Assistance and submissions requested.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

I am currently of the mindset that it is time for a little visual change to our forums and would like to ask all of you, the posters on this board, to make any suggestions and or submissions for new banners, new topic, add reply, and control icons and graphics.

As I am thinking right now, It may only be for the RP related forums, but if the other Admins like them, it could become a standard across the boards. The only requirement is that the graphics remain small in filesize. No big fancy background images, preferably something small that tiles well.

Suggestions are also welcome, besides just submissions. Thanks. :) I look forward to seeing what our posters come up with.

[Admiral Jyener]

Different colors.. The light blue and white colors are getting a little boring, and the battleground isn't all about Amidala and Maul.

[Garrett Blade]

It would be nice to have a "Fringe" feel for things. Instead of just the plain old stars background, how about something along the lines of Jabba's Palace, or Mos Eisley. The part where the camera pulls back to see more of the space port would make a nice background. As for icons, change lightsabers for blasters and thermal detonators. For colours, something that gets across the idea of crime and ruthlessness, how about rusty oranges and golden browns?

[Jedi Rebel X]

I'm actually fine with the way it looks now, but a change in the background wouldn't bother me much. I like the black backgrounds of the posts...and the white in the text is in my opinion the best text color. Do what you want, it's always good to have a change every once in a while.

[Dyne Darkforce]

I agree with the change, as it spices things up. The banner should be changed for sure. Maybe a bit more generalized, so it relates to all of Star Wars and not just Maul and Amidala. The background could have some image related to space. As far as the black table and white text are concerned, I can go along with that. The text and table colors wouldn't bother me if it were kept the same.

[Sage Hazzard]

If I ever get Paintshop working again I'll make some graphics. Plenty so the admin can choose from them, or even shoot them down. :D

Perhaps we need something to do with a battleground? Where did a large fight take place? How about the Mual fight? Wouldn't that picture be good? Sans the characters of course. Or perhaps not.

[Darth Eve]

Ogre, I will probably submit some stuff to you all. Anyone have suggestions for color themes, or anything like that before I start?

[Vega Van Derveld]

A change would be nice. I liked that sound of that Mos Eisley/Jabba's place idea..

[ReaperFett]

to me, it HAS to be space. Its the main thing about Star Wars. Banner could be redone though

[Jeseth Cloak]

Hm... I'll have some images up by tonight on here... :evil:

IF my computer can make it through one post on OOC....

[Admiral Jyener]

Yeah, the tables are good, but I meant the link colors mainly. And the backround needs to stay simple, just find a different picture of space.

[Nupraptor]

Honestly, I'm fairly opposed to the idea of image backgrounds for several reasons, the foremost being that A) They look bad when tiling, and B) They tend to interfere with reading the text. Practicality over aesthetics is my motto. I would try to whip something up, if I were on my main computer. :/

[Jubei SaDherat Vader]

I like the starfield, and would prefer that its kept that way.

On the banner...yeah, I could go for a change. It would be cool to see perhaps some of the RP characters represented in a banner....maybe even something that rotates, like an .ASP rotating banner. Now that would be interesting.

[Nupraptor]

Oh lord... more ASP madness

[Jubei SaDherat Vader]

Hehe....but of course!

[Ralin Zoth]

The thing about backgrounds is they either need to be very small and tiled or very large and centered. The problem is some backgrounds wouldn't look well tiled, like a Jabba's Palace type scene for instance. Ya it would be cool to have something like that in the background but realize that you'd have to have an image that's about 2000x2000 or it's going to tile and the problem with that is a background like that wouldn't tile well. I'm not so much worried about the background interfering with the text because the table BGColor could be black like it is now. As for a banner I definitely think we need a new banner, maybe even a different color scheme. New buttons might be cool also. I'll try to whip something up for eveyrone's approval in Photoshop when I get home.

[Nupraptor]

Even with solid tables, it makes it hard to see the name of topics.

[ReaperFett]

character banners would be great, but it would end up being elitist. How would you choose who?

[Keerrourri Sarrtarroa]

you could keep it at members who have been here for half a year or longer, things to that effect....who knows? I figure adding them in groups of 2 dozen or so....you could eventually get most people in there.

