Graphics Heavy for Low-Membership Site?

Or should I try to stick with minimal graphics for any forum?

I admit, I'm spoiled with my 16Mb cable connection, and I tend to forget that there are still a lot of people out there with MUCH slower connections, including dial-up.

Even when using heavy graphics I do try to optimize them and keep them as small as possible while keeping the look that I'm going for.

Even so, one of the sites that I run (sort of launched, but not complete yet) is very VERY graphics-heavy:

 

When I an dealing with my anime site I use heavy graphics, regardless of my connection, which is the slowest ever since I use bluetooth to connect online. Though, I have been minimalizing because of this, he my connection is slow and the site takes ages to load, I would't go in, so I am starting to take such factors in consideration.

 

That's kinda what I'm thinking. I really like the look of this site, but I don't want to drive people away because of it.

http://www.cemagraphics.com/miscgraphics/Untitled-1.jpg

So you can see what I'm talking about...

 

Ah, hmm, I think you should make two versions, one heavy graphics and a second more low graphic one.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking (and I mention it on the site, but I haven't started the low-bandwidth version yet).

So what do you think of the style itself?

 

Is this a PSD template?

From what I could see, I like it.

 

That's a cap of the actual site.

I created the graphics in Photoshop and even used slices, but I manually templated it within the templates in vB.

It's a very private forum that most likely won't reach 1000 members, ever, so I did a few more template mods on it, such as hiding all avatars and usernames from visitors, etc.

Lots of template conditionals.

 

The style looks good, but I'm not quite sure where the graphics heavy aspect comes in. Didn't seem like too many graphics from the screenshot (although maybe things like logos weren't visible there), and to be fair, I don't see how such a site could honestly take a long time to load.

 

Actually, that's very good news for me to hear.

I was assuming that this would be considered a graphics-heavy site because it's ALL graphics, but many of them are used over and over on the same page.

BTW, the background on the different sections are textures, not solid colors, so that contributed to my thinking that this would be considered graphics-heavy, too. :o

I'm glad people seem to think this style is okay.

I'll still include a low-bandwidth style, tho...

 

Is this a layout mockup or more of a design mockup? If it's a design preview I wouldn't use the textures so much, They can be fine when limited to backgrounds but when placed under text and content it really distracts from the eyes. I would strongly advise to stay clear the use of the bevel, I think (personal preference) bevels look extremely hideous in styles and visually do nothing for me. Your talents and creativity extend further to the use of bevels your not doing your style any justice by implementing these in.

I also think the colour usage could be much better and again previewing your previous work the style doesn't reflect your talent. You can do better, much better, both in visual quality and creativity.

I'm afraid I don't like this piece after looking at your previous work which is far better and more creative.

 

Thank you for your honest viewpoint.

It's not actually bevels...it's inner shadows to give the appearance of depth.

This is a screenshot of the actual site, not a mockup at all.

It's easy enough for me to change it.

I wasn't really happy with the green, but I do like the rest. It's just that Mark really liked the green, so I kept it. :o

 

The bevel I referred to was around the green area? Looks like a bevel to me. Yeah, by all means work with the green, it can be a tough colour to work with but I found myself using green in my styles more and more because I was sick and tired of using safe ole blue. By all means, working with colours people rarely work with isn't a bad thing just as long as the other colours throughout the style compliment the whole theme nicely offering that consistency we all like.

The inner shadows are implemented in the navbit/login area?

Eitherway, I'm sure you'll make improvements upon the design I just thought that your talent definitely extends far beyond this preview which is what I look at when commenting on a design.

Look forward seeing any updates you may make.

 

Ah, yes, I know what you mean now. :o <-- I REALLY wish this embarrassed smilie wasn't so sad and more sheepish.

That's easy enough to take care of.

The inner shadow is used throughout.

Also, I know what you mean about textures behind text, but in this case it really doesn't distract from the text (at least for me).

I'll keep working on it. I'm going for a homey look. Friendly, with a certain feel to it that I can't quite explain.

And again, I tend to go straight for the bevel a lot of the time because of my graphics background...3d modeling. I guess it's kinda a handicap for me when it comes to 2d graphics.

:o <-- There it is again! :p

 

Dialup is less than 5% of the internet.

Unless you are targeting users more likely to be on dialup I wouldn't worry about it.

-Raymond

 

I use dial-up somewhat. Eithe way, you can not be asking each user what kind of internet connection they use, so it is very safe to design for both dial-up and high speed.

 

You can monitor your stats about the kind of connection your members and visitors use and keep that in mind when setting the options for your sites. My NY forum has a higher than average percentage of high speed users, and the email site has a higher than average number of dialup visitors. For that reason I keep an eye on the email pages and try to make sure they are fast loading. I can be sure about it when visiting at my parents house since they have a painful dialup connection too.

-Raymond

 

Not everyone knows how to do that, I myself do not know how to.

 

If you have Google analytics you can get a feel for it from visitors -> network properties -> connection speeds

View attachment 441

 

Thanks! I didn't even think of looking there. :o <-- Still complaining about this smilie :p

But...I've decided to scrap this style and work on something else.

I'll keep it around if I think it might fit with the theme of another forum, but after talking with Mark last night, it really doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the theme of this site (I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill me).



I'll go with some of my strengths with this next one.

Also, TeeGopher will be getting a facelift, too. First thing is to get rid of about 90% of the forums.