Fantasy Grounds Social Media

[Raddu]

Hello everyone!

My name is Robert Adducci, I'm working with Fantasy Grounds as their social media and community manager for a few months (to start out). You've probably seen an increase in posts on social media over the past week. I'm really trying to engage the audience more, both current and prospective. You'll see me personally post in some Facebook groups and on Reddit and other places as well. I encourage you to engage if you find the posts interesting. Please comment, like (or +1), and share!

I'm just really getting into FG and hope to be running game soon!

~Robert

[Mask_of_winter]

Nice to have you!

[damned]

Make sure you do G+ as well!

[JohnD]

Cool beans.

[ddavison]

Thanks Robert. I've only been working with Robert first hand for the last two weeks and I can already see him as a great asset to Fantasy Grounds and the community. I'm confident he'll be able to help bring in some new players and DM's and help us grow the community even further.

Thanks for any help you guys and gals can provide for Robert to help him boost the signal.

BTW, he's also pointed out a few bugs and issues that needed fixing on the website and we've cleaned those up already. :)

[Raddu]

Yup, I'm on it! :-)

[pacio49]

Could you list the links to the existing Fantasy Grounds social media sites here for ease of reference? Maybe keep a sticky thread with them all listed for all newcomers to be able to reference quickly?

Just a suggestion.

[GunnarGreybeard]

Anything that will help bring in new blood, especially GM's would be great. I'm just running a text only game and have to routinely turn away interested players, averaging about 1 a week, because the game is full. We need to get these guys into some games sooner as opposed to later before they go somewhere else.

[Valarian]

I have a Google+ community for Fantasy Grounds: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110286911165948798500

Official Social Media links are:
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Fantasygrounds
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fantasygrounds/?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FantasyGrounds2

[Raddu]

Valarian beat me to it!

We've also got sub Reddit: reddit.com/r/fantasygrounds (https://www.reddit.com/r/fantasygrounds)

Doug is going to work to get the social media pages on the front page of the website as well, to drive more traffic.

[PopinFRESH]

Hey Guys & Gals,

While were on the topic of the Website, I know there have been a few posts in the past regarding the antiquated look and feel of the site so I took a few minutes to mock up a screenshot of what I think most of those posts were in reference to. Apologies in advance if using the FG logo in the mock up is against the rules, please feel free to take down the image if there are any copyright issues. I also have a second one that is essentially the same concept with D&D 5E, however, I figured I better not push my luck with WotC logos.

I found this post from little over a year ago here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22067-Let-s-be-honest-about-why-people-aren-t-coming-to-fantasy-grounds) while actually searching to see if FantasyGrounds has a FanSite Kit, or some kind of official Fan Kit that has some various logos, royalty free artwork (e.g. Desktop wallpapers, etc.), Banners, etc. for people to support FG; For example Twitch/Youtube streamers/letsplayers. I was fairly surprised that I couldn't find one and it does not appear to be one available.

I think the main thing with the current site is that it is very much static content which with current technologies makes it look old. Great HTML5 sites that use canvas, WebGL, etc. feel a lot more alive and dynamic. Walls of text and bulleted lists are broken down more and grouped into smaller sections accompanied by beautiful graphics and smooth animations or parallax effects. Take a look at some of these sites that have some of these elements that look modern, even though some of them aren't very well designed websites.

The Main D&D Site (https://dnd.wizards.com)
I'm not a huge fan of the overall site design, but the general look of it is the right idea and the primary thing I think they do well is the floating menu bar at the top which you can see aped in my mockup.

RPG Art Kits Site (https://www.rpgartkits.com)
Again, I'm not a fan of how they have laid out the entire site as a single VERY long scrolling for days site, but the site does offer an example of using HTML5 to give a sense of parallax and depth to the site.

HTML5Rocks Parallax Demo Site (https://www.html5rocks.com/static/demos/parallax/demo-1a/demo.html) and their Tutorial (https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/speed/parallax/)
HTML5Rocks also has some other great information on using HTML5 for some nice effects.

