Vote for EyesOnFF.com's New Look!

Basically, no matter how much I like one style more than another, it really comes down to what you like the best. After all, the site is here to please the visitor, not me.

I'd like to give everyone that participated a huge thank you. Believe me, narrowing it down to 3 styles was quite a task.

So I have narrowed it down to what I believe are the 3 best selections. (Some artists made multiple versions of the same basic style, and I have chosen what I liked best) You will vote, and the winner will be awarded the $200 as well has have their style replace the existing eyesonff.com.

By the way, whatever style chosen will probably be implemented into the forums. However, you will still be able to choose this current style.

Here we go.

Style 1
Style 2
Style 3

Please look at all styles before you vote. Also, please note that I have turned on voting for Unregistered members so that everyone can participate. No, they will not be able to vote twice.

I guess we can comment as well as vote so..here's what I think.

They all look good, but I'm going for number 2.

Number 1 - nice but..too dark..and the white lines just seem a little..too bright?..against the dark. It looks good like that in a way but..too much contrast maybe? Also I don't really like the colours in the "Final Fantasy" bit of the title..too many colours. Also..I think it's a little boring graphically.

Number 2 - My favourite, really nice. The colour scheme looks very original, I can't think of a site where I've seen it before. The graphics at the top look really nice and match the colours of the site. Little things like the way the chocobo comes down over the banner look really good. The title looks nice and neat, all of the layout and content looks neat. Not too much contrast, and not too boring. Very neat, very nice, and unique. I think this would be a good choice..

Number 3 - It's very nice but..in a way it seems like it's trying to look too "modern" or too "clever", with the corners and the font style and stuff. You know like, how people start doing sites in the same sorta style, well that's what it makes me think of. It's very organised and neat looking, but a little too umm..like it's trying to look good. The second looks more homely, and more EoFF like. This one seems like... FF Insider like =P Plus the banner has Ashe and Vaan as the main content. This is like some of the annoying sites that only put pictures from the latest FF's in the banner, and forget the others exist. Okay it has Cid and Zidane in there, but still. It seems too like..graphic whorish =P

I just really love the second, and I think it suits the atmosphere of EoFF. <3

I'm going with style 2 too. Style 1 is too hard on the eyes for me after a while and style 3 gets hard to read after a while.

How odd that I voted in the same catagory as Xander someone who I feel is more of a modern web designer and would have thought would have gone for 3.

I'd probably edit the colours and menues slightly on version 2, but it seems to fit with EoFF's style, well done :D Not too keen on 1, and liked 3 but it is too modern for me *How old fasioned and modern people are usually older then me as well xD*

Good luck all of the entrants and well done Cid for picking the 3 you like best rather then saying, OMG lik choose 1 of these n number of sites :D

I like the second. Its a nifty design.
I like the images along the top of the third however they need to have the white lines removed round them I think.

Maybe some alteration to the menus on the second one, but I think its a much better design overall.

Chaos

I would rather have the original, but #2 is the best of the three....#2 would look better blue.

I voted for Style 2. It's very beautiful, and the design is just as simple as the current one. Plus, the banner is real easy on the eyes, and it fits well with the overall design of the site.

Just like pie... I like the orginal better. But 1 and 2 looks pretty good too... *checks poll result so far* 2 have the most votes so far... so I'll go with 1 just for the sake of it! *votes1*

#2 looks awesome. Are we going to get a forum style to match which ever one wins?

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Originally Posted by Matty Pie!

#2 looks awesome. Are we going to get a forum style to match which ever one wins?

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Originally Posted by Cid

By the way, whatever style chosen will probably be implemented into the forums. However, you will still be able to choose this current style.

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I like them all, but I voted for number two. I find it's more colourful than the other two. And I like brown-beige ish colour.

I voted for #1. I really liked #2 as well, but, it would just be too weird to me for this place not to be dark blue shades. Heh. And #3 was way too hard to read.

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Originally Posted by Cid

By the way, whatever style chosen will probably be implemented into the forums. However, you will still be able to choose this current style.

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Did I tell you that I can't read? Cause I can't. :erm:

The one that I find to be the nicest site look of the three listed is winning already by a fair margin. I don't think I can vote, though.

chaos: Hmm, well personaly, we believe that #1 was the best. Two looked very great and original, but I just couldn't get into that EOFF feel.

