UPDATE!!!! Limited BETA testing of the new DD is now open. Anyone wishing to participate, please PQ me and I will add your username to the list. We're only accepting the first 100 users whose PQ I receive.

Hi everyone,

We've got a major announcement for you guys today. DrunkDuck is currently in the middle of undergoing a site redesign. We're very excited to have the opportunity to examine the site in its current state, figure out a list of new features, current issues, and the general UI flow of the site, and come up with a general unified look to the site that will address what both the loyal and casual members of the DrunkDuck community have been asking for.

We wanted to wait until the redesign process was firmly underway before revealing it to you guys, as we not only wanted to give you a preview of the new look of the site, but also to assure you that this is something that is really happening, and not just a vague promise.

Obviously the feedback of the DrunkDuck community is very important to us as well, so previewing the new site design in advance also gives us a chance to gather your feedback and incorporate it into the site as well, the result of which will hopefully satisfy as many people as possible.

First up, the homepage: (CLICK ON ALL IMAGES TO VIEW THEM AT FULL SIZE)

NEWEST VERSION
[img442.imageshack.us]

OLD VERSION
http://img213.imageshack.us/i/ddsitemainr1v9open.jpg/ [img213.imageshack.us]

We've made several refinements to the homepage, not the least of which being the new color scheme.

- The news posts have now taken a more prominent position in the center of the page (veterans of DD from way back in the day may be reminded of the previous iteration of the homepage before the current one).
- The columns have turned into rows, and we're replacing the Quail's Random section with a Most Liked of the Week, which incorporates the new "Like" system of voting. We're replacing the 1-5 scale of voting the site currently employs with a simple "Like" button. If you like a comic update, click "Like". If you don't like the update, simply move on. The comics with the most "Likes" over the past 7 days will appear on the homepage in that section.
- The Latest Updates row will now update in real-time, which means that if you hang around the homepage long enough and a comic happens to update, the whole row should shift to the left automatically. Not a major feature or anything, just a nice little touch.
- The Featured Comics list has been moved prominently to the top of the page and expanded to the most recent 8 featured comics.
- The My Favorites and My Webcomics drop-down menus have been streamlined and made a bit more intuitive to use.
- There's also a new Spotlight section on the left of the page, which will highlight some notable DD-related links, not the least of which being the Featured Comics Archive, hopefully making it easier for users to browse some great comics on DD that happened to make the featured comics list at one point or another.


Next, a look at the Featured Comics Archive page and the News Page

NEWEST VERSION
[img213.imageshack.us]

OLD VERSION
http://img26.imageshack.us/i/ddarchiver1v3alist.jpg/ [img26.imageshack.us]


NEWEST VERSION
[img215.imageshack.us]

OLD VERSION
http://img440.imageshack.us/i/ddnewsr1v1list.jpg/ [img440.imageshack.us]

- The Featured Comics Archive page will also feature a thumbnailed grid view and be fully browsable and searchable by date and title. You can also filter by genre/style/rating/etc.
- The News archive page will also be fully searchable.


Next, a couple pages from the User Control Panel

NEWEST VERSION
[img213.imageshack.us]

OLD VERSION
http://img534.imageshack.us/i/ddcontrolr1v1bfavorites.jpg [img534.imageshack.us]


NEWEST VERSION
[img827.imageshack.us]

OLD VERSION
http://img832.imageshack.us/i/ddcontrolr1v1bquacks.jpg/ [img832.imageshack.us]


This is just a sample of the pages we're working on redesigning on DD. Eventually every page on the site will be refreshed to fit a unified, cohesive look and feel. Because some parts of the site require more work than others, the plan is to do a gradual roll-out of new redesigns and features over the next several months.

The first big roll-out of the new DrunkDuck redesign is scheduled to come out next month, in October. We'll provide more specifics as the date approaches. The last thing we want is to spring an entirely new site design on you without warning or a chance to try it out for yourselves, so there may be an opportunity for DD members to play with the new site design and test it out before it actually goes live.

More details to follow.

this is so awesome. It's like a limecicle dream! I can't wait for the launch!

Looks nice. I like how there's a like function. Though, it'll just be another top 10.

I think it's amazing that there's some thought put into the design!
I think it will work very well, although the scrolling on the homepage may be a little bad for usability.
I think a next project, when it comes to the visual aspect of the site, should be a function for people to choose between different color themes. The green used now will be fun for a while, And it fits the general attitude of DD very well, but people that spend a lot of time on this website like me will be plagued with headaches within a couple of months.

Maybe a similar page as the template chooser for comics should be made available for the rest of the site too? It should be a matter of altering the images to have a different palette of colors and recreating the already existing page for templates.

