Change maps on home page

[Gilligan]

Concise description:

• Time for some new maps on the home page gif...

Specifics/Details:

• Been a while since that went up, and now we have more beautiful maps (and Asia got revamped, so it's not completely accurate at the moment either)

How this will benefit the site and/or other comments:

• Keeps it accurate. And a change wouldn't be a bad thing either, to rotate through some more recent maps.

[SimplyObsessed]

Change is good.

[DoomYoshi]

MAJOR SUPPORT!

[AndyDufresne]

There is actually a lot going on with that animated .gif, more than you might imagine.

That animated gif went through A/B testing and it's crucial for the homepage to be optimal in terms of signups per visit, not necessarily in terms of popularity. Also, any new versions would have to be of optimal file-size, since Google penalizes "heavy pages."


--Andy

[DoomYoshi]

There is actually a lot going on with that animated .gif, more than you might imagine.

That animated gif went through A/B testing and it's crucial for the homepage to be optimal in terms of signups per visit, not necessarily in terms of popularity. Also, any new versions would have to be of optimal file-size, since Google penalizes "heavy pages."


--Andy

Just curious, did the facebook and twitter feeds also go through A/B testing?

They seem to clutter up the screen, to me.

[TheGeneral2112]

There is actually a lot going on with that animated .gif, more than you might imagine.

That animated gif went through A/B testing and it's crucial for the homepage to be optimal in terms of signups per visit, not necessarily in terms of popularity. Also, any new versions would have to be of optimal file-size, since Google penalizes "heavy pages."


--Andy

Just curious, did the facebook and twitter feeds also go through A/B testing?

They seem to clutter up the screen, to me.

This. I blocked them both. Too bad there isn't a dislike button for annoying advertising.

LIKE ME! TWEET ME!

[Gilligan]

There is actually a lot going on with that animated .gif, more than you might imagine.

That animated gif went through A/B testing and it's crucial for the homepage to be optimal in terms of signups per visit, not necessarily in terms of popularity. Also, any new versions would have to be of optimal file-size, since Google penalizes "heavy pages."


--Andy

What exactly does that mean?

[agentcom]

There is actually a lot going on with that animated .gif, more than you might imagine.

That animated gif went through A/B testing and it's crucial for the homepage to be optimal in terms of signups per visit, not necessarily in terms of popularity. Also, any new versions would have to be of optimal file-size, since Google penalizes "heavy pages."


--Andy

What exactly does that mean?

Do you want him to define every term he used? Or maybe you could be more specific about which "this" you're talking about.

[cairnswk]

Concise description:

• Enhance the front page of the site with new animation of different maps

Specifics/Details:

• There has been the same maps on the front page animation now for several years.
• Perhaps this could be changed to rotate a few maps in that animation that are distinct in that size.
• This could be done on a regular basis, perhaps every month.
• Of course the classic map needs to be included in each rotation
• It isn't that hard to do.

How this will benefit the site and/or other comments:

• We know that the user interface is not going to change soon
• But it has been known for many years that changing/refreshing the front of your business creates a new/altered perception of the business.
• This may benefit the site, by letting potential users and indeed constant users know that the site is not just about the same maps
• and that the site is constantly changing and has different maps to play on
• it may be one of the many things that can be a catalyst for proactive change/perception.

[agentcom]

Someone who's been around longer than I have may know this. But last time this was suggested, I believe the answer was that those rotating maps were actually the result of research done on how to get a player to sign up for this site. I believe the method was to change what new users saw and see how many of them "clicked through" to create an account depending on which maps were shown. I have no idea how long ago this happened or how valid those results are. But I do believe that this was the result of some actual thought.

Are there not enough cairns' maps in the mix?

[cairnswk]

Someone who's been around longer than I have may know this. But last time this was suggested, I believe the answer was that those rotating maps were actually the result of research done on how to get a player to sign up for this site. I believe the method was to change what new users saw and see how many of them "clicked through" to create an account depending on which maps were shown. I have no idea how long ago this happened or how valid those results are. But I do believe that this was the result of some actual thought.

Are there not enough cairns' maps in the mix?

contraire good agentcom...
this is not about getting my maps out there.
this is about starting to provide some sort of "face-lift" for the site...which i have to agree with many others...is aged and getting stale

[DiM]

as agentcom said apparently the current mix is a result of research and they're the perfect blend to get somebody hooked to CC.
while i would like to see it changed periodically i don't think it's really that important.
the face-lift of the site needs to be much more profound than changing an animated gif.

[chapcrap]

I guess I'm just neutral on this. There was another suggestion about this a few months back... At least I think it was in this forum. Someone provided a reason why it was difficult to do, but I don't remember.

To me, I do think changing the maps isn't the worst idea, but I'm not compelled by it. I spend about 3 seconds a week on the home page.

[IcePack]

This was suggested recently and Andy D pointed out the maps were ABC tested? I believe it was called.

Anyway, they didn't sound like they wanted to mess w it.

[agentcom]

I spend about 3 seconds a week on the home page.

You are not the target audience.

[cairnswk]

Mmmm. I've read all the above posts, thanks all for comments...
but i am not convinvced that the research is 100% correct...and perhaps the research is now stale itself or has changed. has an update to that research been considered/done?
and where is the risk factor?
if i hadn't wanted to take some risk, there wouldn't be many of my maps and themes out there to play, or others' wouldn't be making their sort of "out of the box" maps that gives CC some variety.
i notice the logo can change for the addition of some "olympic" type CC theme, and there are the seasonal events that go up in the top right corner banner...
so why not change the maps occassionally also?
Agree with those who say this is not totally a biggie, but any change can be change towards a catalyst for bigger improvements, no matter how small.

[IcePack]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=168321&p=3681170&hilit=Home+Page#p3681170

[agentcom]

Thanks IcePack for finding the old topic, which is still active in the suggestions forum. MERGED.

[macbone]

Perhaps it's time for another study? =)

[Qwert]

maybe this its bug, but maps on home page are now very blurry.

[koontz1973]

maybe this its bug, but maps on home page are now very blurry.

It looks like they just enlarged the old one and hoped no one would notice.

[TheForgivenOne]

maybe this its bug, but maps on home page are now very blurry.

It looks like they just enlarged the old one and hoped no one would notice.

Doesn't even fully load on mine. It has about 3/4 of the map loaded, and doesn't cycle anymore.

[rishaed]

+1 That too, I don't notice much b/c I'm not really on the home page ,but it looks crappy and some variety on the maps would be a nice freshener.

[spiesr]

IMPLEMENTED
At least sort of. The image has been replaced with a much cleaner version which doesn't stretch maps (instead it crops them).