Does Wincustomize need a make over?

from WinCustomize Forums
it's been i think three years since Wincustomize changed its website look so should it change it's look now? Well to me ... i think they should wait till Microsoft releases Longhorn cause longhorn will be different than windows. and there will be new styles.

So should it have a new make-over? please place comments on what you think.
125,024 views 226 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The current look hasn't even been in place for an entire year yet.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The current look hasn't even been in place for an entire year yet


and this fellow wants a make-over ...
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think it needs a make-under.

The look of the site should be the absolute least of their concerns at this point.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I don't care what thje look is. It needs to operate. If it doesn't operate, there is no look.

Let's put it this way: The site does what we need it to do. The look is the least of concerns right now as there are bugs to be worked out.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think they need to be more concerned about the technical issue plauging the site, before even worrying about what the site looks like.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Let's put it this way: The site does what we need it to do


It certainly hasn't this morning. It's been one error after another.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Got that after I hit "submit"


The page cannot be displayed
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Cannot find server or DNS Error
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Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
This sites been nothing less than comical since its last "makeover". Even now as I look in the "this just in" column I see everything in triplicate. One cock up after another. Another makeover,,nah,,a complete demolition and rebuild.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
2 of 3 sub- or related webparts are heavily changed and crosslinked better this
very moment, the Stardock and JU forum are getting better login + look options,
bugs are being fixed, new menu items appeared in wc forums context today, and
most bloggers are not eving animating or skinning their blogs, making their articles
blah and thus their wc site looks blah.

Wait for the server to be doubled back up again, in the meantime, animate your
articles as well. Have also ordered more tools for this. Not expensive at all, and
fun.

Without changing much about the looks, causing new bugs and making professional
usage hard for inexperienced site creators, maybe they could just add a feature
one day allowing you to place a short animated skinned interactive Hello intro
without a flash that loads to slow on most peoples configs explaining how to
find and use what on your site, telling you to press refresh first like on
Annie Rebs site etc. That would help without generating crucial changing transitional issues. There will be time for that. They are working 24 hours a day,
thanks Draginol, Cordelia, Janitor T-Man, Frogboy, kharmagirl + more for not concentra-
ting on things that are more important for u personally instead and sweating off
body parts in the summer heat without sleep just after an exhausting move!
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I like the layout of the site, it's easy to navigate. But the frequent errors suck big time. Of all the websites that I frequently visit, Wincustomize is the only one that gives me lots of trouble.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Bash, you are a sad child. Ask mama for some attention.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The new site look is only 6 months old.  It was completely re-designed.

And before we start playing around with how the new site looks, we have to focus on getting it to run better. 

Our problem is largely lack of $$$ to get the things/people we need.  Less than 0.01% of people who visit this site bother to subscribe.

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hey StephaneA, you better watch it and Frogboy i would love to subscribe but i'm to young to get a credit card and buy things online. Wish i could but I'M ONLY 14!!
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Our problem is largely lack of $$$ to get the things/people we need. Less than 0.01% of people who visit this site bother to subscribe.


So what happened to taking care of the subscribers first? I've been a subscriber since virtually the beginning, yet this site works horribly for me. How about cutting back on features for non-subscribers, if that's what it takes?

I think you need to decide whether this should be a (WC/OD) subscriber-driven site or a promotional site for Stardock. The hybrid you have now doesn't seem to be working.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
And how come everybody else's site's don't have nearly the problems? Are we going to hear the "Massive amount of traffic" stuff again I suppose?
I think you need to decide whether this should be a (WC/OD) subscriber-driven site or a promotional site for Stardock. The hybrid you have now doesn't seem to be working.

Certainly not in the recent past.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Tarkus - it's not like the system goes "Oh, subscriber, don't crash".

When WinCustomize.com launched, there were several different skin sites that were quite active.  Today, there's WinCustomize and the skinning area on deviantART.  The other sites that still exist don't receive the kind of traffic that WC/dA do.  So we're having to absorb immense amounts of traffic. 

But the # of subscribers we get is pitiful.  We have plenty of bandwidth.  What we don't have are enough IT people. An experience web programmer (especially ASP.net) or database administrator costs a lot of money.  The subscriptions don't even pay for the bandwidth let alone the IT staff we need.

There is no solution other than for us to keep slogging through trying to resolve these issues.  The current issue is database related, not website "Feature" based. 

Do the math: There are typically thousands of people on the site at the same time.    If this site got even 20% less traffic, these "problems" wouldn't crop up.

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
There it is...I knew that was coming. Maybe there's too much traffic because everybody is trying over and over to get a page to load. Slogging through isn't going to get you a whole lot of new subscribers either. And excuses just go so far.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Is this the time yet for the "If you don't like it, go start your own site" comeback yet? That's just turning things around to take the focus off of the site problems here.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
May I point out that if the website separated the look into a CSS file and left the HTML semantic by using HTML 4.01 strict or XHTML instead of the current tagsoup it would save some bandwidth. As it is currently, this webstie rely heavily on tables, something that quickly adds excess code. Remember how much traffic this site attracts, it quickly adds up. If the look of the site where put into a CSS file it'd not only be less content in the HTML file, but the CSS file would in most cases be cached the first time a user visit the site. Resulting in even less bandwidth usage. I'd think that's be in the interest of both the owners and the users. And then when the appearance is separeted from the content it'd be esier to do makeovers.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I know sites not working well either for various reasons outside of the stardock
world. I would be very glad if more would subscribe, and there may be a legal
paypal or other trick to get minors in, if that seems advisory. FROGBOY said
bandwidth is not the main problem, remember it doubles when the new network
recouples the new server better, which you dont want to do when fixing and im-
proving subsites anyway. Be patient, get your parents to subscribe and take
part as well. Still interesting what Thomassen said. Sorry I dont live there and
am not an IT specialist.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top

thomassen, that is a logical assessment and it would definately improve the site's 'themeability' and page rendering time in the future, once the database issues are resolved.

Boss019, Frogboy clearly explained the issue. I realize you expected such an explaination and apparently you are unwilling to accept it, but it doesn't change the facts. You offer no solutions, only the same complaints over and over. It's beginning to sound like you are simply looking for someone to argue with.

Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
That's just turning things around to take the focus off of the site problems here.


All due respect Boss019, EVERYONE is dissapointed with the site performance the last 6 months. I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone completely happy with it. That doesn't mean you should walk the path of a troll. I understand your frustration but don't drag yourself into the gutter. Ask for your money back. When the site issues are resolved you can resubscribe. You don't have to subscribe again. I am guessing alot of silent people will not be resubscribing but that is the worst case scenario. The site was working pretty good before the Stardock move. Hopefully they will get it working like butter soon. Try to be part of the solution, not the problem. WC staff can do whatever they want, whenever they want. You cannot win.

Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ask for your money back


Makes things worse, if you still need contacts from this site. Do backup stuff on
independent site + try to get others to subscribe (when the problem is over?, -
another vicious circle) NOW! (or forget about the site)
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
That doesn't mean you should walk the path of a troll.


Specie Profiling!

Some of us walk a happy path.
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think everyone's being very harsh on wincustomize. I think that a lot people have come to expect free content on the net and think nothing of the vast amount of work that goes into making a site such as this work. I suspect that the only other sites that get traffic like wincustomize are the big hitter such as amazon or microsoft and believe me they invest huge amounts of money (usually your money) into keeping their sites running correctly.

Give them a break guys.

Personally i love the site and am quite happy to put up with some page refreshes every now and again.