New National Firearms Museum website

[JimSupica]

We've just rolled out Phase 1 of the new NRA National Firearms Museum website. Check it out at:

http://nationalfirearmsmuseum.org

(that's nationalfirearmsmuseum.org)

This is the basic layout for the site, with some good content in place.

Phase 2 will have much more extensive content, including photos and commentary on all 2,200 firearms currently on display, and much more that will be of interest and use to gun collectors and the general public (we hope!).

Since we're just among friends here, I'd like to ask this forum first for some help in reviewing the site. I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts and feedback, including:

1. Overall quality.

2. Layout & navigation.

3. Interest and usefulness of content.

4. Load time.

5. Anything else that you like, dislike, or think needs attention on the site.

Please send your comments to me at [email protected]

Thanks! - Jim Supica, Director, NRA National Firearms Museum.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

Jim,

Thanks for posting this. We are glad to have you as a member.

 

[bamawrx]

Jim,

I've made the trip twice to the museum and it was a blast. Last time we ran into Phil who I asked what his favorite firearm was, and that started a couple hours of private tour. He is an amazing guy with so much information, and a credit to the museum.

You guys have the information and items, but the little tags are pretty limited by the guns. Not sure how to get more info about the guns displayed into a format that wouldn't clutter the place up, but it would be helpful. I can't wait to attend again.

Also, I had this baked catfish fillet in the cafeteria and I'm still thinking about it years later! Man it was best I've ever eaten.

Thanks

 

[kludge]

NFM is on my list of "things to do before I die".

Thanks for posting!

 

[Brian Williams]

Just make sure that the photos can be downloaded to be used as background wallpaper and not just flash.

 

[HammerBite]

I am 69 years old and on dial-up. I don't think I will live long enough to see anything on the new site.

 

[Lakeshore]

Thanks for the link to an excellent website. That one got saved to my "favorites" menu for future perusal.

 

[JimSupica]

Thanks for the feedback (and the kind words!)

HammerBite, we were really hoping for something that could work on dialup, and that is still something I'd like to see.... maybe in the future something that has fewer big pix and vids but still has an index to the helpful info on the site, which brings us to....

bamawrx -- This phase 1 of the website is kind of a sneak preview of the final product. We plan for phase 2 to have a LOT more substantive info. A big feature of phase 2 will be a searchable index of ALL firearms in the museum, where you can pull up photos and information on any gun (along with a video on some of them). Trying to pack this all into a format that is usable and not too cluttered is indeed a challenge, but that's the goal. We're hoping for phase 2 around January, so please check back.

... and you're right, Senior Curators Phil Schreier and Doug Wicklund are incredible assets to the museum. One of the big pluses for me in taking this gig was getting to work with these guys who are friends and remarkably knowledgeable and helpful.

Brian, I'll pass the wallpaper suggestion along.... I think that will be doable, but not techie enough to know for sure.

Mikee, glad to be here. I haven't posted much, but really enjoy THR and think it's an exceptional gunnish site with lots of great folks.

Lake, glad you enjoyed the site! Hope you'll check back, there should be a steady trickle of new material over the next few months and then a huge jump when we launch Phase 2.

Kludge, by all means get to the Museum! You'll like it, i'm pretty sure!

Jim

 

[berettaprofessor]

Jim;

The site loaded fast for me, and I loved the content I previewed.

This is difficult for me to say, because I really would like this whole museum to be visible online and don't want to discourage anyone, but, to be frank, I really disliked the layout and navigation. Specifically:

a) Screens are way too cluttered and that design makes the pictures and video too small to really view adequately.

b) I really didn't like clicking on a picture of a featured gun on the right hand side, or on a room on the gallery map on the right hand side, and then the text about the item occurring in a small box on the opposite side of the cluttered screen....took me a minute to even realize that the text was there. Getting that deep should put us to a clean screen without all the other clutter and with plenty of room to read the text without scrolling through a 4 line text screen.

c) I got lost in the gallery and there was no home button to get back to the main website or menu. There should be navigation buttons to go back to menu places on every screen. Additionally, while a video was playing, I couldn't even hit the "back" button on my internet viewer without shutting off the video.

d) Clicking on a "featured gun" enlarged the picture slightly and brought up the short text box, but it didn't bring up the picture to the size I'd like it to be to really see the gun. Also, I think the featured guns should be categorized...to find, say, Tom Selleck's revolver, I would have to place my mouse over every one of what could be hundreds of pictures until the popup description told me I had the right one. Splitting them into "guns of historical features", "guns of TV icons", "guns of the presidents", or some other categories might have helped. In fact, rather than looking over a collage of pictures, just a text listing with links to click on the guns I wanted would have been more useful. If I saw a link to "General Custer's Sharps rifle", for instance, I'd be aware that I could see a picture of it simply by clicking.

e) The whole thing looks way too much like the current NRA website that I also dislike and stopped going to when they redesigned it; were they the same designers?

In short, Jim, my preference would be to have the designer's drop all the fancy website stuff and K.I.S.S for idiots like me.

Take all that for one person's view only.

 

[JimSupica]

Thanks Prof, that type of detailed feedback is really helpful.

I have to say that my initial response to the proposal for the website layout was very similar to yours, but as this has developed I've come to love it, primarily because this redesign will eventually allow us to get substantial substantive content up on the internet that should be very useful to collectors and enthusiasts.

I also have become comfortable w/ the "busy" layout as a vehicle that should be attractive to more casual users who may not already be committed enthusiasts. We want to draw in and catch the attention of the general public who may come to the site, and provide "infotainment" content that interests them in the history of firearms.

Believe it or not, we have scaled back the "bells and whistles" a bit from the initial proposal. And we do want to continue to take a serious look at this site to make it interesting, non-confusing, and easy to use.

It's hard for those of us who have been close to this project to see it thru fresh eyes, and your responses are certainly useful in working on improvements and tuning.

Many thanks! - Jim