Attention Web Designers! We've got a CONTEST!

[LocoColt04]

...and we need submissions soon. Now, this doesn't mean rush. THERE IS CURRENTLY NO SET SUBMISSION DATE.

So now you're probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about, right?

Starting soon, TFF will be publishing monthly issues of a newspaper we're calling the Chocobo Digest. The newspaper will provide no "real life" news, but will rather be a compilation of faux articles and journalistic-style stories, much like FFXI's Vana'Diel Tribune.

This is what we need from you:

• a WORKING example of an html newspaper
• webpage MUST work properly in ALL browsers and be no larger than 1024x768 (preferrably 800x600, centered in the page) -- no IE-only code
• ALL fonts used must be common fonts, except for those you place in the images (i.e. you may use an Olde English style font for the newspaper title if you wish)
• FRONT PAGE:
• the index page must look like the front page of a newspaper, preferrably in an old style (i.e. ripped edges, yellowed or parchment paper, etc.)
• you may hard-code images, like the newspaper's title, into the layout of the webpage
• you may also create images (such as a chocobo or something) to be used wherever you see fit
• the example must have room for an image for the month's "featured" article to be placed on either the left or right side of the page -- image size is up to you, the designer, but it cannot be too large
• the other side of the page will feature the current month's articles. Ideally, the links will actually be images rather than plain text, so you must package the .psd file for the base image so that we can change them for each month's issue
• there must be a minimum of five links, and a maximum of seven. Links should be coded in such a way that regardless of whether we have five, six, or seven articles for the month, it will not affect the background in any form or fashion (you may handle this however you'd like -- seven different .jpgs and their corresponding .psd files, or one image that would work in all seven slots)
• THE INSIDE:
• each link from the index must link to a page that looks like the inside of the newspaper (yes, this means a different background) -- whether it looks like a double-page spread or a single page is up to you, the designer
• inner pages must support a 0-2 image format. The images here can be much smaller than those used on the index, and we will likely link them to large images
• coding can be fairly simple -- we don't need any fancy scrollbars (especially since they won't work in Firefox) -- just enough room for three or four paragraphs. We'll be linking at the end of each article to the full story anyway
• preferred fonts for article text are Times New Roman or Tahoma -- the size must be legible, regardless of how much we enjoy the tiny little fonts. 10pt or 12pt only, please

Now, in creation of your example, you may use whatever you want as the article titles (for the links) and can type random text in your sample articles, for all I care. We just want to see how it looks. It's ideal if you provide three samples of an inner page so that we can see it in all three styles (0, 1, and 2 images), so that we don't have to change any coding when we put up new articles.

Basically, your submissions will be used as templates for each article. Ideally, we'd like to avoid changing any of your coding, which is why we're asking for working samples. And yes, before you ask, you can sign your name/handle/whatever on your images, but in a nondescript way, like in the lower-right corner.

The winner of the competition WILL receive forum recognition with a small banner to be placed in the postbit under your username rather than your signature. It'll probably say something to the extent of "Digest Designer" or something, and is really as meaningless as the stars. Nonetheless, it'll look cool, and identify you as having done something great for the site.


If you have ANY questions, by all means, please ask.

[Arus Kim]

Can't participate in this one now, but you better opt out the stars. They're mine!

Otherwise, are they allowed to use flash?

[LocoColt04]

That is a good question, and one that Andro and I pondered about last night.

I'm gonna have to go with no. Flash can sometimes take forever to load, and doesn't always work right for everyone -- for instance, I can't get Flash to load in Firefox on my laptop worth anything, despite having all appropriate plugins. *shrug*

Ideally, it's best just to stick with advanced html, and to check your coding in IE and FF alike. And Opera. And Netscape. And anything else people use commonly.

It's not like those of you to whom I'm trying to appeal to use Flash on a regular basis anyhow.

[Daddy]

I'd love to do this, but I couldn't code for shit. I COULD however, ask a few of my coder buddies...I'll return soon!

[LocoColt04]

Haha, please do... we're starting to run out of days. ^_^;;

If they have any questions, well, they've gotta be registered to submit anyway, so make sure they ask if there's anything they need clarification on.

[Rinoa.Heartilly]

Do you care what we code it in exactly? Is external CSS allowed? And my last question: Do you care about the construction of the webpage, whether we use tables, framesets, iframes, ect? I'm not exactly sure if im in, but if i find in can do it i'd be mor ethen welcome to particiapate.

[LocoColt04]

I'd avoid iFrames because they're messy; otherwise, there are no problems using the fullest extent of your html and CSS knowledge. Just remember -- IF IT DOESN'T WORK IN BOTH IE AND FIREFOX EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, it won't be used. It really limits your CSS, but hopefully you can avoid using most of it anyway.

A note about tables -- IE and Firefox/Opera/Safari read them differently... to be frank, IE misinterprets the way tables really should be viewed. Don't spend all of your time making them pretty in IE and then having to modify it for every other browser; rather, make it pretty in the other browsers, and add cushioning where you need it for IE.

Personally, I love CSS, and there's so much more you can do with it in IE than in the other browsers. TFF, however, is not browser-specific, and therefore we cannot expect our users to be shortchanged when viewing the newspaper in a different browser.


Also, there may be an extension on the deadline considering we're likely pushing back the first issue two weeks from what we initially planned. Maybe. We'll see. I'll update if we do, by replying as well as editing the first post.

[LocoColt04]

THE CONTEST IS REVIVED!

Since we've finally gotten everything we need for the newspaper set up, the only thing left to do is design the newspaper itself. If you're newly interested (or still interested from an earlier time), there is still time to submit!

[ShinRa]

Submit what? Articles? Code?

[LocoColt04]

Erm... completed webpages. Because that's what the contest is about.

Did you read the information? ^_^;;

I'll code the thing, if somone would like to make the BG image for me that would be nice.