New Site Changes - PatsFans.com Front Page - New England Patriots Forums

**Ian** · 06-01-2010, 07:32 PM

Not sure if anyone visits the front page of PatsFans.com, but I've done some changes:

PatsFans.com

I've added all the local blog links in one place on the right hand side, along with daily news link updates in my blog that are done early each morning. Obviously not much going on now, but it will continue to be updated. Plus I do tend to dig and find some stories that aren't on any of the normal local sites, so hopefully it gives you something interesting that you might not have seen. Plus the most recent discussions are right at the top of that page as well, so everything is now in one place.

Hopefully you'll like what I've been doing. Obviously I'm open to suggestions, so make sure to post your thoughts in this thread.

***jmt57*** · 06-02-2010, 11:41 AM

There are a lot of great links and very useful information on the main page. However the most popular part of this site are the fan forums, specifically the Pats fan forum. I'm guessing that's the first place most go to, or perhaps many have that page bookmarked rather than the main page - resulting in their never seeing the main page.

The thing is that once you're on the fan forum page(s) there is no easy way to get back to the main page. Perhaps if nothing else a "home" button to click on would help. Better yet links to not just the main page but some of the items you mentioned above from the fan forum page. If you need a place to put extra links, maybe you could reduce the size of the random photo album (though that is not visible when you're in a sub-forum, so those links would not be visible from sub-forums either.)

PatsChamp88 · 06-02-2010, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmt57

There are a lot of great links and very useful information on the main page. However the most popular part of this site are the fan forums, specifically the Pats fan forum. I'm guessing that's the first place most go to, or perhaps many have that page bookmarked rather than the main page - resulting in their never seeing the main page.

The thing is that once you're on the fan forum page(s) there is no easy way to get back to the main page. Perhaps if nothing else a "home" button to click on would help. Better yet links to not just the main page but some of the items you mentioned above from the fan forum page. If you need a place to put extra links, maybe you could reduce the size of the random photo album (though that is not visible when you're in a sub-forum, so those links would not be visible from sub-forums either.)

When you click on the top header banner, it takes you to the front page.

PatsChamp88 · 06-02-2010, 07:08 PM

Maybe it is just me but the VIP banner isn't nearly as nice looking as the regular one. If you allowed it Ian I would like to modify the regular one for the VIP members if you have the .pst files.

***jmt57*** · 06-03-2010, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatsChamp88

When you click on the top banner, it takes you to the front page.

Thanks for the heads up. Though if someone like myself, fairly active for a number of years didn't realize that was a way to get back to the main page, then I'm guessing a few others did not / do not know that either. There's nothing that states 'click here for main page' or words to that effect. The only reason I would know it's a redirect is if I hovered my mouse over the picture - and there's no real reason for me to do that.

If the goal is to get more people to see the articles, links, and other info on the main page, then it seems to me the solution would be to make links from the forum pages more eye-catching, more enticing, and more obvious.

For example on the main page there is a row of links near the top: "Twitter Channels, Columnists, Miguel's Cap Pages, Local Media, etc." Why not put that same row of links somewhere on the forum and sub-forum pages - along with one that says 'home' or 'main page'? Maybe a revolving link for recent blog entries, and another revolving link for recent articles by local or national media. Even a link to the Parking Lot, I'm guessing whoever the sponsor is to that link will appreciate the additional hits to their site - and if they pay based on number of hits, that benefits Ian and this site as well.

I just think there's a lot of great columns, blogs, links and other info on the main page that is probably being missed by many if nor most of the members of this site.

**Ian** · 06-03-2010, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatsChamp88

Maybe it is just me but the VIP banner isn't nearly as nice looking as the regular one. If you allowed it Ian I would like to modify the regular one for the VIP members if you have the .pst files.

I'll PM you on this when I get home tonight

Ian

**Ian** · 06-03-2010, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmt57

For example on the main page there is a row of links near the top: "Twitter Channels, Columnists, Miguel's Cap Pages, Local Media, etc." Why not put that same row of links somewhere on the forum and sub-forum pages - along with one that says 'home' or 'main page'? Maybe a revolving link for recent blog entries, and another revolving link for recent articles by local or national media. Even a link to the Parking Lot, I'm guessing whoever the sponsor is to that link will appreciate the additional hits to their site - and if they pay based on number of hits, that benefits Ian and this site as well.

I just think there's a lot of great columns, blogs, links and other info on the main page that is probably being missed by many if nor most of the members of this site.

I'm working on something, but trying to do it in such a way where it's not overly cluttered. The challenge is that I'm going to need to do a little more for the ProShop up there - so I'm working on some designs that fit in and aren't too ridiculous. But I've got some ideas, and we'll see how I can get it to come together.

But thank you for your suggestions - and let me know if you come accross any sites that you feel could be a good design to work off of.

***jmt57*** · 06-03-2010, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian

I'm working on something, but trying to do it in such a way where it's not overly cluttered. The challenge is that I'm going to need to do a little more for the ProShop up there - so I'm working on some designs that fit in and aren't too ridiculous. But I've got some ideas, and we'll see how I can get it to come together.

But thank you for your suggestions - and let me know if you come accross any sites that you feel could be a good design to work off of.

A couple that come to mind are Pro Football Talk, and Mike Reiss' blog on espn Boston. The top banner is devoted to the primary sponsor, with one or two rows of one-word links below that. That reduces the look and feel of clutter, but still provides plenty of links. Then on the right hand side a top-to-bottom column is devoted to both ads and more links. In this area the links can be expanded to one line rather than one word as they won't be cluttering up the area of the primary (Pro Shop) banner. In addition you could utilize the area on the right for another, smaller Pro Shop log/add/link.

Not suggesting it should look identical to either site, just thought those two might give you some ideas to work with.

**Ian** · 06-03-2010, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmt57

A couple that come to mind are Pro Football Talk, and Mike Reiss' blog on espn Boston. The top banner is devoted to the primary sponsor, with one or two rows of one-word links below that. That reduces the look and feel of clutter, but still provides plenty of links. Then on the right hand side a top-to-bottom column is devoted to both ads and more links. In this area the links can be expanded to one line rather than one word as they won't be cluttering up the area of the primary (Pro Shop) banner. In addition you could utilize the area on the right for another, smaller Pro Shop log/add/link.

Not suggesting it should look identical to either site, just thought those two might give you some ideas to work with.

I had looked at Reiss' ESPN page but not PFT. Excellent suggestions - so thank you