Front page thoughts?

Post by **|darc|** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:08 pm

butters wrote:I like the red version too. I did notice in that version that there's a "jaggy" in the red part that goes across the top.

yeah, I gotta fix that.

Nyarlathotep · Post by **Nyarlathotep** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:48 am

|darc| wrote: I'm thinking it would be better in the center (like perhaps this version, but a little larger).

I plan on doing a forum theme or at least a subSilver mod that will make the forums look consistent with the front page, so I'm just trying to focus on the front page itself for now.

Yeah, I think that works better.

|darc| wrote: Scroll within its own block, like an iframe? No, the whole site scrolls.

Theres very little need to scroll vertically for the rest of the sites navigation - it would only be the news that you need to scroll for, and if you're looking at past news stories, you could then navigate off to different pages from whatever story you were looking at without having to ctrl+home or scroll back up to the top.

Give it a try with some spammed in multiple stories, I think you'll find it would work quite well as theres so little vertical space taken up at the bottom - it would kind of have a 'portal' effect.

It would also future proof somewhat for non-standard internet access via console etc - 2 of the current 'next gen' consoles support web browsing on a TV, and I strongly suspect it won't be long after Vista that the 360 will as well. All it needs is for a console to have preliminary DC emulation support, and this site becomes massively relevant again.

|darc| wrote: The current categorization is not finished, but the Forums and Chat tabs are going to be brought together as "Community" as I plan on incorporating an IRC chat link or page at the top of the forums (on all themes or at least on the DCEmu theme).

For people who don't know what dcemulation is about (which is who this is aiming to attract, right?) there needs to be some clear splitting between stuff like Chankast and stuff like DreamSNES.

There should also be splits along the lines of homebrew games (eg Smash DC) / ports (eg Quake) / apps (eg ToEleven) and tools (eg ip.bin inserters)

SBI is probably worth having its own dedicated section too tbh with mirrors of SBIed files linking back to the original game/app/emulators 'main page' stating which versions work with SBI and which don't.

|darc| wrote:I also did a sample DCDev. I don't know who has access to DCDev, but if anyone feels like continuing it, I have a new template for it.

http://dev.dcemulation.org/dcdev.php

Some people in IRC say they like the red color scheme for the main site, I personally prefer the blue, but I figured this was worth posting for feedback.

I like the blue for the main page, maybe you could have a more orangey red for dev?

Also, is dchomebrew still going to be subcategorised to the subdomain, or are you going to remerge everything DC related back into dcemulation?

deemoney · Post by **deemoney** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:55 am

Also, is dchomebrew still going to be subcategorised to the subdomain, or are you going to remerge everything DC related back into dcemulation?

[/quote]

wraggster stole dchomebrew.. it has nothing to do with our dcemu anymore :\

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:58 am

Nyarlathotep wrote:Also, is dchomebrew still going to be subcategorised to the subdomain, or are you going to remerge everything DC related back into dcemulation?

Boy. You've been gone a long time, haven't you?

DCHomebrew hasn't been a subdomain of DCEmulation for a long time. In fact, DCHomebrew isn't even really a part of this site anymore. Wraggys took it off to it's own domain over a year ago.

Being that that happened, though, I think bringing the "homebrew" software into DCEmulation.com would be a good idea. Make DCEmulation an all-purpose, one-stop shop for anyone interested in dusting off their Dreamcasts.

Keep in mind, also, the outside sites that are not directly competing with DCEmulation. A partnership between some of the sites may be a good thing. I'm not calling for the type of "community bonding" MetaFox was looking for, but it would be nice if we could all lay some cards out on the table from the beginning. I can't speak for any sites besides those on the DC Evo network, but I'm sure, if DCEmulation were to link to relevant things like our CD compilations, or our SBI file repository, we would be more than happy to return the favor by linking to DCEmulation's relevant download pages. For instance, if you put up a download for Tetris 2, you could link to our Tetris 2 OC image. We would also link directly to the DCEmulation download page for Tetris 2 from our T2 OC image page.

That's something I was always remiss to even bring up over at DC Evo, as I hated all the adverts over here (and, honestly, the pages were so out-of-date, it wouldn't have done a whole lot of good). Now that the site is going to be advert-free (which is extremely rare these days - DC Evo has a GOAT ad, but that's simply because we want to support GOAT, not because we're getting any money out of it), I really wouldn't mind making a real partnership with the site, and I'm sure that most of our staff would probably feel the same way.

not just souLLy now · Post by **not just souLLy now** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:47 am

That's why I stuck the Friends links on the front page, I don't want anything to do with this redesign if it's just another oppurtunity to divide the scene. I'm gonna be pretty pissed off if I see only put certain sites on there or none at all because they're 'competitors'.

The scene has been divided for too long by petty idiots who are taking sides in arguments that started and ended years before they arrived at the site. Trust me all of the people I've heard with strong anti-DCEmuUK viewpoints don't know shit about what has happened previously (and don't care in all honesty, they just like their little positions of respect and power here). I won't go into a full rant about the scene and all the past history as this is neither the time or place.

