Website Progression: Launch

Subject: Website Progression: Launch Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:43 am

The website will be launching soon. When you can sign up here http://www.swbattlecry.com/user and i will add developer status to your account.

Spoiler:

Live Preview: http://swbattlecry.darkaperture.net/

Another update almost a month later! I have made a lot of progress lately and though it was time to post another update. There are many changes to the site from one month ago including the User Bar, forum and there are now social sharing on the bottom of both News articles and Media content. I also as of a few days ago starting keeping a changelog because i tend to forget what i have done on the site (a lot) so i will be keeping that up to date on here.

Changelog

Code:: Star Wars: BattleCry website change log: Started log on 3/30/2013 at 7:07 PM

4/2/2013:
Added all media to the media section
Starting to implement lightbox into articles
Forum OP reply button bug needs to be fixed (makes it big with a thick red border)

4/1/2013:
Added spacing between the post date and the body/teaser text
Changed the private message top bar
made action links go under the page title instead of above it
Changed some font sizes on the FAQ and the news artcle pages so the font will not look choppy
removed border from system messages (ex. content has been updated)
unique url generated for content fixed
added post date to articles
removed linked in social button from articles
Swapped out Wysiwyg module for CKEditor module (should fix some issues)
Updated permissions for CKEditor
Made news pages only display 5 articles at a time before pusing it to a new page
Themed the page numbers
Added all news articles - 17
Themed the quotes in news articles
Added April fools slide - Gungan Pilot

3/31/2013:
Fixed the boxes on the home page to be the right width (300px to 303px)
Failed twitter experiments :(
Changed news block font-family to default and made the font smaller and condensed to fit longer titles
added social sharing options to media pages
Misc changes

3/30/2013:
Changed font family to sans-serif, Arial, Verdana, Trebuchet MS site wide (fixes font rendering issue with chrome)
added a pole to the front page called "Voting Terminal"
added post date to media
added "View" link to media teasers
removed message from poll
Developers are now able to access admin overlay
Updated user permissions
added find content to developer links
User links now makes the div auto resize so the links are always 30px (estimated) away from the search bar
Misc changes

April Fools Slide

Website Progression: Launch Gunganpilot

April 1st

Spoiler:

March 4

Spoiler:

January 30

Spoiler:

January 28

Spoiler:

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:58 am

Looks great man, You took out Hoth? Keep it up.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:18 pm

At least for now I might add it back in.

Posts : 446 Join date : 2012-11-05

That honestly looks great.
And functional.
And the header/menu looks really nice in that 'context'.
So, good job!

But I think the font of the menu is a bit small (in terms of height).

And couldn't you just upload a local copy of the website to the dropbox/megacloud (if you have rights)?

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:02 am

Thanks. It would not work work without a server (i use xampp on my local machine to view it) and you would also have to have the MySQL database to be able to use it and it would be to big of a pain for most people to set up. I can upload it though if anyone wants me too.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:32 am

The moons look a bit weird on the 'BattleCry' logo, but wow, great job!

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:44 am

Thanks. I am going to fix that after I get all the core pages complete. I still need to add the media page (I am working on that now) theme the forum and add the download page that will display coming soon or something. I also have to make a favicon for the website (the little icon you see next to a sites name that is usually 16px x 16px).

void Work(); Posts : 364 Join date : 2012-11-07

IMO, I loved the text being in both alphabets. Are you going to keep that?
What do you other guys think?
Only for the main menu and stuff.

Posts : 446 Join date : 2012-11-05

I didn't like both alphabets. Wink

But maybe it would be OK if it was just a hint of that aurabesh. Like, 60% transparent, similar to a drop-shadow/mirror, just in the aurabesh alphabet.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:46 am

I may or may not add that in but it will be on the background image for the nav bar and then I will have to mess around with the link spacing to see if i cant get them close together and raise them up a bit.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Thu Jan 31, 2013 2:36 pm

Love it man! Great work but you spelled Altureus wrong.... Smile

And yeah i think you should have the little Aurabesh right below the main header menu tabs. Adds tht little Star Wars authentic feel to it.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Tue Feb 05, 2013 12:16 pm

Updated thread with a live preview of the site.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:24 am

My suggestions:

Navigation bar:

The site could do with a search bar.

The main navigation bar shouldn't have a 'download' link, not until there is actually a download (unless we release the site and an Alpha at the same time?)

There should be a link to our 'F.A.Q' too with comments allowed.

Home page:

The Twitter page could be on the right hand side of the home page (next to main image, not beneath it as it is quite long) and would it be possible to have a Facebook feed somewhere too?

A couple of boxes underneath the main image on the homepage could show the latest images/videos. This, or I would make the 'news' box wider so there can be summaries too.

News page:

The 'News' page and the individual articles look fine, a 'share' option would be nice for each article though.

The summaries for each news article on the main news page should be to the right of the preview picture and not underneath. Stats about the article (e.g. likes, views) could be placed underneath the preview pictures instead.

Media page:

The 'Media' page looks a bit bare. There should be a summary box for each item to tell people what they are about to view. Underneath the preview picture for each item, there should be stats (amount of views, comments, etc). This should be similar to the way the news page is viewed.

I think being able to filter news/media by date would be very handy too.

The individual media pages could have summaries (text to tell people what's going on in the videos), the option to share the media and I think we should embed Youtube videos, not use the standard site player.

Forum page:

Nothing to say really atm.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Tue Mar 05, 2013 1:14 pm

Finally got some more work done on it so i took some screens for an update. I should have a new preview up soon. I wont upload it for a bit because i just migrated hosts and it takes a while for DNS servers to update.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:25 am

Fantastic work, so much better than the older design.

I'd still like to see the Twitter feed on the side though and the home page needs readjusting a bit.

The 'about us' page could also have pictures of us or more info, like what we're currently working on and where we live. GMT timezones might be a cool thing to add too (so people know who they can contact and when). This might present a problem with spamming though and some members might not consent to giving out this kind of info.

The media and news page summaries need share buttons or something too so they can be shared easily.

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:38 am

good stuff!

/thumbs up!

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Tue Apr 02, 2013 4:38 am

Got everything together for an update today. 19 new images and a changelog of the past 2 days (when i started it). Let me know what you guys think.

void Work(); Posts : 364 Join date : 2012-11-07

Great stuff man! Keep it up.
No April Fools? hehe

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:09 am

Looks awesome. I like the new messaging system.

I still think these are the main areas that could to be improved:

a) the logo doesn't looks quite right next to the white nav bar, perhaps Josh could come up with a different colour combo,

b) the 'about us' page needs more contact info (or something that tells people what an individual member is working on) and once everyone is signed up, you could make everyone's names link to the corresponding member pages (just so it's easy for someone to PM a member),

c) Youtube embedding would work better than using the default video service,

d) There could be a 'latest forum activity' box somewhere on the main forum page,

Also, have you fixed the media summary boxes and included their post dates?

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Tue Apr 02, 2013 2:29 pm

Updated changelog for today's changes and added a picture of the April Fools slide

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:56 pm

Live preview of the site is up at http://swbattlecry.darkaperture.net/ if you have already created an account you will need to reset your password.

Polygon Smith Posts : 248 Join date : 2012-11-05 Age : 29

The poll is a pretty good idea, this way, we can see what fans want.

void Work(); Posts : 364 Join date : 2012-11-07

Can't you create 'special accounts' for all the team?

Subject: Re: Website Progression: Launch Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:03 pm

Yes there is developer status that i can add to accounts giving you some control over the content and people on the site.

Guest

looks great, can we register yet or no? Also should I use the updated logo on the menu UI?

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