Akirodic's Jellyfish WebGL Demo (https://akirodic.com/p/jellyfish/)
This example of WebGL to render 3D graphics in the browser is something that could be used to great effect on FantasyGrounds site.

Imagine using this for demonstrating features of FG that a block of text just doesn't really capture, and a whole video is too much. For example showing off the combat tracker. Think about a features page that takes a few of the top features of FG like the combat tracker, using that parallax scrolling there would be a passage with the brief marketing copy about drag & drop and as you scroll down a FG desktop would slide up. The scene of a PC view with the combat tracker and a dungeon map with some mobs and some PCs and once you scroll far enough it clicks in place and runs a short overlay of pointing at the PCs action with hovering text that says click here and drag & drop on an enemy. You could then simulate how that feature works using WebGL to roll the 3D dice, etc. The beauty of this is that you don't need to actually have the system functional, just a controlled mock experience that gives the impression of what the feature is like.

Setting up mock experiences of some of the major features like this, regardless if they are interactive or automated would really help showcase FantasyGround's advantages. Another example that this would work well with is the DM's view of quickly loading pre-staged encounters from a linked overworld map with pushpins, down to an area map with some encounter push pins to drag & drop enemies onto the map and have them lock to the grid. In fact, you can imagine this feature being above the player view of the combat tracker so this would come first. They would get a taste of how a DM can quickly and easily fire up a pre-staged encounter on a player map, then as you continue to scroll you would see the chat log of the players saying what their actions are that would start combat. You could then have a quick automated example of the DM clicking on the roll all initiatives button as you continue to scroll by. Then you would scroll down to the above experience from the players perspective to demo drag & drop attacks, and/or casting AOE spells such as burning hands.

Well, I think you can get the core idea and I do realize that a major overhaul of the website is not the top priority as you continue to work on the Unity build. I would say, however, it would really go a long way to bolster the brand and appeal of FantasyGrounds. I'd consider a complete overhaul to modernize the site like this to coincide with the launch of the Unity version of the software. Something to think about when budgeting the goals of the Kickstarter.

Anyway, here is the mockup. Excuse any typos or inaccurate information.
12570

Lastly, back on the topic of Social Media if you don't already have a Twitch account setup I would recommend doing that as well and try to plan on setting up streaming some of your FG Con games, as well as watching for streamers who stream FG and try to host their streams when they are online playing FG.

Have a great day!
-PopinFRESH

[ddavison]

It has definitely been lower on the priority list for us since the current site functions and we have the added challenge of trying to provide a site that works well for a forum, store, wiki, game calendar and brochure. A lot of the Parallax sites I see look great but seem to be mostly centered around a brochure or brand page. The forum we use is vBulletin and it acts as a single-sign-on for the calendar, forums and store for Order History. I think you are correct that we could consolidate many of the pages and present things differently for the brochure like pages (i.e. Home | Features | Screenshots | Downloads | Press). Have you found any good examples of ones that incorporate stores with a large number of items (400 or more) and active forums?

For our Unity version, we will be building the marketplace within the app itself and probably a game lobby and calendar. You will still be able to do those things on the website, but the interface will be targeted towards those within the app directly.

[PopinFRESH]

...Have you found any good examples of ones that incorporate stores with a large number of items (400 or more) and active forums?

For our Unity version, we will be building the marketplace within the app itself and probably a game lobby and calendar. You will still be able to do those things on the website, but the interface will be targeted towards those within the app directly.

Hey Doug,

No I haven't found any thing like that being used within a storefront, you are correct that this would primarily be for the marketing/sales aspect of the software. I think that is the majority of what idjester's observation/issue with the site was and the same feeling I've got from others that I regularly play PnP games with. I really like the idea of integrating the store & marketplace into the app directly and I think it would be a good idea to buildout a more robust user account management system to isolate the various functions of the site while still maintaining SSO. Something that would also support things like linking a users Steam account so that purchases via Steam would automatically show up in their licenses (and would show they already own that content in the store) etc. I do also agree that these functions should also still be accessible via the site.

I'll keep an eye out for some more examples of sites that do have nicely done HTML5 product info pages that also have a storefront and/or forum.

