My new site design (Need feedback)

[Power2All]

Hi there,

As some know, I run a torrent tracker.
Currently I am completely overhauling the site, but I need some feedback too of course.
The site will be most likely used by users, then me alone.

Right now it's still completely in development and only 1 page is being worked on.
When this one is done, I go on to the next, and the back coding needs a lot of work too.

Either way, please check out http://www.anirena.com/testsite/ and I know that the clutter at top (the check boxes) is a mess.
That will be replaced soon by colored blocks, and easier to use then it is now.

Basically, the idea is to sort the latest 10 torrents blocks in your own accord, meaning, if you want to see first Anime's, you can move that block to the very top.
If you are not interested in certain blocks, with the check boxes you can hide those.
That is the whole idea behind this, let me know what you think of it :)

 

[NoveiaVonGeorgia]

Needs more graphic.
Its too much shadow
Color too bland

 

[renano]

If you need more technical advice about how certain things should function or how to properly organize a forum or site, ask any of the Admins here especially Ignis.

If you want a regular user's advice, I think on just functionality and browsing alone, you've done well. Sometimes, there are people who just want it simple and not be bothered by anything else.

Things appear properly labelled and categorized.

If you want color, pick colors that are easy on the eyes and complement one another. You don't need much graphics, but you can add some pretty logo/banner.

The Open/Close is quite a nice touch. It makes it more distinct and considers the users preference of viewing pleasure.

This is just personal, so no need to take it into consideration, but the motto "Your source for latest Asian torrents!" makes me think there will be Asian dramas or something related on the site as well (Hana Kimi, You Are Beautiful, Smiling Pasta, these kind of dramas). If there are dramas, is it for the "Live Action" or "Unknown" category? If there isn't, it can be slightly misleading.

Overall, I actually like the simplicity and easy navigation because it's make me feel comfortable like doing an everyday routine.

If anything I wrote wasn't helpful, I truly apologize.

Best of luck~

 

[nanashi1]

Well, the look is to be honest not the actual - but I'm sure that in the following time sure often updated be will the surface... But what I already now say can, is that section-sharing clearly organized is, where then fastly find can the beloved stuffs...

But yeah, you should really from our artis-boss Ignis (and his assistant Rena-chan^^) the offer take in your side, okay?


Edit: Rating 6,5/10.

 

[Power2All]

Thank you for the couple of feedback tips :)
I'll put them into consideration.

To be honest, I am not a designer, and I make the coding and design purely on basis of my older styles and designs.
I also make the site in a way, that I would have loved to see at some sites, like KickAssTorrents.
The whole idea is to have first the bone structure of the site done, before I go with all kinds of fancy things.

The main purpose is to make the site more accessible, easier to click through, but specifically the idea is to have it got more performance and tweaks in the back-end.

@Noveia
Correct, when I find someone with good designer skills, we will let's just say, put more cloths on the site ;)

@renano
AniRena (before that it was Shockerz) has been a hobby since 2003 already, so it's a pretty old site, we had our setbacks but I'm trying to create eventually the perfect site so to speak ;)
Simple can be a huge project for designers, and since we will get a lot of torrents and a lot of categories, the idea is to make a Latest 10 torrents viewing in a single page.
The idea is, that when the user management system works, that all the changes you made of the sorting and viewing of the categories, that it's saved to your user account.
Color picking is something I'll probably do with someone else who knows what colors might be good.
The Asian part, is because I noticed I get a lot of Korean things on the tracker as well, so making it more of a Asian tracker.
Also I will implement a language choice system, so everything gets translated in your requested language.
Someone already told me to add perhaps Dubs category as well, so that will be fixed in the future when I get on it :)
And you really gave some good pointers, any good feedback is appreciated ^.^

@nanashi
Thank you, it's by far done yet, a lot needs to be fixed and tweaked ;)

 

[nanashi1]

@nanashi
Thank you, it's by far done yet, a lot needs to be fixed and tweaked ;)

Me is the mind (Edit: Hello Power2All^^!) came, that it wouldn't bad if the side (The section-boxs) half way transparently were and an cute-friendly-moe chara than site-banner stand would, the BG can further black (or at least somewhat dark...) be - with blue-red color elements... - Well, this would my personally recommendation for you be, but it goes about your own side, where then take it easy...

 

[Evac]

Simple and easy to use. I liked it! Being able to sort, expand and collapse categories helps a lot in terms of navigation speed.

For now, I'd only recommend a button/checkbox to select/deselect all (if you haven't already thought about this... hehe). And maybe a list to change the number of items per section?

Keep up the good work~

 

[spoxxy]

Can you implement a favorite/wishlist so ppl get notify when something on their list gets uploaded.

 

[Kurokaze]

size in GB or MB
would be better if you categorize torrents by uploader(like in kickasstorrent when clicking on username, i get all his uploads.In current anirena, this option is not available)

 

[Power2All]

@Spoxxy
Yes, there will be a filter system installed as well, eventually that is ;)
Basically, it will show torrents that hit a certain filter, but there will probably be also a email feature, that it emails you when a certain filter is hit.
For example, when the filter check hits (mostly checks of 30 minutes probably), it will send the user that has set this a email, with the posted torrents that hit the filter.

@Kurokaze
That's also something I could do yes, all ideas are welcome, so I will consider that too ^.^

 

[FinalPyre]

Things I noticed after a glance:

1. Colours aren't bad, but I'd consider other options. Doesn't look bad but doesn't look great.

2. I'd strongly recommend against moving parts (the top and bottom 'pushing' into view). It slows things down, makes things clunky, and hides information if you don't go far enough. Just quickly scroll up and down, and it already can't keep up, and starts clipping in front of other information on the site. In general, never have fancy moving parts (especially scrolling parts) on a page. Also pressing "open/close" and having everything shift around (the top and bottom banners bumping in and out) irks me to no end.

3. Aligning and labeling. Things need to be aligned properly. People need to know what labels mean.

3. a) Your check boxes should be in a nice grid formation or something like that, lined up by the boxes. If you look at any one place, you should be able to tell what the box is for. Right now, if you looked at something in the middle, it is unclear whether you want to check the box before or after the label. You should be able to tell anywhere at a glance. You also have a check box hanging on the right side, where it switches lines. That is bad! It just makes it more confusing! Also consider implementing "check all" and "check none" options at either the start or end.
The "Unknown" tab looks dubious. What on earth would a user get from that? What gets labeled unknown? It would appear it would be "something that doesn't fit in any other section", which means... what exactly? I'd get rid of it. You already have an abundance of sections, if you have something that really doesn't fit in any of those, either make more sections, or at the very worst, make a "miscellaneous" section instead.

3. b) Size: What are the units of size? Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Centimeters? Are you using 1000 or 1024 format? Users will want to know. The numbers should also be right-aligned (left works too, but right works a bit better with numbers). If they are centered, you can have a huge difference in size, but it isn't immediately clear how big the difference is. Also make sure the magnitude is relevant to what you're using. Something like 2823705912 kilobytes is much better explained with MB or GB. Don't make users do math, make it clear what the size is.

Date: Date of what? Date posted? Date released (and if so when: release to disk or release to TV)? It also isn't being used yet, but I highly doubt the hour, minute, or second will be relevant to users, unless maybe the date is when you put it on the site.


Just my thoughts. Hope this helps provide some direction.

 

[Power2All]

A lot has changed, please take another look ;)

 

[Sakimichi]

A lot has changed, please take another look ;)

I like the improved site design better <3 Galaxies and Madoka <3

 

[Kurokaze]

now its much better
question: when clicking on torrent will it open a new page or will be like current AniRena?

 

[FinalPyre]

Looks lots better to me now. :)

Something is wrong with the top banner though. It's glitching around a bit for me (often can't decide if it wants to come down or not, and the image sometimes glitches for half a second off to the side). Once again my suggestion is to not make it move at all.

 

[Power2All]

99% done now.
Just need to fix up some small tweaks, and then I will be starting on the main browse page :)

 

[Power2All]

now its much better
question: when clicking on torrent will it open a new page or will be like current AniRena?

Good question.
It will open a new page, we will support also comments on the torrents.

 

[Kurokaze]

Good question.
It will open a new page, we will support also comments on the torrents.

great then, with comments will know if torrent is fake or real

 

[Power2All]

Browse page made, search system works.
Check it out :)

http://www.anirena.com/testsite/browse.php

 

[nanashi1]

Wow this already an difference between his/her former look, further so...

 

[pichu655889]

Indeed a huge improvement from its former look, congratulations on the update! Things also seem a little more intuitive (and perhaps familiar, with some similarity to nyaa - however much you might hate them I think that's a good thing for users). It feels modern. In line with design trends of today, and all that sorta thing.

I guess the next step would be populating it with content and attracting more of both uploaders and downloaders?

 

[Power2All]

It's by far done yet.
Got a long list with features I need to apply.
Next thing is getting the user system working, from that point on I can convert existing user accounts and torrents over to the new environment.

 

[Power2All]

Big update applied.
Search engine worked, fixed a array foreach fixup (instead of Descending, it was showing torrents ascending... Damn you javascript!), applied pagination system, also made sure people can share the URL of page and search actions to other people.
Basically, a epic site :)

Check it out: http://www.anirena.com/testsite/browse.php
Let me know how you think this browses for you.

Next point: User management.

 

[pichu655889]

I noticed that I couldn't click on a torrent to find out more about it (descriptions, contents, uploader, etc.)
I suppose that that would come in the near future?

Things seem to be coming together smoothly though, so keep up the great work!

Just a side note, I've always wanted to be able to search for the torrents of a particular uploader. I don't think websites such as TPB have such a feature, maybe it's just a hurdle technically? Just a little suggestion here.

 

[Power2All]

I only worked on latest10.php and browse.php yet
One by one, otherwise I will get confused ;)

For that you might like a advanced search page for that.
Or a button that shows more search options.

But yes, I could add it later as a optional function.
Right now, I'm focussing on the user management first, that is going to take up a lot of work, to prevent abuse, exploiting and what not ;)

Another thing that will be applied, is rewriting.
So instead of browse.php, you contact "browse" only.
Makes things a bit easier too ;)