Input needed - MAJOR Pets.ca redesign - Pet forum for dogs cats and humans

marko · #1 October 15th, 2008, 09:28 AM

Dear members,

Over the next month or so the main site of Pets.ca will undergo a MAJOR redesign. Before we start the redesign we'd LOVE to get some input from our amazing community of BB members. (Please note the redesign will not really affect this forum all that much but it will affect almost every other section/page on the site)

So....if members would provide input and/or suggestions, we'd love to hear them. Here's the type of input we are interested in.

- What colours would you like to see the new site be based on?
- What features are missing from the main site that you feel would be good additions.
- Are there other websites (pet related or not) whose navigation colours and features you just love and WHY?
- anything else you want to add?

Many thanks everyone - we really value our members' input so please don't be shy about posting!!!

Best!
Marko

Soter · #2 October 15th, 2008, 09:38 AM

New colours....

Green
Light yellow
All mulitcoloured (

)
Or my personal favourite colour, any shade of orange

And instead of having to click on one of the sub-forums to view who else is logged on, can we just see it on the main page??

Also on the main page instead of having a couple of access ways to the sub-forums (eg. general forum for cats and dogs, cat health forum, pet photography, off-topic forum ect.) then we could have one access point to it, so we don't have to go to next page to get different sub-foum titles (eg. dog behaviour, books, jokes and anecdotes, movies and t.v, opinions rants pet chat ect.) That way there is more room for more sub-forum titles, so we don't have to go from page to page.
That sounds complicated, but I don't know how else to put it

Pretty pretty please???

Soter (I love pets.ca!)

marko · #3 October 15th, 2008, 09:56 AM

Thanks soter

But for now, we are only after suggestions that affect the OTHER parts of the site NOT this forum. Forum improvements will follow the main site's redesign, but this thread is to suggest stuff for the OTHER parts of Pets.ca

many thx!
Marko

LavenderRott · #4 October 15th, 2008, 10:49 AM

Can the site be purple from now on? I just love purple.

aslan · #5 October 15th, 2008, 11:01 AM

ohoh purple and silver.

krdahmer · #6 October 15th, 2008, 11:29 AM

That jarring yellow banner at the top of the main page would be nice in a blue, and still match the logo at the top left.

Generally when I am on web pages, I prefer the colours like what are in the forum, muted blues, it is much easier on the eyes when you are on for a long period of time, anything brightly coloured can cause headaches and eye strain. IMO. Oh and if we could get rid of the bright white too, like in where the cat pages and dog pages are.... too much white can also be hard on the eyes.... for backgrounds maybe go to the soft light blueish gray that is around this box I'm typing in now.

I'm sure you guys'll do a great job... and can't wait for the video stuff too!

clm · #7 October 15th, 2008, 12:30 PM

I'm not a big yellow fan either. I prefer blues or mauves or purples, with the odd jarring jolt of tangerine orange in there.

As long as you have the same great group of folks here, I'll be happy no matter what you do.

Cindy

Bina · #8 October 15th, 2008, 01:24 PM

I find that the soft blue, soft green, soft yellow and grey are easiest on the eyes.
Red, orange, white and bright yellow in big banners and such, seem to make my eyes hurt more.

LavenderRott · #9 October 15th, 2008, 04:14 PM

Light purple is good. (Like a lavender or Lilac!)

In KirklandLake · #10 October 15th, 2008, 06:12 PM

How about a live chat?

It could be at specific times and feature guest hosts to share their expertise.
If it were posted days in advance, one seeking advice on a particular topic would have enough notice to join the chat.

It would be beneficial to all in this generous community.

Just my thoughts on how to improve an already pretty great board.

Newbie, Shelly

meg4050 · #11 October 15th, 2008, 06:14 PM

Barkley just doesn't want his mohawk logo taken away

Stacer · #12 October 15th, 2008, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by In KirklandLake

How about a live chat?

I was going to say the same thing. I realize it's forum related, but maybe it would be fun for members to have live chat in addition to TJT of course (would never think of replacing the TJT

)

I agree about the softer colours, much easier on the eyes. I'll try to think of other things.

marko · #13 October 16th, 2008, 07:28 AM

Dear members,

Thanks so much for the input thus far. Please feel free to post more. We REALLY want many people to post if they have a few minutes. To those members that read it right thanks so much!

To those that read it wrong
LOL

- You crack me up.

On my honour, within a six weeks or so there will be a new thread just like this one for improvements to the forum. I promise.

But THIS thread is for EVERYWHERE else on the site, NOT the forum.... it is for these sections below

http://www.pets.ca/
http://www.pets.ca/index-articles.htm
http://www.pets.ca/index-tips.htm
http://www.pets.ca/breedprofiles/index-dogbreeds.html
http://www.pets.ca/index-dogparks.htm
http://www.pets.ca/index_pet_encylopedia.htm
http://www.pets.ca/index-newsletter.htm
http://www.pets.ca/index-cats.html
http://www.pets.ca/index-dogs.html
http://www.pets.ca/petsites/index_cemetery.php
http://www.pets.ca/index-humour.htm
http://www.pets.ca/pets411n/index-411.php
http://www.pets.ca/index-nutrition.htm

Many thanks again everyone! I realize that many BB members never go to the other sections...but those are the sections that we really want feedback on for now, and if you took a few minutes to check them out and add suggestions it would be most appreciated.

