Choose the AGS Website of the future!

Crichton · Fri 26/03/2004 22:28:31

Oh, and as for resolution detection, it is possible but not very reliable. A site like http://www.ve3d.com used to automatically detect a correct resolution and adjust the site content accodringly (more info available at once at higher resolution). The problem was that it only seemed to correctly detect it when the window was maximized, and a lot of people like to run in a "restored down" window, so it kind of defeated the point.

Felipe · Sat 27/03/2004 04:48:04

Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 26/03/2004 20:10:08
I made a few adjustments and uploaded a new version of the template here:
http://www.agsforums.com/template.html

Looks really good (as I already said)... just a few notes:

- At the bottom of the page says "AGS banner by Cornjob; 3rd Anniversary banner by RodeKill." whilst the page uses the banner made by Ben (I think), unless, of course, you're going to put the old banner there, instead.

- I also think that the "We're on..." banners should be elsewhere - maybe below the Latest Release thingy, as suggested.

- Afraid of sounding too repetitive... but I would like to say (again) the page looked better with the bars above & below the banner :

Well, I think that's all I noticed.
Congratulations, once more, Darth, for your job

-Felipe-

Timosity · Sat 27/03/2004 11:39:50

Yeah, I thought those blue bars above and below the banner made it look quite a lot better too. Just thought I'd back up that point.

Pumaman · Sat 27/03/2004 13:50:04

QuoteHowever, if I maximize the window at 1280x960 or do the same at 1600x1200, the middle table does stretch too much, to the point where the site no longer has that "neat" look about it. So, here are a couple of options -- either use a fixed width such as at http://www.2advanced.com (fixed for 1024x768 maximized) or live with the fact that it looks good maximized up to 1024x768 and hope that most people browse in windows at resolutions higher than that.

As I'm still unsure about this, for now I think I'll leave it as is, and hope that people don't full-screen it at 1600x1200. Personally, I run at 800x600 so I'm not really going to design the site for a fixed res any larger than that

QuoteI'd also like to recommend the "We're on..." banners to be place under "Latest Release" window, either one after the other or one below the other. IMO, they would look better there but it's up to you. It's only a suggestion not a complaint. The "Lifetime archievment" award banner also looks a bit pixelated. Is it in a smaller frame than its real size? It would look better if the award was a smaller banner too.

Yeah this needs some work - I just copy & pasted the current content of the About page (but removed the features list as it will go elsewhere). I'll move or remove the bits at the bottom.

QuoteOh, and as for resolution detection, it is possible but not very reliable.

Yeah, I thought as much. It's a shame that this wasn't though of when HTTP was designed

Quote- At the bottom of the page says "AGS banner by Cornjob; 3rd Anniversary banner by RodeKill." whilst the page uses the banner made by Ben (I think), unless, of course, you're going to put the old banner there, instead.

Good point - Ben, could you just confirm that it is indeed your banner, and I'll update the credit.

QuoteAfraid of sounding too repetitive... but I would like to say (again) the page looked better with the bars above & below the banner

Could you point me to what you mean by this? Sorry, I must have missed it in this thread somewhere.

Timosity · Sat 27/03/2004 14:16:59

I think Felipe meant this one as far as the banner goes

http://www.twin-design.com/ags/template5.cfm

Even just the blue section below the banner that contains the version no. It looks a bit strange with just a borderless banner IMO

Pumaman · Sat 27/03/2004 14:34:27

Ah, thanks - I've made some adjustments:
http://www.agsforums.com/template.html?new

Darth, could I request a few new graphics that'll be needed. In the same style as the "what is ags?" header image, ideally I'd like ones saying:
"download ags"
"news"
"features"
"games"
"community"
"faq"
"resources"
"links"

Thanks

Esseb · Sat 27/03/2004 20:58:17

Ben's banner looks a bit wonky after Darth stretched it vertically so it needs replacing. With one in the size of the stretched one that is, not Ben's old which was too small.

I like the site CJ but the default link colours don't fit with the design.

Crichton · Sat 27/03/2004 23:22:32

Hmm, there's something about the added bars that seems a bit excessive. I think the top one looks good but the bottom one is a bit too much. Try removing the bottom banner bar but keeping the top one and maybe save it as template2.html. It's probably a small enough detail but I'd like to see it. Unless you really love the two bars already.

Darth Mandarb · Sat 27/03/2004 23:41:32

CJ - I PMed the title graphics link to you.