Rubedo: #3 was great too, but still, seemed like it was missing something. #1 felt like an exciting site, I've always liked the darker ones, but that's just me, so my vote therefore goes to one...

Albedo: *Laughs maniacally*

Style 1: The wide varieties in the 'Eyes on FF' banner looks a little messy; the general contrast and balance of colours doesn't appeal to me.

Style 2: Orange = not my kind of thing, either. The pictures at the top seem sort of like a semi-random jumble, and there's undue emphasis on Aeris' chest...

Style 3: Not bad, but again the banner is a bit of a mess - a poor font, and a predominance of FFVII: AC characters.

Out of all of those, I like Style 2 the best. While it's not my favourite colour, the balance is good. A nice feel of consistency that the others lack. The use of the current EoFF fonts is nice.
In fact... if Style 2 could be changed from an orange-scale to a blue-scale, it'd be superb.

However, I don't feel that any of the designs are better than the current style. Just my opinion, though. I'd prefer that it not be changed, unless it was being changed to something like the EoFF Ash style from the forums.
I won't vote at this stage, but I'll vote for Style 2 later if it needs help to win...

Just on a sidenote, but what I personally feel to be a significant one, I do agree with Big D that I'd rather see style two as blue.

Style #2 is still miles ahead of #1 and #3, though, at least that's how I feel about things.

I suppose I'll say it once and leave it at that (at least here), after a month or so of thought, I still think that improvements are needed for EoFF but not a redesign.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Just on a sidenote, but what I personally feel to be a significant one, I do agree with Big D that I'd rather see style two as blue. Not because orange is awful but because FFO, our main competitor, is also this colour, and I think we should stick to our colours. You wouldn't see your favourite rugby / soccer / American football / whatever team change their sporting colours to those of their main opposition.

Style #2 is still miles ahead of #1 and #3, though, at least that's how I feel about things.

I suppose I'll say it once and leave it at that (at least here), after a month or so of thought, I still think that improvements are needed for EoFF but not a redesign.

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Consider my help guarenteed for either a redesign or improvements, coding mainly but also design and tweaking :D

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Not because orange is awful but because FFO, our main competitor, is also this colour, and I think we should stick to our colours.

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How in the world do you see FFO and style #2 at all similar to each other?

FFO?

That's more grey then it is orange.

Sorry, edited. I don't know what made me think FFO was orange. Maybe it's the warping of colours my work monitor forces onto websites because I have the resolution set too high.

Edited that post, though.

I really like the title images for 1 and 2, and I especially like the words "Final Fantasy" done with the individual game logos, but overall I like 3 best even though I don't much like the title image.

You should also consider using the staff members avatars in news updates. I like it when places do that.

Just a quick question, how long will this poll be open? I'm on a computer right now with a terrible monitor that I know doesn't do the styles justice. I should be on a better one relatively soon, though.

That being said, Style 2 is lovely, and I actually prefer the different use of color. I didn't think I would, to be honest, but it's actually a welcome change of pace.

I choose #2, because of the nice layout, the cool colour scheme, the nice picture of Vivi and the picture of a woman's chest right at the top centre of it. :)

#2 with the current black/blue colour scheme please, it currently looks like www.genericgamesitecolours.co.m at the moment and doesn't seem EoFF at all :p


EDIT: In fact, number 2 style with number 1's colour scheme would be nicest :D

1 - Perfect except for the multicolored lettering of 'Final Fantasy'. I chose this one. I like blue and think it is part of this site's identity.

2 - Good, but the grays are weird looking. This would look great with 1's coloring like Archie said.

3 - Don't like this one, particularily because of the choice of characters in the banner.

I'll stick with EoFF Classic. :cool:

Style 1 - A tad distracting, it has that scanline effect on the navigation and the banner and seems cluttered.

Style 2 - Love it. Simple, sleek, effective and gets the point across. Granted Aeris could have been positioned a little lower to the point where we could at least fully see her face. This one's still getting my vote, though. It would take some adjusting to see EoFF as a grayish brownish site, though, so I would think it would be best to change the colours to fit the current EoFF.

Style 3 - I don't know about anyone else, but I just feel this one reeks with cliché design. Small text, all these minor pixel designs throughout, the hexagons, the bar code on the banner. The banner is also distracting and badly contrasts with the rest of the site.

