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  1. #1
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    Default new site design

    I had hoped to get more done than this but I kept getting distracted. Having some family issues right now and had to deal with it more today than I thought I would. I've also had a horrible freaking headache all day long.

    I did get the code for the layout structure done though so I'll go ahead and let you guys take a look. I need opinions on the color scheme. I tried making the header/sidebar the same dark blue as we have on top of the forums but didn't think it looked good at all but I'll let you guys decide.

    I also tried making the main background blue instead of grey but that was just way too much blue on the page. If anybody has any color suggestions for any part of the layout, I'm open to them.

    http://pokemontopaz.net/site/index-dark.html
    http://pokemontopaz.net/site/index.html

    Links will NOT work on any version of IE (except maybe IE9 beta) because this is HTML5. I will add in IE support later; it'll work on IE7 and 8 when I am done.

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    Hmm...They both look great to me. I prefer the Dark Index over the second one, personally.
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  3. #3
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    The links work for me...and I'm using IE...

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    Quote Originally Posted by PikangX View Post
    The links work for me...and I'm using IE...
    Doesn't work in IE for me... so I have to use Safari.

    I like the second one. The light grey-ish background doesn't seem to fit so well with the dark blue.

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    I think the dark one should be darker, and the text should probably be white so it pops out more easily. Otherwise I like them.
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    Both seem fine, though the first seems a little more professional.

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    Really, dark is fine? Hmm. It does look better to me now than it did the other day. Alright, I'll go with that then. I'm sure it will look tons better with the Pokemon graphics on it.

    Quote Originally Posted by PikangX View Post
    The links work for me...and I'm using IE...
    Links will work obviously but I meant the page won't load properly - except maybe in IE9 beta.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyndadile View Post
    The light grey-ish background doesn't seem to fit so well with the dark blue.
    I agree. Now that I'm apparently going to use the dark blue, I can change the grey to something else.

    Quote Originally Posted by PokePoindexter View Post
    I think the dark one should be darker, and the text should probably be white so it pops out more easily. Otherwise I like them.
    Yeah the text won't be black, I didn't do any formatting yet. I don't know about making it even darker though. It's the same shade of dark blue as the top of the forums. If I made it darker, I'd want the forums to match.

    Do you guys think I should try that? Make both a deeper and darker shade of blue?

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    I' fine with what you have, but i wouldn't mind a darker shade for those who like it better. Maybe make two skins?
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  9. #9
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    Not going to make separate skins for the site, no - sorry.

    Too much of an hassle if I want to update or add something later.

    I've been sick, ack, but gonna get to work on it right now.

    I'll be a bit slow though, still getting used to GIMP. I've decided to go legitimate and not pirate stuff anymore, so I can't get Photoshop - which costs more than twice as much as my computer by the way. >_>

    Edit: Going to bed now but image/navigation preview tomorrow, I promise.

    Alright, I'm sorry guys but I just can't work with GIMP. As you can partially see from my posts on the GIMP help forums here and here, there's just too much GIMP can't do or doesn't do properly. (ps: the minimizing thing was a fluke, the toolbox does not minimize at all which is extremely irritating)

    Spent 5 hours waiting on a reply so got nothing done - except for the fact that I decided to keep the same shade of blue. Darker just didn't look right.

    Luckily I have my copy of Photoshop backed up on a CD so I'll install that after I get up later today. Didn't really want to but can't see any alternatives here. Sorry, I expected GIMP to actually be good. My mistake. After I get PS back, there shouldn't be any more delays. :\
    Last edited by zeroality; 02-07-11 at 08:39 PM.

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    Merged my last two posts so this isn't a triple post but here's a new preview:

    http://pokemontopaz.net/site/

    So far just the sidebar and logo have been done. There's some alignment/size issues I need to resolve with the logo but wanted to know what you guys thought so far. I tried changing the grey background to something else but nothing really worked. If you have any suggestions (as in specific colors to use) I'm open to them.

    I didn't realize the sidebar background was 121kb, I'll try and lower that later.

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    looks fine to me, so far!

    I don't work with what you are doing, so i don't really see the problem. and i don't know colors that well, but i do like this grey, #999999. I use it frequently.
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  12. #12
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    Ooh, you picked my favorite piece of Topaz art (Ferrian)!

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragingprimeape View Post
    Ooh, you picked my favorite piece of Topaz art (Ferrian)!
    Same.

    The grey looks fine now, with the art.

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    idea here: why not make the grey a blue-grey instead? you'll be able to adjust the shading of both to whatever feels good and it should work...

    um.... i clicked the link at the top of the topic for the dark version and it came up with a 404 error... btw i'm using Firefox 4.0 Beta for future reference...
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    Fahramane looks flat when put next to the other two, and thus looks a little out of place. Definitely looking good though.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ImmunityBow View Post
    Fahramane looks flat when put next to the other two, and thus looks a little out of place.
    Isn't that Celsinge? Either way, he's right, but other than that, I like it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Virus View Post
    idea here: why not make the grey a blue-grey instead? you'll be able to adjust the shading of both to whatever feels good and it should work...

    um.... i clicked the link at the top of the topic for the dark version and it came up with a 404 error... btw i'm using Firefox 4.0 Beta for future reference...
    I'll try blue-grey and see. And yeah, the dark version was removed. I deleted everything that was in the /site folder previously when I uploaded the new version.

