Author Topic: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!  (Read 6641 times)

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« on: June 11, 2006, 06:05:46 pm »
I need some help from users in the redesign of the site.  I am going to be investing in some images for the site as part of the change of the look and feel.  I would like us to have some nice hi-res images to use on the site banner, as well as to replace the fulcrum on the forum home page.  I am considering some nice western-style hats or other similar items and some great outdoor shots for the banner of the site.  I'd like to get you guys to help me out by identifying some images that are true to the story/movie (if possible), especially for the hats and/or any other objects or things which would make great image additions to the site, as well as some images that say summer in the west.  We want brighter colors and less of a "winter feel" here.  We'll be adjusting the site colors today in any event.

The site I am spending time on is called Fotolia (http://www.fotolia.com) but there are others out there if people want to look.  If folks want to visit there are start browsing for images and giving some suggested links (after clicking on an image, you'll see a URL box on the right), that would be great.  I am not sure if they have an accurate enough set of western hats to choose from (so if there are other images out there that are very high resolution, let me know that too).

The only requirement is that we don't want to "borrow" other people's images.  We will pay the necessary royalties so we are properly licensed to use the images as part of the site.  As far as all of the great images people have been contributing, I have something special planned for those, so this is a different project.

I figure it would be fun to let everyone jump in and help build and remake the site!  You can start at fotolia, but if there are other similar sites you know of out there, feel free to check them out too.

« Last Edit: June 25, 2006, 08:43:08 pm by Phillip »
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Offline welliwont

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« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2006, 11:04:26 pm »
Hi Phillip:

Can we be sure not to lose the pic of the 2 x Bettermost cans a beans?  We love those two cans a BetterMost beans on ever' page!

In fact, did you consider enlarging so that the ends of the cans are not cut off?

J
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Offline newyearsday

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2006, 11:51:20 pm »
Hi Phillip! Great new color scheme--I love the two blues for posts! I also love the new shot of the mountain on the banner. I agree with JakeTwist that I'd like to keep the bettermost beans on the banner and make them less cropped if possible; the two cans represent Ennis and Jack to me now, after someone suggested that to me.

And this might not be the right place but since we're being asked for design help I'll just mention again my ideas and suggestions that I originally posted in a thread about suggestions for the site, which are to make the fonts a tiny bit bigger, bolder, and to make one or two colums more narrow (on the first page of forums where the threads are listed) so that there is more room for a wider colum for the names of the threads.

If that is possible, please give it a try, as it's always felt a little too crowded and small-texty here for my cyber comfort. I like to spread out I guess.

Thanks, and great job again, I will see if I can steal 10 minutes tomorrow and check around for some photos on the site you mentioned.

Jenny
« Last Edit: June 11, 2006, 11:52:51 pm by newyearsday »
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Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2006, 12:44:04 am »
Hi Phillip! Great new color scheme--I love the two blues for posts! I also love the new shot of the mountain on the banner. I agree with JakeTwist that I'd like to keep the bettermost beans on the banner and make them less cropped if possible; the two cans represent Ennis and Jack to me now, after someone suggested that to me.

The beans will stay but I am not sure if John still has the original image.  He might and we might be able to bring the image out a bit.

The blue banner might be a bit too strong for users, especially at night.  Folks should let me know what they think.  I have some other images I can try, but I purposefully wanted a more summer feel around here.  In the fall, we'll have more browns, and so on.  We can lighten colors further if they are too strong.  It will depend on what browser you are using as well.

Quote
And this might not be the right place but since we're being asked for design help I'll just mention again my ideas and suggestions that I originally posted in a thread about suggestions for the site, which are to make the fonts a tiny bit bigger, bolder, and to make one or two colums more narrow (on the first page of forums where the threads are listed) so that there is more room for a wider colum for the names of the threads.

