Suggestions for site improvements

Viper007Bond

Chicken Nugget Connoisseur
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Location
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I'll be sprucing up the main site (adding new features and such). Please add to this list anything you wish to see.

  • Show -> Season -> Episode format to cut down on the HUGE list of episodes when you view a show.
  • Wiki link in nav bar
  • Episode wiki article link on episode page
  • New show images (need help with that)
  • Add TG US and TG Aus into the site
 
Problem with the new show images is that neither of the newer TGs have any logos or anything except the cast, but would you put up a substitute placeholder till we can make a proper one?

Also as for the replacement images, are you looking for anything specific, cos i have two or three good ones in mind for TG.
 
Problem with the new show images is that neither of the newer TGs have any logos or anything except the cast, but would you put up a substitute placeholder till we can make a proper one?

Yeah, we'll hold off on those for now.

Also as for the replacement images, are you looking for anything specific, cos i have two or three good ones in mind for TG.

No, not really. Probably just something similar to the current designs, but whatever.
 
These:

header_news.jpg


Looks like they came from 1991... :p
 
And what is wrong with 1955 (oops 1991?)

How about a heroes/hall of fame section? Some where special where we can post for people who we feel are real heroes for the things we are interested in? Do not know how you'd moderate it but I can think of Freddie Mercury, Pavoritti and Colin McRae immediately.
 
Looks like they came from 1991... :p

Most of the site does, hence this poll: http://forums.finalgear.com/the-site-itself/does-the-main-site-need-a-redesign-27980/

How about a heroes/hall of fame section? Some where special where we can post for people who we feel are real heroes for the things we are interested in? Do not know how you'd moderate it but I can think of Freddie Mercury, Pavoritti and Colin McRae immediately.

Erm, what? I mean, if you want to do that here on the forums, by all means. That'd be an interesting thread. But on the main site? Kinda outta place, don't ya think?
 
I think that a torrent should be created for episode music as well as the episodes themselves. there's a lot of interest in what music is used in episodes and if a compilation of mp3's could be made and released as a torrent, that would be great.
A great idea, but that would probably bring the wrath of the RIAA towards the site and that's just something I don't want to do. I can deal with unofficial torrents being made by forum members, but I don't want to make them "official". Too much risk involved. ;)
 
Another Idea

Another Idea

Well, I don't know if this has happen to other members of Final Gear but sometimes I want to watch episodes of a specific car but as usual I don't remember the exact episodes in which it appeared, and searching in the episode list or in my downloaded torrents takes quite a long time. So I guess a search bar in which you can pick the brand and the model of the car and it shows you in which episodes it appeared would be a very nice addition, I think.

To make this process easier I made a list of some cars (super cars, mostly) and the episodes where they appeared, which might be useful, maybe.

Anyway, thanks for Final Gear for that hard work!!!
 
I?ll throw in my 2 Cents ...

I always wounder why you have no frame on the left side to navigate especially in the forums, why I always have to scroll so much torturing my poor little mouse-wheel. And why the Forum isn?t integrated into the site so when you enter the forum, you practically leave the main site ...
Ditch the top-navi for a side one (contend rises to the banner - MORE news to read and see on the Frontpage), implement the Forum with the side-nav so that you can acess the main-site from the forums/wiki. Make the forum more narrow, use a smaller font /fontsize.
I don?t know what resulution on what size monitor you guys use, but my on 17` on 1024x768, the whole site and especially the Forum is just wasting SPACE in huge amounts. The Forum would look a lot better if it?s width was limited to 3/4 of my monitor and if the Text wouldn?t look like it?s for People who are half-blind. You do get stats about what your users use as hardware and setting, don?t you? Use them ... view the Site like your Users do, not only your own settings.

I quite like the color-sceme, the graphics ... I think it?s a waste of time doing anything about those. You could improve there if you wanted ... but nobody will really care as long as the contend is right, it?s still fine - IMO. A lot of webmasters waste their time on improving already good design, don?t make the same mistake. IMO you should focus on usability, I belive you could achieve improvments there with not much efford.
 
How about adding reviews for all the Top Gear episodes from Series 1 and 2?

I could certainly help with this and I'm sure other members would be willing to help too.
 
^ Reviews or at least overviews of the eps are in the wiki iirc
 
Thanks for all the posts everyone. :)

So I guess a search bar in which you can pick the brand and the model of the car and it shows you in which episodes it appeared would be a very nice addition, I think.

There's already a search page. Type in the name of the car and it'll tell you what episodes it was in. ;)

I always wounder why you have no frame on the left side to navigate especially in the forums, why I always have to scroll so much torturing my poor little mouse-wheel.

This thread is for the main site, not the forum. ;)

Although I will answer your question: because there breadcrumb navigation at both the top and bottom and you can easily press the "Home" key on your keyboard. Plus I think that'd just look ugly. It'd take up screen space for essentially nothing IMO.

And why the Forum isn?t integrated into the site so when you enter the forum, you practically leave the main site ...

Because the main site is really narrow and the forums would look crazy fixed width. The colors match -- isn't that enough?

Ditch the top-navi for a side one (contend rises to the banner - MORE news to read and see on the Frontpage), implement the Forum with the side-nav so that you can acess the main-site from the forums/wiki.

There's a link to the main site at the bottom of every single page as well as on the homepage of the forums (which can easily be gotten to via the logo a the top of the forums).

Make the forum more narrow, use a smaller font /fontsize.

That definitely isn't gonna happen. Forums work best full width. :)

I don?t know what resulution on what size monitor you guys use, but my on 17` on 1024x768, the whole site and especially the Forum is just wasting SPACE in huge amounts. The Forum would look a lot better if it?s width was limited to 3/4 of my monitor and if the Text wouldn?t look like it?s for People who are half-blind. You do get stats about what your users use as hardware and setting, don?t you? Use them ... view the Site like your Users do, not only your own settings.

I run 1920x1200 on a 24" monitor.

The main site is fixed width as my news posts are short, rarely contain images, etc. Plus it ensures it displays the same for all users. A fixed width site is generally agreed upon by most developers as being the better solution for a site such as ours.

The forum is fluid width as images are often posted, posts can be long, and it's just the norm for forums. It'd drive me nuts if I had to scroll after reading like 10 words.

How about adding reviews for all the Top Gear episodes from Series 1 and 2?

I need to actually watch them first, heh.

I could certainly help with this and I'm sure other members would be willing to help too.

Yeah, when overhaul the site, I'm going to copy/paste in descriptions from the wiki as a bandaid (possibly a permanent bandaid).

Perhaps a tracker for the torrents?

Erm, why? We ran one for a while, but all trackers bring is trouble. I don't see what's wrong with our two current ones that are donated and using The Pirate Bay as a backup.
 
Not sure if they're available outside the UK so if not just ignore - but how about adding one or two (or at the very least links to them) embedded video clips from bbc.co.uk/topgear to the episode pages.

They have most challenges, races, celebs etc... and they're up permanently.

So for example on the episode page for 8x03 you could include the video clip of the amphibious cars.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/videos/index.shtml?cat=more_challenges&id=53

I've created a page that lets you find the embed code for all the clips as the BBC doesn't make it available.
http://5tracks.eu/a/tgemb.asp
 
Not sure if they're available outside the UK so if not just ignore

It's not. When I visit your site, click a link, and press play, it says something like "This content isn't currently available" (or something) and then proceeds to crash my browser.
 
As an alternative though - what about YouTube videos relating to specific episodes instead? Not the whole ep but highlights?

The Top Gear clips by BBC on YouTube aren't available outside of the UK and non-BBC uploaded clips get taken down after a while.
 
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