look a bit bloated. I get what they are for but I am just stating the problem with that. And what is that "A high school student finds a (..) die?"? Is that a shorter summary? That seems odd as there is another summary directly under it. Seems redundant to me. Remove it, less distraction for the eye when looking on the other information. I know this is more or less a preview, however when not logged in hide the Follow/Edit this page and similar buttons. But you maybe intend to do that anyway, so I leave it at that. On top of the site and at the bottom there are social sites mentioned. Under Watch Trailer there is a Share with others button. On top I guess they are to like, tweet or +1 the page and at the bottom those are the corresponding pages of Stockpile, I guess? Seems a bit odd. I'd remove them on the top and put them in the Share with others or so unless that's for Stockpile internal sharing. Regarding the episode summaries, while I actually like that idea (it reminds me of Wikipedia) I would either only display one and one only, the others are hidden and only viewable through "View All" cause of potential spoilers as you hint already with "WARNING: Spoilers ahead". The human is curious and if he glimpse at something when accidentally scrolled down there.. Or display a variable amount of episodes but hide the summaryuntil someone clicks a corresponding button called "Read the summary" or so. I'd prefer the latter as you save some more room. Would there be only one summary for each ep? Or would everyone be able to write one? I'd say do it like lastfm with their artist pages. One for all. Otherwise a rating like helpful not helpful would be needed to only show the best ones. "Prequels, Sequels, and Related" Just call it Related. Prequel/Sequel is related to that anime, if there is one if there's no prequel it confuses the user by thinking their is a prequel/sequel even if there isn't. However, again: some redundancy. Images <- that feature is brilliant in my eyes. Leave it alone! It would help to discover nice looking anime or funny scenes or whatever. Pictures are always great! Also reminds me of lastfm and artist photos. In general the sidebar is great. I'd say one of the best things of the design. Opening & Ending Theme Songs: Yes, needs to be a bit smaller as already discussed. Just agreeing here. User Recommendations: There's an agree and a report button but no disagree button? Weird. Watch Trailer: Really nice idea, but I think it'd be difficult to maintain that. But again, neat. Recently Viewed: Able to hide, great! Decimal rating is cool, however being somehow (maybe the number shown right when moving the slide as a text box?) able to just put in a number would be nice as already mentioned. All in all that design is already really, really great and I'd love to be able to use it on my own right now, just needs some polishing here and there to make it look a bit simpler and less - in lack of a better word - "bloated". But to achieve that you don't need to start from scratch. Just try to play around a bit with the things I mentioned and try tweaking it here and there. On a side note I really love your design abilities. Being a programmer myself who lacks this ability I envy you. :P Edit: DiGGzBoT said: I know this is probably miles away from what you are thinking about currently, but for me, it is the key feature. And I would not bring it up if not for the 22,000+ members in the MAL updater club who may think the same. That what you are talking about is done with a so called API. The program you are using is using that to put/add the information to your account. Dperolio just needs to add such an API which is usually a piece of cake to do. But I'd support that idea. Every website should provide one. One that is better than what we've got here on MAL, though. Still that would be something that is added much later. |
nantukoMay 10, 2013 5:36 PM
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| I may just be being really OCD here, but the way the picture overlaps the border is bugging me a surprising amount. Other than that I like it, I don't think it's perfect but I'm no web designer so I have very little to suggest. |
Slyr3do0n said: I may just be being really OCD here, but the way the picture overlaps the border is bugging me a surprising amount. Other than that I like it, I don't think it's perfect but I'm no web designer so I have very little to suggest. |
TsukikageRan said: Don't like it as much as your original which was way cleaner and more pleasant to the eyes. I spend a lot of time on MAL and this is tiring to look at. Way too busy looking. But I like the improvements that you've 'implemented' - sliders, alternate names, won't watch options and a whole lot more. I just want it cleaner looking. I agree. The biggest factor as to why I prefer MAL over the other handful of anime and manga database sites that have sprung up and folded over the years is not it's reliability or it's speed (which are lacking sometimes) but rather it's clean look. Everything is simple, easy on the eyes, and it has everything you need and nothing superfluous. Your site is obviously going the more flashy route, relying much more on graphics and colours. You also seem to be trying to add a lot more options and extra stuff. There's NOTHING wrong with that, in fact, it's probably better if you're different than MAL (otherwise what would be the point right?) but for someone like me, I prefer a nice clean simple layout. |
