Eerongal

Well, race would be an ethnicity, because race is classification of humans based on cultural background and physical characteristics. "race" in a biological sense means different specific populations within a species. E.G. Silverback gorilla vs. mountain gorilla. In humans its asians vs african-american, etc. If the category is "race and creatures", race would imply the different human races are present in the category. If they were intended to be distinct from humans (koloss and inquisitors, i mean), they would have to be a different *SPECIES* not a different *RACE*. Race would mean they're still human Edit: also, i made the "Human" category so people can click on it and see all races of humans in all of brandon's books. Once we start getting that filled with all the different races, i think it would be pretty handy.

I'm adding these two races up, and, currently, i'm classifying them as race of humans, anyone see a reason why not to? They're obviously humanoid, with several human characteristics, but they are nothing like we would expect out of a human. Also, i'm putting Koloss and steel inquisitors into that category, since they're both derived from humans. Were kandra (or rather, mistwraiths) derived from humans too? I don't remember. Even if they are, I dont think they should be considered humans, since their natural form isnt even humanoid

Probably a good idea, but i would say to change the page names to something like "Basic Lashing" and such, but leave the descriptions on the links as is. Edit: in other words, leave them all saying what they currently say on the Lashings page, but rename the pages as basic, full, and reverse and cut out the description. It just makes the URL less of a mouthful

you were still rockin' out dial-up in 2006 (guild wars: factions release year)? Man, i feel sorry for you.

Yeah, the center justify looks great. I think "The letter" would be better. "The Missive" might just confuse people who dont know what the word is, where as if we call it a letter, im sure people will readily know what we're talking about. It's simpler and speaks to broader audience. I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but since we're collecting info, we may as well pander to the largest crowd we can.

My vote goes for center justified. I think it'd look better that way. Also, i see no problem with the epigraphs and all that where they are, what were you considering instead?

Maybe I'm blind (or there's something wrong with my display settings)... but I don't see the difference. There's a subtle difference, but like i said, it was probably a bad example since i did it in like 5 minutes. I did a quick google search to see if i could find a better example, and i did (probably shoulda done that in the first place). Ironically, the page was called "How to make your web design pop" This one was a bit better in execution, you should be able to readily see a difference between the two

well, yes, of course, however, what one thinks is right is not always right. If something you think is in opposition to what i think, one has to be wrong, and the other has to be right. If we just go changing things back and forth, the wiki would always be in states of turmoil, and possibly misinformation. The wiki is to represent all gathered common knowledge among us, if there's dissension within that information, it should probably be sorted out. And since i dont think the wiki-talk pages are terribly being utilized at the moment, i figured the forum dedicated to the wiki would be a good place to talk about it. That's why i'm cataloging my changes here for all to see, and that way maybe we can garner interest and involvement as a side goal. If people are here talking about it, they're more likely to help out than if we say "hey, there's a wiki, help out if you can" Least that's how i see it [/longer winded than i had planned]

Bah. I'm in a graphic design class at this very moment. So yeah, if YOU didn't know what a gradient was....then....well, there would be nothing i could do to help you. Lost cause and all that.

Yup, there's a blue-white gradient at the top and bottom of reading surrounding the buttons (reply, new topic, etc.) and in the main topic divisions on the index. This is actually the only part of the site's current layout i've found satisfactory and in no need of change, it looks good. But a very slight gradient (not as prominent as the blue-white one) could be used in places with static text (just off the top of my head as i post this, where it says "post reply" above this box, and "topic summary" down below. A slight gradient (one that's almost imperceptible) could be used to make it appear much less "flat", that was my point. Granted, i only have a very passing, simple experience with SMF, so i dont remember how granular the skinning controls are. also: if you (the administrative team as a collective whole) had no idea what a gradient was....then...well....you wouldn't have ever used any sort of graphics software (which wouldnt look very good in shivertounge's case, being the team's graphics designer)

Understandable, and is the same reason i was assuming, and didnt plan on holding it against you. That being said, i'm obviously not out here trying to hurt your feelings about it, but I'm also not holding back on my criticism. Both would be hurtful to the community as a whole. If i was pandering to your desire to have the design affirmed, i would be doing a disservice to what i see as a problem with the overall design. If i was saying these things only to anger you, i would be adding nothing to the community but trolling. Know that the only person i can speak for is myself. I may be in the minority. But if i think it's ugly, i'm going to tell you it's ugly. For some constructive criticism: Something that may help with the current color scheme would be the tactful use of gradients on some fixed text. A very slight gradient underneath text can actually help the text feel 3D in a way. It gives it a slight sense of depth. This can help to solve the problem with it appearing "flat" I went ahead and attached an example of this that i did in photoshop really quick. Note that this wouldnt help for text on posts, but it could help things like titles and anywhere there would be fixed text to look a little but better. (note, i did this really quickly in photoshop, it would require a little tweaking, but the effect could be made even better, rather than a quick "throw this in, and do this real quick" job.)

