Arwen-Undomiel.com :: View topic - A-U Revival: layout & coding

[As you can see I've volunteered myself for coding, but a warning, I only know basic HTML from long ago when I attempted to code my own site.]

On another note, I like the idea of revamping the site's internal structure - moving it to a content management system - since it'd be a cleaner and more defined. But it might be more work than people would want (I'd be up for it though, having worked with Joomla). In any case, tables that define web structure are now outdated, so I would definitely push to revamp the whole site structure, not just basic colors/banners.

Hey, Elbereth! :bye2:

You might not recognize me, but I definitely remember you from the old days, and I think it's fantastic that you've come back to help with the revival!

^ I believe Coppermine is a very good idea. While I like the simplicity of AU's gallery, I have always been impressed by Coppermine when I have used it, and although we want to keep the "feel" of AU, I think that will add a really professional look to it.

Very nice to have you back if I may say so. I know all about your coding skills from your website. :-)

Johnny's Fan wrote:

Aww, thanks. :-D

I remember my site was affiliated with your Paved With Stars site back when it was up (whatever happened to it? :-D

). I remember all your graphics skills too! I hope you've been doing well too over these years.

I agree, Coppermine would certainly not look as clean (I actually think Coppermine looks kind of cluttered) but it might be worth it for the organization.

I'm also trying to think up ways to better organize the media banners/wallpapers section. While a second Coppermine gallery may not be necessary for them, there are so many images that perhaps those should be organized with a script as well. I'm assuming that they're just using HTML right now.

So many things to work on! I'm excited. :bye2:

Out of curiosity, JF, have you done anything header-wise?

Author:	Larael [ February 4th, 2011, 11:37 pm ]
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I'd certainly like to be involved with writing [I think Nurr said she was going to head that group], and I don't mind being the leader for "tidying up" as I'm sure that includes sorting links and other such things I was planning on helping with anyway.

Author:	Nurrantiel Mashiara [ February 7th, 2011, 10:17 am ]
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Somewhere waves hand vaguely in a general that way direction I said I would like to head writing-ish stuff. So yeah. Awesome! Way to keep things moving!

Author:	Eruraina [ February 12th, 2011, 9:21 pm ]
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Okay, since this section is for LAYOUT and coding... I'll put my idea forward here. What if we had a contest for the AU top banner? Held in the contest section, with the ideas we've had in mind for the new layout as the guide rules? (Matches/accents the colors of Arwen's coronation dress, somehow includes hobbits, etc). Because the way I see it, it seems like no one actually wants to be the one to actually make said banner, because all our awesome graphic makers are so humble. But if it's a contest, maybe it'll get the banner made and chosen sooner than just talking about getting it done?

Author:	Johnny's Fan [ February 12th, 2011, 9:31 pm ]
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^ That is a good idea, but my only problem with that is, if we make it popular opinion rather than it just happened, we might feel obliged to have everything vetoed by members first and that's not how Arwen ran things, and it will slow everything down for us. As it has been mentioned to me, and I have given it thought since it was mentioned, I would like to have a try at making the header, if that is OK with everyone else. The header would then, probably only be disclosed amongst the people actually working on the site so it will be a nice surprise for everyone else. Also, this means if there are to be any changes made to it, or improvements, this group of people will be able to have an input, so it's not just going to be BAM, I made the header, we are using it. The end. Once the header has been made, somebody else will work on the actual layout coding and such stuff as I wouldn't trust my skills to doing that. I am hoping perhaps that Nurr will finish off the rest of the layout or anybody else who is used to making them.

Author:	Eruraina [ February 12th, 2011, 9:42 pm ]
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Go for it! I was just brainstorming and trying to keep things moving since it seems to have... died down.

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A-U Revival: layout & coding http://arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=21131	Page 5 of 29

Author:	Elberethsq [ February 13th, 2011, 5:21 pm ]
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Larael wrote: [As you can see I've volunteered myself for coding, but a warning, I only know basic HTML from long ago when I attempted to code my own site.] I remember this!! Anyway, I'm available for coding. I've done web design for a few years, and it's part of my major, actually. However, it seems to me that a coding team should be pretty small, since coding would work better/faster that way. Since it seems like we have quite a group of coders already, I could just help out on another team - writing, graphics, fan art, tidying . . . anything where I'd be most helpful. On another note, I like the idea of revamping the site's internal structure - moving it to a content management system - since it'd be a cleaner and more defined. But it might be more work than people would want (I'd be up for it though, having worked with Joomla). In any case, tables that define web structure are now outdated, so I would definitely push to revamp the whole site structure, not just basic colors/banners. If we go with that plan, then we'd need a small group of coders (maybe those with more experience) to work on the new organization and design the new layout (with JF's header). Then, a larger group of HTML-proficient people can help integrate the existing AU content into the new structure. This will be even easier if we use a content management system. A small group of coders can also branch off to work on the forum. As I mentioned, I'm up for any and all of the teams, depending on where I'm needed most!

