Frogboy Frogboy

Can you see me yet?

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Can you see me yet?

Visual comparisons of old and new

from JoeUser Forums

So how are we doing? Let's take a look at the new WinCustomize and the old WinCustomize side by side. here's what they looked like to the typical user.

The new site doesn't have the theme system in yet (allowing users to customize the look and feel of the site). It's in the work queue but it won't be ready for a bit. Lots of little features and bugs and glitches to work out first. So what I'm looking at is how much information is conveyed in both while at the same time how complicated or how simple are these designs?

Let's put them directly side by side:

On the new site, you can see about half of the skin galleries.  On the old site, you could only see the top 4.  On the new site, you can see the top 5 skins. On the old site, you could see the top 9 without scrolling.  On the new site the featured skin and screenshot are together in one area.  On the old site they were separated.  On both sides you can see the featured premium suite but the new site also lets you see the featured articles on the page.  Both have a banner ad at the top if you're not logged in and both have a randomly selected item from the store.  The new site doesn't have a sponsor button at the top - it's been moved to the bottom.

I personally preferred the old logo. I think we'll have to find a way to work that one back into the site. If anyone wants to volunteer to try to put together the old logo feel free. I think there's a version of it in the shirts area of the graphics gallery here.

What we have tried to do is have a site that is much cleaner and more easily understandable by new users while at the same time vastly increasing the amount of "stuff" that one might get to. The tabs are a big part of that and having a lot of the key data available on the home page without having to scroll down.

So what do you think? Do you like the direction the new launch has taken so far?

31,654 views 70 replies
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Which part of the old site did you like better?



The word "Wincustomize", Our titles and the skins
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I thought that the old site had a nicer presentation and format. I seemed to be a bit more on the direct side which I thought was great, the new one is more commercial like all web sites. The old was a more personalized sitr
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So far I get no graphics of any themes. I liked the old site better in every way. The new one seems bland, crowded and more trouble to navigate.
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The new site rules but as most people have said, I miss being able to restrict the number of libraries that are available in the Gallery section on the left like the old site.
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I liked the old one more,but this one is faster idd!
Old logo was also beter imho..
But anywayz good job at this site,keep it going
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have a few items with the new site.

1. Please total all the skins info on the "my skins" page.
2. I have YET to be able to "search" thru the Articles to find anything, nothing ever comes back.
3. I hate to click on one of my skins, and then have to click on the "comments" button to see the comments, thats 99% of what I'm going to the skin to see!
4. I can Never seem to find any article I have looked at.. or at least not without a ton of hunting all over.
I see an article on the left, i look at it, leave a msg, and when i come back later in the day i can never find the stupid thing.
5. Email icons on My Articles still show that someone has put a new message or comment on them when the last person was me and it was like 45 days ago.
6. The "Watch" button on an article has no real meaning to me, what is it SUPOSED to do? I would like that when i click the "watch" button on the main body of the article it would then EMAIL me when someone adds something, or even show up in my "watch list" somewhere... this is not happening. Unless I'm just not seeing how this works, I look at my watch list, and its stuff i dont even know what it is. Its just wierd.
7. Is there ANY way to have an email sent to me when someone Comments on one of my Skins? I dont look at the list every day, and i had someone asking me a question on there for a week before i noticed it. If we got an email like we do with the Forums, etc, that would be be great.
8. If a WC member signs my Guest book, can it not put a link back to their wc page? This way i could more easily return the favor of the signing.

Other then all that.. i love the new site, i like the User page, im ok with the layout of the gallery etc. You guys are doing great, and the site is looking better all the time!

