Hi, everyone. I hope that everyone is enjoying the new features of Panda3D 1.10 so far! I’ve been able to see a little bit of the hard work going on behind the scenes to make this release and rebrand happen, and I have to say that I’m extremely excited to see the where future of this engine goes.
Just to quickly introduce myself: My name is Joey Ziolkowski; I’m a web designer and game developer who created the new Panda3D website. I’ve enjoyed hearing feedback around the community about it, and I’d love to hear more.
If you have any thoughts about the new website – be it positive or negative – feel free to post them here. There’s still plenty of improvements to be made, of course. Here are a few things planned for the future:
Improve design and navigation of the API Reference/Manual
Add a Showcase section for featured user projects and case studies
Swap screenshots being used on the website with other projects and games
So, what do you think of this new direction for Panda’s branding and website? Looking forward to your feedback!
Thanks for the website. It looks great and now it have a new modern look!
For the feedback… The website needs some unified top level navigation. So the PANDA3D logo should always have a link to https://panda3d.org/ I can’t go back from discource forums to the main page. Also https://www.panda3d.org/reference/python/ doesn’t have a link to https://panda3d.org/
This is a small QoL thing but for pages like the Display Region if you’re on the c++ documentation and click the demo at the bottom, the link will take you to the python example and leave the page in “c++ mode”. Instead, it should let you know there isn’t a c++ example but give you the option to see the python one and encourage you to contribute a c++ one.
Otherwise the new site looks really nice!
[Edit] Another QoL would be setting the webpage title as the page of the manual you’re on so instead of saying “Manual | Panda3D”
The new layout is really great and the api reference is already much easier to read now
A small bug when using Safari, the top navigation bar half disappear when you scroll down then back up and it gets worse each time. You have to reload the page to get it again.
I think the link “Blog” should be renamed “News”, it’s already called “Latest news” on the main page anyway.
Maybe a FAQ page should be added to answer the misconceptions about Panda3D (“it’s python so it must be slow”, “it’s an engine written by Disney so it’s proprietary”, …)
While I’ve only glanced over it, I think that the new website looks good, overall: it’s slickly modern, to my eye, and seems to show off the engine well.
(I haven’t yet used it enough to speak to usability, I feel.)
I like the new website a lot. Two things I’d like to mention:
The manual is accessible from the top navigation but for the API reference I need to go all the way to the bottom… I use/need both frequently and it annoys me a little, to not have them closer to each other… but that might be personal preference…
New Images/Screenshots can’t come soon enough. It’s impressive what tobspr did with his Render Pipeline, but for outsiders it sort of gives the wrong impression of what Panda looks like when you install the SDK. My personal opinion is, that the project Yonnji is working on (which is nominated for an Indie Game Award) should be visible equally prominent if not more so (@Yonnji permitting of course). Don’t throw all the screens away from tobspr, but don’t make it look like as if this would be what you get ootb…
Thanks for mentioning me. I’m flattered. I have to work on the better overall graphics/visuals for making a better screenshots if I will be allowed to post them at the main website. But we also have a few more games to show, like a Yorg - http://www.ya2.it/pages/yorg.html
Your welcome and your project was just the first to come to mind, Yorg is a great example as well that should be featured.
This might just be my exotic opinion, but other than Python support, I started using Panda3D, because it seemed honest. The screenshots didn’t look like they came from AAA titles and for me, that was actually a good thing! It makes Panda3D more relatable as I see it.
IMHO do not deceive! In this case, show screenshots from actually working games/projects/simulations/etc. made with Panda3D that are being actively maintained and developed.
Just a heads up, this page is very broken on Firefox (60.4.0esr) and Edge (38.14393.2068.0). The links span 5 columns and the last 3 are off the page. In Edge the “Don’t mind our mess” box is massive (2 page heights tall) and you have to scroll through it.
The API reference section is actually a temporary setup that @rdb put together. In the future it’ll be replaced with something much cleaner and better integrated with the website, but maybe he’ll be able to fix that page for now.
Also, I’m not seeing the issue that you’re describing with the “Don’t mind the mess!” bar. Do you happen to know if you’re on the latest version of Edge?
I also thought that it was not bad to have anchor links for the manual. Also add important links to the forum header: manual, API, FAQ - www.panda3d.org/manual/?title=FAQ
Yeah, I think I agree with this, after noticing how many people seem to be struggling to add their code in without losing indentation. I’ve just added a “Python” button. It’s very hacky, though, but I think this is the best I can do without writing a Discourse plug-in.
