On second though i kind of agree with rabid-animals, sites like Facebook and Myspace (both of which i have accounts on) are just like "now what?" there is nothing to do on those sites, with Newgrounds i can browse and browse and browse and not really get bored because of the numerous things on the site.
So i guess if you make the favorite buttons a little more noticeable and artist pages more noticeable then there really shouldn't be a problem.
Hi there! In case you didn't know, I created newgrounds. No, it wasn't made by some giant company - just some dumb kid who now has help. I also co-founded the Behemoth; we made Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. Icon by Pegosho, banner by OmenaKettu.
Age 46, Male
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Drexel
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Hi Tom i love some of your games your awesome i like you post i really get it
Water coolers?
On the office?
Stop dicking around you guys.
I been a fan since 98 and I find that I was mostly a fan then because of the humor, and the layout was simple yes; lol eight buttons and all..
But I find NG has a lot to offer, Audio, Flash, Art, and the likes, but it's not complicated. I see the bars and I can read. But I know what I'm getting myself into everytime I come so yeah...
Best
rb
I don't know why you are reading advice on how to streamline a social network website, Tom. Those are made to convey information and just that. Newgrounds is a vibrant community of artists. OF COURSE WE'LL HAVE AN ARTISTIC DESIGN FLARE!
I like the newgrounds layout much more than many other websites because it represents the size of the site. Some websites will flood you with links and pages to go to that don't have anything worthwhile, wheras all the links and pages on newgrounds have something different. We have a pretty huge BBS community, and a ton of collections of flash and audio and art. Each link delivers exactly what it says it will. Unlike other websites that just put extra links in there just to make it appear they have more content when it's just puffing.
What use does Facebook have for a filled up home page for non members? It's content is geared towards those with accounts, so they can't just have links to their games and it can't very well show you what all your friends are doing if you don't have a friends list to track. Newgrounds is wholly different than those websites.
The design of NG is awesome. The community is awesome. it's not a social network and doesn't need to follow advice on how to run a social network.
If Newgrounds wasn't as shiny and pretty as it is, it wouldn't feel unique. It would just feel like all those other sites out there. Like Kongregate, Armor Games, Facebook and, well, YouTube. They feel boring. I could never get into them because they weren't as aesthetically pleasing as Newgrounds is. Right now, the site feels harmonious. Everything works. It's awesome, and you guys have done a wonderful job. I can't wait for the redesign, because i know you guys will outdo yourselves.
I think of NG as a gathering of artistic geniuses of all fortes. You guys are building something wonderful. Good luck. :)
I think you should make NG as awsome-looking as posible!
The design of Newgrounds has never bothered me. I have never found it distracting and welcomed the re-design. I have always enjoyed Newgrounds design. It definitely feels unique amongst other websites on the internet. Though I must agree that trying to view it on a phone ( my Blackberry Curve 2 to be specific ) is horrendous.
My biggest issue with Newgrounds was its organization of content, which I know you guys are working on for the next re-design. I have a hard time finding content that I haven't see in a while and I surprisingly have a hard time finding certain Collections of flashes, such as Madness Day or even Pico Day flashes. I've noticed over the past few months that you guys have encouraged ways for viewers to find and discover new content on the site by putting links to other movies on the flash submission's page and encouraging artists to do the same in their movies, and I think you should do more with the next re-design to further encourage this.
For example, I avoid Cracked like the plague because I know that at the end of each article there will be at least one link that I will have to read, and on that article there will be a link that I have to read and so on and so forth. I rarely get that feel from Newgrounds, partially my own fault of my busy schedule, but I would love if it there was more done for me and other users to discover things, and not just flashes by the same author of the flash that I had just watched (although that's awesome too) but similar flashes as well. Hopefully that made sense.
I can't wait to see the new re-design!!!
Nah I don't agree with them. For a start, what if in there metaphor.. the party is all done up: bunting on the walls.. ice sculptures... exotic punch bowl.. the lot. I consider that a better party than one in a squeaky clean hospital like facebook..?
Although, I guess the proof behind there point of view is how facebook has surpassed myspace. But thats just because when you give people free reign to 'do up' there own page (or party..) they tend to make it look awful!
Newgrounds is one of those rare site that has a superior mass of great content that is both rich and and interactive. But since so much of this content comes in, I can see you guys really are having a hard time trying to display it all.
