The current design is ready for retirement

ic421

2008-08-12 10:00:00

For 8 long years, since 2000, Hattrick has had the same design. It has served us well for what is an eternity for a web site, but now we’re close to the end of the road. A lot has happened with our computers, screens and web behaviour since 2000, and we have to realize that the design is simply not up to today’s web standards anymore. And to be totally honest, it’s not only about age – there are also other problems with our current design, especially navigational ones. It is time to give our current look a very well deserved retirement.

In this editorial we will point out some of the problems we’ve found with our old design, the sole reasons for the retirement. We will naturally also say some words about our work with the coming new design, which is just a few months away.

For almost a decade Hattrick has had the same design. The current design dates back to 2000 where the whole game was rewritten to make place for more than the 1700 users in Sweden we had back then. That whole rewrite project was a very tight project done by two persons at their spare time, and the design was actually nailed down in one afternoon sitting in at the end of the summer 2000. Over the years the game has grown a lot, features have been added and a lot of new leagues and users have joined. Almost everything has been rewritten once or even twice, except of the design. Apart from a couple of face-lifts, it's still the same look.

As mentioned above, it's not only about age. That said, it’s impossible to deny that age is an important factor here. As internet users, we have a totally different web behaviour and completely different demands than what we had back in 2000. A lot has also happened on the technical side to say the least. Some of the problems we found with our design are directly related to age and the web evolution, others are not. In any way, we think it's important to tell you why there will be a new design. So you understand the reasons, as well as the benefits, when the Hattrick world changes its look.

Our site today is built in frames. One can say that this technique was as common back in 2000 as it is rare today. The big problem with frames is that it makes it hard to bookmark or link to a particular page. If you open the page in a new tab (or a new browser window), all the navigation in the menus as well as the ticker disappears. Moreover, frames also make it harder for search engines to find info.

Talking about navigational problems, as the game has grown so have the choices in the menus and the options on each page. As a result we have actually got a left menu with way too many choices today. You really need to be an experienced user to navigate freely there. For new users, it can be really tough to find their way around and it takes a lot of time to learn the menu system (if you ever do). For example, there are many ways to reach the transfer but none of them are that good or logical. Related to this, many pages are totally overcrowded with different information and options (but even so, many still lack help texts!), the player details page is a good example. The overcrowded state is partly caused by the additions in the game, together with the fact that we mostly haven't withdrawn much information at the same time.

Another flaw is that the font size is too small. It should really be bigger and as a result easier to read. But making it bigger in today's design would lead to that the menu would become too wide and other things on the sides would take up too much space. Actually, today's site is designed for small screens, as that was what we had back in 2000. Since then our screens have just gotten bigger and bigger, and today it makes no sense to have a site designed for small screens. Especially when only very few percent of our users use lower screen resolutions, and they will have no problem to continue using that in the new design.

Finally we also have to say that even if we've grown mature with this design and that it's been a great companion for all these years, we have to admit it has a bit of a 90s' feel to it. Not that there's anything in particular wrong with the 90s, but we would actually like to look a little bit more modern and fresh than that. It would also be nice to have a set of icons in the same style and from the same source (today's icons are in different styles and from different sources), and we would like it to be easier to make different skins for Hattrick, something which is quite hard today.

Whilst we're now working on a new design we focus especially on all of these things. One huge benefit with doing everything from scratch is that we can really think through every single page on its own. We can better structure what belongs where and we can also prepare the pages for upcoming exciting features. Another benefit is that it will be a lot easier (and faster!) for us to work with the new design compared to the old one, it will be a real time saver once it's ready.

Our new costume should have a modern look and it should fit well with people's ordinary web behaviour. It should have a good structure with a logical navigation. It's also important to keep the Hattrick feeling to it, so don't expect anything extra ultra cool and flashy. That said, we know that retiring a design which so many of you are really used to may be hard in the beginning. But even if you will not fall in love with the new design at first sight, we are convinced that it will not take long before you do. We will show you some examples of the new design and listen to what you have to say about it during the way to the retirement day, to make the switch a little bit less sudden. And if you ever feel you need to see the old design again after the retirement, you can always visit the museum where we will put it together with the original design from 97.

ic421

Hattrick 使用当前这个设计有八年光景了。当前设计带给了我们很多永恒的回忆，不过现在是时候向前看了。自 2008 年后我们的计算机，荧幕和互联网行为不断发展，我们应该意识到当前设计已经不再符合如今的互联网标准了。老实说，当前设计也还面对其它问题，尤其是网站导航这一方面的问题。所以我们觉得是时候让当前设计“功成身退”了。

