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My skin idea - comments please

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elfshadow
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 3:20 am
Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
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Well, I'll go ahead and start by putting together a comprehensive list of all the designs that Eru and Estel have (amazingly :bow: ) created in this thread and other threads in the Business Forum. Let me know if I have missed any!

Banners:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

Skin Ideas:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

#21

#22

#23

#24


Okay, I think that's all of them! There are a lot, as you can tell. Some of them are very similar to each other because the artists have tweaked around with certain prototypes a bit, but I tried to post as many as I could so people could get an idea of what's been done already.

Keep in mind that we can combine different banners with different board styles, and we can also make several different overall combinations for people to choose from in their Profile (I think). However, these do take quite a bit of work, so if we can narrow our options down to just a couple it would be much easier for the people who are implementing the design.


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LalaithUrwen
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 3:40 am
The Grey Amaretto as Supermega-awesome Proud Heretic Girl
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:Q Wow. Well, that'll take me a while to get through, but I'll post my thoughts when I'm done.


ETA: Okay, I like #7 or #8, whichever was the final version from Eru. #4 was nice, too, but I would pick 7 or 8, fwiw.

ETA2: I like the skins with designs 7 or 8, so any of them except for #23. (I didn't like the fogginess at the edges.)


Lali

Last edited by LalaithUrwen on Mon 23 Jul , 2007 3:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Jnyusa
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 3:47 am
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Wow, thanks for doing that summary, Elsha. And all the links!
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and we can also make several different overall combinations for people to choose from in their Profile (I think).
Yes, you can do this, but it's a lot of work to create just one.

What we did on HoF to make our own life easier was to leave up a couple of the non-custom favored choices ... iirc you can use Aeolus or Rainy Day instead of the custom skin at HoF. Because the banner is loaded from the admin panel, everyone who uses the board does see the banner, but the colors of the skin are not the custom colors unless they choose that skin.

The trickiest part for us was choosing from which basic skin to start the customization process, because they don't all have the same features and most of these features cannot be changed ... for example, the kind of border around the avatar, and whether or not the text scrolls in when you narrow the page, and by how much. Those are two things I recall us debating among ourselves. We finally chose Rainy Day as our base, but any of the standard skins could be used as a starting point. It can be a skin whose features you like but whose colors annoy, because the colors are going to be changed anyway.

Once you've decided which skin to start from, the rest is relatively easy, though tedious. You decide among yourselves what color you want each field to be, and someone with access to the Cpanel fills in the hex numbers. Every field that can be changed has an input window. Agreement on colors can take a lot of discussion, of course, but the tech wizards don't have to be involved in that part. Anyone with a photoshop can mock up the options for people to look at, as has already been done.

There's about a million "buttons" on the board that we use all the time without thinking about them (I never think about them, anyway) and every .gif had to be customized and replaced on HoF because our color choices were so far from the colors on the base skin that we used ... and Eru knows what a pain that was because she did most of them. But still, it's only donkey work and doesn't have to be done all at once.

Jn

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Ara-anna
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 2:35 pm
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I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but has anyone asked if anyone wants to change things? I guess I look at it as if it ain't broke don't fix it. Has a poll asking if people want change been done? I for one like the designs but am fine with what we have now.

Plus sometimes changing to having a 'prettier' presentation makes websites load slower. And sometimes the codes get corrupted and the person who installed them is no longer around.

I say all of this out of experience with my work webpage, which had a hidden code that took forever to find and I still can't get rid of it because the people who initially set it up put it in the contract that their scrolling crapola has to stay in. It makes the home page load really really slow, sure the picture is pretty and it looks all nice, but we loose a great deal interest in those visiting the site because it takes too long to load. And when I was on vacation a bit back I had to access the net on dial up and HOF was slow to load, but then again so were a good bunch of sites that had the more complicated front pages. I know that dial-up members are probably far and few between but still, only a certain amount of people in the entire world have DSL or faster net connections.


And that said, I have been working with government regulations too long when I start applying standards to B77. :suspicious: :Duck:

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Jnyusa
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 4:01 pm
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Ari-Anna wrote:
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but has anyone asked if anyone wants to change things? I guess I look at it as if it ain't broke don't fix it. Has a poll asking if people want change been done? I for one like the designs but am fine with what we have now.
If people don't want to finish customizing the skin, then that's a different story.

But I saw all the work Eru and Estel had put into creating options at a time when members were enthusiastic about having a custom skin, and that work seemed to die of ... neglect. It seemed a bit, well, churlish toward Eru and Estel, if you don't mind my saying so. I am still a member here and was personally looking forward to the day when this would get implemented.

