Vapor Talk "splash" Page

[Christopher]

By now, most of you have noticed that new landing area when entering the site. Now it's time for some honest feedback. like it or hate it? Keep it or drop it.

Feel free to be open and honest. It's important!

[FTJoe]

I know resolutions/monitor sizes are a pain for developers. I've attached a pic of what I see n my ThinkPad T61 at a resolution is 1280x800.

So first I hate horizontal scroll bars. Given the page type and resolution, some folks don't even know they need to scroll and folks run at lower resolutions than I do. Even scrolled though, the text is lost on the right.

Other than that, loverly, great landing area.

[kitsune]

I know some have had the same resolution issues FT has had.

Personally I like it. Grabs attention when surfing sites. Noobies and experienced a like will stop and look and then hopefully keep looking.

I like the information on the page--we have lots of new people looking for how to information, it's nice having that information when they first come to the site.

[Christopher]

Yea the resolution issue is a PAIN So long as everyone likes the landing page I'll keep working on it. What I'll probably have to do for the banners is limit the length of it and redo each one. It's easy to forget that not everyone has a really high resolution. When I created the banners I created them for my screen (late at night) and just forgot about that smaller resolutions. Even though I can shrink the banners down it cuts of the text. (nice lol)

I'll probably create some new banners tonight or tomorrow and create them for lower resolutions.

(FTJoe will be my BETA tester haha)

[ROOR]

I have to say i personally like it... But i think if this was my first time to come to this site ever, it would turn me off a little bit.. the navi is a lil strange i mean its easy but not every like BOOM DO THIS!.. i kinda like just dropping strigth into teh forum and see all the stuff poppin off..

sorry i know im no help...

<3ROOR

[Christopher]

I have to say i personally like it... But i think if this was my first time to come to this site ever, it would turn me off a little bit.. the navi is a lil strange i mean its easy but not every like BOOM DO THIS!.. i kinda like just dropping strigth into teh forum and see all the stuff poppin off..

sorry i know im no help...

<3ROOR

Yea and that's what I'm a little worried about. The whole point of the page was to make it easier for Noobies. But if it doesn't, what's the point. Any feedback to make it easier to navigate or suggestions are 100% welcome.

[ROOR]

Its hard to say, i see the big buttons at the top but to me for some reason i like seeing the forum it makes it look like e cigs are understandable .. i don't know how to explain it.. maybe instead if the 3 lil boxes filled of text u put a pic in there of the forum and the store and the guru so u can still keep it simple to the eye but at the same time give it something to look at.. i dont know i suck at this.

[Christopher]

Hmmm I see what your saying. I could always just remove the top three links and add a picture of the forum with a link instead.

Guru will eventually be replaced with the new site. Easier to maintaine that way

[Brian]

I really like the page, but I agree with ROOR. The forum button needs to be distinguished.

[FTJoe]

I was going to suggest something similar. I was looking for the forum button to hit to get help...I see it was in the middle section after paging down and there is actually a button called 'enter'. I was thinking where it said 'Enter The Forum!' would be a hotspot but it's not. Always can pull down on the forum at top and press enter so not a big deal.

[Christopher]

I did change that to enter this morning to make it easier to understand. But I can change it "enter the forum" no problem. I understand the need for a global forum entry button. I could always add a link in the footer? This would show a link to the forum on every page.

What I could do is make a link called "still need help?" and that would lead into the forum. Pretty universal to me.

[FTJoe]

I refreshed and see the big button now, sorry. I still have to page down to get there and I hate paging. As I said though, the menu bard has the forum option as well on the first page. Can you make the 'Enter the forum' text a hotspot, maybe its just me but I was pressing it earlier. Anyway, kind of getting nit picky now. Let others answer...especially noobs, they'll let you know.

One more nitpick - the bring your ecig in parens gets a little lost on my screen with the background (color wise)

Edited July 14, 2010 by FTJoe

[kitsune]

The 'enter the forum' is front and center--I like that.

[Christopher]

yea I just updated that last night so it's easier to notice. I might even add an icon of some sort.

[mercesp]

I like the new look...I'm a fairly new member but I do have a couple of comments...if I were just coming to Vapor Talk I think I'd be confused...maybe welcome to vapor talk button that would link to a noobie area with the rules and suggestions for new members ...also I would like a link back to the forum from the shopping area...but the new look of the page is great.

[Christopher]

I like the new look...I'm a fairly new member but I do have a couple of comments...if I were just coming to Vapor Talk I think I'd be confused...maybe welcome to vapor talk button that would link to a noobie area with the rules and suggestions for new members ...also I would like a link back to the forum from the shopping area...but the new look of the page is great.

There is actually a PM that is sent out, but until now, like a dumb dumb, I forgot New Members do not have access to PM's. I think I'll change that. The PM contains everything a member needs to get started. No use if they can't see it

As for the forum I'll create a link. Many have asked for this back.

[mcquinn]

You put the sign in on the drop down but then it goes right back to the page instead of the forum.The page is nice and if I wasn't going to the forum I would spend more time looking at things and links on it.

[Christopher]

OK, Personal Messages for new members has been added. Forum link has been added to the store.

[Christopher]

Images have been updated and should work with most resolutions now

[Uma]

All better on my monitor now.

[Lily]

Hi, I think when I clicked the firefox tab at the top the first time, the page went right to the full page of 30 things about analogs. I thought I might have entered a parallel universe. I'm not sure I want to know anymore what was in my analogs. When I refreshed, I went to the current config which is looking good. I agree with others that mostly I come to the forum first to see what's going on, and then maybe I go on to scope out other things I might be interested in. Thanks for your site beautification!

[ddavelarsen]

I seldom see the new splash page unless I'm coming from another machine. My bookmark is still set to the old portal, and I get redirected to the forum.

That said, it was hard for me to figure out how to find the forum initially. I'll try the new splash and let you know how that goes here in a few minutes.

Okay, the resolution is great, but I think you want to make the purple "ENTER" a hyperlink too; that was my instinct, to click the first word rather than look for a button. Other than that, I like it but I'm still going to keep going directly to the forum.

Edited July 19, 2010 by ddavelarsen

[Christopher]

Noted