ostan-collections.net frontpage

[Chocofreak13]

it's my understanding that they want a group concensus. :\

also, while that may be how you feel, you miss my point. >:[ it's cool to have a working promo. but designing buttons and layout was what was originally asked of us, not programming. they can handle the code themselves. we're supposed to be discussing DIFFERENT DESIGNS here, not just focusing on the one. you CAN make a proposal and throw it into the ring. you already have, before we jumped ahead 20 spaces and came up with the finished stuff. we're supposed to be THUMBNAILING at this stage. it makes me more annoyed with dustii's design that it's already so set in stone, especially since everyone's jumping on the bandwagon just because it's "done". when's the server move, anyway? we have time. this is the os-tan talk section, so let's TALK about this. ><;;;;;

as for this "meaning" something to us, it would "mean" more to me if s/he would be more open to implementing others' designs, too. (and before s/he comes up with a retort, i mean more than just putting in a damn button.) skills mean nothing to a community if only the persons' ideas are being used.

[DustiiWolf]

Dustii's design is the best I've seen so far and while it's not perfect, s/he obviously has the most website design experience of any non-admin or non-Kraus member at our forum and this should mean something to us. As much as I'd like to be able to make up my own proposal and throw it into the ring, I simply don't possess the graphic OR web design know-how to do such a thing. I don't think many people here do.

This being said, I'll support any design that Fedora and Pitkin-san choose. It's their site and they should ultimately be able to pick whichever design they feel fits best. ^^

First off, thank you Bella. And i actually agree; I'm happy with whatever the admins choose. The preview was mainly to show my concept, for even though for some people, choco, telling may be easy, i have a problem with conveying myself with words alone most of the time. And come on, really, if i posted on this topic "i have an idea where it could incorporate Microsoft's Modern Design (formerly metro)!", do you really think anyone would of thought of something like my preview, let alone even taken me seriously?

Second of all, im sorry if i dominated the conversation. i wasn't really meaning to. my apologies. And i do like Pentiums concept as well. it gives off this classic feel of older webpages to me, which could be equally fitting. (Netscape NOW 3.0 button doesn't help that either XD).

Finally, i want to tweak my design, because its YOUR guys' site. im fairly new here (September '12) and i dont want to come in and all the sudden change everything around at make you guys uncomfortable. SO my design is tweaked. INCLUDING the tile colors (including the yellow, which Kraus said to change before his eyes bleed), because you suggested to color them in the colors of the Microsoft Logo (Formerly Windows Flag). Im trying to make something you guys like. Im trying to listen to some of the things you guys dislike and change them.

<sup>PS: Im thinking of finding a script to adjust the page size to that of the browser window, because when viewed on anything bigger than a 1366x768 laptop, its got 2x as many errors.

EDIT:</sup>
Its NOT "set in stone". It is NOT "done". if i remember, the first preview (http://ostandemo.99k.org/old) was drastically different. Im changing it, working it, making it different. Its a "fluid" concept. Plus, it doesnt hurt to have a working prototype when presenting an idea.

^{EDIT 2:}
@Kraus: its Segoe UI Light. Ive never heard of Myriad...

[Fedora-Tan]

As for myself, just a few points since i have other things planned today and this week end, generally speaking :
- I do like how the DustiiWolf page looks, overall. Of course there are plenty of things which can be improved, but it's better - way better than to come directly on a forum.
- For the points mentionned, i have pointed out some of them already myself, but i don't think it's a deal-breaker when you come accross a new website. Again, they can be improved later on.
- For me, it won't change anything if i get more or less visitors. It is not a commercial website, and i don't even try to commercialize it. There are no ads, no hidden things or whatever. It only relies on my personnal funds for the hosting, and the time the members invest in it. (Thanks to Bella and others for the wiki work!).  And it's good like that. Oh well of course sometimes i come around and complain that everything is not due about the website as i think it's important to remember that, at times, but ultimately, 500000 views per day or none won't change a cent for me. I believe not everything need to be commercialized. And if anyone feels like supporting, ,the donations are open anyway. I consider that a recognition of the work, that's all.

@Kraus : Since i deal with several, and dealt with even more, websites, i could make a list of complains about the site you point in exemple that are not according to what visitors like as design. I won't do it of course, since i don't think it brings any point. Let's just say that for myself, i would like that we avoid an "enter" button (for exemple), and boring to look style. I believe a first page should just look like what the members represents the site about. Formal ? Fine for some, not for ostan. Colourful ? Surely fits more here. As for the choice of win8 tiles, i think it fits the OS spirit.

