A few thoughts on theming

Micah
Micah
edited June 2013 in General Archive
We're trying to make it easier to style your campaign and put some intermediate styling in between doing absolutely nothing and going hog-wild with custom CSS. We're hoping that changing the background and selecting a color scheme will go a long ways toward establishing a feel for your campaign. So far it's just a theory, but we decided to put it to the test a little.

Here are two different themes that Drew was able to construct by 1) choosing a background, and 2) changing the color scheme.

h4. Outer Space

!https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/145070/color2.jpg!

h4. Zombie Horror

!https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/145070/color3.jpg!

h2. Random Thoughts

* We're hoping to give the option to change the icons as well. We'd like to put together several icon sets to support different genres/themes.
* We will probably pre-create several color schemes and suggest colors to go with specific backgrounds.
* We're hoping to vastly increase the number of pre-made backgrounds available. Several will be available for all, while others will be restricted to Ascendant only.
* *You can upload your own background image*! This has been requested many times, and we finally have a chance to get to it.

h3. CSS Still Customizable

Finally, just as now, Ascendant campaigns will have the option of writing their own raw CSS. However, hopefully with these color and background options, many people will be able to achieve a good looking campaign with minimal effort.

Comments

  • weasel0
    weasel0
    Posts: 435
    Very, very nice there Micah. I've only just started to really dabble with the custom CSS(which i may have to re-learn all over as the reforge happens :p ) but these go-between templates are definitely in the right direction with people who don't have the time to learn(or havn't been able to make the time like myself) or people who find coding is the biggest piece of gobble-dee-gook on the face of the planet.
  • ReverseG
    ReverseG
    Posts: 17
    I like the way those landing pages are holding up. Massive props to Drew, that looks nice!
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 2,998
    I think that this will drastically change the site for the better! Nice work!

    Just trying to help out.

  • ketherian
    ketherian
    Posts: 203
    Very nice.

    Is there a plan to allow users to submit their icons/background/colour choices to be included as one of the publicly available themes?
    Most of the CSS in my own site is either derived or directly copied from willing users, so I could see where something similar in regards to themes would be popular.
  • xb95
    xb95
    Posts: 6
    Custom CSS is nice for some folks, but is definitely a 1% kind of feature -- most people will ultimately be happy with just getting to select coloring and imaging, so they can create their own horrible concoctions. ;)
  • FrankSirmarco
    FrankSirmarco
    Posts: 250
    Looks perty...
  • Maesenko
    Maesenko
    Posts: 325
    As someone who is not very good at coding beyond basic html (I've tried Java and Visual Basic, as well as a couple CAD programs), I'm very pleased to see these options are being added to give those of us "beginners-at-best" a chance to customize more.

    Now, I know it says that there will be the ability to upload background images, and the ability to select prebuilt color schemes, but will we be able to build custom color schemes as well? (I'm thinking something like the color hexes or RGB selectors from Powerpoint.)

    ~Mae

    CotM Selection Committee

  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Yes, you will be able to specify your own custom color schemes. As of now, the color schemes are comprised of 4 colors. We will pre-create several schemes, but Ascendant campaigns will be able to specify their own hex values.
  • Viehmagnat
    Viehmagnat
    Posts: 24
    I'm in full agreement with xb95 and Maesenko. The addition of options for those of us with minimal coding experience to make our campaigns look more distinct and polished is great! I have had issues trying to upload custom backgrounds so far on the staging, but the custom colors have worked well and instantly make the campaign pages pop.
  • Maesenko
    Maesenko
    Posts: 325
    Just a quick update on my experiences with the color schemes thing.

    I've managed to figure out where the Main Color and Main Color - Dark come into play, but I have yet to find where the Active Color or the Hover Color factor in.
    I have also found that links remain the same color (Main Color to be specific) whether they are working/existing or are broken/new and do not change color when I mouse over them.

    Also, this seems like a small thing, but near as I can tell the staging side hasn't seen much of a refresh since the end of August.

    ~Mae

    CotM Selection Committee

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