The best outfit websites atm...

[Angelos]

NCG's intro is soooo kewl.....

I have been in a few big clans that had talent in them for doing nifty things like that. One clan was just for a single game, but they were huge, and they had a really awesome website at one time. Few websites can match it's coolness.

NCG's flash intro is by far the best I've seen, though only those of us blessed with broadband can enjoy it painlessly. That is one reason why many webmasters avoid using flash intros. In fact I know many that hate them. Just something you have to consider when designing a website.

I can't knock the simple design of chaos warriors. There's nothing really wrong with it. No eye candy like some designs. But that doesn't make it bad. Using ezboard isn't bad either, lots of people do. It's not professional to have all the banners and pop-ups(I don't see any myself), but it's just a small gaming clan.

New Dawn's webpage... similar to my own clan's website. Except ours fits to the resolution of the viewers'. The only thing I don't like is the entrance page. I never liked entrance pages. If I click a link to go to a website, I expect to land on the website. Not on another page with another link to hopefully the website. It's redundant. Just my view on it.

[Straynjer]

For my money, tight integration between general site and forums is the most important and most commonly neglected issue on any clan/community site.

I do like New Dawn - very slick, but the forums still look tacked on (just very smoothly tacked on :-) )

Even though our forums are ezboard, they used to be completely integrated with the site - and I don't mean with frames.

[Straynjer]

And they are again! You got me active Ultimatum. I fixed the forums up.

Av a look now.
http://roguedisciples.com

Still dark - but I am going to redo the BG to give it a more VS PSO feel. However it may still be as treachorously dark, because I believe a BG should be barely noticable, and the site is designed for a fundamentally black BG.

BTW, if you are playing VS on Markov and would like to join a PSO with a focus on good friends and good times, please drop by and say hello. Sorry, ad there.

[Joker]

Well I've had a look through and there are a lot of good sites mentioned in this thread. I told myself i was not going to pimp my own outfit, but then PR24 did so

If u wanna see a cool flash intro for a pure Planetside only outfit go to www.dreamscapevirus.com and see whatcha think.

[Ultimatum]

Angelos, I agree with you about having to select something after actually reaching a website in order to actually view the website. However, if you take into account that people may well be loading up that website on a 56kbps connection and may not want to view the intro (which is currently under construction on the website of a New Dawn - or so it would seem) because it is most likely to not be worth the wait... Then it is completely logical.

So, it may cause frustration for those of us with ISDN, DSL, T1 and T3 connections but those on 56kbps are saved a lot of frustration because of it. And yes, there may well be ways around it (although I can't actually think of any right now - other than an intro button on the index page of the website) but perhaps the webmaster wanted to make it clear that there is an intro...


Straynjer, I have to agree with you on "For my money, tight integration between general site and forums is the most important and most commonly neglected issue on any clan/community site."

But often, clan sites do not have such a large community and many of the members actually communicate via IRC or some form of IM like msnm... So I think that would only apply to clans of 20+ members (which is almost all the PS outfits out there).

As for you ammending your forums, good on ya! I'm glad to see you got cracking on blending them into the website. They certainly look better than they did previously (ezboard) and I like that you followed through with that flashing light from the menu into the buttons of the forum. Still not hugely to my liking ( ) but I'm sure they look excellent to anybody who prefers the darker websites And as for the ad, I think I picked on your outfit website more than enough to justify such a little ad

[Navaron]

OK - NCG rocks.

[Kikinchikin]

in my opinion, a flashy website isn't what makes a clan. (although it certainly helps) Having an active community is crucial for a clan's success.

For example: i used to play age of empires conquerors. Theres this clan Zoltron, the website is kinda plain, nothing great nothing bad, just a solid website. but their forums... yikes. over 30000 posts. they r basically the best clan in aoc. not cuz of a grande website but becuz of their wicked forumsl.

thats part of the reason im not gonna bail on my current clan, the empire of TiTaNs. altho im the only one in ps beta so far, ill be starting an outfit when the mainstream game comes out. cuz i mean all outfits and characters are going to get wiped. I considered joining some big clans out there, but think im gonna stick with my clan so i can lead my own division. and cuz ive made friends on the forums. Our forums have been around for about 2 months and we have about 5000 posts total. Of course theres only about 25 people who post somewhat actively, altho the clan itself has about 40or so members.

for all who are interested in us, or if u wanna join my planetside outfit that wil be starting after the game is released, the main site is www.empireofbabu.net. the site isnt that great,, but its not bad either. click on the link to the forums, my forum is at the bottom of games. The Outfit name will be RoD Raiderz of Darkness. Thanks and didnt mean to advertise, just wanted to voice my opinion

[Ultimatum]

Next: http://www.dreamscapevirus.com

A very smooth introduction. I'm not sure that the music entirely hits the right spot but the graphical side of it is very good. As for the content, it's certainly different

However, it's a much better introduction than some that I have seen. Not specifically ones for websites posted in this thread but in general...

I have to admit, I quite like the outfit logo. As for the menu at the top, it's a nice touch with the metal and rivet/bolt textures and the text is clear and concise. I'm not too sure about the news page (seems a little like a poorly laid-out set of forum posts).

Also, one thing that's always really gotten on my nerves is when the "about" page or what one would assume to be the about page is the page that is the index page for a website. If it is only until the outfit forms a reasonable community, then that's fine but if it's intended to be permanent, then .

The guestbook is a nice touch and the way that all the content for each webpage is incorporated smoothly into a pre-determined space is nice to see. This is especially apparent with the forums, which is excellent.

Normally forums are very poorly incorporated into the main website in such a way but these are different. I am definitely impressed by how smoothly the forums are slipped into the site design. And also by the fact that although they do not match the website design perfectly, it seems to compliment it rather than clash with it.

