Bigger screenshots?

[VideoGameCritic]

A reader suggested many increasing the size of the screenshots on the normal web site (not mobile). I have to admit they are starting to look a little small. Thoughts?

[velcrozombie]

A reader suggested many increasing the size of the screenshots on the normal web site (not mobile). I have to admit they are starting to look a little small. Thoughts?

I don't know how difficult it would be to implement, but I like the idea of clicking on the smaller picture to get a full-size version.

[Retro STrife]

Personally I've never thought the screenshot size was an issue and I think they're ok if you keep them this way. You risk making them too big and shrinking the text area in the process (causing reviews to look longer). But you could try out a test run to see how it looks.

If anything, it's more of an issue with newer systems, where the activity on screen is more detailed. Also, remember that some users recently complained that their viewing area was very small on their screen.. so I wonder if this person has the smaller view or normal view.

[Marriott_Guy]

I don't know how difficult it would be to implement, but I like the idea of clicking on the smaller picture to get a full-size version.

This is actually pretty easy to implement and rather light weight. I use Highslide (http://highslide.com/) which is highly configurable. You just have to be careful on how many images you preload in the background. VGC usually has around 20-30 screen shots per page. Low res images are always loaded, and then you can determine how many of corresponding High res pictures to load in the background. Choosing -0- is probably the way to go - the High res image will only load when the user clicks the Low res counterpart.

Terry

[VideoGameCritic]

Well I was toying around with the screen sizes and I think I made the site look a lot better in the process!

I increased the size of all the screenshots on the normal review pages (and special pages) by 25%. I think they look a lot better.

In addition, I think I was able to improve the readability too - something I have been struggling with in the past year or so. It turns out, if I let the text wrap around under the image, there's more to read and it's less jarring when you hit the read-me link. Actually, this eliminates the read-more link for most of the shorter reviews.

The only drawback is that something when you hit the read-me link it only reveals a handful of words. I should be able to take care of that later.

I'd like to hear what you guys think of the new look!

[Wehrwolf]

I like the new look.