looks good!! Although it looks cluttered at first, i like it alot!!! nice Mirai in the back i say go for it!!
I think the middle part (community, comrades, links) should stay on the side and even though the "Danny's post" area looks nice it should have bigger pictures, or something, because they doesn't seem to catch my attention. Actually I don't like the way it looks just because of that... though I really liked that "Mirai Suenaga" is on the top page. * sorry for my poor english xD
I agree with Jose(btw, your English isn't bad) on that the main post's representative picture isn't very eyecatching. Maybe moving the main article to the right and the recommended sites to the left would allow for more picture space. :d
It's looking great but the only thing that bother me would be that it is way too filled, maybe its possible to liberate some space, i'm note sure but maybe ajax tabs(blog, community, etc) would liberate some place (althought i'm note even sure if its possible)
I've always liked the openness of the current design. The newer design feels a little more cramped. I suppose this could be remedied by creating more white space, or by changing the layout a little bit to reflect the new design. (Gotta move ads around, and otavids/otaurls)
ダニーさんのサイトは情報量が多くて オモロいですよね♪ 新しいデザインはさらにスタイリッシュな感じでイイ！！ ワタシはスキです。
Looks very crampy and kind messy. And becos this, makes people kinda confused on which place to start reading.
its seems to be kinda abit cramped most of the time when i visit ur site, straight away i head to fresh new post.
well i'm gonna input some feedback S2 you could put into consideration a few things: -'comrades' and 'non otaku comrades' could be done the same way you do the 'hide/show comments'. you could save up a lot of space, pull them up above 'community'. it does have its importance, and at the same time, only the interested ppl would open that section. -the top images can be reduced a little bit giving the images more space -the mascot looks good, when you put her in a frame, reminds of a photo(ok). but the entire body, looks different. maybe if you get a nice drawing taking the final position into consideration. making her interact a little bit more with the hole thing. -the 'posts' section. well. maybe image on the left, followed by 'date/comments' and to the right the title. so that you can pull the eye from the center to the left. a little bit of additional space between the posts would make them no t look like a single mass of words too. -the right part of the site is problematic. i cant tell which one (left or right) has more importance. titles with the same font size make it looks like there's no hierarchy. strong colors on the right pull my eye to the right. you could align the titles "community/videos" to the right, make them a little bit smaller than the text of the left. image buttons ok, you can pull the green text and insert bellow them, little bit smaller, with a dull color. by doing so, you could also gain more space for the post text. (or even using black instead of gray for post texts. comments can be gray) if you didn't get what i said, mail me, i can edit an image and pull a few lines and arrows to point them out XD (never explained design in written english anyway) ah, one last important thing: maybe you can also set the display of 'lastest post' to spread over the right side. shrinking the 'community' section to topic-only mode (since the user clicked over the post, other parts can be removed, leaving less noise for the reader) title could still be aligned to the left but the entire text could be moved a little bit to the center, so that the user dont stay always with the left elbow on the table. =p for now, that's it. good luck danny. its looking good =p
holy... omg XD sry didn't think the post would turn out to be so big. ORZ
$.02 or 2.40344 Yen I'd keep your posts in the center with the latest post extended with a larger picture and more text. I also like the current layout, but I would just lessen the side margins and make the latest post extended with a larger picture and more text. But that's just me.
hmm, for some reason the page looks wrong in my browser. The posts and community sections are both in the left column and the right side of the page is blank. And as others have mentioned, the posts section looks very cramped.
A 2 column page would look less cluttered than a 3 column page, although I see why that would be a problem too. Your site is just too full of win! The suggestion of collapsing elements that a user doesnt want is a pretty good idea as I hardly ever use the comrade panel. Perhaps you can have a page customise page where each user can select the sections they want? might be a bit of work though...
Thanks for the feedback so far. How about a function to turn on/off other widgets including otakurls/otalinks? How important would a feature like draggable columns be? http://www.dhtmlgoodies.com/scripts/dragable-boxes/dragable-boxes.html
Andrew, What browser are you using? Does anybody else have the same problem?
The site change is nice I like how everything is organized!!! Keep up the good work finally someone who cares about there blog!!!
Redesign looks SUPERB. I would love to have a otakurl on/off button to shorten the load time of opening your page. Honestly, I like the format of the new redesign and I have no quarrels over what column goes where.
>How about a function to turn on/off other widgets including otakurls/otalinks? How important would a feature like draggable columns be? IMHO, the function to choose whioh widgets are used is a great idea, even better with dragaable columns. To get the most customability, both would have to be implemented. If that were to happen, your page would be like a second desktop ^^ But, that sounds a tad complicated. If I had to choose between the two, I would go for the dragable columns.
