A few things that need considering.

The current meta tags:

star wars, star wars club, star wars clubs, star wars clan, star wars clans, fanfic, fan fic, clubs, clans, fan fic, star wars fanfic, star wars organizations, star wars forum, imperials, the empire, star wars imperials, star wars stories, Jedi Knight, JK, Jedi Outcast, JKII, JO, BF1942, Battlefield 1942, Freelancer, XWA, x-wing alliance, XWA, XvT, X-wing vs tie figher, Tie figher, AT-AT, AT-ST, Star Craft, SC, dark forces, DF, rebellion, role playing, role playing game, imperial role playing, RPG, Star wars role playing game, Star wars RPG, SWRPG, Mysteries of the Sith, MOTS, force commander, imperial, star destroyer, ISD, super star destroyer, SSD, battlefront, empire at war

Description:

The Vast Empire is an unofficial online gaming organization based on the Imperial side of the Star Wars Universe created by George Lucas. We are a collection of individuals who play all of the Star Wars computer games made by the LucasArts Entertainment Company. We also do a large amount of online role playing simulations, multiplayer gaming, webpage creation, ICQ/IRC chatting, and Star Wars fiction writing as well.

Painfully out of date.


We should include a statement that we:

Welcome members of all writing abilities.
Are in the year 12aby and include a rough description of our current place in the galaxy/recent events.

I think we should have a direct link to Welcome topics for both the academy and navy . . . or get our arses in gear and do a joint topic that links to relevant wiki pages and guides.

I also think we should consider a revised application form, but that's another matter.

Damn. That goes to show that I haven't been on newgrounds in forever. I didn't know they changed the layout. But I like it.

Let's snazz it up a bit.

Take the basic premise of this one:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v72/Riznak/?action=view¤t=VEhome.jpg

Have the background fade out to the edges and bottom. The whole page can be a fixed width css design so users only see the amount of background that can fit on their screen.

(It'll also look like it's not from the 90's)

Been lookin... it's tough, finding one we can use without legal entanglements.

I have no issue if you guys want to use my gushy 'I <3 VE' post. Hell, if it makes some newbloods trickle in I'll spam it whenever and wherever I can

I loves you tryk, how did people feel about the semi transparent pane in the middle against just having a header and side bars?

Trick...wow. Those images are amazing! Even if we don't use them on the main page, I think I see a re-work of a lot of Naval wiki pages' images in our future. With appropriate credit, of course.

-Drac

something like http://fractalsponge.net/gallery/images/Price%20of%20Defiance.jpg might do

Would something like this work?  This is VERY rough, and tinypic won't make it the proper size, but just to give us an idea: http://tinypic.com/r/2igywm0/6

I was also thinking maybe all the content currently on "www.vastempire.com/main" could not only be spruced up/given new spiffy art (as we've been talking about/doing), but also be moved to "www.vastempire.com"?  The flash intro has served well, and long, but it might be time to retire it in favor of a streamlined vastempire.com that can be easily incorporated into recruiting posters?  As opposed to asking people to visit www.vastempire.com/main...

I totally concur with Drac and Trykon.  Making the site more (and quickly) accessible by just having vastempire.com as the main page is a great idea.

Oh YES Trick, you have outdone yourself.  That is exactly the sort of thing we need!

Give this man a medal.  (another one, I mean)

Thanks Serpent.  And gladly, Raz.  How do you want it: jpeg, photoshop file?  And shall I just Dropbox it to you?  PM me details.

A few thoughts about the above example, now I'm fully awake (and sober) again:
1.) If possible, I think we should incorporate the "A long time ago..." and the Star Wars font logo and some version of a crawl, right up front.  I mean, you can see the results for yourself above, but to me, using those touches grabs Star Wars fans right away, and the slight changes to those touches introduced by the Imperial POV grabs anyone who's even remotely into Star Wars but is REALLY into writing/reading interesting stories.  In other words, it grabs who we want to grab. 
2.) Let's make sure to add a "follow the VE on twitter" button, and another to like our facebook page.
3.) I'm in photoshop mode, now, so I can whip up a set of recruitment posters for lower down the page, one for the Stormtrooper Corps and another for the Navy, if there's interest.
4.) We have to make sure to credit Ansel Hsaio for his gorgeous Imperial ship models (meshes, I think is the term) in the final version!!!

Has anyone heard of the Star Wars Combine Banner Exchange?  It seems like something we might want to incorporate somehow, yeah?  Get exposure for the new-and-improved VE site, once we roll the new-and-improved site out? 

Going to need:

A higher res banner
To learn how to do drop down menus in html5
To make my stylesheet compatible with current homepage
To do the styles for all the different homepage requirements

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ppxrr/veweb/