Site Format Change?

[VideoGameCritic]

So the reader that suggested Gifs provided me with a sample:


I love how it looks. Problem is, this is 10MB, which is too big. I would have to keep these small/short.

I suppose I could have an extra link next to the ebay/amazon/youtube links for something like this, but not sure if it would be worth the effort. Let me know if you have any idea. The reader said he could crank these out for me.

[Verm3]

I think the site is pretty much fine as is.

If I may, make a couple of interface suggestions though?

1: Review dates next to each review, on the lists of reviews for each system? https://videogamecritic.com/gen.htm?e=92941
2: A copy of the page links for each system's review ranges, at the top of the pages as well as on the bottom of each like they are now? Or maybe link bars that are always on the top of the screen?
3: Additional screenshots. Though not all visible at once, rather as thumbnails a viewer can scroll through and then click on to expand?

[Stalvern]

So the reader that suggested Gifs provided me with a sample:


I love how it looks. Problem is, this is 10MB, which is too big. I would have to keep these small/short.

About what I imagined. I don't like it, I'm afraid.

[VideoGameCritic]

I think the site is pretty much fine as is.

If I may, make a couple of interface suggestions though?

1: Review dates next to each review, on the lists of reviews for each system? https://videogamecritic.com/gen.htm?e=92941
2: A copy of the page links for each system's review ranges, at the top of the pages as well as on the bottom of each like they are now? Or maybe link bars that are always on the top of the screen?
3: Additional screenshots. Though not all visible at once, rather as thumbnails a viewer can scroll through and then click on to expand?

Great feedback! Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions.

1. So you want to be able to sort on review dates? Maybe to view the latest stuff? I'm not sure it would be worth cluttering the table. I'd like to hear from some others on this.
2. No only would it be a good idea to also put the "navigation" links at the top, but it wouldn't be very hard. So I will probably do this one soon.
3. I have to tell you that finding even one good screenshot can be a challenge for some of these games. However, it would be nice if readers could "toggle" the screenshot, as opposed to the awkward way I currently place the second screenshot to the right. I think there could be some improvement in this area.

Keep it coming guys...

[scotland]

I agree with Stalvern. I originally came here to learn the TG-16 library, and I like how its organized with a large chunk of games per page. Scrolling brief reviews, little glimpses of the game, etc.

[Cafeman]

I like how its organized with a large chunk of games per page. Scrolling brief reviews, little glimpses of the game, etc.

These are my thoughts, as well. These were always the unique strengths of the VGC site. The recent decision to re-review games with a bit more text and paragraphs was a great way to freshen the old reviews without ruining things. I don't like seeing animated GIFs, especially not huge ones.

[BlasteroidAli]

I did Web design at Uni a couple of years back. So I got to see menus and loads of sites. Good and bad. A lot of the glitzy new formats have a problem. Though they have a style all of their own it takes longer to get to the content plus there is less content. A perfect example is the BBC news site. It used to be text heavy with a few pictures. Now it is glitzy with lots of FMV. A hundred stories but not much detail in them. Where as this site we have loads of content. Yeah a few more pictures would be nice but this site has what no other site has. Great content about games so well produced.

Gifs. Hmmm A nice idea but in practice, their mean can be cloudy and imprecise unlike English/American English. Most people have a beautiful turn of phrase. I do wish there were more people commenting but at least it is not wall to wall spam bot like it is on FB,

I like it like it is.

[goldenband]

"Nay" to animated GIFs or any other big changes in the layout or format of the site. It's a solution looking for a problem. A new format won't bring in YouTube or Discord or Facebook people, and animated GIFs will slow things down, clutter the site, and use up data on mobile.

"Yea", however, to being able to sort reviews by review date or release date. That would be a handy thing to be able to do. Putting all the 1989 Genesis games on one page, for example, would be revealing.

And "Yea" to a steady state of new reviews as well!

[VideoGameCritic]

I went ahead and added the range links to the top and bottom of the chapter pages, at least on the main web site.

I didn't did it on the mobile site because I thought it might be a good fit.

Let me know what you think.

[k8track]

I do like the range links at the top and bottom of each chapter page, it works well for me.

I would 100 percent rather keep the static screenshots than having distracting gifs. Likewise, keeping multiple reviews on one page as opposed to just having one review per page.

It's pretty darned good as is. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." (But tweaks here and there are cool.)