Heads up: New Nexus site design soon

[XTR3M368]

The colors on that site are nice but they don't say "TES Nexus". That site has the same flaws as the new nexus does with taking WAY to much real estate for news and other crap most people don't read or care about. The "old" site was all about the images and mods and always had me excited to come and see which images people have posted and what new mods were available. I actually had to scroll down to see the blogs and news which is where it should be. I can't see getting excited to navigate the new generic site.

 

Why do the images and mod files presentation on the new site take such a back seat to the news and interviews? Is that section a source of revenue? I could understand that at least. Another gaming site I used to be part of the management for did one of these "3.0 upgrades" and the membership went down by more than 50%. I am not saying membership cancellations, but lack of member traffic due to bad presentation and cookie cutter design that definitely felt like the users were given a back seat to either profits or ownership personal preferences. I mean, I might as well be at the BSN or planet elderscrolls now as the new site looks like it uses the same mold.

 

I know you are gonna do the change and nothing we say will make a bit a difference to the contrary....but at least consider moving the "news" section block down and putting an image share block in between the new mods featured and the news. That would at least add some continuity from the old site and set you off from the other TES sites in a way we have come to expect from the Nexus.

 

To boil it down....it looks like you asked yourself.."How can I make this easier for me?" and forgot to ask yourself "What do I need to do on the new site to keep the unique Nexus feel people love and make them come here instead of the BSN, planet elderscrolls, ect?"

 

For me it was never about the change as it was a down grade in mod and image presentation and losing the "Nexus uniqueness".

[Natterforme]

Thake a look at this site:

http://planetelderscrolls.ign.com/

 

Notice how logo and careful choice of colors make it look cool. The logo is relevant and colors are paired well and not too bright (it's mixture of grey and ash/green blue).

 

If you use features that make nexus cool with this type of design, that would be the change this community desires. Why would you like to forcefully apply that ugly thing? Please make a new design and make it available to this community for an estimation.

 

 

I cant stand the PlanetElderScrolls design or layout. I have an account on that platform, so I can get other mods for other games, but I cant find anything Im looking for in it. The search engine is odd and the results are rarely on point. That wouldnt be so bad, except that they way they handle daily images is aweful. You have to search images, get a list of the images, click the image, and then click it again to see it sideways and not in full resolution. Then when you back up to look at other images, you have to retype your search quiry to get the images back and that is just plain ridiculous. It does have some mods you cant get on the nexus for whatever reason, but thats the only reason I use it. It was a relief when I arrived at the nexus and found it way easier to navigate and thats the main reason I stayed^^. The new layout is different, but not harder for me to find things and the images and searches have only been improved, not harder to impliment. Im still looking forward to the new design :thumbsup: .

[XTR3M368]

I feel I need to say something at least neutral and not negative. :P

 

The member area and other areas of the new site are fine, I just think the home page needs some block positioning to feature what the site is built on which is mods and images. If you fix the homepage to be more inviting and more unique like the Nexus is known for, a lot of the complaints might go down...except for the orange lol. That still needs to be TES Nexus "tan" IMHO.

[goranga]

I have the account and two mods published on PlanetElderScrolls. I never use that account or visit that site. I stumbled across it today and I thought it looks nice to give it as an example for the design (logo and colors).

 

I'm talking about aesthetics here not functionality. I haven't tried to search anything on Planed or to use any of its features. I care about this site only.

 

Planet looks nice and can be used as an example for logo and colors. I didn't say that nexus should look exactly like Planet. Logo should be some relevant picture and colors should be paired appropriately.

 

Every other aspect related to functionality should be used from this site - the old nexus. That's another issue altogether.

 

I like to offer examples from other sites because that's better than to talk about how it should be done. That will not make nexus less unique. You will put logo and colors anyway on any site.

 

P.S. Answer this honestly: What do you think looks better - the new nexus or planet (I'm not talking about functionality - aesthetics only)? If your answer is planet, let's not allow that to happen!

 

On other hand, post your own examples so that developers of this new site know what are you talking about. Void vague descriptions. They are not usefull to anyone.

Edited July 31, 2011 by goranga

[Deleted1848331User]

I personally like the new Nexus much more than this version, but that's just my opinion on it I suppose.

 

In all honesty, I can't see how the white is hard to read on that shade of orange, as I can read it perfectly fine. It doesn't hurt my eyes or anything...

[goranga]

In all honesty, I can't see how the white is hard to read on that shade of orange, as I can read it perfectly fine. It doesn't hurt my eyes or anything...

 

That shade of orange hurts eyes not letters on it. White and orange are not contrasted enough, that's why it's hard to read it. Why suffer any unnecessary strain to your eyes?

