No Enterprise Allowed!

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-04-04 07:46am

Hey guys, I tried making up a small "No Enterprise Allowed" picture for the main website (I updated the homepage because I was sick of the old one), and it looks like this:

What do you think? Needs more pizzazz, or OK?

EDIT: second version added
EDIT 2: second version updated

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2004-04-04 07:55am

Just my opinion, but something like the reticule of Zam's rifle over the Enterprise ("Go ahead, I wanted some target practice anyway.") seem to be more in the spirit of the Empire.

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2004-04-04 08:19am

IMO the red sing covers too much of the E-D in that picture.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-04-04 08:38am

I like it but I agree with Sir Sirius that the red "no" symbol could be a little less robust. It's still good as is though.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-04-04 10:14am

Maybe make the red X slightly transparent.

Still looks good, and ooh new entrance, glad to see Galvatron's revised look there.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2004-04-04 12:18pm

Maybe it should be animated? Like have a slowly diffusing flashing red "no" sign on it?

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-04-04 12:23pm

I checked out the redesigned web page and it looks good.

Your new "No Enerprise" picture looks good the way you are using it on the page.

Laird · Post by **Laird** » 2004-04-04 02:13pm

Well you could make an animated picture outta the video tigerclaw made a few years ago, a asteroid bumps the E-E and it explopdes...then the imperial logo comes up and an ISD appears.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2004-04-04 03:17pm

The sidebar looks too small even at 800x600, and the recruiting picture looks too large.

Laird, Rye- animated GIFs are evil. For one, they are distracting and annoying.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-04-04 04:11pm

Make it a bit bigger, replace the ED with the Akiraprise, and make the red thing a bit lighter...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-04-04 04:13pm

Pu-239 wrote:The sidebar looks too small even at 800x600, and the recruiting picture looks too large.

The sidebar looks perfectly fine here

But yea, the recruiting pic is a bit large.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-04-04 04:44pm

The page seems awfully busy, like you're cramming too much stuff in there at once.

And animated GIFs are evil. As is the use of transparency when it's not warranted.

You might want to try just doing a solid fill for the red slash/circle instead of a gradient one. Then maybe take the emboss up a few pixels.

While it's a funny image, I don't really see a need for it on the page, which looks busy enough as it is. You've got Jarren Korr's picture, the Imperial Poll and a big recruiting picture, then you're sticking a small image up in the corner. To fit all that stuff in there effectively, you'd have to just redesign the page's layout entirely.

By the way, I made a recruitment picture a while ago.

Feel free to add whatever text you like.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-04-04 04:47pm

I agree. The side poster should fill the top, and the rest just be ordered below it.

You need to do something about the Poll, definitely.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-04-04 09:31pm

OK, how's this? Compare these two:

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/
http://bbs2.stardestroyer.net/temp/Empire/

The second one is slightly modified for a cleaner look.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-04-04 09:37pm

Darth Wong wrote:OK, how's this? Compare these two:

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/
http://bbs2.stardestroyer.net/temp/Empire/

The second one is slightly modified for a cleaner look.

I vote Second One.

I still want the ED replaced with the Akiraprize

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-04-04 10:06pm

What about the site banner at the top of the page? I tried taking it out on the second version, and I'm not sure if I should put it back in.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2004-04-04 10:13pm

Perhaps you could move the poll down to the SW vs ST section?

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-04-04 10:13pm

Move the poll; keep the banner. I like the way it looks with it atop.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-04-04 10:51pm

Darth Wong wrote:OK, how's this? Compare these two:

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/
http://bbs2.stardestroyer.net/temp/Empire/

The second one is slightly modified for a cleaner look.

Still busy. You've basically got a giant block of unused space underneath the navigation bar, so you might want to put the poll there. The "No Enterprise" image looks out of place on the top of it; the Imperial logo looked better there. The recruiting poster still looks out of place because you never designed the page to suit it originally.

The "No Enterprise" image itself would just look better if the red cross-out was just red with a few pixels of embossing. It's easy to fall in love with fancy gradient fills, but I think you'll find that a simpler, dark-red fill looks more consistent with the scheme you've got going with the rest of the site, which isn't too big on the flashy stuff.

So here's what you might want to try. Move the recruitment poster completely out of the Star Trek vs Star Wars main page and over to the SD.Net main page, where you've got more room. It's also more in place there conceptually, maybe as a link leading to the ST vs SW page. It'd also be fun to have the "No Enterprise" picture in that rotation, as well. Put the banner back at the top of the ST vs SW home page; it looked good there. Also, try moving the poll around. Try putting it under the navigation bar and maybe on the right of the "Star Trek vs. Star Wars" section of the main site. Then move the "Meet Jarren Korr" section to the top. Rather than asking "Do you have what it takes?" and then introducing someone who does, do it in reverse order. "Meet this guy," and then, "You want to be like him, don't you? Of course you do." Maybe as a "Soldier of the Week" or something. That moves the Jarren Korr picture up to the top, rather than cramming it between two blocks of text.

Post by **Steve** » 2004-04-04 11:23pm

I wish I had better Photoshop talents. There are so many ways one can vandalize and deface Imperial propaganda posters.

I particularly like the idea of a picture of Palpatine's corpse hanging upside down outside the Senate building on Coruscant with the words Sic Semper Tyrannis carved into his pasty white forehead.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-04-05 12:16am

OK, some of these suggestions are going beyond just the image and into the issue of page layout in general, so I'm moving this thread to SWvST.

I added the banner back and altered the graphic a bit, but I'm still mulling what other changes to make.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-04-05 12:44am

Frankly I think the entire crossing-out-Trek bit is fanboyish.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-04-05 12:46am

Howedar wrote:Frankly I think the entire crossing-out-Trek bit is fanboyish.

I just thought it would be amusing. Also, some people complained that the site initially looked like a pure SW site, and that the whole "vs Star Trek" angle is not obvious at all upon first glance.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2004-04-05 12:58am

Have the UFP symbol on a gravestone
Much better

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-04-05 01:08am

If my graphical skills were any better, I would have a UFP flag draped over some kid of flat angled surface, with a big knife stuck in it. The knife would have a stylized 3D Imperial logo on its pommel, and there would be blood trickling down the flag from the entry wound.

Unfortunately, while I can see it in my mind's eye, I can't draw it.