Charas-Project
Off-Topic => All of all! => Topic started by: Osmose on September 28, 2009, 12:38:41 AM
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So, murmuring in the background are efforts to improve Charas slowly over time. However, I have a weakness: I find it difficult to work on a website when I don't have the final design down. Also, you guys could use a prettier website. Hence, I call for your help in designing the new Charas (no version numbers this time).
I'll go into more detail below, but in summary, I'd like you guys to work together on making a mockup of what you'd like the final design to look like, visually. I will then take this, slice it up, code it up, and launch it for most parts of the main site.
The Current Site
The current site is pretty bad looking by today's standards. Here's a few sites that can give you inspiration and help contrast with the current site and what should change:
- Design Bombs (http://www.designbombs.com/)
- Pattern Tap (http://patterntap.com/)
- Inspiration King (http://www.inspirationking.com/)
The design will be based on the front page for now; It helps to take a look at the major elements of the front page and how they're laid out:
[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/Osmose1000/designsummary.png)[/spoiler]
These will be the things that are required to be SOMEWHERE on the new design.
The New Site
There are only two restrictions on the new design:
- The image above under the spoiler contains all the required elements. As in, anything on the image under the spoiler needs to be on the new design, but not necessarily in the same form or place.
- The design must be 1024 pixels wide and as tall as you like.
Here's a few example ideas I've been throwing around in my head:
- The footer is kind've small and provides little real use. Things like the site search that are used infrequently or provide no use could be moved, as well as some navigation links. In general, a footer is widely considered to be a "where do I go from here?" area that leads to other parts of the site, since they appear at the end of a page.
- The language bar seems to take up more space than it needs to. Perhaps a drop down box in the top corner would do.
COOPERATE
This isn't a contest. Alter other peoples' designs to improve them. Add different styles or alter layouts. Make the entire design look like it was sprited instead of smooth like most websites. Go crazy. Have fun.
It doesn't matter if you have little to no graphic skills, you can help out anyway! Make suggestions, or make crappy looking mockups. Do SOMETHING!
Because otherwise no new website for you. ;)
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Great! I'll grab my stuff!
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My design stuff!
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Oh Osmose. You know I'm in.
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This thread has some posts that could be reused too.... I like gemini's (http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=21398.0;attach=25194;image).
http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=21398.0
Yeah, this time I hope to emphasize having a working copy that people edit. The examples show the level of quality I'd like as well.
Charas needs to look sexy. If this doesn't work I'll resort to hiring a real designer. :P
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Here's something:
[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/SatireBoy/charasforumstuff.png)[/spoiler]
The empty spot to the left of the text logo would be the giant charas head.
All of the nav stuff would fall under either the "Home" or "Forum" box (Languages would be under home)
Half of the side box would be generator news, and the other half would be recent forum stuff.
News box is pretty obvious.
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Hey, maybe we should have some of our awesome artists draw some Sarah C. and Murof thingies.
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And I am out of ideas.
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Thrown together in GraphicsGale.
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Looks too similar to the current. Almost no serious changes, and certainly not enough to constitute any work.
Yeah.
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So, in order to make an effective layout, you have to actually consider why you're putting things where they are.
For example, the links to the generators are in big bold font near the top specifically because they are intended to be one of the main components of the website. Moosetroop's mockup from the previous thread was nice because it added graphics and shoved these front and center.
lilsniffs: My main complaint with your design is that it is too busy and doesn't use space effectively. It's more than just using less space; it's not intuitive as to where the navigation is at first, and some of the more important items are shoved off to the right side, which is usually a side not looked at.
Studies have shown that people read web pages in a shape that roughly resembles a capital F. Important and frequently use elements, like the navigation, should probably be near the top and left, although some designs can pull off navigation to the right.
Fortet: Roughly similar criticisms. Your design has a better logical form, but the drop down menus just create more work for anyone navigating through the site. Two clicks to go from one page to the next is one click too many.
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'we'll I know what I'm doing in digital media today. Dreamweaver here I come
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I lost my stuff.
Namely, Photoshop.
Now I can't help.
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Gee, it sure is booring around here. *rolls eyes*
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Here's something:
[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/SatireBoy/charasforumstuff.png)[/spoiler]
The empty spot to the left of the text logo would be the giant charas head.
