BrotherS and CarolH both have suggested that what with the forum upgrade, we really need to revamp the banner at the top of the website pages and forum page.
both are designed as a pair with a main image and a sidebar that can extend as far as it needs to go.
i think the sizes are pretty good so we should probably keep to them.
I'm attaching current versions to end of this post.
Note you need to design it without the "a new kind of website" text - since we want to change that and may want to change it dynamically or per page.
Actually i was thinking of a new slogan for the site: "A Place for Lovers of Software" or something like that.
NEW: DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE FILE SET TO TEST YOUR IMAGE IN HTML PAGE:
https://www.donationcoder.com/Contests/banner/
DEADLINE
The contest does not have a hard deadline - we will end it when we get a design so good that it demands ending it.
However, it will not end before May 1st, so any entry prior to that will be considered.
Prizes..
hmm... not sure, free donationcoder.com shirt or mug from http://www.cafepress.com/donationcoder
plus a usb 4x5" drawing pad if you want it, or else some other free software
Please submit files in exactly this dimension, file format (png), and file names. And you need to provide BOTH a forum pair and website pair of images.
Hirudin, you made me think the catchphrase should be:
"DonationCoder.com - To Serve Software Connoiseuers"
.
.
.
.
but it's a cookbook!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if you don't get this joke click here
http://members.cox.net/kaiotea/serveman.htm
Just checked and actually it is very easy to change the forum colours (you just have to specify the hex values for all the items) thus:
/* Normal, standard links. */
a:link
{
color: #000000;
text-decoration: underline;
}
a:visited, a:hover
{
color: #323232;
text-decoration: underline;
}
/* Navigation links - for the link tree. */
.nav, .nav:link, .nav:visited
{
color: #000000;
text-decoration: none;
}
a.nav:hover
{
font-weight: bold;
color: #cc3333;
text-decoration: underline;
}
/* Tables should show empty cells. */
table
{
empty-cells: show;
}
/* By default (td, body..) use Tahoma in black. */
body, td, th
{
color: #000000;
font-size: small;
font-family: tahoma, sans-serif;
}
/* The main body of the entire forum. */
body
{
background-color: white;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
}
/* Input boxes - just a bit smaller than normal so they align well. */
input, textarea, button
{
font-size: 9pt;
color: #000000;
font-family: tahoma, sans-serif;
}
/* All input elements that are checkboxes or radio buttons. */
input.check
{
}
/* Selects are a bit smaller, because it makes them look even better 8). */
select
{
font-size: 8pt;
font-weight: normal;
color: #000000;
font-family: tahoma, sans-serif;
}
/* Standard horizontal rule.. ([hr], etc.) */
hr, .hrcolor
{
height: 1px;
border: 0;
color: #666666;
background-color: #666666;
}
/* A quote, perhaps from another post. */
.quote
{
color: #000000;
background-color: #C3B8D0;
border: 1px solid #000000;
margin: 1px;
padding: 1px;
font-size: x-small;
line-height: 1.4em;
}
/* A code block - maybe even PHP ;). */
.code
{
color: #000000;
background-color: #cccccc;
font-family: "courier new", "times new roman", monospace;
font-size: x-small;
line-height: 1.3em;
/* Put a nice border around it. */
border: 1px solid #000000;
margin: 1px auto 1px auto;
padding: 1px;
width: 99%;
/* Don't wrap its contents, and show scrollbars. */
white-space: nowrap;
overflow: auto;
/* Stop after about 24 lines, and just show a scrollbar. */
max-height: 24em;
}
/* The "Quote:" and "Code:" header parts... */
.quoteheader, .codeheader
{
color: #000000;
text-decoration: none;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: x-small;
line-height: 1.2em;
}
/* Generally, those [?] icons. This makes your cursor a help icon. */
.help
{
cursor: help;
}
/* /me uses this a lot. (emote, try typing /me in a post.) */
.meaction
{
color: red;
}
/* The main post box - this makes it as wide as possible. */
.editor
{
width: 96%;
}
/* Highlighted text - such as search results. */
.highlight
{
background-color: yellow;
font-weight: bold;
color: black;
}
/* Alternating backgrounds for posts, and several other sections of the forum. */
.windowbg
{
color: #000000;
background-color: #E1E1E1;
}
.windowbg2
{
color: #000000;
background-color: #F0F0F0;
}
/* These are used primarily for titles, but also for headers (the row that says what everything in the table is.) */
.titlebg, tr.titlebg th, tr.titlebg td, .titlebg a:link, .titlebg a:visited, .titlebg2, tr.titlebg2 th, tr.titlebg2 td, .titlebg2 a:link, .titlebg2 a:visited
{
color: white;
font-style: normal;
background-color: #6B8EAE;
}
.titlebg a:hover, .titlebg2 a:hover
{
color: #dfdfdf;
}
/* This is used for categories, page indexes, and several other areas in the forum. */
.catbg, .catbg3
{
background-image: url(images/catbg.jpg);
}
/* This is used for a category that has new posts in it... to make it light up. */
.catbg2
{
background-image: url(images/catbg2.jpg);
}
.catbg, .catbg2, .catbg3
{
font-weight: bold;
background-color: silver;
color: #000000;
}
/* This is used for tables that have a grid/border background color (such as the topic listing.) */
.bordercolor
{
background-color: #828181;
}
/* This is used on tables that should just have a border around them. */
.tborder
{
border: 1px solid #828181;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
padding: 2px;
}
/* Default font sizes: small (8pt), normal (10pt), and large (14pt). */
.smalltext
{
font-size: x-small;
font-family: tahoma, sans-serif;
}
.normaltext
{
font-size: small;
}
.largetext
{
font-size: large;
}
/* This is the white header area where the title, menu bars, and header boxes are. */
#headerarea
{
background-color: white;
border-bottom: 1px solid gray;
}
/* This is the main area of the forum, the part that's gray. */
#bodyarea
{
background-color: #D4D4D4;
}
/* And this is the bottom, where the copyright is, etc. */
#footerarea
{
color: black;
background-color: white;
border-top: 1px solid gray;
}
/* This is for the special header boxes on the top (user info, key stats, news box.) */
.headertitles
{
background-color: #6B8EAE;
border: 1px solid #6B8EAE;
height: 12px;
}
.headerbodies
{
border: 1px solid #7A7777;
background-color: #EFEFEF;
background-repeat: repeat-x;
background-position: bottom;
}
/* Posts and personal messages displayed throughout the forum. */
.post, .personalmessage
{
width: 100%;
overflow: auto;
line-height: 1.3em;
}
/* All the signatures used in the forum. If your forum users use Mozilla, Opera, or Safari, you might add max-height here ;). */
.signature
{
width: 100%;
overflow: auto;
padding-bottom: 3px;
line-height: 1.3em;
}
/* No image should have a border when linked */
a img{
border: 0;
}
By the way these aren't the settings for this forum - I can't acces sthat page, but they are from my own SMF forum (which isn't live yet - I'm too lazy/busy to get my website sorted out at the moment.
i wonder if this is a good time to remind people of what the original banners looked like...
i just have to warn you, don't stare too long or you might start to feel ill:
;D
maybe we could use that on the anniversary of donationcoder.com's birth - with Cody on it somewhere, of course.
i'd just like to say i feel privileged (as always) to be involved with DC and to be the final winner. thanks to everyone that made suggestions and helped develop the look of the final banner - i certainly enjoy this iterative method of design as it appears to give a rewarding result.
and, one final word.
i can't keep it a secret any longer: mr.globe never went away - he just chose to hide himself.
here's what the full banner design REALLY looks like...
click to see the secret
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