But, my grumpyness aside, congratulatorium to the designer(s) I especially like the new logo's in the spotlight section and you've managed to keep the important parts intact!
I'm looking forward to the launch as well.

I'm also wondering if the interface for editing your comic page will be different.

Finally!
There's a full moon coming soon. It is a time for...changes.

Kroatz
I think a next project, when it comes to the visual aspect of the site, should be a function for people to choose between different color themes. The green used now will be fun for a while, And it fits the general attitude of DD very well, but people that spend a lot of time on this website like me will be plagued with headaches within a couple of months.

Maybe a similar page as the template chooser for comics should be made available for the rest of the site too? It should be a matter of altering the images to have a different palette of colors and recreating the already existing page for templates.

Very much agree with this statement. I'm kinda iffy about the green and would very much like to choose my own color.

Another thing that I notice is that the new PQ format only seems to display 10 PQs at a time as opposed to 50, like it does now. That's going to be a problem for me cause I use the PQ's ALLOT. Is it possible to include the option of displaying more then 10 at a time?

Also, can you post an example of how the forum is going to look like?

Product Placement
Another thing that I notice is that the new PQ format only seems to display 10 PQs at a time as opposed to 50, like it does now. That's going to be a problem for me cause I use the PQ's ALLOT. Is it possible to include the option of displaying more then 10 at a time?

We can certainly look into that. I think displaying 10 at a time was simply an arbitrary choice.

Product Placement
Also, can you post an example of how the forum is going to look like?

We haven't gotten to the redesign of the forums yet, and honestly that redesign probably won't be done until a later date past October. The reason being that there are several additional features we'd love to add to the forums as well beyond just an aesthetic redesign.

We're planning on transferring the site code to an updated framework on the back-end, which will make it a lot easier to program in new features in the future across the entire site. We'll probably wait until that is done before tinkering with the forums or messing with other involved site features.

I'd prefer about 50 PQs in the display too- also the ability to flag individual PQs for attention like you can do in any e-mail system :)

Looks great.

I particularly like the email alerts on the user control panel.

It looks nice. :) Organized and functional.

I like the return of news on the front page. We've been missing that.

I am a little concerned about featured comics. They seem somehow even less noticeable at the top like that. I think people are used to seeing ad banners frame a site on top, and to put the featured comics above that sort of pushes them into the background, imo. I might be the only one who thinks that way, but it felt a bit off to me to see the site logo below a bunch of thumbnails. It would make more sense in my head to see the logo as the first thing. I tend to "not see" anything before that... But if it's just me, please ignore the criticism. Heh.

It would be neat if there was a spot dedicated to the most recent feature (the description, etc.) specifically instead of just lumping it in with the newsposts. -- Although including the newsposts on the frontpage is in itself a HUGE improvement, so thanks for that. :)

Someone
We're replacing the 1-5 scale of voting the site currently employs with a simple "Like" button. If you like a comic update, click "Like". If you don't like the update, simply move on. The comics with the most "Likes" over the past 7 days will appear on the homepage in that section.

The 1-5 ratings never served much of a purpose. Just served as a method for people to leave "blank" comments of support or detest, so that's a good change, imo. I doubt the "most liked" list will vary much from the "top 10" list, but we'll see. This won't alter the comment system, though; will it? It would seriously suck to lose or change that too much. Comments are awesome.

usedbooks
It looks nice. :) Organized and functional.

I like the return of news on the front page. We've been missing that.

I am a little concerned about featured comics. They seem somehow even less noticeable at the top like that. I think people are used to seeing ad banners frame a site on top, and to put the featured comics above that sort of pushes them into the background, imo. I might be the only one who thinks that way, but it felt a bit off to me to see the site logo below a bunch of thumbnails. It would make more sense in my head to see the logo as the first thing. I tend to "not see" anything before that... But if it's just me, please ignore the criticism. Heh.

It would be neat if there was a spot dedicated to the most recent feature (the description, etc.) specifically instead of just lumping it in with the newsposts. -- Although including the newsposts on the frontpage is in itself a HUGE improvement, so thanks for that. :)

Someone
We're replacing the 1-5 scale of voting the site currently employs with a simple "Like" button. If you like a comic update, click "Like". If you don't like the update, simply move on. The comics with the most "Likes" over the past 7 days will appear on the homepage in that section.

The 1-5 ratings never served much of a purpose. Just served as a method for people to leave "blank" comments of support or detest, so that's a good change, imo. I doubt the "most liked" list will vary much from the "top 10" list, but we'll see. This won't alter the comment system, though; will it? It would seriously suck to lose or change that too much. Comments are awesome.

The "obligatory leave a 5 even if i dont like it just so i dont insult the artist" thing is now gonna be replaced with the "Obligatory like even if i dont just so i dont insult the artist" thing.