All of the nav stuff would fall under either the "Home" or "Forum" box (Languages would be under home)
Half of the side box would be generator news, and the other half would be recent forum stuff.
News box is pretty obvious.
This one has style, I like it.
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Well, I was thinking of more of a rollover drop down. I'm almost certain it's possible. Maybe I'm wrong.
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Here's something:
[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/SatireBoy/charasforumstuff.png)[/spoiler]
The empty spot to the left of the text logo would be the giant charas head.
All of the nav stuff would fall under either the "Home" or "Forum" box (Languages would be under home)
Half of the side box would be generator news, and the other half would be recent forum stuff.
News box is pretty obvious.
Only, I read is as "Charai" forums.
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Font pending. I wanted a nice pixelated font, but the 's' pretty much sucked...
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I'll try my hand at this as soon as possible. I have something in mind.
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Well, I was thinking of more of a rollover drop down. I'm almost certain it's possible. Maybe I'm wrong.
Almost anything's possible. I should be able to do any of the fancy effects you want, like fading stuff in and out, popup menus, etc.
One of the ideas I had and tried to work on with the help of someone else was a background depicting complicated machinery around a base chara, sort've an image of the generator machine, as a background, with content in the foreground. I still think that would be a nifty idea.
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Hmm, how about making the front page in flash? It could randomize a lot of generator body pieces (clothes,) and put them on a conveyor belt in front of the naked body template with blue eyes, stoppingng everytime a piece is in front of the body for a second, then continuing. And everything else could just be clicked to drop down, like Last 10 discussions and so forth. You could also be able to drag and drop the menus, and everywhere everything is is saved to your cookies, so you can design the page yourself, with color schemes. Also, make it so that you can also set the direction it is in. Do you understand what I mean?
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Flash is out of the question for most things:
- Flash takes a while to download.
- Many people disable flash in their browser.
- Flash is a pain to work in and maintain.
- Requires proprietary software that we have to pay for.
- Cannot update site without re-compiling .swf files.
- Rest of the site is currently in PHP.
Most of your other ideas sound nifty, but provide little to no real benefit to the user. Very few, if any, users will want to customize the Charas homepage to their liking; they're here for the Forum, Generators, and Complete Resources. Custom colors and draggable menus add little to the experience.
Plus they'd be a bitch to code and manage right. I feel bad for declining ideas at this point, but there are considerations. I really think you should look at the sites I linked to that show examples of other websites that have done it right; they are a good reference point for how you should think about a design.
I think layout is less of an issue here as much as graphics.
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Hmm, how about making the front page in flash? It could randomize a lot of generator body pieces (clothes,) and put them on a conveyor belt in front of the naked body template with blue eyes, stoppingng everytime a piece is in front of the body for a second, then continuing. And everything else could just be clicked to drop down, like Last 10 discussions and so forth. You could also be able to drag and drop the menus, and everywhere everything is is saved to your cookies, so you can design the page yourself, with color schemes. Also, make it so that you can also set the direction it is in. Do you understand what I mean?
We don't want people sitting there for several minutes waiting for the page to load.
Edit: Oh, Osmose beat me to it.
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- Cannot update site without re-compiling .swf files.
*zips Flash and sends to Osmose*
Also, I see your points. I can't really think of anything else, though.
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I have no experience in PHP. I have some limited HTML and that's it.
Otherwise, I would probably help.
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I have no experience in PHP. I have some limited HTML and that's it.
Otherwise, I would probably help.
That's fine, you don't need either.
I'm just looking for people to help think up and make a design. As in, graphics. You can make an entire image like others have in this thread and it can be chopped up and made into a website.
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What I'm getting is that you want to simply change the way the site looks without really changing the overall layout of stuff, right? Or can we just make a whole new layout in general?
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You *can* make a whole new layout, but the thing I'm specifically lacking are new and shiny graphics. However, those require graphics.
Tell you what. We'll keep the current layout, but I could use shiny graphics for them. Sprited graphics are not out of the question (2x or 3x sized, for example).
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Ooooh an interesting thread.
If only I didn't absolutely suck as a design artist.