A New Look For A New Year *Updated*

Ama · 01-02-2007, 12:40 AM

First I want to thank everyone for their input, advice, oppinions, help and such with the new site. It deffinately has that "Custom Feel" I had wanted for a long time instead of the "Cut, Copy and Pasted" templates you see out there. I have completely revamped MMODomination.com and will continue to do so in the coming days possibly weeks. Right now I have put in the necessary files, linked them together, and integrated them into the old parts of the site.

When you come to MMODomination.com you will be greeted with a new layout and scheme. I have added in some new features with the revamp and have tweaked some older parts. All parts of the site are accessible however you may see some of the old content.

The biggest part about the revamp is the Game Information section, Lore and History Section, Crafting Information Section, and the Screenshot section.

For those that are new to the MMO Genre or are wondering about a particular game can visit this area. Here you will find insight into particular games as the area explains:

As said I will not do pricing information such as where to buy the game; the main reason I am doing this is so I can stay neutral. I don't want it to appear as if i'm affiliated with a store either online or retail.

In the old site I wanted to add in a Lore and History section, but I couldn't do it at the time. With the site revamp I have added in this section for those that like to Roleplay or want to learn some interesting facts about some land, creatures, races and such.

I have added in a Crafting Section since the dust has settled from the Crafting Revamp that was implemented. In this section I will give some hints, ideas, tips and tricks to help crafting go smoothly.

The biggest revamp comes to the Screenshot area where I will be dividing up. You will enter the area selecting the MMO you want then in that area select what you want to view. You can view resource screenshots, item screenshots, monster screenshots and other information. This will be implemented in big chunks and right now I have resource screenshots I will be adding in.

I wish to say even though the site has been revamped the main goal of the site has not been forgotten. My main goal is to keep the website pages bellow 30kb to atleast 10-12kb. This coupled with simple 1-3 link clicks keeps information fast and easily accessable.

Right now the HL2 section is not up there because I will be revamping that seperately over the coming days. I will create a permanent link on the main page when the site is ready. I have an email adress in the contact information area where I can be reached. Any and all oppinions concerning portions of the site will be accepted. However if any mail has an attachement on it I will discard/delete it without opening.

Again thanks to everyone who donate their time, effort and oppinions that lead to the revamp of the MMODomination.com website. :smileyhappy:

Message Edited by Amana on 01-08-2007 06:29 AM

bensilvi · 01-03-2007, 02:22 AM

Are those the before pics?

Ama · 01-03-2007, 08:50 AM

bensilvi wrote:

Are those the before pics?

Nope, these are pics of the new site that is up and operational.

The background was completely redone and custom made as I had always wanted it to be. The same goes for the buttons and the banner since website before this was prefabbed. Also with this custom one I know which parts of the code do what so it makes it 10x easier to modify vs experimenting/playing/fidgiting with the other code.

One thing i'm happy to say is thanks to a little guideance I have managed to install a drop down menu on my template. With that in place I can post it to my site allowing for greater flexibility. However I believe it uses javascript so I will create an "Old Style" page with nothing but HTML links for those that like their Java stuff turned off.

DeathEater024 · 01-03-2007, 07:57 PM

looks good man it will be even better when it's all the way done.

Ama · 01-03-2007, 10:16 PM

DeathEater024 wrote:
looks good man it will be even better when it's all the way done.

True it's at 75% operation now in that all the old content is still accessible. Hopefully today or tomorrow I will be putting in a template that has a dropdown menu box on it. I linked it to a go button so someone doesn't accidentally click something they don't want. Here's a preview of what the template looks like atm:

I will insert the button into the various areas as I can but as I said in my earlier post this probably uses Java script coding. To help out those that have Java stuff turned off I will make an HTML area they can enter which will be simple click and go as before.

The HL2 section atm i'm stuck on making since i'm trying to think on how to proceed.

FalseCourage · 01-04-2007, 02:24 PM

First off, I applaud you with your efforts in reinvigorating your site and making it accessible to the majority of users that are not on broadband or DSL. (I'm specifically talking about those that are on a wireless, satellite, or 56k [dial up]). Also, I applaud you on joining the competition that is in the air in regards to the EverQuest 2 information site wars (eq2i.com vs. eq2.ogaming.com [now eq2.allakhazam.com] vs. TenTonHammer.com [TTN] vs. etc).However, I digress the way you have your page layouts done... I find the design to be compromising, with what you are attempting to present. There are better ways to do this type of work... Pretty much all of the ways exclude the use of HTML completely (not XHTML [Do note that HTML and XHTML are almost ~~exactly~~ the same, since XHTML is pretty much HTML v4.01 except with more of a kick to its rules.]).Here are some informational links to Web Programming that might help you out:

Want more? Do some research into the following:

AJAX (Asynchronous, JavaScript, and XML)
Python (down with PERL!!!!)