[Morgan Evanar]

Yah... In groups of six. That would rock, at least for the RPing Forums. Start with the oldest members 1st, and work your way down.

I think everyone would think it would be cool to see themselves up in the banner.

[ReaperFett]

please though, 1 per person, not character. I dont want to se 70 LL clones

[Morgan Evanar]

I dunno. Maybe like 2 or 3? Anbira and Sanis are such important but incredibly different people who both have a huge impact on the SWFans rping universe.

But you do have a point Fett. Like Nupraptor and Rane should both be represented too.

You think that makes sense?

[Keerrourri Sarrtarroa]

Oh, I only have seven that I really RP very much, and of those...I'd only want to see maybe 5 up there at any point.

Anbira
Sanis
Jubei
Cirr
and this fella here...but these guys would be way down the road if they were ever on :)

I realize not all my socks are major characters

[ReaperFett]

yeah, but not at first. in the first twenty or so, Id say one persons each. Then, see which extras are worthwhile.

So, who would it be? They need to be recognisable

[Jedah Lynch]

We should forget the characters in banner ideas, its easily going to be an elitist thing and only more reconizable people will be up there, people who are friends or in the same groups will recommend each other, same goes for people that suck up or kiss ass will recommend people.

[Keerrourri Sarrtarroa]

its not like its a set number of people Jedah...you can put as many up as possible

[ReaperFett]

I prefer characters than movie ones. Thats not swfans.

[ReaperFett]

also, think this way. Only a few last more than around 8 months. Say all from then get it, and you have a select few

[Cloud Selestor]

Why don't we implement the symbols of each group that RP's on SWfans? We can put in the TSE, TSO, TBH, and GJO symbols into the banner, and whoever else RP's here as a group which is actually legit and recognizable.

[Ralin Zoth]

Hey check this out, I made a banner it's up to you guys if you wanna use it or not but anyways <a href = "http://www16.brinkster.com/quiwanjin/images/swfans.gif">check it out</a>

[Jedah Lynch]

Now thats a nice banner.

Good work.

[Aisha Klan Klan]

cool banner....

[Dyne Darkforce]

Whoa, that is good. :)

Great work man. :)

[Sage Hazzard]

Nice banner. VERY nice.

But I like the character banner idea too much. Come on, it'd be cool. It'd give people something to shoot for. And it'd show all newcomers who are the best RPers. And it would be good for Morale I think. There's no Darth Mual in this RP. Our Darth Mual is LL. Our Yoda is Yoghurt. Our Obiwan is DT. It makes good sense.

We could decide by voting. Or we could do the longest member times. Or we could do all the Masters, or what groups consider as Masters. Such as the Imperials, they would decide who would represent their Masters. It'd be awesome. Of course, Sanis would be up there. He's the the best Bounty Hunter so far.

[Darth Eve]

I guess what I would say is: look at this issue from a newcomer's perspective. Anything/one that isn't officialy a star wars product/character will be unrecognizable and perhaps out of place in the context of a banner for a place that is insprired by Star Wars. Would you visit, say, a X-Files role-playing board and expect to see pictures of Luke Skywalker in it's banner?

By the way, very nice banner.

[Vega Van Derveld]

Say, couldn't we implement some sort of asp code into all of this? that way you could work with the character banner idea and have TONNES of the roleplayers here on the banners. People could just make their own to a set height, or we could have one of the local graphic designs setting up a few.
Obviously not everyone should be in it, only those who have been here for a certain amount of time like a few people have said.

and yeah, nice banner.

[Ralin Zoth]

Thanks for the complements guys. This is my opinion, there are a lot of great RPers here, some new, some old. How are we going to decide who gets a banner? This is easily going to become a popularity contest which I personally don't agree with, if we're going to give one person a banner then we need to give every single person a banner that puts their heart into their RPs. Placing the status of your banner on... how long you've been here will discourage new people. Placing it on "skill" will default to popularity because in reality whether someone's "good" or not is a matter of opinion. There are plenty of good RPers here who don't get recognized simply because they're not very popular. If we're going to make a one, or even two RPers then there's no reason why we shouldn't make one for everyone. This is a place where we can ALL come and RP, and I think we need to convey an environment that's welcome to everyone, both new and old, but anyway that's just my opinion.

