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FFE Web Site: Nothing Important Going On Here

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Draconian

SOC-12
It strikes me that that FFE Web Site is the least flashy web site I've ever seen for an active seller of a role-playing game. It appears to be designed with an early-90's knowledge of HTML. No artwork up-front, no big starburst buttons to buy T5, nothing.

http://www.farfuture.net/index.html

Some sites verge on the lurid, but most at least want to project a message that there is an important product for sale. This site is, to put it mildly, understated. Thoughts?
 
Some people still have AOL accounts and use Alta Vista and WebRing and USENET and animated GIF header bars and buttons and HTML frames. It's all very exciting still to some.
 
Draconian said:
Some sites verge on the lurid, but most at least want to project a message that there is an important product for sale. This site is, to put it mildly, understated. Thoughts?
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It's less of a marketing tool, and more an 'internal' site for us fans. What I find frustrating (apart from the lack of promotion) is that sometimes a really interesting tidbit of information will appear then, six months later, is removed. So if you ever see anything interesting, save a local copy.
 
Well just to add one fellow Travellers thoughts on the FFE website.

Personally, I like it. It's simple, loads quickly and I can go straight to what I want. To be honest most websites would be much better if there wasn't flashy adverts blinking around etc. Honestly I'd prefer to see new works for T5 instead and just have a functional website for now.

Having said that, I'm from the days of text based web sites that focused on quality reading content and fast menu access over unwanted eye candy garbage which slowed down the rate at which a web page could be loaded.

Still I understand there is a generation who value flashy animations, movies and other forms of internet exploitation so you have to cater for all tastes I guess.

I think something like the DriveThruRPG website is a good medium between old and new styles.

If there's distressed fellow fans offering to undertake development work for free to update it, well you can't really beat that.
 
Traveller has always been understated. A big blank (black) book with red lettering would only be more understated if the lettering was grey.
 
As long as the user is not drowning in javascript, it's all good to be honest. A revamp could do wonders, but babies and bathwater need not be thrown out.
 
Anything which improves and promotes Traveller is a good thing (as far as I'm concerned).

I'm so used to the FFE website but I can understand why it would seem a little confusing to the newcomer.
 
There's ONE big reason why the FFE website is the way it is.

Marc built it himself. He had Hunter give him some pointers (and Rob and I found errors here and there), but he wants a setup where he, with his limited time, can make any and all changes, and do all support for it, himself.

He's had a number of volunteers propose fancier websites. But the NUMBER ONE criteria for any of that is that he must be able to change anything and everything himself, and do any required support or maintenance himself. That means building a website within a limited set of older webtools.

Heck, I still plod my personal webpages in VI, so I'm probably no better. Of course, with the game convention (www.winterwar.org), I've got a webmaster that knows a few things to lean on.

So, if you have some ideas for the FFE website, drop Marc an e-mail. But remember the NUMBER ONE criteria above.
 
DonM said:
There's ONE big reason why the FFE website is the way it is.

Marc built it himself. He had Hunter give him some pointers (and Rob and I found errors here and there), but he wants a setup where he, with his limited time, can make any and all changes, and do all support for it, himself.

He's had a number of volunteers propose fancier websites. But the NUMBER ONE criteria for any of that is that he must be able to change anything and everything himself, and do any required support or maintenance himself. That means building a website within a limited set of older webtools.

Heck, I still plod my personal webpages in VI, so I'm probably no better. Of course, with the game convention (www.winterwar.org), I've got a webmaster that knows a few things to lean on.

So, if you have some ideas for the FFE website, drop Marc an e-mail. But remember the NUMBER ONE criteria above.
Click to expand...

Some web-hosting services have fancy drag-and-drop interfaces so you are not directly coding. Just place a picture-element, audio, sales portal, where you want. I use Homestead, http://www.homestead.com . They move with the times and update their bag of tools. Would you think that fits his criteria?

It sounds like Marc Miller has some difficulties with the concept of delegating work. This is a trainable management skill in business and there are lots of seminars about it. No offense intended! But something to think about.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4392084_delegate.html
 
If there's a functional problem with the website, Marc will fix it. But I don't think he's interested in changing his methods or moving hosts. Again, if you have a serious proposal for him, contact him directly at marc@farfuture.net.
 
Yes, the Traveller book covers are timeless in their simplicity. The website, however, is very poor. A little effort and focus on simple yet exciting visual presentation is well overdue!
 
MerchantPrince said:
Yes, the Traveller book covers are timeless in their simplicity. The website, however, is very poor. A little effort and focus on simple yet exciting visual presentation is well overdue!
Click to expand...

That's extremely low on my list of priorities for Marc.

But, if he wins the lottery, then yes, he should contract out that web page.
 
MerchantPrince said:
Yes, the Traveller book covers are timeless in their simplicity. The website, however, is very poor. A little effort and focus on simple yet exciting visual presentation is well overdue!
Click to expand...

To what end? It isn't a site that is aimed at getting new players/customers.
 
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