A redesign in the works for Thinkpads.com?

Message

JaimitoBond · #31 Post by **JaimitoBond** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 6:20 am

morrow wrote:OK, so ya don't like the bird, huh..!!!

heres a pic of my wife..!

You always have a thing for redheads

Bob Collins · #32 Post by **Bob Collins** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:33 am

Bill, loved the gal walking, too bad it had to go.

Anyhow, how about a series of Thinkpad images that change every time a user refreshes the screen? You could do a time line as it were and show all the oldies and newest versions.

It should not be too hard to assemble a bunch of images and prepare them. I shall even volunteer my time to make all of them if you like.

Just my 0.02
Bob

#33 Post by **BillMorrow** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:57 am

bob..

thanks for the offer..

my only concern is d/l time on nonnys cell phone connection..
and others with slow/neanderthal era connections..

how would it work..?
would it be one huge gif file or a series..

remember, i am NOT good working with this PHP stuff..

Bob Collins · #34 Post by **Bob Collins** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:13 am

Bill,

Glad to offer/help if possible. In a typical web-page settings, you would make a list of images that would be available and the web server would grab one of the images and use it. I would make all the images the same size, so each image should be the same size in bytes. Only one image would be sent to the user at a time.

We use one on some of our pages using asp. I am looking up some based on php. I am sure there is something. Let me get back to you.

Basically, you would have all the notebook images in one folder, and the content rotator would randomly grab an image from the images folder and place it in the html sen to the user. It would not be one huge image sent. It would be the same as it is, except each refresh of the page would give a different notebook.

Bob

Bob Collins · #35 Post by **Bob Collins** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:29 am

Bill,

This is the code.

Code: Select all

<?
$codes = array(
    "<A HREF="http://forum.thinkpads.com/index.php"><IMG SRC="image1.gif" BORDER="0"></A>",
    "<A HREF="http://forum.thinkpads.com/index.php"><IMG SRC="image2.gif" BORDER="0"></A>",
    "<A HREF="http://forum.thinkpads.com/index.php"><IMG SRC="image3.gif" BORDER="0"></A>"
);

shuffle($codes);
$i=0;
$number=1; while(list(, $code) = each($codes)) {
       if ($i>=$number) { break; }
       echo "$code";
       echo '<BR>';
       $i++;
}
?>

Basically, you would have a series of images image1.gif through whatever. Then the php engine would grab a random imagex.gif and place it in the code and send the page to the user. It should be no difference to the user and almost nothing to the server's overhead.

Let me know what you think.

And Erik, if you want some help on locating images, or if you would rather take care of the images, let me know what you need to help.

Bob

#36 Post by **erik** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:56 am

Bob Collins wrote:Anyhow, how about a series of Thinkpad images that change every time a user refreshes the screen? You could do a time line as it were and show all the oldies and newest versions.

that's a good idea but gets into a bandwidth issue for those who are still on dialup or, worse, on 14.4 (via radio packets) like nonny. not only do you have to load a new image every time but you also increase page size due to the added php code necessary to rotate the images -- albeit the code isn't very large.

the above image is only 7k and i encourage keeping all future submissions at a maximum of 12k or below.

we'll see what bill has to say since it's ultimately his decision -- with possible additions from our "den mother," nonny.

my 2 cents come from 5 cents that bill donated to me yesterday via email. bill is now left with 3 cents which he may distribute freely.

-erik

#37 Post by **BillMorrow** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:47 pm

i'll try it and see what happens..
tonight..

thanks to all for all the help and suggestions..

dcdomain · #38 Post by **dcdomain** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 2:49 am

The new image is pretty slick and professional looking. Love the subtle bird. The image rotator I used on my chapter website was a random PHP script I found online... it has been working pretty well.

In the image source link, I point to the PHP file and it basically loads a random image (any name) from a specified folder...

#39 Post by **BillMorrow** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 8:50 am

did not have time to try it last night..
but i WILL get to it, ASAP..

#40 Post by **erik** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 10:18 am

bill, i can make a bunch of images (within reason, of course

) so the script can rotate between models.

i'll see what i have in my thinkpad photo archive. i've saved hi-res images from corporate and never had a reason to use them until now. lol

-erik

Bob Collins · #41 Post by **Bob Collins** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 6:47 pm

flatdraft wrote:bill, i can make a bunch of images (within reason, of course ) so the script can rotate between models.
-erik

Erik, let me know if you want some help beyond the "within reason" part of the image making, I would be glad to assist.

