The "Sony Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
This one will be judged by Ali on Monday April 30th.
Just list out what you would like to see on the home page of UKps2.com.
Take a look at it (there's a link to the left).
What should there be more of?
What's missing?
What is there too much of?
What are your suggestions?
You can post them in one post, or post several times.
The best set of suggestions will win an extra Filmaday prize.
Beware - we don't want our page loading time to go up.
Just list out what you would like to see on the home page of UKps2.com.
Take a look at it (there's a link to the left).
What should there be more of?
What's missing?
What is there too much of?
What are your suggestions?
You can post them in one post, or post several times.
The best set of suggestions will win an extra Filmaday prize.
Beware - we don't want our page loading time to go up.
Page:
Last set of ideas probably:
1) I realise you said you didn`t want loading times to go up, and I`m not sure how much effect a bit of javascript has, but what about some event triggered actions. Where you have some of the pictures such as the ones down the side, you could arrange it so that when the mouse goes over the picture it changes.
Perhaps this could be used as a way of advertising its price. When the mouse goes over the picture, another pucture appears in its place, saying "Save £7" or "Only £32.99" or whatever you want.
2) On a similar note, the side of the page with all the links could also be compacted using javascript. If you use form that upon pressing the down key, the list of links appears. This would leave more room for PS2 stuff.
I think that might be it. Thanks.
1) I realise you said you didn`t want loading times to go up, and I`m not sure how much effect a bit of javascript has, but what about some event triggered actions. Where you have some of the pictures such as the ones down the side, you could arrange it so that when the mouse goes over the picture it changes.
Perhaps this could be used as a way of advertising its price. When the mouse goes over the picture, another pucture appears in its place, saying "Save £7" or "Only £32.99" or whatever you want.
2) On a similar note, the side of the page with all the links could also be compacted using javascript. If you use form that upon pressing the down key, the list of links appears. This would leave more room for PS2 stuff.
I think that might be it. Thanks.
Third set of ideas to add:
1) Some of the abbreviations in red links across the screen below the site search are a little too concise. If I see GD and FD I can guess they are Filmaday and Gameaday links. However, to a non-regular this would go totally unnoticed. What is "more" and "804"? I got a huge page of links to stuff with "more" which makes sense, but I wouldn`t have thought of going to "more" to find them. I`d go for the search box. With "804" I went to the discussions. I would personally put less links to places, and instead opt for more detailed descriptions of those you decide to keep. For example <£10 is enough explanation, but there could be a more attractive way of writing it. As for FD, GD and 804. These are all discussio related, so perhaps they could have their own little space along with PS2 discussions.
2) The site search itself is good, but it has the same design as all other site searches. It is probably best to leave it as it is, so that it matches the other pages, and stands out as being a search (everyone is familiar with this type of box). However, if the colour could be changed, or the design altered so that it had a PS2 theme that`d be great. Imagin a search where the box was Black fading to purple/blue.
3) Similarly to point 1) the list of links across the page just below the logo could also receive a little bit of bunching up. Perhaps putting the PC and Maxx stuff all together. On a PS2 page, having links to all different types of PC pages may not be what customers are looking for. By reducing the number of links, the size and description of the others could be increased. Putting the font size up might be what the links need in order to catch people`s eyes even more.
1) Some of the abbreviations in red links across the screen below the site search are a little too concise. If I see GD and FD I can guess they are Filmaday and Gameaday links. However, to a non-regular this would go totally unnoticed. What is "more" and "804"? I got a huge page of links to stuff with "more" which makes sense, but I wouldn`t have thought of going to "more" to find them. I`d go for the search box. With "804" I went to the discussions. I would personally put less links to places, and instead opt for more detailed descriptions of those you decide to keep. For example <£10 is enough explanation, but there could be a more attractive way of writing it. As for FD, GD and 804. These are all discussio related, so perhaps they could have their own little space along with PS2 discussions.
2) The site search itself is good, but it has the same design as all other site searches. It is probably best to leave it as it is, so that it matches the other pages, and stands out as being a search (everyone is familiar with this type of box). However, if the colour could be changed, or the design altered so that it had a PS2 theme that`d be great. Imagin a search where the box was Black fading to purple/blue.
3) Similarly to point 1) the list of links across the page just below the logo could also receive a little bit of bunching up. Perhaps putting the PC and Maxx stuff all together. On a PS2 page, having links to all different types of PC pages may not be what customers are looking for. By reducing the number of links, the size and description of the others could be increased. Putting the font size up might be what the links need in order to catch people`s eyes even more.
