So with being in the hospital, I know the Website has a lot of errors, and I already know some of them, but in case I don't, I'm leaving it to the dedicated forum members to find the mistakes in Fanime 2008 Beta verson 1.0!
Also, If you'd like to make a comment about it, please use this space too.
Though I warn you, if all you have to say is negitive, I'm expecting you to turn in your portfolio to me to design next year's site.
In any case, Please feel free to comment about the website and help me out by getting to work better while I'm still recovering.
First and foremost, I'd like to thank you again for your hard work and getting the site up and running on-time for us. <3 And again, please don't push yourself so much. I hope you will have a fast recovery!
Now, onto my ramblings. XD;
I've been excited since I first saw the splash/counter page of the '08 site, being the little sakura and pink freak I am. At first, I was a bit shocked at all of the empty space around the content of the site, but it was just merely seconds after the launch, and I'm sure everything still needs to be tweaked. The random image reloaded after I finished reading several pages of the new site, and I jumped! I wasn't expecting that, but I really love this feature so much. I absolutely adore the character designs of the ones I've seen so far, and I like how there's some part of them overlapping the site's content.
I think my only peeve is the .JPG fuzz surrounding the text in the banners. I've always had an eye for it, and while it doesn't kill me, I'd save my images in another format if I had the choice. However, I can understand .JPG loads faster than .PNG, so it's more friendly to slower connections. ^_^; All is good, but I had to say something about the... fuzz. *doesn't know the term for it*
I'm not sure if you're interested in anyone pointing out all of the typos, so this is all for now. I look forward to more additions to the site! <3
It looks great! I really like the art work and the way you organized the links makes a lot of sense. Really great job. :-)
I don't know if anyone else had the same problem, but when I tried the forum button I got an error page. Not a huge issue, just something that happened for me.
Feel better. I have no idea what has you in the hospital but I do so hope that you will be out soon and feeling better.
Thanks again for being so dedicated to the site, it shows your hard work.
Quote from: "BrightHeart76"It looks great! I really like the art work and the way you organized the links makes a lot of sense. Really great job. :-)
I don't know if anyone else had the same problem, but when I tried the forum button I got an error page. Not a huge issue, just something that happened for me.
Feel better. I have no idea what has you in the hospital but I do so hope that you will be out soon and feeling better.
Thanks again for being so dedicated to the site, it shows your hard work.
The links are now fixed. Or should be at least....
... And hospital food is all that people say it is. Bland.
I think it looks nice. :D
Hi! The site looks so pretty! Thanks for a good job!
Okay, I have two observations:
1) The forum button still doesn't work. The website that pops up into the address box is "http://www.fanime.com/events/www.forums.fanime.com" instead of "http://forums.fanime.com"
2) Unless my screen is full size (which it usually isn't at work), I can't see the whole page (at first I couldn't even find the forums button). The scroll bar doesn't work. It's only for my Mozilla Firefox browser though. I just tried IE, and that seems to work, although the front page buttons are under the ninja girl, instead of on the right hand side of the screen like it is in Mozilla.
Take care of yourself, and I hope everything is okay.
It looks great, but all of the links from the events page are screwy. D: (That, and I can't find anything on the Artists Alley but I guess that would come later)
Quote from: "Kyokun"Hi! The site looks so pretty! Thanks for a good job!
Okay, I have two observations:
1) The forum button still doesn't work. The website that pops up into the address box is "http://www.fanime.com/events/www.forums.fanime.com" instead of "http://forums.fanime.com"
Heh, Yeah, I kinda forgot to fix the index page. The link on all the other pages are fine.
Quote from: "Kyokun"
2) Unless my screen is full size (which it usually isn't at work), I can't see the whole page (at first I couldn't even find the forums button). The scroll bar doesn't work. It's only for my Mozilla Firefox browser though. I just tried IE, and that seems to work, although the front page buttons are under the ninja girl, instead of on the right hand side of the screen like it is in Mozilla.
Take care of yourself, and I hope everything is okay.
Yeah, I've got this complaint in another email. I'll have to look in to it more. Also, I've had some browser errors with IE involving the menu that we're working on.
Uh...sorry...but is there more people helping you with the webdesign @_@;;
(might sound negative)
It looks a lot amateur-ish compared to the previous year. Even tho it's beta 1.0 it'll change right? D:
The border is not the best choice for design >_<;;
I wonder if I can help out even tho I'm in the artist pool?
how bout a link to the '07 page? i remember the old pre-reg site giving a link to the '06 site.
this may not have much use, but i'm one of those scrapbook kinda people that wants to keep everything.
EVERYTHING. :shock:
One mistake I found (btw using IE 6.0) was when clicking the Departments link under Staff button; on the staff page there was 2 navigation bars. Don't know if that was already pointed out or not.
Would prefer to see the navigational bar on the right side so that I won't have to scroll down the page (most likely already pointed out). I'm sure you're working on that, so don't worry.
I do like how each page loaded comes with a different character.
I appreciate the hard work you put into this site. Take care of yourself.
Quote from: "gem2niki"Uh...sorry...but is there more people helping you with the webdesign @_@;;
(might sound negative)
It looks a lot amateur-ish compared to the previous year. Even tho it's beta 1.0 it'll change right? D:
The border is not the best choice for design >_<;;
I wonder if I can help out even tho I'm in the artist pool?
Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with this even though I feel bad considering your position :?
It's a massive step backwards from last years design. It looks like you went for style over function and even then, it's not appealing. Everything about it is counter-intuitive from the fonts chosen to the navigation. It's hard to read and it's hard to click on anything you want. I don't even know where you're going to stick the mass amount of content that the site will hold by the time the con rolls around.
Alright, a few things. But before I start, keep in mind that I'm highly critical on these sorts of things, so don't take any of my observations personal.
First of all, I was shocked to hear that you're in the hospital! I was wondering why I wasn't recieving any more emails from you, haha. I'm impressed by your dedication, if I was in the same situation I don't think I would have continued working like you did.
I can see now what the theme is this year, if I'm not mistaken, it's a mix of traditional Japanese culture, somewhat of a festival theme. And definately, centered around cherry blossoms. =) It's a great concept, and I think it can be taken a lot further than it is.
As someone else mentioned before, and I don't mean to be rude, but the site design does seem to be a bit amateurish. I realize it's only a beta release, and I hope future releases will enhance what we already have. For now, just having a site up with information about the convention is better than not having one at all. Unfortunately, I don't think this website will attract many newcommers to the convention. To me, it just doesn't strike that impression.
On first glance at the site, it looks to me that it's made up of 3 fixed sized, fixed positioned tables. It also seems to me you've incorporated the same sort of drop-down list menus I've been experimenting with in Dreamweaver CS3. For the most part, it seems to me that this was made in only a few hours, the initial layout that is. To tell you the truth, I've been working on a design of my own since my first email, and I haven't gotten very far along with it myself, so I can't rightly say I have a better design to offer up.
I do have some ideas to improve upon the site and the theme, now that I know what sort of a look you're going for. Sometime, perhaps, I'll send you a list of them. For now, take your time to recover! Although I'm sure many people are still waiting for the registration to open, we're all just going to have to be patient.
Quote from: "LadyKaren"Also, If you'd like to make a comment about it, please use this space too.
Though I warn you, if all you have to say is negitive, I'm expecting you to turn in your portfolio to me to design next year's site.
It looks much better then my website. :D
So as orders of people higher than me, I've been told to stop working on the webpage until I've fully recovered. So keep giving me your critiques on the website's beta version, and when I'm up and working again, my web staff and I will get working on it again.
Quote from: "astroboy"Quote from: "LadyKaren"Also, If you'd like to make a comment about it, please use this space too.
Though I warn you, if all you have to say is negitive, I'm expecting you to turn in your portfolio to me to design next year's site.
It looks much better then my website. :D
Likewise for my website.
I like the cherry blossoms, too. Different feeling and look. For me, when I visit the website, I focus more on information than looks. If the looks are good, it's good for me.
Round is the new square nowadays. I believe a professional website should be conservative, yet stylish and still express it's purpose. I'd reccommend going back on previous year's layouts and working from there. Keeping a clean font scheme and color scheme is essential. Dynamic content would be cool, too. But at least this is a start. I don't ever remember having the site up this early, lol.
Can someone give me the theme for this year? I would suspect it's Japanesey/Blossoms of sorts (May might be a little late for that, but no matter).
I apologize if I'm the only one who thinks this way, but I don't like the new layout. It's so pink and girly. The design looks like something that should be used for Sakura Con. I don't think it fits Fanime's image at all. The site should look cool, not "pretty."
I'm just not keen on the decision to make everything pink. Sorry.
I still think the #1 problem with the website, which can't be fixed unless we convince ICANN otherwise, is that the address needs to be
www.fanime.con
But ignoring that, you've hit a couple of the 149 Mortal Sins (http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/does-my-web-site-suck/does-my-web-site-suck-checklist-part-one.html) that cause your website to suck instantly:
- We say "Welcome to..." on our home page. (personally, this is debatable. It can slide.)
- Our site has sections that are under construction and the public can access them. (i.e. these blank Fanime pages) (http://www.fanime.com/staff/)
- Logo is not on the top of every page and clicking it doesn't lead to the home page. (the part about it not being clickable is true)
- Our site has graphics that suffer from the "halo effect" â€" dithering that leaves an ugly halo around the image. (Look at the shuriken on the homepage versus that background image.)
- Our site uses JavaScript for navigation and it doesn't degrade naturally for visitors who come with JavaScript turned off.
Honestly. Try browsing around without Javascript. Notice anything? I suggest that what you do is, below each of the categories on the right, have a list of the subsections that's just always visible, rather than having to mouseover to see it. If you really hate the way that looks, you can create a Javascript that hides them. That way, if someone doesn't have Javascript, then neither the mouseover nor the "hide-the-oldschool navigation" scripts will run.
One other thing: if you view the site on a tallish monitor, your fancy little background image (http://www.fanime.com/background.jpg) doesn't reach the bottom, and it cuts off from white to pink. Either reverse the direction of the gradient, or change the CSS for body{background-color: #FFE3D3;} to body{background-color: white}
Hope you feel better soon! Were you in the hospital for anything serious? (Though, I guess one doesn't stay in a hospital if it isn't serious!)
P.S. You're also relatively close to getting the site to validate (http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fanime.com%2F). You should finish that.
Quote from: "GokuMew2"I apologize if I'm the only one who thinks this way, but I don't like the new layout. It's so pink and girly.
That is NOT pink and girly......
THIS IS. (http://www.sanrio.com/) :D
Typo: Join Staff page, "responce" -> response
Quote from: "astroboy"Quote from: "GokuMew2"I apologize if I'm the only one who thinks this way, but I don't like the new layout. It's so pink and girly.
That is NOT pink and girly......THIS IS. (http://www.sanrio.com/) :D
Woah! What happened to Hello Kitty! XD
Quote from: "gem2niki"Quote from: "astroboy"Quote from: "GokuMew2"I apologize if I'm the only one who thinks this way, but I don't like the new layout. It's so pink and girly.
That is NOT pink and girly......THIS IS. (http://www.sanrio.com/) :D
Woah! What happened to Hello Kitty! XD
They brought her to fanime and let her throw up on the website :3
j/k j/k
I just managed to get on to the forums, kept getting an error message. When I looked at the new site, I did think I was on the Sakura Con site at first.
I don't understand a lot of the technical stuff and I realize it's still early for a lot of news to be posted, but I think I prefer a simpler looking site. The rectangles on the right aren't dropping their menus right away when I move my cursor over them (whoa, that sounded dirty just then :oops: ).
What does "Professional" refer to? I don't remember that from previous years. Will a new rectangle be added when registration is up?
Here's girly for ya. (if the image is too big, mods please change it back to a link, thanks, sorry!)
(https://forums.fanime.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcraphound.com%2Fimages%2Fhellovader.jpg&hash=1dc25817fefaf01412b6c74262de21f808a9f625)
It looks like it came off of a 99' geocities page.
Grey borders, bitty outlining of character at left, just in general not professional looking. You'd think this was an event coming out of a high school auditorium rather than a big convention center deal. Not to mention most of the drop down frame data, and fonting looks as plain as a MLA formatted essay.
Frames = lose
IF you're going to use a sakura theme, use actual flower full images than static generic border plants. Make more imagery than just the woodwork around the text. Seeing Grey anywhere on the page when it's a spring flower theme: Fail. However if this will be fixed then do not consider this.
Right now, it doesn't give any sort of pro-feel. Not at all. Something of 2007's format would be beneficial, or something a bit more abstract/direct.
http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/top.html
Is an example of an extreme abstract.
~Chun
Site is great, we're going to have an interesting theme for '08 i see :P
I think you can improve the site while working within the current theme. I might go a little more minimalist with the borders and edges, and use a little more navy and maroon to counterbalance all that pink, though.
I don't really understand why on the navigation bar, when you go to click on the word (Events, Staff, Location etc.) only half of what appears to be the link reacts. Maybe it's just the way Safari percieves it, but for a while I was thinking they were broken.
Quote from: "BunofGovt"...The rectangles on the right aren't dropping their menus right away when I move my cursor over them (whoa, that sounded dirty just then :oops: ).
...
That's actually a very valid complaint. I've noticed that too. In fact I've tried playing a game to see if I could "sneak up" on one of the buttons without dropping their menu and I'm actually getting good at it too! (whoa that's sounds even more dirty :twisted: )
2nd problem - what's wrong with this?
(https://forums.fanime.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fyunnie.org%2Fforums%2F2007menu.JPG&hash=7ff5d0b34ba21ca7357273e00a39746693f3a751)
Notice the drop down menu for "Events" is covering the button for "Staff"?
You should have complete access to the (1st level buttons) at all times even if another button drops its menu.
Technically I'm not sure if there's a firm rule that dictates this so I could be wrong.
Overall I really like the new site. 8)
Quote from: "astroboy"That's actually a very valid complaint. I've noticed that too. In fact I've tried playing a game to see if I could "sneak up" on one of the buttons without dropping their menu and I'm actually getting good at it too! (whoa that's sounds even more dirty :twisted: )
2nd problem - what's wrong with this?
http://yunnie.org/forums/2007menu.JPG
Notice the drop down menu for "Events" is covering the button for "Staff"?
You should have complete access to the (1st level buttons) at all times even if another button drops its menu.
Technically I'm not sure if there's a firm rule that dictates this so I could be wrong.
Overall I really like the new site. 8)
Upon mouseout, the sub-menu should roll up, granting access to the main menu. You can have sub-menus blocking the main menu, just an easy to access a blocked menu option.
My only compaint is about the menu bars not working very well (see above) and that the forum link doesn't work. I really like the theme.
:( Okay, I'm not entirely fond of the current layout so far for the website either. It's a huge step down from the 2007 layout. I'll try to be constructive about this...
While I give credit to it for trying to be thematical --and we can keep that theme--, it really has no specific design to back it up other than the borrowed sakura background for borders and the rotating cropped images of characters. Times New Roman, while suitable for print, isn't exactly a font to use for a professional looking website. And finally, at the moment, the website is not browser friendly. The menu displays at the bottom rather than on the side, yet even like that it's still not really much of a "design". In the end, it's 3/4 layout and 1/4 window for content. Too much unnecessary space... Overall, it doesn't look customized (too generic for a con website) and professional at all.
But seeing it's a beta version at the moment, I sincerely look it will improve further on in the year. >_<
Honestly, I was excited when I first saw the page up. I started clapping my hands and generally squealing like a little girl >.>
I think the site is a little too pink. Since the theme is Feudal Japan, there are a lot more colors to work with..
The menu layout is awkward. There are a lot of good suggestions on this, so I won't comment further..
But, it's really sounding as if this year is going to be awesome. I just can't believe I can't make it this year :(
Quote from: "Eri"
I think the site is a little too pink. Since the theme is Feudal Japan, there are a lot more colors to work with..
The menu layout is awkward. There are a lot of good suggestions on this, so I won't comment further..
Oh, yes, now that I know the theme is Feudal Japan, the site is a bit pink for that. I thought the theme was more Summer Festivals.
For Feudal Japan, I would think darker, earthier tones would be better.
And I agree, the scrolling needs to be smoother and less awkward.
Looking forward to PreReg going up!
dupe post, sorry
when i clicked on the link to the forums the first time, it brought me to
http://www.fanime.com/events/www.forums.fanime.com
maybe it was the drop down menu. overlapping thing.
lawlszlzlalwlz :lol:
Omg...fanime is sooo close now. :o
I understand this is a negative comment, but I think the feel of the website is going the wrong direction in style. It looks too much like a fan website then a professional convention one. I can't put my finger on it, but it does not look appealing at all especially the pink colors.. ugh
JMO
Quote from: "LadyKaren"So with being in the hospital, I know the Website has a lot of errors, and I already know some of them, but in case I don't, I'm leaving it to the dedicated forum members to find the mistakes in Fanime 2008 Beta verson 1.0!
Also, If you'd like to make a comment about it, please use this space too.
Though I warn you, if all you have to say is negitive, I'm expecting you to turn in your portfolio to me to design next year's site.
In any case, Please feel free to comment about the website and help me out by getting to work better while I'm still recovering.
Okay, I would like to make a few comments on the new web site. While it's been a few years since I've designed a web site and I hate anyone telling me that they don't like my designs, I’m doing this from a users stand point.
1. If you hit the HOME on the first page it goes to 404 error message, the tag for the page is not set correctly, is my best guess. Funny thing is that works on the other pages, just not the first (HOME) page.
2. I can't find the link to the registration page for 2008 and to the Hotel Registration Page from the HOME page. Nothing ticks me (as a user) off more than having to dig through a site to find the Registration or Hotel pages. There should be links off the HOME page for them, since they will be the most used link, probably after the FORUMS link.
3. On the LOCATION tag, if you highlight it, there are two huge black slots after Facilities where it looks like there should be something there, but there is nothing.
4. On the CONTACT Page, at the bottom, there is a snail mail address for 2007 inquiries, shouldn't that be 2008?
5. On a personal note, I'm finding it difficult to navigate the site, the color (pink) is killing my eyes. Than maybe it's just my old eyes...
6. The URL for FORUMS from the HOME page has the same issue that has been noted in previous posts. However, on any other page it works fine. Weird.
7. The LOCATION page main box has nothing listed in it, it’s just blank.
8. On the LOCATION page for HOTEL, you have the following information “Keep Standing by for more infomation regarding hotels near by and discounts offered by Fanime Con!â€. Information is misspelled. I’m thinking that you might want to try something like “FanimeCon will be using the same hotels as last year, the Hilton, Marriott, St.Claire, Crowne and the Fairmont. The Reservation system will be managed as in past years by CMR and should be coming on-line soon.â€
9. On the LOCATION page for DIRECTIONS, you have the following information “By Car FanimeCon 2007 registration is located at the main Convention Center entrance, on San Carlos Blvd, off Highway 87.†I would suggest changing the 2007 to 2008.
10. On the LOCATION page for FACILITY, you might want to put a link to the SJCCF web site, which should be http://www.sanjose.org/meetings/facilities/convention.php.
11. On the EVENTS pages for DEALERS, you have the following information “Hosted in a 50,000 square-foot room, FanimeCon's dealers room hosts a huge collection of anime and manga goods for your enjoyment. As the convention nears, check back to see what dealers will be at the convention and when the dealers room will be open for shopping.†Can I suggest a rewording to “FanimeCon’s dealer’s room will use 50,000 square feet to host a wide variety of vendors offering up everything from classic to current releases in manga, everything in the way of collectibles for your anime needs, clothing ranging form t-shirt to corsets to Cosplay outfits, VHS to Blue Ray DVD’s and wide selection of Japanese cultural snack foods. Very soon our dealer’s liaison will be posting the current confirmed vendors and their locations in the hall, along their operating hours. So, please come back soon.â€
12. On the EVENTS page for FANIME MUSIC VIDEOS, can I ask why you would be pointing them back to the 2007 page? Wouldn’t it be better to to import from 2007 the material for 2008?
13. On the EVENTS page for MUSIC FEST, “Coming Soon†could be replaced with “FanimeCon's MusicFest is an annual festival of music featuring artists from or influenced by Japan. It will be held on <input dates> at FanimeCon in San Jose.
MusicFest is about music. We're not just about anime, we're not just about a certain sound, and we're not just about indy bands or chart-topping acts. MusicFest is simply about providing a venue for Japanese musicians to get their work out to a receptive audience. Japanese music is growing rapidly and MusicFest serves as a port for these artists to connect with US fans.
HistoryMusicFest debuted in 2004 with the impressive lineup of The Beautiful Losers, Nami Tamaki, Camino, Duel Jewel, and BLOOD. 2005 featured Maria Yamamoto, Ramen & Rice, Kumiko Kato, and ZZ. The biggest MusicFest to date, featuring 11 artists on two stages, followed in 2006 and included akaiSKY, GOOFY STYLE, Kamijo, Miami, mothercoat, POPLAR, RothChilde, Swinging Popsicle, UP HOLD, and USA Musumeâ€
I stole the whole thing from 2007 and did a little rewording...
14. On the PROFESSIONAL page, you listed the word business in a non-capitalized fashion, but than you listed the word profession with a capitalized first letter. Okay, I admit that I’m not the right person to make comments on grammar or structure, but that doesn’t seem right to me. What other information would be coming for pros’ or business, other than what you have listed already on the page?
15. On the STAFF page, the opener is “Fanime is undergoing all new departments and divisions this year to help make this year better. Come back to see the departments and divisions and all the behind the scenes work so you might be interested so you can make Fanime "For the Fans, By the Fans". Might I suggest the following “FanimeCon is undergoing a major shift in the organizational structure to better serve you. In the near future we will be posting the new divisions and departments and we need your help in making 2008 the best year ever, so come and join the ‘behind the scenes’ excitement and be part of the “For the Fans, By the Fansâ€.
I'm sure by now that you are ready to kill me, but again, I'm just looking at it as a user and nothing else.
Craige...
The website seems kind of rushed. I'd rather have the old site/countdown up temporarily until the new site is polished. It's only like 4 months after Fanime, afterall.
Quote from: "pockystix"The website seems kind of rushed. I'd rather have the old site/countdown up temporarily until the new site is polished. It's only like 4 months after Fanime, afterall.
I second this thought.
There are some typos on the new countdown page:
Currently:
The Fanime 2008 Web Team had now assembled and begun work on this year's website design and layout! Check back in October for the new site and new infomation about Fanime 2008!
Should be:
The Fanime 2008 Web Team has now assembled and begun work on this year's website design and layout! Check back in October for the new site and new information about Fanime 2008!
Quote from: "Kyokun"There are some typos on the new countdown page:
Currently:
The Fanime 2008 Web Team had now assembled and begun work on this year's website design and layout! Check back in October for the new site and new infomation about Fanime 2008!
Should be:
The Fanime 2008 Web Team has now assembled and begun work on this year's website design and layout! Check back in October for the new site and new information about Fanime 2008!
*cough*
*waves hand* These are not the typos you are looking for.
/end jedi mind tricks.