[Sage Hazzard]

How about this....

Each group chooses a maximum of 3 people to represent their group. Then only the selected players get on the banner. Each group usally has a Council, made up of a select few. So the decisions wouldn't be bias. The Council's job is to not be bias.

How about that?

[Morgan Evanar]

Sorry Sage, doesn't fly... I really don't like that idea much. I guess we should go with something more generic.

[Dyne Darkforce]

Some RPer's have been here for ages, I think they should have a say in this, or place some input in on the matter. Personally, I can go along with Zoth's banner that he made. It is truly excellent work indeed on his part. We can also go the route that Sage poined out, either way we need a good banner in result. Plus, its not like we can't change the board around every so often. This means, we don't have to decide it like if its the last time it will be changed.

[Morgan Evanar]

Man should not speak under the influence of prescription drugs... :p

[Jeseth Cloak]

I personally am against the whole "Rpers in the banner" thing... I do like the cartoon-star wars banner up there though. it's very nice... Either way, I really don;t care what banner goes up... but if Rpers are included then perhaps everyone should design their own banner with their character, and then submit it for acceptance... there could be a criteria?

[Dyne Darkforce]

Yeah, it really doesnt matter to me what banner is up there in the end. As me and Jeseth were discussing, we just need a new fresh look to spice things up.

[Sage Hazzard]

The only problem I see with the SWFans.net character banner is the decision on what picture would be Darth Turbogeek's. lol

Come on, I love the character idea. And the thing about it is it's not because I want to be up there. I can only speak for myself but, it's not a popularity contest for me, I don't care. I just think it'd be cool. What do you see on the cover of Star Wars novels? The characters.

[Rama Sha]

But do the charcter know they are on the cover? no.



I don't like the banner idea either. One if you voted ppl into the banner you would have to be changeing it all the time. Second if you used the who has been here the longest then you'll have like the same 5 guys up there forever. It just doesn't work on so many levels that it isn't worth the time or effort to make it work

[Pierce Tondry]

Some of the problems I see with the character banner idea are as follows:

1.) Some people, like myself, can't make banners and would be forced to rely on other people to put their name in a hat.
2.) The decision making procedure regarding who goes on the banner hasn't been very well developed.
3.) The popular vote would probably become unrealistic quickly. Allow me to explain.

Ex. Sage mentioned Darth Turbogeek being put in the banner. First off, Darth Turbogeek is dead. DT doesn't use that screen name nearly as much as he used to and Force Master Hunter appears way too little to be considered a serious candidate for selection. Yet his name was mentioned anyway for the things he's done IN THE PAST.

When one guy can get suggested for the things he has done and not what he's doing now, I see that as being unfair on way too many levels to be utilized. Lynch and Rama are right when they say that this is ego-pandering and unworkable. I'd much rather see a "Newbie of the Month" award handed out than I would see this character banner idea put in place.

Why not something timelessly Star Wars, like an image of the capture of the Tantive IV over Tatooine?

[Darth Eve]

I said my peace above. I will submit a banner to you all shortly.

By the way, Starwars.com (http://www.starwars.com/) has a new look.

[Firebird1]

Forget the Character Banner, it would just cause more arguments. Just put up a new banner that has a TIE and X-wing on it. Or something neutral, like characters. I don't see the problem with the board's layout right now.

[Sane Karno]

Firebird check out the banner (http://www16.brinkster.com/quiwanjin/images/swfans.gif) I (Ralin Zoth) made... I tried to make it something that encompassed as much as a 700x120 banner could. I think that everyone has made their point that the character banners just won't work for a variety of reasons. Now what I think we need to do is figure out what kind of color scheme would be cool and what images we want to use.

[Sage Hazzard]

Oh well....

I think I'd like to see a lighter color for a change. No more starfield. Something on a planet. And no Lightsabre's for buttons, overdone.

Wow, I just looked at StarWars.Com. That Lucas knows how to do things in style.

[Sane Karno]

I'd be surprised if Lucas had ANYTHING to do with it. And what do you mean something on a planet?

[Sage Hazzard]

Anything on a planet. The Back ground could be of Tatooine's desert, etc. Or perhaps it could be a shot of a planet from orbit. That way, since it seems all RP are at one time or another one a planet, it'd be like that's the planet you're on.

