Shattered Kingdoms

Where Roleplay and Tactics Collide
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 Post subject: Calling All Designers: Website Revamp
PostPosted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:53 pm 
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Webadmin

Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2002 4:00 pm
Posts: 2732
Location: Australia
SK Character: Viltrax
Every now and then the odd mortal or immortal suggests a website overhaul. Frankly about now I think it needs it -- the /worldmap and /time pages are both a bit too buried, and the /play menu is indistinguishable from the main /index menu.

If anyone is interested in working on this, you should definitely consider the following guidelines before starting -
1. Browser independent: always a pain I know, but there are many sites out there that explain how to achieve consistent effects across all browsers
2. OS independent: if you achieve #1, you usually achieve this, but any file-downloads etc. should also be unrelated to any given OS (usually means PDFs only; I think the only file we host is the flyer handout)
3. Resolution independent: using a large monitor, resize your browser to different resolutions and ensure there's no need for horizontal scrolling and that the layout resizes and/or re-arranges logically and in a way that is still readable.
4. No *dependency* on flash or javascript, but you can use these as long as the site 'degrades gracefully'
5. 1-2 Google ads in vertical position / or 1-2 horizontal at the bottom of the site / or one ad in each location
6. Low-bandwidth friendly: minimal use of image files / use of CSS to achieve graphical affects is encouraged.
7. Valid HTML - nothing too freaky behind the scenes please; http://validator.w3.org/ is your friend.
8. Original work that you don't mind waiving any and all rights for Shattered Kingdoms to use as they wish.

The key areas to present are:
Home page (could probably combine existing Home + Overview pages) + links to
- forums
- FAQ / glossary
- help
(the above 3 links should be shown on all pages, if a dynamic menu is used)
Explanation/History pages:
- kingdoms backstory, and how they are 'shattered' :)
- classes
- races
- cabals and tribunals
- Immortals and their history (?)
Newbie pages:
- basic explanation of the game (newbie forum has a good 'what is SK' guide)
- how to connect (incl. MUD clients list)
- how to play (name, adj, desc, commands)
Quests - newbie page and/or explanation page

If you're interested in submitting an idea, please DON'T build an entire site and expect us to swap in straight in just because you spent hours and hours on it; we'll only disappoint you. Mainly because what you see when you view the source is NOT what is stored on the server (there's quite a few server-side tricks in use).

The best way to get some encouragement is to first sketch a few designs in a graphics program demonstrating button positions & highlights + new column layouts and color schemes. Javascript, flash and HTML is almost independent from there.

Go nuts. :)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:38 pm 
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Webadmin

Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2002 4:00 pm
Posts: 2732
Location: Australia
SK Character: Viltrax
Helpful design sites:
http://www.csszengarden.com/
http://www.alistapart.com/
http://www.oswd.org/
http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/current-style.cfm
http://www.freecsstemplates.org/
http://www.unmatchedstyle.com/
http://www.stylegala.com/
http://www.thefwa.com/
http://www.styletheweb.com/

Added:
http://www.pixelsparadise.com/


Last edited by Viltrax on Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:30 pm 
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Mortal

Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:38 am
Posts: 803
Location: Milton Ontario Canada
SK Character: Umdon
How quickly do you need something? Is it a ASAP thing or one of those we can take our time with?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:51 pm 
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Mortal

Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:51 am
Posts: 317
Location: US
I'd really like to see the main pages and the whole color scheme of the webpage changed.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:51 pm 
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Mortal

Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2002 4:00 pm
Posts: 2637
Location: Floating in Previous Player Ether
What's wrong with the website as it is now?


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:15 am 
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Mortal

Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 1:58 am
Posts: 2423
Location: Athens, Greece
My opinion is that since we enjoy this game for free for all this time, it's only fair that we offer something back to it when we can. I have PMed you already Alshain.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:33 am 
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Mortal

Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:03 pm
Posts: 159
Location: Where you'd least expect me.
If anyone hasn't looked at Joomla (www.joomla.org) as a viable option for the website as an application, you may wish to do that.

It meets all the requirements and is EZ to edit and maintain once the framework is completed.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:58 am 
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Mortal

Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 4:55 pm
Posts: 547
Location: WI
Joomla is nice. Much of what you consider "design" can be had for under 50bucks with thousands of high-quality templates. I've used http://www.pixelsparadise.com/ on many an occasion to save time.

If you do go Joomla, please make sure not to keep the forums in-line though.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:41 pm 
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Implementor

Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2002 4:00 pm
Posts: 8220
Location: Redwood City, California
I've removed all posts that deviated from the topic.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:09 pm 
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Mortal

Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2002 6:56 am
Posts: 1858
Mebbe it's cuz you used a black background.

If I can recall, in web design 101, black background means you are an angsty teen.

That's what is wrong with the site. Alshain is an angst-ridden teenager.


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