Design Review: Starfeeder
September 22nd 2007
Starfeeder is a fan site for the massively popular StarCraft series of sci-fi strategy games. Naturally, Starfeeder sports a very modern, techy, design to suit the series. Has it pulled it off?
What Has Been Done Well?
- Header image. Most blogs show their topic through a well-thought-up title, a good slogan, or some other sort of written message. Starfeeder however has chosen to use a striking image from the game itself. Very effective, and any long-time StarCraft fan will appreciate the joke!
- Semi-transparent content background. The image mentioned above is fixed into the background of the page, i.e. as you scroll down, it stays on screen. I'm not usually a fan of this, but in Starfeeder's case, they have added a gorgeous translucency effect to the dark background of the content area. The image shines through enough to look good, but not enough to obstruct legibility.
- Comment form. The entire design has been very well laid out, with close attention paid to the small details. The comment form in particular strikes me as well done, with the consistent spacing and well coordinated coloring.
- Rounded AdSense advert. It is strange to pick out an advert as an example of good design, but this is one of the first times that I've seen Google's new rounded-corner AdSense units being used well.
What Could be Changed?
- Jittery scrolling. This only seems to occur in FireFox, but as I scroll the page, the Google ads and BlogRush widget jump up and down. Perhaps this is just my computer, but if not, I would look into fixing it. The jumpiness is quite aggravating.
- MyBlogLog widget. The MyBlogLog widget has been well personalized already (I'm a Zergling!), but the design could do with a few more tweaks. Matching the background color to that of the other sidebar sections is a must, and rounded corners would be more than welcome.
- "Hosted By..." section. By no means a big problem, but is this section truly necessary? Yes, MediaTemple are a fantastic host (We're with them as well), but the referral program isn't so great. Is this extra advert really worth it?
All in all, the Starfeeder design is excellent. It is a prime example of the little details adding up to a great experience. From the futuristic coloring, to the well laid out typography, to the blended hr's, Starfeeder's design adds up to a very memorable site.
What are your thoughts on the design?
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September 22nd at 10:59 pm GMT
Comment #1
Hey first time at your blog and it look awesome. I will visit it often.
Do you create blog theme? I am trying to find a blog theme thats attractive and profitable as well.
Thanks.
September 22nd at 11:35 pm GMT
Comment #2
Hey - Glad you like it.
Yep, I do create blog themes. If you're looking for a paid theme, you can fire me an email and we can talk.
September 23rd at 1:59 am GMT
Comment #3
cool site, first time I've seen a StarCraft "blog".
keep up the god work
September 23rd at 8:50 am GMT
Comment #4
Hmm, can't find that MediaTemple link... I think it's ok to link to your hosting people if you think they're good. If readers see enough links around the net to a particular hosting company they will think it must be a good company and maybe they'll use them. How else can we know who provides good service (without signing up first)?
I didn't get any jittering - I know what you mean though, I've seen it before. No idea what causes that kind of thing.
September 23rd at 4:44 pm GMT
Comment #5
Most Media Temple people use the referral link. They're saying "I'm cool, because I use (MT)." Media Temple has been, for a long time, a "prestigious" host. They've pretty much always had great service, and the people who used them were considered smart for using MT. Kind of odd.
September 23rd at 10:09 pm GMT
Comment #6
Kristarella - You're right about that (It's partly what convinced me to use MediaTemple) but does the link really need such prominence? I'd stick it in the footer if it were up to me.
But thanks, if you didn't get any jittering, I guess it was just my computer. Strange thing. xD
Redwall - lol - You aren't wrong there. There is something about them that just feels cool. xD
September 23rd at 10:25 pm GMT
Comment #7
I had no idea it had that kind of stigma. I've seen the MT name around the place, but I'm happy with my hosting peeps and I don't know much about that stuff so other than people linking to them, I don't know who's good or not. Kind of lame thing to get coolness points on.
September 23rd at 10:32 pm GMT
Comment #8
Yep, footer is a good place for that sort of thing - I think they might have removed the link, I can't see it...
