Updated site layout ready?

[REVENGE]

Also, it'd be nice if we could have a reorganized download section, with clear instructions and binary packages for Windows/Linux/Mac. At first glance of the current Spring site, there's no indication that Spring even works on Macs.

[Warlord Zsinj]

Possibly, but I have no ability to help out there. Also, I don't know if it could be done visually as nicely without flash, with the light flash between transitions. I'd be happy to be proved wrong though.

The problem with the animated gif solution is that users have to preload the at the outset, so you'd probably have to have say, 5 randomly rotating groups with 5 images within.

But, I'm fairly noob at the whole website production thing, so anyone who actually knows what they're talking about is welcome to chime in whenever

[Argh]

Doing it with a GIF would suck, in various ways. I'll bet there are lots of ActionScripts available that can do picture display. Heck, WZ... just write the webmasters at that 'site, see whether they'd be willing to share...

[Hoi]

that banner owns! we should use it, including the image browser

[AF]

It is bad practice to put flashy animations on a websites frontpage. They will attract focus directly onto that banner at the cost fo everything else on the page while cheapening the site.

That and it will make the banner look more like an advert banner to the user. if it changes too quickly it will be annoying or filtered out mentally by the user as advert blindness.

That and almost every prior attempt to suggest this on these forums has been shot down by complaints by people other than myself. Infact Argh, I have a vague memory fo you yourself opposing something similar to this.

[Argh]

Yes, I think using Flash is bad design practice for something mission-critical, like the frontend. But meh, ActionScript and Flash are a lot more reliable than they used to be, and just about any gamer will have Flash installed...

[AF]

I wasnt talking specifically about flash teh technology, but rather what your all trying to use it to do.

Animation on the front page of the banner would be ill advised at best unless it was just the animation and a skip button.

[SwiftSpear]

Flash won't work for that function.

[Argh]

It could, but you wouldn't want to. Anyhow... at this point, given that nobody's hurling bombs... my vote's to go ahead and deploy. The changes RoflCopter posted could be done after deployment with minimal problems, imo, so long as it's done before the big 0.77 announcements, etc...

[Forboding Angel]

How is a flash app that just cycles images with a fade effect "Too Flashy"?

That would look dman nice.

[Warlord Zsinj]

I've contacted them to see if they can assist.

[SwiftSpear]

How is a flash app that just cycles images with a fade effect "Too Flashy"?

That would look dman nice.

It has nothing to do with flashiness, because we're using images as hyperlinks to games/mods, we need to use an HTML bound system or it will break browser functions... tabbing, mouseover, and image source.

[edit]Flash won't work for that function, drop it.

[Warlord Zsinj]

Many websites use embedded flash, and these don't even need to be linking.

I mean, I'm just trying to help out, and if people prefer the non-flash version, then that's fine, but if it's pure implementation that's a concern, I know flash has a bad wrap in html purist circles, but it does add a lot to websites, and many design-focused websites do use it, even if only in simple ways. I mean, I hate flash for navigation, but for a simple rotating banner it works well and adds a lot of life to an otherwise static page. It also gives the impression that there's a lot out there to be seen if it's constantly cycling through all these different mods, etc - rather then a first time user arriving and only seeing one mod

*shrugs* But I'm equally happy with roflcopter's last design too.

[SwiftSpear]

I don't irrationally hate flash, it just won't work for what we're doing. We'd have to comprise hyperlinking (or at very least browser features with hyperlinking). Other systems can do it just as well and we won't have to make that comprise.

Flash does many many things really well and nicely, it's quick and easy to work with generally as well, but it isn't ideal for this particular case. As a tool for standard web design flash needs to be used very carefully. For lateral web design there's alot more uses for flash, but our purposes we should be avoiding lateral design.

[clericvash]

Not to mention flash crashes browsers in pulseaudio in ubuntu heh.

[aGorm]

Sorry swift, not quite sure what you mean here...

We'd have to comprise hyperlinking (or at very least browser features with hyperlinking).

aGorm

[Forboding Angel]

compromise linking?

Just put a link around the object code to the games page. Simple.

[AF]

Lets deploy now.

[SwiftSpear]

Sorry swift, not quite sure what you mean here...

We'd have to comprise hyperlinking (or at very least browser features with hyperlinking).

aGorm

If a link is embedded in flash, you can't open a new tab or new window from it, and you can't mouseover to see what URL it will take you to or download the image in question. In this case it's not acceptable to use flash and suffer the sacrifice of being able to open tabs or open the site in a new window, because the alternative java, using bound webcode, doesn't have that downside, but otherwise functions just as well.

[AF]

It would also display on a wider variety of devices.