Official UGP Website: Progress

[PenDragon]

OK, guys. Lets help promote this project!

Here's the deal:

I want a yea or nae vote on the use of a content management system from everyone on the team.
If you vote yes, state which one.
Deadline is this Sunday (the 21st) 11:59 pm

I also want a critique on each of the site designs we have so far.
What you like, and what you don't care for.
Same deadline.

I'm waiting on the ever-busy, but ever-courageous Smarty to get back to me on how the pic gathering is going. Once we have content & a desided site look/infrastructure, we'll divide the areas (FIGUREs, VEHICLEs, DIORAMAs, SPONSORs, C4,  & CREDIT) & get 'em done up right.

Come on guys, we've got the quickest job on this project. And if we have a web site up & running, then we can advertise on the front pages of the Yak, JD, and maybe get some real interest drummed up.

I don't see our site as only applicable after the fact. If we want this to be as great as it can be & show folks that there is some life in such an awesome, hobby-spanning, from-the-heart endeavor, then lets get this done & up.

If, I haven't heard input or opinions from Smartypants, Darth Deastron, Elmeaux, Phalanxx, PatreekTheRodian, & DmG on these two subjects by the end of the week, I'll take whatever I recieve, and make a decision next Tuesday evening (the 23rd), based on what ever I have available to me.

E-mail me with your thoughts (even if they mimic Ryans).
I'll open up a couple polls on the Yak regarding this for .

Thanks. And Sound Off Like You Gotta Pair! 
-Tom
(PS - I'll post this @ the Yak & send this out in email too, so don't worry about reading it twice if you run across it again.)

[PenDragon]

I'll start.   

CMS:
I don't think we'll need it.

WHY?:
We don't really have a lot of people on board, and most of them are uber-busy with other aspects of the project anyway. I think we can handle any updates to content that we'll need to make. I don't foresee us needing a blog-ish news-like front page anyway.

And now I gotta go back to work.... more later

[PenDragon]

And for that 'more' I mentioned yesterday - or when ever the heck i wrote that:

DmG's Site:
PROs -
1) The transparent larger logo behind the smaller solid one is great! I'm pretty sure elmeaux (the guy who created our cool logo - for those who don't remember) was telling me that I made the banner too large on my try...
2) I also dig the melds you did on the TWO banners - they're both really quite beautiful!
3) Next up are the links at the top. They're simple, to the point, (the other two designs here might be lacking something in that department) and the gray & white combo looks very nice! 
4) Nice job remembering the meta tags... I suck at that. Seeing the ***ULTIMATE|GROUP|PROJECT*** on the window, or tab really helps drive it home. As you can see, I totally stole the idea from you.
5) The scroll is DEFINITELY (imho) a needed element!

CONs -
1) The two banners are both really nice, but I just don't like seeing them at the top and bottom. I'd keep it to the top only. If you could set it up so that they could alternate, (or come up randomly - if you wanted to do a few more), that'd be pretty damn cool. Or maybe if the bottom banner was much thiner, it might work better?
2) The scroll works real well for the actual Star Wars-ish intro, but I might leave the "Welcome to ..." paragraph out of the scroll.

OVERALL - You've really driven home the need for well organized sections, for ease of navigation, and for the awesomeness of a scrolling intro to our story. And the look of your site works solidly together. I never really liked yellow & black together, but the grays you added make it turn out nice. Very cool.




elmeaux's Site:
PROs -
1) Cool layout, man. It solidifies the look that my site was (rather unintentionally) leaning near. And it sems like it might be pretty easy to navigate.
2) The pics look great. The transparent lines layer (if that's what it is) over the pics adds some very cool ambiance!
3) Love the cut out logo - very stylish.
4) Aurebesh - 'Nuff said! Did you do out actual translations? Cuz that'd just add 'cool' points - and perhaps be an attraction for the hard core fans (or lovers of detail such as myself)... anywho, I especiall like how you've done the Aurebesh on the pic screens!

CONs -
1) My only real gripe with this mock up is the brushed metal part. Don't get me wrong, I like the texture, especially for the look you were going for. But I think what I don't care for, is the shape of the interface. I might cut away some of the negitive space on the display. Perhaps add some angular (but still rounded off) protrusions too. I hope this is making some sort of sense... it's hard for me to explain w/o a visual aid...
2) The interface needs to be showing some screw heads to really bring it all home. Really give it that lived-in Star Wars look.

