Vote Today For Your Favorite Coding4Fun Redesign

Article
09/20/2006

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are redesigning Coding4Fun and we want *you* to help choose the new design.

Redesign Summary
The current content on Coding4Fun is disorganized and primarily structured by author or event. This makes it frustrating to find the content on the site. For Coding4Fun v2, we are redesigning the site content into four major categories driven off the Coding4Fun blog:

Windows - Utilities, Sidebar gadgets, etc
Web - Web apps, mashups,etc
Gaming - 2D games, graphics mods, etc
Hardware - Robotics, web cams, etc

Content is *not* mutually exclusive so that an article like Dance, Dance Revolution which would be in both the hardware and game categories. In addition we'll have a "News" and an "Events" category, the former being a blog with aspirations to be half as good as the Makezine blog (kudos to Phil).

FeedbackFeedback on our design is open to anyone, feel free to respond directly in the comments here. Make your feedback constructive, and be as specific as possible about what aspects of the design you do/don't like. You can of course mix and match feedback, like part of design 1 and part of design 2. The better your feedback, the more likely we are to act on it.

Popularity contest
Yes, this is a shameless popularity contest (most popular design wins) although there are no rules, be nice and don't vote more than once. Deadline Since we have a lot of cool content just waiting for the redesign to finish, the deadline for voting will be one week, by Wednesday September 27th for this round of feedback. Future deadlines for the sub-pages (like the gaming, and Web catgories) may be even shorter so stay tuned!

The Designs
The designs below are *conceptual* designs for the Coding4Fun home page (level1). In total, there are six different designs listed in alphabetical order. Click on the design thumbnails below to open the full-size image.

Design #1 - Clean Orange

Design #2 - Comic

Design #3 - Glass

Design #4 - illo

Design #5 - Metal

Design #6 - Vista

Vote Now!

Comments

Anonymous
September 20, 2006
test1
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
I vote Glass.
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
Design #1: Yawn. Nice design, but it doesn't really carry the C4F feel

#2: Personally, I like it. Few possible problems - lawsuit from Marvel enterprises for the Web gag, and the section graphics are too big.

#3: Looks too much like a bad PHPBB site

#4: Like it

#5: Meh. Reflections are the new drop shadows, and brushed metal is so yesterday.

#6: Meh, part 2. I'd vote against it solely on the name, but graphically it looks like a green version of the Mac desktop graphic.

If I were to order them in preference, I'd say: 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 3
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
For me, either, the comic or the metal style fit best for coding4fun. The others are nice, too. But they look too seriously, not like fun.
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
Looks GREAT!!
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
Clean orange
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
design 5 or design 6
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
Metal!
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
Design #1 - Clean Orange, clean, sober, readable...
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
Design #3 is the Best

I like this one the best mainly because some of the articles being under the Categories. As well as it being aseptically pleasing and the lack of clutter.

Design 5 (second best), I love the pictures but the bottom right-hand corner is far too empty.

Design 1 is far too in your face as well as cluttered – too much space wasted on the picture. Design 2 is just plain horrible – enough said. Design 4 reminds me of greenies – not something one wants to see on a site like this one. Design 6 is very cluttered – too much information far too close together – mainly the categories area and their descriptions.
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
I vote for "Design #3 - Glass"
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
My vote goes to "Metal" skin.
Anonymous
September 20, 2006
Design #6 - Vista
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
I think "Design #3 - Glass" is really good because not only lookwise content presentation wise also it is good.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
Vista
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
Upon review of the given designs, I have concluded that I like design #1 the most. I haven't seen too many orange sites, but I really like this one. I like the < > in the header image.
I also like the Comic, after all, we are coding for fun ;)

I'm not too fond of the Glass or Metal designs; although they do look very nice, there's enough websites out there with these themes already.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
My votes for the clean orange design
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
Glass
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
Design #5 - Metal
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
I like the "Clean Orange", but I would make the banner graphic smaller and try out different colors other than the burnt orange...
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
use metal number 5. it is the best
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
PingBack from http://blogs.msdn.com/danielfe/archive/2006/09/20/763916.aspx
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
glass
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
my mind says vista, but my heart says glass
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
#2 comic
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
It's obvious that Clean Orange is the best and sticks out from the rest.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
CleanOrange. It stands out the most.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
Design #5 - Metal
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
glass.... hands down
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
The glass design really stands out for its clean design.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
Design #1 - Clean Orange
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
#3 Glass really stands out for me, its got my vote.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
PingBack from http://blogs.msdn.com/kathleen/archive/2006/09/22/765761.aspx
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
Glass is really cool.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006

Vista
2. Glass
3. Clean Orange

Anonymous
September 21, 2006
I prefer #3 as this is the only one giving you the overview of headlines per category.

