Design a Front End for the Spring Website.

[Felix the Cat]

If people want to help without actually creating anything... post links to website front pages that you believe to be good.

A good front page will:
-Engage the viewer, first and foremost
-Immediately make clear what the site/project/program is all about
-Have readily available links to all important sections of the site
-Be uncluttered and easy to use - this includes using minimal text. There's nothing worse than a wall of text! edit. In other words it will be nothing like this post.
-Be free of anything that would confuse, mislead, or turn away a random visitor from a Google search. On this front, I am personally a fan of not putting news on the front page - this allows more room for graphics, "hooks", and functional areas on the page. Also, news tends to create a "wall of text" effect, which is a no-no for the front page. News should have its own page, IMO.
-Make prominent resources especially geared toward first-time visitors.
-Fit completely or nearly completely within a standard browser window, unless there's a specific reason not to.

Remember that the front page should be geared almost entirely to first-time visitors. Most regulars will have bookmarks to the part(s) of the website that are important for regulars. When's the last time you looked at the Spring front page? I didn't even remember what it looked like until I specifically went to look at it yesterday.

Some example front pages to consider:
419eater: immediately tells the reader what the site is about, and conveys very important information to the reader. IMO the paragraph-form text could be consolidated into a smaller list, but it's not a big deal - all of the text is relevant to someone who arrives at the site for the first time. Links in the body of the text are directed to first-time visitors. A bar of links at the top allows easy navigation across the site. The page could probably use a couple of interesting graphics, of which there are plenty on that site.

Ashoka: I arrived at this site from a random unrelated Google search, and within 30 seconds knew what the organization did. The central animation draws viewers in but gets a bit annoying - showing that you have to be careful with animated elements. Illustrates the concept that the first links the eyes are drawn to - the top left for Western cultures - should be the first links you want new visitors to click on. The site is clean and the color scheme is pleasant; brief links are provided to recent news, which I consider good. The body text of the page is too small, however.

I'll post more good ones as I come across them.

[Machiosabre]

And maybe if he doesn't say no you could start about all your ideas, instead of throwing them in a big topic.

I'll put my ideas anywhere I like, Nazi!


I'm not on my regular pc right now, but some obvious things:

-the bar needs less links and bigger buttons/font

-FAQ, features and team members and maybe wiki, could all be in a page called "About"

-little thing explaining the spring project could be reduced to one sentence and a link to the about page.

-latest community news square should be replaced by "Get latest version" in a large font with maybe one thumbnail of an awesome screenshot , considering theres barely any news posted you could just put community news in a big barrel with regular news.

-I'd probly rename screenshots to media and put some movies in there.

-maybe one low saturation picture made of an amalgam of spring mods outside of the box on either side.

-and it'd be nice to have a new banner that at least says "open source RTS engine" in a large font somewhere.

[Vadi]

Once the goals of the website are defined, I think it wouldn't hurt to ask about on some web-related sites/forums that "an open-source games with x unique visitors per x is looking for a new website", give the goals the website should accomplish, and in return allow a button/sentence to be somewhere that says "designed by <person>" with a link to their studio or whatever.

[Argh]

I won't be home for another 10 hours or so, so here are some websites that I think we should look at... the commercial game engine pages that I was mentioning earlier:

http://www.crytek.com/

http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tge

http://source.valvesoftware.com/index.php

http://www.3dgamestudio.com/

http://www.truevision3d.com/about.php

http://unity3d.com/unity/

Check 'em out... I will be reviewing them and trying to come up with a frontend that is a little less polished-commercial and more wow-the-gamer, yet still has the basics of how to immediately engage the viewer, and lead them to the correct locations they need to start using Spring, whether as gamers or as developers...

[Vadi]

Keep in mind that Spring is a lot more closer to it's mods than all of these engines to their games. And that's a great thing that needs to be preserved, and reflected in the site too.

Here's what I see stands out: The websites are actively promoting games based on them, right from the start (save the entry date thing. I understand it but I hate it).

News entries for game updates have links right there to get them.

Torque's website is kinda off, too much developers, not gamers, which is really not what spring is looking for.