I have a few more ideas I`d like to add:
1) I assume there must be a sales counter, or something that keeps track of the number of copies of a game have been sold. Where the main three games are, at the top right of the page, (at the moment its Quake 3, Starfighter and ZOE) you could add some sales details. For example: ZOE : 1,547 copies sold in only 3 weeks (or whatever it is).
I know it isn`t the best reason to buy a game, but it is always an attraction when it sounds like it is selling well. If a person visitied the site and saw ZOE, selling like bread at a Uni gorcery store it might tempt them to have a closer look at that particular product.
2) Will there be any Bid Deals for the PS2? When I bought my old Playstation from SR, I bought the "Fire Pack". A good central piece for the page, or perhaps banner at the top would be a large package deal for PS2s. Perhaps a catchy name and suitable picture to advertise the latest money saving PS2 deal.
3) A direct link to footage of games would be good too. Where the box area for "Released Friday 5/4/01" or even the games that are newly released (Quake 3 etc...) you could have a link to see footage of the game in action. I know that there are links to movies when you look further in, but it would be really good it you could scan down the new releases and take a quick peak at the game.
Thats it for now. Thanks.
1) I assume there must be a sales counter, or something that keeps track of the number of copies of a game have been sold. Where the main three games are, at the top right of the page, (at the moment its Quake 3, Starfighter and ZOE) you could add some sales details. For example: ZOE : 1,547 copies sold in only 3 weeks (or whatever it is).
I know it isn`t the best reason to buy a game, but it is always an attraction when it sounds like it is selling well. If a person visitied the site and saw ZOE, selling like bread at a Uni gorcery store it might tempt them to have a closer look at that particular product.
2) Will there be any Bid Deals for the PS2? When I bought my old Playstation from SR, I bought the "Fire Pack". A good central piece for the page, or perhaps banner at the top would be a large package deal for PS2s. Perhaps a catchy name and suitable picture to advertise the latest money saving PS2 deal.
3) A direct link to footage of games would be good too. Where the box area for "Released Friday 5/4/01" or even the games that are newly released (Quake 3 etc...) you could have a link to see footage of the game in action. I know that there are links to movies when you look further in, but it would be really good it you could scan down the new releases and take a quick peak at the game.
Thats it for now. Thanks.
I don't know about other people, but I tend to run IE maximised. Maybe the page could be made wider? I'm sure most people run in pretty high resolution these days. Alternatively there could be a resolution option.
Also the page appears to be text heavy. Maybe rather than having all the individual links listed down the left hand side, they could be categorised under titles. The titles could then be expanded when clicked on. So you're not seeing everything at once. Possibly links to the latest Game/Film a day winners could be moved over there? I find that I don't usually bother scrolling down to the bottom of the page, so maybe the number of current news stories could be reduced, with a link to an archive?
How about funkier buttons, a coloured backdrop, and screen shots from games, rather than pictures from the box/adverts? Maybe the banner at the top of the screen should be more PS2 related.
At the end of the day, it's all down to personal preference. And I know it means that you'd have to either have a different appearance for the PS2 page, or reformat the whole site. But that's my 2p anyway.....
Also the page appears to be text heavy. Maybe rather than having all the individual links listed down the left hand side, they could be categorised under titles. The titles could then be expanded when clicked on. So you're not seeing everything at once. Possibly links to the latest Game/Film a day winners could be moved over there? I find that I don't usually bother scrolling down to the bottom of the page, so maybe the number of current news stories could be reduced, with a link to an archive?
How about funkier buttons, a coloured backdrop, and screen shots from games, rather than pictures from the box/adverts? Maybe the banner at the top of the screen should be more PS2 related.
At the end of the day, it's all down to personal preference. And I know it means that you'd have to either have a different appearance for the PS2 page, or reformat the whole site. But that's my 2p anyway.....
What I would like to see on the home page of UKps2.com -
What should there be more of?
I would love it if there was a link to a set of release dates specifically for PS2 games. It would be nice to be able to specify the console, and perhaps even a certain set of dates (e.g. July to August 2001). It can take ages to have a good look throught the release dates.
Also, the charts could have more emphasis put on them. Perhaps there could even be two seperate charts, one the same as it is now, based on sales, and one based on your opinions of the games (i.e. on your review scores). To save space, perhaps one of the charts could be incorporated into the set of pictures down the side of the page. That woud mean that instead of just a list of games, they could be rated as well. The new releases, or not yet released could then be put below, or just above, without losing the general layout of the page.
