vgmrips

Hey guys, I'd like to redo the packs front page. I'm thinking of adding mostly stuff that would get people to easily dive into the packs, so, for example, a good thing to have is "top rated packs" that shows the top 5 packs, latest top packs, which shows recent packs marked 5 stars, recent forum threads, like project2612 has, a small updates section, which would replace the huge updates section you see now, a small stats section, then maybe some colorful icons that lead to different sections, that would replace the buttons "Chips", "Composers" and so on (although I doubt anyone clicks on those, so I might just remove them from the front page and leave them in the menu).

Then, some friend links would be very nice, links to smspower, project2612 and other vgm sites.

Also, a welcome text. Of course, I don't want the whole page to be too cluttered, so this needs some design thought.

Some nice decorative graphics would be nice too, though I have no idea what, right now. Maybe some pixel art, but I'm personally sick of pixel art, so maybe some vector "upgrades" of pixel art.

So, please share your ideas and vision for the front page!

Cheers!

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vampi.tech

Ah yes, I have some views on this.

Imagining myself in the position of someone who has never visited the site before and knows nothing about it, the biggest thing I'd expect to see (currently missing) is some kind of intro blurb as you've said yourself (what the site is / mission statement). Wouldn't have to be very long I agree, just something snappy to give the jist ~ something like what snesmusic or project2612 have would work.

As a dynamic site it seems important to me that content updates would remain a prominent feature of the front page. You could budge the font size down two or three points though. Actually, zooming out on the entire page by a couple of points in Firefox already looks better to me ~ right now everything looks a bit chunky.

The second thing I notice that is either missing or not obvious is links to VGM players (standalone apps + Winamp/foobar2000/etc(?) plugins.) I think those should be right there on the front page somewhere. Again, taking the position of someone who doesn't understand anything, I'm going to be confused if I browse the site, listen to songs, then download a soundtrack and discover it's some weird "VGM" format that I have no idea what to do with!

I love the hell out of the random set button, btw



They could be made smaller or iconised, just so long as it is still obvious what each of the buttons does. I often use the buttons myself, especially the composers button. I've found countless great soundtracks over the years by searching via composer, moreso than via franchise or developer. If they are taken off the page and left in the menu it would add an extra click (#firstworldproblems yes) so my opinion is it would be better to keep them in both places, for being ergonomic. The front page isn't overloaded with content as it stands.

The only other feature I can think of right now that I'd like to see is not concerning the front page but the Chips section. This time I don't need to play the role of an idiot because I actually am one; I haven't a clue about the technical details of most of the chips listed (only the few that I know), and I think that It would be interesting to see some information listed about each of them, mainly things like number of sound channels, whether they're PCM, PSG, 2op, 4op and so on, possibly manufacturer or systems they're associated with too.

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http://iridescentaudio.co.uk

Some nice ideas right there!

Btw, if you go in the upper left menu, there's a Preferences item, and you can set whether the Random button autoplays.

I also like the idea of 'browse by franchise'. We'd definitely need more game info somehow.

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vampi.tech

I've implemented some of these changes, please take a look at the blurb. I'm still thinking about what to put in the empty space at the lower right, below the 'Links' thing. I might also move some of the sections around.

I need a table with all the VGM players and plugins to stick in there somewhere.

It obviously still needs some work, but I'm waiting for opinions for now.

Also, once this front page is finished, I will make it the vgmrips front page, ie when you type vgmrips.net, it will no longer redirect to the forum, it will direct to the packs page.

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vampi.tech

Opinion: it's looking much better already!

Another link to an external site you could include on the front page is Slick Productions NSFE archive. It's a pretty nice resource for tagged NES soundtracks. Do you plan on including any links to xSF resources, too? (there's all those *sf.joshw.info directories, though not very practical.)

Other than what I've said before I can't think of anything else it needs right now. Hopefully some others give you some feedback too.

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http://iridescentaudio.co.uk

That frontend has some nice potential. The only missing feature IMO is the possibility to alphanumerically sort the listings (soundchips, systems, games). Right now the categories seem to be sorted by pack numbers, and the packs by update time.

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VGM packs by Kaminari

You're right, but your suggestion refers to the subsequent pages.

As far as those go, many of them need to be redone. To satisfy your request, and many others, I'm going to add an advanced search page, where you can sort and filter anyway you want.

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vampi.tech

I've set the /packs page as the front page now, I'm curious what effect it will have.

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vampi.tech

It's not specific to the front page, but anyway I have a suggestion about the ratings on the individual pack pages.

Would it be possible to display the stars in a different colour, whether we have already voted for the pack or not? Right now the ratings are all displayed in green, making it difficult to know if it's the general score or my own.

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VGM packs by Kaminari

That's a good idea.

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vampi.tech

I can't figure out how to display them. Can you show me an example? I am thinking of either using two colours, or just using two star gauges somehow.

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vampi.tech

I was thinking of something like this:

A. Nobody gave a score yet: the star symbols are empty (could be dark grey like the background, with a light grey highlight).
B. At least one person rated the pack: the stars are plain light grey (as they are now when no score is given).
C. Green stars would indicate my own rating if I give one.

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VGM packs by Kaminari

I've implemented something a bit different. I've separated the average rating from the personal rating.

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vampi.tech

I've also added a statistics page, linked from the front page (top right): http://vgmrips.net/packs/statistics

I'll soon add most downloaded packs, most visited, and others, as we think them up.

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vampi.tech

The revised rating system works nice for me, thanks.

The stats are an interesting addition. I didn't realize I had rated that many vgms already!

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VGM packs by Kaminari