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Temple of the Force - Home of the Templars of Twilight

Discussion in 'Archive: Fan Sites' started by Kev-Mas_Colcha, Jun 16, 2008.

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  1. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Link.

    Basically, this is a site I made for the Grey Jedi Fan Club in the Expanded Universe Community Forums here on TF.N, called the Templars of Twilight. I made this site with extremely low resources - free background image from the internet, and a header image I made when I actually had Photoshop, a while back. I did all the coding by hand in Notepad ++, and started with a simple div-layer based layout, and then added a flat-file PHP powered content navigation. Most of the content is still in the works, but that will be easy to implement, as I just need to edit the Roster page, and then it will be up with a simple uploading and overwriting of the old file via FTP - after I do a head count of members, that is.

    I plan on making a few improvements once I have Adobe CS3 purchased. In the meantime, this site is a perfect portal to our invisionfree forums, wikia wiki, and TF.N thread in the EUC.
     
  2. darth_nemisis

    darth_nemisis Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 15, 2004
    Looks pretty interesting, Kev-Mas_Colcha! :) The navigation is really smooth, which is nice.

    I would think, however, the banner would be better suited in the center of the page rather than the right side. Though, that is my opinion, and not fact. So, keep it the way you like best.

    Again, nice job.
     
  3. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Thanks for the input. I may hold a poll with the members and see how they like the banner placed.
     
  4. darth_nemisis

    darth_nemisis Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 15, 2004
    I am liking the update you made to your site. Looks very good. No offense to what you had, but it definitely looks better. :)
     
  5. Star_Rocker

    Star_Rocker Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 16, 2006
    I really like the new site Kev.
    Could I make one suggestion though, just a small one; which is putting a margin in the main body div. Currently the text starts straight off the border. In my opinion it doesn't look that great, but others may think differently.
     
  6. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    I made a few updates to the site, including a new navigation and 1 or 2 more links, as well as the margin fix.

    Check it out!
     
  7. darth_nemisis

    darth_nemisis Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 15, 2004
    I definitely like what you have going on. Very cool.

    The message board looks pretty awesome too. :p
     
  8. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Now, the main site is at a new address. http://twilightmainframe.net
     
  9. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    The site has just received a revamp, including a new splash intro page (with voiceover coming soon), and a custom image based scrollbar on the content area of the pages.

    Same URL as ever...
     
  10. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    Not sure what I think about the introduction there. It looks nice and all, but even on high speed internet it took longer than it should have, at least in my opinion, which means that on slow-speed connections it could take a lot longer, thereby inadvertently deterring people from your website. A voice over may slow it down even more.
     
  11. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Hm. Maybe would a "Skip Intro" link work?
     
  12. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    Yeah, the way I see it, that's typically the best thing to do when there's some sort of intro screen like that. Even if someone does have high speed internet that takes a split second to load your website, not everyone would want to sit through an introduction. I myself always use "skip the intro" links, unless I really feel like an introduction is worth my while.
     
  13. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Okay, I will be putting that up right now then.

    EDIT: And now it is up, at the top of the page where nobody can miss it.
     
  14. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    You might consider making it a bit bigger, and positioned closer to the introduction itself. Never underestimate people's penchant for being completely oblivious to what's right in front of them. [face_laugh]
     
  15. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Yeah, good point. I made it into a Heading #3.
     
  16. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    Much better. Good job!

    One thing I forgot to mention last night is that there doesn't really seem to be any content on the website. Am I missing something or have you not added in anything since your overhaul?
     
  17. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Yeah, I'm waiting on my other members to do their part, and write up the content. Especially since I completely forgot what I put there in the first place and I don't want to go look in my backups to figure it out, as one: I'm too lazy, and two: I was thinking of redoing it anyways.
     
  18. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    How many members are in your fan club, and how many are contributing to your website? If you've been waiting on them for awhile, I'd suggest giving them a kick in the rear and reminding them that you have an empty website just sitting there because of them. You wouldn't want to be overly forceful about it, of course, but if you let your website sit there empty for awhile then you could lose any potential success you might have with it.
     
  19. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    We have 11 official members (at least from forum numbers, we have more in reality). I actually just finished up the remodeling of the website 1-2 days ago, so it hasn't been too long, and I can easily get them to write up some content. However, only two of the members are cleared for access to the backend of the site.
     
  20. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    Looking back at the old posts in this thread, it dawned on me that something wasn't said that I'm wondering about: you say this is for a Fan Club, but is it just an informational website that talks about your club? Is there any sort of community involvement, like forums or something? What exactly is the purpose of the website, and what are your goals for it in the future?
     
  21. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    It is an informational website about the club, which will eventually have links to our forums.
     
  22. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    Do you have the forum yet? If so, can you provide a link?
     
  23. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    http://boards.twilightmainframe.net
     
  24. Brandon Rhea

    Brandon Rhea Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2004
    Nice to see that you're using storm boards. I'm hoping that it gains a bit of popularity and nemesis reminds us little people here at Fan Sites. :p

    But anyway, since there's limited content, I'll refrain from commenting on that. As for the board itself, I've never been a fan of message boards stretching all the way out to both ends of the page. I'd rather everything be centralized. The design itself is solid, although it could be a catchier to attract people's attention. I do like the banner, though, but I think it's the overall gray that's hampering it. I think it may be in the banner area. Because the banner itself is only in the center of the page, the lack of anything to the left and right of it makes it seem a bit boring. That's my take, at least.
     
  25. Kev-Mas_Colcha

    Kev-Mas_Colcha Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2002
    Yeah, as soon as I get to it, the forums will be reskinned to look like the main site.
     
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