The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: landbeforetimelover on November 26, 2009, 03:55:11 AM
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Well I didn't think I'd get so far ahead with the design so fast, but 11 straight hours will do that to ya I guess. :lol It's by no means done...in fact I'm fishing for suggestions and opinions. So, what do you think of the website so far?
FINAL DESIGN:
www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbtfinal (http://www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbtfinal)
This will make Mumbling happy. I've chosen the black theme in my final design. Though I may implement a feature that will let you choose the design you prefer. We'll just have to see. But anyways, what do you think of the final design?
NO PAGES WORK! I'm just testing out design right now NOT content.
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LBTlover, I am envious of you. Why? Because of what you can do with a website that I obviously can't.
The main thing I'm jealous of is those drop down menu links. I've been using Google to search for a freaking guide on it, but nothing. (At least, not what I want.)
So, I'm just going to ask you right here, right now, HTH do you do it? Seriously, there's a number of things I've been wanting to change on my site and it's more than the banner.
So seriously, how do you do it?
Keep up the changes though, I'm loving them! :)
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I don't like how the (second) banner is so extremely stretched... I never liked that on your site. I do like the one you got on top now though, looks happy.
I prefer the original site you had. These colours just don't fit.
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Well, version 2 is up:
http://www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbt2 (http://www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbt2)
Ever wonder why I ALWAYS stick with a black/dark color scheme for all my websites? Well, the fact that I SUCK at color theory is the #1 reason. The second is the fact that black is easy on the eyes and just looks good.
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I made a third version for Mumbling, who doesn't seem to like the color scheme:
www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbt3 (http://www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbt3)
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*nods* yea, that looks better imo :)
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FINAL DESIGN:
www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbtfinal (http://www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbtfinal)
This will make Mumbling happy. I've chosen the black theme in my final design. Though I may implement a feature that will let you choose the design you prefer. We'll just have to see.
The slides will change (I've waaaaaay overused these images), but you can get the general idea of where I'm coming from with this slideshow. But anyways, what do you think of the final design?
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My opinion is the buttons and headers could maybe use some colour to stand out better and make the site a bit more diverse. And how about a background picture "behind" the site that fades out from the sides... I mean like on this (http://gaming.fi/) site, I like how it brings life on the site.
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The background would have to be of LBT and I don't think I could have an LBT background that would look good without the image including a character. Having text boxes floating over a character's head wouldn't look too good. As for the buttons, the site has to have a color theme/scheme. Having colored buttons would break that. Though I might mess around with their shades a little bit. It's kinda difficult to see the subtle differences in them on a crap monitor or when your viewing angle is off to the side too much.
I've played around a lot, but there's no way to make a decent background image that will work for this. I even have the ability to stretch a background image that will make the image 100% of the screen size on ALL resolutions, but it just doesn't look very good:
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/second%20album/goodbad.jpg)
The three things I want to accomplish with this is maximum usability, great browser compatibility, and I want the site to be easy on the eyes. I think I'll put a background on the slideshow images though. They just don't look right floating like that.
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Looks awesome... Good job! :)
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This is looking fantastic! :)
I could never accomplish something like this. :P:
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Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm watching TV episodes and getting snapshots of characters to use in the slideshow and other areas of the site. I've got almost everything I need for now. The home page should be completed tomorrow. But for tonight, I'm going to bed. 4:00am here.
EDIT:
Oh and there is another version of the site, but I don't want to put it up. If I updated the version every time I did something, I'd be changing stuff constantly. Basically in the new version a background has been applied to the slideshow and I applied a star background to the entire site. I'll post an update as soon as I've got the other slideshow up and running with all the final images.
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The background would have to be of LBT and I don't think I could have an LBT background that would look good without the image including a character. Having text boxes floating over a character's head wouldn't look too good. As for the buttons, the site has to have a color theme/scheme. Having colored buttons would break that. Though I might mess around with their shades a little bit. It's kinda difficult to see the subtle differences in them on a crap monitor or when your viewing angle is off to the side too much.
I've played around a lot, but there's no way to make a decent background image that will work for this. I even have the ability to stretch a background image that will make the image 100% of the screen size on ALL resolutions, but it just doesn't look very good:
The three things I want to accomplish with this is maximum usability, great browser compatibility, and I want the site to be easy on the eyes. I think I'll put a background on the slideshow images though. They just don't look right floating like that.
How would the discovery of great valley look, blended to the background color?
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How would the discovery of great valley look, blended to the background color?
I try to only use images from the newer movies. Why? Well first off, they just look better on the modern web, but that's not the only reason. The newer movies (8-13 & the TV series) were made for DVD and therefore have a 640x480 resolution. But VHS (at least when LBT 1 came out) has only a 240x250 resolution. I would need to stretch the image to 1,100x900 in order to use it as a background. I should be able to fudge it with a DVD snapshot, but not one from a VHS.
Now I know you're probably thinking "LBT 1 is on DVD," but all they did was take the original VHS and stretch the picture in order to put it onto a DVD, therefore the resolution is essentially the same.
One good thing though is that when I post desktop backgrounds, I only have to post them at a 640x480 resolution! I could make them larger, but all that'd do is make the filesize larger. When you apply them as a background, the computer will stretch the image for you. Being able to provide such small images is good for my server bandwidth, the speed of my website (hence how long it takes YOU to view the pages), and it's good for your computer. Older computers will take to a smaller image MUCH better than a large one.
