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Killebrew · 06-19-2012, 05:14 PM

I understand there will be some disagreements about the HTML based on personal preferences, so I'll elaborate on the v13 HTML concerns with some examples of why I believe some users dislike the OOTP13 HTML and feel this was a step backwards. Hopefully this will communicate some of the concerns a bit better, and I'll also mention a few nice new features of the OOTP13 HTML to ensure they remain in future versions of the game.

Banner Imprint
First of all the banner size - the OOTP13 league banner takes about 25% more screen real estate than the same banner in OOTP11 when using browser zoom level 150. Whether you are a web designer or a lowly OOTP on-line league owner that is not a positive design change, especially when you use a tiny screen net-book or mobile device to access your league website.

OOTP11 .................... OOTP13

Default Font & Font Size
The use of the size 13 arial font in v13 versus the size 11 verdana font in v11 may have been a function over form choice to appease the older users with poor eyesight. I don't mind arial, but IMO verdana looks more more modern, professional, and impressive. Regardless of that, the font size difference is the bigger change here, and I think a size 13 font is just too big & awkward looking. I'm also one of those older users with poor eyesight and know just how easy it is to adjust my screen if I have any issues reading a website with regularly sized fonts, and don't yet have to buy special games with HTML for the eye-site impaired.

Adding a nice background image makes the league name text look awful
I like the B&W baseball image background in the banner (though it does take up too much screen size as mentioned above), but this HTML improvement suddenly makes the league name text on top of it look awful in comparison to the OOTP11 banner. This is is not subjective statement either, the league name text now looks like dozens of OOTP leagues have suddenly converted to an old version of Baseball Mogul or downgraded to OOTP97. Yes, I know there was no OOTP97

.

The dark page backgrounds
This is definitely more of a personal preference area, but based on comments from others I've heard this described as "garish", "distracting", and "hard on the eyes". It's up to the user whether they think this background looks classier & more professional than this background.

90's website style "More is always better" baseball image bullets
This is a very minor complaint, but the baseball image bullet points remind me of the cluttered personal website design philosophy of many 1990's Geo-city sites. They look absolutely fine, but IMO are extraneous and distracting to the eyes. Users care about the news headlines and the content/quality of the articles, not the quality of the bullet point images. At least they are not dancing baseball animated gifs though!

Some credit is in order though as well. The new "Preseason Predictions" page is certainly a neat idea, though it needs some more work to actually be useful due to spring training rosters not looking very much like opening day rosters. Sortable stats and ratings appear to now be built into the vanilla v13 HTML, a huge advance from v11 where users had to add that functionality manually. The occasional historic league news story is a fantastic addition and I'd love to see more of that.

06-19-2012, 05:14 PM	#44
Killebrew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 3,326	I understand there will be some disagreements about the HTML based on personal preferences, so I'll elaborate on the v13 HTML concerns with some examples of why I believe some users dislike the OOTP13 HTML and feel this was a step backwards. Hopefully this will communicate some of the concerns a bit better, and I'll also mention a few nice new features of the OOTP13 HTML to ensure they remain in future versions of the game. Banner Imprint First of all the banner size - the OOTP13 league banner takes about 25% more screen real estate than the same banner in OOTP11 when using browser zoom level 150. Whether you are a web designer or a lowly OOTP on-line league owner that is not a positive design change, especially when you use a tiny screen net-book or mobile device to access your league website. OOTP11 .................... OOTP13 Default Font & Font Size The use of the size 13 arial font in v13 versus the size 11 verdana font in v11 may have been a function over form choice to appease the older users with poor eyesight. I don't mind arial, but IMO verdana looks more more modern, professional, and impressive. Regardless of that, the font size difference is the bigger change here, and I think a size 13 font is just too big & awkward looking. I'm also one of those older users with poor eyesight and know just how easy it is to adjust my screen if I have any issues reading a website with regularly sized fonts, and don't yet have to buy special games with HTML for the eye-site impaired. Adding a nice background image makes the league name text look awful I like the B&W baseball image background in the banner (though it does take up too much screen size as mentioned above), but this HTML improvement suddenly makes the league name text on top of it look awful in comparison to the OOTP11 banner. This is is not subjective statement either, the league name text now looks like dozens of OOTP leagues have suddenly converted to an old version of Baseball Mogul or downgraded to OOTP97. Yes, I know there was no OOTP97. The dark page backgrounds This is definitely more of a personal preference area, but based on comments from others I've heard this described as "garish", "distracting", and "hard on the eyes". It's up to the user whether they think this background looks classier & more professional than this background. 90's website style "More is always better" baseball image bullets This is a very minor complaint, but the baseball image bullet points remind me of the cluttered personal website design philosophy of many 1990's Geo-city sites. They look absolutely fine, but IMO are extraneous and distracting to the eyes. Users care about the news headlines and the content/quality of the articles, not the quality of the bullet point images. At least they are not dancing baseball animated gifs though! Some credit is in order though as well. The new "Preseason Predictions" page is certainly a neat idea, though it needs some more work to actually be useful due to spring training rosters not looking very much like opening day rosters. Sortable stats and ratings appear to now be built into the vanilla v13 HTML, a huge advance from v11 where users had to add that functionality manually. The occasional historic league news story is a fantastic addition and I'd love to see more of that.