Man that was a lot of bitching for someone who seems to LIKE the site.. LOL
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Overall I feel that the new site is coming together well the whole lot running this joint have been very responsive in answering questions and implementing user requested changes where they could.
Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've not been a member for long but I was having a TERRIBLE time browsing the old site. All runs smoothly in this new one though, so I'm very happy now. I like the colour scheme too. My only visual problem, besides having to scroll vertically because I choose to stay at 800x600, is maybe an Opera thing. In the panels down the left side I can see the whole of the first couple - Store and Gallery. Then for Recent Acvtivity, Top Advocates, and Community - the left side is cut off, can only see part of it all. The next panels - Resources and Browse Site - are fine.
Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm not understanding what you mean with regards to the skins page.  This is a sample of mine:

http://frogboy.wincustomize.com/myskins.aspx

So I have the same info I had on the old my skins page already. I'm not sure I'm understanding that.

Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad for some bizarro reason when I clicked on your My Skins link....I got My Skins, not yours. The address that popped up was http : //frogboy.wincustomize.com/myskins.aspx?SID=5&UID=497678.

I think what folks are looking for are two things. First on the My Skins page at the old site there was totals at the bottom for each column and an average overall rating for all your skins combined. The other thing was when you clicked to see another persons skins via their profile it brought you to the gallery sorted to just show those skins with previews. This function from the old site has been replaced by personal pages, I believe, which everyone can access from the skinner's profile.
Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
With the exception of the blue color I find the new site a big improvement. I like the forum set even better than SDC. I would like the small tabs(watchlist, my skins, my account) all added to one large tab like the top ones, maybe called "My Tab" or maybe move them onto the Personal Page and put a tab there for it. I also would like a "return to top of page" link on the bottom of pages to keep from having to scroll all the way back up.
Big Kudo's to your staff, I think the transition has been very smooth.
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad,

Essencay is right on with the My Skins page, and i had the same issue with your link to your "my skins" page, took me to MY "My Skins" page.
Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad's My Skins page.

You apparently have to change it to his UID, which is 1. It would be nice to be able to change it from http ://frogboy.wincustomize.com/myskins.aspx?acid=1 to http ://frogboy.wincustomize.com/myskins.aspx?acid=frogboy or anything other nick; acid=jafo or acid=exoduscrow
Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top
is it just me when i go to update my info i get errors i cant change my user name or user info without & error popping up saying i need 2 relog in & nothing was changed
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm personally not so big on the deviantART-style "gallery", it seems so copycat-ish. I do like the minimalistic view more, however - more stuff on one page is (almost) always a good thing.
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would LOVE if we have the menus "Gallery" and "This Is Just In" in all pages like on the other site, this way i could give less clicks go around the site.
Other than this the new site is excellent
Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well either frogboy ripped my entire collection of skins, or there's some bug related to viewing user's skins. I tried changing the number from my own ( 156 ) to 1, which is frogboy's own, but it still shows my own skins.
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For what it is worth, I really like the new site. Not only is the loading faster, but the tabs cut down surf time. Waiting for new themes, but I am patient. I haven't ran into any bugs(knock on wood), so I guess I'll sit back and watchthe site grow up even more!!!
Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad for some bizarro reason when I clicked on your My Skins link....I got My Skins, not yours


Same thing happens when I click on your link, Brad. Not that I have any skins, yet it takes me to MY skins page - yet it has 'Skinning the Frog' at the top of my page.

Overall I like the new site, but like many others, wish I had the ability to customize the gallery offerings. If I want to see 'Beatnik', for instance, I have to click on 'more', then Beatnik.
Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top

No, that's how it's supposed to be. All your skins are mine! MINE MINE MINE!

I guess that link doesn't work.  But anyway, you can click on the my skins button at the top and it should show you YOUR skins.

Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Honestly, I like the new site better. There are still some minor tweaks here and there to fix, but overall, I am finding it easier, and more efficient of a website to use.

Here's a list of tweaks/bugs I still run into...few of them have already been mentioned.

Not being able to return to whatever gallery when viewing a skin is annoying.
When posting a comment on an article/thread, after you make the post, it shows "New Replies", but it's the post you have just made.
When looking at the Watch List, a lot of the articles show up as "www", and not the author who wrote the article.
I would love the "This Just In" box somewhere on the front page, save me an extra click.

...and...I guess that's it. All I can remember anyway...