1 Topic by liquidat0r (edited by liquidat0r 2008-01-02 12:10)

  • From: London, England
  • Registered: 2006-09-18
  • Posts: 150

Topic: FindClan.com

http://www.findclan.com

Myself, Utchin, Zimmer and Entertayner have designed and are now in the process of creating this new website. When it's finished it will be an advanced clan directory. Users will have the ability to search for clans, contact clans and apply to join clans. Clan leaders will be able to advertise their clan and search for new members.

Once we've made the site incredibly complex, we aim to make it incredibly simple. People should be able to create clans, search for clans, register themselves, join clans, etc in as fewer steps as possible and in as shorter time as possible.

Additionally, players will be able to advertise themselves. The idea behind the extended profile system is that gamers will have somewhere to refer people to as a profile - the page will have links to and information about everything to do with that player.

We have many more features planned that are either currently not on the site at all or are in development.

Clearly, the site is nowhere near finished. But you should be able to get an overall impression of what we're aiming for.

We are aware that there are plenty of problems, such as the way the site looks for IE users, but we're betting there smile

---

FindClan.com
   - Find a clan, now.

[img]http://liquidat0r.com/logo.png[/img]

liquidat0r's Website

  • quaker
  • quaker
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  • From: USA
  • Registered: 2006-02-22
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Re: FindClan.com

the site looks kewl...

*bookmarked....
Q

My stuff or my style might sux, but atleast I'm willing to help when I can.
Don't be stupid and help ! We are the stupid one's !!!

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3 Reply by MattF

  • MattF
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  • From: South Yorkshire, England
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Re: FindClan.com

Style looks decent enough. The tabs are screwed in the Moz class browsers too, however.

However, just one slight nitpick. What is so hard about developing a compliant and valid site with regards to Xhtml/html? It's even more ironic when one of your designers professes to be something akin to the bees knees with regards to design, accessibility, usability and so on. Before you point out the fact, I know the site is still being worked upon, but the code should be written correctly from day one, not hacked together and then cleaned up as an after thought.

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  • From: London, England
  • Registered: 2006-09-18
  • Posts: 150

Re: FindClan.com

Well the main changes to the style - the navigation bar & header - weren't made by our stylist. They were hacked together be me and Utchin - and neither of us are particularly great at CSS. We just tried to get it looking something like what the end product will hopefully look like. The CSS and mark-up needs to be reworked by someone who knows what they're doing, namely Zimmer.

As for XHTML compliance, I haven't even checked to see how valid it is. Currently, we're more interested in getting the system fully functional. As soon as that's done, like you implied, we really need to get the site working properly across all browsers and sort out any accessibility problems.

In response to "What's so hard about developing a compliant and valid site ... ?": From my point of view, that's one of the more difficult things to do. Though I'm sure that others will disagree.

Thank you for your input.

[img]http://liquidat0r.com/logo.png[/img]

liquidat0r's Website

  • Registered: 2006-08-01
  • Posts: 41

Re: FindClan.com

MattF wrote:

Style looks decent enough. The tabs are screwed in the Moz class browsers too, however.

However, just one slight nitpick. What is so hard about developing a compliant and valid site with regards to Xhtml/html? It's even more ironic when one of your designers professes to be something akin to the bees knees with regards to design, accessibility, usability and so on. Before you point out the fact, I know the site is still being worked upon, but the code should be written correctly from day one, not hacked together and then cleaned up as an after thought.

I will do the validity and the browser integration sometime this month.

Style doesn't look decent enough, I still think there is a lot of work to be done by me to get it nice. I think the borders are a bit too harsh on the eye and the colours are out of depth, so viewing and scrolling down forums is not the nicest thing to do.

The code SHOULD be written correctly from the start, I agree, but I didn't really get my claws on this till a month or so ago. It died for a while, see, so I didn't really bother with such things.

Plus, XHTML validity only really counts of a browser is going to spit the site right back at you because of it, currently none of that is happening and the only problemos are style problems - which IE will always be a fucking dick about.

Give Liq a break, he tried. tongue lol

6 Reply by MattF (edited by MattF 2008-01-04 16:22)

  • MattF
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Re: FindClan.com

Zimmer92 wrote:

Style doesn't look decent enough, I still think there is a lot of work to be done by me to get it nice. I think the borders are a bit too harsh on the eye and the colours are out of depth, so viewing and scrolling down forums is not the nicest thing to do.

