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 Castle / Castle Organizations / Castle World / 1572
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Subject: 
Re: IOM Story update!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.castle.org.cw
Date: 
Tue, 5 Feb 2002 02:10:53 GMT
Viewed: 
1660 times
  
In lugnet.castle.org.cw, Tony Hafner writes:
In lugnet.castle.org.cw, Josiah Nicely writes:
Hey, first chapter out. More soon to follow, but before I commitall this to
the web, I would appreciate some feedback concering at least these certain
things:

Ease of use of the Site ( does navigation flow easily or is it choppy )

It's very easy to get around, though I think it's always a good idea to get
rid of frames if possible.  Do people really need to get from any given page
directly to any other?  Also, if each page makes sense on its own then you
can give people a direct link to the page you want them to see.  That way
you don't have to give them directions on how to get to what you want them
to see.  Even with a very navigable site, people are forced to think their
way through an unfamiliar interface.

You know, I thought about this, but I decided to use frames to two reasons:
1) the server I was using was being too darn tempermental with the site so I
scaled it down to load with the minimum bandwidth possible,
2) Once I changed to a new site, I didn't want to put the work into turning
each page self sufficient again. I know it's laziness, and when I get the
time, maybe I'll run a dual site, One with frames and one without, but I
don't have the time to completely retool the whole thing. But I will make a
mental note of that. Thanks!



Also, you might add the beginning story to the "Chapters" page and remove it
from the navigation bar.  The beginning feels like part of the story, but
the layout seems to imply that it is a different story.

Yup! It struck me as kinda odd too, I'm moving it probably this weekend,
soon as I get a few hours free.


And since the site primarily revolves around the stories (right?), I
recommend reordering the nav buttons to move the Chapters link (and
Beginning story link) to the top.

Size of the pictures ( are they too small?)

The pics are a perfect size.  I actually really like the layout of the story
portion.  And if you didn't have the side frame, the story fits very nicely
onto a fairly narrow browser window.  It's always a good idea to target a
low-res monitor for page layout.  That lets more people access your pages on
more varied hardware.

Editing of the pictures ( do they need work or do they convey the idea of
the story? )

I find your "hanging sheet" background to be very neutral.  This is a good
thing, as it doesn't intrude on the story.  Sure, you could crop it out and
replace it with sky... but if you don't do that really, really well then it
looks worse than the raw image.  And it's a lot of work to do it really well.

I don't know enough to do a nice crop, so I'll take your advice and stay
with the towel, actually. If you want to see the size of the space I have to
deal with, look at my front page and click on the two pictures at the
bottom. Lighting, well, actually that one is a pain due to the limited
options. I'll work on the photo editing.


The digitally-edited water doesn't look quite as good.  I'd much rather see
a blue sheet or something like that.  The cropped ship looks kind of blurry
too, compared to your other pictures of it.  Perhaps that is from
generational loss through the editing process.

I didn't like it much either, but you should have seen it before. I have a
blue blanket on my bed ( standard military issue, nasty ) and that's what I
took it on. Maybe I should have left it.

Everything else looks good- you have an eye for shot composition and your
focus and lighting are well-done.  Keep it up!

Overall constuction of the site ( I know it's not professional, but does the
site look coherrent or does it needs some aesthetic work? )

Everything is consistently laid out and colored.  And the pages don't have
extra junk to distract people from the content- very nice.  If you choose to
keep the frames, I don't think it needs any overhaul at all.

Thanks, I love doing this, but it's a learning process and the more
criticism the better I get. And I'm also looking to do some story
collaboration. I've got a few ideas, and some bends for my story, especially
with regards to Timmy. By the way, anyone who wants to use Timmy in their
stories, go ahead. He's a mischevious one that devil. And his power of evil
will grow as he stays on the Island. He WILL be an opponent to be
recognized. But not yet. These things take time. So much for the spoiler as
it is.

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/jnicely/

Hey- you never asked for feedback about the story itself!

Oops! Aw dern nit, ve suk agane!( in your best Water Boy impression )
Glad you responded to this though!

Anyway, I like it.  You have some interesting character interaction going
on.  I miss the silliness from your opening story, though.  The first few
pages there were hilarious, and I'd like to see more of that kind of
interaction.  I think it was the most original part you had going.

The lack of humor is due to the late hours I put this up. I don't know if
I'll change this chapter, but the be sure the next ones will have a lot more
laughs. I'm lighthearted by nature so it's not too hard, but o'dark thirty
is really not the time to do these things. Unfortunately it's the time thing
again.

Thanks Tony, these are some things I can really work with. Offer is still up
for some collaborative writing ( must allow a little literary zaniness,
c'mon, with a name like Doobie, how smart do YOU think this guy is? ). Oh,
and can we make indeginous (Sp?) peoples on the island? I mean, it IS an
island. Maybe we need some... Islanders anyone? Aw, what the heck, if I
continue, I'll give my whole story away. Love this stuff. Bon Bricking! (
well, it sounds like some the french MIGHT say... )

- Joe
--
Tony Hafner
www.hafhead.com



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: IOM Story update!
 
(...) It's very easy to get around, though I think it's always a good idea to get rid of frames if possible. Do people really need to get from any given page directly to any other? Also, if each page makes sense on its own then you can give people a (...) (23 years ago, 4-Feb-02, to lugnet.castle.org.cw)

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