This is my favorite Diablo fansite and I like staying here as much as possible for my Diablo needs. But, I still find this website feels very strongly as a forum rather than a complete website. I wonder if there are, or may be any plans to make this not just a forum but also a place where Diablo III players will come to find builds and tools and item lists and whatever.
What I'm talking about is mostly the design of the portal. We really already have much of the information. We have a huge wiki, we have skill calculators for DI and DII and I'm sure they'll come for DIII as well. It's a question of displaying these elements in such a way that people will, erm, see them, and are made aware of their existence a little more than just "extra gimmicks attached to a forum". Compare, for instance, to Arreat Summit.
I don't know, maybe people would prefer to leave it as it is, that's just my suggestion/question about what the website wants to be when Diablo III comes out.
What I'm talking about is mostly the design of the portal. We really already have much of the information. We have a huge wiki, we have skill calculators for DI and DII and I'm sure they'll come for DIII as well. It's a question of displaying these elements in such a way that people will, erm, see them, and are made aware of their existence a little more than just "extra gimmicks attached to a forum". Compare, for instance, to Arreat Summit.
Looking at your reply to Ophion below, I am a bit unsure of what you're talking about here. In this paragraph you are talking about the diablofans mainpage at www.diablofans.com, right?
When someone is looking for Unique Gloves they should only have to browse Unique Gloves, and they should quickly be able to find that section. Currently to reach that section you have to scroll through general item info, past all the normal items (and not be fooled by the Normal Gloves section), past all the set items, past the crafting, past the unique weapons, and finally arrive at unique armor where the Unique Gloves link must be located.
Not exactly on topic, but I can see the reasoning behind this. When I made the item page as it is I admit I might have gotten caught up in the large amount of images that were at my disposal.
And I just think there should be a way to make the Wiki link more visible. Not just a tab along the top next to all the other random tabs.
Well what did you have in mind? We're already linking to it constantly in news post and otherwise, we've written entire news posts about it and it gets good spots on google.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
Well what did you have in mind? We're already linking to it constantly in news post and otherwise, we've written entire news posts about it and it gets good spots on google.
I think he was talking about making the link on the main page more visible and attractive, like a bigger button or something.
Looking at your reply to Ophion below, I am a bit unsure of what you're talking about here. In this paragraph you are talking about the diablofans mainpage at www.diablofans.com, right?
Sorry, I'm very bad at initial explanations.
Yes, I mean the portal (fancy word for main page).
Well what did you have in mind? We're already linking to it constantly in news post and otherwise, we've written entire news posts about it and it gets good spots on google.
Yeah I am not talking about that... some people don't exactly click on news links. On the other hand, people may stroll across this website, and end up on the main page or forum thinking that's all there is. Wiki is kinda tucked in the corner there.
In fact, I found it difficult to find without going to the portal and clicking on the Diablo Wiki button. It's also the same domain as diablowiki.net, and it is not tied to dfans immediately. Google doesn't signal it as a diablofans wiki. When I'm on our wiki, or searching for it, I want to know I'm on our wiki and not wonder if it's some other random Diablo wiki and there are quite a few of those. Our wiki also doesn't currently prioritize as a DIII wiki but I guess that's OK for now.
For one, currently the portal is part of the forum. The forum should be part of the portal. Currently, it uses a wiki heavily and I don't know how limiting a wiki is in terms of how you can embedd it into a website. But when the game comes out, it would have like a large link to a game database or even the wiki but make that link stand out against other links like Blizz tracker, Twitter, and Tools (lol). I would do something like this (this is just me though):
Get a different host base for the main page because currently I think it's on bulletin.
Consolidate the tabs as follows:
Replace "home" with "news".
Game Information -> includes skills, items, tools, beastiarry, lore. Whether it's all in the Wiki or not is another issue, but just sending people to the Wiki and having them deal with the wiki interface doesn't cut it. Getting them directly to pages such as this, this, this, and this, is better IMO. (although I think the wiki design there could use a lot of work but that's a discussion for another time and it's my fault for not working with the wiki much)
Media -> screens, vids, wallpapers.
Community -> forums, IRC, youtwitface
Blizz Tracker
ONCE you get to the forums, from the forums you should be able to go to members and what not.
The-website-that-shall-not-be-named is sort of in competition with us, and their portal is designed better in terms of people finding information on the game, and they're also tied to the forum engine and use a wiki framework. I think their design is far from the best but we should think about something of that nature rather than "go to the wiki and figure out where everything is yourself"
I currently like how the news section is tied to the forums, though, and I realize the portal doesn't exactly have a lot of room with all the ads and what not, + I know it's tied to Curse, so I don't know what's possible or if anyone would even bother.
Feedback is great! Regarding the bottlenecking issue between forums/wiki - it's something that we've been working on improving. I too would like to see closer integration as we move forward, and we'll definitely take these suggestions into consideration as we discuss changes.
