Question for Poker Roaders

[JonV]

If we were to revamp our site, what would you like to see changed or added to it? (Not the forums but the main site)

[feihua]

Of course, I love you guys....but it just isn't eye-pleasing.

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is not a good idea. I can see how these things start and then add-ons can happen quickly because of deals being struck, but the initial layout wasn't one where simple adds (ads) could take place.

It is also geared towards a notebook size screen and that just isn't necessary anymore. Whereas a lot of online players are using notebooks, a lot of online players are bragging about their huge screens these days. There is a lot of room to increase the site to a 17 or 19 inch format and those with the notebooks will be able to deal with it. Don't center the page, make it flush left and opt for a left to right view instead of a top to bottom. The increase in negative space will make things a lot easier on the end user.

Your ads aren't getting proper placement in the current layout, where they are located is the last place anyone is going to look in a top to bottom layout. With the reading going to left to right, folks are already on their topic of interest by the time they get to the ad, and it encourages the ad to be skipped over immediately, if not completely.

It's too black and the white copy is too small. I can understand that yellow copy is not necessarily attractive no matter how easy it is on the eyes with a black background, but the white can be kept if the font is increased a tad.

Maybe it's just Firefox......shrugs....I know where to look for what I want when I need it....

I know this.....the actual PokerRoad Radio page....example:

http://www.pokerroad.com/radio/poker.../w-cody-lemons

That page is a lot easier on the eyes. The green as opposed to the black keeps things in their correct perspective. The negative space is a bit overdone, maybe even not being used to your best benefit (read: my eyes) but is better than the homepage.

Bring back the advertising .pdf file, too. And update it. Those numbers were great to follow until the updates stopped last March.

Perhaps I am off topic......what do I want to see?



Nudie girls. 3D. Those two things have a very good success rate. Top to bottom, of course.

[jrw5001]

I personally like it the way it is, but +1 to Feihua's last suggestion.

[Tyresias]

Originally Posted by feihua

I know this.....the actual PokerRoad Radio page....example:

http://www.pokerroad.com/radio/poker.../w-cody-lemons

That page is a lot easier on the eyes.

100% agreed.

[jh00k]

Make Twitter/PokerRoad Nation a modular-type feature of the landing page. This is definitely where PokerRoad leads the industry, but it languishes as a subdomain with pretty much only static banner frontpage support. A potential 1 million + audience should be catered to as much as possible.

...as to design, I typically have a couple of standard thoughts using the main sites as examples...the cleanest UI out there is Google, however this tends to be not something that will serve the needs of most sites, but still feel it is worth keeping in mind as a balancing point so you don't go too far the other direction. For a site that contains a lot of content, I tend to gravitate towards the current Yahoo Home page design with nice balance and white space and many widget-like hovers. In addition, at a more advanced level (and probably not as pertinent to PR) both Yahoo and Google, among many others, allow you to create your own personalized homepage (igoogle, my yahoo) which most PokerRoad power users would probably enjoy...

I have found one of the most important steps in the initial site design phase has been the development of "Personas" for the variety of site users. Grouping users into "power users", "casual users", "WSOP time frame users", "novice poker users", "experienced poker users", etc. etc. and exploring their usage patterns and interests will help lead to focused and better designs. Especially when you can actually get example users from each of these groups to be available for touch points throughout the design and development to keep the train on the right tracks.

and one other thing...if you guys are at all contemplating bringing in outside help, do NOT pay any consulting/design firm for site re-design planning, etc. This is burning monies every time in my experience.

[TeddyKGB]

http://friendlyp.ning.com/

here is a new poker website that has some interesting features liek a built in stream video that broadcasts occasionally and a streaming chat etc. many of these features are most likely not right for the Road, but you might get some ideas from kicking around on it.

[RGC2995]

As a former web developer I agree 100% with Fei.
I have 4 additional suggestions:
1. Consistency of layout and navigation across all pokerroad subdomains. I have gotten lost here so many times I only come back when I miss an iTunes download.
2. Advertising. Since US players are the main market and most of your audience already plays online poker get a new ad set. I think Google Adsense or Amazon Affiliates would generate more revenue if you don't have a paid banner.
3. Consolidate all of your Podcasts into one rss stream so a subscriber gets everyshow.
4. iPhone/Android/Windows Mobile client.
Just my two cents

[Enzown]

I dabbled in web design at university and agree with most of what Fei and RGC have already said. Nonetheless here are my 2 cents.
The front page is far too static. It hardly ever changes (I don't tend to notice new news stories because the font's so small so the page only really changes appearance only when a new podcast is put up) so for people checking back it can look quite samey. Esp as the podcasts just display the same graphics each week.
I'd suggest swapping the sizes of your "latest and greatest" and "newsbrief" boxes. In the current format 90% of the time the L and G box gives viewers a giant pic of a podcast's logo which is boring. You're better off having a pic that size pertaining to whatever your lead latest news item is. As the news is updated at least daily this would mean the front page would have more diversity.
The banner/menu/banner set up at the top is horrible and has to go.
You could try running your menus down the right hand side of the page? This could make sections of the website easier to find.
Doing more to highlight Pokerroadnation would be good too. This is really your main point of difference form other news sites (in terms of content). I suggest a box on the front page which features several recent tweets, and updates regularly.
The blogs are taking up way too much space on the front page, they are rarely updated (which isn't PR's fault) and entries are sitting unchanged for weeks. Instead of having links to 6 or 7 just highlight the last three to be updated or something.
There's a lot of good content on here but it can be hard to find.

[TeddyKGB]

you could pimp out the members blog section, letting us post in a blog like format, a little fancier, just and idea bc I like this section reading about diamond, marie-lizzette , feihua, joey etc. I like it and the section invests people in PR.

[JonV]

Originally Posted by Gauss

you could pimp out the members blog section, letting us post in a blog like format, a little fancier, just and idea bc I like this section reading about diamond, marie-lizzette , feihua, joey etc. I like it and the section invests people in PR.

I do like the idea of a more interactive site.