#5 metal is in my opinion the better looking one, but containes only a small amount of information. You are forced to click each category before knowing whazzup.

So... redesign #5 to put in the category (web, windows, gaming and hardware) headlines.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
I vote for clean orange.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
I think I like Glass the most, but second would be CleanOrange.
Anonymous
September 21, 2006
1 please ;)
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Clean orange for navigation & structure. (Maybe not orange)
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Gotta go with Glass.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
They're all boring and corporate except Comic. That's the only one that makes me believe I can do what I really want with code, as opposed to doing what's allowed or what the corporate sponsors would approve. Why? Probably because I can create comics for fun, and I WOULD create comics for fun, but I would never design a standard-issue Website4FUN. Although even better might be a video game theme. :-)

Actually I like the look of the Metal theme too, but there isn't enough content visible.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
I vote Vista!
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Clean Orange, Thats the best one according to me
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
I would prefer the Metal design for look and feel, but for the actual functionality and clarity of information as well as ease of use, I would go for Glass. I've been in the software side of the industry for years now and the simplest design ALWAYS wins over the complex and cartoon like designs. I know other websites at the moment has a similar look and feel of the Metal design, but is that not the point of updating websites looks, so that they are current?

Summary - Take the basic layout plan for Glass and apply all the images, colours and fonts of the Metal design.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Clean orange, baby. Simple, functional...
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
I like the glass one. It looks very clean and organized.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Hey Ryan,

As I pointed out, I'd like to be constructive in the comments. If you feel all the designs should be "scrapped", can you point to a design on the Web that you do like that fits Coding4Fun?
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Here is something interesting. Dan Fernandez is asking users to rate and vote for different web site...
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Design #3 - Glass
Well orranized
shows links from each category in the front page.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
3 - very clean.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
I vote for glass. I goes with the new Vista glass (obviously) but that seems appropriate.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Clean Orange
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
In order of preference.

#1 - Clean Orange
#2 - Glass
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Design #2 - Comic. I feel this design expresses a real Coding4Fun theme.

Personally, I admire the classy designs of Clean Orange, Glass, and Vista. However, I'm not sure if they match the intended theme of Coding4Fun.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Glass
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Glass
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Me likes 1 and 2... Agree with the comments about reflections being the new drop-shadow in the over-used sense of the phrase.

2 Fits the fun theme quite nicely but might be relatable to too narrow an audience.

1 Looks relaxing, warm and inviting. Not necessarily 'fun' but not intimidating either.
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
I vote the vista look .
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
Either Design 5 (Metal) or Design 6 (Vista).. Both look great
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
#3 Glass
Anonymous
September 22, 2006
My preference: Orange, Vista, illo, Metal, Glass, Comic.

Orange: Clean, elegant, not too fancy, but looks modern and has a designer feel. Top picture may be a bit too big for repeated visits. Maybe a little less red for the text you should read.

Vista: Lots of info in one spot, without getting cluttered. Colors are not exactly to my liking, and the Aero glass-effect is distracting.

illo: Like the color scheme, but it's not much visible content, that single column. The dark background on the text is hard to read with the lighter and visually active sides.

Metal: I like the icy boxes, but the rest looks a little cheap.

Glass: Colors are good, but the top boxes feel the same somehow, and make the design somewhat rigid and unattractive.

Comic: Eek! No comment.

But hey, I'm no designer.
Anonymous
September 23, 2006
I like the #6 the most but that would normally be seen on a windows vista website. I would say the Metal one is the coolest with the bestest graphics. The Glass is the best I would have to say.
Anonymous
September 23, 2006
Design 1 is the way to go. It's the best of them all. Looks very professional and at the same way the orange color may inspire people to participate in the project.

Best regards,
LK
Anonymous
September 23, 2006
Overall, I like Glass the best for the content, design and organization. A close second would be Metal. The organization is similar to Glass, and I like the look of the clear blocks with the icons imbedded. However, I think the overall design doesn't offer enough content.
Anonymous
September 23, 2006
Mmm, why not go for something simple? Like flickr.com ? if any though i would say the orange, all the others look like a kid has made them? Enless that was the whole point? Why not let the users make designs, send them in, and then let the other users judge them!?
Anonymous
September 23, 2006
I vote for Glass.

The main reason is that its colours are, IMHO, the most sympathetic to the MSDN design which it's going to be nested within.

As others have already said, the four sections at the top with links to articles is a great idea: I can arrive, then jump straight into the stuff I'm interested in.

Can I suggest that RSS feeds for each section are made available, too? perhaps put RSS icons on the right-hand side of the "More >" bars? That way I can subscribe to the bits I'm interested in.

