Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#1

Post by spoiledtechie » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 1:58 PM UTC

Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.
drinkingfor.com

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#2

Post by spoiledtechie » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 1:59 PM UTC

I don't expect to make money off this site, but I do hope to make some headway as my first true website...

Let me know what you all think. Its a Drinking site which will one day bring all the drinking activities together hopefully.

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#3

Post by whiter4bbit » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:09 PM UTC

actual:)

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#4

Post by teej » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:16 PM UTC

Definitely an interesting idea. Here's a few things:

- Iterate on the design: I'd start on the color scheme, since it's easy to get right. Resources: http://www.wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html http://beta.dailycolorscheme.com/

- Random design tip: Please don't use a grey gradient on everything. It looks like everything has a layer of virtual dust on it. Try black or white, and then tweaking the transparency/opacity of the gradient down to 25-75%.

- Maybe I'm alone, but I never really thought tag clouds were a great data visualization. Regardless, I think another way to explore the games is worth pursuing. Example: http://www.extratasty.com/recipes

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#5

Post by mkuhn » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:20 PM UTC

i like the idea to get creative ideas :-) a few suggestions:

- i would not only display a tag-cloud on the homepage but also top games.

- why do you need people to log in / "register". wouldn't a captcha also do the job of avoiding spam and make the log-in/providing personal data optional. i think it makes it more likely people would contribute

- categories might could help people to navigate / provide contributers with suggestions how to classify their games. it also enables to "surf" the site.

- i don't dislike the design but i would make the navigation a bit more dominant and combine the two logos, combine the picture of the bottles and the title

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#6

Post by oakmac » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:20 PM UTC

I would change the text: "If you do decide to drink, DO NOT Drive. Drink Safely." to simply "Always drink responsibly." and have that section of the text be a link to a new page with a paragraph about drinking and driving. You also might include some external links on that page (MADD, AA, etc).

It is more direct to use a command instead of a conditional and use a positive instead of a negative.

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#7

Post by icey » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:26 PM UTC

The layout seems like it's missing something to me. The tag cloud block is too short vertically maybe? I kept waiting for something to load under it, and it never did.

The other option is to put the tag cloud in a column on the right and make a center column where you can have a featured game or something? You know, to put some content on the front page.

Anyways, it seems like a cool idea - good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#8

Post by pclark » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:34 PM UTC

whats in the light blue box on the right? adverts?

remove it, make the content wider.

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#9

Post by bemmu » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:41 PM UTC

My attention was drawn to the tag cloud first, and that made me confused as to what the site was about. Only later I noticed there was a description on the left.

Personally I am also a bit skeptical of the usefulness of tag clouds. It seem to me they are mostly interesting to techie types who like to think about raw data. I would rather see some specific examples of recently hot drinking games from the site.

Re: Ask HN: Please Review My New Site.

#10

Post by axod » Wed, Jan 21, 2009, 2:43 PM UTC

The "Drinking For.com" is only half visible in Safari. (Can only see top half of it).