Petopia Usability Improvements

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Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Mania »

I uploaded some small usability improvements to Petopia today. Well, I hope they are improvements, but I'd like to get your opinions.

(I also reworked most of the back-end database and generation code so I can make changes more easily, but hopefully you won't notice any of that. If you do, it probably means that I screwed something up. ;))
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Saturo »

I like new Petopia. It looks neat, and easily accessible as well. I also accidentally hit the ad-movie-thing tough, might want to think about moving that. :P

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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Makoes »

that was really weired at first...I am a lit---lot drunk atm and went to petopia for some mindfocus and bam! is so different...had to click link a few times before it clued in that the site had a make-over...after I got that figures out I thought "Hey, this is really cool, neat and wow I can get pet info right away!"

I really like this change, great job mania

sorry if post is off...drunk...hic!

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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Kalanzyne »

Went to go have a look at the pets to pick something for my little hunter to tame first. I like the new layout. It makes it so much easier to find what your looking for.
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Lohuran »

Looks great to me! Simple and straight to the point.
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Karathyriel »

Mania, I'm so proud of you!

No, really, I like it.
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Teigan »

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Last edited by Teigan on Wed May 23, 2012 3:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by SpiritBinder »

I was just there and was like, this is new??? what the? O_O Wow check it out! Sexiness!
/scuttle over to forums to see whats going on...
Nice work Mania ;)

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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Golden »

Ohh, I really like what you've done there. <3
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Mania »

Hmm ... I am suspicious. Normally people hate any changes I make. (Almost as if my taste in web design is horrendous. *grin*) Are you sure you're looking at Petopia?
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Teigan »

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Last edited by Teigan on Wed May 23, 2012 3:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Aleu »

I very much like it! Although the picture of Gondria is of a blue spectral Tiger instead of purple. Unless that was the only model you could find at the moment.

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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Golden »

Mania wrote:Hmm ... I am suspicious. Normally people hate any changes I make. (Almost as if my taste in web design is horrendous. *grin*) Are you sure you're looking at Petopia?
Hehe, I'm sure. Only thing I don't quite like is the image for Gondria and Azuregos - both look really weird with an unicolor background. I've always liked Petopia to begin with, but now that you've taken all the pet families to the front page, it's even more practical. It's either this or the gallery of pet looks I always go for, so it makes going through pets so much easier. ;)
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Mania »

Aleu wrote:I very much like it! Although the picture of Gondria is of a blue spectral Tiger instead of purple. Unless that was the only model you could find at the moment.
Err ... that was intentional. Really! (I have a hard time telling those colors apart. I'll get it fixed.)
Safrienaer wrote:Only thing I don't quite like is the image for Gondria and Azuregos - both look really weird with an unicolor background.
Do you mean the faked partially transparent images that are so bright they'll blind you? Yeah ... I need to see if I can do a better job with those.
Safrienaer wrote:I've always liked Petopia to begin with, but now that you've taken all the pet families to the front page, it's even more practical. It's either this or the gallery of pet looks I always go for, so it makes going through pets so much easier. ;)
Actually a big part of what I did was spend time with Google Analytics trying to figure out where people enter the site and where they go from there. Once I did that ... I was pretty embarrassed about how hard it was to get around. ;) But yeah, mostly I just tried to make the existing traffic patterns easier.
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Ana »

:headbang: :headbang: :headbang:

So nice facelift.. Well done mania

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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by tramani »

love it
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Saturo »

Mania wrote:Hmm ... I am suspicious. Normally people hate any changes I make. (Almost as if my taste in web design is horrendous. *grin*) Are you sure you're looking at Petopia?
Well, the green might not be my favourite, but it wouldn't be Petopia without all the green!

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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Karathyriel »

Oh, we were talking about the look?
Well, then it is still as horrible as it ever was. ;)

I thought we were talking about the usability... Sorry. :lol:
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Mania »

Hah! Well I never claimed it was pretty. ;) And the green is traditional ...

But seriously, I just wanted to make it a little easier to use and I'm glad that -- so far at least -- it sounds like I didn't muck that up too much.

Work continues on the back-end, and I hope to have the structure to get masses of Cataclysm info up soon. But if anyone has suggestions for more usability improvements, please let me know!
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Re: Petopia Usability Improvements

Unread post by Karathyriel »

I just saw this typo:
Petopia wrote:Note: Both mastiff dogs and fixes are currently included in the wolf family.
I'm pretty sure you meant foxes... ;)
It is right here

I'm not against green but it could look a little bit fancier, you know?
Maybe, when I have some time, I'll try something if that is OK with you.
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