[zoom in screenshot - 51K]

Doomworld http://www.doomworld.com (design offline)

Category:
Computers > Games & Consoles > Gaming Sites

Created by:
Andrew Stine and Tom Robinson in 1999

See also:
Rating:
5.4 (2 votes)

Date added:
Jan 16th, 2002

Last updated:
May 2nd, 2002

Tools Used:
Adobe Photoshop, Apache, MySQL, Notepad, Paint Shop Pro, PHP, TextPad, WS_FTP Pro

Designer's words:
I've been using this design on Doomworld for close to three years now, and it still looks quite nice, if a little plain. The curves have become something of a trademark of the site, although they do tend to waste more onscreen space than I like.

The main problem with this 1999 design by 2002 standards is that it's very monochromatic and flat. It wasn't as obvious three years ago, but it's much more readily apparent in these days of larger bandwidths, more proficient graphic designers, infatuation with scanlines, etc etc. I chalk up the almost-uniformly-blue color scheme to my color blindness, which does not hinder me from seeing colors, but is an impediment in trying to choose different colors which will mesh well in a design.

I sometimes get complaints about the color scheme of the text, with the majority of people saying it is too dark; however, on all the computers I've ever viewed the site on, all the text was perfectly readable and contrasted well enough to not be a problem, so it was never a big concern of mine to fix.

Since the site is about a game which was released in 1993, we have to cater to the possibility that some users might still be using computers from that period, and we don't have the luxury of using as many more recent web amenities as I would like. There are some visitors who are still using Netscape 3.0, something which most websites would laugh at the prospect of supporting. I am in the process of redesigning the site and it's been a balancing act trying to update the "look" with some eyecandy without breaking compatibility for those people with hideously outdated browsers.

Our comments:
The clever use of tables creates an illusion of overlapping columns further reinforced by the fact that the content part on the left is resizable. As a nice touch, the silhouette of a random game character instantly recognizable by Doom fans appears in the logo each time you visit a page from the site. There is one aspect of the design which is not compatible with Doom though: The color blue totally replaced Doom's signature green and brown hues, and the only place you can see them is the "pic of the day". The links and headlines are rendered in blue too, and are somewhat difficult to read.

--Aycan

Jon (2) - Mar 8th, 2002 Presentation  7 Graphics  5 Usability  8 Technical  7 Personal Slant  9 Overall 7.2 I've been visiting this site ever since this design was first introduced and its grown on me a lot. Although perhaps a little dated now, the design still has a lot of style, free from the clutter which dogs so many modern sites (especially gaming news sites). JB (28) - Jan 25th, 2002 Presentation  5 Graphics  2 Usability  6 Technical  4 Personal Slant  1 Overall 3.6 no clue why this one has been listed.