Bob

lilserenity · #42 Post by **lilserenity** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 7:15 am

I don't mind helping out with PHP/MySQL - got about 4 weeks experience behind me, but I used to program C and had great proficiency so PHP's syntax is a piece of piss

My website is mostly PHP'ified with MySQL in there powering the diary, reviews system, chatroom, and all the rest of it.

Well worth learning, and if you have done C programming before, then definitely worth having a go at, it really expands a website's horizons.

void main()
{
puts("Vicky\n");
}

Or should that be just echo now

#43 Post by **erik** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 5:24 pm

dcdomain wrote:I think I'll have the time in about two weeks to redesign it. I'll do it for free since all you guys are a swell bunch. But in terms of maintaining it... I don't know if I'll be able to do that.

if you can't maintain it then it needs to be constructed so that someone can. if it's constructed in xhtml/css with an asp.net or php backend pulling from an sql database, then it will need an administrative intranet programmed so that bill can keep his site up-to-date on his own. otherwise, it needs be done in old-school html so that bill can understand what's going on and update it in frontpage (no comment) or notepad.

dcdomain wrote:Of course I can just cheat and make it a Blogger of some sort so Bill can update it easily. My fraternity's news page is built around a blogger while everything else such as the rosters section is built with the traditional backend.

thinkpads.com needs sections for tech, faq, news, special deals (weekly, monthly, etc.), about, contact, and more that i can't think of right now. e-commerce ability would be nice to see if bill's open to taking orders via the web.

the bottom line is that the most important factor of updating thinkpads.com isn't to make it look better, it's to make it function better. looking better is but a product of the beast.

dcdomain wrote:Bill how do you feel about that? And for the rest of you, anything specific you are looking for? Any websites out there you want emulated?

picking a design first and trying to fit the information within a design is the backwards way to construct a site as large as this. many steps need to happen before a design is even remotely conceptualized.

but, this is just my 2 cents. i've only been doing this for 14 years.

-erik

tselling · #44 Post by **tselling** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 7:41 pm

Why do we need more than the one Thinkpad image? I read this forum for the messages, not to look at the forum image.

I have to say I thought the naked woman was very inappropriate and was glad to see it go. There are sites men can go to to get that sort of thing. IMHO a site about thinkpads is NOT one of them. I also read the forum at work... so all the work reasons apply as well.

Lets just keep the image a simple thinkpad since the image is not important to the forum.

#45 Post by **erik** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 9:12 pm

tselling wrote:Why do we need more than the one Thinkpad image? I read this forum for the messages, not to look at the forum image.

actually, i whole-heartedly agree. i don't mind seeing it change once in a while (like maybe once per month) but agree that we're here for the content and not the fancy image at the top.

if bill is ok with keeping the header image static then i don't mind submitting a replacement every two weeks or so. my goal is to keep it appearing as professional as possible and keep everyone happy at the same time.

-erik

#46 Post by **K. Eng** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 9:21 pm

Sounds good to me. I wouldn't mind if the current logo was permanent though

I like the Toucan on the screen, and the red dot in .com (reminds me of the TrackPoint).

my goal is to keep it appearing as professional as possible and keep everyone happy at the same time.

#47 Post by **BillMorrow** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:03 pm

fine by me..

thanks for the help..

dclee012 · #48 Post by **dclee012** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:26 am

can some of the moderators moderate dicussions?
there seems to be anything and everything in the t-series forum,
ie. what's the difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm, or toshibas v. ibm, or what is a dead pixel, or all the "my order shipped" "what's going on with my order" "how can i get a discount" etc

anyway. these aren't even related to the t-series. too much noise!

#49 Post by **erik** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:17 am

since bill does actually sell thinkpads, perhaps another forum should be created for orders. i agree that the T forum is being abused and isn't much fun to visit anymore.

-erik

#50 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 12:28 am

i have allowed this open forum to run wild and i SHOULD ask for volunteers for moderator duty..

thing is a don't like censorship..

but perhaps a little control is in order..

i've been busy and sleep deprived so this is lower priority than answering emails and actually selling new thinkpads..
most ALL are T42's..

SO, anyone volunteering to moderate the T series confrence, raise you hand..

hausman · #51 Post by **hausman** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 8:31 am

morrow wrote:i have allowed this open forum to run wild and i SHOULD ask for volunteers for moderator duty..thing is a don't like censorship..