    Quote Originally Posted by ImmunityBow View Post
    Fahramane looks flat when put next to the other two, and thus looks a little out of place. Definitely looking good though.
    Yes, working with radically contrasting styles of art is problematic but a certain someone complained that I was showing favoritism for oykawoo's work so I'm trying to be less biased and use art from multiple artists.

    So this is going to be a problem unless I only use art from one artist. Any good suggestions on how I can work around it? :\

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    I think it's fine, but it may be worth experimenting with other art in place of Celsinge/Fahramane for one more similar to the other two.

    But I'm fine with it either way.


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    Why not try staying consistent with artists for certain sections?

    So, you could have an X-Antibody sidebar, an Oykawoo button array, etc. so that there's a clear pattern to the art but there's good representation too.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ImmunityBow View Post
    Why not try staying consistent with artists for certain sections?

    So, you could have an X-Antibody sidebar, an Oykawoo button array, etc. so that there's a clear pattern to the art but there's good representation too.
    And that, my good sir, is why you are the Topaz Project Leader!

    Alright, let me work on this some more. I'm up for a while so I should get another preview up in a few hours.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ImmunityBow View Post
    Why not try staying consistent with artists for certain sections?

    So, you could have an X-Antibody sidebar, an Oykawoo button array, etc. so that there's a clear pattern to the art but there's good representation too.
    Yeah i have to agree with IB here sorting the art by sections would allow for the artwork to be shown by multiple artists yet still be grouped together so they dont look out of place...
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  22. #22
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    Haven't tried changing the background but I think I finally got the sidebar right. I kept adding, deleting, and resizing the images.

    I should finish the navigation later today, then have the site back up by Thursday or Friday hopefully.

    http://www.pokemontopaz.net/site/

    I was going to fill up the banner area with X-Antibody's art but that ended up just looking terrible and cluttered so it's just Ferrian by himself. I tried putting his Venap, Celsinge, and Ingero by the professor but none of them worked. Spidream was pretty much the only art that fit.

    Edit: If you see the same stuff you saw last time, then Shift+Refresh.

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    That looks pretty cool! It's better than the last one, for sure.

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    I really like it. Awesome job so far!

    [generic comments ftw]


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    looks great. Well i had an idea but as i was trying to type it up it occurred to me that it wont work since you're only working on one page rather than all of them....
    Anyway it looks great so far, so i say keep up the good work.
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  26. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Reliability View Post
    I really like it. Awesome job so far!

    [generic comments ftw]

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    Actually, zero is working on all of them. He's making a template that will span across the entire site.

  28. #28
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    Does it just go across the first page or the forums as well?
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  29. #29
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    It will be the template for all of the site pages, but the forums will remain the same.


  30. #30
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    http://pokemontopaz.net/site/ - Shift+Refresh if nothing seems new.

    I got frustrated and just the Pokemon on there, slapping the text on. For 6 hours I tried different combinations of buttons, shapes, backgrounds, gradients, and colors but nothing seemed to work.

    As for Ohmure, I had Kraklaw there originally but Pikang pointed out that it didn't match up well with the others. He suggested Ohmure, but here is all of the art we have if you have better ideas. I actually considered e-mailing oykawoo for a new piece of artwork to put there since it's been 6-7 months since I bugged him for art...

    By the way, here is a screencap of the page I took for Pikang since he is on IE which still had the Kraklaw if you want to see it.

    Anyway, on to the navigation scheme - here's what I had in mind:

    - Each button will take the user to some sort of portal for whatever it is. Like Sprites will go to a portal for front sprites, back sprites, trainer sprites, item sprites and so forth.

    - GFX will lead them to maps, battle backgrounds, concept art, and the such.

    - Sounds (didn't want to use SFX next to GFX and Soundtrack was too long to fit) will be for music, cries, and whatever else there is.

    - Data (need help with this label so bad! 7 characters is pretty much the limit :\) will lead them to stuff like pokedex entries, egg groups, encounter rates, tms, abilities, you know the drill.

    - Forums yeah, self-explanatory there. Then of course we'll have the usual Quick Links thingie on the sidebar with relevant links to the most visited pages so nobody has to double click through portals if they don't want to.

    - Credits will be a button somewhere, possibly in the footer. It will be prominently visible don't worry.

    - I'm thinking of making the Topaz Logo (or the Ferrian) clickable to go back to index.

    Index page itself will have news as usual on the right side and a box for the latest SoT on the left because ImmunityBow insists on pasting it onto the front page even though it shows up as a news article! :p

    OK so, suggestions away! Navigation label changes, suggestions for Pokemon, backgrounds, whatever. Don't be scared to reveal your opinions.

  31. #31
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    I think DracoNyon's Pyroon could work instead of Ohmure. Maybe. Anyways, instead of Data, it could say Pokedex. And Lupine seems a bit goofy, I don't really like it. Everything else is very awesome.