September 23rd at 10:33 pm GMT
Comment #9
Most people won't know about it either Kristarella. (How often do you actually care about hosting? For most of us, it's only when you're looking to change hosts!)
It does have a pretty good rep though (As good as any host can have I guess).
September 23rd at 10:40 pm GMT
Comment #10
It is also jittering for me and I'm also using Firefox.
I believe they are using some kind of JavaScript to get that nice fading to work but which also messes a bit with the performance of Firefox. For some odd reason the scrolling on the page is a little bit delayed...
September 23rd at 11:10 pm GMT
Comment #11
Glad it's not just me Marco. It would have to be something like that, especially as it's only the JS-made elements that jitter.
September 24th at 3:55 pm GMT
Comment #12
thanks for the review
We notice that jittery issue as well with the modules and are trying to resolve it. The MT link was removed, but will be re-added in a more subtle way, it hasn't really generate anything. What they say is true though, it's kinda of like the BMW badge on a car, represents quality. However there are better ways to show/hide it.
September 24th at 4:08 pm GMT
Comment #13
Very nice! I agree the design is really good with the image and the background for the text. It's just the right darkness to make it easy to read, but the image really stands out in a vivid way. Hope the site has continued success and only gets better.
September 24th at 5:06 pm GMT
Comment #14
No problem Starfeeder. Thanks for taking note of the comments, and good luck with the new MT positioning.
PReed - Agreed. It looks great.
September 24th at 5:49 pm GMT
Comment #15
Very clean, nice site. So far, it's very news/blog oriented, but as I understand the site's goal, it will try to host very regular tournaments for players, with prizes. How will the site change to reflect this reality? If it does this, it won't only be a blog with information, but will need to be something between a blog and a website. I might be interested to join those tourneys, hence me pondering about it.
September 24th at 5:52 pm GMT
Comment #16
Hey Michael, yes we actually are working right now on a new layout to better reflect our future position as a top StarCraft 2 news and tournament website. What you see up right now is actually our "developers" blog, which I've been posting StarCraft 2 updates on to get things started.
The new layout will be released during our official launch, we have many unique features in the works
so stay tuned....
September 24th at 6:05 pm GMT
Comment #17
Hey Michael,
I'm the designer behind the overall design (Starfeeder is the brain child of the operation) - really appreciate the kind words.
We're busy developing the real Starfeeder site as we speak, the blog that you reviewed was just meant as a nice place to read about updates on the sc2 realm, and as a placeholder for our developments. So you'll definitely want to keep a close eye on this one, we have a lot of exciting and innovative ideas for this community, soon to come.
September 24th at 6:16 pm GMT
Comment #18
Thanks for dropping by Matt. You did a great job with Starfeeder.
If that was just a placeholder, then I'll definitely keep an eye out for the main aspects of the site. I'll have some pretty high expectations come the time. Hope you're up to it.
September 24th at 6:19 pm GMT
Comment #19
Oh yeah, no doubt. We've gone through a few iterations of designs - after all, we're perfectionists. So once we're happy with what we have, then we'll be either releasing as beta (ha) or just releasing full out. We'll see as the time comes.
September 24th at 6:20 pm GMT
Comment #20
Sounds good. I guess I'll have to keep checking back in.
September 24th at 7:22 pm GMT
Comment #21
Very nice. I dig the design and the content is top notch!
September 24th at 7:38 pm GMT
Comment #22
Seems like it's a popular design Jordan.
September 25th at 6:05 am GMT
Comment #23
Will Kerrigan be back? Damn I'm outdated.
I think Blizzard would be upgrading Battle.Net to cater for SC2 by now.
September 28th at 4:23 am GMT
Comment #24
we just got done actually with a slight refresh to what was up previously
oh btw our first music video
http://digg.com/videos/gaming/.....usic_Video
November 9th at 11:05 pm GMT
Comment #25
We've updated and officially launched the site!
November 9th at 11:48 pm GMT
Comment #26
Looks great Starfeeder.