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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
 Posted - 2002-06-05 : 17:32:02
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| I'm starting to do a little work on rewriting the code behind SQLTeam. As part of that I'd like to update the look and feel. Are there any site designers or graphic artists out there that would be interested in spending some time and helping out? I'm looking for people that can help with color schemes and layouts. I'll also need a new set of icons for the forums since I don't think I'll be using Snitz anymore -- or a location where I can download some publicly available icons.For the graphically-challenged, are there sites out there that you like that present information similar (i.e. articles, polls, links, forums, etc.) to SqlTeam? Are there sites that you dislike? I'd be curious to have you post them and tell me what you think. Are there specific things about this site that you like or dislike? Or any general feel on look, feel, and/or layout.===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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KHeon
Posting Yak Master
135 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-06 : 07:16:55
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| graz -I might be able to help you out. Not a "graphic designer" perse but I can get around Photoshop quite well and have designed a number of websites (mostly personal, recently started a freelance job for a local company). If you are interested in seeing some of my work, please email me and I'll get you some links to look at.Why the move away from Snitz? What are the new contenders? Just curious.Thanks!Kyle HeonPixelMEDIA, Inc.Senior Application Programmer, MCPkheon@pixelmedia.comEdited by - KHeon on 06/06/2002 07:23:31 |
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joldham
Wiseass Yak Posting Master
300 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-06 : 07:39:17
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graz,Like KHeon, I also dabble a little bit into Photoshop. I have to admit though, my design eye is not to keen.  If you need my help though, let me know.Jeremy |
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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-06 : 12:16:34
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| Thanks guys. As for Snitz, I'm becoming concerned at the direction they're taking. They are working on 3.4 (performance and bug fixes) _AND_ 4.0 (internationalization) and I can't really figure out the status of either. All my inquiries have been met with "It'll be released when it's ready and shame on you for wanting it too soon or asking and bothering us." Also I'm a little concerned since I've heard they are using all Response.Write to generate the HTML pages rather than interleaving HTML and ASP. Of course I can't get this confirmed since the development group isn't really answering questions. I also have problems with their data model. Every discussion of .NET has been rebuffed very strongly. I'm also very unhappy with the performance of the forum. Are you aware that the main forum page runs over 100 SQL queries to display the content? That just kills me. Anyway, I think I'm going to roll my own. There are some features I've been wanting to add the most forums don't support.Ok, enough Snitz rant :) I'm primarily looking at layouts at this point. Less graphics and more layouts. They site is primarily text based and I'd like to keep it that way -- simple and clean. Although I will need new icons for the forum at some point (hint, hint).I'd be happy to see any sites you've worked on so email away (graz@sqlteam.com). I probably won't start doing heavy layout stuff for a while (3-6 weeks) but I'd like to start getting an idea of where I'm going. I do a much better job telling designers what I like and don't like than telling them what I want :)===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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KHeon
Posting Yak Master
135 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-06 : 15:51:59
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| graz -When I get home from work, which will be shortly I'll pop you off an email with some links to some sites, nothing live yet, still in development, thus my reasoning for NOT posting you a link.Yes, text based is nice, much faster. I can probably help you there.As for Snitz, I must agree, the load time for the "Active Topics" is incredibly long, even if I've only been away for a few hours. A day or two and forget it, the wait time is "go get a cup of coffee and come back, hopefully it didn't time out"...ttysKyle HeonPixelMEDIA, Inc.Senior Application Programmer, MCPkheon@pixelmedia.com |
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TJ
Posting Yak Master
201 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-06 : 17:46:06
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| grazWe use IdealBB for our technical support forum. It's pretty similar to this one. I'm not sure of the ins and outs of it though because I don't work on this site. If you have questions about it though, please ask and I'll find an answer for you. Choose the discussion web option at this url:http://www.ntslink.com/technicalsupport/All in all, I like this site. It's pretty easy to navigate and the colors are good for us 'old' people. It's easy to read! The only thing I ever have a problem with is when I'm trying to search all forums for a topic. I spend a lot of time here reading articles, etc even though I'm not posting. This is a very worth-while site! I, for one, appreciate your efforts!Thanks!Teresa |
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byrmol
Shed Building SQL Farmer
1591 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-06 : 18:21:59
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| Graz,If you are after a colour blind and left-brain dead individual.. I am your man!DavidM"SQL-3 is an abomination.." |
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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-07 : 11:07:11
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| TJ:I've looked at a number of BBS/Forum software packages and many have come close. Unfortunately Ideal charges for their product and I'm trying to run this site on a shoe-string budget. Snitz seems to be the best free option out there at this point although I expect some others soon. I think the biggest problem with using a package is the lack of control. I want to integrate the forums into the site in a way that's just not possible with packaged software. Especially username/password stuff. I've basically written 80% of the display side of new forums already -- well, 80% of the easy part :) And I must say data bound controls in .NET rock!I'm glad you like the layout. One of our early goals was large fonts. I just hate reading articles written in some tiny font. I hate it even more when I can't use my browswer to change the font so it's easy to read.And thanks for visiting :)byrmol:While your offer of a "colour blind" graphic designer is certainly appealing in a monochromatic sort of way I'm afraid I'll probably have to pass at this time. I will certainly keep this generous offer on file though and reference it should my requirements for using colours become more ... lax. Should SqlTeam have graphic design requirements in the future the neither the "graphic" nor the "design" part are of significant importance I'll certainly keep you at the top of the list.===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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TJ
Posting Yak Master
201 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-07 : 13:23:49
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Unfortunately Ideal charges for their product and I'm trying to run this site on a shoe-string budget
I checked with our Web Master and he told me that the version we're running (Ideal BB Version: 0.1.0.2) is 'FreeWare'. The only time there's a charge is if you ever want to upgrade.  |
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M.E.