The 'bars' on top and bottom (like template 5) do look better! I think Crichton's suggestion might look odd, but might be worth a try.

Also ...
Mabye we should have members submit banners they want to put on the website:
Dimension: 400x65
** should fade to the blue color (optional?)

Does anybody know a javascript funcition for randomly selecting a number, then assigning that number to AGSbannerX.jpg (where X would be that number) so that it could be a different banner each time you hit refresh?

I can easily do this with ColdFusion, but this is just static HTML.

~ d

Crichton · Sun 28/03/2004 00:06:31

It is possible that without the bottom bar it may look odd but without actually seeing it I cannot be too sure. I like the top bar but my main concern with the bottom one was that the "Current version" line already looks as a bar of sorts. It's pretty dark too, so the feeling is that there's a bar on top (or rather on bottom) of a bar... But perhaps it's nothing. It doesn't look terrible the way it is now, so this is a minor thing. I'd simply like that version as template2.html to be able to either say "it DOES look better" or "nah, change it back the way it was". :-)

As for the JavaScript thing, is this what you're possibly looking for?
http://developer.irt.org/script/287.htm

There are other scripts where you define each existing banner in the script manually and then it just randomly rotates them, which means they can each be a different name like "thisbannerrocks.jpg", "myfavoritebanner.jpg", and so on.

Esseb · Sun 28/03/2004 03:53:53

It would be much simpler to add with php though, if CJ so desires.

strazer · Sun 28/03/2004 09:15:02

Quoteshould fade to the blue color (optional?)

With my png suggestion earlier it wouldn't need to.

Pumaman · Sun 28/03/2004 14:39:14

Ok, I removed the bottom bar, and the result is here:
http://www.agsforums.com/template2.html

As for rotating banners, that bit of javascript you linked to looks good - but what happens if the user has disabled javascript? Will they get no banner at all?

Overall, I'm a bit reluctant to convert the main page to php for performance reasons. Static html is very fast for the server to dole out and can be cached by clients, etc. I don't know if that is really an issue these days though.

Ben · Sun 28/03/2004 18:11:20

Here's a new version of my banner in the larger size. It's a lossless PNG, so you can decide what image format to use..

Is it possible to also have the ALT text rotate with the pictures? That way visitors can find out what games are featured on each banner..

strazer · Sun 28/03/2004 21:12:18

Quotebut what happens if the user has disabled javascript? Will they get no banner at all?

AFAIK it would work with the NOSCRIPT tag:

...
</SCRIPT>
<NOSCRIPT>
This will only be displayed if browser doesn't use JavaScript
</NOSCRIPT>

AGA · Sun 28/03/2004 22:39:15

Maybe where it says 'latest version: x.xx' you could also have 'latest beta: x.xx', with a link to the beta's release post on the forums.

Crichton · Mon 29/03/2004 02:10:02

Hey, Chris, I'd first like to say that I honestly like the template2.html version a lot better (ie without the bottom bar). It just looks perfect, IMO. Nothing is excessive and the overall look is very neat.

As for those who do not have JavaScript enabled, the "NOSCRIPT" tag would work well, as someone mentioned before. All you'll have to do is pick a single banner that you think best represents AGS and add this:

<NOSCRIPT>
<img src="whateverbanneryoupick.gif">
</NOSCRIPT>

I think that's better than simply adding a text that says "You don't have a JavaScript enabled".

Crichton · Mon 29/03/2004 02:24:53

You know... Now that I look at the two temples some more, I like them both about the same, so the "bar" is really just a minor cosmetic thing, and probably a matter of preference. Neither version ruins the site. So, it's totally up to you, Chris.

Felipe · Mon 29/03/2004 05:56:50

Quote from: Timosity on Sat 27/03/2004 14:16:59
I think Felipe meant this one as far as the banner goes

http://www.twin-design.com/ags/template5.cfm

That's exactly what I meant!

Loved the new version(s)!

Now, about the below bar... well, it might look better without the second bar if the top bar 'was' the same way the bar with the "Current version" thing is...
(I mean, the same height and same "blue color")

That's not a big deal, and it looks cool either way; but I think that if we added that 'symetry' (sp?) it would look nicer... :

-Felipe-

strazer · Mon 29/03/2004 11:05:42

How about a new favicon while we're at it? Can't really make out the old one (on the website):

(ICO format here)

EDIT: lol, first time I notice the YABB one