I own a web design company and am really disappointed that this re-design made it live without many fixes. I can understand code glitches happening with a major overhaul, but the main issues I have are with color and usability.

However, before I start listing them out, I want to start off by saying that I do see that the code is more properly crafted and uses valid syntax for a change (in many places) - at least on that score, it's an improvement.

Here are some of the first things I noticed when I started looking at the new design, please consider them as suggestions to improve.

Main Menu Area Problems:
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1. The search database box in the upper right is EXTREMELY small compared to the rest of the design items. It needs to be one of the biggest elements on the page since many gamers who are looking up something will be doing it by a search string.

2. The search box needs a closeby link to an advanced search. The advanced search page should include different sections for each different type of advanced search (instead of having to dig through the menus to find them). Right now I see a Wiki search page (off the wiki page), a Items search (item menu), a places search by drop value (places menu), and also the forum search for each individual forums (on each individual forum). Those things are too scattered around. We should have ONE advanced search link near the search box that brings up a SINGLE page showing all these different searches we can do.

3. The entire navigation bar at the top lacks enough color contrast (tan over cream is just not dark enough for the text) and the text size could be larger.

4. The Game Info menu heading is the only one that is not clickable. To keep it universal it should be clickable also and take you to a page where you can choose from all the sub-menu options.

5. When you mouse over the menu options the ads are pushed out of the way and then pop back in when you mouse off them. It causes an unpleasant flashing bit on the screen. Since this is a flexible width design, this happens with all of the menu items on a screen width 800px, and only the last two menu items at 1280px width.

6. When you click on 'Items' or 'Quests' main menu items, we should be provided with a screen that lets us choose from the sub-menu items under that category (but shown all on one page in different sections). Currently clicking on those takes us to a huge listing of items or quests (which is really useless unless you enjoy wasting days sorting through tens of thousands of items), and does not provide anywhere on the page those same menu options sitting under the 'items' main menu.


The 'Places' main Page and Each zone Page
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1. First off, your tabbed options are not backwards compatible (accessibility issue) if Javascript it turned off. I know quite alot of WoW gamers who strip down their browsers (flash / JS off) while they also have their game open and playing, and trying to run vent or chat at the same time. It just helps manage computer resources better, and the tabs are totally unusable if javascript is off.

2. In the places main page, the expandable sections are not needed. First off, if you're going to have expandable sections, have them closed onload. It's really annoying to close sections that are open by default. Aside from that, you don't need them anyway because none of the pages have content so long that it would force any significant scrolling. It is less annoying to scroll a few lines (which is only as long as the longest of all the pages go past the bottom of my screen) than it is to open and close expandable toggles.

3. The rounded tabs need to go. They do not fit in with the design scheme for the rest of the site. Nowhere else on the site, except on the places main page and the zone main pages, and 2 lonely tabs on the main page do you see round tabs. All the rest are rectangular. Make the site look cohesive.


Other Page Issues
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1. On the searching issue again, for all the pages with the 'Add a filter' text - change that to be more usable text. It should say something recognizable and less technical like 'Refine your search' or 'Advanced Search'.

2. On the items and quests main pages, where you see the text 'You may want to add some filters.' not only should that text be changed per my previous note, but it should be a link to do the action it is suggesting.

3. The level sort option on the item list page is totally useless if it only sorts by the things on the current page (and there are 75 pages of items). If I want to see level 1 items, and it defaults to level 70 items, I should be able to click 'level' to sort and it should bring up the lowest level items to the top, not just those on the page. It should not require me doing a search to achieve this.

4. On that note, page navigation is WAY too small. There needs to be padding around the page numbers of items, and the text needs to be made larger so we can easily click on the page we want. Also, the next and previous links need to be directly right and left of the page numbers, not at the far sides of the table.

5. Take a look at the main Items page and look at the padding to the left of the item name (between the name and the picture). Then open up any quest that has item rewards and you'll see there is no padding at all. That should be cohesive.

COLOR
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Color on the new design is a huge issue. I understand that you're going for an antiqued / parchment sort of look, and that's fine. But the readability is very poor. There is not enough contrast in most places in the design.

Additionally, you have ads that have a bright pure white around the edges of them, and it only makes the design look 'dirty' instead of 'antique'. Adjust the ads so that they blend in with the design more.

As an example of color issues. The main http://wow.allakhazam.com/ page is a good example. Your blog post titles should be black instead of brown. The tags should be under the 'More...' link. Additionally that link should be on the right hand side, larger in font, and black to encourage clicking.

If you want people to comment, make the comment count more visible so that people are encouraged to add. You can do that by adding a white'ish background to the link or by making the text black.

The tag 'vote up vote down' buttons need a color alteration so they mesh with the site more. Your site doesn't use that teal and bright red in the header. Add some richness to the color and make the green a forest green and the red a deeper orange/red that matches the hue of your graphical site header.