Author:	Taurquende [ February 15th, 2011, 8:06 pm ]
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Hey, Elbereth! You might not recognize me, but I definitely remember you from the old days, and I think it's fantastic that you've come back to help with the revival! Elberethsq wrote: On another note, I like the idea of revamping the site's internal structure - moving it to a content management system - since it'd be a cleaner and more defined. But it might be more work than people would want (I'd be up for it though, having worked with Joomla). In any case, tables that define web structure are now outdated, so I would definitely push to revamp the whole site structure, not just basic colors/banners. I've noticed that A-U's design is a little old-fashioned as well. I also really like the idea of giving it a face-lift, so to speak, but perhaps while still keeping A-U's rather distinctive look. I don't have anything specific in mind-- I leave that for you designers and coders to figure out-- but I just wanted to second this opinion.

Author:	Elberethsq [ February 16th, 2011, 2:50 am ]
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Taurquende wrote: Hey, Elbereth! You might not recognize me, but I definitely remember you from the old days, and I think it's fantastic that you've come back to help with the revival! Taurquende!! I believe I remember you! I'm so pleased to see more oldies around here - it's been so many years (5, I guess?) since I was last really active. I'm thrilled to see you're still around, and I hope you've been doing well over these years. On topic, I very much agree about keeping the layout AU-ish. We should keep the generally dark color schemes and the simple layout structure. Another idea I've had for a while is using Coppermine Photo Gallery for the gallery - right now, it's all just html I believe, but with Coppermine we would have not only better organization, but records on view counts, favorited, most recent uploads, etc. It's a very popular gallery script among many fan sites. Also, does anyone know what AU's hosting provider is?

Author:	Johnny's Fan [ February 16th, 2011, 12:41 pm ]
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^ I believe Coppermine is a very good idea. While I like the simplicity of AU's gallery, I have always been impressed by Coppermine when I have used it, and although we want to keep the "feel" of AU, I think that will add a really professional look to it. Very nice to have you back if I may say so. I know all about your coding skills from your website.

Author:	Elberethsq [ February 16th, 2011, 1:07 pm ]
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Johnny's Fan wrote: ^ I believe Coppermine is a very good idea. While I like the simplicity of AU's gallery, I have always been impressed by Coppermine when I have used it, and although we want to keep the "feel" of AU, I think that will add a really professional look to it. Very nice to have you back if I may say so. I know all about your coding skills from your website. Aww, thanks. I remember my site was affiliated with your Paved With Stars site back when it was up (whatever happened to it? ). I remember all your graphics skills too! I hope you've been doing well too over these years. I agree, Coppermine would certainly not look as clean (I actually think Coppermine looks kind of cluttered) but it might be worth it for the organization. I'm also trying to think up ways to better organize the media banners/wallpapers section. While a second Coppermine gallery may not be necessary for them, there are so many images that perhaps those should be organized with a script as well. I'm assuming that they're just using HTML right now. So many things to work on! I'm excited.

Author:	Aredhel Ar-Feiniel [ February 16th, 2011, 2:14 pm ]
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I've used Coppermine before. It's definitely would organize things a lot, and I do like the fact that everyone can upload things (am I right? It's been about two years since I last touched it), there's voting on photos and people can definitely comment on them. At this point, communication with people who are just visitors and not regulars to the chat/forum is pretty key, and they will have an opportunity to get involved.

Author:	Arwen the webmaster [ February 16th, 2011, 2:16 pm ]
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A-U was hosted by Steadfast Networks for several years, but they sold their shared hosting servers (which included A-U) to Fluid Hosting a couple months ago. As for the galleries, they actually run on a simple PHP script a friend wrote. I considered using Coppermine a ways back, but it seemed more than A-U needed and ran kind of slowly. And was more work to implement But obviously, it's all up to what you want to do now!

Author:	Nurrantiel Mashiara [ March 10th, 2011, 12:45 am ]
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Out of curiosity, JF, have you done anything header-wise?

Author:	Larael [ March 10th, 2011, 12:52 am ]
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Just popping in for a quick wave in Elbs direction. It's wonderful to see you dearest! We need all the experienced coders we can get!

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Author:	Johnny's Fan [ March 10th, 2011, 2:07 am ]
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Nurrantiel Mashiara wrote: Out of curiosity, JF, have you done anything header-wise? Not at the moment mainly because I have been busy, but I have been giving it some thought. I'd like to speak to the people who will be coding the layout regarding the header and the way AU will be linked. I don't know how to make an image-map, or at least it's been a long time since I have done one. I guess AU should have the same kind of navigation bar - I kinda like it myself. The thing that has been bugging me though is I think someone mentioned something I hadn't thought about before and that was an Arwen manip? Well I have never done a manip before so if we wanted a Liv image to look like Arwen I wouldn't be able to do that. I could try but my effort I can tell now, really wouldn't be worthy of AU. I am sorry to burden people with these problems, but I'm starting to think maybe I'm not the right person for this. I was unsure when it was first mentioned whether I would a good choice. It would be an honour to make the header for AU, but I don't want people to settle for second best if they could have the best. I could make some prototypes of what I think would look OK maybe? Then you guys could make the decision about whether you like one of my ideas or go with a manip?