-PopinFRESH

[ddavison]

D20Pro.com recently redid their site. What are your thoughts on the approach they took. They have a mix of different styles.

[Diceman]

I'm a fan of the concept "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Sure the site could use a face lift but it works fine. Personally I like the current setup, especially the ease of use regarding the message boards. And I like that you don't have flashing banners all over the place.

I would prefer you put your resources into your Fantasy Grounds projects.

While an updated website might attract more visitors, it has been my own experience over the last 10 months that once current customers introduce Fantasy Grounds to their friends the product sells itself. I started my first campaign on FGs in April, and since then four of my friends have purchased their own licenses and started running or planning their own games.

but the I am a curmudgeon who doesn't like change. :D Just adding my two cents.

[Diceman]

BTW, Welcome to the Fantasy Grounds community Raddu. I look forward to reading your posts.

[Raddu]

I didn't want to bring up the look of the website since I'm the newguy around here and didn't want to spout even more changes, but since it was brought up...

I think the site definitely needs a new look with modern sensibilities. PopinFRESH's mockup is nice and clean. I personally don't like the D20pro site, everything seems too large, although I haven't look at it on mobile.

I'm a fan of the magazine style for sites that need to be visually impressive which I think FG needs. Google Video Magazine Website Template (https://www.google.com/search?q=multiple+column+website+template&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpsbGUqZ3KAhXHLyYKHXPUCMgQ_AUIBigB#safe =off&tbm=isch&q=video+magazine+website+template&imgrc=f9-hLwDafMaj7M%3A) for examples.

We should definitely get some regular Twitch steams happening on behalf of FG. I really like what Roll20 is doing with their regular game sessions. We could also do some Q&A and similar seminar/tutorial type video casts. I realize that's another subject, but that's definitely part of community building, especially for this community.

[Mask_of_winter]

I didn't want to bring up the look of the website since I'm the newguy around here and didn't want to spout even more changes, but since it was brought up...

I think the site definitely needs a new look with modern sensibilities. PopinFRESH's mockup is nice and clean. I personally don't like the D20pro site, everything seems too large, although I haven't look at it on mobile.

I'm a fan of the magazine style for sites that need to be visually impressive which I think FG needs. Google Video Magazine Website Template (https://www.google.com/search?q=multiple+column+website+template&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpsbGUqZ3KAhXHLyYKHXPUCMgQ_AUIBigB#safe =off&tbm=isch&q=video+magazine+website+template&imgrc=f9-hLwDafMaj7M%3A) for examples.

We should definitely get some regular Twitch steams happening on behalf of FG. I really like what Roll20 is doing with their regular game sessions. We could also do some Q&A and similar seminar/tutorial type video casts. I realize that's another subject, but that's definitely part of community building, especially for this community.
I started streaming my FG campaign. I use Google Hangouts OnAir!/Youtube live because of it's simplicity. Also every Twitch stream I've watched gets interrupted by ads, YouTube live has no ads -I've never had any anyway. There should probably be a directory of those livestreams stickied somewhere -unless I missed it.
The website doesn't bother, I can easily find everything I need. But then again I've been here for so long that it's difficult for me to myself in the shoes of someone totally new at this.
I think Fantasy Grounds has a stigma. "Roll20 is free, why should I pay for the same thing?" I promote FGCon and FGDaze and it's very hard to get people past that. I run one-shots pretty much every weekend over on Google + (why not advertise on FG Forums? Because my ad in the LFG forums gets buried within a day by that Phandelver dude and nobody ever sees it). Even if I tell them they can play in my games for free, it's like they don't believe me. "What's the catch?" The other barriers to attract people over to FG is that it doesn't have native Mac/Linux support and of course that it's interface intimidating. One last thing, rulesets. There's this misconception that if it isn't supported by FG, you can't play it. You can play almost anything with CoreRpg. I ran Dresden Files and Fate before we had a ruleset, I ran Powered by the Apocalypse games, Nights Black Agents and tonight I'm running Shadow of the Demon Lord again.

