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stwilson
Junior Member
USA
385 Posts |
 Posted - 13 June 2004 : 02:07:01
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Snitzers,
I am beginning the process of hiring a designer to redesign my Snitz forum at www.RidingArizona.com . I am hoping to gain a more professional look and feel, while not degrading site performance. In fact, it would be nice to improve site performance through the use of CSS. :) I would like to ask for any pointers of things I should make sure the designer does and things the designer should avoid to allow for a clean implementation of a new design. I know there are many of you who have modified your forums and wanted to see if any of you were willing to share your experience?
Basically, I hope to have two page layouts, one for the home page (portal style) and one for the forum pages. I have not decided on a left-nav versus top/bottom yet but favor the top/bottom nav because my site has lots of photos and using the full width of the screen is preferred. I would like to modify the header cells to something more smooth and less boxy and will ultimately change out the icon set. That's what I was thinking so far.
Again, I am hoping some of you who have done this before could share your successes and pitfalls. The biggest thing I am afraid of is the designer finishes and the design is not possible to implement. I want to make sure I give them good direction. Any pointers you guys and gals can share?
Shannon |
Shannon
RidingArizona.com |
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fishsticks
New Member
USA
77 Posts |
Posted - 13 June 2004 : 03:46:37
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Through experience, I've noticed that top-bottom navigations are MUCH nicer. You have as much space as you want vertically, but horizontally, you're much more limited. I have a Flash navigation in my header that works very nicely. However, if you plan on having lots of links (and by lots I mean 15+), you should go with a left-side navigation. It takes up more vertical space.
I have the same system you do now: a layout for forums, and a layout for everything else (although soon I'm switching systems completely so there will be just one page layout).
But whatever you do, don't use a frame navigation. Frames are evil. They just look horrible on a site and really limit your space. If you want the same thing on each page, do an include file.
EDIT: I just checked out your site. I like the way it's set up. The logo is very cool, and the color scheme fits very well with the whole dirt bike theme. You should keep your navigation the same style as it is now. It's nice and subtle and doesn't take up too much space. |
http://www.sharredprism.com
My website! |
Edited by - fishsticks on 13 June 2004 03:49:40 |
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-gary
Development Team Member
406 Posts |
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-gary
Development Team Member
406 Posts |
Posted - 28 June 2004 : 16:40:55
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| Forgot to say that you'll need to sign up to see most of the features. |
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wii
Free ASP Hosts Moderator
Denmark
2632 Posts |
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MarcelG
Retired Support Moderator
Netherlands
2625 Posts |
Posted - 29 June 2004 : 01:44:24
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-gary -> how did you do the 'You have to be registered and logged in to view images' ? I'm all ears  |
portfolio - linkshrinker - oxle - twitter |
Edited by - MarcelG on 29 June 2004 01:45:46 |
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-gary
Development Team Member
406 Posts |
Posted - 29 June 2004 : 10:59:21
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quote:
Originally posted by marcelgoertz
-gary -> how did you do the 'You have to be registered and logged in to view images' ? I'm all ears
Replaced the image tags with a script attachment.asp that accepts two variables, an image name and a verification key.
The key is regenerated every time the server starts and is stored in an application variable. This keeps people from being able to copy and paste the image and leach it elsewhere. At least until the server restarts the next morning. I augmented the img tag with attach that replaces itself with the script name and variables.
The files are all stored as jpegs and the script reads the file and outputs it as a jpeg content type. If you memberid is = -1, the it reads the image you saw and outputs it.
The script also does more than just blocking them from non-members and leaches, it reads your size preference from your session variable and appends a size (-0 through -5) depending on what size attachments you would like to see. The files are processed as by ASPJpeg when uploaded.
A problem I had with allowing images was that members would rather post a link to another site than upload the same pic. We've been around for two years, so many of the image links had broken over time. Sucks for new members that want to read old posts, so I wrote code to parse anything inside the img tag with an http: leader and download it, convert, compress and tag it automagicly.
I’ll post up all the code for anything I’ve done if anyone wants it, but it doesn’t much resemble the original anymore and I’m quite a sloppy coder so the translation is up to you.
You can log into the site with the account normal_user_test and test as the password. |
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stwilson
Junior Member
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 01 July 2004 : 02:32:19
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fishsticks, gary and marcelgoertz,
Thanks for your posts. I will check out your sites and appreciate the feedback. |
Shannon
RidingArizona.com |
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snowsurfer
New Member
64 Posts |
Posted - 26 September 2004 : 17:06:45
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I have a top navigation that I use on my site and so when I go the the forums section the logo shows up twice. Once because it is in my header.asp file abd once because it is the logo from the forum, how do I go about intergrating all this in a little nicer
www.norcalmotocross.com |
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Ranko
Junior Member
400 Posts |
Posted - 26 September 2004 : 18:50:21
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Geta good desigener who is not full of himself. I can recomend one such designer, looks at self, ahem  . |
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schultzy
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 27 September 2004 : 04:25:04
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Make a back up of inc header.asp then go ahead and mess with it if it fails use the old one simple realy thats what i do for mine.
Just because you have won awards for your forum dosent mean you can be cocky.
I personaly think it looks crap but obviously snitz dident. |
Who do you think you are Hitchcock
Wakko |
Edited by - schultzy on 27 September 2004 04:30:37 |
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snowsurfer
New Member
64 Posts |
Posted - 03 October 2004 : 22:29:54
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Thanks schultzy, I agree, so big desl you made a bunch of GIFS that are different than stock, it still looks like a forum, besides, i dont want a designer, thats the fun part, I am not trying to win awards.
Oh yeah thanks for the help schultzy |
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Ranko
Junior Member
400 Posts |
Posted - 04 October 2004 : 04:43:17
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quote:
Originally posted by schultzy
Just because you have won awards for your forum dosent mean you can be cocky.
I can be whatever I want to as long as I am not rude or insulting. Bad luck if you took me as cocky, because it wasn't my intention.
quote:
Originally posted by schultzy
I personaly think it looks crap but obviously snitz dident.
Somedays so do I, but there are good reasons for most of the stuff that is up there.
quote:
Originally posted by snowsurfer
Thanks schultzy, I agree, so big desl you made a bunch of GIFS that are different than stock, it still looks like a forum, besides, i dont want a designer, thats the fun part, I am not trying to win awards.
Odd, I thought that
quote:
Originally posted by stwilson who actually started the thread mentioned
I am beginning the process of hiring a designer to redesign my Snitz forum
*shrug*
I still stand by my advice, which was clearly asked for - find a designer who is not full of himslef - he will know when to walk you through his decissions and when to cut you of and tell you that is the way it needs to be. |
Edited by - Ranko on 04 October 2004 04:45:41 |
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Blue Gularis
Starting Member
Thailand
6 Posts |
Posted - 05 October 2004 : 20:38:10
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Ranko,
I am just starting my new forums and you are my rolemodel. I love Toshi Aitate, yoku dekimashita, omedetou gozaimasu!
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