I looked at the Clic homepage, along with a few other websites that I cannot remember the names of, and I came up with a new front page idea for Clic. And before I start, I don't think it's better than what Clic has currently, it's just an idea that holds more ideas. If that makes sense, free e-cookie to you.
There were a few ideas that I had in my mind when I came up with this design. The first thing was to try and use the Clic Network bar (which is at the top of every website in the Clic network) in a way that doesn't hide it once the reader scrolls down the page. More on this later.
Anyroad, if you've clicked on the link above to Clic, you'll see the current homepage. the images for the articles are above the article name. What I found, though I might be the only one to be like this, is that when looking at the homepage, I view the image first and the the title of the article. I have no idea why I do this, I just do. As the title is more important to the image of the article, I thought what if we merged the two? So that's what I've done. For the featured articles, the text is only overlaying the lower half of the image, while for the two next to the Flash area (the place that says "Welcome to Clic"), it is completely overlaying about half of the image. I also got rid of the information as to where the author of the article comes from and the time the article was published, though these'll still be seen on the article itself (well, in my mind only the published time will be, the information on the user will be on the user profile).
I also changed the social media icons to be the Clic icon with the social network design within them. These can be seen on the very top of the design and the What's being said on Clic area, which I've now merged the Twitter feed and the commenting on the site into one feed, as I thought it would be better to have one feed instead of two.
Another thing I changed was the links at the top of the design. In the original, they are in eight boxes of sorts. Personally, I prefer the way that the links look on the Wicid homepage, in a straight line and not having a holding box. That's why in this design, I've done is so then the links are in one line, though having the same holding box. Is holding box the right term for it? Who knows.
Obviously, I've kept the same theme as the original. That was done by someone at Burning Red, I believe. So a da iawn to them for a good theme design.
So yeah, without a do of a further, here's the design that I've done.
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| If this isn't that good in the terms in visibility, then click the image to make it biggerer. |
As you can see from it, the Network bar at the top of the website has been replaced with a button thing that hugs the left side of the screen, and the idea is that every time you scroll up or down, it will follow you. This will be the main place to log in, sign up to the site and to go around the Clic network, but instead of a drop down menu, there will be the full map of Wales visible the moment you click on the button.
If someone is logged in to the site, the username of the user will replace the words "log in or sign up". The new function of this sidebar thing when it is clicked is not just so they can go around the Clic network, but an easier place to upload articles/events, edit their information and the like.
I also had an idea to expand the "My Clic" thing that is currently available. So far, all that's there is the ability to add content to be moderated, change your information and to send a support ticket if there is a problem with the workings of the site. I had an idea that this could be a living hub for the user, and add the ability for users to favourite an article/information page, in the originally thought out process that I'll call "Clic'd".
The idea I have is this. On the top of nearly every article or page on Clic, there are options to share it with your friends or followers on Facebook and Twitter respectively, though (for the time being, at least), there is no option to favourite the page on Clic itself. Hence the name "Clic'd". If someone likes an article, and wants to return to it or just to show others that they liked the article in question, they could click the "Clic'd" button and a link to said article will be added to the user's "My Clic" area. And, as well as the amount of people who liked or tweeted the article, there'd be a new icon on the top of the article stating how many users had "Clic'd" the article. Aren't I inventive?
So yeah. for the past four or five days (well, on and off), I've redesigned Clic (sort of). Not because I think I can do better than the original design (far from it), but because I needed to do something in between playing endless hours of Final Fantasy XIII and sleeping. My, how my life has improved these past few years...
So yeah, please let me know what you think of the design. All comments will be taken on board, even if it is "man, this is worse than [insert something horribly bad and rubbish here]". I'd rather know than not. Also, let me know what you think of my ideas. I want to know if these are actually interesting ideas or just inane rubbish that flows in between the satellites of mine called ears.
Well, see ya.
- Your FIN ends here. And your meaningless existence with it (yeah, I really love that battle in Final Fantasy X...).
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