

Ask HN: Feedback for new virtual worlds tech web magazine - jpirkola

We are just about to launch a new web magazine "Max Ping", focusing on open source virtual world technologies. Small glitches and typos, we will fix those before launch, Would like to get your comments on it if you see any major problems - or if it looks good. http://www.maxping.org/
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jlees
First: I can't really tell from an immediate glance, design-wise, what the
subject matter is. The design, pictures, etc, don't scream 'virtual world
technologies' to me at all, and it takes a fair while of staring at the palm
tree pic to figure out what's going on.

Second: A few things stand out after I get over that hurdle. The text on
"Adventures on the New Frontier" is tiny, I can't read it. "Technology
feature"/"Business feature" etc; do they really need the word "feature"? Looks
repetitive when it's laid out like that.

Now in no particular order:

Why is 'The Sandbox' black and why am I told to register before I find out
what it even is?

I really like the idea of 'get started' being immediately clickable from the
intro text and I assume it'll be a detailed HOWTO when finished. Personally
that's the first thing I'd read. I'd probably also link first occurrences of
terms like OpenSim to the HOWTO - well maybe that's too basic for your
expected readers, but to engage new ones who might not understand what any of
the articles on the front page are about.

Generally, though, I think I'd like to see more pictures and possibly better
use of the pictures you do have ([http://www.maxping.org/virtual-
life/avatars/projecting-the-v...](http://www.maxping.org/virtual-
life/avatars/projecting-the-virtual-you.aspx) \- the images are so untidy).
Images are one of the best ways to lead people into content. Excerpts are also
good, and I don't really think you're making the most of them. For example the
excerpt on your 'business feature' assumes I've read the headline thoroughly.
I haven't, I've skim-read it, so interrupting my reading to go back and re-
read it to figure out what "the answer" refers to is painful.

(Disclaimer: I'm a MMO blogger & techie, but have no experience with open
source virtual worlds, only commercial ones. So I might not be your perfect
audience in terms of wanting pretty pictures and the like.)