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dperolio said: I'm actually thinking about re-doing the design again with a simple, plain but still original approach. ;_; I thought this would be the design, but it doesn't seem to be the answer most of you are probably looking for. I need to do some soul searching. I really want to make a great design that everyone will like and use. Maybe I was trying too hard with this design and just need to keep it simple. I'm going to say this bluntly: not everyone is going to like the design and trying to cater to those who have a refined taste in what they view to be a decent design may loose you the followers who like the current preview. Keep in mind the points everyone or the majority of people keep touching on and you'll be good. Giving us options for whatever listed is good for those picky people. But maybe here's an idea: try a beta test with random people on MAL. Invite [insert number here] of people to beta test for you when you get the site launched and go with their opinions on how to change things, keep in mind, just like asking here on the board, many will be MAL oriented, but I think this may help you find the design you want ;) Don't just assume because we are all wanting MAL simple that we won't use Stockpile. The users who really like it will stand behind it regardless of the niche they've made on MAL, if they have one at all. NFH said: When I have asked people why they use MAL instead of any of the much older sites like Anidb, the most common reason they gave was that 'MAL user interface is simply much more comfortable than the alternatives.' The interface was a bonus when I joined. I was looking for a listing site for years, well actually wishing there was one but didn't know how to go about finding it. I saw a link to anime planet on Gaia somewhere and liked the listing, and then a few weeks later the creator of the topic had found MAL and said it was better. I agree for these reasons: ap doesn't have NEAR as many series in their database as MAL does for both anime and manga, and the creator even told me that she had no idea how to classify some of the entries. To me hearing that from the creator told me she just liked the idea of her site. She couldn't be bothered to go the extra mile to actually make her site BETTER in regards to expanding the database. The other reason I love MAL as much as I do is that it's not all forum based. You have clubs that are part of the forums but unless your a member, generally you can't view the club board. Ap all the member interaction is forum based. Keeping a convo going in the profile comments just doesn't work. I'm not much of a forum person. I generally prefer to lurk and read then actually interact. So being forum based was just no go for me. I haven't experienced AniDB yet so I can't say yah or nay on that front. |
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Ambient_ said: I realize it's intentional, bt that doesn't stop it from bugging me XDSlyr3do0n said: I may just be being really OCD here, but the way the picture overlaps the border is bugging me a surprising amount. Other than that I like it, I don't think it's perfect but I'm no web designer so I have very little to suggest. |
| I'll stick with a technical review since my "design" skills are zero... 47 Errors, 2 warning(s) you should fix these Lots of <a href="#"> .. be sure to replace these with real locations. Don't use blank alt text on images <img alt=""> The blind won't know what they are looking at (pun intended). IMG should only be used for images that are part of the "content", never for theming. Class names should describe the element, not how the element should look. Example: <a class="body-but red right" href="#">Write a review</a> "red" and "right" make it impossible to re-theme the site without changing the markup. (see "separation of concerns") The stylesheet should be written based on the markup, not the other way around. Load all site content, css, and javascript from your own domain. <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script> Host jquery yourself. If the 3rd party site becomes compromised, so will your site. |
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BurntJelly said: Lots of <a href="#"> .. be sure to replace these with real locations. Because...? Not interested in a flame war about that as it happens but.. These are actually perfectly fine from a technical point of view. Sure there are small drawbacks but from my own experience these are less than using something like <a href="javascript:void(0);" id="doSomethingDependingOnThisHrefsId"> or similar. Best practice would suggest real locations but it's not like # is a bad choice it's (in my eyes) the best he can do, when he fires javascript with it. |