But anyways, I just woke up (about 10:00am here) so I have to start looking for characters in the TV episodes again. I never realized how difficult it was to find Littlefoot alone in the daytime with a happy expression on his face. :bang
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The TRUE FINAL VERSION is now up! That's pretty much how it's gonna look. So, what do you think? All I have to do on the home page now is add a couple more links to the navbar. I need a drop down menu for "Special Stuff", "Links", and "About" and I'll probably add a few more things to the existing drop down menu. But other than that, I can FINALLY start building the content! Jeeze......I've spent about 30 hours on it so far. :lol
www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbtfinal (http://www.lbtserver.2myip.net/newlbtfinal)
EDIT:
Oh, but I gotta write exceptions for IE7. There's a weird white bar on top of the navbar in IE7 and I don't know why. *Shakes Head* Stupid Internet Explorer. I wish it would just DIE already! :bang
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I'm in the midst of remaking the hardest page....the LBT TV episodes page. Not only that, but I'm going to totally re-encode the movies and offer .avi files for download. This will hopefully increase quality and ease of viewing.
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Good luck on that. :)
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If you can make a background picture that would be great. Right now the web doesn't look so decorative and slightly dull for kids.
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I'll explore the possibility of a background image, but it's probably not gonna happen.
As to the development of the website, it's going more slowly than I'd like. I can't spend every waking moment on it anymore. I have computers to sell and clients to make happy. I'm writing summaries for the TV episodes right now. I wish I could show you guys, but I don't think I'll show it again until it's TOTALLY finished. So far I've got the home page, desktop backgrounds page, and a large part of the TV episodes page done. :yes
EDIT:
Oh, and quality of the TV episodes has increased dramatically. Now at 80mb-100mb each and in 384kps (both in streaming and download), the quality is REALLY good. I can't wait to finish this website. :D
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Well, I've update it again only because I had a feeling I should back the site up. It's currently stored on a 16gb flash drive while I work on it and I do take that to school....so it's best to back it up. If I lost the code I had worked on so hard, I would be so PISSED!
Anyways, the home page, TV episodes page, song videos page, desktop backgrounds page, and photos page are now complete! I'm guessing only 10 more hours or so and I'll be done. Of course, I still have to remake the backwards videos. That's a HUGE amount of work and about another 2-3 hours. Then I've gotta add more desktop backgrounds. I only have 30 or so on there right now. But the zoom, slide show, and transition effects are pretty cool, huh?
The TV episodes are of MUCH better quality in BOTH the streaming and download versions. Also, the download versions are now in avi format, which will make it easier and more convenient for people to use. The quality is roughly 42% of what a full quality DVD rip would be. It's pretty freaking good! The episodes range in size from 83mb-100mb in both streaming and download versions. They're a bit larger than my old ones, but the quality is about twice as good. My secret? I reduced the frame rate to 24fps. That really cut back the filesize. I also reduced the resolution and increased the bitrate so that helped too. :yes
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If you need help perhaps one of the members here could take a look at it
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Well I'm sorry to say I wasn't able to work on the site much today. I had a lot of stuff to do including grocery shopping, picking up dog poop, cleaning my office, working on a client's computer who had an emergency, and other stuff. I got the songs pages almost finished. You can now stream the songs before downloading them! I just gotta add download links and style it a bit more. The updated version is only on my flash drive though and I don't intend to publish it yet. :p
I'll try to get to it tomorrow, but school always gets in the way. I was really hoping to get a lot done over this 4-day break. I wanted to study IIS7 along with CSS3 and HTML5. I also wanted to work on and finish work on the LBT Server (there's still some things that NEED to get done on it). I haven't even gotten half TheLandBeforeTime.org's pages finished yet. :(
On the up-side, I did make $324 over the 4-day break. My business has recently taken a virtual nose-dive because I've stopped advertising due to difficulties with Craigslist and laziness. To be honest, I'm burnt out. I can't keep going like this. But anyways, that's for another topic. I'll get the site finished as soon as possible. Until then, the old site will remain online. Even when the new site is completed and replaces the original, I'll still keep the original website up and accessible through the new one.
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Site looks great man, can't wait to see the finished deal
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I've been working extremely hard selling computers the past few days and doing other stuff. I'm afraid I've run out of time to work on the site. I finished the download links on the songs page on the ride home on the bus today. :p I just don't have the time for this. The LBT Server still needs attention too. I'll try to work on it tomorrow in Study Hall after I finish my ridiculous essay on the book I read for English class. :rolleyes: Of course, I don't want to be creating a Land Before Time website while in school, but I seem to have little choice.
But I also have to work on a few new Craigslist ads. Despite how hard I'm working, I'm only averaging $100-$150 a day, which is no where NEAR where I need to be. I'm just swamped. So I plan to have the final release by Friday, but no guarantees. I also want to write lyrics and have a dynamic sliding menu for the lyrics on the songs page, so that willl take a lot of work and Javascript. Things are going so slowly because of my limited time and how EXTREMELY complex the code that I'm working with is. This is by far the most complicated website I've ever made.
I should mention that I'm coding this from SCRATCH in Notepad from nothing but memory, so it's a TON of work. I don't believe in programs like Dreamweaver and such that allow you to cheat. :nyah
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Hey I use notepad too! And what I do with it is sadly limited.
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Well don't drown yourself in work LBTL, if you can't get it done right now you shouldn't worry too much about. When you have time you can get it done, don't push your self too much.
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I'm pretty he sure he will do it when he can of course placing his customers first.