[Hector Trelane]

I'm a fan of the concept "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Sure the site could use a face lift but it works fine. Personally I like the current setup, especially the ease of use regarding the message boards. And I like that you don't have flashing banners all over the place.

I would prefer you put your resources into your Fantasy Grounds projects.


No arguments with this as it applies to the forums.

However I'll cast a vote for a both a facelift of (that is a sweet image, PopinFRESH) and (more importantly) a user-friendly rewrite of the website. As a relatively recent newcomer to FG, there is a big learning curve, and clarity of instructions to newcomers can only help. (In fact it helps a LOT.)

Which gets to a related point: user-friendliness would go up significantly if there were (significantly) improved instructions and documentation. Yes, the community helps, but that's not a substitute. (The closest thing I've seen is Savage Worlds documentation by Kevin Hogan. I mention this not as a criticism but as an argument that it's worth prioritizing (because I suspect many noob users go, or might be tempted to go, to Roll20 or alternatives if they feel baffled and frustrated... patience is low in the era of the iPhone).

[JohnD]

I didn't want to bring up the look of the website since I'm the newguy around here and didn't want to spout even more changes, but since it was brought up...

I think the site definitely needs a new look with modern sensibilities. PopinFRESH's mockup is nice and clean. I personally don't like the D20pro site, everything seems too large, although I haven't look at it on mobile.

I'm a fan of the magazine style for sites that need to be visually impressive which I think FG needs. Google Video Magazine Website Template (https://www.google.com/search?q=multiple+column+website+template&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpsbGUqZ3KAhXHLyYKHXPUCMgQ_AUIBigB#safe =off&tbm=isch&q=video+magazine+website+template&imgrc=f9-hLwDafMaj7M%3A) for examples.

We should definitely get some regular Twitch steams happening on behalf of FG. I really like what Roll20 is doing with their regular game sessions. We could also do some Q&A and similar seminar/tutorial type video casts. I realize that's another subject, but that's definitely part of community building, especially for this community.

Would you be able to make a template for people to use or connect to? Not sure if that is even a fair or realistic question. I've been DMing a long time and could probably stream my games if my players were OK with it, but I have no technical ability to put something together for an interface, nor frankly the time or inclination to add it to my prep time. If I could simply connect and have the streaming part just be there, it would remove the major impediment.

[PopinFRESH]

D20Pro.com recently redid their site. What are your thoughts on the approach they took. They have a mix of different styles.

Some elements of it I like. Their titlebar menu is a little janky (it doesn't seem to float the elements properly and ends up with a larger amount of dead space on the bottom vs the top of the grey area) but is along the right idea. I don't like the quasi folded paper brochure thing they tried to do with the "Play faster, Play bigger, play anywhere" as it is static and feels out of place with the parallax effect they used at the top of the page. That concept wouldn't have been too bad if they actually used WebGL to make that simulate a tri-fold brochure where it would unfold and pull down as you scrolled down the page. Moving to their features page its not bad and the pop-in animation is a nice touch. I agree with Raddu that the iconography seems too large & some of them don't really convey the feature/topic well but its not terrible.

I don't like the functionality of their menu (Specifically the Learn & Community elements) as it is disconnected from the selection and the fly-in animation doesn't make sense. I much prefer something that is just as lively but also feels natural like the D&D site's menu. The other issue with their menu for these is that it misuses common indicators with the right arrows on each of these. This should indicate that on a mouse hover a sub-menu should slide out to the right, which it does not.

Their FAQ page under the learn menu element isn't terrible either other than the fonts are too large and their text layout isn't great, but the page layout isn't bad. Across the top you have a quick start guide PDF (which isn't very good imo), The in-app purchasing guide (which could be something like "beyond the basics" section for FG with how to guides on getting additional content from the market / importing your own content, etc.), Their Wiki and a more comprehensive user guide, and then a link to their video tutorials. Then below that is some good FAQ info.