It's just my opinion of course, but i will say also, so far it's the best deisng which came as proposal, even if i agree with some of the criticisms beformentionned and which should be improved in future.

P.S. And i don't think being rash is mandatory to express a point, as legitimate as it can be. There is / are people who try to do something, myself i tend to just not read irrespectful posts and ignore them. Being right (or not), doesn't prevent to be polite and respectful of the work done.

[Dr. Kraus]

@Fedora:

I see your point and respect that its perfectly valid and I agree fully with how my website design can be called "bland" or "boring".
This was a website that was built almost a full year ago and I can say that its probably the earliest work that I've done that is still up and around without many changes to the original design. The "enter" button was something I only ever do if I make a website that splits into different types, such as a "boy" or "girl" selection page for an example. This webpage really is a "enter" page anyway, because it just redirects you to different places of the community, I'm perfectly fine with this concept.

I also agree that it should be colourful, that does fit the theme of the community and content.

In reality it all boils down to this simple fact:

I can campaign an opinion as much as I like, I could hate some thing or like some thing but I have no physical control over anything.
In the end its your call because, you are the boss.

Whatever you do to the website won't change the fact that I'll continue to show up, I've been here long enough where I'm not bothered by changes or anything like that.

One last thing, I think I need to explain why my speech always comes off as "blunt", "rude", "disrespectful", etc.

I don't intend to come off as disrespectful or anything of the like but I've grown up in a culture and society where being critical is a must to succeed. Around here, you have to do this in order to be herd, respected, understood, to get what needs to be done done! I don't come off this way because I want to, I never want to put people down after being put down for most of my younger years but I can tell you this. Because I come off this way I show that I don't sit around playing kiss-ass to get where I need to be, I didn't form a company by being the most polite person, I didn't get to the point where I have colleges like The University of Southern California, University of California, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Michigan, and more coming to me asking to be a student at their college. I'm no strait A student, I'm not a perfect SAT tester because I have to take my first one tomorrow! In the end we can look at the history of technology and say the following:

Steve Jobs was a great business man, he was hated because he was critical of everything and aggressive, not that I want to be like this but he grew a company to become richer than the United States Government.

Bill Gates is pretty nice guy but he was stubborn and critical with his company and he succeeded by doing so.

Mark Zuckerberg was a really really critical guy who was seen as an asshole by most people, he's running a company that shouldn't make any money but he makes unbelievable amounts of money.

You can take this is extend it quite far and also put it into different business types but in the end you see the same thing.

When you are critical, even if you are seen as a asshole, you are more likely to be successful in your market.

I dream of the day I'll be handing business cards to possible costumers with the title "CEO" under my name, I'm not going to sit here and just dream about that day because its time for me to make it happen.

There, done. Now I don't have to explain this again and you can understand why I can be like this, because its helping me get to the places I want to be.

[DustiiWolf]

@Fedora:

I see your point and respect that its perfectly valid and I agree fully with how my website design can be called "bland" or "boring".
This was a website that was built almost a full year ago and I can say that its probably the earliest work that I've done that is still up and around without many changes to the original design. The "enter" button was something I only ever do if I make a website that splits into different types, such as a "boy" or "girl" selection page for an example. This webpage really is a "enter" page anyway, because it just redirects you to different places of the community, I'm perfectly fine with this concept.

I also agree that it should be colourful, that does fit the theme of the community and content.

In reality it all boils down to this simple fact:

I can campaign an opinion as much as I like, I could hate some thing or like some thing but I have no physical control over anything.
In the end its your call because, you are the boss.

Whatever you do to the website won't change the fact that I'll continue to show up, I've been here long enough where I'm not bothered by changes or anything like that.

One last thing, I think I need to explain why my speech always comes off as "blunt", "rude", "disrespectful", etc.

I don't intend to come off as disrespectful or anything of the like but I've grown up in a culture and society where being critical is a must to succeed. Around here, you have to do this in order to be herd, respected, understood, to get what needs to be done done! I don't come off this way because I want to, I never want to put people down after being put down for most of my younger years but I can tell you this. Because I come off this way I show that I don't sit around playing kiss-ass to get where I need to be, I didn't form a company by being the most polite person, I didn't get to the point where I have colleges like The University of Southern California, University of California, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Michigan, and more coming to me asking to be a student at their college. I'm no strait A student, I'm not a perfect SAT tester because I have to take my first one tomorrow! In the end we can look at the history of technology and say the following:

Steve Jobs was a great business man, he was hated because he was critical of everything and aggressive, not that I want to be like this but he grew a company to become richer than the United States Government.