I think the banner is pretty good that you made, I think it's good enough to keep. I have an idea for another style of banner. How about Anakin(young, kid) when he is on Tatooine. Where he's walking it seems from a wall, backpack in hand. And his shadow is Darth Vader. It's a great symbol I think. It's the begining(kid) and end(Vader) of the saga, and he's "walking" from one to another. I don't know why but that sounds good to me.

[Ralin Zoth]

About the background thing I'm not exactly sure how that would work. Because as you may or may not know with backgrounds they either have to be tiled or fixed. A fixed background is a picture that doesn't move and provides a single background image for the page.

A Tiled image is like what we have now, a small image which is a cluster of stars. The image will repeat infinitely in both directions as needed. In this case it blends pretty nicely and unless you really looked at the background you wouldn't be able to tell that it was more than one image.

With both types of backgrounds there are pros and cons but for what we're doing I think we're going to need a tiled background like we have now. Here's why:

1) A Tiled background is more likely to be small in file size favoring quicker downloads.

2) A Tiled background is scalable. By this I mean that if I have a screen resolution of 1280x1024 and you have a resolution of 640x480 we're both going to be able to see the full background. The image will tile all the way across my 1280x480 resolution as well as your 640x480 resolution.

So being that we're going to need a tile background I'm not sure how the planet scene thing would work. Either you'd have to have a picture that was about 1500x1500 or you'd have to tile an image of the planet across the screen. I say you'd need an image that's about 1500x1500 because some users of these forums such as myself have very large screen resolutions. If we used a picture that was say 800x600 then people who had a resolution larger than 800x600 would have a tiled image. A downside of using a large resolution image would be that a 1200+ x 1200+ image would have a very large file size.

So unless someone can think of a way to incorporate the planet background thing and also get around these problems then I think we need to think of a tiled background or continue with the background we have right now.

As for the banner thing... that's up for everyone as a whole to decide. The Anakin/Vader thing... you can't really say it's from the beginning to the end, yes it's the beginning and the end of the movies but what we're doing here is so much MORE than the movies. I have a character that's a Yuuzhan Vong and if you're telling me that Vader's redemption is the end of Star Wars then... well my character doesn't exist because he comes into the picture far after Vader's demise. But that's just my opinion, I think we need a banner that communicates EVERYTHING that we do here or at least tries to do that.

[Nupraptor]

I can see about trying to find an appropraite background image that's of a large enough resolution and small enough filesize, if everyone wants that. Personally, I'm kind of opposed to the idea, but I'm always glad to help.

And as far as the banner goes: I don't think that the character-specific banners are a great idea, for no other reason that they would seem out of place. I mean, if someone were to go to a Star Wars site, visit their forums, and see a picture of Neo, I'm sure they'd be a little bit confused.

[Darth Eve]

I think the Anikan/Vader idea is good. The banner I've been working on has that whole theme to it. It has Anikan at all ages (including Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christiansen, and Vader) and sort of depicts his change over. The reason I went that way is because that's what the whole movie saga is about: Anikan's metamorphisis into evil, and then back, or his coming of age.

[Sane Karno]

I guess my point is that yes the movies are about the saga of Anakin Skywalker. But what we're doing isn't. If this was a Star Wars chat forum where we discussed the movies, books, etc. then I might lean towards something like that. But this is a Star Wars Role Playing forum where we come, most of us create our own original character, and Role Play situations that don't always fit into the saga of Anakin Skywalker or any other characters from the Star Wars media for that matter. My opinion is still that we should use something that incorporates as many aspects of the Star Wars Universe as possible, thus including all types of RPers we have here... Jedi, Sith, Bounty Hunter, etc...

[Sage Hazzard]

I'm fixing my blasted Paint Shop Pro program currently. When it's done, I'll make a ton of graphics for people to comment on. :D

Let me ask something. Does anyone know where I can get good pictures or graphics of non-movie characters? Like the Yuuzhan Vong? I need some to make a banner.

