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Post by dlfreak on Sept 12, 2007 21:36:33 GMT -8
Ok, so I just said that I wouldn't be able to show a preview of the redesign until at least Friday but I just looked at my progress and I figured I could go ahead and upload what I have so far, it's not quite done yet. There's still some work to do on the sidebar, plus there will be images that rotate on the top left, and that dark blue color will not be the final color either.
My only question for you all is what color should the square where the content goes be. I currently have it the same "silver" color that is used on the boards but it seems a bit dull. What do you think should go there? Should it just be the cloud background? Leave it grey? Something textured? A light blue color?
Anyway, here's the preview! Let me know what you think:
jinigo1.bol.ucla.edu/guild/index.html
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Post by autumn_child on Sept 13, 2007 5:01:45 GMT -8
Nice job! It's looking great! Maybe you could make the content section the same light blue as the sky at the top, or perhaps the cerulean blue of the font you used for Guild Neosite, FAQs, etc.
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 13, 2007 7:41:26 GMT -8
I don't know if I want to use the sky-blue color because then it will look like a giant gaping square hole in the clouds, haha. Cerulean blue of the font? You mean the dark navy-blueish color?
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Post by BunnyRabt on Sept 13, 2007 7:45:32 GMT -8
It's coming along great! I really like the way you've done all the buttons on the left. (or whatever you call them... )
I find the silver (gray) area kinda blah the way it is. I know it's for the Silver part of the guild name....but it seems like something else would be prettier as a background for that area. I would have more of an idea of what the background would be prettier as, if I knew what you had planned for that space. Sometimes I like the graphics that are "faded"...not sure what you call that...but where they are kinda transparent so you see the design and color....but only very slightly. So it's there...but it doesn't detract or compete with what is placed over it. (like maybe a transparency using the gold crowns?)Or you could do a cloud version but have it with more of a light blue instead of the white, so it didn't disappear into the rest of the cloud background, but seperated that area somewhat. Oryou could veer away totally from the blue and use a muted rose color (like Alexia's dress).
So...there are some ideas. I know whatever you decide to put there that it will work well. Your designs always come through amazingly good in the finished product.
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Post by autumn_child on Sept 13, 2007 9:19:27 GMT -8
Yeah, the inside color of the font you used for the header, if you want to call it that...
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 13, 2007 10:20:34 GMT -8
It's coming along great! I really like the way you've done all the buttons on the left. (or whatever you call them... )
I find the silver (gray) area kinda blah the way it is. I know it's for the Silver part of the guild name....but it seems like something else would be prettier as a background for that area. I would have more of an idea of what the background would be prettier as, if I knew what you had planned for that space. Sometimes I like the graphics that are "faded"...not sure what you call that...but where they are kinda transparent so you see the design and color....but only very slightly. So it's there...but it doesn't detract or compete with what is placed over it. (like maybe a transparency using the gold crowns?)Or you could do a cloud version but have it with more of a light blue instead of the white, so it didn't disappear into the rest of the cloud background, but seperated that area somewhat. Oryou could veer away totally from the blue and use a muted rose color (like Alexia's dress).
So...there are some ideas. I know whatever you decide to put there that it will work well. Your designs always come through amazingly good in the finished product. The grey area is for the regular content of the site. Basically what's on our existing site will go into the grey space. And yes, the faded backgrounds I know what you mean and that's what I meant as well... maybe some sort of soft texture would work as well, I'm still not quite sure what to do there. The crown motif is an interesting idea. I don't know if I want to go with a Rose color. While our guild is pretty girly, I'm trying to keep the site and appearance a bit gender neutral. |
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 13, 2007 10:21:53 GMT -8
Yeah, the inside color of the font you used for the header, if you want to call it that... Oh you mean like this color of blue? It's a bit dark for a background color. I was actually originally thinking of going with a dark color though and then just using really light font colors but sometimes that ends up being hard to read for those with less than perfect vision. |
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Post by autumn_child on Sept 13, 2007 10:58:22 GMT -8
That's true. I hadn't thought of that. But I do like the transparent idea. As long as the background is light enough and the overlaying font is dark enough, it should be easy for everyone to read, and add a lot of visual appeal.
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Post by captvatng1 on Sept 13, 2007 15:27:03 GMT -8
I think the redesign looks great, DL! (That blue is *really* blue, though!)
What I would do for the "silver" boxed area is frame it in a blue (or maybe the gold from the crowns), but convert your guildmap.gif to a .png and edit that so the sky and the white part of the clouds (the part without any detail in it) is transparent. That way, whatever image you put into that spot can be nestled into the cloud background.