Thanks again,
Marko

Winston · #14 October 16th, 2008, 07:34 AM

Hi Marko

A couple of things with regards to the other locations I think the colors are in need of a change...

Also when I view the pages they appear more like a book format? or should I say the page doesnt fill all across the page? it looks like your looking at a sheet of paper on the screen that would lets say be left aligned? hopefully this makes sense.

Another change would be to use some different fonts....something that is kind of catchy?

Just my couple of cents...

Cindy

14+kitties · #15 October 16th, 2008, 08:10 AM

The only thing I can think of is to make the home page a little less "busy". It just seems to me that there are too many things going on. I know the information is needed. Is the article needed or can it be placed elsewhere with a shortcut to it shown on the main page? Or, alternately, can the article be placed in a "box". Most everything else on the page is boxed. This one thing not makes it seem a little off.
Going through the other pages I don't see much wrong with what is there.

I have to go with the others on the bright yellow banner. I would prefer a softer colour. Even a softer yellow. I realize that demographics have shown that yellow is the most noticable but could it be toned down a little?

Joeyjoejoe · #16 October 16th, 2008, 02:33 PM

I say modernize it!

-simplify/reorganize the front page
-I'm not going to suggest any colours... but make sure they work well together.
-add some style/flare (new logo possibly) - that separates this website from others.
-add some "Web 2.0" functionality like adding RRS feeds to the articles/newsletters

Here's some examples of I mean. They are collections of well designed websites that you can steal... I mean borrow a few ideas from:

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/desig...ic-web-design/
http://tutorialblog.org/one-page-websites/

rainbow · #17 October 16th, 2008, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bina

I find that the soft blue, soft green, soft yellow and grey are easiest on the eyes.
Red, orange, white and bright yellow in big banners and such, seem to make my eyes hurt more.

I agree......soft blues and greens together are very relaxing and the background should be light grey imo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14+kitties

The only thing I can think of is to make the home page a little less "busy".

I agree with that too.....the main page should be less cluttered imo.

Stacer · #18 October 16th, 2008, 03:39 PM

I was just looking at the main page and I'm not really a fan of how everything is in boxes. Maybe the menus on the left side could be more slick, don't ask me how

, but they just look a little blah. Definitely get rid of the white background.

marko · #19 October 16th, 2008, 03:46 PM

There we go everyone! Nice!
That's what we're after...PLEASE continue. Don't be shy....we can take it and we want it!

The redesign will officially start on Monday and we expect it will take a full month...so NOW is absolutely the best time to give input.

Continued thanks!

pbpatti · #20 October 16th, 2008, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeyjoejoe

I say modernize it!

-simplify/reorganize the front page
-I'm not going to suggest any colours... but make sure they work well together.
-add some style/flare (new logo possibly) - that separates this website from others.
-add some "Web 2.0" functionality like adding RRS feeds to the articles/newsletters

Here's some examples of I mean. They are collections of well designed websites that you can steal... I mean borrow a few ideas from:

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/desig...ic-web-design/
http://tutorialblog.org/one-page-websites/

Marko, I really like the website that Joeyjoejoe notes: vandealydesign, the colors are easy on the eyes and the way it is set up seems to be easy to move about.

Schwinn · #21 October 18th, 2008, 03:26 PM

I do like the look of the sites without everything being it boxes...it looks a little more "cleaner" and less dated. Same with the font, it seems...a little "form letter-ish"? Not sure how to explain it. Almost like the site was created from one of those "easy site creator" things. I also agree about having it fill the screen. The forum fills my screen, even though it is wide-screen, but the rest of the site only fills half the screen.

As for colour...I've always been partial to clear...

Chaser · #22 October 18th, 2008, 04:33 PM

I would really like to see the primary colour scheme removed - not so easy on the eyes!!!

This is a site I enjoy a lot: http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/

I find it's well-organized and visually appealing.

I also think it would be nice to have more photographs of dogs floating around on the site. Not just for the breed profiles, but with the articles as well (i.e. "Grooming" - have pics of grooming available). Maybe we could do some photo challenges on the bulletin board based on the types of pictures needed for around the site....

marko · #23 October 19th, 2008, 09:12 AM

Thanks again for this input!

Please continue giving input - the redesign starts this coming week.

hazelrunpack · #24 October 19th, 2008, 12:57 PM

I just went out to the Cemetery for the first time. :sad: (I never realized how many people just come in to post memorials and then don't come to the BB.)

A more colorful but dignified background for the cemetery entries would be nice. And if the some of the side boxes could be consolidated or removed--I know ads keep the site solvent, but are they absolutely necessary on this page? Most people who are grieving aren't going to shop anyway.

Maybe just informational links and links to the BB in case they decide to come back and check out the site again at a later time?

rainbow · #25 October 19th, 2008, 01:06 PM

Good suggestion, Hazel.

tommyvallier · #26 October 20th, 2008, 10:22 AM

Well - Marko mentioned that the redesign was starting this week... And it's Monday... Him and I have been talking for a while about the pets.ca site and he's asked me to help out with the design and creation of it's new look. So I thought now would be the best time to come out and introduce myself!

So - hi! Call me Tommy.

I've been following the conversation in here since it got started and will have more to ask (and show) you soon!