We have all been yakking about what we should change about the design and I decided to prototype something to get the ball rolling:
http://cipherblog.net/od/opendesigns.org2
If you hate it that's fine, just post how to make it better or what you don't like. DON'T POST:
LOL! is teh suckz
LOL! is teh suckz
hehe. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I like what you did with the design mouse overs. Very cool.
LOL! is teh suckz
i knew that would happen...
Well, thanks! I am working on it right now and I a going to show what a forum thread will look like.
It's actually quite awesomely cool.
I had to change the link (Apache is acting up): http://cipherblog.net/od/opendesigns.org2
Thanks guys!
My goal with the design was to more efficiently use the space and eliminate the sidebar in as many places as possible.
I had to change the link (Apache is acting up): http://cipherblog.net/od/opendesigns.org2
All the links to the pages work so you can click and view the forums and the designs page. I am leaving but I will post a styling of a forum thread for sample.
here is a sample forum thread:
http://cipherblog.net/od/opendesigns.org2/?page=forum-post
It's actually quite awesomely cool.
I too see that it’s awesomely cool but I doubt Joe will use it. Nevertheless great job Alec!
It looks much (no, MUCH) better than the current design. I especially like the information about the design staying INSIDE the thumbnail and not becoming a larger box that gets in the way.
Very nice. I do like this layout, and the rollovers remind me of a practice design I did a while ago, though getting the transparency and rollovers to work in IE6 was some nasty code.
Nice job Alec, but it reminds me of a design I have already seen somewhere. I¨m not sure and I can't be wrong. Perhaps it's the colors, I don't know. Just a déjà vu...
@wfiedler:
Hmmm. I can't say I have every seen anything quite like this, but if you remember where you saw that, I will work to make this more unique (which I should probably do anyways).
Hm, I think I got it after thinking more about it. It reminds me somehow of the older versions of the Fireworks/Dreamweaver starting/splash pages (Macromedia). As I said, it was just some kind of a déjà vu regarding the colors.
@uberlemurguy: Before you put a ton more work into this design, I would suggest asking Joe (LobsterMan) if he's even going to use it for OD since only 2 weeks ago this new design went up that's currently in use. If you have already talked to Joe, then disregard my comment :)
There were suggestions to help out with the site at the beginning and this was what he said:
Thanks for your suggestions guys, but for now, I'm not gonna throw 40 hours of coding down the drain.
Posted 2 years ago #
I don't think he gonna throw away his current work now.
first of all, i didn't think he was going to throw it away, or even adopt this, i just wanted to help form something that would help joe understand what we are pushing for.
secondly, unless I am mistaken, wordpress is being used and the designs are just themes. As much as possible, i tried to leave the complex HTML (the design previews and forum lists and form threads) the same so that if there was a transition to my design it would be fast.
I really like what joe has done here and i understand his position so this is against joe or anything.
also, no i haven't talked to joe (probably should have, sorry).
EDIT: the navigation breaks really bad in the IE7 (it displays block level instead of inline level anyone have any ideas. i think i might know what to do but I am school right now and can't fix it presently.
@uberlemurguy: I personally like what you are doing. Great work.
I only brought up asking Joe so you don't put a lot of work into something that might not even get used for the site. These sort of decisions are now 100% in Joe's hands as we know.
Well, It's a beautiful design, as for using it, timing is bad as you can understand, but I'm not saying anything for now.
If you have made an announcement before went ahead with the new design then perhaps Alec would not have made the suggestion. Please remember this site is Community Driven unless that is no longer the motto for the site :(
I don't see that motto anywhere on the site.
tomw: This site is not community driven. This is Joe's site now.
Actually this site has never been fully community driven. This site has been in small groups hand from the beginning and partly community driven. And now one of those few people owns the whole site.
---------------------
And what i can remember from Sean's words, it's legally hard to build community driven site in US.
That doesn't change it from being community driven. Without the awesome community here, the site wouldn't be half as good.
If the site were fully and truly community driven no doubt the site will be doubly good :)
well if it was truly community driven, Joe, you would have allowed the members to vote on a new design, but instead you chose one without ever consulting the members. I don't like the new design because it does not invoke a community feeling, it looks cold, it does not look unique. Sorry, but that's my opinion. The people, though, make the community, and that's the only reason I'm even here.
Well, the new design is.... where is it? That looks like a non-design to me, some CSS layout you download from one of the many online CSS Schools.
Considering this is a website about design, it doesn't make much sense...
So: we have 2 static pagesm each running custom scripts, and a forum. Ok. SO WHAT ON EARTH IS WORDPRESS DOING HERE?
This forum is very very limited, and i guess it was only used because it is a wordpress plugin? For god's sake, take a look at punbb, for instance!
@fernbap
err, is the criticism at my design?
Sorry for veering even more off-topic, but it seems that most of the community is doing nothing but complaining. For too long OD was broken: the contact form didn't work, the database server was constantly down and the site was unbearably slow. This has all been fixed within the last couple of weeks. I agree that the new design isn't as nice as the old one, but it certainly isn't as terrible as everyone seems to be making it out to be - I prefer it to the alternate design proposed in this thread. So thanks Joe for doing what nobody else could or would do by fixing up this site.
@uberlemurguy
This website design is similar to a LOT of websites related to website templates. It has NOTHING to make it stand from the croud. This website is supposed to be a website about design, right?
@greg
When people decide to fix something that was obviously running not as well as it should, then is the time to discuss concept ideas. We all know that the main issue behind the old website had to do with the terrible response wordpress has to traffic when it goes from light to medium (i wouldn't even call 7000 hits/day, as i think it is, medium).
So, as people is doing stuff, perhaps now is the time for stuff to be done right?
@fernbap: Sorry, ahead of time for my confusion. I'm not sure if you're comment is directed towards the design that uberlemurguy has created or the one that the site is currently using. Also, it's good to have you back!
Sorry for the confusion, i was referring to the current design of this website.
Hmm... now i realize that this was probably not the right thread, this one is about uberlemurguy's design.
As to that design, well.... it's nice, but not enough, imho.
A website about design (and made by designers) must have the WOW factor. The visitor who arrives for the first time at this website will look at the website's design as a measure of the talent of the designers involved in it and, indirectly, the quality of the templates.
At least, that design has the merit of not being like many others used in many other websites that offer free website templates.
greg wrote:
Sorry for veering even more off-topic, but it seems that most of the community is doing nothing but complaining. For too long OD was broken: the contact form didn't work, the database server was constantly down and the site was unbearably slow. This has all been fixed within the last couple of weeks. I agree that the new design isn't as nice as the old one, but it certainly isn't as terrible as everyone seems to be making it out to be - I prefer it to the alternate design proposed in this thread. So thanks Joe for doing what nobody else could or would do by fixing up this site.
...but it seems that most of the community is doing nothing but complaining..
There are comments like these:
Oh! WOW! It is amazing!
Looks awesome!
Looks great!
The new design looks great! I like it a lot.
Very impressive design!
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