OVERALL - Nice job recreating a user interface! It works very solidly, but it just seems a bit too ... I dunno, static(?), for my tastes - then again, I like shiny things. If you could post some notes on how each part of the site works (are the links at the top right side the only means of navigation? do the buttons between the 2 smaller pics do anything, or are they there for looks? etc, etc...), I think I'd be able to give you a more in-deth crit.



Pen's Site:
For the most part, I'll let you guys tackle this one.

PROs -
1) I like the brighter colors. I think they attract attention, and make the site more visually accessable.

CONs -
1) I've GOT to figure out a way to do up the starwars-y intro in a scroll, and I'm not sure that the page aloows for it...

OVERALL - Um, I dig it? Yeeeeaaaahhhhh, I'm no good at he self crit....

[Glassman6]

Pen, is it just my browser or are none of the links clickable yet?
I've looked at it in IE, Firefox and Netscape.

Elmeaux's design is very nice. I like the "another world" look of it with the text he used.
I think, if its doable, when you roll your mouse over the text should change to basic (english)

I think the current site is too "earth"  looking. 

You should run with his idea.   Also let each of the buttons he has in the top right represent the ones you have : Home, Concept, Denizens, Vehicles...etc.

ALso, try to make the site look like something that would come up on a navigation screen. Maybe a star system map , make up some info on how many parsecs it is from where you are...etc.

[PenDragon]

Yeah, DmG's site is the only one with working links so far - nobody wanted to do up a full site before we finalized a few things.

And thank you for the comments on the sites! It's greatly appreciated. We hit kinda of a speed bump there, but I'd like to think that if we get some advertising (in the form of having this site live & covered on the main Star Wars sites that care about customizing), we can bring this back in line!  Damn it!

[Phalanxx]

Some of my thoughts.

CMS - My vote would be No for needing a CMS.  To me, the website is more about showing off and getting the word out about the UGP.  The boards at JD and YAK are really where all the discussion and behind the scenes action is taking place.  Any updates to the board would be more or less adding content to the different sections.  Any thoughts or questions would most like be asked (and answered on the boards).

As for the sites, I really like Elmeaux's site.  The layout and set up reminds me looking through a view screen or something like that.  Almost as if some one was veiwing a view-screen on a star destory. 

[elmeaux]

Just checking in.

Thanks for the comments. My design was basically an exercise to determine a the look/feel rather than a set funtionality since that was the task listed. The idea I was going for was some sort of data pad, sort of like they watched the pod race with in EP 1. I agree it needs a bit more detailed to be effective.

The alien text was a place holder since nothing was nailed down yet. My idea was for there to be a rollover as Glassman6 mentioned. I also envisioned the lower left buttons to be operational (scroll through highlights) as well as the symbols over the pictures (go to that section). 

Also, I'm anticipating the layout changing as needed from page to page but I really need some organized content so I can plan that out. Has anyone gotten that done yet? Text? Pics? In a central location?

I will commit to knocking out the site build but I need someone to commit to getting the content organized. I'm in between projects so the sooner the better because I know my next one is coming up.

Also, I'm thinking there needs to be some type of FAQ. Since the idea is to attract new folks they need to know what it is about.

E>

[CHEWIE]

Can we get a Niub Niub banner on the website?

 

[PenDragon]

Hells yes!

And the web team can expect new marching orders tonight 

[PenDragon]

... Yeah, I musta been drunk there....

Look, Smarty got all the pics together, Elmeaux is working with them, and so the only thing we really need at this point is a write up for each section.

A couple of paragraphs for FIGUREs, VEHICLEs, DIORAMAs, SPONSORs, C4,  & CREDITs should do.

I'm uber-busy for right now, so any body that would like to volunteer for a section, please do. I will love you. Just not physically.

Thanks - TOm

[elmeaux]

Woot! The site is almost done. Just waiting on some content really.

I've tested the site in FireFox 1.5 & IE 6 on PC and Safari 2 on the Mac. Everything seems to be working though Safari has issues with the transparancy effects.

To check out a "sneak preview" click here. Design works best with 1280x1024+ resolution but 1024x768 will do with minimal scrolling. And as with most sites these days you'll need to have javascript enabled. If you encounter any problems let me know what they are and what browser/platform you are on. Thanks!

E>

[PenDragon]

So freakin' cool! Thanks for stepping up & putting that out there Elmeaux!

[BrentS]

Looks great!! Nice work guys... now some us need to help beef up the actual conent 

[Phrubruh]

OMG! That is soo frigg'n cool!!! I absolutely love it! When will all the pictures be up? How about the section with contact info? Is there a work in progress area?

[Smartypants1635]

WOW, that is amazing elemeux, its perfect, Can't wait to see it totally finished!