The advantage of this is if you decide to swap out the background.png for, say, halloween-colored clouds, then the guildmap wouldn't have to change at all because it will automatically be nestled into the new background image (unless you wanted to add halloween items within the image).
Does that make sense?
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 13, 2007 21:50:03 GMT -8
Well whenever the guild map changes, I usually change the whole thing including the clouds because often, the clouds on the site are changed out for theme weeks with something entirely different.
And what blue is *really* blue? Which one do you mean?
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Post by captvatng1 on Sept 14, 2007 6:50:11 GMT -8
Well whenever the guild map changes, I usually change the whole thing including the clouds because often, the clouds on the site are changed out for theme weeks with something entirely different.
And what blue is *really* blue? Which one do you mean? DL, that was just an example. If the background for that gray box is transparent rather than a color, then it doesn't matter whether you swap out clouds for gnomes -- it will still be the background because of the transparency of the overlaid image. Transparent .png files will give you all sorts of flexibility. It's a useful thing to know about. Another tip would be to put your background image and your color/font schemes into a css. Then you can change *all* the pages on the site for a theme week or an update simply by editing a single file, instead of every individual page. The blue I was talking about is your body bgcolor: #000080 |
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 14, 2007 7:40:10 GMT -8
Ohhh I misunderstood your first post. I thought you were talking about the guild map (the guild city) and the clouds on there and that having those clouds on there transparent would show the clouds on the current redesign through the transparency.
The PNG files are very handy, that's actually what I did with the navigation at the top, each link is an individual PNG so that they can easily be modified by simply uploading a different version of each image. As for theme weeks, I never have to make changes to ANY of the pages. Easier than CSS, I simply create all new graphics and upload them to replace the existing ones. For instance those PNGs I was talking about, I could easily alter their hues to match a different color scheme that I come up with and then the header, backgrounds, and other images like on the sidebar would simply changed out with new images, as well.
And as for that bodybg color, it most certainly is VERY blue... I mentioned in my OP that it's just a placeholder color for now. I'll probably have a simple background or maybe something textured but it's going to be dark so that the clouds and the content really pop out on the page. That blue, is just a temporary dark color to help with the design process.
And finally, going back to the beginning... I actually really like that idea of semi-transparent PNG image to replace that grey. Showing the cloud background underneath just partially is a very interesting idea that I'll definitely toy with! Thanks!!
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 14, 2007 22:10:00 GMT -8
Ok so I had a little time to play around with this some more this evening...
I changed the content area to have a blue semi-transparent background so that the clouds show up underneath. I'm not liking it completely but I'm thinking if it will probably look just fine once actual content goes in. Or maybe the box needs a creative border along the top/bottom and/or sides. Or maybe the box in itself just isn't working. Hmm, thoughts?
I also fixed up the sidebar so that it looks like a sort of a Faerieland-ish directional sign that you'd come across on your journeys in Faerieland. One a sidenote I added a soft glow to the clouds to make them look a bit more whispy and airy.
And finally, I also added the coding to change out the image in the top left corner. Right now, just for demonstration's sake I just added different colored versions of the sky but the images I eventually make for the space will eventually be one for each guardian. Also, the change speed is also very quick for demonstration purposes. For the actual site this will change to a rate of 20 seconds per image versus the 1 second change rate currently set.
Anyway, let me know what you think!
jinigo1.bol.ucla.edu/guild/index.html
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 14, 2007 22:15:06 GMT -8
Looking at it now, I see one thing I need to do is add some sort of top decoration to the "pole." It just ends, I think I might add a little deocrative knob at the very top of that so there's one thing to work on next time I fiddle with this.
Thanks for following me along with this everyone!
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 16, 2007 21:29:56 GMT -8
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Post by autumn_child on Sept 17, 2007 8:27:43 GMT -8
Wow! That's gorgeous. I really love the new background with the SLCG crest. And the clouds turned out great! Nice work DL!
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 17, 2007 9:01:07 GMT -8
Thanks, I really like the way the background turned out too.
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 17, 2007 13:50:11 GMT -8
Where did everybody go? Helllllloooooooooo
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Post by devindemel on Sept 17, 2007 19:08:57 GMT -8
wow the new layout rocks! i love the background! =)
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Post by dlfreak on Sept 22, 2007 19:35:38 GMT -8
So I've just about finished fine-tuning the final design and will in the coming days begin transferring all of our website information to the new design. Check it out here:
jinigo1.bol.ucla.edu/guild/
Remember, this is just the design template so most of the links on the page will not work. Once I'm finished, geocities.com/silvercloudsguild will have never looked better! 
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