I'd recommend that you set up a MySQL database, that will store all the information on your site. Also, that you stop using an editor program, commonly referred to as a Designer Application. I say this, because I believe that you are using the program Fireworks in combination with Dreamweaver. (However, you didn't include any comment code from it, thus I cannot be certain. Though I sort of enjoy using Dreamweavers' Code view....) Instead of using HTML use XHTML linked with CSS or be adventurous and use XML with CSS. Although, another solution for you would be to use PHP with CSS (I love include).CSS is the new standard in Web styling and HTML is being phased out slowly and you should really use XHTML if anything.However, if you do not wish to learn any type of additional languages, then I urge you to use a validator application to validate the pages.

Ama · 01-04-2007, 10:41 PM

FalseCourage wrote:
First off, I applaud you with your efforts in reinvigorating your site and making it accessible to the majority of users that are not on broadband or DSL. (I'm specifically talking about those that are on a wireless, satellite, or 56k [dial up]). Also, I applaud you on joining the competition that is in the air in regards to the EverQuest 2 information site wars (eq2i.com vs. eq2.ogaming.com [now eq2.allakhazam.com] vs. TenTonHammer.com [TTN] vs. etc).

However, I digress the way you have your page layouts done... I find the design to be compromising, with what you are attempting to present. There are better ways to do this type of work... Pretty much all of the ways exclude the use of HTML completely (not XHTML [Do note that HTML and XHTML are almost ~~exactly~~ the same, since XHTML is pretty much HTML v4.01 except with more of a kick to its rules.]).

Here are some informational links to Web Programming that might help you out:

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

XML (Extensible Mark-Up Language)

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor)

SQL (Structured Query Language) [MySQL, and then PostgreSQL)

XHTML (Extensible HyperText Mark-Up Language)

JavaScript (Formerly LiveScript)

Want more? Do some research into the following:

AJAX (Asynchronous, JavaScript, and XML)

Python (down with PERL!!!!)

I'd recommend that you set up a MySQL database, that will store all the information on your site. Also, that you stop using an editor program, commonly referred to as a Designer Application. I say this, because I believe that you are using the program Fireworks in combination with Dreamweaver. (However, you didn't include any comment code from it, thus I cannot be certain. Though I sort of enjoy using Dreamweavers' Code view....) Instead of using HTML use XHTML linked with CSS or be adventurous and use XML with CSS. Although, another solution for you would be to use PHP with CSS (I love include).

CSS is the new standard in Web styling and HTML is being phased out slowly and you should really use XHTML if anything.

However, if you do not wish to learn any type of additional languages, then I urge you to use a validator application to validate the pages.

You can find an example of the program I am using here. I'm not an "Expert" in html coding thus I had alot of help from people that know it in and out. As for the work being "Compromising" could you elaborate a bit? I'm not angry just curious as to what you find "Compromising" about the site's layout.

For the layout I found a template I liked in Microsoft Expression Web. After that I custom designed my site to that layout of a banner at the top, navigation at the side and news/major area to the center/right.

I do have a database that I got as a deal with my web service provider however I have not used it. The main reason being even though it is cumbersome I find html pages load faster vs the database method *Seen it numerous times with ogaming where if the database gets a hicup it malfunctions*. I'm keeping everything simple so that those that are on lower than cable to the point of 56k can find super fast information.

As for terminology i'm not 100% sure on this but I believe what i'm trying to do is create a "Niche Market" SP. I can't compete with Alla/Ogaming atm or a wiki site like that eq2idb.com site so i'm creating a side market if you will. This side area is where data is totally in .html format and the pages are kept to a strick 10-20kb range 30kb at max.

All input is welcomed bud and right now i'm completely open to suggestions as the site is being flexed into it's final form. I have to say the biggest thing about the site right now is I know exactly what code does what. Since I know this and a problem comes up I can quickly find it then fix it. This vs my old site where I didn't know what parts did what and I had no control over the images.

