Coming Soon: Site header redesign (UPDATED FIRST POST 7/1)

[gracewar7]

UPDATE BELOW.

We've been working hard on a redesign of the site header. We all know Gaia to be a vibrant and lively community site, and we wanted to express this more visually in the header. As you may know, we have been using the header for Gaia events like Valentine's Day, Promageddon and so on. We want to continue doing that, and in addition, reserve the space in the header for more social and community related purposes in the future. So watch that space!

You'll see that the new redesign actually looks very minimalist. The idea was to take the more utility-type functions (e.g., notifications, PMs, Gaia IM, shortcuts) and move them to a new floating footer. Check out the new design here:

Site header redesign

A few points to note:
- Friends module is back! Yes, we heard your concerns when this was removed from the homepage. You can now see your friends and check their online status by clicking on the Friends icon in the new floating footer, like so:

- Unfortunately, after much pondering and debate, we decided to remove the world map as it was taking a big toll on the page load speed. You can still access the map through the World landing page. There is much we can do with depicting the Gaia world, and we want to work through that in a more integrated way with the site before re-introducing the world concept in a big way later.
- Announcements will still be in the speech bubble next to your avatar, and all other notifications have moved to the new floating footer.

So, what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Let us know what you're thinking!

Quick clarification: When you get a new PM or other notification while you're on the site or when you first sign in, you'll see a little bubble pop from the footer letting you know. So there'll be some notification apart from the change in the numbers on the footer icons. smile

UPDATE 6/22:

Thanks, everyone, for your valuable feedback. You've provided a lot of food for thought. The biggest concerns I seem to be hearing are:
1) You want to see your notifications, particularly PMs, up in the header as usual and not moving down to the footer.
2) You don't want a floating footer for a few reasons:
a) It is too Facebook-like and takes away from Gaia's identity.
b) You're worried about the lag.
c) You're concerned about the space it will take up at the bottom of the page and the fact that it follows you everywhere on the site.

After digesting this feedback and speaking to the various teams, here's what we will do before the first release: We will put PM notifications back in the bubble in the header.

In addition, we considered making changes to the footer based on your feedback. However, we realized that it's tough to evaluate something when you're not interacting with it and just looking at a mock (which someone pointed out is in pretty low resolution). We'd like to take a chance and release it, let it live and breathe a little bit. We'll be releasing it together with an official feedback thread with the announcement. Based on the feedback from the broader Gaia community, we will decide what to do next. There were great suggestions from you, including an option to turn it off or to hide/minimize it, etc. All of these will be considered - we'd simply like to gather more feedback post-launch when you've actually had a chance to try this.

I hope that goes a little way in alleviating some of your concerns. Thanks for all your thoughts.

-Gracewar

UPDATE 7/1:

Thanks for all your feedback. After more listening and some discussion on our part, we have decided not to release the header/footer as shown in the mock or with the minor changes described in my previous post. We are going back to the drawing board to review our options and make more changes taking into account your suggestions. Please stay tuned - I'll be posting an update soon - maybe in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for your input and for helping shape a better product!
-Gracewar

[MagicalMeowe]

I'm not liking it to be honest. Please leave the map on, it leaves a huge bare space without it, or at least leave some sort of border there.

Edit: PLEASE, do not put a floating footer. Those are very irritating, and I prefer the bubbles to them anyway.

[Endrael]

Shortcuts menu: Are we going to be able to customize our links for that or will they be static like they are now? I'd personally like to be able to customize them, and I've seen others request the ability, too. I don't know how difficult it would be to implement that, but it'd be nice to have if it's doable.

Gold gain notifications: Still in the menu portion of the header like they are now?

Other than that, I like the minimalized header, but that footer will take some getting used to.

[darkspineshadow2]

I think there will be complaining about the PMs in footer thing. It makes it less convenient. A big bubble at the header is more noticeable than a small space in a facebook-like footer.

[diet otaku]

i'm not liking the footer at all. am i understanding right that when we get a new PM, we will NOT get a bubble next to our avatar in the header telling us so? in that case it may very well be hours before i notice i've gotten a new pm. not very conducive to communication. not to mention what a pain in the butt it'll be to have to scroll down to the BOTTOM of the page to access any of the shortcut items like subscribed threads or journals. i don't mind losing the map, i never used it anyway, but i'd rather keep everything else where it is.

[Lemon Boleyn]

MagicalMeowe

I'm not liking it to be honest. Please leave the map on, it leaves a huge bare space without it, or at least leave some sort of border there.

This.
I like the map on the one we have now.
And the bubble at the top of the page down at the bottom? Yeah, that's real noticeable. confused Don't like it.

[Milady Phoenix]

I think the "floating" part of the phrase "floating footer" implies
that the footer sits at the bottom of your screen, rather than the bottom of your page.
Therefore, one would not need to scroll waayyy down to the bottom of the page to see/receive notifications.

If this is true, then I've got no problems with this, functionality-wise.
Appearance-wise, I'll see if I get used to it...

[Achenar]

Not a big fan of the logo tab thing - it's VERY jarring - and the gold/cash notification is giant and tacky. Otherwise looks good, though.

I'd LOVE to see those quick links being customisable, though. That would make my experience much smoother.

[Lemon Boleyn]

Milady Phoenix

I think the "floating" part of the phrase "floating footer" implies
that the footer sits at the bottom of your screen, rather than the bottom of your page.
Therefore, one would not need to scroll waayyy down to the bottom of the page to see/receive notifications.