 

I have another question. Do you currently use the old nexus or the new one? If you use the old one that tells a lot about the new version.

 

I think that decision to change this nexus site is OK. The code for it was developed over long period of time and made it inefficient. But that doesn't mean it's not cool.

 

New, modern design should be made. When I say design, I primarily mean how it looks. I gave only example that I thought is relevant for this discussion - the way Planet did it. Features and organization should be borrowed from the old one.

 

I give honest opinions here because I care ;). I don't even try to sugar-code it. Let's put our feelings aside. This is opinion, pretty much, of everyone here. But also, it's not OK to be pure critic. Some people here explained in particular amount of details why the new site is not good. That should be used as feedback to improve upon. It's easy to say: "I like the new version more". Why? If you don't know the answer to that, than you think the opposite.

 

Nobody would be happier than me to click that link to the new version and see something spectacular. I guess what I'm trying to say is, let's sink the competition. I don't feel at ease knowing that they have better looking site.

Edited July 31, 2011 by goranga

[xxXEvandarXxx]

I don't see the problem with the white text on an orange background. Are you sure it's not your monitor settings that are screwing things up for you? I think the new design looks better and is easier to use.

[goranga]

You missed the point with the first thing.

 

About the design...It's matter of taste. I hope that you don't pick your clothes yourself :D. Just kidding. Your taste is probably better than mine.

 

Regards

[drakeelvin]

Regarding the whole debate over the choice of colors, on an individual basis every person has personal tastes, so one person may like it and another person doesn't.

 

But this misses the point of the entire issue.

 

This subject caused me to search around and find a paper which sums up a book that I read on GUI design maybe ten years back.

 

The real issue is this: Nexus has millions of users, so what percentage of those users is adversely affected by particular color schemes? In order to accurately figure that out requires a huge research study that involves thousands of subjects, plus a huge amount of time and effort on the part of researchers to collect and analyse the data.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say Microsoft has probably invested more time, effort and money into this kind of research than anyone else has, perhaps going back as far as the 1980's, and especially in the 1990's with Windows, and they know what they are talking about.

 

Here is a decent starter article on the subject published by Microsoft: Colour, Design Concepts, General Principles, etc.

 

It's a starter article, it's pretty short, and it sums up a lot of important points based on a huge amount of research they did.

 

In particular, the article discusses percentages of people (USA) who have various vision problems, and how the choice of color in GUI design affects those groups. It also sums up general findings and recommendations on contrast of foreground and background. (For example, they say white is a "redundant" colour, and you can read more in the article about what exactly they mean by that.)

 

Two very interesting quotes from this article, as it relates to the 2+ million users of Nexus, are as follows:

 

Color accessibility

 

Use of color affects the accessibility of your software to the widest possible audience. Users with blindness or low vision may not be able to see the colors well, if at all. Approximately 8 percent of adult males have some form of color confusion (often incorrectly referred to as "color blindness"), of which red-green color confusion is the most common.

 

Again, set aside yourself and your own individual preferences and think about the 2+ million users as a whole are affected by color design. (They mention red-green color blindness is the most common but there are other less common types as well.)

 

Now, look closely at the color charts they present in the article and tell me, what happens to the color orange when you suffer from one of those color blindness issues? And then tell me how you are going to easily read white on orange if you suffer from one of those?

 

And if your argument is, "Well, other people use it," then based on Microsoft's research they are making a mistake and losing out on a lot of viewers.

 

The other quote that stood out to me is this one:

 

Using color in data

 

•Assign colors by default that are easy to distinguish. Generally, colors are easy to distinguish if they are far apart from each other in the HSL/HSV color spaces, while maintaining high contrast with their background: ◦When choosing colors, prefer triad harmonies or complementary hues, but not adjacent hues.

 

By data, meaning they are talking about text on background which is the primary means of communication. The article explains with graphics what HSL, HSV, triad harmonies and complementary/adjacent hues are, and why those are important in selecting foreground/background schemes that will be ACCESSIBLE to the widest range of viewers.

 

The entire article is really worth reading, if the subject of color in GUI design interests you.

 

SUMMARY

 

It's pointless to argue individual preferences.

 

This is not about individual taste, it's about significant percentages of the 2+ million Nexus users who have real, physical limitations with color, but that there are ways to ensure they don't get excluded by your choices of color.

[Deleted1848331User]

Still, I can read it perfectly fine, no straining whatsoever...

 

I'd also like to add to goranga, (this is again my opinion) I don't really like the PES site, the design isn't well made, and the colors are too.. bland I suppose you'd say.

Edited July 31, 2011 by Guest