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Pokémon Valley

Pikachu Trainer~

PokéDex Project
    • 191
    Posts
    17
    Years

    I have recently updated my website, and I would love all your comments and criticism. I understand that I need to somehow sort out the banner and put the site logo on. It would be great if you could tell me:
    • How to improve the layout.
    • What to include on the site itself.
    • How you think the pages should appear.
    • And just in general what you think of the site at the moment.

    Thanks for your time.
     

    Dahlia411

    That Crazy Video Gamer Girl
    • 110
    Posts
    13
    Years
    You're off to a good start :)
    The layout fits the theme of the site, since it's all about BW
    Nice header, but are you going to put something on the other side of the trainer? Parhaps the girl player?
    On thr About page, parhaps get some staff members, or tell a little bit about the site's history, you, and staff if you're going to have one
    Also, the screenshots!! It's nice that you put a image lightbox (I think that's what it's called) so viewers can see the images
    Lots of inside info, good info

    Overall it's a nice, basic site with alot of good info to catch up on BW

    I have a question..do you use HTML and CSS to customize?

    I hope this helps

    Sorry if I'm coming off harsh or insulting you or anything, feel free to PM and talk about web design, I love all that kind of stuff :)

    Good Luck!!
     

    Serene Grace

    Pokémon Trainer
    • 3,428
    Posts
    15
    Years
    It's good that you've finally got yourself a stable content managing system. Wordpress is certainly a powerful platform in which you can keep track and customise it to the way you want.

    As for the site layout, I would recommend you trying to make the theme fluid width or at least slightly bigger as the site looks very small on a widescreen (such as the laptop I'm posting from).

    Next, what to include. Well it's really up to you. A tip from me is to try and focus on one aspect of Pokémon and dont try and do everything like Serebii because you would need a lot of staff members and willing writers to get good, in-depth articles. I say maybe make it just for the Pokémon video games or even just for Black and White. That way things can be more focused and your writers know what they're doing.

    The site is certainly a good start. The aesthetics are certainly eye-catching and the layout is well coded. All the site needs are some user-based improvements and additions to the actual content. Good luck!

    Dahlia411 said:
    I have a question..do you use HTML and CSS to customize?
    Click to expand...
    Nope, he used a content managing system called Wordpress. In the script itself, you can edit or make your own themes with custom CSS, HTML and PHP.
     

    mr. ck

    कुछ मीठा हो जाये
    • 308
    Posts
    14
    Years
    The first thing I noticed was the popular theme that you're using on your wordpress :P
    But that's okay for a new site, we all end up creating a theme for our sites later.

    Hmmm... The about page, it's totally empty. Write something about Pokemon, or the games, or even about yourself. You know, why you like Pokemon? Maybe you could say something like "Pokemon is the name of the series by Nintendo..." and add a section to the same page that goes like "About the developer(s)"

    Where you're talking about the Gen V Pokemon, why don't you include their pictures and concept art? The length is too small...

    I don't see you using categories at all...
    I mean, one could be called "Features" and all posts about the features of the games would go in that category, and one could be "Screenshots" where you could post the screenshots as they come...
    Right now, you have a page that says "Seasonal Changes," are you planning to put each feature in its own page? Why not blog about the features and put them into categories?
    For easy navigation, add the categories widget in the sidebar, etc.

    Wish you good luck with the website :)
     

    Pikachu Trainer~

    PokéDex Project
    • 191
    Posts
    17
    Years
    Dahlia444, first of all thank you for taking your time to view the site and comment. I am thinking of adding to the header image, and I was currently thinking of putting the logo to the right hand side, but I wasn't too sure that's why I asked for critique. Do you believe that I should put more images at that side instead? Where do you think the logo should fit?

    The about page idea you have is pretty good, I'll try and get that sorted rather soon. The staff we have will probably be happy to write a bit about the sites history, and I'm definitely up for it.

    You didn't come out as harsh at all, I certainly value others opinions, and I'm glad you posted on here. Thanks for your input.

    Serene Grace: That is something I have considered because my brothers screen size makes the layout look a lot smaller than it does on mine, so I will look in to that. It's something I'll add to the list. As for the content we are thinking of displaying, I believe we should just stick to the gaming aspect of Pokémon and cover that as widely as we can. If we get to a point in the future where we believe we've got not much left to do we will move on to the anime, but I doubt that will happen any time soon. Thanks for your input as well Sam, it's good to speak to you again.

    Mr CK.: At the moment that's just a placeholder really, I am thinking of creating my own layout, but what I wanted to do was get something basic for the moment, as PV has been up and running since 2006 but I've continuously created many layouts, and I've never been able to stick to them, so wordpress was a good move because the content won't have to be changed. As for the about page I intend to add stuff to it, as said above.

    The Gen V Page will be updated shortly and have the full range of all Pokémon announced on, I'll get to the asap. Thanks for your input aswell, I'll update you all with what I've added later, thanks again.
     

    Shining Meganium

    • 86
    Posts
    13
    Years
    On your new layout I have a few ideas for you to consider:

    Firstly, the drop down on the menu is good, it stops you site being cluttered by keeping it more compact. However on that menu you need a link to your community as although its in your about page people might not necessarily click on it and find your forums.

    You should give users an easier way of searching for news. I personally don't like the search bar as people generally like the latest news and will very rarely search for old stuff. For the same reasons I think you should remove the select month tool as people will very rarely search for something that old unless they've been away. Instead you should have links to certain important posts in your sidebar such as various big chunks of information about the upcoming game. I do like how you've put the release date of black and white there though.

    Your info is very detailed and enjoyable to read but I think to give your community more of a boost you should allow them to write articles too, perhaps critiquing a particular anime episode or new pokemon. This will make your community more active and give it more of a goal. On such a small site I think for now you should remove comments on your posts however you should add it back on in the future.

    Onto design, On your background you need far less contrast. The sudden movement from light to dark has a really bad effect. Also your banner, to me, doesn't really work. It should be aligned as at the moment your page is too one sided. I also recommend putting text on it with a slogan. This will give a better impression than just having a picture. I would actually recommend a logo over a banner. I can do one for you free of charge if you wish; just shoot me a pm with the sizes and requirements.

    Great site, I will perhaps sign up later in the week.
     

    Pikachu Trainer~

    PokéDex Project
    • 191
    Posts
    17
    Years
    I have added a link to the community on the menu now, although I believe I will be changing this, as it doesn't stand out enough. I will be leaving it on for now, but I'm hoping to edit the menu to look a lot better.

    Would you consider having the archives on a different page, or would you recommend me to take the links off completely?

    I am hoping that the community will be able to get involved in the sites progress, however due to inactivity from me and other members the community currently is been revived. Soon I am aiming to have more members on there, as I will be contacting our old members.

    How do you think I should lay it all lout, and what would you advise me to do with the background and banner?

    Thanks for all your time SM, it really helps me that you have commented because it means that I then have a wide range of ideas from many different people.
     

    Shining Meganium

    • 86
    Posts
    13
    Years
    Btw, the link in your signature is to your old address, so you may want to change that.

    On the link to your community I really like the short sentence after words, it really gives a more homely feel to your site. Within your actual community I think you should get rid of the reputation system, over time it will begin to cause problems as people will argue about it. And for now, as you don't have that many members I think you should remove some of the categories. In the off topic part you should remove all of them and just keep the Main off topic discussion forum (any of these other topics can be posted in it like your youtube one) then make the game corner a sub forum in it. Likewise you should merge the anime and movies into pokemon general (basically allow anime related threads in it) thus making your forum seem much more active and use up less space on the screen. When you get more popular you can go back to how you are now.

    I personally think the archive would have a place on another page but slightly differently laid out to how it is now. I think you should have the month followed by a summery of the news in the month, this would give people an easier way of finding a piece of news they may wish to read and then you wouldn't need a search function. Like this:

    August 2010- In the progress of black and white a new Pokemon was revealed,Yanappu, whilst we saw some small footage of the game play in battle subway.

    I understand the need to get more members on the forums before starting progress on it. A good way of getting people that go on your site to join the community is by posting about tournaments and the such in the community. Like your Iscribble tournament, you could do a small post about how it will work. You could also post about some of the discussions in the forum.

    I will update this post with an example of a good banner/ logo and a background.
     
    Last edited:

    Pikachu Trainer~

    PokéDex Project
    • 191
    Posts
    17
    Years
    Thanks for letting me know I'll get that fixed straight away.

    Okay, thanks for your ideas regarding the community, I will be editing the whole of that one day this week, and i'll take all your ideas in to account. Disabling the reputation system is a pretty good idea.

    I have now put the archive on its own page, so you can check that out.

    Thanks, I can't wait to see this banner, it'll definitely help me.
     

    Shining Meganium

    • 86
    Posts
    13
    Years
    Ok I've finished.

    With the banner I personally think that the best option is choosing a mascot for your website or just have various pokemon on the banners you use over time.

    Heres the banner I have made-
    Pokémon Valley


    For this purpose I have used Crobat but I'll change it if need be. With the pokemon valley text I have made the text for pokemon bold to differentiate it to the valley text.

    When applying your background you should choose a colour scheme to accompany your mascot. Or what you've got on the banner. I'm not saying to use a monocolour layout as there terrible but you should use colours that don't contrast to wildly. For instance with this you could simply use a Dark purple to light purpler gradient.

    I also made a crest that you may want to substitute for the banner as it is more generic and gives more of a team feel to your community and sight. Though I'm not sure how affective this is on a news site. Its here-

    https://pxly.org/HS

    its big so you'd want to shrink it.
     

    Pikachu Trainer~

    PokéDex Project
    • 191
    Posts
    17
    Years
    Many updates have been added to the site regarding the two new games, pages will be uploaded very shortly. I have also added a countdown to the date we've all been looking forward to, check it out. And please would you be able to post comments, I'd like to see some since theres only been one :P

    That's great art Shining Meganium, you've actually made me think quite a lot how I'm gonna lay it out. I'm going to be working on a layout, and then mainly sort it out once the Black and White coverage has calmed down. Thanks for all the help. :D
     

    Gardenia101

    Official Lurker
    • 583
    Posts
    13
    Years
    Tsk tsk.... error
    Spoiler:
     

    .LMG.

    Yeah! Custom User Title!
    • 65
    Posts
    14
    Years
    • Seen Aug 8, 2015
    Gardenia101 said:
    Tsk tsk.... error
    Spoiler:
    Click to expand...
    the link is on the first post BTW... I'm guessing the link in his signature was his old site.
     

    Pikachu Trainer~

    PokéDex Project
    • 191
    Posts
    17
    Years
    Thanks L.M.G yeah it is that link: https://www.pokemonvalley.net

    Just to let you all know we will be covering Black and White as soon as we get our hands on it, normally with past games we have got some things just before serebii have, and we normally tend to have more screenshots than them. I will be playing the game intensely and I will purposefully create a screenshots page and many other information pages. Please bookmark our site to keep ahead with all the news, I'll guarantee we'll have the most screenshots than anywhere else. If you would like us to find anything out during the gameplay you can ask us and we will do our best to find what you want. Our coverage will most probably begin tomorrow, but I do have school so I will be a little slow if the news comes in the morning.
     
    Spherical Ice

    Spherical Ice

    • 5,256
    Posts
    16
    Years
    Quite a nice website. The layout looks really nice, and the content is meh. Could be improved on; perhaps adding interactive or fun content, like games or, and this is an idea I quite like, interviews with the in-game characters. I dunno.

    Just saying, but the "top ^" link is broken.
     
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