If this is true, then I've got no problems with this, functionality-wise.
Appearance-wise, I'll see if I get used to it...

Ohh, I didn't even think of that. *Puts on dunce cap* xp Thanks for pointing that out. Well, that's better than all the way at the bottom of the page.
Not sure if I'd like that either, but it's better. And hey, the layout will probably get changed again. ;P

[JK]

I have never been a fan of footers, floating or otherwise. I read the screen top to bottom so therefore I want all my notifications on the top of the screen since that's the first thing I will see. If it's at the bottom of the screen, it's the last thing I look at and if it has a menu-type deal that opens up upon scroll-over it would cover stuff that I haven't looked at.

Now, I must say I view this site in 1280x960 resolution so there is always a big space off to the right of my screen (unless I'm on the forums) so in the picture, all the buttons fit into that space so I would easily see the bubbles against the dark background. I can't say the same for other users, though.

And I DEFINITELY don't like having my notifications in more than one place. I like having them all by the avatar because a) it's aesthetically pleasing to see them in a speech bubble in an empty header and b) because it is all grouped together in a list in one spot that I can check every time I log in. Now, I wouldn't exactly mind having them split up if they were all on the header somewhere, but having them at two complete opposite corners? Not a desirable setup in my eyes.

I love the idea of a floating header, though. I definitely would not mind that at all. As long as there is an option to turn it off without turning off those specific notifications. Often times I will be annoyed on sites that have floating headers/footers that "lag", "tear", or "jump" across the screen. So, if that starts to happen, I would definitely want to turn that off. And if I couldn't, then it would probably piss me off so much that I would log off.

All in all, not excited from the preview but I want to see it in action before I give a definite yay or nay.

[Sanrei]

For the most part I have no problem with the changes, but I'm with JK on a very big point: Alerts.

I'd greatly prefer it if they remain all in one place, and at the header, not the footer.
I love how your avatar alerts you with the speech bubble, and I'd like it to stay that way.

EDIT: I've some more to add. Please keep the shortcuts at the top! I glossed over that change the first time, I do not like it.

An option to turn the footer off would be nice too. I can't say whether it will annoy me or not, but signs point to yes.

Not fond of the boxed in logo. It looks out of place.

And please, make that info bar thingee at the top the greyish purple the link bar is, not that blue color. It doesn't match and sticks out like s sore thumb. You want things to stick out in a nice way, not a gaudy way.



-And a suggestion, for the future: As long as Gaia is going to stick with a layout that fits a 1024x768 resolution, it would be more visually appealing for the site to center for those with larger resolutions, rather than be stuck off to the left with tons of empty space to the right. I know it isn't impossible, but I'm unsure of the work needed to make something like that work, or if it's even compatible with Gaia's current set-up. But it'd make it look so much nicer.

[Chocobo Princess]

Please put PMs, Profile Comments, Friend Invites, Trades, Random Events, etc back in the speech bubble. We've always wanted those notifications and alerts to stay in the bubble; remember? sweatdrop

"Floating" things don't work great on my old computer, so I'm pretty sure I'll just end up adblocking it.

[emorexic-pimp]

general header: personally, it seems to me that the backgrounds were made to accommodate for the white 'gaia' on the far left, so I don't really see any reason to put it in a new purplish box over an otherwise blank area... but other than that, I like how they are now aligned in comparison to the old one 3nodding now that I look at it closely in comparison to the one we have now, i noticed the bubble thing moved higher up to the point where it looks more like it missed the avatar's head completely and decided to just come out of that door instead and that the center-right is incredibly bare.

gold/GC floater: not a fan of the orange refill button that sticks out... can it at least be in a color that doesn't make it stick out like a sore thumb? and speaking of colors, can the floater be a bit more purple? the rest of the header/footer is composed of varying shades of purple, but that is the only thing colored blue.

maps: good idea! i've had them adblocked for a long while now. it'll be nice to have the gold/cash thing finally aligned to the right

background: can we please have an option to change the default to somewhere else? barton gets awfully boring after awhile.

floating footer: it'll take some getting used to, but i think i'll live. not really liking how much brighter it is than the header though... and i have one little question: where will the links that are in the current footer go? or will the non-floating footer still be there?

[Mindset]

Double-checking --- the Site Map -style static footer, with the links, is still staying, yes? It's often incredibly helpful.

I agree with the request to customize our Quick Links - at minimum, I hope we don't lose Subscribed Threads and Subscribed Journals, because I use those every day.

It might also be a good option to have the quicklinks floating footer as a static header, above the proposed new header. It's probably extra CSS/javascript, so if you don't do that I understand.

I'll be sad to lose the map, but to be honest it's been incredibly buggy lately. I hope you guys figure out something interesting to do with it more sooner than later, though.

Oh, and since it looks like the Announcements bubble will still be there, comments/PMs will still show up in that bubble too, right? They're one of the fun things of Gaia I'm sure most people would hate to lose.

But all in all, it does look good, and certainly better designed than the current right-side header. I'm not going to miss the "Sign into IM" part at all. biggrin

[Asashikka]

Mm.. I'm not looking forward to using the floater that much. ^^;

I'm not a huge fan for one thing, and the fact that it's on the bottom of the screen will pretty much won't be noticed unlike the top.

Please preserve the announcement type deals within the bubble. That's one of the things I'm still fond of and is pretty convenient as it's on the top of the page.