Skydrop · 01-07-2007, 11:22 PM

FalseCourage wrote:
First off, I applaud you with your efforts in reinvigorating your site and making it accessible to the majority of users that are not on broadband or DSL.

I couldn't agree more. However, I don't wish to detract from any of the work done, that background image does no favours at all for your site, in my opinion it would look much cleaner and neater if the background where either a solid colour or more of a subdued image. I find myself looking at the page with my eyes having a very hard time actually focusing on what they should really be focusing on: the sites content, which is excellent.

And to comment further on some of the technologies FalseCourage is talking about, if you wish to delve further, the combination of CSS and XHTML can produce a suprisingly succinct, clean and concise document. Which one of your main aims for the site will benefit from as the file sizes are kept low with a combination of the aformentioned technologies. There is a learning curve to encounter though, once you're past that you'll see the light so to speak.

Ama · 01-08-2007, 01:56 AM

*Update*

Due to some requests I have removed the background imagery for now. Instead of the greenish orbs you will see a plain black background till I have time to "refine" the image. Hopefully this will help out those that have trouble with bright/high contrast items on screen.

I am proud to anounce a "No Boarders" rule in effect for the images. SMILEY You will notice that the navigation buttons no longer have that nasty "Blue" or "Purple" boarder around them. Instead they are crisp, clean and detailed as I had hoped they would be. The same can be said for the image links in the Quest/Raid sections.

As a minor note I have gotten ahold of the coding necessary for dropdown menu buttons. I have implemented this into some webpages that are 99% completed atm *I say 99 because it needs some touch up work*. Once the pages are to a degree I like them I will upload them directly to the site. Instead of having to go through link after link, after link, after link, etc.. you can quickly select what you want from a dropdown menu.

However I do believe the dropdown menus use java script/coding which some may not be able to view if you have it turned off in Internet Explorer. So to combat this I will put up a 2nd option that will have pure links but you will have to click through your options.

Hope everyone likes the upgrades and it is through your ideas/efforts that I can refine the site into its best format. All oppinions/suggestions are appreciated and feedback is welcomed on parts that are good, great, not so great and horrible. :smileyhappy:

01-02-2007, 12:40 AM	#1
Ama General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,833	First I want to thank everyone for their input, advice, oppinions, help and such with the new site. It deffinately has that "Custom Feel" I had wanted for a long time instead of the "Cut, Copy and Pasted" templates you see out there. I have completely revamped MMODomination.com and will continue to do so in the coming days possibly weeks. Right now I have put in the necessary files, linked them together, and integrated them into the old parts of the site. When you come to MMODomination.com you will be greeted with a new layout and scheme. I have added in some new features with the revamp and have tweaked some older parts. All parts of the site are accessible however you may see some of the old content. The biggest part about the revamp is the Game Information section, Lore and History Section, Crafting Information Section, and the Screenshot section. For those that are new to the MMO Genre or are wondering about a particular game can visit this area. Here you will find insight into particular games as the area explains: As said I will not do pricing information such as where to buy the game; the main reason I am doing this is so I can stay neutral. I don't want it to appear as if i'm affiliated with a store either online or retail. In the old site I wanted to add in a Lore and History section, but I couldn't do it at the time. With the site revamp I have added in this section for those that like to Roleplay or want to learn some interesting facts about some land, creatures, races and such. I have added in a Crafting Section since the dust has settled from the Crafting Revamp that was implemented. In this section I will give some hints, ideas, tips and tricks to help crafting go smoothly. The biggest revamp comes to the Screenshot area where I will be dividing up. You will enter the area selecting the MMO you want then in that area select what you want to view. You can view resource screenshots, item screenshots, monster screenshots and other information. This will be implemented in big chunks and right now I have resource screenshots I will be adding in. I wish to say even though the site has been revamped the main goal of the site has not been forgotten. My main goal is to keep the website pages bellow 30kb to atleast 10-12kb. This coupled with simple 1-3 link clicks keeps information fast and easily accessable. Right now the HL2 section is not up there because I will be revamping that seperately over the coming days. I will create a permanent link on the main page when the site is ready. I have an email adress in the contact information area where I can be reached. Any and all oppinions concerning portions of the site will be accepted. However if any mail has an attachement on it I will discard/delete it without opening. Again thanks to everyone who donate their time, effort and oppinions that lead to the revamp of the MMODomination.com website. :smileyhappy: Message Edited by Amana on 01-08-2007 06:29 AM __________________

