Ron's Brain

It's like this, Ron: I don't like it. I can't tell if I don't like it because it's different, or because I would be predisposed to not liking it if I wasn't previously familiar with Ron's Brain. That's not exactly constructive criticism, and I'm toeing the line between blunt and gentle. I didn't want to say anything without offering feedback on how to improve, but I also understand that the worst thing a website maintainer can experience is sudden and complete silence from his readership. So, let me just articulate what I want from a perfect world and what the redesign is giving me.

The front page is, well, not what I'm looking for when I visit. I want the last few entries, complete with snippets of the entry. The titles aren't always that distinct, and seeing a chunk of the entry is far more likely to tell me if I read an entry than the title is.

I know that RonsBrain is more than just the entries, so it makes sense that the landing page for that might be /news, but /news is just a list, no excerpts, etc. How about a separate landing page for people who are invested into the site and check back regularly, maybe one that at least informationally approximates the old landing page?

Also, excerpts from forum messages might be nice. I forget they're there, and they're rarely very long - it wouldn't take up much more space, and as amusing as the content is, it might spice things up a bit.
Actually, that's a lie. I've been somewhat consciously avoiding them since Derf posted a picture of himself in fishnets.

Fixing the width and floating it in the middle of the page is nice visually, but I can't help thinking that there might be space for a sidebar, and the blue swirlies as the backdrop are bland enough to not be memorable, but are just busy enough to point out to my eye that they're filling in empty space. A busier image would make it worse, but maybe a solid color or an incredibly non-engaging pattern for the back.

In short, a sidebar on the landing page, a separate landing page for those of us who just want to easily and quickly read the recent news, de-emphasize the space around the main content, and maybe make the forum aspect a touch more prominent.

Well thanks.

I agree with everything Mr. P says - except for the idea of a second landing page. I think that based on your readership & site content, a home page that pleases all is totally doable.... even if your sense of pleasure revolves around a man in fishnets.

Make a thing that creates tons of spare time at work. The lack of said time seems to be one of the reasons I dont drop on here as much anymore.