Looks great! I'll miss actually seeing the duck and quail but can't wait to see the new site. It looks really user friendly

same
The "obligatory leave a 5 even if i dont like it just so i dont insult the artist" thing is now gonna be replaced with the "Obligatory like even if i dont just so i dont insult the artist" thing.

Not if it's anonymous (I don't know if it is). And I doubt artists are insulted by "unranked" comments. Very few I know of have disliked a comment with no number attached, but some get upset at rankings with no comment (yes, even 5's).

I can't really visualize how that will be set up on the comic pages. I assume our custom html won't be too severely affected or changed (I hope).

Could we see screenshots of the way the comments/like system will look on the comic pages?

It's almost there. A little more chartreuse...

Glad to see you guys are making changes, here's hoping they go smoothly.

However, I have some complaints.
1. That green everywhere is way too bright. Ouch.
Edit: I should make it clear that the design other than that is quite fine, I just dislike how loud it is.
2. THERE IS NO DRUNK DUCK! :'(
3. The "Like" system instead of Quail's random seems like a really bad idea. Clearly it will just mirror the top ten comics.

Also, what will comic pages look like? Because a big lime green thing at the top of those pages wouldn't match with a lot of people's comics...

It's not plastered with images of me. This...this displeases me.

Other than the really awful green color, the site design looks pretty cool, and far more modern looking than the current one.

How much of this redesign will affect the comics pages themselves? Will it redesign the whole format, or will the pages stay the same only with a few modifications (like the comments box and the top banner advertising the site)?

I'm told that the comic template will be pretty much the same...
But I'm still dubious till I see something in action.

I'd LOVE for the standard unmodified comic template to change though, that grey thing has always been butt-ugly!

As to the green colour, I like it. Anything at all would be better than this boring grey.

I think the design is awesome and the ads look like they're a part of the site instead of vomited at you. :)

I'd like to see more of the blue in DDs logo i guess if i was gonna be all nitpicky.

Looks okay. No doubt some people will love the new look and some people will hate it with a vengeance. Eventually we'll all get used to it, though!

The one thing that seems a huge mistake to me at this stage is the Top 10 "Liked" comics. I can foresee this being almost identical to the current Top 10 since any comic which is already in the Top 10 is almost certain to have more fans to "like" it than others. It will also continue to favour comics which update daily as opposed to, say, weekly. If there are to be rankings for "liked" comics I'd have thought these should replace the current Top 10, not simply duplicate it.

Personally, I'd have preferred it if - instead of duplicating the Top 10 - some thought had been spent on making the "random picks" more useful. The introduction of the "random picks" should have been a great way of introducing people to comics outside the Top 10. It failed, I think, because it was always cluttered up with too many dormant comics. A simple line of code to exclude comics which haven't updated for, say, six months, would have been far more useful than two identical Top 10s.

Also, is anything being done about the PQs? A "Sent" box is surely long overdue!

DAJB makes a good point about the random bit.

Also is it possible to show more than the top ten comics? maybe to top 20 or even 50. just smaller or something. That may help the more casual visitor to discover other titles.

Also could more forum topics/projects get more news post exposure. things lie the DD reviews and interview project.
Have the main site promote the community a little more.

Genejoke
Also is it possible to show more than the top ten comics? maybe to top 20 or even 50. just smaller or something. That may help the more casual visitor to discover other titles.

Because of the horizontal format that's limited since the design has a fixed width...
Unless they made some sort of scrolling section there's not going to be an increase.

Genejoke
Also could more forum topics/projects get more news post exposure. things lie the DD reviews and interview project.
Have the main site promote the community a little more.

Yes, this will happen. Since the News will return again to the front page, anything we post about will be there for all to see, instead of hidden away like it is now.

Someone
Unless they made some sort of scrolling section there's not going to be an increase.

People are too lazy too scroll anyway.


As for the other bit. Yay!

Can i like this thread?

One thing id like to see is being able to edit or delete comments youve left on comics.

same
One thing id like to see is being able to edit or delete comments youve left on comics.

That would be useful.

Also, maybe comic creators could be entrusted to delete/mute other people's comments on their own comics - the same as they can delete posts in their comic's individual forum.

DAJB
lso, maybe comic creators could be entrusted to delete/mute other people's comments on their own comics - the same as they can delete posts in their comic's individual forum.

Haha, we've ALWAYS wanted that.

It's one of the things that is part of the new design :)

Hopefully, this new redesign is alot easier on older computers.

hey, it seems like a step up, i really like it. it seems a bit more user friendly and the layout is nice! i just hope it can change over smoothly this time. the duck doesnt need any more big hic ups to tarnish its reputation.