Homepage?

[Mikey]

Like, vBAdvanced or something? I have a purty layout I made you could steal.

[Jason]

It's been talked about a couple of times in the staff forum, but I'm happy to entertain any thoughts the members have on the matter.

My chief concern is that at the moment there's only a limited amount of news we have to put on a portal page, and I don't want it to be a 'dead' page, especially if it's the first thing people see when they visit the site. I have quite a few ideas I'm looking at that might provide some potential content, but they're a little way away from being ready.

[Mikey]

Okie dokie, no probs, if you do decide to go with vBA and like my layout, just PM me or something and I'll give it to ya ;)

[Jason]

Sounds good to me. I do like that layout, so I'll be in touch if and when we decide to run a portal. :)

[MyNameDidntFit]

I'm not really a fan of portals unless you actually have a non-redundant use for them. That is to say; not just reposting everything that's on the forums along with maybe a poll on the side and a welcome message.

They just piss me off and make me have to change my bookmark to the forum directory so I never see them again :)

[eLusive]

How about a module with the latests posts in the forum, combined with a module which displays news feeds from various RSS sources? Or maybe post news on gaming-related things and they display on the front page? It'd stimulate conversation on the board.

The thing with a portal is that it's supposed to display as much information as possible in a single webpage. So if you were to introduce the idea, I'd recommend ensuring that you've got...
An interesting poll, changed weekly
Signature of the Week / Month
Slideshow of screen caps submitted by members
Latest gaming news, update regularly
Website news
Latest posts in the forum (not just threads, include replies).
Or have a tabbed thing where it displays the latest threads, latest replies and most read threads

Just a couple things for you to ponder on :)

[Konrad]

I dunno, I don't really see the need. There are a million portals out there, each one exactly the same, and nine hundred thousand of them stagnant. Mainly because those are very high maintenance things, and partly because nobody really gives a shit.

With a dedicated staff to produce content there might be a good reason for a homepage. Otherwise it's going to be reposting of gaming RSS feeds. Is there really any need to be yet another portal with the exact same information on it? We're not even going to be first, and unless we hire some maniacs to scout the internet, we won't be second or third either.

SoTW and PoTD are great. The world needs to see another mediocre batch of signatures while looking at pictures of games they could be playing instead.

Forum posts and polls on the portal... You want to take the forum out of the forum so we can see what's going on in the forum?


Dickiness aside, my point is that there is nothing new, and not much interesting that we can provide on the homepage. There are places on the internet that do every single thing we could, except better. This forum is special because it caters to a small community of similarly minded gamers, it's difficult for me to see how a generic homepage would help further that vision.

[Mikey]

...but they're so pretty :(

[Computer Head]

vBadvanced doesn't really require a ton of news. You can always add other kind of content such as RSS feeds and such to it to keep it fresh. Just an idea.

[Brakkish]

I dunno, I don't really see the need. There are a million portals out there, each one exactly the same, and nine hundred thousand of them stagnant. Mainly because those are very high maintenance things, and partly because nobody really gives a shit.

With a dedicated staff to produce content there might be a good reason for a homepage. Otherwise it's going to be reposting of gaming RSS feeds. Is there really any need to be yet another portal with the exact same information on it? We're not even going to be first, and unless we hire some maniacs to scout the internet, we won't be second or third either.

SoTW and PoTD are great. The world needs to see another mediocre batch of signatures while looking at pictures of games they could be playing instead.

Forum posts and polls on the portal... You want to take the forum out of the forum so we can see what's going on in the forum?


Dickiness aside, my point is that there is nothing new, and not much interesting that we can provide on the homepage. There are places on the internet that do every single thing we could, except better. This forum is special because it caters to a small community of similarly minded gamers, it's difficult for me to see how a generic homepage would help further that vision.
Konrad has some very valid points.

Let me see if I can offer another perspective on the topic.

Portal pages are basically another way to receive information. In ways they are indeed "redundant". However studies have shown people in general learn in many ways. For instance, some people have no trouble at all learning via reading endless walls of text, slamming gallons of coffee and countless energy drinks while they wade through endless sees of text. On the other end of the spectrum, we have those who respond better to visual stimulus.

Apply this knowledge to ourselves, here in the gaming industry. What's a major part of our motivation as gamers to pick up a new title and give it a spin? Why do we as consumers in general, spend billions of dollars every year on hardware upgrades for our rigs? It's not uncommon to see systems today not with only one graphics card, but multiple. Why? For the graphical bling today's games offer. The gaming world is still a highly visual driven market. Gaming websites, are no different. Be it as it may, redundant clones of one-another, it's what gamers expect.

Things to make your "portal" (I prefer the term cover page) more interesting to your target audience or community.

Scooping up news and RSS feeds from around the net is fine. That's why they are feeds. They are intended to "spread the word". However, to keep your site from becoming another repeater station, try to select feeds and topics that match what you're trying to do. For instance, scour the internet for articles relating to mature gaming. Decide what your direction is here, and find topics that support only that. Including news from too broad of categories will dilute your site and help it to lose its value and focus.

Once your members start seeing news focused on your niche, you'll start to see a growing fan base. Readers want a quick and easy place to find topics they are interested in. Saving them the time by searching for these articles and rescuing them from the article abyss they've been in will not only make the authors happy, but your readers as well.

[Betty]

You ever need a banner, you know who to call ;D
or not to...

<--- this chick.