DOS Games Discussion

Some of you have seen previous versions of this already, but I am working on a new design for dosgames.com.

Please note that my emphasis for the new design is usabiliy and features, not necessarily "looks". I hope that the design looks okay, but I'd appreciate it if the focus of this thread could remain on possible features and/or usability issues if at all possible.

The main feature of the new design is that it will be driven by a mySQL database, rather than static HTML pages. This means that many new features are available, like:

<li>Much easier to find games. Several new ways to find games besides category, such as by letter, by year, by company name ...</li>

<li>Search functionality! The current "freefind.com" solution doesn't really work well.</li>

<li>User reviews: Users can add their own ratings of games. In theory (although I haven't really tested this yet) your login for posting reviews will be the same as your dosgames.com forum login ... ie you register once to post reviews and access the forum.</li>

<li>An easier to navigate design. (And, although you can't really see it, much less sloppy html code)</li>

<li>More information about each game</li>

<li>Expandability to add new features later ...</li>

Blah blah blah. Look at:

http://www.dosgames.com/preview/index.html

Please note that if the site is redesigned it will be a long, difficult process that will not be completed any time soon. Re-adding all of the games into the database will not be a quick and easy task.

Anyways, please let me know what you think needs improving. Thanks!!

Oh also ... please test this link:

http://www.dosgames.com/preview/logintest.php

If you're logged into the forum, it should display a whole bunch of user info about you ... if you're not logged in, it should say so. (Testing integration features )

Thanks again, and merry Christmas all!

true. Visited that second link, and it came up with all sorts of mumbo jumbo, but it was basically my profile, post count, last visit, and stuff like that.

-Richard-

I can dig it.

Me too wardrich-

Yeah me likes it. But not the Scrollbar. Lot more pritties to look at

Don't use font size smaller than 10: It's very hard to see what's written in some monitors. Also add 'Floppied games' page includin' all games which sizes are less than 1.38 Mb and split up to zips (example doom1.zip, doom2.zip) of these sizes.

Looks good emmzee

change the color of the right pane. white contrasts with the green left pane too much.

There is no green...

Uhm Darren, because there's a big ad at the bottom of the page, the page scrolls vertical in my screen, and I HATE THAT... sorry, just want to say that

How about removing just the picture of Commander Keen at the bottom. It stretches on 800x600 displays.

Splodginator wrote:How about removing just the picture of Commander Keen at the bottom. It stretches on 800x600 displays.

That's it!

Kazer0 wrote:There is no green...

oops. my mistake. with the brown one.

I find the new look too... Commercial! If you know my meaning. I don't like it. The old is the best! And the second link... It said I'm not logged in.

no way, i saw Down with the old... the new one is AMAZING! Plus, it has MANY advantages!

Down the bottom, is that "Generated in 0.014 seconds" static, or did it take 0.014 seconds to generate the page both times I saw it?

I Get 0.014 too.

Hey all, thanks for all the comments! I will keep them in mind and continue to monitor this thread for additional thoughts

Oh about the "This page was generated in 0.014 seconds." text ... that's static, but for the eventual design it won't be (Incidently one of my other sites generates text like that; check the bottom of vgstores.com and you'll see it )

Top Stuff Darren I would personally rate it 10/10!

Yes! Go ahead and do it!

The new site design is simply c000l.
If u replace that "keen's head" by "maRi0's" head then the site wud look more nice