Cantr front page

[Chris]

It's kind of praxis to have an ad at the top of the page, don't you think? We also get a fuw bucks each month from views and clicks on it, so it's a good thing.

If placing the ad lower will break the game's finances, then ignore me.

As for what is commonly done in other persistent browser games, take a look:

http://www.eternalwars.com/Index.php
https://www.vnations.net/
http://lordempires.com/
http://www.miniconomy.com/
http://www.cityslaves.com/
http://www.operation-b.net/
http://www.lordsgame.com/

[EchoMan]

So you can pick 7 sites of the web that doesn't have a top banner (though some have a lot of ads on the sides)? I can find 7 sites [i]with[/] a top banner, and what does that prove? If the banner disturbs you that much, don't go to the front page or use ad-block.

(Or even better, join the PR Department if you think you know how we should attract more new players)

[Chris]

So you can pick 7 sites of the web that doesn't have a top banner (though some have a lot of ads on the sides)?

That wasn't my method. I typed "persistent browser games" into Google, found http://www.pbbghub.net/. It has a top ten list. 2 of those links are dead, 1 is Cantr, and the other 7 are the ones I provided.

It's not about me. I am 100% fine with loading ads, and I made Cantr an exception for AdBlock long ago. However, I don't think that an ad should be top and center of the page that recruits new players.

[Greek]

Moving the top ad somewhere else, in example on the player (after login) page sounds good to me. We must keep in mind that many other games (listed above) have sms shops, pro accounts for real cash etc. so they don't have to add as much advertisements as we do.

I'm proceeding with my front page project. I added nav bar, twitter news as sidebar, facebook "like", will add google +1
I'll not remove the background, one color background doesn't look attractive and current image is something both mild and... I don't have proper word for this, but I'm sure that word is positive. We also must get rid of these ugly header and footer "gradient" backgrounds on the top and bottom of the every Cantr page. They are just... disgusting ;P

That's how my current project looks like:
http://screenshoot.me/OL0FBq

And I think IRC link should redirect to mibbit web client instead of that poor Java client.
It would be nice to have tutorial not in wiki but as part of that page.
Screenshots too.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

That looks nice. I still think the flags should just be text though (though I adore your Brit/US flag combo). I think part of it to me is that with the ad right there, it makes them look like a part of it.

[Theda]

I really love your project, GreeK.

[Sonnrain]

Nice work, GreeK!

Regarding the lanuage flags: You can remove the Latin flag; afaik it is currently not possible to play Cantr in Latin. Esperanto and Lojban would be more interesting but I don't know how to depict those...

[EchoMan]

Personally I would prefer a discrete language drop-down select-box kind of thing.

[Chroma Key]

I think it is a good idea to display the different language options so that it is clear you CAN play Cantr in languages other than English.

[EchoMan]

If we check the browser language and automagically select the language we believe the visitor uses, and have a box somewhere on the side that says "Select language" I think it would be clear enough?

What happens when we support 120 languages? It will look like a flag collection.

[Greek]

It's really good idea. So we can add list with image+name and not show any image if there's problem with flag. The only question is: where should be that box located?

[EchoMan]

Something like this? It's possible to add flags to the dropdown with css/js too.

(blatantly ripped from GreeK's image and google translate)

[Greek]

Ok, after short struggle (and with Echoman's help) language list looks and works fine

http://screenshoot.me/3CiHQk

http://screenshoot.me/81m7l1
Another nice thing is that if flags is not available then empty field is displayed (like for Zhongwen), so we'll have no problems with problematic flags ;]
I'm not sure where to locate it. It could be where it is or on the same height but moved to right/left margin or in additional box as Echoman suggested.

As addition, I was trying to do something with fonts used for text content. Maybe somebody has experience in fitting font type to page appearance or something like that? All help is appreciated. :]

We also await for other projects of front page.

Hmm, I'll post some important things and rules which should be (or at least it would be nice to be) followed:
- it should be possible to have additional data on subpages
- it would be nice to have place for screenshots from the game (oh noes, we need cute screenshots from Cantr first :OOOO)
- default language will be selected automatically using client userdata
- somewhere news or other activity should be visible (to show off that we are not dead yet)
- ad on the top will be discussed, maybe it will be or maybe it will not be deleted, I don't know and it's not me who decides
- main page should attract, so say about most interesting things first, additional data somewhere else (other's page appearance should be changed a bit too, to not scare off newcomers)

and additional statement is: it should be possible to enter front page when logged in, login and password fields should be replaced by link "return to the player page" or sth liek that. It'd be good to have some interesting data for older players too but I don't know what could it be and it's not matter of that topic

[the_antisocial_hermit]

I think it'd be best in a box like Echoman had it, or over to the margins at least. Something that separates it from the ad better. But otherwise, an awesome suggestion and implementation for it. I love that the flags can be kept, and the problem of non-flag languages fixed.

The rest of your post I shall ruminate upon when I am not so exhausted (indeed, I feel a bit guilty for being too tired to write appropriate posts for the characters I've just checked and instead taking the time to throw in my 2 cents on these screenshots).

[psychowico]

Private I prefer GreeK flags. I really don't believe that we will handle 120 languages