Their marketplace isn't great by any means but it is slightly better than the FG store in terms of looks. I don't think there is any problem really with the FG store functionality, other than it could be better laid out. Something along the lines of a slider with the top 3 - 4 products/promotions at the top and then a full width navigation bar that would include all of the controls for navigating the store. E.g. pagination, filtering, searching, etc. Each product would need a cover art (as they already do), short name/title, content type (portrait pack, adventure module, campaign, token pack, etc.), short description, long description, and a few standardized screen shots. Then have 2 states for each product, a small normal view with just the cover art, short name/title, and a short brief description. On mouse click it would split the page and drop down a standard product page inline (similar to how Google Image search works).

Short answer to your inquiry, they do somethings decently and somethings not so well but the general feel of the site is more modern and at least a step in the right direction.


I didn't want to bring up the look of the website since I'm the newguy around here and didn't want to spout even more changes, but since it was brought up...

I think the site definitely needs a new look with modern sensibilities. PopinFRESH's mockup is nice and clean. I personally don't like the D20pro site, everything seems too large, although I haven't look at it on mobile.

I'm a fan of the magazine style for sites that need to be visually impressive which I think FG needs. Google Video Magazine Website Template (https://www.google.com/search?q=multiple+column+website+template&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpsbGUqZ3KAhXHLyYKHXPUCMgQ_AUIBigB#safe =off&tbm=isch&q=video+magazine+website+template&imgrc=f9-hLwDafMaj7M%3A) for examples.

We should definitely get some regular Twitch steams happening on behalf of FG. I really like what Roll20 is doing with their regular game sessions. We could also do some Q&A and similar seminar/tutorial type video casts. I realize that's another subject, but that's definitely part of community building, especially for this community.

Hello and welcome Raddu. I personally don't like the Magazine templates, they all seem very early "WordPress as a CMS" era and there are much better technologies now that enable much more modern web design. My biggest complaint with any website is super long pages with a ton of scrolling, especially on the main page. I would recommend a design that has a decent consistent floating menu at the top, a single highly interactive NON-scrolling main page which is the primary driver for marketing and high-level information, then have various pages for core topics that would be longer interactive scrollable pages as I described before. I will continue to look for more examples of what I believe are well done web design and will post back as I find things, or if we'd rather split this out into a different thread thats cool too (possibly necro the other thread I linked?)


No arguments with this as it applies to the forums.

However I'll cast a vote for a both a facelift of (that is a sweet image, PopinFRESH) and (more importantly) a user-friendly rewrite of the website. As a relatively recent newcomer to FG, there is a big learning curve, and clarity of instructions to newcomers can only help. (In fact it helps a LOT.)

Which gets to a related point: user-friendliness would go up significantly if there were (significantly) improved instructions and documentation. Yes, the community helps, but that's not a substitute. (The closest thing I've seen is Savage Worlds documentation by Kevin Hogan. I mention this not as a criticism but as an argument that it's worth prioritizing (because I suspect many noob users go, or might be tempted to go, to Roll20 or alternatives if they feel baffled and frustrated... patience is low in the era of the iPhone).

Thanks for the compliment Hector, however, all of the assets in that mockup are found web images from places like deviant art. I do agree that image is really cool looking (which is why I chose it :). I do agree with you that a lot of people tend to have little patience when it comes to learning new things especially when those things can by somewhat complex. Most people like those of us here on the forums tend not to resemble this and take the time to learn and seek out additional information, as well as share a lot of information on how to better utilize the software.

I think Doug mentioned somewhere about the generational differences and I completely agree that this is a large factor in peoples behavior. There are an increasingly large number of NEW PnP RPG players that are just starting to get into it because it's "nerdy" and there is a fairly recent (last 5 - 10 years) "Geek is Chic" mentality among younger generations. A lot of these younger generations have grown up with so much interactive content, massive budgeted movies, etc. & there seems to be a higher level of ADD/ADHD among them. I say this because it really seems that there needs to be some subconscious driver to keep them interested in pursuing additional information. If the informational portion of the website looks cool, is animated and interactive I think this would engage people to stay around and dive deeper into learning how to effectively use the program.

