[Nemphtis]

Myself and my staff are currently working on version four of the EDGE UK website. As some of you may already be aware, the website and forums are currently shut down for a complete makeover. We've upgraded our IPB to the latest version and are in the process of installing five new skins along with an ocean of MODs. But more important one of our members is hard at work with designing the website layout/design. He has just finished sending me a rough base template, I've attatched it below to get some opinions. Please keep in mind this is just the base of the Pizza, there are still many topping to add before it's finished and then we still have to cook it too.

I'd like to explain what we're planning so far for the website. The banner at the top will be flash and the EUK logo will be alot more polished by the time the final design is finished. Using flash we plan to have a kind of NeonGlow/Wind animation. So basically you're going to have something that looks like baby blue magic pixie dust blowing towards the right of the banner from the EUK logo. The left column will have the menu which will have cascaded links and underneath the menu will be our affilliates. For the right column we will have our shoutbox and our skyscraper advert banner. The bottom two boxes are to showcase featured events, such as new tournaments that are currently running or coming soon, graphics competitions and results and anything else we want people to know about. Lastly the column in the middle will have the content for each page.

So I'll use this topic to post updates as we progress and get feedback on how best to shape our site. This years theme is "Black DS Lite" as you can see we've gone for a very glossy black theme. Let me know what you think so far and feel free to suggest any features we could be interested in. We're already considering a chatroom and jukebox.

PS. These are the five skins we're going to install on our forums, let me know what you think:

http://skins.invisio.../f/5420/size/lg

http://skins.invisio.../f/5486/size/lg

http://skins.invisio.../f/6396/size/lg

http://skins.invisio.../f/6263/size/lg

http://skins.invisio.../f/6556/size/lg

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[Nick Presta]

I like the concept idea but remember, dark layouts are EXTREMELY hard to pull off and rarely please the majority of people.

[Nemphtis]

Yeah I know, actually it's funny because we were going for a white version. But alot of my members agreed that white glossy layouts are far more common plus I notice my members always like using the dark skins on the forum so I figured what the heck. I mean to be honest based on my experiences most of our visitors prefer dark layouts even though I personally prefer light ones.

[Nemphtis]

I dunno why I ever bother since nobody seems interested due to the fact it's not Nintendo related or Nintendo Hentai related, but as an update the forums are online, if you've already registered on my forum then log in and check out the new skins and stuff, if you havn't got an account then don't bother visiting. You can check the forums out by clicking on our sexy splash page until the site is online: www.clanedge.co.uk

[-Edge-]

A site dedicated to me, yes!, lol

I like the 3rd and 4th one, the 5th one's cool too

I hope that narrowed it down ;)

[Lemontime]

Oh man. If I had a 360 I would so join that clan.
It is a 360 clan right?
Anyway.
A big Microsoft community is VGCats forums. You might want to check out their Xbox live Sub-forum in the Video games section.
And none of the links work for me.
And that layout has some real potential(sp?).

[Nemphtis]

-Edge-, on Jul 24 2006, 11:38 AM, said:

A site dedicated to me, yes!, lol

I like the 3rd and 4th one, the 5th one's cool too

I hope that narrowed it down ;)

Yeah, we used to have a Metallic one but we removed it shortly after since it just wasn't that great. My members are loving all the other skins though, we can't decide which one to use first. :)

sibsag, on Jul 24 2006, 11:44 AM, said:

Oh man. If I had a 360 I would so join that clan.
It is a 360 clan right?
Anyway.
A big Microsoft community is VGCats forums. You might want to check out their Xbox live Sub-forum in the Video games section.
And none of the links work for me.
And that layout has some real potential(sp?).

Yes, we were an Xbox clan but now we've upgraded to being a 360 clan since the release of the next-gen console. Sadly you probably couldn't join if you had a 360. We're very picky about who we let into the clan, you'd have to be from the UK, make us laugh alot and be very dedicated. My members have to post on our forums every week and attend three training nights every week, if they don't do this they get booted just like that. I run a strict regime but this is why we're one of the most well-known UK Xbox Live clans out there.

[Lemontime]

You really get your moneys worth out of Live.. =|

[Nemphtis]

Right guys, we've added a few small touches to the design because I felt it was TOO plain even for a plain design. The footer will contain our affilliates, the banner hasn't been edited yet but that shouldn't be a problem and the two feature boxes aren't complete but you should get a general idea of it. Can anyone suggest any small touches to the design that will keep it looking simple/smooth but still improve the overal feel?

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[Lemontime]

I think the Edge UK logo is well overused. Just have it at the top and bottom. People know what site they're browsing.

[Nemphtis]

I don't know, not many people have complained about that. The EUK logo's are mainly there to provide a splash of color and to stop making the site look too plain. Also keep in mind when there is actually content on that page they will be far, far less noticable. I'll discuss your suggestions with my guys though, and see if we can maybe work around it or not based on what they think is the best path.

Check out this coded demo, just to give you a little better idea!

[Lemontime]

Very nice coding. Althought I might suggest that the menu items be in a smaller font, and the hover makes the text go bold, and change to the colour it is set to know. And I think you might want to make all the fonts smaller. I've only looked at it in firefox, so I'll see if there's any change in IE.

Aaah.. Yeah. It's a bit messed in IE.
Reffer to the attatched file. The content box is waaay down.

[Nemphtis]

Yes, it's worth pointing out that we're having trouble with IE right now. It's not our fault really, it's a glitch in IE5-6 so the problem is if we fix it for 5 it will look bad in 6 and vice versa. This is why Internet Explorer sucks. We're trying to find a way around that issue.

As for making the text go bold, that effect is overated and annoying. The font size is something I'll point out to the guys since we may make it a little bit smaller.

[Toasty]

Instead of making the text go bold, you could make it change color and get larger when you hover. I think the demo is pretty good. For the record, I'm on IE6.

[Nick Presta]

Hmm. That site looks familiar. :smile: