HTs on Global/Hattrick Website
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.1) as reply to (0) | |
| To: Everyone | 12.08.2008 10:12 | ||
| As you now can read on editorial space, the current (old) design is making itself ready for retirement. It has some flaws and other problem, and that's the reason for the retirement. I also think you are aware of these flaws/problems as you use it everyday.
We know that many of you are really used to this design, but even so we hope you also understand the reasons for retirement. Because there are even brighter Hattrick days and moments to come, in the coming design which we think you will come to like even more. | |||
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.7) as reply to (11718558.2) | |
| To: Sir_Dancelot | 12.08.2008 10:18 | ||
| Yeehar! New forum engine as well? Pretty please? ;-)
Allrightie then. :) The forum today is very good for experienced forum users, for those who make a rare visit (or new users) it's really not good at all. So our aim is to make it a lot easier to use in order to make more people interested in the forums. But at the same time we will naturally also think a lot about those who already spend a lot of time here, we will not forget your wishes so to say. | |||
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.9) as reply to (11718558.3) | |
| To: forst | 12.08.2008 10:19 | ||
| When do you think the new design will be ready?
In 2-3 months, something like that. | |||
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.12) as reply to (11718558.11) | |
| To: Mravo | 12.08.2008 10:23 | ||
| Any screenshots for those who can't wait? ;)
We will post screenshots eventually, but you'll have to wait a little bit longer. :) | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.14) as reply to (11718558.13) | |
| To: Mravo | 12.08.2008 10:27 | ||
| Will the re-design address the impossible-to-navigate NT/U20 section of the menus?
The international section will be redesigned, but in this case we will do it in several steps. There will be a general tidying up of that hopeless mess, but we have more ideas for thaty section than we will release in the first version. | |||
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.20) as reply to (11718558.15) | |
| To: Karl-Heinz-Spock | 12.08.2008 10:31 | ||
| The new design will include a changelog-site besides that MyHT-space, for smaller things? A Bugtracking-site?
I'm not sure that will make it to the first version, but it's in the loop. We have a quite nice overall plan for informational issues, but as it includes a lot of new functionality it will probably not make it to the first version. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.24) as reply to (11718558.20) | |
| To: HT-Tjecken | 12.08.2008 10:36 | ||
| The new design will include a changelog-site besides that MyHT-space, for smaller things? A Bugtracking-site?
I'm not sure that will make it to the first version, but it's in the loop. We have a quite nice overall plan for informational issues, but as it includes a lot of new functionality it will probably not make it to the first version. Let me add to that we nowadays have a stage server, where all new code is tested live with users before coming to the main site, and in that environment we do have a public bugtracking tool. The stage server is currently invitation-only, but we aim to make it possible for everyone to get a place there (but not everyone at once) ;) | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.38) as reply to (11718558.35) | |
| To: Drittaccount | 12.08.2008 10:53 | ||
| btw: There are loads of CHPP not active and dead. Will you use the new design to clean it up and reopen officially the CHPP process?
CHPP is definitely going to get more attention from us. We are not using the redesign as a way to kill off inactive apps, but if that is a byproduct of the change, that is probably a good thing. | |||
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.54) as reply to (11718558.45) | |
| To: hrvojek | 12.08.2008 11:17 | ||
| Do you plan to make a transition period, i.e. to make both design schemas active? Is there any chance that one could choose between designs at least for some time (as is done with Youth Schools)?
No, and no. | |||
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.62) as reply to (11718558.50) | |
| To: Jensor | 12.08.2008 11:29 | ||
| Could you give some additional information on the aspect of browsing HT on a mobile device?
It will be a lot easier to navigate the coming design from a mobile phone, and even easier if we make a special skin for it. It's in our interest too, as we would like if users (ourself included) could bring Hattrick with them everywhere. | |||
| From: | HT-Tjecken | (11718558.85) as reply to (11718558.68) | |
| To: wimpiethereal | 12.08.2008 12:13 | ||
| Why couldn't we choose for the "old" design?
There are many reasons actually, but the biggest reason is perhaps that having two completely different designs also means we have to maintain two designs. This means that we have to add all new functionality twice and instead of having to do write one new page (or correct something in a page), we have to write _two_ compeletely new pages (or correct something, but in two different ways, twice). As you can imagine, it would take a lot of time (more than double the amount of time it will take now, as the coming design will be a lot easier to work with) and that's time which could be so much better spent on other things. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.91) as reply to (11718558.86) | |
| To: wimpiethereal | 12.08.2008 12:29 | ||
| After the article I had read i think all these thiongs will only good for new users. What with the 200 thousand active old users?
We don´t think so. To a certain extent anew design is a matter of taste, and old users may have a harder time than others to get use to the new style than others. But that is no argument for never changing. I think you either develop or decline. The question is not whether to change or not, it is how you build on your heritage rather than squander it. We also think there is a lot of changes in the new designs that are not matter of taste, they are simply objective improvements. There are a lot of compromises that has been done over the years as we tried to cope with the design decisions that were made in the past. It´s natural, but it also makes it necessary to tidy up once in a while. I think it will be liberating for us. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.93) as reply to (11718558.92) | |
| To: Jackwewo_HFF | 12.08.2008 12:36 | ||
| Will it be possible to go on with this "graphic style" of the site (maybe an option in the preferences menu)?
We will offer a skin that is similar to the current design. Since it is only a skin, it will follow the new navigation and organization, but I don´t think that particular change will be very shocking to anyone. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.141) as reply to (11718558.129) | |
| To: oldtrafford | 12.08.2008 16:03 | ||
| Will there be more extra's for the supporters? Something like more slots for feds, more bookmarks (or a possible change from youthplayers to fora or players or users or...the total remains, but the choice is ours)...and more stuff that you can find out by yourself...;-)
Supporters will get a few improvements in the new design, both by way of making existing features but also a few extras stuck in. I think the stuff in pipeline will raise a few eyebrows! But Supporter is not the main purpose of the redesign. Now, once the redesign is done, Supporter is one of the things we hope to be able to give more attention to - we have done very little for Supporters in the last two years I´m afraid. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.142) as reply to (11718558.135) | |
| To: rei85 | 12.08.2008 16:04 | ||
| The editorial says:
It would also be nice to have a set of icons in the same style and from the same source (today's icons are in different styles and from different sources), and we would like it to be easier to make different skins for Hattrick, something which is quite hard today. What does this exactly mean? Will it be easier for you or for us too? I'm a foxtrick user and I love make customized skin for hattrick. I'm very interested in how the layout will change. User-designed skins will not be possible at launch, at least not supported by us. But it should be quite possible indeed further down the line. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.150) as reply to (11718558.145) | |
| To: Lou_Dog | 12.8.2008 at 16:41 | ||
| Please, not more "gimmicks". Its a text based game, and imho the core should stay that way. I expect Hattrick still to be rather a good book than a Hollywood Blockbuster after the relaunch. Imho it especially would be important to take attention on consistency. E.g. i never understood why we are able to access the team page through the mainheader on some pages (Players, Hall of Fame...) and have to use the back button on other sub-pages (transfer-history, youth acedemy). Stuff like that is urgent. New player faces? Who cares?
I am sure you must be worried about the blistering pace at which we are transforming ourselves froma text game into an immersive multimedia experience :) No, but seriously, I could not agree with you more. I am of the "Hattrick as book" category myself. I don´t even care that much for numbers, although I know a lot of you do. That said, I don´t think it is out of place to have some elements on the site as for example Flash, but there is no need for it to look like Flash, it should just be Flash because that offers the right functionality. At the very least it should blend in with the other stuff and not be mandatory. And I think the site will be more consistent as a result of the redesign. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.188) as reply to (11718558.172) | |
| To: RebelClown | 12.8.2008 at 20:26 | ||
| Professional curiosity: are you going to do some kind of usability study?
Another one you mean? Yes, probably... ;) | |||
| From: | HT-Oxidus | (11718558.310) as reply to (11718558.294) | |
| To: simcamil | 14.8.2008 at 04:39 | ||
| Any new design is welcome but PLEASE don't use flash. At least don't do a redisign with 90% flash.
Hattrick will continue to use flash where appropriate. Various applications, and add ons work well in the flash environment, others not so much. We have no plans to massively increase the amount of flash for the sake of being cool and trendy. It would only lead to simliar problems that current frame-based design suffers from. The editorial addresses issues such as the current lack of bookmarking because of frame usage. A 100% flash site would cause similar problems, amongst other things. Hattrick is generally not the sort of site that lends itself to a complete flash solution, so all the people worrying can be safe in the knowledge that the redesign isn't going to be a major flash reworking. The project is intended to make things better for everyone, the devolpers and the users. Overuse of flash would be counterproductive to that aim. | |||
| From: | HT-Oxidus | (11718558.313) as reply to (11718558.312) | |
| To: BWO-Goatboy | 14.8.2008 at 07:07 | ||
| Would relating the new layout to that of buzzerbeater or popmundo be accurate?
Any comment on that front would lead to a shedload of speculation and / or thread rumouring. As is wont on the forums. So, I'll leave specifics out of it. The new hattrick design will however incorporate a much improved CSS model that will be more accessible to skinning, if that's what you're in to. Therefore it will reflect aspects of the buzzerbeater experience on a technical level. As far as the web-experience and graphics go, we are producing a hattrick 2008 style that we feel is true to the current game that we know and love. | |||
| From: | HT-Oxidus | (11718558.320) as reply to (11718558.315) | |
| To: Calvert | 14.8.2008 at 08:04 | ||
| The older Hattrick design was quite amenable to skinning and many high quality skins were made by several people. I used many of them myself. Then Buzzerbeater came and the ads that the HTs were using were designed so that they could be seen through the skins, even with supporter, defeating one of the main purpose of having skins to begin with. Then the site was redesigned and all skins were made worthless and very few of them were remade so that they would work because no one knew what the next change would be or when it would come.
If you're going to be using the experience the Hattrick site had with Buzzerbeater as a positive example, an experience which was one of the most flagrantly aggressive and deliberately antagonistic marketing stratagems I've seen outside of commercial spammers (and which made me never even want to come close to the game ever), I cannot possibly see how the redesign can be an improvement. The skinning is workable with the current design, but involves dedication and numerous fiddly workarounds to get things working properly. It works, but amenable it is most certainly not. By definition, the web-experience I'm talking about is purely navigational and aesthetic as far as hattrick goes and also relates in part to the positive experiences gleaned from the systematic CSS model used elsewhere in a technical sense. It relates in no shape or form to marketing of anything at all. | |||
| From: | HT-Oxidus | (11718558.322) as reply to (11718558.321) | |
| To: Calvert | 14.8.2008 at 08:25 | ||
| I hope you can understand just why I am now exceptionally skeptical about this whole process. There was nothing, nothing about Buzzerbeater's influence on the HT website itself that was a positive change for the players during the time that they were here. From what I have read here it was real positive for them, though.
Buzzerbeater has, to my knowledge, had no influence at all on the design of the Hattrick-website. Which aspects of the "influence" are you sceptical about ? | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.360) as reply to (11718558.357) | |
| To: Everyone | 15.8.2008 at 11:24 | ||
| We haven´t changed our stance on Flash. We will use it more or less the same way we do today, if it´s within the central gameplay it will always be optional. Hattrick is and will remain a text-based game, because that is how we like it. It will perfectly accessible by mobile devices after the redesign as well. | |||
| From: | HT-Johan | (11718558.365) as reply to (11718558.362) | |
| To: Seran | 15.8.2008 at 11:34 | ||
| So waht does this mean in the practical sense?
It means that in this regard things will not change from how they are now. Flash has it´s place today, and it has a very similar role on the new site. There will not be lots of Flash on the new site, and Flash will not decrease the accessibility on the new site. | |||
