LL site redesign

[alden]

LL members

I am working on a new LL site design and would like to hear your views?

And if any of you knows of a good web designer, please let me know.

Thanks

Michael

[storeynicholas]

I should like to see a better search engine so that any thread, post or article can be found using simple key words.
NJS

[radicaldog]

A simpler way of hosting and posting pictures might encourage more members to share images.

Thank you once again for all your work on the many aspects of the LL, Michael.

[Gruto]

I'm a heavy user, and I find it easy to navigate the present site. But how many read the first page (http://thelondonlounge.net/gl)? Usually I go straight to the Forum. Moreover, I almost never use the menu on the right or the top menu bar.

[marcelo]

Non-native English speakers might appreciate a spell check tool.

[alden]

These are excellent suggestions. I am also thinking about how to create specific forums for non-English speakers in the way of the new German forum. It has been suggested that many French, Italian and Japanese men would be more able to participate if they had their own forums.

M Alden

[MildlyConsumptiv]

I'd like to see your articles posted in a blog format on the site. There are many insightful contributors to the site, but I think your articles stand apart. Some of your articles are posted under "Alden's Journal", but most of them are not, and consequently get lost in the forum. I'd like to be able to see all of your sartorial wisdom in one easily browsable blog.

Also, I think the forum generally works pretty well, but could use a little trimming. I'm not sure if there is much difference between the "Bespoke" page and the "Dressing Room" page anymore.

[pbc]

I realize this website is dedicated to elegant dress for men, but there are still precious few women members. An educated lady's opinion is often highly valued whether in regards to men's attire or women's. I do not wish in any way to shift the purpose of the London Lounge, only to enhance it. As I have found no comparable website for women wherein I can find such knowledge for my wife (we are, after all, going through life together, and women are at least part of the reason we wish to dress well), would some place to address women's fine dressing be appropriate? Perhaps its own chapter or sub-forum? I feel confident that the typical demeanor of participants on this website would prevent its degeneration into base discussion.

I have also noted some overlap between the "Best of Bespoke" and "The Atelier," as well as the "Dressing Room" and "The Bespoke Forum." Like Gruto, I also go directly to the Forum.

pbc

[Baltic]

I find that in threads with photos, the right margin of each post, and therefore the text of each post, extends beyond the right-hand edge of my computer screen. A recent example of this is the "Idealized drape" thread in the Features and Articles forum.

Presumably the dimensions of the posted photos dictate the width of the thread. Would it be possible to keep the margins within the standard computer-screen width (as do the threads without photos), or maybe to arrange for the text, or the text-only posts within such threads, to stay within the standard width?

If I'm the only one with this problem, then please ignore, as it's probably due to my own computer settings.

This is a perfect opportunity to say what a pleasure it is to be among such knowledgeable, thoughtful and gracious people. Thanks, Michael, for creating and maintaining the LL and for being such a great host!

[MildlyConsumptiv]

A good idea might be, in the new design, to keep some of the old. This might make things more of an evolution, as opposed to a revolution. Old members will still see a bit of the old site they have come to like so much. Indeed a 'frozen' archive of the 'old' site might be a very prudent inclusion.

This is a very good idea. I remember referring back to the old Yahoo LL site for a couple years after this one was created.

[shredder]

I too would like to see a better search facility. I have seen some sites where they have Google integrated rather than coming up with a proprietary engine. I have no idea what the comparative cost implications are...

While this may be more about organisation rather than site design, but it would be helpful to have one place to see all the Cloth Club item details including item number, weight, weave, photos or long description if photos are not yet availabe, project status and date of status update. Currently, all the information about a particular project is available but scattered in various threads, requiring a fair amount of patience to piece everything together if one has not followed the development from an early stage.

As for introducing fora in other languages, it is a nice idea but what would be the objective for introducing them? Would, say, the German section have all the different fora such as the Dressing Room, Bespoke et al as in the English section, or will it be just one German forum where all sorts of topics will be discussed? It may serve as an incentive for others to visit LL, increasing site traffic, which may be helpful in attracting advertisers, but I do not think that it will result in incremental participation in the true sense since it seems like all you are actually doing is supplying additional bandwidth without enhanced interaction. To me it sounds a bit like building a block of flats rather than a big house...? For the avoidance of doubt, I am not objecting to the idea but just not "getting it."

[pbc]

Let me also add those things which I do especially like:

Anonymous Questions and Answer
Features and Articles
The Atelier
Elegant Living
The various options in the Features menu of the upper right
The newly organized chapters
The fact that chapters are listed separately, each with their own sub-forum

I do have one question. When performing a search and opening one of the returned threads, the highlighted terms are in white. On my monitor, the white against a very light beige serves to wash out the words, erasing them instead of emphasizing. If others do not have this problem, please ignore. If it is more common, perhaps a different highlight color can be used.

[dopey]

Before commenting on the design of the site, it is worth noting that the content of the site, it's reason for being, is excellent. The level of knowledge and information available here is simply unmatched on the net. More importantly, the amount of "noise" that you have to sift through to get to the "signal" is vastly lower than on the various other forums that try to address the same subjects. That, more than anything else, is the reason the London Lounge excels and no site design can match that value.

As for the design itself, the biggest problem with the site is that it reflects the evolution of the website without much paring. As it is, the home page is really not of much value - nearly all of the content is contained in the various subforums. That is fine, but the gateway then becomes a waste. An ideal home page for the Lounge would be a simple epigram explaining what the site is about, maybe an illustration and then direct links to the forums, perhaps laid out horizontally. This needn't replace the forum page itself, but it would be a simple way to navigate to where you are going.
Also, there are now a great many items for sale and it would be simple to have a home page that would direct you to the production versions of whatever is currently available, with the production page also containing links to the very valuable discussions that led to the development of the items.
Finally, a section that pointed readers to the some of the "best of" posts and articles would be useful.

Finally, the photo section has the ability to become a great resource. It isn't that. I don't have any suggestions on how to make it more useful, but if somebody else did, they would be providing a great assist.

[le.gentleman]

First, I agree with dopey that the information on this site paired with the respectful tone of the member is second to none on the internet.

Second, I also have to admit that I rarely take a look at the first page or the features. Usually, I go directly to the forum and and view posts since last visit. Sometimes, when I close my browser window accidentally or it crashes down, I cannot find the posts I have not read yet anymore. Therefore I would appreciate it, if even the post I did not read at my last visits showed up in an overview.

Moreover, I am also interested in a better search functions and sticky best of threads.
Maybe the photojournal could be revived as well.

[JDelage]

My suggestions are:

1) Take advantage of the full width of modern displays and get rid of the navigation column to the right and dead space to the left.

2) Minimize the number of subforums, and have only 1 layer. I'd like to suggest a maximum of 5 or 6 sub-forums.

3) I'd like an ability to list all threads with recent post, in decreasing order (i.e., thread with most recent post at the top).

4) The 2 menues at the top, each with a (different) "Search" item are confusing.

For now that's it.