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Beta UI Critique
10 years ago
General
I posted on Tumblr a critique of the new UI, but I'll post it in full here:
Fur Affinity has finally rolled out an updated UI and there’s lots to talk about. First off, let me say that this is a step in the right direction. This is the first tangible olive branch from Fur Affinity for years of promises of progress.
The General Feel
Honestly, the site looks cluttered, especially the front page. Having taken courses in web design, I was taught that you never want to have your site extend all the way to the edge of the window. Typically, you set the CSS to have a buffer on the sides of about 5-10% on each side (usually with a minimum of about 50-100px for smaller monitors). It makes the page flow more easily and draws the eye down.
Another issue is thumbnails no longer have the rounded edges and went to sharp edges. While this is an aesthetic other sites are using, I like the beveled edges.
An odd note is that the entire banner at the top is now a link back to the front page, except for the area above, between, and to the right of the top ads. Honestly, keep the logo as the link back to the front page, not the entire banner and this can easily be done is CSS using the banner as a background for a <div>.
But I can’t just complain, there are some nice things to talk about. The new top bar is nice, very well spaced out and fits well into the general feel of the site. One thing that I wish they would change is have an accordion effect with the top bar as you scroll down the page and have it stay at the top of the page, similar to Twitter user pages. There is nothing more frustrating than having to scroll up a long journal thread to click on my messages.
The Quick Search bar is also nice, but if you have that please remove the “Search” link right above it. One or the other, guys.
The Front Page
The lack of “New Stories” and “New Music” makes the new front page look bare. It’s kind of a disappointment. A fix could be made by having tabs you switch between with “New Art”, “New Stories”, and “New Music” at the top and having it switch between the categories.
The area that the “UI Early Beta Information“ section takes up could easily be where site news sits. Maybe have the last journal post from Fender there or links to the last three with small excerpts from each, possibly the first paragraph or so with a “Read More” link at the bottom. Also, the information in the “UI Early Beta Information“ could have been in the news post instead of constantly sitting on the front page.
Finally, an odd bug I may have found with the front page: it shows 22 submissions in four rows. Yeah this one is a bit odd. For clarification, I run a 1080p monitor and the front page displays four rows of submissions, the first three having six each and then the last has four. Why 22 and not 24? Is it a bug?
The User Page
A few artists have complained that the user profile is no longer at the top of the page, and I kind of agree that it still needs to be at the top. Many artists have their commission info, what cons they are going to, and several other important pieces of information. Keep it at the top, but you can still have “Recent Submissions” and “Recent Favorites” at the top next to it.
Contact information and artist information, the latter having been rolled into the user profile, need to be paired together right above the user stats.
What happened to the featured submission on the user page? A lot of artists use that as a way to promote their commission prices since the commission page is utilized by almost no one. I use it to promote a height chart for my characters.
Journals don’t show the header and footer on the user page. What’s up with that? Also, if you’re going to have a “Read More” button on the most recent journal on the user page you need to cut off the journal after about five lines of text, not have the whole thing there.
Honestly, I’d love to see the same customization of a user page as Deviant Art, but I know that’d be asking too much of the FA staff.
Journals
My only piece of criticism has to relate to the header and footer and the dashed divider separating them: put some space between the text and the divider. It looks too cramped. Just put like 10px spacing in there or a <br />. Seriously, there’s no need to make everything look compressed. Also, that break or spacing should be on BOTH sides of the divider.
Also, please bring back some distinguishing mark for links. Bold was fine, but do something. Underline, bold, italics, anything.
Submission Notifications
As I’m sure FA is well aware, the spacing between the title of a submission and the user who submitted it is nonexistent. Three spaces or 10px, please.
Notes
Notes look really good. The new reply system is way better than the previous one, so no complaints or criticism here.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, you guys have a long way to go to getting the site looking good, but like I said before: you’re on the right track. It still looks kinda “meh” but there’s some effort put into it. Maybe hire a graphic designer or learn about color palettes as well.
Fur Affinity has finally rolled out an updated UI and there’s lots to talk about. First off, let me say that this is a step in the right direction. This is the first tangible olive branch from Fur Affinity for years of promises of progress.