01-03-2007, 08:50 AM	#3
Ama General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,833	bensilvi wrote: Are those the before pics? Nope, these are pics of the new site that is up and operational. The background was completely redone and custom made as I had always wanted it to be. The same goes for the buttons and the banner since website before this was prefabbed. Also with this custom one I know which parts of the code do what so it makes it 10x easier to modify vs experimenting/playing/fidgiting with the other code. One thing i'm happy to say is thanks to a little guideance I have managed to install a drop down menu on my template. With that in place I can post it to my site allowing for greater flexibility. However I believe it uses javascript so I will create an "Old Style" page with nothing but HTML links for those that like their Java stuff turned off. __________________

01-03-2007, 10:16 PM	#5
Ama General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,833	DeathEater024 wrote: looks good man it will be even better when it's all the way done. True it's at 75% operation now in that all the old content is still accessible. Hopefully today or tomorrow I will be putting in a template that has a dropdown menu box on it. I linked it to a go button so someone doesn't accidentally click something they don't want. Here's a preview of what the template looks like atm: I will insert the button into the various areas as I can but as I said in my earlier post this probably uses Java script coding. To help out those that have Java stuff turned off I will make an HTML area they can enter which will be simple click and go as before. The HL2 section atm i'm stuck on making since i'm trying to think on how to proceed. __________________

01-04-2007, 02:24 PM	#6
FalseCourage Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 35	First off, I applaud you with your efforts in reinvigorating your site and making it accessible to the majority of users that are not on broadband or DSL. (I'm specifically talking about those that are on a wireless, satellite, or 56k [dial up]). Also, I applaud you on joining the competition that is in the air in regards to the EverQuest 2 information site wars (eq2i.com vs. eq2.ogaming.com [now eq2.allakhazam.com] vs. TenTonHammer.com [TTN] vs. etc).However, I digress the way you have your page layouts done... I find the design to be compromising, with what you are attempting to present. There are better ways to do this type of work... Pretty much all of the ways exclude the use of HTML completely (not XHTML [Do note that HTML and XHTML are almost ~~exactly~~ the same, since XHTML is pretty much HTML v4.01 except with more of a kick to its rules.]).Here are some informational links to Web Programming that might help you out: CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) XML (Extensible Mark-Up Language) PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) SQL (Structured Query Language) [MySQL, and then PostgreSQL) XHTML (Extensible HyperText Mark-Up Language) JavaScript (Formerly LiveScript) Want more? Do some research into the following: AJAX (Asynchronous, JavaScript, and XML) Python (down with PERL!!!!) I'd recommend that you set up a MySQL database, that will store all the information on your site. Also, that you stop using an editor program, commonly referred to as a Designer Application. I say this, because I believe that you are using the program Fireworks in combination with Dreamweaver. (However, you didn't include any comment code from it, thus I cannot be certain. Though I sort of enjoy using Dreamweavers' Code view....) Instead of using HTML use XHTML linked with CSS or be adventurous and use XML with CSS. Although, another solution for you would be to use PHP with CSS (I love include).CSS is the new standard in Web styling and HTML is being phased out slowly and you should really use XHTML if anything.However, if you do not wish to learn any type of additional languages, then I urge you to use a validator application to validate the pages.