For one, currently the portal is part of the forum. The forum should be part of the portal. Currently, it uses a wiki heavily and I don't know how limiting a wiki is in terms of how you can embedd it into a website. But when the game comes out, it would have like a large link to a game database or even the wiki but make that link stand out against other links like Blizz tracker, Twitter, and Tools (lol). I would do something like this (this is just me though):
I don't get what you mean. You're saying "Diablo Wiki" should stand out like "Blizz Tracker", "Twitter", and "Tools" do, except it's all the same text, same style, same everything. What difference do you see?
I don't get what you mean. You're saying "Diablo Wiki" should stand out like "Blizz Tracker", "Twitter", and "Tools" do, except it's all the same text, same style, same everything. What difference do you see?
That's what I'm saying.
They're all the same style. Which means the wiki doesn't stand out and looks just like "another random tab".
Currently, since there are so many tabs, each individual tab is not given much attention because some tabs (tools, youtwitface) should be subtabs, which is what I suggest. Then, there are only about 4 tabs and Wiki/Game Info is more noticeable.
Increasing visibility is only part of ultimately what should be closer integration - such as expanding main page search and reworking the buttons so there's deeper access to the Wiki. Along those lines, what other things could we do to bring the Wiki closer to a main page user?
What I'm talking about is mostly the design of the portal. We really already have much of the information. We have a huge wiki, we have skill calculators for DI and DII and I'm sure they'll come for DIII as well. It's a question of displaying these elements in such a way that people will, erm, see them, and are made aware of their existence a little more than just "extra gimmicks attached to a forum". Compare, for instance, to Arreat Summit.
I don't know, maybe people would prefer to leave it as it is, that's just my suggestion/question about what the website wants to be when Diablo III comes out.
And I just think there should be a way to make the Wiki link more visible. Not just a tab along the top next to all the other random tabs.
Not exactly on topic, but I can see the reasoning behind this. When I made the item page as it is I admit I might have gotten caught up in the large amount of images that were at my disposal.
Here's a considerably slimmed down version: http://www.diablowiki.com/index.php?title=User:PhrozenDragon/Sandbox3&oldid=40146
Thoughts?
People, you need to post these things. I'm not psychic.
Well what did you have in mind? We're already linking to it constantly in news post and otherwise, we've written entire news posts about it and it gets good spots on google.
I think he was talking about making the link on the main page more visible and attractive, like a bigger button or something.
Yes, I mean the portal (fancy word for main page).
Yeah I am not talking about that... some people don't exactly click on news links. On the other hand, people may stroll across this website, and end up on the main page or forum thinking that's all there is. Wiki is kinda tucked in the corner there.
If you google Diablofans, the google result doesn't even display hte wiki initially. It does, though, displays the D1 spell book lool
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=opera&hs=GRB&rls=en&channel=suggest&q=diablofans 3 wiki&btnG=Search
In fact, I found it difficult to find without going to the portal and clicking on the Diablo Wiki button. It's also the same domain as diablowiki.net, and it is not tied to dfans immediately. Google doesn't signal it as a diablofans wiki. When I'm on our wiki, or searching for it, I want to know I'm on our wiki and not wonder if it's some other random Diablo wiki and there are quite a few of those. Our wiki also doesn't currently prioritize as a DIII wiki but I guess that's OK for now.
For one, currently the portal is part of the forum. The forum should be part of the portal. Currently, it uses a wiki heavily and I don't know how limiting a wiki is in terms of how you can embedd it into a website. But when the game comes out, it would have like a large link to a game database or even the wiki but make that link stand out against other links like Blizz tracker, Twitter, and Tools (lol). I would do something like this (this is just me though):
Get a different host base for the main page because currently I think it's on bulletin.
Consolidate the tabs as follows:
Replace "home" with "news".
Game Information -> includes skills, items, tools, beastiarry, lore. Whether it's all in the Wiki or not is another issue, but just sending people to the Wiki and having them deal with the wiki interface doesn't cut it. Getting them directly to pages such as this, this, this, and this, is better IMO. (although I think the wiki design there could use a lot of work but that's a discussion for another time and it's my fault for not working with the wiki much)
Media -> screens, vids, wallpapers.
Community -> forums, IRC, youtwitface
Blizz Tracker
ONCE you get to the forums, from the forums you should be able to go to members and what not.
The-website-that-shall-not-be-named is sort of in competition with us, and their portal is designed better in terms of people finding information on the game, and they're also tied to the forum engine and use a wiki framework. I think their design is far from the best but we should think about something of that nature rather than "go to the wiki and figure out where everything is yourself"
I currently like how the news section is tied to the forums, though, and I realize the portal doesn't exactly have a lot of room with all the ads and what not, + I know it's tied to Curse, so I don't know what's possible or if anyone would even bother. I like it.
Diablo III Analyst
SC2Mapster
They're all the same style. Which means the wiki doesn't stand out and looks just like "another random tab".
Currently, since there are so many tabs, each individual tab is not given much attention because some tabs (tools, youtwitface) should be subtabs, which is what I suggest. Then, there are only about 4 tabs and Wiki/Game Info is more noticeable.