I can work on making the middle community column smaller too but would have to get rid of the green "anime","eroge" etc labels - how important are they to you? I will implement functionality to hide those community widgets too. Great feedback - keep em coming!
i like the new one more, my opineon is -the posts should be in the middle -the community one should be as small as the posts column in the current site and on the left -add one more google add thing for more money -and the green bubbles dont match with the rest of the site and look bad ps- sry if someone else said this, there were too many comments to read
Also thinking about collapsible columns like... http://cross-browser.com/x/examples/x_3col_fm.html I would make the center column collapsible. Click on the "toggle alpha column" for example.
oh and the movable column thing would be awesome, would we be able to customize it, those who have profiles that is??
here are some of my feedback on the redesign layout ^^ - the layout is a bit cluttered. maybe a two column layout would be fine. - the comment widget is a nice touch. this way it would lessen the clutter. - may i suggest that the Otavid/Otaurls to have the same function as the comment widget. this way, interest visitors/users could just turn it on/off. - the comrades could also have the on/off switch feature or you could randomized them in 5 links or something that you prefer. overall, it's a nice layout ^^
Danny, I am on IE6. Looks fine in Firefox.
@toggle columns that would be a nice touch ^^ this way, user could just turn on/off some sections that they seldom visits/user ^^
I think the turn on/off option for some sections is quite good... don't know about the collapsible columns, I checked the url and my question is if once you close a colum is gone for good? didn't quite get it. And I think the galleries section should be at the top too. I ussually read "Danny's Posts" and sometimes check around the site, so since I don't use the "comrades, community, etc" links I would prefer an option to hide them so that the page displays exactly waht I'm interested in. To be able to customize it sounds great ^^ IMO
Ah...I remember my 1st visit when you were introducing the outcoming 1/60 Strike Freedom. Now its hugely popular and increased number of visitors =D The new site design looks good, but it looks kind of too compact with all those links opening the post just to see the full article.
yeah i agree with the comments below this :) it looks like too much are placed into the homepage that a little emphasis was taken away from what we are looking for everytime we open the site - the posts.
The new version reminds me of yahoo's current website. It's nice to see that everything will be organize in a manner of each elements will laid out in a box formation. However, as the result the site itself looks too crowded. Text/images overload if you will. I personally like to see how are you going to implement liquid design to your new version. How's that gonna affect the banner/navigation part? Are we talking about just the main body? Whatever decision you make danny, your users will like it in the end. Just like how you implemented the current banner. It may takes some time, but heh it's all about getting used to it. ;)
The new layout looks very cool, but I prefer the current one, maybe it's because I'm accustomed to it. I usually don't have time to click trough the post and only read the front page and take a fast look at the photos, that's why I don't like the new layout, but I think I'll get used to it soon.
I like the new design but I think it needs a little more work. For one, like some of the comments made, the new layout makes the site look kinda messy. And also there's too many pictures which could really slow down during initial page load (always a big turndown for readers). I'd suggest to keep the community features being displayed to a minimum. Probably three most recent otavids would be enough. And you could also remove those labels beside them. I think most users don't use it that much. I like the current layout in the sense that I get to know the gist of the post reading what's in the homepage alone. It'd be nice if you could keep that. You could also display more posts in the homepage by removing the comments. Just like how engadget went with the way they put their posts up. Just my 0.02c :)
Oh and you might not want to go with draggable columns. You already have a lot of images to load in your page & with the draggable columns you'll most likely be adding a hefty amount of code to the client which could slow down the response time even more. The customizable widgets would be nice though.
Myself, I like the first screenshot, but I would prefer a darker line for separating the different categories such as "Danny's posts" and "Community", etc., great idea though. Or you could forget the idea of centering up everything... spread them up a bit, perhaps? I also would enjoy more the main screenshot (the one readily available in the post) than the one in the "here" link... as in putting the latest comments -especially with the avatars- in each post would only fill too much space and is a bit difficult to the eyes (feels a tad too cramped up in my opinion). I say this also because I usually tend to update on the latest comments in each post a few times a day (talk about addicted!!) Otherwise than that I just love the future layout! We know you like to make the site even better everyday. You're a perfectionist and it is most valued nowadays! Keep it up!! *Thumbs up* P.S.: If you want more constructive criticism, don't hesitate...! Xd
Oh and the toggle option would be very appreciated! It is useless to confirm (I will however) that some sites are definitely not user-friendly, but you choose to think about us. Why do you think I put your side as my homepage? lol...