I also agree with Doug on this being a lower priority and on the back burner since I'd much rather them focus on the work toward Unity. This is for two reasons, firstly being that I am really excited for it and would prefer their time is devoted to launching it as soon as possible. Secondly (which is why I'm excited for it), the move to Unity has a lot of potential for some really cool new features that will likely change some of how we utilize the program. It would be more time/cost efficient to wait for a site overhaul until the Unity build is largely complete. The reason I even mentioned this topic now was that it would be a good idea to gather ideas, find examples of beautiful web design and potentially plan on budgeting for hiring a design firm to build a modern site as part of the Kickstarter goals (not to imply Doug et al couldn't do it, but I'd rather their focus be on development of the program).

Well Thats about as much Wall-O-text as I can do for now :) (ha ha, I actually hit the 10000 character limit)
-PopinFRESH

[BadWolfy]

hello im trying to find a game so i can get in the action im abegginner new to the scene how do i do ths

[Andraax]

hello im trying to find a game so i can get in the action im abegginner new to the scene how do i do ths

I have some openings in my Tuesday night (8-11pm US/Central). Castles and Crusades.

[ddavison]

The reason I even mentioned this topic now was that it would be a good idea to gather ideas, find examples of beautiful web design and potentially plan on budgeting for hiring a design firm to build a modern site as part of the Kickstarter goals (not to imply Doug et al couldn't do it, but I'd rather their focus be on development of the program).

Well Thats about as much Wall-O-text as I can do for now :) (ha ha, I actually hit the 10000 character limit)
-PopinFRESH

Relaunching something to coincide with the upcoming switch-over to Unity makes a lot of sense. In order to have a broader appeal for the KS, we should probably do that *before* the KS launches. I'm mostly a back-end web guy and I've worked with graphic artists in the past for customer's sites... but it's been quite a while since I've done this and I haven't kept up with the latest trends and styles. Hiring it out would be best, I think.

[bnickelsen]

The reason I even mentioned this topic now was that it would be a good idea to gather ideas, find examples of beautiful web design and potentially plan on budgeting for hiring a design firm to build a modern site as part of the Kickstarter goals (not to imply Doug et al couldn't do it, but I'd rather their focus be on development of the program).

Well Thats about as much Wall-O-text as I can do for now (ha ha, I actually hit the 10000 character limit)
-PopinFRESH

What Kickstarter?

[ddavison]

We will be launching a Kickstarter when we get closer to having a Unity version of Fantasy Grounds available.

[bnickelsen]

We will be launching a Kickstarter when we get closer to having a Unity version of Fantasy Grounds available.

Are you close to getting this new version?

I know you can't give a specific date but there is a big difference between Just starting to work on it and Beta starts soon.

[ddavison]

We have been working on it for over a year, but there is still a long way to go. We hope to be close to a Beta version around Gen Con in August.

[PopinFRESH]

Relaunching something to coincide with the upcoming switch-over to Unity makes a lot of sense. In order to have a broader appeal for the KS, we should probably do that *before* the KS launches. I'm mostly a back-end web guy and I've worked with graphic artists in the past for customer's sites... but it's been quite a while since I've done this and I haven't kept up with the latest trends and styles. Hiring it out would be best, I think.

Very good point Doug. It totally makes a whole lot of sense to get something like this done prior to the KS so that traffic that is driven to the site from the KS page is met with a beautiful modern site that is appealing and demonstrates some of the amazing features of FG.

I found another site that is a great example of three.js / WebGL and how it could deliver an amazing experience for the main page.
A Journey Through Middle-Earth (https://middle-earth.thehobbit.com) shows off a really cool concept that would be fantastic for FG. If you open that page and click begin, then click on explore the map at the bottom of the page you'll get the idea. Imagine a beautiful quasi-3D overland map like that with Points of Interest markers like would be for towns & cities; however these would represent many of the basic features as smaller "town" markers and some of the major features with slightly larger "city" markers. Clicking on one of the POIs would open a pop-over with basic information for that feature and (if needed) a learn more button to load a more detailed page about the feature.

