Comments on: Announcing the Metafilter design contest.

Announcing the Metafilter design contest.

mathowie — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 23:27:36 -0800

I'm hereby announcing the MetaFilter design contest. Post any questions here.

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 23:39:29 -0800

The offical color of MetaTalk's background is "metatalk puke"

How appropriate.

heh

By: dobbs

dobbs — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 23:40:51 -0800

Not a question, but a suggestion: how about a lifetime pro membership to Metafilter (assuming you do go that route) for the winner and maybe a 1 year one and a 6 mos one to runners up? I got nothing against Flickr but was a bit surprised at it being part of the prizes when more than likely the winner is pretty much guaranteed to be spending at least some time on MeFi and there's no guarantee they have any use whatsoever for Flickr.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 23:43:33 -0800

Yeah, good point dobbs. I guess free lifetime for all three top slots.

By: neckro23

neckro23 — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 23:57:33 -0800

#333333 is "metatalk puke"? Someone should notify the W3C and/or Pantone!

By: rabidsquirrel

rabidsquirrel — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:10:50 -0800

Ah, the old girl gets a new look. It will only sting for a second, right?

By: superposition

superposition — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:14:03 -0800

not the gumdrop buttons!!!!!!

By: scarabic

scarabic — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:18:18 -0800

the MetaFilter design contest

aka: how to get your choice of dozens of sweet designs for only $300 ;)

(not that tons of folks wouldn't do it for free - I would if I could design for shit)

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:18:20 -0800

I'd love to see the worst of the submissions when they begin rolling in. Anonymously of course so as not to hurt anyones feelings. Or whatever.

By: ChasFile

ChasFile — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:24:30 -0800

It hurts me more than it hurts you. Remember the first time you saw a NY Times with a color photo on the front page?

Here's a kinda legit question:
So for awhile it was recommended to use long, thing lines in GIF images (like the ones at the top of the header) because the GIF algorithm was really efficient at compressing horizontal bands of similar color. Is that why you used that motif? Will the winning entry sport similar byte-saving tricks? How concerned are you, in general, with image compression/bandwidth? As it stands, MeFi home isn't all that much bigger than LoFi.

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:59:00 -0800

Change scares me.

By: sbutler

sbutler — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:36:26 -0800

Change scares me.

RavinDave, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I totally understand that the current design hasn't grown to meet the demands of the site.

But the possibility of no more blue? No more gray? No more green? I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:38:11 -0800

I, too, am woefully inequipped to handle a change of his magnitude. I say the new design should incorporate Mefi blue in some manner. If it doesn't, I probably won't do anything except silently rage against whomever designs the new layout.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:39:08 -0800

Oh, please oh please let the 'use old skool color schemes' be an option. That we don't have to pay for.

*huddles in the corner, shivering*

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:39:32 -0800

And by silently I mean nakedly. Remember this warning.

ps - don't delete the image tag yet.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:41:17 -0800

pps - i meant to type 'unequipped', really. clearly the fear coursing through my veins has intesified my poor typing skills.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:42:28 -0800

Intensified.

That's it. I'm going to sleep. Clearly you've thrown me off my game.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 04:41:38 -0800

Will there still be an option for a "white"? I love my white, with its chosen-by-me serif fonts, and as-wide-as-the-window posts and its doesn't-look-like-I'm-not-working-whiteness. I'd be very sad to lose it. And no, lofi isn't it.

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 04:49:40 -0800

I'd like to see a winner that's W3C Validated.

By: matteo

matteo — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 05:02:11 -0800

I'm already nostalgic for the old design

By: Gyan

Gyan — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 06:04:57 -0800

Matt: a la Monkeyfilter, could your ongoing MeFi rewrite include a provision for user-defined stylesheets?

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 06:15:21 -0800

Design restriction: Must incorporate #D4AAA in some manner or mode.

Matt, are you going to be the only judge, or will there be a celebrity panel?

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:15:47 -0800

I am with RavinDave. MetaFilter currently sports one of the best designed sites around. It is simple, yet elegant. Everything is easy to find (except that there is no link to AskMe on the front page) and easy to use. Moreover, the interface is intuitive so that even a first-timer can figure out the site and find stuff almost instantly. Perhaps a little jazzing-up will be fun, but hopefully the design will remain simple, elegant and intuitive.

By: angry modem

angry modem — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:20:03 -0800

Multiple entries? I say if someone puts the extra work into another entry, it should entered as well.

By: travis vocino

travis vocino — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:30:55 -0800

Uhoh!

By: kryptondog

kryptondog — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:33:08 -0800

Bring it on, I say. I like the current design, but (positive) change is always good.

I'll definitely be submitting a meager entry of my own when I get the chance.

By: kenko

kenko — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:35:33 -0800

Hey wait, where's the new *filter site?

(To be on-topic: I'm with RavinDave & caddis. I hope whatever design wins will be similarly minimal and elegant.)

