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Everyone knows Wintreath doesn't have much of a website.

Shortly after the region started, I put something very basic up just to have something...if you're not logged in, you'll see the snowy castle picture with some generic text about how great Wintreath is and how you should join to help "propel this forsaken land to glory!". Then in 2015 the page was changed for people who are logged in to show the newsfeed, basically recent forum and RMB posts.

Over the years I've made a few efforts to give the website an overhaul, to make it more mobile-friendly, etc. Those efforts have never went far...but I think I'm ready to give it another try now, based on the work I did last year with the test rules page (https://wintreath.com/rules.php). I will chronicle those efforts here, and I would love to hear any feedback about the changes I'm trying!

Why now?
I believe there's renewed interest in the Wintreath website as a "home base": something that has some connection to all of our other platforms. As I've stated elsewhere, I believe it will become the seat of governance, and once we have official policies and laws they will live there (with backups elsewhere). I also plan to eventually experiment with adding things to the site, and in order to best do that I need to have an existing template the works well and doesn't look like a shoddy design from 2012.

On a personal note, I feel like I'm at a point where I have the mental discipline to keep at it and see this through.

What are we starting with?
The rules page template mostly links to the current website or redesigns current pages like donations. However, this template includes a working "Moderation Support" section where users can privately report rules violations to the moderation team or report a grievance about moderation to the Regional Stability Squad. These messages get posted to each groups' respective Discord channels.

Making the Desktop Version Less Boxy
Choice: Original vs. Revised

The main thing I didn't like about the original design was how boxy everything looked on a desktop. This is an attempt to fix that by entirely removing the page content box and shifting the menu up slightly. I also changed the colors slightly to look better in the new design.

I would appreciate thoughts and feedback. Which version do you like better? What changes would you suggest?

Making the Desktop Version Less Boxy
Choice: Original vs. Revised

The main thing I didn't like about the original design was how boxy everything looked on a desktop. This is an attempt to fix that by entirely removing the page content box and shifting the menu up slightly. I also changed the colors slightly to look better in the new design.

I would appreciate thoughts and feedback. Which version do you like better? What changes would you suggest?

I like the revised option better, it looks a lot cleaner. I don't think I could really suggest many changes without messing around with an image of it in an image editor. One thing though is on the revised rules page the yellow line between the side menu and the rules looks slightly different than the yellow line separating the header thing from them. I can't tell if it's a slight difference in thickness or color, but whatever it is you should probably make them uniform. One thing that might make the rules page less boxy would be to remove the horizontal lines between each option in the side menu.

Making the Desktop Version Less Boxy
Choice: Original vs. Revised

The main thing I didn't like about the original design was how boxy everything looked on a desktop. This is an attempt to fix that by entirely removing the page content box and shifting the menu up slightly. I also changed the colors slightly to look better in the new design.

I would appreciate thoughts and feedback. Which version do you like better? What changes would you suggest?

The boxy look has a nostalgic appeal to it but the rest of this website has moved on from that design so the revised is better. I agree on the horizontal and vertical lines looking different.

Making the Content More Readable
Choice: Original vs Revised

You guys have good eyes! I toned down the border between the menu and the page content because I thought it was a bit distracting. I didn't think the difference would be that noticeable, but apparently I was wrong. I've applied the more toned-down border to the top as well. I've also removed the lines between menu items as suggested by @The Age of Utopia.

Otherwise, this revision changes how page titles and section headers look. I removed the breadcrumb top section (ie Wintreath >> Community Guidelines). It was an easy way to go back to the home page, but there are already two ways to do this: the home menu option and the Wintreath logo icon. Otherwise it was a holdover from our current website, and specifically comes from here on the forums.

In it's place I used large, colorful page title, which inspired me to remove the underlines and add colors to the section headers and words that needed emphasis. I'm overall happy with the results...the site looks even less boxy and pages are easier to read and reference, especially longer pages like the site rules. But what do you guys think?

The next thing I'm going to experiment with is retracting the menu by default on desktop mode. Basically it would work like the mobile version where you click a button to access the menu, except it would appear on the side as it is now instead of the top like on mobile.

Making the Content More Readable
Choice: Original vs Revised

You guys have good eyes! I toned down the border between the menu and the page content because I thought it was a bit distracting. I didn't think the difference would be that noticeable, but apparently I was wrong. I've applied the more toned-down border to the top as well. I've also removed the lines between menu items as suggested by @The Age of Utopia.

Otherwise, this revision changes how page titles and section headers look. I removed the breadcrumb top section (ie Wintreath >> Community Guidelines). It was an easy way to go back to the home page, but there are already two ways to do this: the home menu option and the Wintreath logo icon. Otherwise it was a holdover from our current website, and specifically comes from here on the forums.

In it's place I used large, colorful page title, which inspired me to remove the underlines and add colors to the section headers and words that needed emphasis. I'm overall happy with the results...the site looks even less boxy and pages are easier to read and reference, especially longer pages like the site rules. But what do you guys think?

The next thing I'm going to experiment with is retracting the menu by default on desktop mode. Basically it would work like the mobile version where you click a button to access the menu, except it would appear on the side as it is now instead of the top like on mobile.

I'm loving the look of the revised version. Swapping out the underlines for the color makes the site less cluttered and makes the headers stand out a lot better. The swapping of the breadcrumb topsection for the title also makes the site look cleaner.