Here's the picture of Aeris from Design 2 in it's original glory.

1: The thick white lines are very harsh on the eyes, and the Final Fantasy header is too hectic and doesn't flow well with the site.

2: It it were in blue and there was a bit less focus on Aries' chest, I'd say it was perfect

3: It seems like I've seen this design on hundreds of sites before, it's just to generic, too common. Plus the header really needs to be worked on.


So my vote goes to style #2 even if it stays brown/orange, I still like it the best :)

I'm kinda glad my designs didn't come into the last 3; I can use em for something myself! :D

My vote goes out to style 2 (you know who you are) for their use of an uncommon color used on the internet, Brown.

As many have stated above, the nice use of uncommon colors is excellently done in number two. Props to it for being most original while still functional, effective, and adding a warm touch to the normally cool feel of FF sites.

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Originally Posted by Flying Mullet

I'm going with style 2 too. Style 1 is too hard on the eyes for me after a while and style 3 gets hard to read after a while.

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That is exactly what I thought. :)

I find that Aeris' chest has a subliminal appeal to the average male gamer that will bring them back to EoFF 10 times a day.

Style 2 also gets points for using the 'traditional' Eyes on FF logo - the words, I mean, as found on the frontsite, the forums logo and the t-shirts.

I don't like any of them. I am a person who likes blues and purples so the current works for me(although a bit of purple would kick some ass). Here are my problems with the 3.

1) Wants to use colors but stops. The colorful bannar and then the bland page for the rest of it. Yuck. Doesn't mix and seems ackward.

2) The text size is not changeable and is a pain in the ass for me to read. I sit a good 4 feet plus away from my monitor on 1024x768. I also hate earth tones. Maybe this one if you could make a style choice when you sign up. Kind of like fools gold. That way the user can choose which style to use. This style doesn't devate at all from the current lay out as far as I can really tell.

3) Worst one yet. Not only is it centered(which looks stupid as hell), but it also has the small font that I can't change. Pain in the ass. Then the bannar is in earth tones but the rest of the page is in blues & greys. Conflict anyone?

They all suck. Stick with what you have.

I really like #2. The first was alright, but style 2 was great. It had a nice feel to it and it is easy to look at. Also, it is unique and origional, and that is something I would like EoFF to have, as it is, in my opinion, the best site on the internet for anything Final Fantasy related.

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Originally Posted by Cid

I find that Aeris' chest has a subliminal appeal to the average male gamer that will bring them back to EoFF 10 times a day.

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That... is too true. o.o;; Although I prefer Garnet.

2 is more appealing to me than the others. I like the oranges and light greys. It attracts more attention, whereas blues and blacks give off a sense of blandness. While the blues work well for the forums, where you spend a lot of time looking at the same screens and want soothing colors, for a frontsite that needs to sttract people immediately, the colors of style 2 are superior.

I do wish the banners included characters from older FF games, but I guess you go with what looks best.

Theres not fourth "leave it the hell alone cause it rocks already" option?

*BOYCOTTS*

well, I think Cid has decided (and I agree) that the frontsite needs to be updated. It's going to change, so you better vote for which one you like the most.

The first one. Brown is ugly and small text is horrible.

I liked number two the best, however, like most people, I'd rather it be blue.

I quite liked three, but the banner doesn't fit at all.

i like my style :D ...anyway i asked my whole school to vote here :P...

i don't think any of the following... I really liked the one with the vivi in the corner. The blue one. Thats the one IM voting for!!! I think that style 1 has to many colours and style 2 has to dull colours... i mean brown ?? and style 3... well its cool and all but it doesnt feel like a final fantsy page... more like a CS site tha FF... im sorry but none for me...!

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Originally Posted by jaanus03

i like my style :D ...anyway i asked my whole school to vote here :P...