Congrats. on a site well-done

[PR24]

Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel
Holy shit this intro is crazy. What rendering program did they use to make that intro?

Yes that flash IS great

Only problem is it's 7MB in size which is too large for a intro.

[Big Bro]

Thx for all the props for our flash intro and website, even though Ultimatum didn't have much good to say about it.

CUJO, our clan founder, is the website admin and designer. He does stuff like this professionally for a living. You can ICQ or email him if you have specific technical questions, I'm sure he'd love to talk shop about it. Personally, I think the most impressive thing about the intro is that the Squad rosters are dynamic. When we add someone to the roster, it automatically shows up in the movie.

The majority of the website content is in the Private section, where all our top secret stuff is at. Our website is not just a board, but a feature rich environment where our clan leaders can help direct their squads.

The Public section is really a means for potential recruits to check us out and see what kinds of attitudes and standards we have. Our public forum isn't nearly as active as it should be, mainly because our private forums are where most of us hang out. I check the pub forum almost daiily, but I'll miss a day or two here or there. That is where people outside NCG can chat with us, but the majority of all the activity is in the Private section.

[Trol]

Hell's Elite Legions

Not advertising, just curious as to what Ultimatum thinks of the website.

[Ultimatum]

Heh, I was wondering when http://www.hel-guild.com would turn up in here

You see, I have seen a few of these websites previously when I was picking random outfits from the PSU database to take a look at... and this one came up at one stage.

First off, the interface is truly stunning. There is no denying that. It is certainly a graphically rich environment. I think that the small advertisement button at the top is incorporated into the design well and unlike pop-ups or huge banner ads, is rather subtle.

And to be honest with you all, every single feature within this interface has its advantages and its disadvantages. The 'ambience' feature at the top of the interface is quite useful - especially if you end up listening to the music for some time while trying to analyse the website *turns off music*

The background sits comfortably in place, not standing out too much but at the same time, clearly visible. The centerpiece obviously being a rather stylish "HEL" logo.

As for the loading screen, I have no quarrels with it. It's basic, not graphics heavy and it gets the job done. Then of course, there is the interface. The intricate detail on the borders of the interface and the method by which the central component of it is first introduced is certainly impressive and doesn't scream 'look at me!' I would imagine it took some time to produce the overall interface or it required a very skilled coder / user of this "Pro:FX" that you advertise, or perhaps both.

The four main sections that are visible (in the central component) could do with being a little bit lighter - at least the text. The mouseover effect with the different text links solves the problem of not being able to clearly see which link you are about to click and adds a little more style to the interface.

The lower interface (beneath the central component) consists of 7 small buttons, which flash in a sequence. This is a pretty cute addition to an already graphically superior interface. And the text that appears to indicate where the button links to is an excellent touch - flickering etc.

It's certainly an excellent interface and the vast amount of visual overload is cleverly toned-down by having a relatively dark interface and website for that matter. The default music compliments the interface and appears to create the desired atmosphere...

However, it's just not my cup of tea. There is absolutely no way in hell (no pun intended) that I could say this website sucks or is poorly designed or didn't receive much attention... but it's just too much for me. I find a simplistic approach often better for website interfaces and when you delve so deeply into what you can achieve with a lot of skill and hard work, it's hard to view it in a bad way. At the same time, so much graphical detail is just too much imho.

Ignoring the previous paragraph, this website interface (the index page) is absolutely fantastic and hats off to whoever made it... just not my cup of tea


One thing you must always remember: a great front cover doesn't automatically make the rest of the book interesting or of high quality. Now, I have never personally used ClanBuilder but from the looks of the website, you have used it for absolutely everything except the interface on the first page and the "Hell Family Tree".

Fair enough, perhaps with so many members, using something like ClanBuilder is the only way to keep track of them all and maintain all the services that are required. However, compared to the stunning quality of the index page, the rest of the website is a little of a let down on a visual level...

I don't actually have time to read all of the content but there is undoubtedly plenty of it. On a visual level the rest of the site, having been constructed using ClanBuilder, scores quite low. But on a content level, it scores highly. Also, you have at least attempted to use a colour scheme which compliments/is similar to the index page, which contains the interface for both the forums and the other sections of the site which use ClanBuilder.


Overall, a stunning interface for the website, plenty of content and a sensible management system incorporated but the consequence of this was that the rest of the site was let down graphically.

[Ultimatum]

*Leans back and cracks fingers* Now THAT took a while

It took me around 5 - 10 minutes to produce that previous post concerning the HEL website and then a further 2 minutes of proof-reading and correcting...

I hope I don't offend anybody with my comments since it is not my intention.

And =NCG=Big Bro, it's nothing personal. It's just that I felt that your website could have been a lot better and it wouldn't take that much work to do it. It has so many separate components with excellent potential, but the hard division between the interface (top frame and left frame) and the content itself is unpleasant. And the interface appears a little 'corny' as such (*shudders* I hate using that word). Each component has excellent potential, perhaps just take a look and consider what you think could make the website better on a first impression/graphical level.

As for the flash introduction to NCG, I have already admitted I overlooked it but with that little snippet of information you gave us in your previous post, it sounds pretty damn impressive. I would assume that CUJO is some kind of flash master

However, as I mentioned in my previous post, just because the cover of a book is stunning, does not mean that the content and quality of the book will follow suit. The same applies for websites...

[Big Bro]

Originally posted by Ultimatum
...I hope I don't offend anybody with my comments since it is not my intention.
...

No offense here. Since I personally am not a GUI designer I have no frame of reference myself. I work within whatever framework I'm given.

[Ultimatum]

Glad to hear it