01-04-2007, 10:41 PM	#7
Ama General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,833	FalseCourage wrote: First off, I applaud you with your efforts in reinvigorating your site and making it accessible to the majority of users that are not on broadband or DSL. (I'm specifically talking about those that are on a wireless, satellite, or 56k [dial up]). Also, I applaud you on joining the competition that is in the air in regards to the EverQuest 2 information site wars (eq2i.com vs. eq2.ogaming.com [now eq2.allakhazam.com] vs. TenTonHammer.com [TTN] vs. etc). However, I digress the way you have your page layouts done... I find the design to be compromising, with what you are attempting to present. There are better ways to do this type of work... Pretty much all of the ways exclude the use of HTML completely (not XHTML [Do note that HTML and XHTML are almost ~~exactly~~ the same, since XHTML is pretty much HTML v4.01 except with more of a kick to its rules.]). Here are some informational links to Web Programming that might help you out: CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) XML (Extensible Mark-Up Language) PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) SQL (Structured Query Language) [MySQL, and then PostgreSQL) XHTML (Extensible HyperText Mark-Up Language) JavaScript (Formerly LiveScript) Want more? Do some research into the following: AJAX (Asynchronous, JavaScript, and XML) Python (down with PERL!!!!) I'd recommend that you set up a MySQL database, that will store all the information on your site. Also, that you stop using an editor program, commonly referred to as a Designer Application. I say this, because I believe that you are using the program Fireworks in combination with Dreamweaver. (However, you didn't include any comment code from it, thus I cannot be certain. Though I sort of enjoy using Dreamweavers' Code view....) Instead of using HTML use XHTML linked with CSS or be adventurous and use XML with CSS. Although, another solution for you would be to use PHP with CSS (I love include). CSS is the new standard in Web styling and HTML is being phased out slowly and you should really use XHTML if anything. However, if you do not wish to learn any type of additional languages, then I urge you to use a validator application to validate the pages. You can find an example of the program I am using here. I'm not an "Expert" in html coding thus I had alot of help from people that know it in and out. As for the work being "Compromising" could you elaborate a bit? I'm not angry just curious as to what you find "Compromising" about the site's layout. For the layout I found a template I liked in Microsoft Expression Web. After that I custom designed my site to that layout of a banner at the top, navigation at the side and news/major area to the center/right. I do have a database that I got as a deal with my web service provider however I have not used it. The main reason being even though it is cumbersome I find html pages load faster vs the database method Seen it numerous times with ogaming where if the database gets a hicup it malfunctions. I'm keeping everything simple so that those that are on lower than cable to the point of 56k can find super fast information. As for terminology i'm not 100% sure on this but I believe what i'm trying to do is create a "Niche Market" SP. I can't compete with Alla/Ogaming atm or a wiki site like that eq2idb.com site so i'm creating a side market if you will. This side area is where data is totally in .html format and the pages are kept to a strick 10-20kb range 30kb at max. All input is welcomed bud and right now i'm completely open to suggestions as the site is being flexed into it's final form. I have to say the biggest thing about the site right now is I know exactly what code does what. Since I know this and a problem comes up I can quickly find it then fix it. This vs my old site where I didn't know what parts did what and I had no control over the images. __________________

01-03-2007, 02:22 AM	#2
bensilvi Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New Jersey, USA Posts: 404	Are those the before pics?

01-03-2007, 07:57 PM	#4
DeathEater024 Loremaster Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Phoenix Arizona Posts: 100	looks good man it will be even better when it's all the way done.

01-07-2007, 11:22 PM	#8
Skydrop Loremaster Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 61	FalseCourage wrote: First off, I applaud you with your efforts in reinvigorating your site and making it accessible to the majority of users that are not on broadband or DSL. I couldn't agree more. However, I don't wish to detract from any of the work done, that background image does no favours at all for your site, in my opinion it would look much cleaner and neater if the background where either a solid colour or more of a subdued image. I find myself looking at the page with my eyes having a very hard time actually focusing on what they should really be focusing on: the sites content, which is excellent. And to comment further on some of the technologies FalseCourage is talking about, if you wish to delve further, the combination of CSS and XHTML can produce a suprisingly succinct, clean and concise document. Which one of your main aims for the site will benefit from as the file sizes are kept low with a combination of the aformentioned technologies. There is a learning curve to encounter though, once you're past that you'll see the light so to speak.

01-08-2007, 01:56 AM	#9
Ama General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,833	Update Due to some requests I have removed the background imagery for now. Instead of the greenish orbs you will see a plain black background till I have time to "refine" the image. Hopefully this will help out those that have trouble with bright/high contrast items on screen. I am proud to anounce a "No Boarders" rule in effect for the images. You will notice that the navigation buttons no longer have that nasty "Blue" or "Purple" boarder around them. Instead they are crisp, clean and detailed as I had hoped they would be. The same can be said for the image links in the Quest/Raid sections. As a minor note I have gotten ahold of the coding necessary for dropdown menu buttons. I have implemented this into some webpages that are 99% completed atm I say 99 because it needs some touch up work. Once the pages are to a degree I like them I will upload them directly to the site. Instead of having to go through link after link, after link, after link, etc.. you can quickly select what you want from a dropdown menu. However I do believe the dropdown menus use java script/coding which some may not be able to view if you have it turned off in Internet Explorer. So to combat this I will put up a 2nd option that will have pure links but you will have to click through your options. Hope everyone likes the upgrades and it is through your ideas/efforts that I can refine the site into its best format. All oppinions/suggestions are appreciated and feedback is welcomed on parts that are good, great, not so great and horrible. :smileyhappy: __________________