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BurntJelly said: I'll stick with a technical review since my "design" skills are zero... 47 Errors, 2 warning(s) you should fix these Lots of <a href="#"> .. be sure to replace these with real locations. Don't use blank alt text on images <img alt=""> The blind won't know what they are looking at (pun intended). IMG should only be used for images that are part of the "content", never for theming. Class names should describe the element, not how the element should look. Example: <a class="body-but red right" href="#">Write a review</a> "red" and "right" make it impossible to re-theme the site without changing the markup. (see "separation of concerns") The stylesheet should be written based on the markup, not the other way around. Load all site content, css, and javascript from your own domain. <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script> Host jquery yourself. If the 3rd party site becomes compromised, so will your site. The a hrefs will be replaced with real locations for no-Javascript fallback. Though even MSN uses #, not sure it's that big a deal. I won't use blank alts. I haven't used any img's as part of content as far as I know. I have no idea what you're trying to say about the button. Google, Amazon, Youtube, etc. use the same method I did. I don't know what you mean. If you want to change the theme as you say, you just change the "red" to another class, such as "blue." "right" is a generic float: right; class and I can simply remove it to remove the float or change it to "left" to float it left. This makes it very easy to customize. How are you saying you would you do it? And no, it's better to link from Google's CDN because their servers are much faster, and it's likely people will already have it cached, so it won't add any loading time or HTTP requests at all. If Google "becomes compromised" I fear I'll have far greater things to worry about than this site. Thanks for the analysis >.> but this is just a rough demo, like I said, not optimized at all. Thanks for the continuing comments guys... Can I just ask, if you had to pick your favorite thing about MAL, what would it be? (User profiles, anime/manga page set-up, forums, clubs, lists, etc.). I'm really inspired right now to do a vertical navigation style similar to Facebook's new theme. It would free up top space, allow you to see content immediately, and I think it's very usable. Pretty much every screen is widescreen nowadays anyway and we don't make use of the full horizontal space, it seems like a good idea. My goal is also to have a site-wide Facebook-style friend chat messenger to be able communicate with your friends instantly. |
dperolioMay 11, 2013 7:32 AM
dperolio said: Can I just ask, if you had to pick your favorite thing about MAL, what would it be? (User profiles, anime/manga page set-up, forums, clubs, lists, etc.). the anime/manga list of course that is the primary reason why im here the clubs and profiles is not that necessary imho and the forums is a good time waster why focus on anime alone? you can add holywood movie and tv series list as well as asian tv series and movies list and if possible also add games list like VN list too, just a suggestion if you want to expand the idea of the list more |
j0x said: dperolio said: Can I just ask, if you had to pick your favorite thing about MAL, what would it be? (User profiles, anime/manga page set-up, forums, clubs, lists, etc.). the anime/manga list of course that is the primary reason why im here the clubs and profiles is not that necessary imho and the forums is a good time waster why focus on anime alone? you can add holywood movie and tv series list as well as asian tv series and movies list and if possible also add games list like VN list too, just a suggestion if you want to expand the idea of the list more Oh, I very much plan to expand to expand to other industries if everything works out. But that won't be till far down the road when the anime and manga site is "perfected" in a sense. That's part of the reason I chose the name "Animanga Stockpile", as it leaves potential to move into "Movies" Stockpile, "Gaming" Stockpile, "Book" Stockpile, "Music" Stockpile, etc. The other industries are much more competitive as well though and many good websites already exist. |
dperolio said: Can I just ask, if you had to pick your favorite thing about MAL, what would it be? (User profiles, anime/manga page set-up, forums, clubs, lists, etc.). -Anime/Mangalist -anime/manga pages -forums. I would very much love a instant messaging system :) |
Ambient_ said: I would very much love a instant messaging system :) >IRC We already have that, unless you want a in-page chat which let's be fair - it doesn't usually bring any good. |