The links on the main page within the blog post content previews is way too light. Darken. You want people to click links, not have them disappear.

Padding on the main posts. If you do click to read a story / blog post, the whole post is nearly filling to the very edges of the box. Add padding top/right/left. Bottom is fine.

Comments... the colors here are just a mess. The titles with that olive brown look really bad with the rest of it. The main content backgrounds for the comments do not provide enough contrast to the text. The people who are flagged 'scholar' show their links in bright blue (which matches nothing else in the site) - make it a rich navy or something instead.

Also, when you hit 'preview message' to post a comment, the 'Go Back' link in the top left is nearly invisible. Just noticed that as I went to post this.

Overall: Text color needs to be readable, and the only truly readable content sections are the ones with the very pale tan background and the black text (and on those the links are too light). All the rest have problems.

Hope this helps.




Edited, Jun 4th 2008 12:32pm by mistycabal

For the most part people in general don't like change of any kind. Personally? I like the new look and so far looking things up are just as easy here as the old site. Thanks for trying to upgrade your site!!!

Whether the change is for the better or the worse I cannot yet say.

But I used allakhazam primarily for quest-tracking and where to find items.

The chain info on the quests is almost completly gone.
It used to be easy to see the chain by its indention (in the quest lookup page, that is): gone!
The "prequest" tag in a quest's description page is also gone.

The old search page was nearly perfect.
The addition of zone/instance is a plus, but why are the results so incomplete? What hidden/implied filters are also used?

And when I do a sort, I want the resultset sorted, not only the displayed set. And when the resultset of the query is to large, refuse and ask to apply more filters before honnoring the sort request.
Sorts on numerical values (lvl) should be number sorts, not string sorts(100 is not lower than 2).

I hope these little bugs can be addressed.

yours truly
Olivijn, WoW-mage and RealWorld-DataWareHouseDesigner

The searches are still there. I think the problem is that you don't realize that the search is now called a filter. Click on Quests at the top of the menu. Then where it says filter click add. Voila. The same works for items.

Just started to go to this site and loved it, I still like it now but there to me seems like a lot of flaws (hard searching etc) but how everybody hates it pretty much now they should just think, Change happens to everything and you need to get use to it. But I still think you should make some sort of skin changer so you can either have this page style or the old one. I think then you would be keeping all of you users happy.

Just my two cents that will probably never happen. (Like most things in our world)

I created an account to comment that I absolutely despise the new layout; I can honestly say I can't find a single thing I like about it. The old layout was perfect the way it was: simple, attractive, and familiar. I've been using this site for a long time, but now I feel the need to go out and find a different one, one similar to the old site. I refuse to use Alla now, unless the old design comes back.

Where's the link to the blog page? Love the new look but I'm beginning to think I'm going blind.

So far I like it......

Yeah, I understand the changes and what not.

"Those who work in the corporate world will recognize that reference.

Nobody likes change. That's human nature. But, accepting and adapting to change is the key to success."

The only problem with that, is that this isn't the corporate world.
Most people who come here play an online game that has virtually nothing in common with the sort.

Yes, most will have to accept and adapt to the change if they want to work the site.
It just sucks to wake up one day, want some info, and then go to your favorite search site and find this.
You wanted to spend a couple minutes to look up a quest, and now you're running all over the place.

I LOVED the way it was before. I've gone through everything, the new features, and honestly, the site is
conforming to all the others around it. The simplicity of the old site was why I loved it.
People would recommend sites like thottbot, and I turned them down. I hated those sites.

Allakhazam was my favorite,and after seeing all of this nonsense, well, I'm taking my business elsewhere, so to speak.

It's been a fun ride, but this is a huge disappointment. The new look is great, I just don't like the functions, or the features.
Before I could come here and pick it up, easily, now it's like I need an instruction manual.

So, good job on ******** things up, new people who don't know the difference will be your best bet now.
Good luck in the future.

/deleted from favorites.

I was skeptical of the changes at first, simply because of how new it is. But this seems to already load a LOT faster on my computer than the old design. I'm not a huge fan of the colour changes though having gotten so used to the dark brown. But hey, you've helped me a long way since then so I'm damned grateful for the opportunity. New colour scheme or not.

I miss the old format Allkhazam, it was my favorite search site. When I was new to the game, your website was the easiest for me to navigate, now I am not sure how to use the searches, they are for really specific things. Can we have the old allakhazam back, or does this format make it easier for you to update the website?

Is there a way to set the site to show the original interface? I know someone worked very hard on this but I really don't like the feel of it. I liked the old one.

I agree that the old searches were better- you didn't have to follow a tree down to the type of item you wanted- the new one is as bad as the phone trees that everyone uses now. I tried entering something in "Search database" and it hung up my browser. Bring back the old search!!