Not trying to nitpick, but here's some well-meaning criticism of the Solecismic web site. I hope Jim takes it in the spirit in which it's intended.

If you hit Solecismic.com today, you see a header, a very large image that looks nice but doesn't really communicate much about what this company does, and then three paragraphs of text about the company. You have to scroll down a few times before you get to any information about the new FOF that's coming out in a few days. Even that news is just mentioned in simple bodytext.

If you had no idea who Solecismic was and just wound up at their web site (say, by typing "football sim" into a search engine), you'd have to spend some time on the site to figure out whether they had what you wanted. If you were an old customer checking back to see if any new versions have come out, there's a good chance you wouldn't even see the news about FOF4.

I know Jim takes a fairly low-key approach to self-promotion, which is fine. But I wonder if potential customers are being lost because they're just not seeing the FOF2004 news. I do this web thing for a living, and I promise you that most people will spend a few seconds at most at a web site unless they see what they're looking for right away. Lots of sales get lost because the customer doesn't see the information that we think is right there in front of them.

My suggestion would be to lose (or at least shrink significantly) the main image, and move the news about FOF2004 "above the fold" (i.e. make sure it's visible without scrolling on a standard resolution).

Again, just my two cents, take it for whatever it's worth.

Originally posted by Maple Leafs
But I wonder if potential customers are being lost because they're just not seeing the FOF2004 news.


I agree, I thought that from the first time I went to the website...

I thought the exact same thing browsing his site last night. I knew about FOF2004 and it took me about 5 minutes to find any information on it.

I agree - the site is begging for a redesign, with, as Maple Leafs said, the most pertinent and recent information being the most easily accessible.

ML, I was about to say the same thing a few days ago (I too do this for a living). That image doesn't seem to make sense being there that large on the front page, it takes up way too much space and doesn't convey much about the game/company (I know Jim likes the design work done for the game background, but I honestly have to say that while it looks neat, I pay absolutely no attention to it).

The whole site has a "dark" feel to it, black and gold would not be the colors I would choose. And I'm sorry, but when I see a site in Times New Roman, I think 1996.

Jim...I really don't mean to be over-critical of the site, I just agree that it could be used much more effectively in marketing the game and it could be more inviting. I too knew about FOF2004, but taking a quick glance at the site it didn't look like there was anything new there, even though there was.

Anyone else go over to see if the download was available before clicking on the topic?

Originally posted by Masked
Anyone else go over to see if the download was available before clicking on the topic?

I take it several people here have already been guessing the url of an order page Jim may have put up to test to see if they can luck out and get the game early.



Pirates :)

Thanks for the suggestions. My feeling is that it's far more crucial to put this together once there's a product to sell.

If I delay the release to take the time to play with the web site, I think I'm causing more damage in the long run.

I do intend to highlight FOF 2004 more once it's available. I'm having trouble finding even a spare minute to do things like work on screen shots or press releases. Those are very low priorities right now.


You make an interesting point about the main image. The old version said exactly what my company is about. The new version is probably a better game background, but maybe less important from a company perspective.


Honestly, aside from the diary, there probably aren't going to be changes to the web site until the game is done.

Well, get back to work soldier.....;)

I guess that means no screenshots until the game is released

That's not what he said...

Originally posted by Solecismic
I'm having trouble finding even a spare minute to do things like work on screen shots or press releases. Those are very low priorities right now.

Honestly, aside from the diary, there probably aren't going to be changes to the web site until the game is done.

Originally posted by Solecismic
Honestly, aside from the diary, there probably aren't going to be changes to the web site until the game is done.
Fair enough. Just wanted to put the points out there.

As for the image, there's something to be said for using consistent imagery across products and marketing materials. It's not so much the image itself, but that it's just too large. I'd probably sample it down, crop it and work it into a smaller banner announcing FOF2004 was available.
Originally posted by Masked
Anyone else go over to see if the download was available before clicking on the topic? Heh. Good point. I didn't even think of that. Actually, I was wondering why the topic was getting so many views...

Originally posted by Solecismic
I do intend to highlight FOF 2004 more once it's available. I'm having trouble finding even a spare minute to do things like work on screen shots or press releases. Those are very low priorities right now.

Jim, you do realize that there are tons of FOFC members who are web gurus, and would probably mock-up some site changes for you for free. Hell, some of them might do your whole site for a free copy of FOF2004.

I would galdy volunteer to do a redesign of the solecismic site for a copy of the new game, talk to me Jim! =)

I'll be unpopular for saying this, but: Jim, please don't get the site redone for free.

I work on web sites for a living (although I don't do freelance work, so I'm not angling for a job when I say this). Lots of people will do web sites for free, just to have something for a portfolio. Web design is at a point where virtually anyone can do it. However, very few people can do it especially well.

In other words, you get what you pay for.

I'm more than willing to offer some free advice (and that goes for anyone, not just Jim), and I'm sure there are others here who'd say the same. But a site redesign can be crucial to the success of a business, and it's worth the investment. Find someone with some experience, and work closely with them to get what you want.

If you can afford a decent designer, get one. If not, do the redesign yourself. You may get it all wrong, but at least you'll get it wrong the way you want it, and there's still something to be said for that.

DOla: Maple Leafs is absolutely right Jim, it can make a huge difference in the long run. Even if you don't want to grab help from someone on FOFC make sure you don't go for the quick cheap website.

I've been working in and around the web design field since '97. In my two years as the web department manager for a small internet firm in albany I saw exactly what can happen. We offered sites from the cheap basic "slap it together" stuff to fully integrated DB driven sites. Inevitably the customers who chose the cheap "cookie cutter" style sites came back complaining of a bad reaction to their site and expecting us to give them more to compensate for their bad decision.

That said, I feel I could do you a quality job, and since I'm freelancing everything right now, and the fact that I simply love this game, I'm willing to put my money (or fees as it were) where my mouth is.

Ok, everybody send your portfolios to Jim :D

Originally posted by RendeR
That said, I feel I could do you a quality job, and since I'm freelancing everything right now, and the fact that I simply love this game, I'm willing to put my money (or fees as it were) where my mouth is. Yeah, I'm not trying to suggest that nobody here could do a good job. More importantly, the exception to "you get what you pay for" in the web world is that there are plenty of web shops out there that will charge you an arm and a leg for some fancy flash-based monstrosity that won't help your business one bit.

But in general, sites that were done for free as a favor aren't hard to spot. There are exceptions, but not many.