Definitely needs something in that bottom-right corner, though. Maybe a list of planned articles, or author bios?
Anonymous
September 23, 2006
Hey Adam,

We did consider doing the user-designed model, but there are restrictions and legal issues like the IP of the HTML and graphics (Microsoft would need to own them) and the actual integration with our backend. It would be fun to see user-centered designs though :)
Anonymous
September 23, 2006
I like #4 Illo
Anonymous
September 24, 2006
Design #1 - Clean Orange
Anonymous
September 24, 2006
Well, I guess I'm the second youngest poster here, and I the Coding4Fun RSS feed is in my "Check Now" Folder. And, it's even the home page at my School..

And, yea I vote for 1.....
Anonymous
September 24, 2006
My votes in order:

- design #3
- design #6
- design #5
- design #4
- design #2
- design #1

Best regards :)
Anonymous
September 24, 2006
All (but one - guess which) look great. I must vote for5
Anonymous
September 24, 2006
All look good - apart from one. Must go for #5 !
Anonymous
September 24, 2006
Metal is great
Anonymous
September 24, 2006
In order of preference:

*Glass - clean and looks like it would be easiest to navigate
*Clean Orange - easy to read, clean, I like it.
*Metal - looks like it embodies the fun part of the site
*Vista - follows the new direction MS is taking

Do not do
*Illo - it's hard to read and slightly obnoxious
*Comic - Too Marvel for me
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
Vista look nice and clear for me
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
#1 Glass is simply the best
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
I vote for metal.
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
#1 Too boring, but good designs
#2 Creative, but still too boring
#3 Very sleek looking. This is my favorite.
#4 Nice, I like this one too
#5 I like the transparent look
#6 Makes me want to go to sleep...too boring
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
I would say 2, 3 or 5. Two would win with a change to the links. They are two big and not really liking the whole japped buttons. Maybe a round link area with circle in middle with links around it. Look like some kind of Communications device in some sci-fi or cartoon.
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
I would say numbers 5 and 6 are the best out of all of them. Number 5 is the best out of those two.
CHOOSE NUMBER 5!!!
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
#2 Comic
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
Metal all the way
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
glass or vista
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
Really tough,
1. Glass or Clean Orange: they both have a very clean, distinct setup that is very pleasing.
2. Metal, would be higher but the four main icons unfortunatly do not fit with the atmosphere of the rest of the page
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
#1 -> Metal
#2 -> Comic
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
Metal(#5) looks gr8
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
Love the vista design.
Anonymous
September 25, 2006
Glass Rocks!!! The design works best with the subject.
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Vista
Anonymous
September 26, 2006

5

Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Clean Orange design but with the option to personalize the color and other bits. I don't like the orange color but i prefer the layout.
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Really cool Layouts!

But I like Vista & Glass most.
I really like the fresh colors of vista with the smooth glass grdients.

The vista Layout would be lot more functional if the black layer moves a bit to the right and put some main Category Icons into the top Glassbar.

Greetz
Ripi1000
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Glass looks the sharpest. It's clean easy to grasp and most sophisticated page layout. I think this will be easy to navigate for experienced and new visitors alike.
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Number 5.
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Clean Orange
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Vista
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Glass or metal, in that order. I have to say that graphically all the designs are good, and are far better than anything I could ever produce, but I'm not sure that, for me, any of them really embody the idea of coding for fun. Glass and metal come closest, being clean, easy to navigate and easy on the eye. The others would be just too difficult to live / work with.
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
I like Clean Orange. Not too cluttered like the others. I don't think the site needs an amateurish feel. If the top graphic was 80% of it's current size it would be a little better.
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
My vote is for Glass - Design #3
I like the fact that as soon as you enter the page you can immediatly see the latest articles for each of the groups ie "Windows", "Gaming" ect.
The color scheme of Glass is also very nice
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Glass
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
#3 glass is the most practical. Readable, Organized and non-intrusive.
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Top 3 choices [in order]:

1. Glass
2. Metal
3. Vista
Anonymous
September 26, 2006
The designs look really nice graphically, but how they work when there is alot of text and pictures on the page?

You could just post the spliced graphics from the page and we could judge the site by them, most of the pages in C4F have alot of text and it should be easy to read.

But if I really have to choose one I would choose the Glass since it seems to be nicely organized and clear enough.
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
I think Comic will be the best suited. It looks lively, light weight (at least we can hope so) and has bright colours to turn up your mind.
Comic is appealing
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
The vista look. Nice.
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
Metal
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
Design # 5
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
Glass
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
GLASS