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Poll 'Which one is your favorite?' in thread 'Vote for EyesOnFF.com's New Look!'
Style 2 Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Agent Proto Baloki Calliope Chaos Codak Dark Matter Divinity dman Doc Sark DoomAntenna eestlinc Escobar Farah Flying Mullet Hsu Immortal Jebus Kawaii Ryûkishi Matty Pie! Meat Puppet Miriel Misfit nik0tine o_O princeofdarknez Psychotic Rusty Samuraid SeeDRankLou Shadow 2084 Shoyku Symphonic TasteyPies White Raven Winged Sorceress Xander
Style 3 Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker Lurker jaanus03 Necronopticous ShlupQuack
Style 1 Lurker Lurker Daryl Fuzakeru Joel Kirobaito OdaiseGaelach Seiken Siric Strider Super Delete TheAbominatrix Ultima Shadow Yamaneko ZeZipster

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I noticed. D= I'm not really sure the pure number of votes is a fair thing to go by when it's obvious people can rig the contest by organising a mass vote that's larger than anyone else's organised mass votes.

I wouldn't say that I crossed out Style 3 immediately. Although I like pretty sites and designs, I don't like blue in particular. Also I always view web pages with a smaller text size. If Style 3 were implemented, I would have to go through the whole process of pressing Control and + and then Control and - whenever I leave. My god.

I didn't mind Style 1 because of the colourful banner but the rest is ugly.

Style 2 is fine. I like the colour combination with the browns, blacks, oranges and reds. Having said that Vivi's clothes stand out a bit. Other than that though, I can't say I like anything else about it in particular. Thus, I decided it was the best of the 3 but I had basically said to myself, "At least it's better than the current one." as I submitted my vote.

Yeah..I don't really like any of them. But if I was to choose the most aestheically pleasing and my life depended on it. Two.

i like the 3rd one... cause others are wierd..2nd is defenetly out of line.. look the middle women...no head...:P

I voted for the first..i like it's atmosphere the most.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

I noticed. D= I'm not really sure the pure number of votes is a fair thing to go by when it's obvious people can rig the contest by organising a mass vote that's larger than anyone else's organised mass votes.

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I say one vote per IP address my sort out mass voting scams :P

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Originally Posted by Baloki

I say one vote per IP address my sort out mass voting scams :P

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Looking at my previous post, obviously that isn't workable at EoFF. No IP logging that I know of for guests, too.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Looking at my previous post, obviously that isn't workable at EoFF. No IP logging that I know of for guests, too.

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Thats annoying because if all the votes were coming from schools or people getting everyone at their workplace to vote they would only have one IP address, oh well

As much as I like small font, style 3's font is way too small.

And asking people who never even come to the site to vote on it seems pretty unfair. All those people from your school will probably never go here again, so who really cares which style they like? :confused:

What I like about the current frontpage is the softness and how clean it looks. Same applies for the colours. So I'm not going to vote for any of these, I think. The first style has the dark colours, but not the softness of Style 2. And Style 2 lacks the dark colours of style 1 :p And I didn't really like Style 3, simply because it's not EoFF.

The person who made Style 3 obviously doesn't know what changing the tolerance setting on the select tool in photoshop does.

Eww, white matte = ugly, at least make it smooth round the edges, it just looks unprofessional with stuff like that.

Style 1 looks like it was made for a shoddy, cheap geocities fan site, and two is just...eh, boring.

Why does nobody ever try anything RADICAL these days? Something different.

I abstain, I never look at the main site, and I'll just stick to the classic style on the forums, because while new things are good, they're only good if the new thing is actually decent.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Looking at my previous post, obviously that isn't workable at EoFF. No IP logging that I know of for guests, too.

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Why not make people register in the forums to vote? Otherwise we have no way of knowing if they are all single lurkers or someone voting multiple times, as it seems is the case here. Either that or style 3 got all of their friends to come to the board and vote for 3. Either way it seems that style 2 is truely ahead here and someone's been monkeying with the votes.

I voted 2, and I was either the first or second person to do so, so now I'm a trend-setter! But I forgot to post. I like it, kinda, and the other two are good but they just don't feel...right.

Why not just count the registered voters?

Style 1:
Pros:
- Annifont
- good colour scheme for the black and the blue
- nice banner
- layout is easy to follow
Cons:
- No Runic MT Condensed font
- All of the white to too stark looking and very hard on the eyes
- The too colourful Final Fanasty looks out of place and way to busy and cartoonish
- The EYES ON looks off, maybe because of the caps

Style 2:
Pros:
- Even though the colours aren't standard EoFF colours, I really like them. Easy on the eyes and they're different enough from all of the other sites out there so they will still be unique.
- Annifont and Runic MT Condensed font which keep it EoFF
- very classy looking layout with no extra and unnecessary eye candy
Cons:
- Good colour in the banner and it's very well done, but something about the characters just doesn't jive. Can't put my finger on exactly what though. The first thing that struck me was Aeris up front and center with her head cut off and that just looked too weird.

