Help and Support > Feedback and Suggestions

Web design! D:

<< < (2/5) > >>

CBpop:
Constructive criticism is always beneficial for improvement. However  one must first establish a baseline for the criticism:

1-What is the purpose of the website
2-Who is the audience
3-What is the benefit of the website
4-What is your view of the website
5-What can you do to improve the problem

I believe your major objection to DCM is number 4 but I must begin with the first baseline question.

Number 1 – the purpose: Provide an easy access of public domain art from the golden age of comics. I have been using the site for over 2 years and it has fulfill that purpose for me and many others.

Number 2 – the audience: From the Forum posts, I would say DCM has a worldwide appeal including all ages from newbie fans to older fans such as myself who remember these early books from our childhood.

Number 3 – the benefit:  Where to start?  I have discovered many gems from the past, learned a lot about the artist, the history of comics and made many new friends.

Number 4 – your viewpoint:  Here is the part I think you are missing.  As was stated by others... this is not a blog, news site, or commercial venture.  The format is straight forth and easy to use. There may not be the bells and whistles you would like, but that is not the purpose of the site. It's a rich resource of books that would not be seen by many and has contributed to others who have and are writing the history of comics.

Number 5 – improvement: There is always room to improve.  In the short time I have been using the site, I have seen many improvements to the site. It is a slow process but it is happening. Maybe not in the way you or others would like. 

You mentioned tag searching and CSS programming. Having had to manage a very simple bulletin board for a number of years and having to deal with security issues I can understand DCM's programmer's problems.  There is a balance between what type of “ eye candy” is best for your site and how to keep your content safe.

Many of the sites you mentioned have some interesting and “fun” programming, but would it benefit DCM's purpose?   That is the question you have to ask.

As for me and those I have contact with, DCM is a rare gem that has provided a great resource and enjoyment. I am not an administrator for the site so I can not speak to the programming, but I can say that what I have used has worked well and meets the purpose of the site. 

Thank you DCM for your hard work in providing the content of the Golden Age of comics and for being a point of contact for education and enjoyment of those early art forms.

My suggestion to you digodiego is to not rush into any rash conclusions until you have spent some time on the site.  There may be a disconnect due to language but the art should speak for itself.

digodiego:
Thanks CBpop, I understand all your arguments and it's true that maybe
I talk to much without having used the site for a long time.
Yet I still think that a couple of simple arrangements would benefit the purpose of DCM and its users.

I know that the example websites are not "database sites".
I showed them for you to see only the design: big texts
(the size of the text of DCM make it hard to read, and much more if everything is piled),
big images, intuitive browsing...

Here's a couple of things that shocked me in the first view:


- Really the best way to present the list is piling links haphazardly and messy??

- The button of log in, it should be more accessible, it took me about half a minute to find it.

- Since this is a database of comics the search bar should be the first thing you see, there it seems to be hidden!

- It should be other ways to search the comics not just by it publisher. Alphabetical order,
  by the genre (adventure, western, sci fi...), by the author, the year, the top rated...
  (this is not a "simple" arrangement but the most important to me.)


That's for the functionality. I would say more advices for the estetical desing
but I see that the users love the 90's way and, as CBpop said,
it could not be the target of DCM.

I repeat: I hate gratuitous criticism. I write this post because I really want the site to improve.
If it were another site, maybe I would have closed the tab and continue looking for another comic site,
but in this one I thought it was worth to show my thoughts. Because I imagine how it would be like
with a pair of arrangements and I get excited because it would be brutal!

Yoc:
Hi gang,
You know I'm glad this topic has been started.  One doesn't like to hear negative opinions about 'their baby' but sometimes this is the best way to improving things.
For instance it took a negative review of us on BoingBoing to give CaptDJ the idea of installing our Preview feature.  Now we can't imagine the site without it!

So thanks for sharing guys.  CBpop - very kind and thoughtful words.  You explain DCM's goals exactly and the considerations that have to be made.

Thanks to digodiego as well.  He may be blunt but he is entitled to his opinion.  I seriously doubt we will ever look like his examples.  Our focus just doesn't fit into those layouts IMO.  But he does bring up a couple things that we are actually trying to work into the site eventually

Searching by more than just publisher and title (both assume a level of knowledge about the GA comics on the site that newbies might not possess) has been on my wish list for ages.
My #1 wish from even before I joined the staff is to add the GCD data to the site for each book.  By adding this we could add so much more to the search field options.

As for digodiego dislike of the graphic design of the site.  Well, that's more about personal taste.  We figure the banner is the first place people look so we put all our important links around the banner.  The two most important - logging in and the search field are right on top.  We thought it was easy to find and away from any other text that it might be lost in.

A lot of the site layout is built into the RWD software that runs the download site.  Where it might shine at database functions like adding publishers, titles and keeping track of it all letting the staff sort and manage things there are some shortfalls.  RWD was certainly not bug-free so our first few years at GAC were spent working around them and eventually fixing the worst of them.  Remember though - the DCM staff are all volunteers.  CaptDJ, our code guru, has made MANY fixes and upgrades behind the scenes that members might not see and added several new features such as our very popular Preview feature.  Unfortunately he can't devote as much time to us as he would like so these things can take time.  Only longtime members have an idea how crippled the site was compared to today.  Is there room for improvement.  Absolutely.  And someday I hope we can look back and this topic and say yes, we have gotten better.

As for small text size.  There is the option to increase font size on your end by just holding control and hitting the "+" key on your keyboard.

There are other sites out there you might try digodiego.  CB+ shares a lot of the same books, runs on the same RWD software but does have a different layout and some features we don't have.  AIBQ is another that is more 'visual' but don't share nearly as many books.  (I've never understood why they call it AIBQ though, anyone out there know?)

Thanks for sharing guys!

digodiego:

Glad to read this Yoc! What I should have guessed is that developers do this voluntarily, double merit then!
Thanks for showing me more sites, but I think I'll stay with this, I don't like the other ones neither, I must be very fussy xD

Yoc:
Hehe, glad you like us enough to stick around D.
;)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page