Flight Rising Discussion

Hi all! I'm setting up to work on a personal UI project, just for practice. I thought it migth be fun to redesign the FR website and also design what an app for FR might look like. But I need your help!

What do I need from you?

I want to know what users like about the FR website.

I also need to know what users don't like, and what they might prefer instead.

Think you guys can help me out? :)

One thing I can pick out as a like and I think would be helpful is that ads are placed on the bottom of the right sidebar where I do occasionally have to look at them but they're still not obtrusive. They don't block anything. I don't have to scroll past them to get to anything. I wish more websites did this.

I love the mass possibilities with dragons. The long list of colors, large selection of genes, quite a few breeds to choose from. The breeding projects and challenges are endless.

I don't like the way they cycle WC scrolls. Unpredictable and short notice.

I don't like how poorly the site is designed for mobile browsing.

- Buttons are close together on the sidebar, making them difficult to click without zooming way in. Although it's possible to click on the headings (e.g. "shop") to access larger picture icons, some links are inexplicably missing (e.g. the dressing room).
- Many icons in features, e.g. when picking items to transmute or items to put on the AH, are also way too small on mobile.
- Because the sidebar is persistent (not a pop-out menu) it makes forums small/difficult to read without zooming in.

I also think the AH sale page is poorly designed in general. It's just a sea of tiny icons arranged by item ID, so finding any particular item to sell is a pain. Also the Baldwin/Swipp footers don't appear so you have to cross-reference in the hoard to know what's safe to sell.

Things I like:
- Dragon share links on the dragon pages that auto generate BBCode
- Marketplace and AH quick links to the item database
- Marketplace icons indicating if you already have an item in your hoard or on a dragon
- Waystone!

Like:
Pretty and easy to use most of the time. Doesnt feel too claustrophobic and everything is spaced out nice

Dont like:
Buttons are hard to press on mobile sometimes, no dark mode. No official BBcode guide

More stuff I like:

- The upper right-hand corner with your avatar & clan banner, the 100% bar, treasure/gems/bestiary/dragons. It just looks good.

- The upper right-hand ticker (e.g. "Restore your progenitor dragons," "Theme Week: ___") is just right: it shows interesting stuff but is also small/unobtrusive if you're not looking at it.

- Forum post design: The style of the posts (rounded rectangles with drop shadows, and the posts alternating between white and off-white) is visually pleasing. Being able to customize your posts with avatar/vista is nice. Also, I like the amount of information given in the sidebar: it gives a very quick way to gauge a poster. If someone has e.g. 4 dragons + no vista + single-digit posts, they're probably (not always) a new player and I'd interact with them differently than someone who's very experienced with the site.

More stuff I don't like:

- On mobile, in the Organize Party screen in coli, you can't scroll the list of dragons by swiping up and down. You have to use the scrollbar at the side, which is annoying.

- The list of subscribed topics is hidden in account settings, which is really unintuitive - I'd expect it to be accessible from the forum page or like...somewhere forum-related. I use topic subs as bookmarks and totally couldn't find the list when I first started playing and had to ask a friend.

stuff I like
- customization: your dragons feel like YOUR dragons. the ways to gene/dress your dragons are literally ENDLESS
-Staff: staff is friendly and approachable, and in tune with the community
- dom: i love dom, its a good way to connect with users and your flight, though i do agree the dom system is outdated
dislike
- no dark mode, my sensitive eyes cannot take it some days
- new dragon profiles: I miss the old layout for dragon profiles (i think thats the word?) I understand theres a lot more features now, but the new layout seems so cluttered

@Aliandrin @Panther202 @Achaius @Acetheaxolotl @SweetChayos @Solstyce Thanks all for your participation! I've heard what you've said, taken note, and will apply it as I continue this project. :) For now, I have created what is mostly just a rebuilding of the front page. For the most part there are only minor tweeks, the biggest difference being the color theme. Would you all help me out again and give your opinion? ([i]Note: I was not able to copy the website's background image of the continent and so that is missing in my rebuild.[/i]) [b]Is this slight color change easier on your eyes? Do you find it more aesthetically pleasing? Less aesthetically pleasing? Do you prefer it, or the original color scheme?[/b] Original site: [img]https://i.imgur.com/6QjkiiT.png[/img] Recolor: [img]https://i.imgur.com/JCAB4pM.png[/img]

I prefer the original over your edit, the color is just way too jarring and the light brown is weirdly grey? Although the lower contrast white is nice. Still too gloomy grey looking though.

It would work more if the rest of the white was also dimmed, bit the part that is dimmed works for my eyes without the filters I usually have to put on my screen to use this site soo, with those changes I think it will work