I think the best thing you could do is make the home pages and what not some what personalized. Allow signed in users to manage their own interest. Sure we could still see the top staff recommended content, but allows us to focus more on genres and flash types that we are interested. Instead of sorting through all the crap we don't give a damn about.
The only downfall is we might miss out on some good content, but that is why we have NG blogs and featured content.
If good content is uploaded, we are most likely to find it.
How do I get a picture for my account
I've never had a problem with the layout.
As long as everything is easily accesible after this new re-design i'll be happy.
Don't want newcomers coming on and going "WHERES THE FLASH PORTAL Q.Q"
I have trust in you Tom.
PS. You need to post your Cream Cheese & Wheatos song in the audio portal! The covers just don't stand up to your original!
"I'm surprised that whenever I walk to the water cooler I don't see my user page on your monitor!"
looooooooool!
Anyways. Content man. Community forums. Interactivity. Leaving comments on peoples user pages like I'm doing now is party points. Big points. Oooo, and multiplayer games, that's extra points.
Party guests of Facebook/Twitter submit their thoughts and replies on peoples profile pages. On Newgrounds, party guests submit art , which is a thought and a reply. I don't know. Maybe facebook and twitter is a different type of party than newgrounds. Hmmm. Since art is the focus on Newgrounds, maybe Newgrounds is more like a party event and Facebook/Twitter is more like a house party. People are just chilling. On Newgrounds, maybe people are intending to do something than just "chill".
Newgrounds is fun. Games, Music, etc.etc. Is newgrounds a carnival? An arcade? Is it disneyland? There are tons of people gathered on this site for various intentions. One they may all have in common is to seek fun. For facebook/twitter, the intention may be to meet new people and keep in touch.
Hmmmmm.
"You want your social product to feel like it is a living and breathing party, not expensive furniture you're not supposed to sit on."
Maybe let your guests chew on this thought - The furniture wont bite! You are special so SIT ON THE EXPENSIVE EXPENDABLE FURNITURE!!!!
Having beautiful graphics is nice. It's just, are the guests interpreting your party the way you want them to? What is their intention?
What type of party is Newgrounds looking for?
This seem like one of those "Myspace and Facebook are successful thus you must copy them to be successful" ideas, Its like every time something is successful they try to dissect it to come up to with a logical conclusion of why they succeed when majority of the time its just sheer luck or getting there first(i.e. facebook's original exclusivity, not its shitty design) similar to the belief all good mmos must be like wow which is why most never gain such success because they are imitating and not evolving the genre.
I love NG for its unique and original look and atmosphere, if it started looking like every other site I would probably degrade my opinion of this place.
the first time I came to newgrounds was confused and disoriented, I wanted to run and never come back here, but how much peixeaquatico insisted, I went back and learned to deal with ng, now I can die happy.
I'm glad you stuck around!
Newgrounds is newgrounds. Facebook is boring and bland and has no personality. I think newgrounds is pretty welcoming with its colour scheme and characters and such, that bitch was LYING TO YOU TOM! Although maybe I'm just used to it. With that said I never go to facebook for entertainment or creative purposes, just to check messages and shit, wich is most of the time boring.
That makes no sense, make a good looking site and people won't use it? C'mon, really?
Since when do you visit a site and think, "Oh, I wish it was worse!"?
Anyway this redesign is going to be great, don't change it to be worse because no matter what any site says worse is not better.
And since when has Newgrounds been a social site? :|)
NG has always been a social site... It has always had users and forums and sharing of content long before people coined the term "social network." i imagine the lack of a "friends" list has kept people from seeing it that way but that has just been due to poor project management on my part that we still don't have one.
please don't make a 'add friends' function
You mean this one?
http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/top ic/937781/1
The site is awesome tom, it's the greatest site ever, I have a lot of friends here, we talk about anything, it's the perfect place for everyone who wanna spend some time in front of the PC!!
:D
sweet21
When i first saw the NG tank and everything i just thought "cool" i wasn't intimidated or "insecure" about it.
Simple layouts make websites look boring, i always like page effects like
<a href="http://www.neave.com/">http://www.neave.com/</a> does.
Now at first when i came here there were so many things on the front page and it felt a little bit unorganized, but the proper labeling helped me and it took me a while to notice the site news.
i also wasn't able to find artist pages for a while until i noticed "hey these are clickable!" and i had a hard time finding the "add to favorites" button, perhaps a little heart underneath the video/game or something like that.
But writing reviews was easy to find, as far as the section that says "games,toons, flash portal, audio portal, etc. that was easy to navigate around.