I think the issue is a little more general than just banner blindness (which typically refers to ignoring banner ads).
The page is chock full of distracting elements that have nothing to do with the content the user is looking for. The only way to read it is to mentally progressively block out the useless stuff. That banner fades easily and is probably one of the first things to go.
Also, they think of the banner as a clear contrasting color, but it's mostly a background image with a graphical, stylized text overlay that blends on to it. It's camouflage really, not prominent at all.
But I don't think graphical design should be a core competency of a good D&D resource center. There's almost some cred in their bafflement about why this doesn't work.
I say put an [Unofficial] badge, with a distinct style and color next to each link and title. It will be on the content the users see.
Yeah, and banner blindness is about more than just things that look like ads. The top and side bars of webpages traditionally contain information about the website as a whole, and are not relevant to the specific page you are viewing. You look there to navigate away from the page you are on, but ignore them when digesting the content you came to read. This would be true even if ads hadn't ruined our expectations, and has analogs in other media. In a book, you don't expect users to read the header/footer (page number, chapter, etc) each time they turn a page. Those are there to navigate through the book more quickly, but are ignored once you get to where you want.
> I think the issue is a little more general than just banner blindness
Beyond banner blindness and also the general page design as you say I think there is another, more subtle problem as well: the user doesn't care about the distinction. "Official" vs "homebrew"? What does that even mean in the context of D&D gaming? Although I'm sure it's possible to fully appreciate the distinction by reading whatever legalese is provided I'm equally sure no one will.
It's hard to make people notice things they don't want to notice. It's even harder when your callout looks like an ad festooning a clutter.
The page is chock full of distracting elements that have nothing to do with the content the user is looking for. The only way to read it is to mentally progressively block out the useless stuff. That banner fades easily and is probably one of the first things to go.
Also, they think of the banner as a clear contrasting color, but it's mostly a background image with a graphical, stylized text overlay that blends on to it. It's camouflage really, not prominent at all.
But I don't think graphical design should be a core competency of a good D&D resource center. There's almost some cred in their bafflement about why this doesn't work.
I say put an [Unofficial] badge, with a distinct style and color next to each link and title. It will be on the content the users see.