If you click on the Battlegrounds icon on the page it loads 5 vertical strips, this would be a good way to explain game systems. Have the list of all (fully) supported game systems with each one presented like that with some nice art that could/would match the game system in each vertical strip. You could horizontally swipe/scroll through them, and clicking on one would unfold an info-pane to the right (kind like its opening the seam between two of the strips). This would have information on that ruleset, what is included, possibly some of the top content available for it, and a little check list of supported features within that ruleset.

I'll try to do a mockup of these when I have time on Wednesday.
-PopinFRESH

[LordEntrails]

I appreciate all the effort Poppin has been putting in on this, and I'll look forward for the mockup if you do one. I would say I'm concerned after looking at the JTM-E page referred to though. Maybe I'm getting the intent wrong?

IMO, the first page (home, index, main...) should have content. Not be an entry portal to some experience. The first time I go there, a portal can be fun, after that, it is a waste of my time and computer resources.

Second, there should be a stable navigation system. whether this is fly out or not, it needs to be intuitive and easily used. (I don't like how the nav bar changes when I go into the forum.)

Also, following from the previous comment; the layout and content architecture is more important to me than any visuals etc.

I would recommend careful consideration be given to how the content from the wiki, documentation, and forums be accessible. Right now, it is very difficult for me to integrate or use all these sources in a comprehensive manner.

On the architecture idea, to me, the following areas of the current website are intuitive "groups" or related;
a) forum, calendar, & blogs are all 'social' or 'community' related.
b) forum, wiki and FAQ are all info/documentation related
c) store, downloads, what's new are all commerce related
d) downloads, forum, wiki all have extensions/modules/...
(get the idea?)

Maybe a mind map should be laid out to help... (okay, all the time I have for now to think about this, sorry.)
c)

[damned]

There are differing POVs on what should be on a home page / landing page.
To me the #1 thing that the front/landing page needs to do is keep you there. The first part of that is Visual. The second part of that is Content. The Content may be on the front page or the page contains clear and concise links to the actual content.

[PopinFRESH]

Hey All,

Just finished up the mockups of what I was trying to describe previously regarding the JTM-E site. I could care less about the "Game" aspect that it has and was more specifically focusing on how the "Overland" map worked in three.js/WebGL to render a beautiful 3D topdown(ish) map. Overland or World/Realm maps are obviously something that is very close to the hearts of most PnP RPG players and I think this would be an awesome way to use that "theme" of a world map to present the marketing info about FG. The first mockup would be the main page, and just imagine that the map is much larger than one screens worth and you could pan around the map, use the mouse wheel to zoom in an out, and click on the various "Points of Interest" that are each feature on the full feature list, etc. The major features like the Combat Tracker would be slightly larger Icon size over some larger Cities, other features, etc. that are good to point out but are not unique or a major differentiator would be slightly smaller Icon size over a smaller Town. You could also have things like direct links to other parts of the site, such as a Tavern Icon to jump straight to this section of the Forums or a Church Icon with a direct link to The House of Healing support forum.

The intent is not for regular visitors to use this as a primary navigation tool, rather to present the marketing/sales/product information in a highly interactive and fun way that is very much in the spirt of the purpose and function of the software. The top Menu bar should be bootstrap and will always float statically at the top regardless of where you are on the site.

12633

The second and third mockups show the concept of how the JTM-E site presented locations as vertical strips. This could be used to provide more details on each of the fully supported game systems. So in the first image this the vertical strips would be scrollable left & right to cycle through all of the systems/rulesets. When you click on one it would fold out to the right while sliding over to the left side of the browser. I suck at animation or else I would have animated this, but I think you all can figure out what I'm saying from the mockups

12634
12635

Again, I don't think there is anything wrong functionally with the forums, etc. The main issue is that the informational portion of the site that draws interest to the program and sells what FG can do looks antiquated and so people end up dismissing it. I tried to find it today but unfortunately I couldn't locate it, however, there was a study done by a university (I believe Kent, MO) about website aesthetics and how that impacts a visitors impression of credibility of the site. They found that this phenomena happens within the first 4 seconds of looking at a site, and they found a very positive correlation between increased aesthetics and increased credibility.