I don't think that's what dclee012 is asking for. All he wants is for someone to move off-topic threads into more appropriate sub-forums. The forum software allows for this. It even shows in the original sub-forum that the thread has moved. [Edit: looks like someone was paying attention

]

SO, anyone volunteering to moderate the T series confrence, raise you hand..

I'd make a lousy moderator (of the censorship or flame-war dousing type) and but I'd be happy to help move off-topic stuff to more appropriate homes.

dclee012 · #52 Post by **dclee012** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:54 pm

thanks for the clarification hausman...

perhaps there ought to be a "pre-sales" forum for people who're trying to figure out what to get, dont know the difference between a G and X series, cant tell what a flexview doess, and for the do-i-need-bluetooth-type-of-questions... and especially those look-everyone-i-can-get-an-awesome-deal-whopdeedoo threads..

dcdomain · #53 Post by **dcdomain** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 9:22 pm

That's a pretty good idea. Hey Bill, if you need any help moderating the forums, I'll chip in. I've had slight experiences with phpBB. I used to run it for about a month and realized Invision was a better package so I ended up upgrading to that for my fraternity's forums.

#54 Post by **BillMorrow** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 2:27 am

thank you guys..

i'm tired and way too busy..

i'll revisit later or this upcoming weekend and will be happy to accept volunteers..
moderators and or asst. admins..
i'm just not sure i can creat more than a moderator and less than a system administrator..

Daniel · #55 Post by **Daniel** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:05 pm

I spend way too much time on the forums here at work so I'll be glad to volunteer for any flame dousing / topic moving.

dcdomain · #56 Post by **dcdomain** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:56 am

Back on the forums after a long hiatus. Been enjoying my T42, thanks Bill. Someone else from Carnegie Mellon inquired about getting a T42, so I directed him to your site, hope he makes the purchase here. I also recenlty ordered the 1gig stick from Outpost, should be here tomorrow... bumping my thinkpad to 1.5 gigs of ram, the equivalent to my desktop. Same video card on both machines too...

Anyway, so I want to get working on this redesign, I'll post some screenshots later. It'd be nice if we can figure out what needs to be on the site (information architect anyone?) otherwise I'll design based on what I think you need from the current site.

Who's up for doing a back end?

#57 Post by **BillMorrow** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:27 am

dcdomain wrote:Back on the forums after a long hiatus. Been enjoying my T42, thanks Bill. Someone else from Carnegie Mellon inquired about getting a T42, so I directed him to your site, hope he makes the purchase here.

me too..
i just ordered a few nice models for stock..

dcdomain wrote:Anyway, so I want to get working on this redesign, I'll post some screenshots later. It'd be nice if we can figure out what needs to be on the site (information architect anyone?) otherwise I'll design based on what I think you need from the current site.

Who's up for doing a back end?

i think thinkpads.com needs a simple database so i can display the models for sale, all the trivia i have gathered up over the years and whatever else needs to be organized for quick retrieval..

and then, of course, a nice but simple page for display..

dcdomain · #58 Post by **dcdomain** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:38 pm

flatdraft/erik...

What font did you use for thinkpads.com forum in the logo? I've been trying to find the font that matches it, I found a few that resembled it, but that 'i' throws it off every time. Thanks.

Looks like a slightly modified (trebuchet ms)?

bill could you hook me up with that toucan image you originally used?

#59 Post by **BillMorrow** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:34 pm

i will dig up the toucan image with the crown..
or
i might find a real toucan image that was taken of one of my real toucans..

please badger me until i produce one or the other..

thank you..!!!
for the support and help..

dcdomain · #60 Post by **dcdomain** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:33 pm

http://www.dcdomain.org/images/thinkpad ... epts13.jpg

Here are a few unfinished concepts. I've been struggling with it, trying to incorporate elements of your old site. But the one I'm working on now moves away from the top banner version into more of a boxed version.

I found some good images of Toucans on Gettyimages, so that part is taken care of.

Do you know what pages you'll be needing (so I can figure out the menu/links/tabs)? So far I was thinking of home/models/accessories/forums/faqs/reviews/links

Do people use the old forums a lot? Enough to warrant a menu tab? There'll be a smaller menu with contact/sitemap I guess. We might not need the home tab perhaps, maybe place a contact tab into the menus.

A redesign in the works for Thinkpads.com?

Is Thinkpads.com in need of a redesign?

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