JimTriche
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/intothebreach
Basically, I'm asking what I can do to make this better. Right now I've tried to tie everything together with a theme, I've gotten some massive html help from the illustrious ChainsawXIV, some massive Textile help from Gnunn, and various tidbits from others.
After looking at a few people's campaigns here and a lot of thought, I've simply decided to ask.
GMs: What would you do, to enhance this or whatnot?
Players: Is there enough general fluff and entertainment for your personal tastes? What do you like to see? Maybe my players will like some of the same things.
Shadowrun experience a plus.
If this isn't the right place for this, let me know where or tell me I'm a bad, bad person.
Cheers!
-Jim
Comments
* Try using headlines instead of bold text.
* Try adding some artwork, specially in the home page and wiki page. Those are the first pages people usually look at, and it will probably lure your players and other people around here if you give them something interesting to look at (aside from something interesting to read).
* The black background in the wiki page doesn't get along very well with blue links (the "light blue" links I can read, but the other ones just hurt). I guess you used that background so that it would be similar to the banner, but think about when reading it, it's not that comfortable (even the moving white dots are a little distracting). If you don't want to use a lighter background, try shifting the color you use from black to shades of grey. It will mantain a "darker" look (if that's what you are going for) but it will be easier to read.
One more thing about the background: as I said before, if you add artwork, keep in mind that A LOT of images out there have a lighter background, so if you use them in front of a darker color, all the edges will be visible. This alone could be worth it if you decide to add a lot of images and a lighter background, as I did: "for example":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/14925/wikis/reglas.
* All the written text is a little "to the left". The problem is that the background starts, on the left side, at the same level that the text does. I think the text would look better if you apply the margin attribute (with HTML) to the entire text. kind of what I did at my wiki page: "Wiki":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/14925/wikis/main-page (notice that the text doesn't start where the background image does).
That's it for now, hope you find this useful.
Yes, I was trying to match up the banner with the background. It's the only good background I could find that would display the links properly (Though I want to recolor the 'external' royal blue links to the light blue of the internal ones) and match the setting and theme of our game.
Thanks for the links to your page! I will be cannibalizing parts of it as soon as I can!
As for the headlines, you could use this:
%{color:#DAA618; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 140%}Example of h4 headline%
You can change the font-size attribute to look like any headline (for example: 140% is an h4 headline). If you want it in white, just change the color number using a different hexadecimal colour. You can pick that number from different pages, here's one I use:
http://html-color-codes.info/codigos-de-colores-hexadecimales/
h2{color:white;other-attributes:and stuff;}. Example headline
I agree with Sandman that the moving dots are a bit distracting in the background. What if you set your page up with nested divs so that the circuit-board pattern formed a sort of border, but with all text on solid black? I think this would help improve readability without losing the overall feel. Here's the code for what I'm thinking ( I added a dashed white border just to set off the window... sort of reminiscent of an old-school sci-fi computer interface):
Here is some sample text.
Also, I would suggest adding a white or other light colored border around your various tables & graphics to make them stand out more from the background, especially on the TV channels page. The channel listings sort of get lost.
I really wanted that background, but your solution there (which I am in the process of stealing haha) is the best of both worlds for readability and theme matching.
The headlines will come later tonight as I ponder rearranging some of it.
_Edit:_ I meant with the change on the background.
*Trid Selection*
table{width:610px;border 2px solid white;font-family:arial}.
{background:#000;color:white}. |=. *News* |=. *Sports* |=. *Weather* |=. *Entertainment* |
{background:#ddd}. |=. [[KSTS 11 News | KSTS 11 News]]|=. [[Seattle SportNet | Seattle SportNet]] |=. [[DopplerPlus | DopplerPlus]] |=. [[SeaTV | SeaTV]] |
{background:#666}. |=. [[CorpNet | CorpNet]] |=. [[NSBC | NSBC]] |=. [[4Cast | 4Cast]] |=. [[MusiX | Musix]] |
table{width:610px;border 2px solid white;font-family:arial}.
{background:#000;color:white}. |=. *News* |=. *Sports* |=. *Weather* |=. *Entertainment* |
{background:#ddd}. |=. [[KSTS 11 News | KSTS 11 News]]|=. [[Seattle SportNet | Seattle SportNet]] |=. [[DopplerPlus | DopplerPlus]] |=. [[SeaTV | SeaTV]] |
{background:#666}. |=. [[CorpNet | CorpNet]] |=. [[NSBC | NSBC]] |=. [[4Cast | 4Cast]] |=. [[MusiX | Musix]] |
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
sandman, added you to the thankyou's, hope you get some more hits. I - quite shamefully- do not speak or read Spanish, but it looks lovely, and I love the Gygax tribute.
Not reading Spanish is actually doubly shameful since I grew up in Florida.
* "Test Page":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/14925/wikis/test-page
If you like it, just change the url for the images:
* Top: http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/11393/top_background.png
* Middle: http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/11392/middle_background.jpg
* Bottom: http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/11391/bottom_background.png
You'll also need to change the color of the text, so add this to the first div style tag:
* color:white;
BTW: if you decide to use this, you may want to save the images and re-upload them to your account, in case I delete them by mistake.
"The blue and gold scroll here":http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad347/intothebreach_album/shadowrunwork.png
But more of a Slate Grey/and burnt gold look.
If I can figure out what I'm doing in Gimp (gimme a week or two, it's hard to find free time for this ATM) I'll be making the images to use later - hardest part will be making sure they align. Which, I guess if I make a minimal sized solid piece and cut out the center and save as three pieces, it should work just fine.
"Example":http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad347/intothebreach_album/example.gif
Lots more to do, but I'm so giddy about the potential here!