Anyway, have a good night and I'll check back to see what feedback and others thoughts are on this concept.
-PopinFRESH

[LordEntrails]

Nice mockups :)

I believe the 4 second concept (or something like it). But would the content/images/code for such a homepage take more than 2 seconds or so to load? I don't know if the mentioned study addressed it, but load time is a major (in my view) impact on the initial impression. Anyone have an idea of how much bandwidth such a front page would require?

[ddavison]

Thanks PopinFRESH. You have us thinking.

BTW, does your level of interest indicate that you would be someone willing to do a build-out under contract for us or are these just ideas that you think we should take to a web studio/development shop? There's no wrong answer to that question.

[PopinFRESH]

Nice mockups :)

I believe the 4 second concept (or something like it). But would the content/images/code for such a homepage take more than 2 seconds or so to load? I don't know if the mentioned study addressed it, but load time is a major (in my view) impact on the initial impression. Anyone have an idea of how much bandwidth such a front page would require?

I don't recall if they discussed page load with any depth of analysis. I agree that page load is important as well as browser compatibility. Both are considerations that can and should be addressed technically. Upon page request the html should load some static image similar to the JTM-E site which loads The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies logo with the site subtitle and the begin button over top of the Lonely Mountain. In this manner that actual first page load should do several things to address those things as well as a few other technical issues that can lead to a poor impression of the site.

First the static page provides a very fast initial impression so that you don't have the situation where people enter the URL and nothing happens for several seconds while content loads (I agree this is far worse than having an antiquated looking page that loads quickly). The second thing this does is allow for some compatibility checks to be made so that you can ensure A page loads regardless of the browser. For example, not all browser versions properly support three.js/WebGL or other cutting edge web technologies. This should be tested and checked for which browser is in use, then when that initial static page loads it would determine if the users browser is compatible/capable of properly loading the interactive content.

Thirdly it allows the site to start caching a portion of the interactive content so that it can load quicker. The page load and how well the page works (does it scroll smoothly around the map, etc.) is also largely based on the JavaScript performance of the users browser. This is why the second point is important because if the detected browser is known to have terrible performance and/or the page doesn't function properly with the browsers Java engine then an alternate "Less Interactive" page should be loaded instead. This leads us to the fourth thing, is that the initial page should also give a user the choice to load the "Less Interactive" page or the "Highly Interactive" page. This would allow returning users (like us) who want to quickly click through to the forums, the store, etc. an option to load a faster & less resource intensive page.

So yes, there would also need to be a well designed more static version of the main page that would present the same information in a lower bandwidth way with much broader browser compatibility support. Something along the lines of my first mockup and would function more like the D&D site. Again the same static navigation menu bar that floats above the content would always be there and be the same across the site. So if you have a compatible browser and you choose the more interactive option it would load a really cool interactive "world map" page, if you don't or you choose the less interactive page you would get another nice looking site that has a fullwidth slider at the top that cycles through some of the high-level promotional things (like 5E support, automation, combat tracker, etc.) with some other dynamic page techniques like the parallax effect as you scroll through the other information.


Thanks PopinFRESH. You have us thinking.

BTW, does your level of interest indicate that you would be someone willing to do a build-out under contract for us or are these just ideas that you think we should take to a web studio/development shop? There's no wrong answer to that question.

I enjoy prototyping & storyboarding (especially for UI/UX), however, I am by no means a Web Developer or Designer and if you had me make you a site you'd end up with a nicely skinned piece of junk WordPress blog that would drive people away faster than Demogorgon rising from the Abyss. I think you'd want something that would act more like a Beholder to charm players into staying on the page :) I work for a global datacenter and as such I try to keep up on web technologies and their use, but alas I am not a great coder. I get to see a lot of cool design implementations and I can conceptually understand how the technology is used. I try to use these broader concepts when thinking about any type of UX, especially for things I enjoy and feel I can help with conceptual ideas.

I'm happy to provide my thoughts and opinions on things that interest me and once you do have a competent design studio testing a site design I'd be glad to provide feedback on it.

-PopinFRESH

[Nylanfs]

Here's a video stream from some pretty interesting video game designers playing on FG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1sUly2XW9Q