本社论会指出老设计所引发的问题，顺带也说说再过几个月就要大功告成了的新设计的工作进展。

Hattrick 经已使用同一个设计长达十年了。当前设计始于 2000 年，当时整个游戏重新编程，以容纳超过 1700 名瑞典玩家。这重新编程是个非常紧凑、由两个人在工余时间完成的项目，而网站的设计其实就是在那年夏天的一个下午出台的。这么多年以来，游戏不断发展，增加了许多功能且加入很多新联赛和新玩家。站点上几乎所有的东西都已经历一或两次重新编程了，只有设计依然保持原来面貌。

如上文所述，促使我们更改设计的不仅是因为我们已经用久了厌了这设计，作为互联网用户，现在的我们如何使用互联网、对互联网的要求和在 2000 年的我们完全不同。至少这段时期技术的发展也日新月异。我们发现当前设计的某些问题是直接与其“年纪”和互联网演变有关系。我们认为通知广大玩家为何将会有个新设计面世是十分重要的，您将会了解其背后原因和好处。

我们站点的当前设计是使用框架，当初在 2000 年时是十分普遍的技术，在 2008 年却是罕见的老古董。框架的一个大问题是它很难标上书签或连接到指定网页。如果您在新 Tab 或是新浏览器窗口打开一个页面，所有在菜单中的导航和新消息通知都会消失。此外框架也使搜寻引擎的工作更为困难。

说到网站导航问题，随着游戏的发展，菜单中和每一个页面都因此有好多不同的选项。结果我们的左边菜单栏目中出现太多选项。只有老经验的玩家才能轻松地掌握它。对于新玩家来说，要真正学会如何使用它可得花上不少时间(如果您也曾经如此走过来)。例如，有许多方法可以打开转会市场这一页面，不过没有一个是好且符合逻辑思路的。同时，有许多页面过度拥挤，各种各样用不同的信息和选项挤在一块，(但即使如此许多页面仍然缺乏帮助文本!)，球员详细信息页面页就是一个好例子。出现信息过度拥挤的状况的部分原因是各种新功能的加入，而我们也没有撤出部分不再有用的信息。

另一个缺点是字体太小，站点的字体应该要大一点才方便阅读。但是在当前设计中，将字体放大将导致菜单栏变得太宽敞，而其它在旁边的项目就会占去太多空间。其实当前的设计是为适应 2000 年时的小屏幕而作的。今时今日我们的屏幕变得越来越大，没有理由再使用为小屏幕设计的站点。我们的玩家中只有极少人使用较低的屏幕分辨率，新设计面世时他们不会有问题。

最后不得不提的是，虽然我们的当前设计算是稳定成型了，陪伴了我们这些年，我们得承认它有点“90 年代”。感觉“90 年代”并没有错，不过我们其实想要看来比较现代化一点，比较有新鲜感一点。能有一套统一样式和和从同一个来源的图标(当前图标是用不同的样式，来源也各不相同)该有多好，我们并且希望日后能更容易为 Hattrick 制作不同的皮肤(当前设计的环境下很难)。

当我们着手新设计的工作时特别针对以上所提的各项当前设计的弱点。由头开始一个新设计的巨大好处是我们可以仔细思考每一个页面，从该页面的角度来考虑每一个细节。我们可以更好地分配结构，哪一个项目是属于哪里的，我们也可以为将来的精彩功能和内容提前准备空间。另一个好处是在新设计上工作将会更容易(和更快!)，当它出台后肯定能为我们节省工作时间。

我们的新装应该是现代化且符合光罗大众的普通网络行为。它会有一个符合网站导航逻辑的好结构，同时保留 Hattrick 感，所以请别期待特别额外超酷和绚丽的设计。 我们知道刚开始时您可能会对 Hattrick 的换装感到难以适从。但是即使您不会对新设计一见钟情，我们有信心您很快就会喜欢上它。我们会时不时发布一些新设计的样板，聆听您的意见，到最后改换新装时大家就不会感到太愕然。如果您在新设计出台后突然怀念老设计，想要再看看它，那么欢迎您到博物馆参观，我们会把老设计和 97 年的原来设计摆设在一块，让大家重温旧梦。

麥旋風

仲以為Engine個設計添

ic421

原帖由 麥旋風 於 2008-8-12  08:02 PM 發表
仲以為Engine個設計添

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