Erm. Please read "your site". And what about a "Mirai's Message of the day?" Sorry for the triple post...!
Looks very good :) though the gallery links in the lower right corner seem to be a little bit 'off'.
I love it. Just a personal thought but I think the translucent layer beneath the text might look good with a light grayish outline.
Hey Danny, Like the placement of your mascot. The new design is nice, though I think it would be more comfortable with your "lastest post" being on the right and the list of comrads on the left. So used to reading your posts on the right of the screen, I guess.
hey there the new layout looks messy for me :( very cluttered and it makes one confuse. i find mirai a lil out of place too it's like she's on the top just for the sake of putting her there to show that she exists and ya, gallery link on the bottom left seems useless cuz of the top links. hope u find it constructive
Looks really nice and interesting, For Mirai, the image change each time the page is refreshed much like the top menu images? If its like that then users can see each one from each visit haha. (Or, different images correspond to a page hehe) Designs are awsome Danny, Keep at it!
Here are my 2¥ When I come to this site. My number one interest is to see the current post. At the moment I have to scroll down past the large banner and otalinks to view it. I want to be able to read it without much effort, and without having to click a link. I am also interested in brief thumbnailed descriptions of, say, the last 5 posts, for anything that I might of missed. (Yes, I could avoid this by subscribing to the RSS ^_^) I like the inclusion of Mirai, I was wondering how you would include the large vertical image. Perhaps a reclining pose, or simply a portrait might fit better with the banner layout. It would be nice to have SD Mirais of about 150x150 or 200x200 pixels by each section on the front page, either appearing to interact with the items (e.g. looking astonished at the latest otalinks or doing some other activity like puzzled expression while trying to glue arm on a zaku) I think these would give Mirai a breath of life. I like the otalinks for fostering the communal aspects of this site. It could even warrant its own website and generate a greater community then simply as a subsection here, with a broader audience. That's all for now ^_^
Looks nice XD, i think there is not lot of change, again, looks really nice. XD cya
It's really a good work Danny. Appear complete and simple and without changing the graphics style. You make always a better work.
Looking good. I definately think the latest post should be 'full'. Not nessesarily with bigger text, but just with the full amount of text, and a few images, like on the old site. It doesnt freeze anymore in IE, so thats the best thing for me :-D
Looks real great, Danny. I like what you did with the design especially with the posts on the left side. With it, you get to choose which post of yours you wanna read. I also like how visible Mirai is, she looks cute on her own little place at the top.
orz, clicked on something... lost a big post heauheuae well, here we go again XD the green labels: you could remove them away, ppl like to roll over the mouse just to check if the image has a different info inside. garten's memento for an example =p. and that makes me point out that, you could apply something like that over mirai, like an easter egg or making her relay your messages when needed drag/drop windows would make them look like my desktop, but like someone posted before, it could make your site too heavy. the collapsible feature is quite interesting, so that you could swing around the content of the whole main page, from left to right. the only problem is that rustic button.. maybe you could change it into a sd mirai or something XD hm, about the bg color, white is quite tiresome for long texts, i wish we had some way to make the lines we're reading into bg light gray/font black. would help a lot. but well, that person would deserve a nobel @_@ but remember that there's a bunch of colors that are your trademark already XD some page for reference: http://fotologue.jp/# this one has trays too =p (also like how images are displayed/accessed XD) obs: on ie6 the right(middle) part goes down to the left side =( that's it for now XD take your time doing the changes =p
look reakky great! Can't wait until its completes. I hope it don't slow my internet like this one though, but love the site either way.
Very sweet design, almost as if a V-day surprise... almost.. ^^
Looks good to me Keep going.
Thats looking pretty good. Just one thing: the part on the left where it says "Danny's Posts", in my opinion could be a little more tidier. I think the posts are too close together. But overall looking gd
actually after changing the display options to "Hide Comments Permanently" the area where all the old and new posts are looks alot better and alot easier to read.
Having the part with the post on the left really bugs me. The eyes usually seek that kind of things on the middle of a page. This part could also be a little wider, or have a different background color. All in all, I think it should pop more. Other than that, that's pretty cool
The site's crowded enough as it is, it should probably get some streamlining first instead. I'm glad there aren't side bars on both sides anymore, though:)
I think the post area needs more weight as my eyes are being pulled away from it by the second column. I like where you've put your mascot.
Also, on the left column where it shows the user's posts, i believe there should be a tab which says "show most recent posts" and the posts would appear and another that says, "Hide recent posts" Just my opinion :)
