StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Well, I've got an assignment at school to make an interface that highlights stuff on a map or something similar. This is what I've got so far:

http://66.176.46.28/flash/menu_prototype_01.swf

*Raises eyebrow*

Facinating. </Spock>

pfft. :p

OOh... Nice.

Err, actually, I just suck with flash. But I like the smooth feeling of it.

Okay so does it do anything other than swiching between the two screens?

Not yet, spanky love, but wait until i finish. this is a WIP.

Update. I added the main nebula thingy that will be used. Made it in photoshop. Was a bitch. Pretty tho.

http://66.176.46.28/flash/nebulousmatter.swf

Ooh, pretty!

Still don't do shit, though.

thats because i only work at a fixed speed. tomorrow i plan to get the prototype line trace and info sheets done

Why not a galaxy?

Dalton wrote:Why not a galaxy?

Making the nebula was hard enough, Dalton.

Yeah, you only do as much work as you have to.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Yeah, you only do as much work as you have to.

Darn tootin! Actually, I really need to be getting to sleep, so you know.. night. :p

kojikun wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Yeah, you only do as much work as you have to.

Darn tootin! Actually, I really need to be getting to sleep, so you know.. night. :p

make the picture as wide as the menue below it. i´d also recomend, that you combine the pic and the menue somehow in order to give them a common visual context.
maybe you could get rid of that thin line around the picture and give it a more "monitor" like frame. then put the main topics (a-sector, b-sector, c-sector...) on buttons which are on the "monitor". when you press a button the relevant menue slides down and the picture in the monitor morphs into another picture that has something to do with the clicked sector.

maybe something like this:

(it´s geocities, so copy and paste)

http://www.geocities.com/bettlerfront/i ... ojikun.jpg

salm wrote:maybe something like this:

(it´s geocities, so copy and paste)

http://www.geocities.com/bettlerfront/i ... ojikun.jpg

To be entirely honest, thats garbage and destroys the elegant simplicity of the interface.

I agree, but a little more politely.

That one looks too designed with a merchandise mindset, as if it was a commercial product, while Koji's is elegant in its simplicity, looking like an educational tool.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I agree, but a little more politely.

Politeness is for PC pussies.

That one looks too designed with a merchandise mindset, as if it was a commercial product, while Koji's is elegant in its simplicity, looking like an educational tool.

Indeed.

Update! You can check out the method I'm using for the locating and display. Check it ooouuut!

http://66.176.46.28/flash/nebulousmatter2.swf

Looking very good so far.

kojikun wrote: To be entirely honest, thats garbage and destroys the elegant simplicity of the interface.

meh, agreed.
i still think that you need to do something about that thin frame around the picture. either mak a real frame or none at all but this one looks as if it wants to be a frame but is too thin to actually hold anything.

i´d also try how the site looks if you make these subscreens which appear after clicking a menue point the same width as the space between the two outer sparating lines in the menue. i mean since you´ve got something like a very rough grid i´d stick to it.

salm wrote:meh, agreed.
i still think that you need to do something about that thin frame around the picture. either mak a real frame or none at all but this one looks as if it wants to be a frame but is too thin to actually hold anything.

Um? It's not a "frame" its an outline. It's purpose is to seperate the image from the background in an orderly fashion rather then just having the image END.

i´d also try how the site looks if you make these subscreens which appear after clicking a menue point the same width as the space between the two outer sparating lines in the menue. i mean since you´ve got something like a very rough grid i´d stick to it.

Translate that into english, please.

Interesting ... erm, are the system names from anything or did you just make them up?

Okay that looks amazing, where does one learn how to program in flash ... and how did you make the nebula? Was it photoshop or did you use something else?

Oh did I say that I really liked it?

Beautiful job, very smooth.

You should make the old chart close when you select a new one. And maybe make the tracer lines a bit faster?

McDob: I used some from Andromeda, but they're also names from elsewhere.

Crown: Books, experimentation. The nebula was lots of fudge work in PS.

Storm: I wanted to make the old info close when new info is opened, but I cannot figure out how.

Looks pretty good. One thing I'd recommend changing is that if you just click on one of the names without allowing the little animation point out where it is, you have no idea where it is.
So maybe have it do the pointing animation when you hover the mouse, because that's cool, but then when you click on the name, the star gets highlighted. That way, if you just click quickly, you still know what's being referred to.