Aged Yak Warrior
539 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-07 : 13:37:01
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quote:
Should SqlTeam have graphic design requirements in the future the neither the "graphic" nor the "design" part are of significant importance I'll certainly keep you at the top of the list.
I figure I use this forum enough that I prolly should try to help, but since I'm probably second on this list to byrmol with my design and graphics, I'm not sure what help I can be.quote:
Although I will need new icons for the forum at some point (hint, hint).
I'll see what I can find. Heh, I'll try to find additions to  or  or  . Or maybe just different things for the folders. Okies, out public icon shopping I go.Edit - I actually didn't know that chug or beer were icons on here.. hehe. [cheers] maybe? [deadyak] or mebbe [snipedyak]?Edited by - M.E. on 06/07/2002 13:38:49 |
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KHeon
Posting Yak Master
135 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-07 : 15:21:21
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| From what I was able to see, IdealBB is not longer "freeware", in fact it's kind of pricey, starting at $299, going up to $1500 depending on the licensing version you buy. The cheap version doesn't even get you access to code (I think) which makes integration tough.I agree with graz, I run a site myself and I looked at various ASP forums and couldn't find anything except for Snitz that allowed for easy integration, and Snitz could be a little better at it, but at least you have access to the source and database tables for integration. But given the performance of these forums lately I'm not so sure Snitz will work, I'm leary.I've always liked the UBB, but's unless things have changes, there isn't an ASP version...[EDIT]: Oh, and yes, .NET does truly ROCK. I'm a C# convert. :)Kyle HeonPixelMEDIA, Inc.Senior Application Programmer, MCPkheon@pixelmedia.comEdited by - KHeon on 06/07/2002 15:22:26 |
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AjarnMark
SQL Slashing Gunting Master
3246 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-10 : 14:01:47
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For the graphically-challenged, are there sites out there that you like that present information similar (i.e. articles, polls, links, forums, etc.) to SqlTeam? Are there sites that you dislike? I'd be curious to have you post them and tell me what you think. Are there specific things about this site that you like or dislike? Or any general feel on look, feel, and/or layout.
Graz, I really like the way the forums work here, which is nice and easy to follow the conversation. I've looked at other sites where you reply to a comment instead of to the whole thread, which starts different branches, and I don't find it as easy to follow as SQLTeam. And don't even get me started on Slashdot. I've only been there a couple times and just did not understand their navigation technique between parts of the thread. It seemed like I could pull up the same response/comment by going a couple of different paths, and almost invariably I would get a message that said "There are ___ messages below your threshhold" whatever that means.Of course (and I said this when I first joined, almost a year ago) the thing I like best is that you get truly helpful answers, in a relatively quick time, without a bunch of juvenile attitude and flaming. For this, I thank Graz for his leadership, and the other "regulars" for setting a great example. |
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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
Posted - 2002-06-10 : 14:33:05
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Graz, I really like the way the forums work here, which is nice and easy to follow the conversation. I've looked at other sites where you reply to a comment instead of to the whole thread, which starts different branches, and I don't find it as easy to follow as SQLTeam.
Any forum software I write would look nearly identical to Snitz. Hopefully on the first day it rolled out people might not even notice a difference. I too like the replies to topics model as opposed to threaded discussions or discussions only tied to articles.===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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Tim
Starting Member
392 Posts |
Posted - 2002-08-04 : 21:26:28
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hey GrazI looked at snitz for a site of mine and it was just too slow. I figure ORCs must have good servers to dish out your forums page as quick (?) as it seems too.I did manage to integrate an existing authentication system into theirs, but what a pain. It also voided my upgrade path for snitz. It also pissed me when one of the color configs didn't work correctly.The mods for snitz are generally hacky which is a pity.In the end I ditched the idea and just wrote my own simple forum code, using the table design and stored procedure from your early articles  cheque is in the mail....I think i sent you some graphics one other time... let me know some details of what you need and I can tell you if I can do it or not.One last question, answer if you are comfortable if not I understand... does the income from the site warrant the time and effort of rewriting it or is it just a labour of love? |
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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
Posted - 2002-08-04 : 21:37:01
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Well, first of all the rewriting bit got put on hold. I suddenly discovered it was summer out and my interest in rewriting the forums dropped dramatically. I'm hoping to pick it up in the winter.quote:
I looked at snitz for a site of mine and it was just too slow. I figure ORCs must have good servers to dish out your forums page as quick (?) as it seems too.
ORCSweb is amazing! And their customer service is even better than their servers. Yeah, Snitz as it exists now is a dog performance-wise. Just horrible. The good news is that their next version, 3.4, will be much better. I've seen most of the database changes and they are a great improvement. I'm not sure when it will be out though. Probably in the next few months. There's also the forum code at www.asp.net which is also based on one of the articles here. Unfortunately it's based on one of my articles and not Rob's improvements.quote:
The mods for snitz are generally hacky which is a pity.
Agreed.quote:
cheque is in the mail....
I'll be holding my breath waiting for that quote:
One last question, answer if you are comfortable if not I understand... does the income from the site warrant the time and effort of rewriting it or is it just a labour of love?
It is most certainly a labor of love. Advertising pays for hosting and the occasional t-shirt for an author. It doesn't really take much time to maintain now that the code is written. Except the Snitz security patches :) Merkin and robvolk help out keeping an eye on the forums and posting Ask SQLTeam questions into the forums. The thing I'm always looking for is people to write articles -- even simple or beginner articles.I've always said SQLTeam.com makes money -- as long as I work for free. I enjoy it though. I've met neat people and had a lot of fun doing it.===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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SQLTeam looking for site designers