Kongming’s Archives Themes and Improvements

[James]

I just finished some major work on Kongming’s Archives, and with this update comes a feature which has been dormant on the site (Mozilla and Firebird users may have noticed it), and that is the addition of two themes. You can select them in the overhead menu using the A, B, and C letters (requires cookies and JavaScript).

I am interested to get some feedback on them. What is your favorite? Why do you like it? What do you not like about the others? Did you notice any problems? Do you have any improvements to suggest? Please tell me whatever you like. And while you’re at it, if anything else on Kongming’s Archives has been buggy or not working correctly, go ahead and let me know. Thanks!

[Asellas]

I actually like some of the changes and it might have been my browser but on a lot of what the history contains like information on the kingdoms excluding the biographies I noticed words have been missed off.
E.g. hey started war with Wei.
*here there should be a "t" but sentences after these are missing the capital letter of the sentence. I'll take a longer dig around later but all in all I nice improvement and I like the lil flags at the bottom of the homepage.

Though as you probably know, the staff page needs updating for sosz but your probably going through that now making all the alterations becaue I can't see the hyperlink anymore or you might have took it out.
I think it is an excellent site with good improvements but i'll keep digging around for errors and the likes.

I was thinking maybe you would like to try moving the search function to be up with the bar at the top where it says forum, kma, history etc etc or under the portraits that are at the top.
Anyway, I wub KMA

[Li Ruiyue]

The new layout/ design for KMA is great. Like you, I prefer the third (C) design. Is this why there was no coverage for DW4XL?

[Morg]

I prefer design 'A' personally. I don't like the font used in design 'B' and the image on the top right is really blocky. Design 'C' is pretty nice but I don't like the white background as white tends to be too bright. I prefer the light blue background of design 'A' as it is a lot easier on the eyes.

[James]

I actually like some of the changes and it might have been my browser but on a lot of what the history contains like information on the kingdoms excluding the biographies I noticed words have been missed off.
E.g. hey started war with Wei. [...]

Though as you probably know, the staff page needs updating [...]

I was thinking maybe you would like to try moving the search function to be up with the bar at the top where it says forum, kma, history etc [...]

Can you give me more information about the former? Where it occurs, what browser/version, maybe provide a screenshot?

Yeah, I’ve got most of the new info for it. And you can still find the link on the right-hand menu under ‘Universal’.

The site is designed to be fully displayable on 800x600, moving search functionalities there would destroy that, and furthermore, it would be a pain in the arse anyway.

The new layout/ design for KMA is great. Like you, I prefer the third (C) design. Is this why there was no coverage for DW4XL?

Only in part. It also has a lot to do with me not even owning DW4 XL, and in addition, to me not having had enough time to really work on the games section much for past months.

I prefer design 'A' personally. I don't like the font used in design 'B' and the image on the top right is really blocky. Design 'C' is pretty nice but I don't like the white background as white tends to be too bright. I prefer the light blue background of design 'A' as it is a lot easier on the eyes.

I’m interested in getting as much feedback as possible on the font of design b, it may or may not stay. The image is from Destiny of an Emperor 2, I could be among the few ghetto enough to actually enjoy it. Design c uses a white background with maximum compatibility with displays that do not properly support non-Web safe colors. That limits out very light but not-quite-white shades, and the background images used on the other two pages.

[Asellas]

I think the font suits KMA (B) rather than A or C to be honest. It stands out, a bit bigger than the font in A but doesn't strain the eyes which is excellent. I like the colours too, the white/cream and purple doesn't seem to go as good as White and cream like the side menu box blends well with the actual page.

I believe Serif beats Sans in all aspects like viewability, stands out, catches the readers attention which is needed.
Shall I upload the screenshot and send through Pm or E-mail?

The search thing is a minor concern so it wouldn't maike much differnce if it was at the top.

[James]

I think the font suits KMA (B) rather than A or C to be honest. It stands out, a bit bigger than the font in A but doesn't strain the eyes which is excellent. I like the colours too, the white/cream and purple doesn't seem to go as good as White and cream like the side menu box blends well with the actual page.

I believe Serif beats Sans in all aspects like viewability, stands out, catches the readers attention which is needed.
Shall I upload the screenshot and send through Pm or E-mail?

The search thing is a minor concern so it wouldn't maike much differnce if it was at the top.

To clarify, on the first point you are saying that you like the font in B, and that you think the colors used in the overhead menu are out of place?

On the Internet, actually, Serif is usually considered the poor choice for readability. Generally, however, with good anti-aliasing technology like that you can enable in XP (ClearType) and in OSX, they become much easier to read. I tested without anti-aliasing though, and I personally like the appearance either way.

Send screenshots through either method is fine.

[Ryan(Asellas)]

[quote"James"]To clarify, on the first point you are saying that you like the font in B, and that you think the colors used in the overhead menu are out of place?[/quote]

Whoops, I meant they aren't out of place... on A I don't think they complement each other as good as b's colour layout, C is pretty good but I think B is the best in my opinion. Heh, sorry about that lil understanding... ok, I know I have them somewhere and I will continue to look for more problems, errors etc etc... i'll try and have then sent if I can find them in my files within the next few days by e-mail...

[Kong Wen]

I really like A, because it's what I'm used to. I also really like C because I am a fan of simplified, stripped down webpages (I assume that's the point of theme C). The only thing I didn't really care for with theme C was the hover effect on the links, but that's minor and nitpicky. Comments on theme B may be edited in later.

[Rhiannon]

Theme A -- Standard, not bad, readable. I don't like how "History"'s top bars are a different scheme than "Games" and the main page, however. (That's across all themes, however).

Theme B -- While I normally like the font series, I despise this theme. The menu sidebar's graphic is just ... I don't know, not appropriate? The variations in color of the top link menu and the side menu are disjointing, as is the menu itself with the text links and bullets combined. I'd advise getting rid of it, myself.

Theme C -- I noticed an error (spotted in Mo, not present in IE6) in that the A, B, and C buttons extend to the top of the menu:



Again, an issue I had with theme B as opposed to A: the disjointing of the colors for the top menu and the side bar menu. I think, like theme A with black, they should be the same. The frame around the picture is too simple and clean. I don't like the text hyperlinks links, but due to the good font choice, they're not as horrid looking as in Theme B.

Overall, I like C the best, but it needs a little work. And again, I think History should have the same color schemed topbar as the rest of the site.

No noticed errors besides the one above in Mo or IE6.