Organizing the amount of info on site can be a pain in the butts. I want to make sure right off the bat that finding our guidelines is easy as pie to find: it's at the top navigation along the top of our forum. Hovering over it also gives a link to the TOS that some may not even read, because, lets face it...not many people enjoy the fine print. On that same main portal page, I have our ratings image display, a small blurb about what we do, and then a list of links such as: register today, What's free form, What features do we have to offer, and so on. But it looks cluttered. My thinking in the way I have it originally set up is to give first-time members a place where--what I believed it to be--relevant information about the game right off the bat without too much digging. But I keep thinking there's got to be some way to make that more simple. A way to arrange things to make it look better but still offer the same info? So, what I'm here for, is for picking your brains on suggestions. Criticisms. Anything really. Here's the link to the portal site I am talking about: http://www,2phatgeeks.com And here's a screenshot for anyone who'd rather have it: Thanks a lot in advance for anything really.
This is actually what my degree was in (Visual Communication Design). :) What it largely comes down to is information hierarchy and knowing your audience. You need to cater to new, potential players, as well as existing players. It can be hard getting a nice balance. For new players, think about it as selling a potential product (even though it's free). Tell them what it is (which you've already done) Tell them a few of your features (you're also already done this) Use concise language (toss some of your intro paragraphs into Hemingway App | RPGfix - Role-Playing Game Directory to see where they could be simplified) Prioritize what content is important Consider hiding content that is irrelevant to guests (I'll often hide things like shoutboxes to guests unless they also have permission to post) 'Souls actually does a super simplistic job at this by having a callout for any new players, directing them to their "Quick and Dirty" Guide at the top of their forum. Collect navigation metrics using Google Analytics or other services to see how people are actually using your site. I'm able to see on RPGfix what links that guests and returning members click on the most. Returning members rarely click on "About" but new visitors do fairly often. If new people didn't click on "About" so often, I would actually consider dropping it entirely from my top navigation and finding another way to cater and present the information. It's likely that not many people click on quite a few of your starting out links. "What is free form role play?" - I'm willing to bet that at least 90% of your guests already know what roleplaying is. Does that mean you should remove the content from the site? Certainly not, but it could be less prominent or... simply left as that link in your main description. "How can I contribute?" - This page actually has some really, really great content. I would probably take most of the things underneath your starting out section and put it onto this page, slowly reworking it into a "Getting Started Guide." I think the reason why most people would not click on this link though is the language used, and the fact that it's placed down so low. "Contribute" also has some monetary connotations. Participate, Get Started, Start Now, Play Free Now, etc., could all be alternatives. I also can't scroll in your guest notice in order to read it all (Google Chrome). Maybe just replace that last paragraph with a link to that page about registration issues. I could probably suggest a couple more things, but that's what stands out to me at the moment. :)
I don't have time to be super constructive right now, but I can add that the red-dashed guest box does the same thing for me. I use Safari.
That's so odd, I use Chrome and it doesn't cut off, but definitely will shorten the registration issues to link to an article. Fantastic suggestions @Iversia , thank you. Will work on tidying up and implementing those!
I've tried to fix the guest notification, pared down the welcome message on our portal and (hopefully) placed better eye-catching links (thanks to css and awesome font) on the welcome message on our portal homepage. Thanks to advice here, I'll be working on a much better newcomers/getting started guide as well. ANY critical advice is welcome. I won't bite and I promise I have a thick skin. (The ony thing I suck at is coding/php/css.) If you see or think something can be improved to make GR better, I'm all for listening. Thank you so much!