Style 3
Pros:
- I like the blue and the black
Cons:
- No Annifont or Runic MT Condensed
- Font is too small
- Two totally different colour schemes going on. Browns for the banner and blue/black for the rest
- As I haven't played the newer FF's yet, I'm not familiar with any of the characters in the banner so I don't see it as FF at all.

#2

style 3 -why? it has got the looks, the modern stylish properties and very attractive. number 2 is kinda BROWN, and brown doesent mow you down at first sight. number 1 - no commencts. as we see the clash between nr 2 and 3 - i would give my voice to 3 - also im in favour that the banner should be changed on the third style.
though im not a FF specialist, my friend asked a neutral comment on those 3 styles - and i leaned to the third one - its just really nice. another recommendation would be that using multyple theme option ( as i have seen the other 2 themes of the 3rd style maker) , so you could choose between dark, and light.
and DO NOT THINK im upping my friends theme, i didnt like his first try AT all, but the third one matches with my criterias.
so if you are looking something cool and appropriate for this site, its number 3...
( i made a long eulogy here :D) keep hard, and may the best win... :greenie:

Style 1 - This is probably my least favourite of the three styles. While I like the banner design, the multicoloured logo really isn't appealing, and the site as a whole seems too 'in your face'. It isn't a bad design, but I feel that a site of EoFF's calibre needs something a little more professional.

Style 2 - The banner is easily the b(r)est of the three, and the use of the current EoFF logo is also a nice touch. The layout of the site is much nicer than the others', with a greater feeling of space. The contrast between the sub-headings on the sidebar and the main page is a little messy, but I'm sure that can be cleared up.

However, the colour scheme is a big problem for me. Yes, it's original and yes, it's easy on the eye, but it doesn't feel like the home from home that EoFF is to many people. As uninventive as it may be, Eyes on Final Fantasy should be blue. At least, that's my view on the subject.

Style 3 - This initially struck me as being the nicest of the three. The colour scheme and sleek layout made the whole thing seem like an evolution of EoFF, rather than a change. First impressions are very important, and this one got off to a very good start. As I examined it closely, though, a number of problems cropped up. The banner's colouring is totally out of place, and the design not as polished as it's competitors. The text isn't as hard to read as others seem to think, but I guess that the average user wouldn't agree with me on that one. Lastly, the MGS2-esque background is unnecessary, and would be better replaced with a plain one. Overall, it's a stylish design, but a few flaws ruin it.

Verdict - There are some great touches in all of them, but also some nagging flaws. For me, to pick any of these over our current EoFF design would be to lie about what I truly want this site to be. It won't make any difference, but I'm not going to vote for any of those options. Design 2 is pretty nice, but I don't think I could accept the change in colour scheme. The other two have a few design flaws that ruin the overall professional feel that EoFF has. If it were made, I'd vote for Design 2 with an old-school colour scheme, but since that's not an option, I'll be withholding my vote, and pledging my allegiance to the Classic Layout.

Where's the option for "Don't change it at all, dammit"

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Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

Where's the option for "Don't change it at all, dammit"

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Yea, why does it have to be changed? :(

It's clear to me that those results were tampered with. Sorry, but getting everyone at your school to vote for style #3... just not classy. So going by members vote's only, the clear winner is #2, Rinoabella! Congratulations.

You only had the poll open for one day? What about people who have to go to work and don't get a chance to vote? :(

It would have had to be the biggest comeback victory in EoFF history as far as I know it for either of the other styles to have won.

Well which one did you like, Unne? I'll add your vote if you want.

My vote isn't really that important (I could add it myself if I wanted to, you know *cough*admin*cough*), but is 73 people a large enough number of opinions upon which to base something as important as replacing the entire had-the-old-one-for-5-years layout for the whole site? How many hits do you get a day, tens of thousands right? A front-site poll for at least a week would've been what I'd have done. It's your site though.

Well, when I saw the results go from 15-48-3 to 17-51-93 in a few hours, I got pretty damn frustrated. I think it was pretty clear who the victor was going to be.

A small random sampling of a large population is usually indicitive of the whole population. Whether or not this sample was random I cannot say.