Contrasting colors can be nice in moderation, but are visually distracting for something that's supposed to serve as a backdrop for information, such as text on a website. There's plenty of contrast between the various shades used on the site currently, and cooler colors are easier on the eyes. "Bright and vibrant" color schemes used to "hold interest" is a design philosophy suited for a preschool. I should know; I taught preschool. A streamlined, elegant color scheme is best for an adult website designed for communication. This is a tactic used in all ages of design, not just preschool. For example, see the iPhone. The design of the entire iOS uses bright, vibrant complimentary colors to create a design that is visually appealing. It's a very big design concept when it comes to designing web 2.0 sites, however, it's not the only one. Monochromatic can work well when pulled off right (this skin isnt if you ask me), otherwise it comes off boring and uninteresting very easily. Also, depending on the website's contents, cool colors exclusively can be a death sentence. It can come off as dark, laid back, or sad. If this fits the air of your content, this can work to your advantage. I think that the site could really do with a healthy dose of complementary colors (such as green and red, yellow and violet, or orange and blue, etc.) used in a tasteful way. Edit: This right here is exactly what i think the site needs a good dose of. Using some bright colors in addition to the cool colors we currently have can help to maintain an air of neutrality. As previously mentioned, orange is the complement to blue, you may want to toy with the idea of orange and red/yellow instead of red and yellow. This way it can help to reduce the colors clashing (not saying they do, since i havent actually seen it. It may be very well done for all i know, but just giving some criticism off the top of my head that may help.)

I wouldn't say that. I'm by no means an interior decorator or anything. Heck, i'm not even a website designer. I know what i know from web browsing, and reading articles on the subject, and limited personal web design experience (i may be a programmer by trade, but my experience with web design is in passing at best) Mostly I'm just trying to put into words as best i can what i see as problems with the design.

Well, my issue is the monotone of a single color of various shades. That's my biggest issue. It makes the entire site look very drab. I understand wanting to make the pages easy on the eyes, and not distracting, but there's a difference between doing that and making it unappealing. First of all, the colors are actually rather cold (as in the color sense). When designing a web page, usually, making your site vibrant and attractive can help hold people's interests, so using warm colors is very helpful. Also, tasteful use of contrasting colors can really help with the site visually. As far as it stands now, to me, it looks very uninteresting and boring. To me, that really doesn't matter in the long run, however, if the site doesn't look appealing to new comers, this could be a big problem. Monochromatic themes have largely been shown to be off-putting on a site. That's not a to say a monochromatic theme can't be good looking, however, i think that this one isn't that good. It gives it an older, worn, less-shiny sort of feel, now what i mean? It's kinda hard to explain why i find it giving it the look it does, however, i'm doing my best to put it down in words in a way that would at least seem helpful So about this front page.... ;D

Sorry for the double post, but I didn't want this as part of my first post, so I added a new one. That's what I'm going to put up for today. I'll maybe get around to some more later tonight and/or tomorrow. Like i said previously, most of this stuff is off the top of my head, so it probably requires a good bit of proof-reading and fact-checking by those with a better memory than I. If you see anything i did wrong and/or messed up, let me know. If you see something you aren't sure about, say something and we can discuss it. If you think my formatting is terrible, let me know and i'll see what i can do to rework it. If you think some of my info is unimportant and should be removed, say something and we can discuss the benefits of having or removing it.

this should help. Papyrus is in a similar sort of situation, as in both of these fonts are very commonly the bane of many people.

There ya go. Now we're starting to have what sounds like a REAL website!

But..but! We could throw on all the scrolling marquees, the flash tag, and background music and all that good website stuff!!

Yeah, i'm aware its not graphics, but it is very much so consistent with the idea of site design. I mean, it's not so ugly you're going to scare off people, but it just makes it look kinda....basic. Ya know?

So i've decided to start filling in wiki info out of boredom. I'm starting with Races/Creatures. I'll be posting here what pages I add/edit. Feel free to look 'em over and correct anything i get wrong (most of this is from memory) Pages I've Done: Shinovar Alethi Steel Inquisitors - This one still needs work. I did about the best I could from memory at the moment. Kandra Koloss Humans - Added humans as a blanket term for the various different races. I put creatures derived from humans (koloss, steel inquisitors, etc.) into the category as well, if we think this shouldn't be, it can obviously be changed. Hemalurgic Creatures - A category created specifically for all creatures made through hemalurgy. Skaa - This one seems a bit bare bones at the moment. I couldn't think of too much more notable info. Nobles - This, too, seems like it could do with more info.

While i wouldn't say the graphics are terrible, i will offer this bit of criticism. With the color scheme (various colors of blue-on-blue) it really gives the site an old "1990's geocities" feel, which, if you ask me, is not such a great thing. It just doesn't make the site "pop" so to speak. My suggestion is to maybe try a blue-on-white color motif or something along these lines?

So this is a branch-off topic from here on TWG, and thought i'd put it out there as a theory based on very little info about the soulcasting, and inferences by character actions in story. I'm copying and pasting the info here, what's everyone else think? When making the buildings, they obviously didn't have some huge box to change into stone to be a structure, so they had to do the more difficult procedure of making it from thin air. My guess is that making the stone from thin air wasn't instant, and took some time. Possibly building it by adding layer by layer of sediment to the building to create it. This would be terribly time consuming. Possibly more time consuming than just plain building a bridge. We never actually see any buildings being soulcast, nor is the process ever described beyond something like "Our ancestors soulcast this place X thousand years ago!" or "We soulcast this place so many years ago, and have slowly been adding/changing it!" Further thought - Maybe soulcasting something into existence requires a reduplicating of the natural process to create it (e.g. depositing stone layer by layer like sedimentary runoff would do, creating an apple requires creating a bud, which flowers, then becomes and apple, etc.) and is either more difficult and/or time consuming than going "Hey, stone, you're now a loaf of bread" Thoughts, comments, flames?

My friend who's playing it with me described in a way i can agree with. It's kinda like a mix between DDO and WoW, and is relatively more polished than DDO.

Lord of the Rings Online

So LORTO went free-to-play just the other day. Anyone else play or plan on it? Me and a buddy of mine have been kicking around in it, kinda fun. Hit me up in game sometime if anyone wants to play! Nick is same as on here.