Connor’s Blog

Web Developer, Student, Blogger.

Archive for category Internet

New Year’s Eve, Part I: Announcing Two New Podcasts

Dec 31

Posted by Connor in Internet, Other Things

So, the first part of my New Year’s Eve announcements. Today, I am pleased to announce that two new podcasts are going to be produced and published both here on Masked Media as well as in iTunes (and via torrent, maybe). One of them will be produced by my good friend Steve Aversa. While we don’t have any specifics yet, well we kind of do, but nothing set in stone. All I know is that is going to be a gaming based podcast, including discussions and reviews. It will also be a video podcast (we will also publish a MP3 format with just audio) that contains various game footage and the like.

Secondly, I will also start producing a podcast when the New Year comes around, called Prognosis. Basically it will be a general show, including discussions of politics, tech, the internet, and news in general. Like the previous podcast, it will be video, but unlike Steve’s, mine will be a video with myself. I’ll try to set up some sort of set for the show, somehow trying to get my monitor to show up in the video with some cool stuff like pictures and the like.

So that is the first of a few announcements that will be posted here today. The next one will be posted sometime around 7 or 8pm tonight, EST. What will it be about? Well, let’s just say it’s going to be my first project of the New Year, and the first one I actually complete.

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My Review of iWannaPlay.org

Aug 9

Posted by Connor in Articles, Game Maker, Internet

The creator of IWannaPlay.org, called anonymouss, has asked me to write a review of his website. As such, I obliged. He requested that I didn’t make it too harsh, and if I did, not to publish it. I didn’t send him an answer back. As such, here is my review of iWanna Play.

Design

IWannaPlay.org makes use of several different design ideas that, in some ways, makes certain areas of the site out of place with others. The first thing you will notice when you enter the site is the Windows Vista Aero-like transparency border. This transparency makes it difficult to read the date at the top left hand corner of the area, but it is still visible none the less. The top area also features a text resize set of buttons and a search box. It is my personal opinion that the shadow of these text resize items is a tad too dark of a gray for them. I think they should be a little lighter in color, but hey, that is just me.

The navigation uses Javascript and some nice graphics to create a Flash-like navigation, and is quite pleasing on the eyes. The only real issue I have is that when you hover over an item, the background color changes to a very light blue, almost indistinguishable from the white background color. If a background color should be there, it should be a tad darker, or, as I would like, not there at all.

Other than that the site features a nice array of buttons, including ones on news posts for a PDF version or to email the article to someone. The comments area on articles could use a little bit of work, seeing as though the date text looks very weird inside of the area, and the words on the top of the comments, to navigate the pages of comments, seem scrunched together.

Overall, the website features a nice visual display. Although there are two more themes to choose from, they are very similar in design, and the only major difference is color. That being said, the design is one of the best I have seen from an indie developer.

Content

Although the design is a major issue for sites, content is one of the key reasons why users will come to any site. Do you think the vast number of nVidia graphics card users would go to their site to read about the company? No! They want content such as the latest video cards and the latest drivers.

iWanna Play has a decent amount of content, enough to keep a user on the site, but not enough to keep calling them back. The site features seven articles, most of which are not more than five or six paragraphs. That being said, users do not want to spend all day reading, they want to enjoy themselves. Thankfully, there is an arcade on the site.

The arcade features 39 games in four categories: Adventure, Car, Classic, and Shooting. The games are flashed based, and link up to a standard high score list like most site-based arcade systems. The arcade is essentially embedded within the main website design, which is a plus, but certain icons within the arcade, such as the rating stars and the folder icons, should be changed to fit more with the site. That being said, there is a lot of fun content, but some more articles should be added for more ‘real’ content, if you know what I mean.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the site features a very nice design and a lot of content for a lot of indie web sites. The design has some flaws, but nothing that keeps you from using the site in the least. The written content should be expanded upon, and maybe some more games as well. Maybe the creation of a community would be good as well, to further expand the scope of the website.

My rating: 8/10

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Typography and Transparency

Jul 28

Posted by Connor in Internet, Other Things

Today I am pleased to announce the first official contest, hosted by Facepalm Studios! This is a web design contest, and the rules and prizes are listed below. The deadline for all entries is Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 10PM EST.

Competition:

Best use of typography and transparency on a web site.