More PS2 latest news would be good too. There is the list of news articles down the center of the page, but that could be built on to give reports even more regularly, with the latest links to articles in a different colour to show its importance.
What's missing?
This will sound strange, but whilst the page is filled with links, info and pictures, it feels empty. There is the large picture and title logo at the top of the page, but there doesn`t seem to be a focal point to the page. This is only a suggestion, but perhaps a large image of the PS2 in the center, or center top of the page would provide this point. Rather than dark edges getting brighter towards the center, there would then be a dark center that fades outwards. This would also allow links to be positioned to demonstrate their importance. For example, the more important links could be collected near the center, with the less important ones towards the edges.
Lastly on the "missing" section, I have a slightly cheesy suggestion, but one that could work nicely. If I visit a website, and it has a counter at the bottom, if the number of hits is low, it instantly puts me off, as it indicates it is an unpopular place, so it would have been better without the counter. However, if there is a counter and the number of hits is huge, it really can be an incentive to continue looking around the site. I`m not totally sure, but I think that when a counter is added, it already knows the number of hits that have already occured. Even if it doesn`t, the number of hits at this place would mount up very swiftly, and you could even add a note saying ... hits since 1/5/01 or something like that.
What is there too much of?
Blue. I realise this could just be personal preference, but I feel that the colour of the text is not varied enough. I like the way that the items are generally colour coded so that for example prices were in red, but perhaps that should be built on. With red for prices and savings, people are instantly drawn to those areas, but that could also be achieved for links in general. There are many links that branch away, so perhaps different colours could be used to show the relative importance of the links.
Most of the central links are blue, but maybe the links for the more important areas such as the games / reviews / discussions etc... could be in a different colour. At present it blurs into the links below slightly, so that they might be missed. I don't think loads of colours is a good idea as it may be a little confusing, but I do think that a little more variation could be good.
The backgrounds are the same too. Having the blue background so close to a large amount of blue text could beconfusing. I think Ant`s suggestion of using a black fading to blue background is good, though I don`t know how to implement that without sacrificing loading times a little. However, that brings me onto the next thing that there is too much of:
The large moving image at the top of the page is fine when its working, but it hugely increases the loading times. I don`t mind that whilst I`m on the univesity PCs, which have a hugely fast rate of transfer, but when I try and view the page at home, it takes forever. Some of the time it doesn't even seem related to what is going on on the page below, so perhaps it could be dropped in favour of a larger title to say that it is ukps2.com, or perhaps a more "PS2 like" background.
I also noticed that there is a large gap at the bottom of the page. This really isn`t a problem as I`m sure it doesn`t get noticed, and wouldn`t actually cause a problem, but it could be seen as a flaw in the presentation of the page.
There are also a few links that in my opinion might be either totally ignored or at least only visited on rare occasions. The link "win" at the top of the page sounds a little too much like a sales trap. It title suggests that its one of those enter the obvious answer and win a biro type "wins". Perhaps there would be a better or more attractive way of phrasing it. On a similar note, there are lots of PC offers around e.g. "Protect your valuable PC" which is in a large picture at the top of the screen. It doesn`t quite seem to fit in with a page called ukps2.com.
Anyway, overall the page is great, and I felt bad to criticise it, and with my limited knowledge of website creation, it is certainly better than anything I could ever produce, but I hope some of the suggestions above can help.
What should there be more of?
I would love it if there was a link to a set of release dates specifically for PS2 games. It would be nice to be able to specify the console, and perhaps even a certain set of dates (e.g. July to August 2001). It can take ages to have a good look throught the release dates.
Also, the charts could have more emphasis put on them. Perhaps there could even be two seperate charts, one the same as it is now, based on sales, and one based on your opinions of the games (i.e. on your review scores). To save space, perhaps one of the charts could be incorporated into the set of pictures down the side of the page. That woud mean that instead of just a list of games, they could be rated as well. The new releases, or not yet released could then be put below, or just above, without losing the general layout of the page.
More PS2 latest news would be good too. There is the list of news articles down the center of the page, but that could be built on to give reports even more regularly, with the latest links to articles in a different colour to show its importance.
What's missing?
This will sound strange, but whilst the page is filled with links, info and pictures, it feels empty. There is the large picture and title logo at the top of the page, but there doesn`t seem to be a focal point to the page. This is only a suggestion, but perhaps a large image of the PS2 in the center, or center top of the page would provide this point. Rather than dark edges getting brighter towards the center, there would then be a dark center that fades outwards. This would also allow links to be positioned to demonstrate their importance. For example, the more important links could be collected near the center, with the less important ones towards the edges.