Source's website is designed to sell the engine. Not quite fitting for spring either; we aren't lacking mods. We need to promote them, to get more players into the pool.

Same goes for the rest of websites really. I find it interesting that by "wide range of platforms" one of them lists an IE, Windows, and a Mac logo

[Forboding Angel]

I'm guessing that everyone forgot about this? http://forbodingangel.zjt3.com/logobar.7z

[smoth]

you did the scanlines too strong, the text is not as classy etc

[Argh]

No, I remember it. The issue's not just a topbar, though. And meh, it's too small, and isn't nearly impressive enough, imo. I would like to see something dramatic.

I went over the website with a few people I know this weekend, who weren't familiar with it, and they listed quite a few pertinent complaints:

1. The "download" button needs to be obvious. It's not.

2. There are no direct links taking you to games for Spring.

3. The topbar does not say (in their opinions) "hey, this is a really sexy game thing". It doesn't really tell anybody anything useful, nor does it make them excited about whatever Spring is. One of them said, "so, does Spring make maps, or something?". Wish I was kidding...

4. Everybody complained about not seeing any screenshots on the front page. Everybody said that they hated the screenshot pages, because they give the user no text that explains their context. IOW, you don't know what mod it is, what events are going on, why the screenshot was special enough to post there, etc.

5. One of the people I had look at it, who's a fellow mod-maker, said, "dude, if I'm looking for a game engine, where's the information I need to use? You tell me Spring's awesome, that you can do amazing stuff with it, but if I'm just arriving here and don't know you... there's nothing to get me started"

6. Everybody said that the "bug tracker" button has to go. As one lady put it, "that just says, 'this is really buggy software' to me, it's a real turnoff".

7. Everybody said that there was too much text to read, and that none of it felt relevant to them, as potential new users.

8. When I showed people that the news that game designers can submit is limited to a tiny upper-corner RSS feed, they all agreed this is a terrible idea, if we want people to use the front page as their source of information about game releases on the engine, and other major news.

9. One guy clicked on the topbar, and on the logo, and said (I'm not making this up), "It doesn't even take you back to the front page when you click the topbar. Every real website does that."

Meh... basically, nobody, of the crowd of people (of all backgrounds, including gamers of various ages) thought that the 'site worked.

Nobody thought it was elegant or useful. They thought it looked nerdy, involved too much text, wasn't geared to new users, and wasn't cool or intriguing

This is not the image we should be presenting, imo. We have an awesome "product" here. It's a matter of marketing and presentation. And it matters.

We want something that says to players, "This is an awesome game experience". We want something that says to potential developers, "We welcome you- come use this powerful, free, open-source engine to create your dream RTS". We want something that tells all users, "there are exciting things happening here constantly".

Not a frontend that almost never changes. Not a frontend that's boring. Not a frontend that lacks graphical gee-whiz. Not a frontend that has little buttons that aren't even keyed with color, to attract the eye, and aren't even ordered in a way that makes sense, to anybody reading a European language (i.e., from left to right).

Just look where the "download" button is...

[Forboding Angel]

I didn't notice anyone else working on a replacement...

You guys all want a sort of change, but no one wants to work at it, and when someone else does, it's not what is already there so you whine about it. Surly I'm not the only one who has noticed this.

too small?

argh, try right clicking on the topbar image at the top of this page and selecting properties. Then edit your post and slap yourself.

Well then... start working on a replacement. If you're going to whine about it, be willing to do something about it as well.

[Argh]

I will be, as soon as I get home, in about 8 hours. I'm just not home, don't have access to Photoshop, nor time, I'm going to be on the road for 7 hours here soon

I'm really tempted to ask TRO if he'd give a whirl, too, his style's suitable, and he makes pro-quality stuff.

[MelTraX]

You guys know about the new site, right?

I'm not sure if it's still active though..

[Argh]

Yeah, I remember it. I wasn't terribly impressed with the design, it wasn't compelling visually, and seemed needlessly complicated.

While I'm thinking on the way to home again... does anybody have a nice, short tagline to go with Spring? Hyperbolic, if needbe, but something that communicates, in one short sentence, what the project is about? "Ultimate Free RTS Game Engine"... "Powerful RTS Gameplay"... etc... I'm interested in seeing some thoughts about this...