Well, Anakin did bring balance to the Force, which probably brought stability to the galaxy. I read a article where they pointed out, in the end, he was the chosen one. First, he joined the Jedi and brought balance. Then he became evil and tipped it in the Sith's favor. But then by sacrificing himself, having Luke and Leia, and killing the Emperor, he brought balance to the Force. So he effects all generations I would think. Even future ones. Plus when a newcomer joins the board it'd be familar to him. And Anakin embodies every main group. He was an innocent, a Jedi, a Dark Jedi, a Sith, then an Imperial. Seems like he covers all bases.

But now that I think about it, a more diversed cast of characters on the banner seems like the best choice. And for the background, we could still have a planet feel. Like sand, tiled, for Tatooine. Or something like that. But Stars, in the end, will most likely stay.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

Still looking forward to seeing what some of you put together and some of what has been discussed are good ideas.

I am as well against the idea of placing RP characters into the banner and rotating them, just too many changes round here to fast when it comes to premire characters and well known personalities, and there is the new person factor to keep in mind. We want this place to say SWFans and reflect an image of the films and books we all love. :)

EDIT: Anyone?

[Darth Turbogeek]

Change the Add topic button of the OOC forum to a soapbox "Get on Soapbox" and the add reply button, change that to a piece of rotten fruit "Hurl fruit in reply". That would suit this place well :lol

[PraetoriteYominCarr]

I still like the charactor banner idea. It could be fair.

[Dalethria Mal Pannis]

character banner? I dunno ... this board isnt just for swfans RPing .. it is also for the prop guys and general discussion for sw.

it needs to be fair for all.

[PraetoriteYominCarr]

We wouldn't have to make the banners board-wide. Just for our turf :)

[Dalethria Mal Pannis]

oh yeah :| :lol:

[Jedah Lynch]

We wouldn't have to make the banners board-wide. Just for our turf

True.

But its still a piss poor idea that will cater to the egos and sucks up of a few and thus enhance a few peoples smug behaviour that they are the Jesus Christ of the boards.

In other words, this would be done mostly to give some people a sense of superority while those not on it neglected and givn something to whine about.

Its a popularity contest.

And if people are sticking around for such things they need to re look at exactly why they are here.

[Domini Leveresk]

Why? Anyone could partake.

[Jedah Lynch]

Yup.

But not to say everyone will.

The pictures have to be gathered, sized up, edited, and then added. Not everyone can do that and doubt those who can will always want to do it for every person here on a constant basis. Then the admins would have to constantly being adding/removing them. Bet be some problems there sometime as well.

Then of course you got to add the multiple characters of people who already got other characters up there. Unless there is to be a debate on how many alt characters can have. Does a person need to see several of their characters up there? Is it fair to have several for one person and maybe only one or two for another person? You know some will want ALL of their characters up there.

Do people who are only here for a set peroid of time get one? What is the critera? five months? eight? A year? Year and half? You know some will feel excluded if it was done that way.

Do only a few people from each group be represented? Again people will feel excluded.

Nothing has been said or agreed too, mostly because its not a good idea. Like Tondry said its ego pandering, do people need to feel good about what they do by seeing a picture of themselves on a banner?

If people choose who to put on it. Guess what. It'll be people sucking up to each and only serve to boost the over inflated egos of some already while making other feel like crap for not being nominated.

Hey lets all create a dozen alt characters each. Put them up so we could see our characters over and over again! Kewl!

*pukes*

Such ego driven crap for reconization. It'd be funny if it was not so downright pathetic. And thats putting it nicely.

[PraetoriteYominCarr]

What's nice about that? And how can you possibly be so sensitive over the issue at hand? If you don't like it, fine. I'm not trying to change your mind.

[Jedah Lynch]

Sensitive?

Hardly.

I'm merely stating what I believe, the same as you are doing.

And I do believe did a good job at making several good points to the topic at hand.

When its said and done if some want their picture up so badly to brag about it or have some small sense of worth go for it.

Its still a pathetic aspect of the human nature around here.

[PraetoriteYominCarr]

If you don't like the human nature, make a Vong =]

[Jedah Lynch]

I did one better.

I made a Sith.

There is no humanity there.

*grins*

:p

[PraetoriteYominCarr]

*Shakes his fist*


You'll all feel our wrath!

[Jedah Lynch]

You'll never take me alive Kirk.

I have Genesis!