Lastly on the "missing" section, I have a slightly cheesy suggestion, but one that could work nicely. If I visit a website, and it has a counter at the bottom, if the number of hits is low, it instantly puts me off, as it indicates it is an unpopular place, so it would have been better without the counter. However, if there is a counter and the number of hits is huge, it really can be an incentive to continue looking around the site. I`m not totally sure, but I think that when a counter is added, it already knows the number of hits that have already occured. Even if it doesn`t, the number of hits at this place would mount up very swiftly, and you could even add a note saying ... hits since 1/5/01 or something like that.
What is there too much of?
Blue. I realise this could just be personal preference, but I feel that the colour of the text is not varied enough. I like the way that the items are generally colour coded so that for example prices were in red, but perhaps that should be built on. With red for prices and savings, people are instantly drawn to those areas, but that could also be achieved for links in general. There are many links that branch away, so perhaps different colours could be used to show the relative importance of the links.
Most of the central links are blue, but maybe the links for the more important areas such as the games / reviews / discussions etc... could be in a different colour. At present it blurs into the links below slightly, so that they might be missed. I don't think loads of colours is a good idea as it may be a little confusing, but I do think that a little more variation could be good.
The backgrounds are the same too. Having the blue background so close to a large amount of blue text could beconfusing. I think Ant`s suggestion of using a black fading to blue background is good, though I don`t know how to implement that without sacrificing loading times a little. However, that brings me onto the next thing that there is too much of:
The large moving image at the top of the page is fine when its working, but it hugely increases the loading times. I don`t mind that whilst I`m on the univesity PCs, which have a hugely fast rate of transfer, but when I try and view the page at home, it takes forever. Some of the time it doesn't even seem related to what is going on on the page below, so perhaps it could be dropped in favour of a larger title to say that it is ukps2.com, or perhaps a more "PS2 like" background.
I also noticed that there is a large gap at the bottom of the page. This really isn`t a problem as I`m sure it doesn`t get noticed, and wouldn`t actually cause a problem, but it could be seen as a flaw in the presentation of the page.
There are also a few links that in my opinion might be either totally ignored or at least only visited on rare occasions. The link "win" at the top of the page sounds a little too much like a sales trap. It title suggests that its one of those enter the obvious answer and win a biro type "wins". Perhaps there would be a better or more attractive way of phrasing it. On a similar note, there are lots of PC offers around e.g. "Protect your valuable PC" which is in a large picture at the top of the screen. It doesn`t quite seem to fit in with a page called ukps2.com.
Anyway, overall the page is great, and I felt bad to criticise it, and with my limited knowledge of website creation, it is certainly better than anything I could ever produce, but I hope some of the suggestions above can help.
Put a background (preferrably black and purple), indicating that it's the PS2 Forum.
As someone has said, put more detail into the news, and defintely add a list of the forthcoming PS2 releases for the next few months.
Perhaps add some of the PS2 debates from us lot here on UKdiscussions, or some reviews of the PS2 (I have many) and then put something like, "Here is what our users think of the PS2. If you would like to tell us what you think of the PS2, go to......."
Defintely make those links at the top more obvious, and add more pics of the PS2/games/characters etc.
More later...
As someone has said, put more detail into the news, and defintely add a list of the forthcoming PS2 releases for the next few months.
Perhaps add some of the PS2 debates from us lot here on UKdiscussions, or some reviews of the PS2 (I have many) and then put something like, "Here is what our users think of the PS2. If you would like to tell us what you think of the PS2, go to......."
Defintely make those links at the top more obvious, and add more pics of the PS2/games/characters etc.
More later...
This one will be judged by Ali on Monday April 30th.
Just list out what you would like to see on the home page of UKps2.com.
Take a look at it (there's a link to the left).
What should there be more of?
What's missing?
What is there too much of?
What are your suggestions?
You can post them in one post, or post several times.
The best set of suggestions will win an extra Filmaday prize.
Beware - we don't want our page loading time to go up.
Just list out what you would like to see on the home page of UKps2.com.
Take a look at it (there's a link to the left).
What should there be more of?
What's missing?
What is there too much of?
What are your suggestions?
You can post them in one post, or post several times.
The best set of suggestions will win an extra Filmaday prize.
Beware - we don't want our page loading time to go up.
Page: