The "ATS 2010" Project: The Creative Look & Feel of ATS.

My three favourite websites:

www.google.com...

Ridiculously simple design employing near perfect functionality.

www.apple.com...

These guys know what people want, aesthetics is their speciality, as well as great machines obviously...

And I thought I'd include this, I know it's flash and not really what a discussion board is about but you asked for websites that I regard as well designed and presented. Well, they don't come any better than this.

www.bugatti.com...

Have a look at the "Configurator" to see what I mean. Ah, to dream...

I know this thread isn't about ideas nor opinions, but guys, if it ain't broke...

I'm sure what you come up with will be great, I didn't like the last revamp, now I love it.

Sendran.

Edit: to fix links.

[edit on 4/1/2010 by Sendran]

Let's see... There are not that many websites that I go to on a regular basis...

One that I think is laid out well is www.cnn.com...

I like it simply because it is easy to find what you are looking for. If you want a specific subject you can look right there on top and click that link, or you can scroll down and see a few topics within each subject... It is just easy to find something that I might like to read.

Another I like is tinypic.com...

I like this again because it is set up in a way that even the most computer illiterate people can figure out exactly how to upload pictures and video/audio...Simple to figure out and easy to use....


As I think of more I will post.

Originally posted by Becker44
Greetings William,

I am a fan of the following layout and could envision ATS utilizing the general look and feel.

lifehacker.com...

Becker

Ouch! I checked out that site and it gave me a confused icky feeling from the minute I saw it. Don't forget, this is a forum site that specializes in debate. Personally, given what ATS is, I think that the current ATS is laid out beautifully, with the different levels of stories appearing on the first page, and all the other ways you can look at things.

What I would like to see added is a structure that allows members to respond to someone and to have that response show as a sub-post to the post it was responding to... kind of like YouTube allows a hierarchy of responses. Also, a way to recognize people for their expertise in various specialties. If everyone had a chance to shine as a recognized expert in some field, with membership ratification, that would add a new dimension to the site.

Also, it would be nice if a person could be easily identified as a PRO or CON for a particular thread, so it would be easy to see who is taking what position without having to read their entire post.

Renovation! Wooooo!

Ok. Well, implementing the mosaic feature of Space Collective's website into a website such as IGN would be productive. The mosaic feature of Space Collective should be minimised and only incorporated in the top half of the IGN style page. The mosaic feature would naturally be used to display the recent popular threads, but the features of IGN (such as the navigation menu at the top) would be beneficial for ATS, given that it is user generated as it would make navigation easier.

I believe a collaborative fusion of the elements presented in these two websites best suite ATS.

Something like this for the board home maybe??

www.capo.se...

and something like this for the top stories maybe (skip intro and music and click on the ladies at the bottom screen)

The ladies could be the various folders and in the view info aboout the last 5 or 10 active, most read or what ever it is stories will show in the main view. From there one could click through to the relevant storie and map. Can be done without using flash though with CSS and java script for instance???

www.bjoernaxen.dk...

Nice and clean webdesign in general
www.raimat.se...

another nice and clean design incorporating some colour ( I think ATS should stay dark but maybe doen't have to be all black?)
digitalforum.sodainc.com...

I also agree with serbsta that this is a nice layout - I personally it will fit well on a news page to section:

spacecollective.org...






[edit on 5/1/2010 by IAmD1]

[edit on 5/1/2010 by IAmD1]

[edit on 5/1/2010 by IAmD1]

Please dont change it, like some said a few tweeks here and there. Some people with slower computers or older ones may not run a new format as smoothly as they do now.

The current set up is clean, easy to follow, easy to read and respond to.

Something that works more efficiently.

1. do away with those contribution bars. they are annoying and take up unecessary space

2. do away with some of these ads that flash and /or animate. there's is nothing more aggravating than trying to form a post, and deal with that distraction.

3. make it easier to post youtubes

Originally posted by Asherah

3. make it easier to post youtubes

Seriously, how much easier can they make it? All you have to do is cut and paste the vid number.

If you want to restructure things why don't you all figure out a way to make posting Avatars a little less complicated. I've never been able to set one up yet and believe me I've tried.

On most any other site one needs only upload a .jpg file within the required parameters (say 200 pixels by 200 etc.) and bingo, you've got a Avatar. But not ATS, no, you've got to try and follow a outdated video tutorial it's so damned hard, and the video doesn't even match up to what your availible options are!

I've asked for help from you guys and never even received a response.

So if you want to restructure things why don't you guys go back to the basics instead of making this site so damn complex. You could make it a little more member friendly for one and you guys should have some live member support too if you're going to keep this site as complicated as it is right now.

And another real beef I have lately is you all have your Moderators acting like a quasi Censor team removing everybody's quotes now. If you're worried about bandwidth then you guys should switch to GoDaddy who has unlimited bandwidth/load for about $150 a year. The only thing this "watch your quotes or we'll remove them for you" policy is doing is pitting members against Mods and this will not do.






[edit on 5-1-2010 by 3DPrisoner]

I really like Slate.

I like how they manage their major headline articles of the day. They have a space for 3-4 major articles that are linked by eye catching pictures. Below this is a revolving set of links for smaller graphically oriented links for 8 more stories.

To the right of these boxes contains links to their news blog, and summaries of the major news stories in the papers and magazines.

Below all this is a double tab system for non-major or older stories on one tab, and the other tab is for the numerous blogs on Slate.

I personally find it easy to navigate and I frequent the site multiple times a day. The graphics for the linked stories help pull my attention to particular articles. The sites sections make it easy to juggle the multiple areas of commentary. It also seems to have an intuitive flow (to me at least) in terms of going from one story to the next.

[edit on 1/5/2010 by Toromos]

reply to post by EMPIRE


I was going to ask you where you get all of your supposed information, but that would be rude, I'd never ask anyone to give up "insider info" if they had it, but I will state now and for the record, Autodesk, knows nothing about "real time rendering" as you put it, when a production is made it still needs to be rendered out through either Mental Ray (if it's an Autodesk Product) or Maxwell or numerous other rendering engines and that takes time. Render farms have been around since Videoscape in 1989, and again are nothing new. Translating that technology to a website? Go to one of the industry forums and ask that question, see how many professionals and software developers share my view. It simply isn't ready yet for prime time.

As for the NVidia glasses, they work only with "supported NVidia cards and software" in other words you can't just take ANY 3d film/picture and assume that you will be able to see it in 3d just because you have those glasses. There's no firm standard yet, some use red/green some use red/blue some use polarization techniques, c'mon finding ways to make money is fine, just don't sound like a Snake Oil Salesman when you do it. Talk to the professionals, the people who work on things like Avatar, Angels and Demons, BSG, all the other shows and movies that use CGI (btw, there's no such thing as doing 3DS for someone, 3ds is a file format extension used by 3D Studio Max R2-R4, depreciated as of 8-2010 in favor of what? FBX or Collada)

If you work with people every day that supposedly know this stuff they should have been able to tell you of all these little things that make you sound very easily impressed. Not one thing that had been shown in the past year or will be shown this year at any Autodesk function will be available for market until 2011 - 2012 at the earliest, and even then won't have full functionality, it's all TESTING.. And that IS from inside at Autodesk, I was trying to find this real time render function you spoke of and so I called to see why my copies of Max, Maya and XSI didn't ship with them..

In short, until the technology catches up with the dreamers, making a website reliant on a standard that hasn't even been figured out, is insanity.

I like Spirit Catcher's site:

www.spiritcatcher.be

It's flashy, retro and interactive. The colours and navigation are cool. I love the fact you can make sounds on your keyboard and i also really like the transitions between the different sections.

reply to post by blupblup


Thanks so much. I'll give it a try, and hopefully, an image will follow!

www.ted.com... also has a nice interface that would be pretty for a media center type thingie.

i would suggest something cleaner, easier to use with less clutter. more padding between the different sections. you can find good examples by looking for css gallery, or css designs. here's a good list..

www.smashingmagazine.com...

i also work with this type of thing, if you need help with anything feel free to u2u me.

The Infected Mushroom website is awesome - homepage. The media layout is pretty cool, love the way the mushroom opens up with all the gadgets inside, and each one is different when you click on it.

Good luck guys! Can't wait to see the new and improved ATS....

Forgot to mention, that's the html version of the site, here is the original, it just takes too long to load for me...what can I say...I live in South Africa!

[edit on 06/10/2009 by jinx880101]

I really think just an over all appearance upgrade would be best..make it a little more flashy, because the layout is pretty much solid.



reply to post by QBSneak000


the borderlands wiki was really awesome looking, and similar to ATS and the Star Wars one was pretty.

For myself I think ATS is fine the way it is, why take the time, the headaches and the money to redo something that is already good.

Suggestion: Would it be possible to enable *stars* on this thread?
I know you asked for links, and I can't contribute, but I would like to acknowledge the one's I like, without coming into the thread with "I like this one", kinda thing.

Just might be an efficient way to keep a tally on what members like. ???

These are my favorite looks that seem fitting ;

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.eveonline.com...

jquery.com...

And I second the notion about the Google wave.