Also, I'd like to hear an informal poll of what buttons are a "must have" for the top or sidebar...

[Decimator]

Do we want something similar to this?

[Vadi]

Argh's website usability testing is gold. Every point there made should be considered.

(offtpic, but Argh, you're a real Spring addict)

[PicassoCT]

Argh really made some points. And he did a Panneltest - and he (i am purely- ahem pretty shure) read books about viral & Guilleromarketing (Confess ARGH)...

But i have something to add- you need something for people to "take" home instantly - just some (by us powergamers considered)"fanboy crap" like Windowsbackgrounds, a trailer.. something the normal noob dls instantly and that lurks around on the desktop for some days, making him coming back..

+1 Great Collagepicture.. Deci

For the Tagline: How about
Spring:4FreeRTSbest2be
or
Springtime:Flowers, Birds & nuke Mushrooms- the Future of RTS
or
Chess, RTS, Spring: Your Dreamgame has been made
or
MadebySpring: The RTS of your Dreamz
or
Spring 15: (15 GreatGames 4free, not the 15 Springsequel- we are not EA)
or

Mmmmh..It would be best...to add a word that people use on dailybase as phrase, a cliche... something like pure win... and rename Spring to that - if Spring was called simply EPIC - everybody writting for epic win (would have to add [at least in his mind]that he doesen´t mean Epic:THeGameformalyknownasspring)

or Spring:The Piratssteam - get RealTS 4Free
or Spring: RTS4Free ´round the Clock..
or Spring: (W/Th)ere ´ve all RTS-Players gone..
or Spring: That 4FreeGame secretly played by your Gameshopkeeper at home
2 muchman4sims, 2 grownup4CC, 2good4sc.. welcome home -> Spring
Madness: This is Spring! (Recylced Slogans can wear out fast, be warned)
Spring the 4freeRTS, Ebay awaits your4merfa4rits


I will continue Brainstorm on Paper... Good Night


PS: On Forbodings Toppicture i slightly disagree with ARGH - it is a good start - i think it shoulod start idyllic on the left (were western readers start to read - and end in a firey, destructive climax, with stark contrasts on the right, were the springlogo thrones upon..

[Vadi]

Yes, Spring is free, but that's a bit pushing it.

[Neuralize]

I might try and find some time to submit a design. Problem is, I won't be getting paid or graded.

I won't bother with flattering Argh for his excellent target market research, but I will submit a word list and a few taglines. Which are also things done the commercial world when doing this sort of thing.

Target Markets:
Gamers (Male, 12-25)
Open Source Developers
Game Developers
Artists

Wordlist: Command, Order, Click, Waypoint, Queue, Mods, Customize, Personalize, Free, Real Time Strategy, Tactics, Micromanagement, Battle, Skirmish, War, Multiplayer, Online, Community, Teams, Battlements, Plan Battlefield, Warzone, Factions, Combat, Transport Lua, Flank, Capture, Build, Reclaim, Assist, Lift, Engine, Multi-Content, Modular, Flexible, No Set Base Content, Open Source, Grassroots, Free Time, Development

Taglines.
Spring: Queue Based Tactics and Combat.
Spring: Multi-content Real Time Strategy Engine.
Spring: Open Source. Open Content. Open Combat.
Spring: Grassroots Real Time Strategy. (Notice how grassroots and spring play nice in a word sense.)
Spring: Multideveloped. Multimodular. Multiplayer.

[Snipawolf]

Heh, I just GIMPED the news page into a homepage that I would find preferable. (Ignore the spring logo bar at the top, I wasn't about to spend more than 30 minutes on this.)

It should show more games than just S:44 and SW:IW, though ONLY ONE *A game, if ANY, they all look about the same model-wise.

Also, I think it would look better if the New Release area had some bullets and perhaps a few changes from a change log or entered by one of the game devs, instead of that second pic with the tigers.

[Vadi]

I won't mind appreciating the designer of the new website.

[Vadi]

Snipawolf's design, even that simple, is tons better than the current thing.

One thing though - since we have so many mods, there will need to be a way to fairly represent the playable ones on the homepage (not counting the "latest releases").