The General Feel
Honestly, the site looks cluttered, especially the front page. Having taken courses in web design, I was taught that you never want to have your site extend all the way to the edge of the window. Typically, you set the CSS to have a buffer on the sides of about 5-10% on each side (usually with a minimum of about 50-100px for smaller monitors). It makes the page flow more easily and draws the eye down.
Another issue is thumbnails no longer have the rounded edges and went to sharp edges. While this is an aesthetic other sites are using, I like the beveled edges.
An odd note is that the entire banner at the top is now a link back to the front page, except for the area above, between, and to the right of the top ads. Honestly, keep the logo as the link back to the front page, not the entire banner and this can easily be done is CSS using the banner as a background for a <div>.
But I can’t just complain, there are some nice things to talk about. The new top bar is nice, very well spaced out and fits well into the general feel of the site. One thing that I wish they would change is have an accordion effect with the top bar as you scroll down the page and have it stay at the top of the page, similar to Twitter user pages. There is nothing more frustrating than having to scroll up a long journal thread to click on my messages.
The Quick Search bar is also nice, but if you have that please remove the “Search” link right above it. One or the other, guys.
The Front Page
The lack of “New Stories” and “New Music” makes the new front page look bare. It’s kind of a disappointment. A fix could be made by having tabs you switch between with “New Art”, “New Stories”, and “New Music” at the top and having it switch between the categories.
The area that the “UI Early Beta Information“ section takes up could easily be where site news sits. Maybe have the last journal post from Fender there or links to the last three with small excerpts from each, possibly the first paragraph or so with a “Read More” link at the bottom. Also, the information in the “UI Early Beta Information“ could have been in the news post instead of constantly sitting on the front page.
Finally, an odd bug I may have found with the front page: it shows 22 submissions in four rows. Yeah this one is a bit odd. For clarification, I run a 1080p monitor and the front page displays four rows of submissions, the first three having six each and then the last has four. Why 22 and not 24? Is it a bug?
The User Page
A few artists have complained that the user profile is no longer at the top of the page, and I kind of agree that it still needs to be at the top. Many artists have their commission info, what cons they are going to, and several other important pieces of information. Keep it at the top, but you can still have “Recent Submissions” and “Recent Favorites” at the top next to it.
Contact information and artist information, the latter having been rolled into the user profile, need to be paired together right above the user stats.
What happened to the featured submission on the user page? A lot of artists use that as a way to promote their commission prices since the commission page is utilized by almost no one. I use it to promote a height chart for my characters.
Journals don’t show the header and footer on the user page. What’s up with that? Also, if you’re going to have a “Read More” button on the most recent journal on the user page you need to cut off the journal after about five lines of text, not have the whole thing there.
Honestly, I’d love to see the same customization of a user page as Deviant Art, but I know that’d be asking too much of the FA staff.
Journals
My only piece of criticism has to relate to the header and footer and the dashed divider separating them: put some space between the text and the divider. It looks too cramped. Just put like 10px spacing in there or a <br />. Seriously, there’s no need to make everything look compressed. Also, that break or spacing should be on BOTH sides of the divider.
Also, please bring back some distinguishing mark for links. Bold was fine, but do something. Underline, bold, italics, anything.
Submission Notifications
As I’m sure FA is well aware, the spacing between the title of a submission and the user who submitted it is nonexistent. Three spaces or 10px, please.
Notes
Notes look really good. The new reply system is way better than the previous one, so no complaints or criticism here.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, you guys have a long way to go to getting the site looking good, but like I said before: you’re on the right track. It still looks kinda “meh” but there’s some effort put into it. Maybe hire a graphic designer or learn about color palettes as well.
CavDirshel
~cavdirshel
Is it just Me or did it seem like the featured submission was removed for the Beta UI as well? Profile ID is still there though.
underclocked
~underclocked
OP
Featured Submission is gone, which is kind of weird. I'll add that to the critique on Tumblr.
CavDirshel
~cavdirshel
Oh another thing, the beta UI does not play nice with mobile browsers from what I have seen.
underclocked
~underclocked
OP
The UI never played well with mobile, so it's not really a critique to make at this point. They simply need to make a mobile friendly version of the site.
