Dear Ken and Talkspot team,
Ok, I have figured out how to explain my thoughts on the website in a more helpful and constructive manner, so here goes 🙂 Just my 2 cents, of course!
I was trying to pinpoint what it is exactly that makes it hard for me to navigate this site. I do realize that you are using the website builder you have created and that it has been very well recieved by many many users. I think the problem is in the fact that this site specifically is a ‘text-heavy’ site. I can easily now see how your website builder would be great for someone to build a website dedicated to business, or say, a hobby like model-building etc, but as mxCoder has stated, it seems old posts get lost in the depths, and many of those posts were great! (I was here around the time you got this site going).
So, if I were to offer input, and I am by no means a webmaster, I would offer a few simply ideas.
On the homepage, you have the site broken up into:
1. Welcome message
2. New Messages
3. Live Chat
4. Help
5. System Commands
If I were king, I would have all the major topics available on the homepage, in a simply list format, so I could click on, lets say ‘Ken Williams Q &A’ or, ‘Space Quest Technical Help’, right there on the homepage. Once I had clicked on one of those topics, it should go into a more ‘forum-like’ format. I think it should retain the look, but the organization of threads and posts should be close to those standards.
Like I mentioned before, these thing are only needed due to this site being very ‘text-heavy’. So, even though I know you are WAY to busy to pull this off, maybe you could create 2 versions of your talkspot software? One for a general website, and one aimed at competing with the common forum type of pages? If this were a page dedicated to your sea-faring adventures, loaded with pictures, that would be one thing. (And cool I might add) Or even a webstore. But as it stands I think it’s layout (not it’s quality) extends the middle finger in the face of designs that are already well-suited for the type of action that goes on here at Sierragamers.
All this of course PLEASE understand is not in any way an insult to the great work you and your mates have done here, I just think that this site (and TSA) could and WILL be the last word in Sierra Fan sites, and I dearly wish to see that come to fruition. The fact that Ken yourself built this site gives hope and peace to the hearts of Sierra fans like me, who have had any empty void since Sierra On-Line went into the afterlife.
Please, keep it going! 