Second Life: Testing a new home page this week

Thank you, that's appreciated.

Hi there:

We've just posted a screen shot of the design on flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/30915194@N04/3114257770/sizes/o/in/photostream/

HTH

t

Hi there:

We posted a screenshot here
http://flickr.com/photos/30915194@N04/3114257770/sizes/o/in/photostream/

t

As T Linden says, you can also view the screenshot on Flickr (where you can see a larger version)

http://flickr.com/photos/30915194@N04/3114257770/in/photostream/

Will you tell us when the page appears?

Ok that female avatar has ginormous looking boobs.

Looks rather appealing in the screenshot, get the captions right and you could be in business here.

Did you mean to put that screenshot up for general viewing?

I'm sorry, but I've seen First Year Design students do better work then what that screenshot is showing.

Quite frankly, I would be embarrassed to even post that Screenshot.

omg its embaressing to be in any part of that mess

More white text on a black background, headache inducing for me. Plus default font size in many places

These were two concerns, on top of it being a Flash site, mentioned by many residents when the project was first announced. Were our comments even taken into consideration?

Radar is right. Part of design is organizing visual data, but the first glance at the screen shot gives the impression of a busy jumble. It took me probably 5-10 seconds to figure out where I would click to move from this page. The page isn't the destination, it's a portal to lead you toward that destination. And it doesn't lead, it mires you. It needs more organization and prioritization of what's being presented.

I could see those capsules in a bar across the page or down one side, but most of the content on the current SL home page is lost.

You don't need a flashy home page to create interest if you have a good product. Look at Google's home page. Grok it in all fullness.

This design has the same impact of a comedian performing at a battered women's shelter with a rape joke.

It violates the most basic rule of web design: Never use a solid black background.

Only those products, services, or designers known for light-on-black can get away with this crime against web design. And your designers have failed miserably.

An overwhelming amount of black sets the mood immediately: dark, dismal, death, worry, failure, bad, evil.

Light elements like the orange GET STARTED: FREE DOWNLOAD do not invite or welcome people to click on them, but instead glare from that darkness like a sore thumb.

(And, yes, I'm well aware that I violate this concept with the Tunes inSL web site, but that site has black text on a white background in the bulk of the page... the black sections are railings/spacers.)

The "Verb Pods" have me wondering if these folks are serious.

The first verb there is "Dance."

Is this a dance studio? Learn dancing at home?

"Flirt" - a dating site?
"Stop" - a catalog?
"Learn" and then "Flirt" - what? Huh?

They're not separated from the inky void in which they are embedded. No visual border to help them stand out. Trapped. Stuck.

Bleh.

Take this concept out back, drive a stake through its heart, and stuff it's mouth with garlic.

NEXT!

Make a couple of the squares as follows:

CREATE - because frankly, we are here for the creative outlet we don't get anyplace else.

SELL - anybody can start a business here. Again, one of the big draws that you are overlooking.

SOCIALIZE - having a group that shares your interest in X or Y is part of the social fabric in SL. A forum for dragons is nothing compared to everyone looking like one.

SEARCH - have a way for people who aren't members of SL to look for places and events. Then again, I would like a way to find events inworld myself...



I would also get rid of the black background as was mentioned before. This isn't 1980 and our computers don't have text on black phosphor screens anymore. I would also suggest the page be viewable on 800x600 screens as some people keep the resolution low on their machines to up the frames per second.

How about :::persuade:::change:::influence:::?

Those links go to the Jira, I suppose, along with CONFUSE:BSFUCATE:: and DISCARD

No, to http://www.psyop.tv/

Add my name to the list of people who are not fond of Flash for websites. And honestly, the screen shot I see screams Big Spaceship and not Second Life. I have a list of issues with just that image alone and both of those are right on the top.

Although we haven't seen any live page from the new site but a screenshot, I would add some words to it.
Focusing on a fully flash based website is totally a wrong direction. It is not so search engine friendly solution due to the huge loading time especially in case of intro page. However Goog can index those rich media files if providing proper xml files too but potential visitors will skip your pages if hard to load. I know that most of the gaming sites love the use of dark or even black background but light texts are hardly readable because of too much contrast. Btw, SL is not a game. So you don't need to follow this practice. What do you mean on flirting? I rather recommend to orientate on getting users with premium account or even land purchasing instead of keeping eye on flirting.
It is hard to size up your future website without a live testing but these are the first impressions.

Yup. It violates a lot of good design rules. It also fails the 10/40 test brilliantly.

Make no mistake, the current page is no prize -- but the initial big spaceship concept is not a good one. It does not sell your product very well.

Mari
(Who, in her first life, designed her first site in 1994, and has been a professional web developer for much of her time since)

It looks like somebody's Photostream page on Flickr. And the really big boobs? I'm guessing a guy did the design.

It doesn't tell me about SL in a coherent fashion - which I think would be important. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do or look at, or in what order.

Please let us see the next candidate.

Thanks!

I would be very interested to actually read the brief that BigSpaceship was given. I can imagine this might be turning into a massive 'design by committee' job that achieves nothing in the end.

The example given is vague - in the sense it doesn't really say anything except SL is "lots and lots of stuff". Doesn't really help someone - just confuses them from the start. You need to be more specific than "SL is all things to all people".

I think the brand itself needs some reworking - I think if the brand itself is flawed then anything that springs from that will be flawed too. A web page redesign is just papering over the cracks.

Unless you are a musical band, you can't really get away with a flash based web site in this day and age.

Was this design company locked in a room for the last 8 years or something?

The roof leaks and the foundation is sinking.

Hanging new drapes and planting flowers does nothing to fix anything.

Total waste of manpower and funding.

Typical.

I agree that the new site looks jumbled and gives people visiting it more reasons to leave than to proceed.

But I think LL is underestimating the major source of new users. They don't come from putting up a new website - the majority of new sign-ups come from the current users who encourage friends, neighbors, business associates, fellow artists, new businesses, etc. to take the plunge into this brave new world.

If you lose trust and confidence of your current users, they stop encouraging others to join. It's doubtful that any new website will make up for the losses that will be incurred when the cold reality of the new OS policy begins to take its toll next month.

On the bright side of things, SL would probably run much smoother with less people logging in. If you can get it down to around 20-30,000 concurrent users, perhaps the scalability issue will become moot.

Congratulations, Big Spaceship on your successful campaign, and all the prosperity the new year brings.

1) Too 'busy'. Too many images vying for people's attention.
2) Ick. Flash is TEH SUCK especially for people on slow machines/connections/etc.
3) Where's the door??? All these flashing lights!

(Crap Mariner: I see a lot of light-on-dark for game sites, it's not a big surprise here.)

Having also done webdesign work in the past, there's a few things that (obviously) need to be reiterated:

1) Consistency, consistency, consistency: navigation should should NOT be hidden or a surprise function.

2) Easy access to login/signup/etc. functions - People should not be forced to GUESS which icon supports login, signup, etc.

Ease of use. Clear navigation. FUNCTIONALITY across the (web) board - including for the disabled using accessibility tools or special software. People forget these at their peril.

Some links that should be perused for good practices:
Make It Usable:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,33821,00.asp

Usability 101:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html

Top 10 Mistakes:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html
(Plus other variations linked on the bottom)

Interaction Elasticity:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/interaction-elasticity.html

Myth of the Genius Designer:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/genius-designers.html

Among others: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/