Halflife2.net Site Layout Update

[Munro]

With the soon to be released Left 4 Dead 2 and upcoming
Episode 3, we at Halflife2.net thought it was about time we had a change. Our
pages were beginning to look stagnant and we needed something to give us a
little lift. Many thanks go to
Yorick who
designed this latest layout. I'm sure you will agree it is a lot clearer
and is probably our best yet. I've gone through a lot of pages updating their content
but there is still a lot to do. Over this weekend you will find a large bulk of
new Left 4 Dead 2 and Episode 3 content being added so check back then.[br]
[br]
One new feature we have added to the site is our
mod listing which is
integrated into our forums. The idea of this is for mod teams to post their mods
to the listing and be able to update their content page and allow the community
to give feedback through comments.

 

[Eejit]

Nice one Yorick, though I actually preferred your earlier design

 

[Munro]

Don't tell him that, it's nearly impossible getting him to stick with one design.

 

[deer]

Episode 3 ....

 

[ríomhaire]

Nice. I think I'll be using this one over the others. Quick reply box seems to be broken though.

Edit: Actually it's there now. Maybe it was a problem on my end.

 

[bryanf445]

This is awesome. Good work

 

[Harryz]

I would of thought a darker theme would be the wrong route to take, but its looks a lot better than the old theme. Great job Yorick.

 

[BlueWolf72]

EPIC.................

 

[czrsink]

Can we have a tacky .gif banner with a firework display on for today please? :0)

 

[czrsink]

And sorry for being picky, but I notice the new banner seems to be lacking L4D2 artwork, although this may be deliberate? Still, the overall site looks great, and I've been hanging around here on/off for years. It's the best it's looked in ages. Well done guys.

 

[Gorgon]

Munro has a different color name ?

 

[Dekstar]

Very nice site design! Much easier on the eyes too.

 

[Lasphere]

Cool! Looks a bit like the steam design. - which is good.

 

[Emporius]

Lol, I just woke up, and when I signed in I just stared for a second thinking I had somehow stumbled into another site. Great Work Yorick, looks fantastic!

Edit: Shiny new buttons oooooh

 

[Vegeta897]

As I said before to Yorick when he first previewed this design to me, I think it looks too much like Steam that it's a bad thing. I liked that HL2.net had grown into its own style/theme with the blue/tan. Throwing that away for a copycat type style that looks much simpler (not in a good way.. just looks like less work was put into it) just seems pointless to me, I don't get why we had to do it.

At the very least, can we get some soft curves on those rounded edges? They're all pixelly.

The forum theme also looks pretty bad, the buttons need to match more.

 

[Przemek]

I'm not a fan of dark websites. They're not really easier for the eyes - black text on white background is the best for your eyes, and if you find it straining, you've set your monitor too bright

 

[rikt]

Looking good...

 

[Paulaner]

[...] upcoming Episode 3 [...]

You mean L4D3, right?

I'm not a fan of dark websites. They're not really easier for the eyes - black text on white background is the best for your eyes

Totally agreed.

 

[No Limit]

I like the main front page a lot better; it looks nice and clean. But I can't say I'm too excited about the forum theme.

 

[rikt]

You mean L4D3, right?

Yeah I guess that's what it was meant...they mentioned Ep3 as in HL2Ep3 by mistake, I'm sure...we all know it's more likelly to be released a L4D3 soon than HL2Ep3

 

[Yorick]

Thank you to everyone who has said nice things. It means a lot to me that you guys like it. I racked my brain over this for months and must have restarted the design about 20 times, knowing that it would be impossible to please everyone. I'm glad it's going over well.

Nice one Yorick, though I actually preferred your earlier design

Don't tell him that, it's nearly impossible getting him to stick with one design.

Ugh I'm such a perfectionist it's borderline disgusting. I actually quite like this one though, it's far better than previous attempts.

And sorry for being picky, but I notice the new banner seems to be lacking L4D2 artwork, although this may be deliberate?

It wasn't deliberate in the sense of "I hate L4D2 so I'm not putting them up" but I was worried that adding four more characters might crowd the hell out of it. And I couldn't find a good render of them. Though admittedly I didn't look too hard, for previously mentioned reasons. I wanted to do something more with Portal, and I really wanted to put Alyx on there, but finding good pictures was impossible for either.

As I said before to Yorick when he first previewed this design to me, I think it looks too much like Steam that it's a bad thing. I liked that HL2.net had grown into its own style/theme with the blue/tan. Throwing that away for a copycat type style that looks much simpler (not in a good way.. just looks like less work was put into it) just seems pointless to me, I don't get why we had to do it.

You weren't the only person who had that opinion, but overall we felt like going in a different direction with the style would fit more with how the site is going in a different direction.

And I don't use the default Steam layout (I use this), and I don't visit Steampowered ever, so I can assure you that it was not meant to look 'copied'. After you made mention of it I went to take a look and actually find them different enough.

But really, with the contests and reviews and such we're doing, we're heading in a direction of covering far more than just Half-Life 2, and we feel like the new design reflects this.

At the very least, can we get some soft curves on those rounded edges? They're all pixelly.

The forum theme also looks pretty bad, the buttons need to match more.

Yes, neither of those things were my doing. I'm going to get Munro to replace the rounded edges with higher quality pngs, and I haven't actually seen the forum theme yet.

 

[Parky]

I much prefer it =]

 

[Acepilotf14]

\text

As well, it's a bit odd to have the word 'advertisement' there, like it's some sort of site feature.

Seems a bit out of place. The rest is great, though.

 

[MJ12]

Where is his design, I cannot see it?


edit nvm

 

[Vegeta897]

But really, with the contests and reviews and such we're doing, we're heading in a direction of covering far more than just Half-Life 2, and we feel like the new design reflects this.

I feel like we already made that switch, like how the new (previous) banner for the previous theme had all the Valve game characters in it, not just HL2. And it still does.

Whatevs though, I'm starting to think it's (everything) not so bad after all.

Oh and shouldn't this:

be changed to:

both to fill the width and prevent the columns being so close.

I also noticed this footer block has smooth edges but the others don't. Except the two blocks at the top. The smooth ones are png while the rough are gif. Changes in progress?

 

[Barnz]

Everything looks nice, except the banner.

Edit: there should be a random image on there like hlfallout's

 

[ríomhaire]

I'm not a fan of dark websites. They're not really easier for the eyes - black text on white background is the best for your eyes, and if you find it straining, you've set your monitor too bright

I've read that black text on a white background is the worst possible thing for your eyes.

Edit: I've noticed a problem. It's much more difficult to tell new threads from old threads than it was before. Darken the old threads font a little more or make it a point smaller.

 

[Munro]

I feel like we already made that switch, like how the new (previous) banner for the previous theme had all the Valve game characters in it, not just HL2. And it still does.

Whatevs though, I'm starting to think it's (everything) not so bad after all.

Oh and shouldn't this:

be changed to:

both to fill the width and prevent the columns being so close.

I also noticed this footer block has smooth edges but the others don't. Except the two blocks at the top. The smooth ones are png while the rough are gif. Changes in progress?

The smooth edges have all been fixed. What browser are you using to get that short footer?

 

[Vegeta897]

Chrome.

 

[Munro]

Bah. get a decent browser.

I'll attempt to fix.

 

[Vegeta897]

Excuse me sir.

It even works in IE6, heh. It's odd, I never have seen Chrome having display issues like that.

 

[Krynn72]

Looks really nice, good job Yorick. I know youve spent a lot of time on this, and its paid off well.

I like the steamish look. I dont really think it will make hl2.net lose any of its identity really, but it does feel like we'd be more attractive to the rest of the steam community, which is a good thing. Mostly.

 

[Munro]

Ok, now works 100% (as far as I know) in Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.

If anyone sees any bugs please let me know.

 

[Marler]

wow! That was my first thought, it's a really great change. Love it!

 

[simon]

much much better, it's easier for the eyes, reads better, and looks cool too, great work!

(quick one thing though):
on the top header you have this "Welcome to Halflife2.net!" "go back to main site"
I would have this removed and just have the stand alone image there, looks better imo
People by now know that you can click a topbar to go back to "home"
and add the "Welcome to Halflife2.net!" in the image, would suit it better imo

 

[Munro]

There will be a forum login feature on the main page there soon but I'm still having difficulty implementing it.

 

[Vegeta897]

I think there should be a bigger forum button.

I actually had to look for it, it was awful.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

I think there should be a bigger forum button.

I actually had to look for it, it was awful.

Geez, Devin you sound like an old man these days moaning about everything which changes! Take a chill pill dude

 

[Rizzo]

Im already getting used to it. Good job Yorick.

 

[kgwhipp]

Hawt!

Nice job guys