Unfortunately, you're right Trouble. Most of the people who stick around are the builders, or people who have their own communities which they can bring over with them to Kitely.
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These users thanked the author Koshari Mahana for the post (total 4):
Understandable the work is too much. And Kitely s website is better looking then most others in OS ( I watched them and they mainly look like amateur work)
What's going on here is that Kitely is the most reliable grid on oS platforms atm and it should be showing this to new explorers as well. We have some great designs to show people here and the website should be representative of what there is to offer here. More than average and in many ways professional designs ( as of my opinion) . I hope you will find in future the energy and time or another content creator who s willing to work on an upgrade. I think its worth the investment
As in marketing terms I think Kitely is providing services to people who chose for reliability and good maintenance and serves a market of people who are willing to pay more for it then the kind of audience that wants it all for free. So investing in PR a little bit might bring you more in the long term.
cheers
These users thanked the author Trouble Ahead for the post (total 4):
Agreed. I almost passed Kitely up 7 years ago because of the website. I had only found out about openSim and was looking for a place with reasonable costs and one that was comparable technologically with SL. Because I was seriously looking, I read all of the info available on the website as well as others and because I took the time to do so, I chose Kitely. Let's face it, a lot of people bypass the written information and are drawn to sites that have a more visually stimulating website. While the site has all the information, Kitely looks, as far as the site goes, like SL 2007. That's not a good look and I feel as well as others that it deters new users from joining.
We have so many brilliant builders, designers and scripters here that Kitely should have no problem creating a splashy site that showcase the beauty, originality and innovativeness of our world.
These users thanked the author Kimm Starr for the post (total 3):
I still believe the biggest downfall to the website is the banner image that looks like it's from 2007 (or from whenever sculpted prim started appearing). We REALLY need to do that even if the rest of it isn't updated. But, that said, I'm for a complete overhaul.
These users thanked the author Koshari Mahana for the post (total 4):
A complete site overhaul isn't something we'll work on ATM but replacing the homepage banner is pretty straightforward and can be done if we had a more modern one to replace it with (and all the cropped versions we need for all the different mobile aspect ratios). The site uses a responsive design which means that the text and button you currently see on the image change position based on the current screen aspect ratio and resolution. Any new image we use would have to have a similarly sized and positioned background area to enable us to position the white text on it (see the simple gradient sky we have now in that area).
So, even something as simple replacing the banner image is a lot more complicated to do once you take into account that the site has to work on all computer, tablet and mobile phone resolutions and aspect ratios. This isn't a simple marketing website, it has a lot of custom functionality, live tables, dialogs, etc. Also, it has to share a design with Kitely Market and all its pages...
These users thanked the author Ilan Tochner for the post (total 2):
Maybe everyone interested in contributing a new banner image can do so and the community can vote on it. Can you tell us what sizes are needed for the banner pic here.
These users thanked the author Kimm Starr for the post (total 4):
Having experience as a web designer, I would say that most of the Kitely website is just fine. It would be a great idea IMO perhaps to give the main page a refresh every so often so things look vibrant. Perhaps have a submit(at)kitely.com email or a forum post here where members can submit screenshots or videos. I also think that the splash page that you get when you login to Firestorm (or elements of it, especially the calendar) should be incorporated into your home page. Dynamic content like that entices users and is also good for the search algorithm.
Depending on how it was designed originally (leveraging CSS, etc.) it may be wise to update graphic assets (e.g. borders in the Kitely Market, etc.) to a more modern standard - but I think that should be a backburner project.
You can leverage the newer webp image compression format to include images without making them so hard to load.
I feel that though Opensim and SL started the same, over time they have become very different. Opensim is most different than SL in the sense that I get more resources for my money. I feel more creative in Opensim than I do in SL because I have more to work with. Because of this, I think the marketing should be more creative focused and less social focused.
These users thanked the author Brayla Sana for the post (total 5):
I pretty much second everything Brayla said. I think the website itself is actually still looking pretty good for its age, but the landing page has needed a refresh for a looooooong time. Ideally, the banner should change fairly regularly. At least every 6 months. It just shows people considering using Kitely that the place is still alive.
I do quite a bit of this sort of stuff at my current 9-5. Designing packaging, posters, banners, advertisements, gallery image templates, UI elements and so forth. I don't do the implementation, just the graphic side. But provided I know the required dimensions, producing several banner sizes is a doddle.
I remember back in the mists of time when the banner was originally done and the most difficult thing back then AND I suspect will be now is getting good inworld photographs of both avatars and landscapes. If I remember rightly (I was just involved in the discussions) in the end the avatar was superimposed onto the background separately. I would try to avoid that approach this time around if possible.
My current worlds are a bit of a mess still, and I would not want to turn the Kitely frontpage into a giant Worlds End advertisement. Also, with PBR now here, the banner should probably showcase the new lighting/look. Otherwise it may quickly go to look dated again. We have mirrors, reflections and better general ambient lighting now. That's going to make a huge difference to how everything looks one we get to grips with it all, and make inworld photography much more realistic and compelling.
There is quite a lot going on at the moment to grapple with for creators and users alike with the scripting and texture/lighting changes. I wholeheartedly agree the frontpage desperately needs some TLC but maybe this is not something that should be rushed into right now given the above? I know something is always changing and its never a "good time", but PBR is a gamechanger in terms of visuals.
These users thanked the author Ozwell Wayfarer for the post (total 2):
At the time, Dot Matrix spent a lot of time with me inworld posing with her avatar inside worlds that made for an interesting background. What you see is a touched-up, scaled up version of the best looking screenshot we got, after I cleared up the sky from clouds to provide sufficient space for the text and Create New Account button.
I'd be happy to share all the required image dimensions and resolutions once we have a new image(s) that is (or are) good enough to use as a replacement. The full banner one is 1920x787. Note what safe area is required for presenting the text in its current location when the browser window is maximized. You can play around with manually reducing the browser width to see how that safe area must scale for this banner resolution.
These users thanked the author Ilan Tochner for the post (total 2):
Ah ok. I seem remember it being discussed at the time but it is a very long time ago My reason for mentioning that was simply that due to the new lighting model its really best to get the pics of the avatar and background together if at all possible.
So really the issue is not the banner itself, its getting some decent inworld photographs in the correct format. Then maybe Kimm's suggestion is the best way to proceed.
These users thanked the author Ozwell Wayfarer for the post (total 2):