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    I like it, but maybe it would look better to have some of the button arts flipped around, instead of having them all face the same direction. but that's just my opinion.
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  33. #33
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    So far so good!!!
    I like the Kraklaw pic for forums. I also agree with Ty64 about renaming Data to Pokedex since all the information being given there tends to be found in the Pokedex anyway...
    Also making the logo the link to the index page is also good as it'll help people find it faster rather than trying to type it back in...
    That and should something happen they can use it as a sort of refresh button if necessary.
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  34. #34
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    Lookin' pretty good, zero.
    I would prefer the Kraklaw icon, but the white edges bother me... if that could be fixed, my vote would go there.
    Renaming Data to Pokedex would seem to make sense, but it could confuse users into thinking that's where our sprites are.
    Logo for the link would make more sense than Ferrian, but he could lead to something else... Contributors or something, maybe?
    Lovin' what you are doing so far, though.
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  35. #35
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    Pyroon does seem like a good choice over Ohmure. Thick, smooth black lines and cell shading is the style to aim for there. I like the design quite a bit, and agree that having portal pages works best now that we've got so much more information than we did when the site was originally designed.

  36. #36
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    Finally some good comments/suggestions/criticisms!

    Quote Originally Posted by Tyrannigon64 View Post
    Anyways, instead of Data, it could say Pokedex.
    Good idea.

    Quote Originally Posted by Irot_Rebod View Post
    Renaming Data to Pokedex would seem to make sense, but it could confuse users into thinking that's where our sprites are.
    I'll keep that in mind when I design the portal.

    Quote Originally Posted by NyteFyre View Post
    maybe it would look better to have some of the button arts flipped around, instead of having them all face the same direction
    I'll see if I can make that work.

    Quote Originally Posted by Irot_Rebod View Post
    Logo for the link would make more sense than Ferrian, but he could lead to something else... Contributors or something, maybe?
    Great idea! Yeah, I'll make Ferrian link to the credits page and label it somehow.

    Quote Originally Posted by Irot_Rebod View Post
    I would prefer the Kraklaw icon, but the white edges bother me... if that could be fixed, my vote would go there.
    Quote Originally Posted by Virus View Post
    I like the Kraklaw pic for forums.
    Removing the white edges shouldn't be a problem. I suppose I need to make a poll? Speaking of which, I put Pyroon on so you guys could see that too. I think it seems out of place just like Kraklaw did but I'll let you all decide on that.

    http://www.pokemontopaz.net/site/whole-navbar.png

    I didn't make it small enough but you guys can get a rough idea of what it'd look like in the layout.

    One more thing, I had decided to increase the minimum resolution of the design from 1024x768 to 1152x864 but I'm looking at Piwik and it seems like 25% of visitors are using 1024x768 so I obviously need to lower it back down.

    So that means I have to make it narrower. Working on that now.

    Please post your opinions about Kraklaw/Pyroon/Ohmure so I can make a decision on what to use.

  37. #37
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    Pyroon looks pretty darn good. I'd say it's better than Ohmure, at least. A poll for Kraklaw (pending the removal of the white) vs. Pyroon should be made though once it's ready. Great work!
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  38. #38
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    Alright, I fixed Pyroon and shrunk the page to fit 1024x768 resolutions.

    http://pokemontopaz.net/site/ (shift+refresh if same)

    I'd like to add in where it stretches out for bigger resolutions but that's not a priority right now as we need to get the site back up. I'll go ahead and start working on the CMS, making the layouts and such.

    Let me know about Kraklaw vs Pyroon guys. If it seems close, I'll put up an actual poll.

    Edit: Oh yeah btw, I switched Firrel/Cirroft since Cirroft+Pyroon seemed strange next to each other since they are smaller than the rest.

    I put Pokedex next to Sprites to try and avoid the confusion Irot mentioned.

    Also, I tried flipping Misticade and Firrel around to make them face the opposite direction and it made them look really really really really really really weird.

    Besides I think it works, them all looking towards the professor. And Lupine is staying. Sorry.
    Last edited by zeroality; 02-11-11 at 08:58 AM.

  39. #39
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    As of right now, I probably would pick Pyroon over Kraklaw.

    The switcheroo with Firrel/Cirroft worked well. The flow of the graphics is definitely easier on the eyes.

    Pokedex next to Sprites should definitely remedy any confusion (pending any not-so-very observant users >_>).

    I figured flipping the graphics around would make things look strange. The shading suggests that they all face the same way.

    One thing I will say, I know we're trying to avoid GFX and SFX next to each other, but "Sounds" looks a tad less professional than SFX would, in my opinion.

    I'm lovin' the quick progress you are making... maybe I should take a hint and compose some more... hmm... >_>
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  40. #40
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    There seems to be too much empty space between Pyroon and Firrel. Would it be possible to make GFX's icon be Pyroon and the Forums icon be Firrel? Or at least enlarge Pyroon's image? Sorry for the nitpicks, but it does kind of bother me. Other than that, it's better than the last one, which I said was very awesome.

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