Check it out and feedback the usual minor gripes and words of praise... 
(Quite chipper and enjoying the list at present!)
With the exception of the blue used in the color scheme, and with just
a cursory look over the new website, I think that it is a big improvement
over the old site.
Some sections, such as the history section, beg to be more detailed.
Currently, there's not a lot of information there. People interested in the
history of the company would likely gravitate towards a more detailed history.
For people who have never played games with your company before, one
thing that would make the new site a little more user friendly would be to add
a handy e-mail link directly on the menu. To contact the company via e-mail
currently requires the site visitor to go through two steps, instead of just
one. Ideally, a prospective new player would go through as few steps as possible
to initiate contact with your company.
What information is presented in text on the various pages appears to
be well organized. Legibility is not a problem, for the most part, though the
blue text doesn't provide as much contrast against the white background as
would be ideal. The blue color, with the white text on the left hand side, is
legible, but the shade of blue used lacks any sense of vibrancy.
In Mozilla Firefox, the italicized text of the copyright information
at the bottom of the front page of the website is too small, and places a
strain on the eye to read it. This is true of the copyright text in the box, as
well as the copyright text in the far lower right hand corner of the page.
Overall, the new website makes good use of whitespace. The header
area, though, notably the main header graphic at top/center, has a dated look to
it.
Some of the new character graphics look good on the pages, a welcome
change from the old site, which rarely seemed to show any change.
The Kin Strife page was interesting, though theer was very little
information contained on it.
The Staff page is disappointing, insofar as it contains no pictures of
the personnel, which would add a more personal touch to that section of the
website. The text entries on this page are also very sparse. More could be
provided about the Staff, without compromising their personal lives.
The thumbnail graphics on some pages, such as on the tourwn3.htm page,
are not clickable, and this is a negative, since the thumbnail graphics
cannot be enlarged. The thumbnail graphics look good, though. It would be better if
these thumbnail graphics could be clicked upon to provide a larger version of
the same graphics. Curently, the thumbnail graphics tempt the site visitor,
but then there is no follow through on this temptation. The end result is a
negative, but easily remedied.
The roll-over effect, on the text on the left hand side of the screen,
where the menu is concerned, is noticeable, which is a plus, but the chosen
color scheme, a cream colored roll-over effect on white, doesn't provide a lot
of contrast. The end effect is a paled-down effect, rather than grabbing the
site visitor with an energetic feeling.
The two characters shown on the front page of the new website are
interesting, but they don't evoke a Middle-earth atmosphere. Elrond or Galadriel
and a Nazgul would have been better choices, to highlight immediately for the
site visitor the fantasy appeal of the rich Middle-earth setting.
The "fasthosts powered" and "StatCounter" graphics at the bottom of
the front page add nothing to the looks of the page. The page would look more
professional without them. They are just small eyesores, and do nothing to
promote your gaming products.
The Links page looks good, providing relevant link information without
belaboring the point.
On the tourwn2.html page, the zimrakhil.jpg graphic looks good. Please
note the contrast between that graphic on the white background, compared to
the lesser contrast of the blue background of the menu.
The gold rings on the various pages look good. They work well at
breaking up the whitespace, are in keeping with the underlying theme of the One
Ring of Power, and stand out well against the white background.
The murazor.jpg graphic on the tournp.html page does not do justice to
Er-Murazor, Lord of the Nazgul. A better choice of graphics to represent the
lord of the Nazgul could have been made. Also, on this tournp.html page, there
is too much white space just above the Real Opposition section of this page.
The amount of white space at this point is not uniform with the white space
that exists between the other sections on this page. It is not a "make or break"
item, but it is visually unappealing, since it allows too much whitespace to
be present at this one spot on the page. It just makes it noticeable, and
stands out. By comparison, the news.html page does a very good job with allocation
of whitespace on a page.
On the materials.html page, I like the use of the tables. The black
text inside of the tables might stand out more, and look a tad better, if it
were placed into bold typeface. It is a minor point, but I thought that I would
men tion it, nonetheless.
On the join.html page, there is too much white space between the "Join
A Game" and "Where to go from here" sections. This makes the page seem longer
than it needs to be, though apparently, the goal was to make the sparse info
presented fit the page length commanded by the length of the menu on the left
hand side. A filler graphic of some sort would have made for a better
transition between these two sections, and also accomplished a better looking use of
white space on this page. A similar problem exists on the forums.html page.
At any rate, I think that an overhaul of the website was long overdue.
By and large, I like the new site, though I don't think that the choice of
color schemes is either better, or particularly complimentary.
For whatever it is worth.
- Charles -
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