Bill Gates is pretty nice guy but he was stubborn and critical with his company and he succeeded by doing so.

Mark Zuckerberg was a really really critical guy who was seen as an asshole by most people, he's running a company that shouldn't make any money but he makes unbelievable amounts of money.

You can take this is extend it quite far and also put it into different business types but in the end you see the same thing.

When you are critical, even if you are seen as a asshole, you are more likely to be successful in your market.

I dream of the day I'll be handing business cards to possible costumers with the title "CEO" under my name, I'm not going to sit here and just dream about that day because its time for me to make it happen.

There, done. Now I don't have to explain this again and you can understand why I can be like this, because its helping me get to the places I want to be.

*sniffle* *takes a tissue* *claps* Wow... just... wow...

[NejinOniwa]

Since the frontpage is supposed to be an extension of the forum and wiki, I'd say we should rather than throw a random unrelated design in (which looks very unprofessional when you then enter either section) put up one that's much closer to the Forum/Wiki style.

Something like this, I was thinking.

EDIT: Okay, placement and coloring is a bit derped, but you get the idea. Copy colors and icons from the existing pages and make it blend more seamlessly into the content.

[Chocofreak13]

@nej: a wee bit basic, but i like it. keep going with it, i think you can work it further. ^^

@dustii: not to ride on kraus's coattails, but i'd rather be critical than sugarcoat everything. art school is a tough place to be if you can't take a little constructive criticism on your work. i'm someone who tries to find the best in everything (who cares if you're fat! you've got amazing hair!). so even if i don't like something, i'll say so in a way that can be used to make it better. in this case, it's hard to be as impartial as in school since i really care about this place. but know that the people here are fundamentally good. we would never specifically alienate a member, even if they support an unpopular OS. ^^; so assume the nice version, not the mean one. ^^

[NejinOniwa]

Second version, added some additional icons and redid font.

[Nichi]

@Nej: It could be spiced up with some OS-tan art as part of the buttons, but it looks good so far

So, I have a functional raw HTML version of what I presented as concept art earlier in the topic. I'm going to figure out how to make a CSS to get everything to line up like it does in the pic before I upload it somewhere, unless somebody here already knows how to do that and would be willing to help me out. Otherwise, I'll do some research this weekend on how to code in CSS

[Bella]

I don't think those designs would work for this site at all. The reason Fedora proposed having a front page is to put a greater emphasis on the OS-tan and Wiki aspects of this forum - save ME-tan's badga, I see nothing OS-tanny in this design at all. It's not very eye-catching or polished and is kind of giving off a cheap/plastic-y vibe, though this may just be because it's an early draft.

[NejinOniwa]

I was going to ask for opinions on that, Bella, but I probably won't post it in the draft. Keep in mind that all this was thrown together in GIMP over the course of an hour or so, so it's not exactly all too neat. If anyone has any ideas for -tan images to use with the icons, share! I don't really do much image browsing on ANYTHING anymore, so I don't really have much ideas for that. The wiki logo is just a quick redraw of the one that's on the wiki, and the rest are just mundane spur-of-thought things that I felt fit in to their subject. Overall I prioritized the style I think would work best - that is, one that'd more seamlessly blend in with the one we have on the various parts today. If we also make an effort to skin the wiki just a little to get the color scheme and such reasonably similar to the one used on the forum/gallery, I think it'd make for a very attractive experience overall.

[Chocofreak13]

@bella: that was worded a little harshly >>;
@pent: i agree on that, it has potential but for now is a good base. it doesn't feel as radical a step away from the original site as some of the other suggestions.

as for your design, cool! i have a css tools website if you'd like it. it's where i got all the colour names, they might have something that could help you.

@nej: in the morning i shall take your pic into MS paint and tape pictures of the os-tans where i think they should go, like pin the tail on the donkey. -w-

[stewartsage]

Hold on, we're getting a front page now?  Oh sweet!

Ya'll have fun.

*backs out of thread quickly*

[NejinOniwa]

Lame stew is lame -_-

[Chocofreak13]

seconded. >>;