[Turbogangsta]

Hello SC2SEA! I would like to discuss the design of this website, SC2SEA.com, and how and why it could be improved. The reason I would like to discuss this is because I consider SC2SEA to be the best portal to the SEA SC2 community and I think it should take this responsibility very seriously as it can influence the amount of involvement of both potential and current community members. If the site is user friendly and a place that people enjoy visiting then they will be more inclined to regularly use the site. If the site is frustrating to navigate and an eye sore it could hinder their involvement in the scene. I am not saying the site is terrible but I think it could be improved. I have been participating in the scene as a spectator, competitor and contributor on a casual level since SC2 was released but I have only visited SC2SEA.com when it was a necessity to get information about an event or to sign up for one. I consider myself an average community member and I believe that because of my reluctance to use SC2SEA.com I have missed out on a lot of what the SEA scene has to offer. Considering myself as an average community member I believe there are many others like me who could be participating more in the SEA scene.


This website has all the information, utility, personality and community that someone interested in the SEA SC2 scene could want or need. It has great features such as chatbox, quick comments, profiles, streams, tournaments, events, ect. But I think the execution and presentation of these services is not always the best. I believe that the website should be completely transparent, obvious and intuitive when someone visits this site for the first time. Users should feel comfortable and feel like everything they want to use on the site is easily accessible. It should be a pleasant and inviting experience.


What i would like to discuss:


- The Banner
One of the first impressions this website makes is with its banner. Looking at this image I see an amature charm. Something cutesy that doesn't take itself too seriously. The problem with this is that a lot of people will be turned off by the amature nature, by the cuteness, and by the apparent nonchalant attitude towards starcraft. I think a more professional, neutral banner would appeal to a larger audience and have lasting aesthetic value. The novelty of the current banner wanes with each view and becomes annoying and tacky.


- Architecture
Going from the top of the site to the bottom there is an incredible number of borders, boxes, and lines. Boxes and lines are good for the separation of different aspects of the site such as a subheading from a list, but when everything is broken into its own separate box it looks cluttered and breaks the flow. A minimal approach to boxes and borders can still provide the same structure to the page, but make it look much more open and fluid.


- Colors
Too many colours. The website should have a consistent, neutral, and non-distracting palette. Colours shouldn't compete with each other they should complement each other. The amount of coloured text and random coloured icons (achievements, news, tournaments) can be a real eye-sore, but i do like the use of the icons, just not the random colours of them.


- Achievements
Do these really need such big colourful icons in the avatar. Why not small badges instead that have neutral colours that make them a neat subtle addition and not another bit of clutter.


- Fonts
So many fonts! So many different colours, sizes and styles. It's difficult to read and breaks the flow of the website. The website would flow so much better and be so much easier to read if the fonts were more consistent. Opening the website as a guest and going from the top down you can see how many inconsistencies there are including the banner.


- Mobile devices
This website is absolutely not accessible on mobile devices. The amount of clutter makes it difficult to view on a small screen. The amount of images makes it take forever to load. The difficulty to enter information makes it a constant battle against the website to participate. Considering the amount of time people spend on 3/4G networks on small devices, I think a simple, minimal mobile version of the site would go a long way to increase user activity.


- Bot defense
The bot defense is always going to be an inconvenience and annoyance to human users. Because of this it should try to be as convenient as possible. I don't want to have to read a whole sentence and be told to look at an image at the top of the page to figure out what to put in the box. There are many simple captcha's available that are 10x stronger at bot defense and don't require as much attention from the user. Users are already used to traditional captchas and can mindlessly complete the form without taxing the users attention to read a full sentence and be forced to take their attention away from the submission and to the top of the page. Admittedly the current captcha becomes mindless after a few uses but first impressions are important and the current captcha isn't good at bot defense, it's just an inconvenience.


Conclusion
While this post has been very critical of the website it is not meant to be offensive. I could never produce a website this good and I have no experience in design. This website has done many many things right and is very successful. I just wish for it to be more successful and help grow the SC2SEA scene even more. With legacy of the void coming I think a better website design could help get many new fans involved and retain them within the community. I welcome any discussion and criticism to the content of this post and hope we can open a productive conversation on the design of this site.

Thanks for reading.