By: terrapin

terrapin — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:52:53 -0800

I just hope whomever wins chooses to keep the colors for historical purposes. The text of former entries will live on, and in those old entries the nomenclature has been decided. People refer to MetaFilter as "The Blue" and MetaTalk as "The Gray," etc. If a future MetaTalk becomes orange, then things can become confusing.

By: NinjaPirate

NinjaPirate — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:53:30 -0800

Matt - did you consider sorting out a barebones version of the MetaClan, marking it up as XHTML and submitting it as a sort of Zen Garden?

(Although then there may be several winners, and therefore several iPods, and therefore several more hours at the rockface for you to pay it all off.)

By: NinjaPirate

NinjaPirate — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:55:33 -0800

wouldn't that be
MetaTalk — "The Puke"?

By: TimeFactor

TimeFactor — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:01:41 -0800

How about a mod to the design rules that each of the front pages need to incorporate the current colors (not necessarily the exact current colors but blue, gray, green) so we can still refer to the blue, gray, and green. Just a little color around the logo, or the logo itself in the appropriate color would do the trick.

By: TimeFactor

TimeFactor — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:02:28 -0800

Or, post preview (d'oh), exactly what terrapin said already.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:03:04 -0800

MetaFilter currently sports one of the best designed sites around. It is simple, yet elegant. Everything is easy to find (except that there is no link to AskMe on the front page) and easy to use

But that's the point of this. Ask MetaFilter needs to be added, as well as a way for five more sites someday. And what happens when I add a list of "your saved favorite threads" and links to "comments you've made recently" and "comments made on your threads." Where do you stuff that in the interface?

By: amberglow

amberglow — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:06:05 -0800

we can use midis, blinking text, and those little floating angels, right? ; >

By: terrapin

terrapin — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:17:53 -0800

... and hopping bunnnies with pancakes on their heads, of course.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:21:56 -0800

I'm so working on a stylized Oolong-related logo over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Matt, I'm a little confused with the mockup thing... just to be 100% clear, are you saying that your entry could theoretically not require an actual coded sample, but just a mockup image of what a screenshot would look like?

By: ODiV

ODiV — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:26:48 -0800

Would it be possible to keep all of the old content on the old layout or would that defeat the purpose of the redesign?

I'm sending the contest out to some fellow Multimedia grads.

By: terrapin

terrapin — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:53:29 -0800

Would it be possible to keep all of the old content on the old layout or would that defeat the purpose of the redesign?

I guess someone could technically design a "classic" style set.

By: rdub

rdub — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:25:00 -0800

I've grown to love the blue. I'm not particularly attached to the gray or green, but the blue is big. White backgrounds are good too, but I hope we'll see some blue in the winning entries.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:50:17 -0800

Matt, you planning to take MeFi commercial? Make a living at it?

By: geoff.

geoff. — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 12:17:59 -0800

So can we just submit a PSD of the design? Or a heavily cutup HTML? Does it have to be as close to the final product (in terms of coding) as possible?

By: deborah

deborah — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 13:15:51 -0800

I ? gleuschk!

By: deborah

deborah — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 13:16:34 -0800

Dammit...that's supposed to be a heart!

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 14:50:31 -0800

Can I suggest a substitution prize? Instead of the iPod, how about user number 2?

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 19:14:00 -0800

A mockup image is fine, as I said on the page (HTMLized version was optional).

Multiple entries are fine too.

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 20:47:15 -0800

Considering this has already fallen off Metatalk, I'd suggest putting it on the Sidebar

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 22:26:32 -0800

Yeah, I'll pimp it on the header, and probably on the front page of metafilter as the deadline draws near.

By: whatnot

whatnot — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 09:11:57 -0800

hey Matt, per NinjaPirate's suggestion, standardizing the code a bit and releasing it a la the Zen Garden would make it easier to code the top few entries as choices on a style sheet switcher. The old designs could be a choice as well.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 13:24:58 -0800

Yeah, a second revision feature I'd like to add are user generated stylesheets, with a gallery of contributed ones.

By: whatnot

whatnot — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 15:08:04 -0800

are all of the styles embedded? I don't see any links to external style sheets.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:19:38 -0800

Whatever; just please, dear Lard, no horizontal scrolling.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 16:05:53 -0800

Hey! I made that, you bastard!

By: yhbc

yhbc — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 19:02:37 -0800

Which is why I baited you here.

Y.H.B.T.

(not to be confused with my own handle, of course!)

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 12:11:13 -0800

oh. i thought there might be more discussion here.

i worried about this yesterday for a while, and jotted down some ideas and an example of how they might come out. it's not really good enough for an entry (i'm a humble programmer - when i worked on "this kind of thing" i had a designer chappy who took stuff like this and make it look amazing), but i thought there might be some comments on this thread that i could join.

since there aren't, i'll just leave this here and hope someone notices. it's probably all obvious anyway.