Themes
Hello,
Since we seem to have a lot of e-mail go missing I thought I'd move this discussion here.
Dennis is currently working three themes. shengchikungfu shoushu.org and shoushu.com
The instructions were to have them each a bit different but close enough that a user switching between the three would realize they were different sites but also realize they were related.
He's come up with a few mockups attached
For Shengchikungfu.com we'd like to leave the current splash page with maybe some slight modifications to tie in with the new theme. We like the green theme Dennis came up with. Looks very mystical. This would work well for Shengchikungfu. Curious if we'll be able to have any top nav with that if we need it though.
Color schemes should be
black red gold for shoushu.com and .org
black red gold green for sheng chi
The Dragon is the sheng chi logo so should only be used on Sheng Chi.
The source (which is the circle with the animals) is the symbol used for Shou Shu. I'd like to start using this symbol to protect trademark rights on it but need our own variation on it. McNabney at shoushukungfu.com uses the symbol with the modernized characters for shou shu in the middle. Perhaps we could use something similiar with the older characters for Shou Shu in the middle. (attached) If we can come up with this image I don't see any reason why we can't use it for the main image on both shoushu.com and shoushu.org
Looks like someone has recently done a nice job with the source at the dark side http://www.mooresmartialarts.com/
although I still don't like the robo bear.
So Sloane if you'd like to help out on this, that image has been the main obstacle. It's a tough one.
Sloane the other way you can help is by encouraging students to use the site. They are starting to get on more and more often but what we really need is a critical mass of useage. I'm working on a newsletter that will go out soon. When I'm done I'll shoot it over to you for any final reccomendations before going to print.
I actually want to start work on a magazine soon.
Let me know if I left anything out
SSW
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Sheng Chi Gold.jpg | 81.25 KB |
| Sheng Chi Green.jpg | 75.94 KB |
| Sheng Chi Red.jpg | 83.88 KB |
| shou_shu.psd | 163.36 KB |
| Sheng Chi 2.jpg | 257.38 KB |
Comments
Busy
I'm working on a more complete mockup. Can you clarify which of the color schemes and what logos you want for each site? Also, there appear to be some words missing in the first comment...?
scheme's
Yeah I figured you were pretty busy.
Definetely the green with the dragon for www.shengchikungfu.com
I'm hoping to get a new version for the source which we can use for either of the other two or even both. No reason why shoushu.org and shoushu.com can't be extremely similiar. I'll be using shoushu.com for the seo work (it already ranks high) but I have a robots.txt file on shoushu.org with the disallow command. so It won't show up in the SERPS at all until I remove that.
I'm traveling to Chinatown this weekend, maybe I can get the animals drawn, don't know. That would be a start for the source image. If I can't come up with anything Sloane has some images of the chinese characters we can use.
I'm not sure where words are missing?
Phil
Sheng Chi Kung Fu
I attached a more complete mockup to the main post: Sheng Chi 2.jpg.
It's for shengchikungfu.com. It might need some more spacing in the layout or some colour changes. What do you think?
I tracked down the Chinese font used in the header text to use with signwriter, but found that it is not legible enough at smaller font sizes. That's why I used small caps for block and node headers, it gives a similar feel.
All quiet
You're all very quiet...Â
And the colour schemes for
And the colour schemes for shoushu.org/.com? I like the red one too.
Any reason why you don't merge shoushu.org and shoushu.com? They both give information relevant to students, though some part of it can be public and some part can not. Right?
There's a paragraph somewhere that starts with "source. Ideally yes I'd like..."
Graphics & site usage
I have the shou shu symbol in vector format, so that part's easy.
As far as getting people to log on and use the site, I will do my best to help out. I would love to go over some usability issues with you before you send that email out, though... (there are some things that are confusing even to me...)
I like the green also -- it does look mystical, an outter glow around the dragon would make him pop a bit more. Love the font used (Dennis?) - very nice.
Shun:
re: the 3 themes, what is the difference btwn shoushu.org and .com ? Trying to figure out the plan...
re: the source - are we going to try and come up with a semi-new version of the source? Back to the recreating the animals ? (and if so can we start from there?) Or with the symbols instead of animals, like on the patches?
Let me know what you think.
Have you set "notify" as the standard when students create an account now? I had a message from Genet and the standard one from Sam and didnt' realize they'd been sitting there for months ... ooops ...
Do i have any photos you need for Sam to upload to albums?
k think that's it for now.
[just another piece of propaganda]www.propagandists.com
sites
Actually I didn't really mean getting people to log on (although that's helpful) What I mean is actually using it. Being the example. Posting a blog, uploading pictures, posting in peoples guestbooks, putting people on your buddy list. That sort of thing. More and more people are logging in, it's just that they are afraid to actually use it. I get all these comments from people who have or want to "I wrote my first blog but I'm not sure if I did it right" "I want to blog but I don't know what to say" If they see others doing it they will also.
As far as useability goes, I'm working on that. I'm going to convert the site to 5.1 as soon as possible which will help me in the useability department. It has some standard features that are just plain difficult to do in this version. That will help considerably.
Dennis, on heuga you got the image assist plugin for tinymce working. I can't seem to get it working here. Any ideas. It doesn't show up.
shoushu.org will always be a completely private site. Being private I'll have a hard time (i.e. impossible) optimizing it for the search engines. It will be the functional site for the use of member schools and their students.
shoushu.com will be primarily a brochure site. I'll put my own blog on there of just things I want to be public. I've got future plans for things I'll eventually want public on it but primarily it will be just a general static info site. I'll use it for gathering info and directing selected people to shoushu.org. Shou shu.com already has excellent rankings in the SERPS so it's pretty easy to use it for that.
source. Ideally yes I'd like a newer rendition of the source with the animals. Although I know this is a difficult task. Noone seems to have been able to come up with it yet. I guess we could use the symbols until then if need be.
I do not believe there is a way to have notify enabled as the default. Last I looked on drupal that was a no. Might have changed since then. I could probably get Dennis to hack the module but doesn't make sense to do until I upgrade to 5.1.
It would be better if you uploaded them yourself. That way people see more than just Sam doing it.
SSW
print
Oh it's a print newsletter going out. I'll probably do an e-mail version also though.