Rules:

- Fonts used must either be supported across all platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) or you must include a download able font pack on the design.
- You must create your own design, and not take one from another site. <– I know this is somewhat redundant, but some people may just get a template and edit it.
- Your site must appear EXTREMELY ALIKE in all modern web browsers, including Firefox 2/3, Internet Explorer 6/7, Opera 9.5, and Safari 3/4. Minor discrepancies may exist, such as a slightly off-aligned box here or there, but nothing very different.
- Your site must have content in all areas where content can exist (even if it is random stuff).

Prizes:

1st Place – 2 @maskedmedia.com email addresses (each with 6GB+ of storage and a Gmail user interface), 1 Web Hosting Account (500MB of disk space, unlimited bandwidth, subdomain or domain name (you must provide the domain name if you choose that option), 1 MySQL database and user account), honorable mention on my blog and the new Facepalm Studios website, which hosts this competition.

2nd Place – 2 @maskedmedia.com email addresses

3rd Place – 1 @maskedmedia.com email address

Other Top Contenders – Honorable mentions on my blog and the Facepalm Studios website.

Judgment:

You will be judged on both the creative and usability aspects of typography and transparency on your website design. For example, using a fancy font in a place where there is a massive area of text would not be very usable. Another example is the use of transparency on things such as images. Too little transparency may work, but too much could damage the quality and usefulness of an image.

The contest will be judged by myself, as well as my friend, who is a graphical designer. As such, neither of us can enter in the competition.

Note: Any competitor who is a member of Facepalm Studios can submit their work and win prizes, but will not be listed on the Facepalm Studio’s website.

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‘What’s All This Talk of a Rebellion?’

Jul 17

Posted by Connor in Internet, Other Things

With my recent decision to keep this blog updated nearly everyday, I decided to write a post about my current development projects, aside from Masked Media. Well, anything that I said would happen in the past, well yea, it ain’t. Sorry to use that non-word contraction, but it fits. Anything that I said doesn’t go, no matter how many times I said it would. So today we need to discuss a few things about the future before I reveal what I am working on. First off, nothing I say really matters. Yes, if I say a beta in two weeks, and it never happens, don’t be pissed. I just said nothing I say really matters. Secondly, if I say it is open source, and it turns out not to be down the road, that is due to something I expected yet wasn’t quite sure on at the time I said it. But yea, that fits into the first thing I said.

So, what am I working on? Well, first off, I am working on a little ‘test’ web application called Application Store (I will probably come up with a better name, so just bear with me for now). Basically, it is what it says, an application store, but not just apps. I plan on putting up games for sale along side free and paid applications, but not free games. Why? Because YoYo has a bunch of free games if you want them. But I will be hosting free applications of HIGH quality, not shit applications that float around the web. The developer can choose to have a new type of DRM system that I am working on developing, but it is their choice. I am not going to force some copy protection system down their throats if they don’t want it/don’t believe in it, like myself. Application Store will not be a distributed web application, yet one that I will host if I eventually decide to launch it.

I already have a plan in place for the store if I do give it a try in the mainstream. First off, Apple is stupid for only giving developers a 70% cut at the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store. That is insanely low, even if it is the highest in the industry. Well, I would launch with an 80% cut for all paid games, and an 85% cut for applications. Why the difference? Games often take up more storage space then applications, so I need to adjust accordingly. Of course, the developer can apply for a change in their pay rate, and if approved, will be modified (but not retroactively). Free applications (of high quality) won’t need to worry about a cut because, obviously, they are free. But anyone who downloads from the store (free or paid) will be required to register a free account to do so. I have not worked on a system of payment, but I would most likely go with PayPal, because they are by far the most trusted and most widely used.

The second project I am working on is really something that is all over the place. Originally called Limelight, then LiveFire, and now something I don’t really know, it was a social communication engine for the web. Well, I got bored and wanted to make blog software one day, and now it is a conglomerate of code from who knows where. So, I deleted it. Now I am developing my own blog software so I can open (maybe) my own blog hosting website. This one I am not that sure on (like the Application Store), but would be an easier feat to accomplish.

Well, that was my daily update for today. Only took me fifteen minutes, but now everyone knows (well, for the most part. I don’t know what I am doing yet.) Ah well, later.

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