looks the best
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
Clean Orange
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
I vote Comic
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
My vote is for COMIC
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
Metal in first place with Comic Comeing in close second (it just feels realy cool).
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
I vote for Metal - it reminds me of Ice --> can you have music playing in the background like "Ice Ice Baby.."?
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
I vote Metal!!!!
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
oh... It has to be Glass... It is Vistaie and it has a good organization of the info... I mean.. some designs, like comic... are not that intuitive (I am all about ease) and many people that are going to come to the site are not going to be programmers or understand how to navigate something by default.
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
Glass looks awesome, I love it!
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
cool
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
Definetely either #5 or #6.
Anonymous
September 27, 2006
glass!
Anonymous
September 28, 2006
Clean Orange !
Anonymous
September 28, 2006
Judging by aesthetics and apparent ease of navigation, I vote Glass - without a doubt. CleanOrange takes second place. The others, appear like they would be quite difficult to navigate.
Anonymous
September 28, 2006
Glass
Anonymous
September 28, 2006
i think glass is very much fine to others n i like tht design too its very impressive to watch
Anonymous
September 29, 2006
Design #6 - Vista
Anonymous
September 29, 2006
re: Vote Today For Your Favorite Coding4Fun Redesign :

No.1: Metal

No.2: Vista

No.3: Clean Orange
Anonymous
September 29, 2006
I vote glass.
Anonymous
September 29, 2006
Glass
Anonymous
September 29, 2006
Windows Vista
Anonymous
September 30, 2006
he Clean orange is a nice design, but it doesn't look like a developers site!
the comic one - in my opinios - is the worst design!

I likes that glass design, It's no. 1.

that illo one looks like a 90+ web site!

the metal interface it amazing , but keeping only the title of each partion with out pointing to the top/ new articles makes it
impractical.

Vista design is pretty cool, but once we install Windows Vista , I think that this design will be just , normal!

So again , I vote for Glass.

Thanks alot
Anonymous
September 30, 2006
Glass looks pretty and clear!!
Anonymous
September 30, 2006
myTop 3 choices:

1. Design #1 - Clean Orange
2. Design #6 - Vista
3. Design #3 - Glass
Anonymous
October 01, 2006
love the glass!. it rocks
Anonymous
October 01, 2006
I vote for Glass!
Anonymous
October 01, 2006
Orange for me :)
Anonymous
October 02, 2006
glass is first choiceillo is second choice
Anonymous
October 02, 2006
The best are Vista and Glass.
Anonymous
October 04, 2006
i vote glass
Anonymous
October 05, 2006

Vista2. Glass3. Orange

Anonymous
October 07, 2006
I vote for Design #3 - Glass.
Anonymous
October 09, 2006
I vote for #3 - Glass.It seems to allow for easier navigation and content display.
Anonymous
October 09, 2006
I vote #1 - Clean OrangeIt is the best of all.
Anonymous
October 09, 2006
The Best Designs are,1. Vista2. Glass
Anonymous
October 11, 2006
I prefer the Orange design.Thanks
Anonymous
October 13, 2006
i like both Design #4 - illo,Design #5 - Metal.
Anonymous
October 15, 2006
I am split between glass and metal, witha slight bias for glass
Anonymous
October 16, 2006
I give metal #1. It should be having more 3D dynamics ( Assuming it doesn'nt consume much bandwidth than during load for the first time on a system). But of course we can go for a more extreme step by giving the user an option to switch his theme during runtime. sort of a personalization. Try this one.
Anonymous
October 17, 2006
Onlu design number one.. it looks like very professional great
Anonymous
October 17, 2006
#3 is best
Anonymous
October 18, 2006
I like all. However, the Vista may be better.
Anonymous
October 18, 2006
metal rocks the party that rocks the party
Anonymous
October 18, 2006
Metal (Design 5): Good Vista (Design 6): Better Glass (Design 3): BEST
Anonymous
October 18, 2006
#1 Vista #2 Glass #3 Metal #4 Rest of them
Anonymous
October 18, 2006
Vista looks the best man.... Really, think about it.
Anonymous
October 18, 2006
#1 Glass #2 Metal #3 Vista #4 Rest of them
Anonymous
October 18, 2006
Glass is the Best one to choose.
Anonymous
October 19, 2006
Glass is really cool
Anonymous
October 19, 2006
Gostei muito do Design #2 []s
Anonymous
October 19, 2006
Thanks again to the 160+ of you who voted on the Coding4Fun redesign ! As you know, the Glass design
Anonymous
October 19, 2006
Design #6, Vista for sure. It's clean and the large verical off center region makes for easy reading.
Anonymous
November 01, 2006
Design #3 - Glass, for sure! :)
Anonymous
November 02, 2006
It's alive! Thanks again to everyone who helped vote on the redesign , we are now officially live! The
Anonymous
November 02, 2006
From Daniel Fernandez's blog , a revamped Coding4Fun site is now online. It's alive! Thanks again to
Anonymous
November 02, 2006
Vous aviez peut être voter pour lui , découvrez le nouveau design du site Coding4Fun : Coding4Fun . C'est
Anonymous
November 28, 2006
As the move to higher resolutions displays and smoother vector icons we can see the final Vista icons...
Anonymous
September 12, 2007
what are the different learning styles of children

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