To be totally truthful, I quite like those borders. big_smile One of the problems with a lot of the darker themes tends to be their lack of distinction between sections. I think it works quite well myself. smile


Zimmer92 wrote:

The code SHOULD be written correctly from the start, I agree, but I didn't really get my claws on this till a month or so ago. It died for a while, see, so I didn't really bother with such things.

I wasn't inferring either yourself or Liquidator in that comment. I had occasion to read the other participants website, and when they are stating things such as this as their strongpoints:

Quote:

proper, easy to use/edit Coding, Typography, Accessibility (yes, so that even blind people can easily use my websites), Navigation, Content and Search Engine Optimization.

End quote.

then in my book, that makes any lack of validity, (which by virtue also ruins accessibility), a perfectly good and honest criticism. As the saying goes, if you are going to stand yourself upon a pedestal....... big_smile


Zimmer92 wrote:

style problems - which IE will always be a fucking dick about.

Ain't that the truth. big_smile big_smile As I mentioned, apologies if you thought my comments were a reflection upon yourself or Liquidators efforts. They were not. I was merely pointing out the hypocritical nature of the site against the above quote. smile

MattF's Website

  • From: Leuven, Belgium
  • Registered: 2005-06-14
  • Posts: 2,653

Re: FindClan.com

The server seems a tad slow from time to time hmm

  • Registered: 2006-08-01
  • Posts: 41

Re: FindClan.com

Oh it is. You should see the CPANEL for it. I nearly had a heart attack.

Probably going to move a new dedicated server soon enough. smile

Thanks for the comments Matt. big_smile

  • Utchin
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  • Registered: 2007-02-09
  • Posts: 760

Re: FindClan.com

MattF wrote:

I wasn't inferring either yourself or Liquidator in that comment. I had occasion to read the other participants website, and when they are stating things such as this as their strongpoints:

Quote:

proper, easy to use/edit Coding, Typography, Accessibility (yes, so that even blind people can easily use my websites), Navigation, Content and Search Engine Optimization.

End quote.

then in my book, that makes any lack of validity, (which by virtue also ruins accessibility), a perfectly good and honest criticism. As the saying goes, if you are going to stand yourself upon a pedestal....... big_smile

Lol smile i recognize that comment.. personally its a bit OTT. I generaly dont like to interfer with Zimmers work as we could have disagrements about something, and if i change something he needs, then we may have troble getting it back, however i made the header simply so i can use it in FF.. At that stage i dint plan for it to be public.

I have been too busy with making the clan functions to have time to do other parts of the site...I had 4-6 hours to get the site up to a usable state, and since release i have been working on bugs..

For the next beta we will have the css/xhtml up to a good standard.

Sorry. Unactive due to personal life.

10 Reply by Utchin

  • Utchin
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Re: FindClan.com

Just to let you know that Beta testing will be closing on Wednesday and will be the last day to test out the site, give comments and feedback.

Can i say a big thank you to all that have participated in anyway to help with the development during the beta stand, and to all who have gave feedback and reported bugs.

We haven't got any more dates set for final project release date or the next beta stage as outside commitments are more important. When we do open again the site will work in all browsers and will be valid coding. However feel free to leave any suggestions here.

Sorry. Unactive due to personal life.

11 Reply by Benny

  • Benny
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  • From: Israel, Ashdod
  • Registered: 2004-11-30
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Re: FindClan.com

Wow, awesome modifucation!

Yours, Benny.

12 Reply by mikes

  • mikes
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  • Registered: 2008-02-07
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Re: FindClan.com

Nice site.

Don't stress XHTML/HTML compliance.  The fact of the matter is there won't be many blind/elderly/screen reading people looking for a clan, so you're all set.  As a designer I stress compliance on my own professional website (http://www.msbconsulting.net) but for entertainment sites and the like -- not so important.

Oh and also -- XHTML sucks lol.  I've been using XHTML/CSS for about a year and I hate it.  I want so badly to go back to tables, and at some point probably will but for now I'm sticking with the 'fad'.  My biggest beef is the hacks you have to do in CSS in order to get certain browsers to ignore certain definitions, etc.  That to me is like breaking something to make it render properly.  :shakes head:

IMHO don't fuss over XHTML if you don't know it.  Just make sure you're using valid HTML/CSS and you'll be all set.