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dperolio said: Can I just ask, if you had to pick your favorite thing about MAL, what would it be? (User profiles, anime/manga page set-up, forums, clubs, lists, etc.) The lists. Being able to customize them with CSS, clubs are nice but I think they have gotten out of hand here on MAL. Would say there needs to be a monitoring system or a purging system to get ride of ones that remain in active (forum or comment wise or both) for more then a year, The user Panel page is also really nice and being able to customize it is something that I like to. dperolio said: My goal is also to have a site-wide Facebook-style friend chat messenger to be able communicate with your friends instantly. These are annoying. Especially insite messengers. I already avoid the FB one like the plague. I'm sorry but if I get on to update my lists I don't want people bugging me. Yes I'm sure there will be an option to turn it off, but facebook's just glares at me from the bottom of the screen, so annoyance right there that it even exists. As far as bringing in other industries to the site. I'm against it. Unless it's just the asian drama's and movies. Cause I have a feeling there will be more people interested in those other industries then why you created the site in the first place. And I don't think you'll want to completely redo the site so they can have 'just their movies and tv shows' Cause I have a feeling a lot of them are going to heavily complain about the anime and manga options or start stuff with the anime and manga users and that will get really ugly. |
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| I think an instant messaging system is a good idea. Having to go and refresh your page every time you're waiting for a message is kind of a hassle. Also, I think a lot of people would really appreciate a Visual Novel list, I know a lot of people have been asking for one on MAL for a while and I think it would be a good idea since the people who use your website also play these types of games. |
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| This always happens. We are trying to focus on one thing (which should be the design and structure of the website) then everyone suddenly appears from everywhere trying to put so much stuff in just one place disregarding whatever requirements or work we would need to do those things. Visual Novel list? Really? Don't we have a wonderful website that does the job for that? If vndb.org sucked at this, I'd undestand but that's really not the case (you can enlighten me though). If the mindset is to make an all-solution website then we are in the wrong step already. Let's talk anime and manga first. We can go on from there people. |
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gundam34 said: The biggest issue I have is that I cannot see my list in a single page, like here in MAL. Even your profile is geared towards your contributions to the database, like how many edits you have done. It doesn't even have an area where you can put a profile picture or an "about me" section. Nothing. From a standpoint of someone trying to keep track of something, those about me doesn't even matter, but I get your point. gundam34 said: Why? Focus. At the moment, dp is focusing on making a website that is build up from the ground for anime and manga. So such things as VN lists, movie lists and similar should be put aside otherwise they will hinder the development because of the divergence of options the website would need to have. I'm not saying we should not consider those suggestions, that would be ignorant of my part. I'd love to have that if possible too, but at the moment it's not something we should be thinking about. If you catch my drift. gundam34 said: Exactly. You should change the "go premium" button to simply "donate". As IntroverTurtle says, it simply doesn't sound good. At all. I'm a favor of this as well. gundam34 said: I think you have your priorities wrong, dperolio. Out of all the things people ask of MAL, a "site-wide Facebook-style friend chat messenger to be able communicate with your friends instantly" is at the bottom of the list. If that is a must-implement feature for you, I just ask for a way to disable it since that's what I personally do with chats like that in any of the sites I frequent. In a way, that sort of communication device is really unnecessary most of the time. We use things like Skype, Trillian etc because we want to use IM for those people we really want to, or need to. Also, for a website where people would occasionally drop by to update their lists, things like comments and PMs are much more effective. |
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| I'm not saying a LN list should be a top priority. Getting the site running and a comprehensive anime/manga database is more important than this suggestion, but I do think it should be a serious consideration for when all the major components of the site have been completed. Users have been requesting a list on MAL for a while now and it seems like we won't get one, at least anytime soon, so it would be nice to have it already put into consideration for this new site. |
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