Who else also find the design of BC is so 2001. I am not saying it is bad, but it can be improved by today's standard. A refreshed looking site could also provide a better image to our beloved sport, since Badminton Central is such an important badminton community online. So I have spent an hour today to create this mock up, as a starter.
Similar thread below.. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=338675 I heard kwun likes the design of NBA.com's homepage..
very outdated Interesting thread I must say... The current header image is a silent witness to what once was (e.g. knowledge base, forum, news, reviews, and gallery). A site like this (used to be) doesn't run on readership alone, active involvement in both discussions and other types of 'content creation' make it into a more lively environment. That's, however, more of a strategic decision, to venture back into the portal type of site or to stay within the relatively more feasible framework of a forum / discussion board. I haven't looked into the flexibility of this vBulletin's CSS yet, but it seems to me that with a few tweaks and subtle changes this forum could attain a more professional look, without alienating its users. (A nice off-hours project .) Wong8Egg has put forward a valid point... Who else has some ideas? (Whether they're feasible, well... that's a different chapter in this thread .)
Wong8Egg. that's is a very nice design. we can talk about how to tailor it to suit BC's need. i agree that the current design is a bit outdated. i am open to ideas for how to improve BC. please keep the ideas coming.
> my two cents You gotta walk the talk, so here's one of my proposals . It's just a mock-up of course, but please feel free to comment. The design gives the opportunity to directly link to the most important functionality for (new) visitors [top left] and space is allocated for regular [top] and skyscraper banners. Furthermore this centered lay-out lessens the current 'fragmented' look.
Kwun. I have the psd file if you ever decided to make use of my design. I have make it to match the color of the current theme, so themeing should be minimal except to widen the site to 90% and center it, and of course, to modify the header. Feel free to let me know if anything I can help. Cheers
Adding my 1.25 sens.. Yes, BC used to have a front homepage, just like other websites. However, one of the reasons why i think kwun no longer maintains the "what once was" a portal type homepage is because a lot of the information/news/links haven't been continuously managed, updated and maintained. Thus he took it down. I think if kwun can get someone to somehow help him out with the updates of the news/links etc., i think the previous homepage would be up & running again. The big questions are: Who will take upon that task and responsibility? And whether kwun is fine with that idea? And yes, the flexibility of the software? ..i don't mind the center format look..As far as my personal opinion goes, i think BC is fine with what it is now, a discussion forum website more so than a combo of news/links/discussion forum website. What i would add, though, to the current webpage & perhaps improve the forum are: 1. A visible enough Search box (which i've mentioned/suggested before)..perhaps no more repeated threads?? 2. A link to BWF's homepage for their latest World Rankings 3. A link to tournamentsoftware.com for the latest & greatest scores/tourneys (we do have that now, but only through each individual Tournament's section/sub-forum).. 4. Link(s) to badminton news portals, either use the badzine.info website or the BWF homepage Unfortunately, i'm no web-designer/expert.. Btw, i do like the look of UCI's (Union Cycliste Internationale) website. Looks kinda similar to BC's previous homepage header (w/a logo & pictures of athletes along the top). Simple, yet informative and straight forward. It also has basically all 4 items i mentioned above. Maybe we can add 4 extra tabs at the top for those 4 items??.. http://www.uci.ch/Templates/UCI/UCI5/layout.asp?MenuID=MTYxNw&LangId=1
> new mock-up in the works Very true, and I agree something of that proportion can only return with an active 'crew' that maintains the website, rather than just the forum. However, for the time being, I also agree with you that the current forum fulfills the existent need: a platform for discussion and knowledge exchange. So that's already a nice base to build upon. It's bed time here, but tomorrow I'll try and implement some of the suggestions you mentioned in a new iteration of the design.
Next up.. ..how to implement that?? - The design and layout looks okay. - We can just name it "Badminton News" tab instead of badzine.info - I like the Search feature. Big, generous and very visible. - If there's a "Homepage" link, where would it lead?? How is the Homepage layout going to look like?? What will it contain/show? Will it retain relatively the same look/design/layout/contents as before? Or will it be a total revamp??
> some explanation All of this is just a 'shell' around the current forum, much like it works right now. So this requires little to no changes to the 'core' of the website structure. I agree that this is a difficult point: calling it badzine.info might be giving that site too prominent a position in the site without any visible 'return' from them to badmintoncentral.com. On the other hand, calling it 'badminton news' and subsequently directly linking to badzine.info might confuse visitors, they didn't know they were heading for badzine.info when they clicked 'badminton news'. My own conclusion: it's safer to stick with 'badzine.info' as is. Thanks, that's what I was going for . Just what you're looking at... The index page of the forum. Nothing more, nothing less. Each item in the orange horizontal menu links either to parts of the forum or to an external site. Look at them as 'shortcuts' or 'quick links'. This means that the design presents the visitor with a 'shell' around the forum. When implemented, Kwun or any other crew member won't have to maintain it any further, aside from changes in the design or adding/deleting menu items.
Still waiting.. - What i meant was, when is this change going to be actually implemented?? That's what we want to see.. - Do you know abt BWF's website?? Do you know they have news article as well?? Hmm, it's not so much abt badzine.info giving BC something "visible" in return. I guess in a way, BC could operate on its own, even without any news/article feed as we get to read news/articles, from different media sources, being shared by other members as well.. - I was thinking, if the change is basically to the forum's banner/header, why don't we just use the same banner as before (in the Homepage)?.. any other input from other members?..
> the what, why and when Well, actually, your guess is as good as mine. Ultimately it's Kwun who has to authorise it. I can't answer that question for you. I'm aware of its existence, yes. And I think both badzine.info and internationalbadminton.org can be interesting to our visitors here at BC. So that's why I thought your idea to link to them in the top menu still is a good idea. That's what this new design actually aims for: it doesn't try to add any external newsfeeds or whatever, it merely provides easy access to them. And BC - in this particular approach - can remain what it is: a forum where its members share the earlier mentioned news and their opinions. Primarily because simply putting up that header, doesn't provide for the features you suggested yourself: the quicklinks and the prominent search bar. Next to that, I personally think the website would greatly benefit from this revision in which the banners (Kwuns revenue needed to keep up this site) are better integrated. Secondly, I think we have to opportunity to start something new here, so we don't have to start building on something that was phased out over 1,5 years ago. Of course there's still more than enough room for changes to my design and I invite others to submit their proposals as well. I agree, but we all have to realise that returning to such a portal like site, requires the very active involvement of more than just Kwun (and a couple of moderators). News gathering, editing pieces, etc. takes up a lot of time. I applaud any such effort, but I'd then also very much welcome some kind of plan regarding how to mobilise and retain a group of people willing to invest their time and effort into such an endeavour.
I'm glad this has been brought up, always good to have some change every now and then . Love your design elastiekje, never been a fan of the left alignment. Looks squashed up on a large-ish monitor. I hope this goes ahead, there's a lot of potential to really update the site, it could be quite exciting! There are quite a few members who regularly update with the latest news etc.. I guess a lot of the time it's copy and paste... but I'm sure there'd be interest.