It's just that that half made me not want be involved in the redesign. Most of the bitchers don't genuinely care about the scene and haven't played a Dreamcast in years.

Bertrude · Post by **Bertrude** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 8:20 am

I'm coming in a little late here but I think (for what it's worth) that the redesign looks very smart and stylish. The cleaner design is lovely and I like the more muted colour scheme.

The only think I would like to suggest is that it doesn't become the same kind of redundant static front page that this site has had for so long and will continued to be updated with up to date news/articles etc so that revisiting the site is no longer just a straight jump to the forums (well that's what I do anyway).

This site and the UK DCEmu site have both helped me get much more out of my Dreamcast and whilst I don't really know what went on between the two parties it would be nice to see some mutual respect as both really are aiming at doing very similar things.

So congrats on the facelift and I look forward to seeing it carried over site wide.

Darksaviour69 · Post by **Darksaviour69** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:29 am

I just wanted to say I'm glad you have moved to a good server and are redesigning the site. Over all it the best thing for the scene. good luck

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:47 pm

The new site looks absolutely GREAT! I don't care if there's "a lot of white space" on it. And people used to complain because the old page was too cluttered...

Post by **Quzar** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:48 pm

quick thing about the front page. the dcemu.co link should be to dreamcast.dcemu.co.uk , since that is the dreamcast arm (and afaik, we aren't listed anywhere as an affiliate of the main dcemu.co.uk).

ace · Post by **ace** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:41 pm

I actually like the blue theme better. Looks more professional.

Post by **|darc|** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:16 am

and one for devcast by request:

http://devcast.dcemulation.org/devcast.php

ace · Post by **ace** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:18 am

The orange is perfect for devcast, it looks incredible in that shade.

Post by **melancholy** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:26 am

|darc| wrote:and one for devcast by request:

http://devcast.dcemulation.org/devcast.php

Blue for the main site and orange for Devcast, it is the perfect combination for the overall goal of this revamping.

Post by **melancholy** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:35 am

One other thing I'd like to add is that the front page looks fabulous on the Wii. I'm posting on my Wii now and the front page looks like it was made it.

not just souLLy now · Post by **not just souLLy now** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:55 am

melancholy wrote:One other thing I'd like to add is that the front page looks fabulous on the Wii. I'm posting on my Wii now and the front page looks like it was made it.

heh, that's one of the reasons I went for an 800x600 viewable layout, not so much the viewable on lower PC resolutions as tech literate people normally use larger screen resolutions (and this is a fairly geeky site)- but more so it could be viewed on the Dreamcast browser and the wii... whenever mine freaking arrives for me to test it

Prophet][ · Post by **Prophet][** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 2:36 am

melancholy wrote:
|darc| wrote:and one for devcast by request:

http://devcast.dcemulation.org/devcast.php
Blue for the main site and orange for Devcast, it is the perfect combination for the overall goal of this revamping.

That is nuts. I would love you for the rest of my life if that was implemented.

All I need to do then is get off my arse and get the gallery uploader going like I always wanted now we got MySQL

TseTinGFunG · Post by **TseTinGFunG** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:17 am

Just wanted to add my thoughts about the updates so far. Looking very clean and sharp. Just the site update is breathing life into the DC. hehe. Keep it up guys. Peace out.

butters · Post by **butters** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:33 am

Prophet][ wrote:
melancholy wrote:
|darc| wrote:and one for devcast by request:

http://devcast.dcemulation.org/devcast.php
Blue for the main site and orange for Devcast, it is the perfect combination for the overall goal of this revamping.
That is nuts. I would love you for the rest of my life if that was implemented.

All I need to do then is get off my arse and get the gallery uploader going like I always wanted now we got MySQL

Agreed! Blue for main site, orange for Devcast! Please please please please please * infinity.

Sir Savant · Post by **Sir Savant** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:05 pm

Prophet][ wrote:
melancholy wrote:
|darc| wrote:and one for devcast by request:

http://devcast.dcemulation.org/devcast.php
Blue for the main site and orange for Devcast, it is the perfect combination for the overall goal of this revamping.
That is nuts. I would love you for the rest of my life if that was implemented.

All I need to do then is get off my arse and get the gallery uploader going like I always wanted now we got MySQL

You thinking on my braiwave. I even asked for a few customizations of what is already there from |darc|. And I have the mysql data. I will try and be on IRC so we can talk about it or something.

Post by **|darc|** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:49 am

I made Yet Another Colored Theme for the site: homebrew.

Here's my train of thought (choo! choo!): The site will be divided into four sections: emulation, homebrew, hardware, and developer. The previous hardware section, devcast, will now be merged from a subdomain into a main portion of the site. This makes much more sense especially if we were planning on giving Devcast a similar theme to the main site. DCEmu Developer also had a subdomain, but it shared the original DCEmu theme as well, so it too will be merged into the regular site. Each section will continue to be maintained by the original maintainers. The front page will continue to use the blue emulation theme.

A variable embedded in each page of DCEmu will determine which style is loaded. This variable will also extend to determine what content is loaded on the right column (each section will want to have individual content there).

Opinions?