davidmckay Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Hi all! I've built two new websites with walkthroughs to Baldur's Gate II and Icewind Dale. Another site of a similar style detailing IWD2 is also on its way. Anyway, the BG2 site is new and has only just been placed online, so I'd appreciate if people here could check the designs and offer a critique of the site design and content. The site is online at: http://www.davemckay.co.uk/iwd/ http://www.davemckay.co.uk/bg2/ Happy Gaming! David. Link to comment
Guest G-Mon Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I've seen this before, at Bioware's boards. Home page of each section still has the same problem design-wise, though: not much pertinent information at 1024x768 resolution without scrolling down. Haven't checked the BG2 portion of the site on my laptop (which has a 1600x1200 resolution), but from what I remember about the IWD portion, it doesn't get much better there (although at least you can see some navigation on the first page; maybe I'll screencap that later). May wanna work on that. Perhaps you could put the main navigation somewhere slightly more visible, too? Link to comment
davidmckay Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 Hi gmon, thanks for the quick response. The only fix I've thought of so far for the navigation problem is a title bar of some sort, perhaps with a drop down or something similar. At first I didnt think it would be a problem as the main site content is the walkthrough, but a number of people have said the same as you, so it is obviously more a concern than I first realised and something to think about. Anyway, thanks again for the comments. David Link to comment
berelinde Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Well done! For quite some time, I have been looking for a pretty walkthrough for BG2. I enjoy Dudleyville for BG1 (although yours is much more visually appealing) for its functionality, and because it lists every house, together with the contents. Yours does that, and I find that extremely helpful. One thing that would help, as you have already pointed out, is improved navigation. I would like the opportunity to return to the home page at any time via a link at the top. Adding [move to top] brackets along the way would be non plus ultra, but I really miss that homepage button. As a modder, I would find it helpful if you would include area references in the description for each building/area. There's a listing in the IESDP, of course, but your site is more attracitve than the IESDP, and I like looking at pictures, so if all I want is a quick area ref, I'll go to your site first. But I've already got it bookmarked anyway. The IE community is alive and well, thanks to the interest you and others continue to put into it. Thanks for sharing your work! Link to comment
Gabrielle Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Nice. Good to see others trying to beat life into this dying horse. Link to comment
CamDawg Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 It's very pretty, but it's coming at the expense of functionality. Links at the bottom of a page are a surefire way to annoy users and make sure some miss most of your content. berelinde: the IWD logo at the top of the pages takes you back to the home page. Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Hi gmon, thanks for the quick response.The only fix I've thought of so far for the navigation problem is a title bar of some sort, perhaps with a drop down or something similar. At first I didnt think it would be a problem as the main site content is the walkthrough, but a number of people have said the same as you, so it is obviously more a concern than I first realised and something to think about. Anyway, thanks again for the comments. David You're welcome--and here's how it looks at 1600x1200, just for reference (and because I was on my laptop and thought to come here). Link to comment
CoM_Solaufein Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 The site itself looks fine, the big issue I have, which has been brought up, is the menu. Poor design is having a menu on the bottom of a web page. It should be on the left side, which is standard or on the right. Some sites have it on top, which is acceptable. Link to comment
davidmckay Posted September 17, 2007 Author Share Posted September 17, 2007 Hi all, Thanks for the suggestions so far, they are much appreciated. To berlinde, I've had a look around the other site you mentioned and I'm sure in time I could upgrade mine to provide similar content for bg2. I also intend to produce a complete area reference detailing all the houses and other small areas in the game that are not detailed in the main walkthrough in the next stages of development after the icewind dale 2 guide is complete. From the comments people have posted so far it would seem that the next tasks would be to work on the navigation and modifying the layouts to work better at higher resolutions. Again, thanks to those who took the time to comment. David. Link to comment
yarpen Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Layouts are beautiful (mhm. similiar to this from Sigil.cz... but still beautiful). Only one thing ruins good atmosphere of site - colors of links in download section. :/ Link to comment
Shaitan Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 some spellings like Bhall Link to comment
igi Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 There's a listing in the IESDP, of course, but your site is more attracitve than the IESDP Heresy! (Though true.) Link to comment
theacefes Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 I would refrain from saying "your sister, Imoen" in the first paragraph of the walkthrough, simply because it's supposed to come as a surprise to the PC (I know I know...we've all played it enough times to know she's our sister). Link to comment
Gabrielle Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Spoilers is teh bad. Even in walkthroughs. Link to comment
berelinde Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 There's a listing in the IESDP, of course, but your site is more attracitve than the IESDP Heresy! (Though true.) Cheer up, igi. I still need to go to the IESDP just about every modding session to look up important things like action and trigger syntax. Link to comment
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