If the idea is going to be shelved permanently, I guess I would prefer to see that done by poll, so that Eru and Estel aren't left wondering whether anyone just doesn't give a damn, you know?
Quote:
Plus sometimes changing to having a 'prettier' presentation makes websites load slower. And sometimes the codes get corrupted and the person who installed them is no longer around.
It did not make HoF run slower. The programming is not that elaborate. Nothing on the MySql Cpanel is terribly complicated and I suspect that just about anyone could learn it in a pinch. I've done emergency repairs on HoF when Voronwe wasn't around, and I'm one of these people who can't even find a toggle switch without an instruction manual.

If people want to customize, potential problems to the programming should not be the thing that deters them, imo. But if no one wants to do it anymore, that's something different.

Jn

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Crucifer
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 4:08 pm
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Banner #7, with skin #24 would be beautiful... :love:

I don't know anything about the technological side of it. This is purely an artistic point of view.

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Ara-anna
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 5:10 pm
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Jny,

From the point where I was at, HOF did seem to run slower from dial up. But it may have been where I was at. I was able to load B77 faster than most of the other sites that have the pictures ect.. (and I do like them) Just saying that sometimes it seems on dial-up it takes longer to load. But then again I am not on dial up that often.

I appreciate all the work both Eru and Estel have put into these designs, I do understand how hard it is to do. But the subject sort of faded away and would have probably been lost had it not been bumped, so I wonder if anyone would notice one way or another, or if a change is even warranted. I would hate to see all the work go to waste, but the sad fact is this thread was pretty much dead and has been until now so I would think there was not that much interest until the thread was ressurected.

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halplm
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 5:13 pm
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Of course it was dead, but Jnyusa obviously is interested in it.

One might ask why... but apparently that's rude.

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Kaya
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 5:19 pm
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Wow those are stunning! Great job. :D It is hard to choose, but here are my favorites: banner #8 and skin #24.

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Lily Rose
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 5:22 pm
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I've looked at all of them, but I can't decide at the moment which one I like the best. As far as I can see, they are all very well done.

Why not, as Ara suggested, put up a poll and let the board decide which one to use? :)

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Jude
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 5:22 pm
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I love all the designs - I can't choose. :oops:

I think we should go ahead - those who are concerned about downloading time don't have to change to the new skin, and it won't affect them at all.

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Ara-anna
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 5:48 pm
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Well so long as there are no scrolling banners. I have seen too many of those corrupt after a time and its not fun. Scrolling banners are evil and slow everything down and they are removed and small part is forgotten in the code, they are really evil.

Ok I hate scrolling banners. Evil Evil Evil. pfft pfft pfft.

I like the rivendale ones (ok like that helps right?)

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Crucifer
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 7:17 pm
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I agree with Jude. Why not have another skin for those who want it.
Choice is a wonderful thing to have, after all. If, like Hal or Ara you aren't interested in a new skin, stick with the one you're using. No one is forcing it on you.

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halplm
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 7:20 pm
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not yet

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Crucifer
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 8:15 pm
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I don't think anyone will ever try to force a new skin on you Hal.

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halplm
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 8:21 pm
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It's surprising how often people do try to force others to be something they are not.

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Crucifer
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 8:25 pm
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...

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elfshadow
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 8:58 pm
Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
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Hey guys, can we keep this thread solely to the discussion of new skins/banners without any more snide comments, from anyone? Thanks.


Ara, I understand your concerns--I had dial-up for a long time (even when most people had switched to high speed) and certain graphics can REALLY bog down dial-up, to the point where sometimes the site just doesn't move anymore. But Jude is right, even if we do implement one or two new skins, people would of course still have the option of keeping one of the old skins. That way all the work that Eru and Estel and others have put into making these designs would be used, and people who preferred a simpler, lower-graphic design could keep their old skin.


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halplm
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 9:02 pm
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sorry, elsha, just thought the timing of someone who hasn't been here in months bumping a thread no one has looked at in a year a bit odd... especially considering events... elsewhere...

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jewelsong
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Posted: Mon 23 Jul , 2007 9:03 pm
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I think the new banners are beautiful and the skins as well - but I would likely be one of the folks choosing to keep the old skin - I need something very clear and easy to read (old eyes!) which means, for me, a very light background and dark print!

However, choice is good and I like the idea of being able to choose and of people being creative with their ideas!

:D


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