I did not forget about your suggestions.  The font is going to be difficult to render bolder without making it look bad on other browsers.  We'd have to switch to an entirely different font.  That will require further study.  Column widths are created by a dynamic table in the forum software.  We are still learning what can and cannot be adjusted.  I'd like to shrink the column in the User Info box at the top of the screen, which blocks a lot of the banner, but we're having trouble with that.  The reason is that every browser renders pages differently -and- the lower the screen resolution, the more squishy things have to get to fit.  So it becomes very complicated very quickly because what will work okay using the Mac Safari browser won't work at all in IE7.  What works in IE6 looks stupid with Firefox, and so on.  We'll just have to keep experimenting.
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Offline newyearsday

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2006, 12:49:39 am »
Okay, I can see it's pretty complicated. thanks for keeping my suggestions in mind. Even just a 1 point change in the fonts would help I think.
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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2006, 02:01:14 am »
I prefer lighter colors too. These are a bit too strong. I also think the orange color should be changed (where the page numbers are listed)...

But still this is a great forum. And I appreciate what you have done here. This has provided a place for people to escape from the non-stop trolling on the IMDB forums, and  it provides a great outlet for dedicated fans of this film.

Offline welliwont

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2006, 04:53:03 pm »
Hi Phillip:

Can I ask for one more thang?  Would it be possible to clone the best feature (IMO) of the IMDb?  I am speaking about Recent Posts.  Can we have five or six pages of Recent Posts the same way they do it?

tks,

J
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Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2006, 06:33:20 pm »
Hi Phillip:

Can I ask for one more thang?  Would it be possible to clone the best feature (IMO) of the IMDb?  I am speaking about Recent Posts.  Can we have five or six pages of Recent Posts the same way they do it?

On the main forum page, if you scroll down to the bottom, you'll find the 10 most recent posts written on the site.  Is this what you mean?  IMDb's forum software is rudimentary compared to this package, and some things their software does we can't do here, but I think we have managed to be able to offer a lot more as well.
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Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2006, 06:34:53 pm »
I prefer lighter colors too. These are a bit too strong. I also think the orange color should be changed (where the page numbers are listed)...

Orange hater.  :)

We are going to lighten some tones here some, especially in the message bodies which are a bit too strong of a blue and they interfere with readability.  Slightly paler colors seem to be less stressful on the eye.  It's a work in progress.
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Offline welliwont

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2006, 08:37:54 pm »
On the main forum page, if you scroll down to the bottom, you'll find the 10 most recent posts written on the site.  Is this what you mean?  IMDb's forum software is rudimentary compared to this package, and some things their software does we can't do here, but I think we have managed to be able to offer a lot more as well.


so yur sayin' it's a trade-off? ???  Well aw'right then....  guess I'll have ta stand it. :P

J
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Giancarlo

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2006, 10:05:46 pm »
Orange hater.  :)

We are going to lighten some tones here some, especially in the message bodies which are a bit too strong of a blue and they interfere with readability.  Slightly paler colors seem to be less stressful on the eye.  It's a work in progress.


Hey don't get me wrong... blue is cool. And orange is warm and relaxing.

Blue and light grey seems to go together well. Though in this case, I would probably change the orange to maybe a light blue/grey color.. And orange goes well with other warm colors.

Giancarlo

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2006, 10:08:11 pm »
Oh and one thing that may help you with your color choices...

http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_colornames.asp

That is like an online paint program for websites and forums. It is just like going to the store and picking out colors.

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2006, 10:29:06 pm »
Blue is Jack's color and Ennis is brown or brown-orange. They are very complementary.
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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2006, 01:56:16 am »
Blue is Jack's color and Ennis is brown or brown-orange. They are very complementary.

It is starting to grow on me...

Offline David In Indy

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2006, 03:16:23 am »
Actually I think the site looks beautiful. There are many,  many buttons and icons though. It is a bit overwhelming at first, but I think I am getting the hang of it now!

I think the whole thing looks great.
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Offline fontaine

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Re: Your Help Wanted: Site Resdesign!
« Reply #15 on: June 24, 2006, 04:22:11 pm »
I'd like to request a larger font for the defaults--both regular and quoted text. The current size is tougher on "older eyes!'

Thanks!