Candice ([info]pirogoeth) wrote in [info]wow_ladies,
@ 2007-05-22 16:26:00
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MOD POST: WoW Ladies Layout Contestants!!
Last time you'll see "MOD POST" today unless something huge comes up, I promise. :P

So the layout contest is officially CLOSED now. No longer accepting contestants. Now it's onto the fun part - voting!!

The first layout was made by [info]kiramanic:


Click for Full View

The second layout was made by [info]plaguebloom:


Click for Full View

----

You have 7 days to cast your vote. The voting will be closed on May 29, 2007 at 11:59pm EST. The winner will be announced the next day. The layout will then be used for [info]wow_ladies. Good luck!

Poll #989590 WoW Ladies Layout Contest
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which Layout Gets Your Vote

View Answers

Layout #1 - by Kiramanic
79 (22.7%)

Layout #2 - by Plaguebloom
269 (77.3%)


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[info]thethinwhtduke
2007-05-22 09:09 pm UTC (link)
beautiful work by both of you!

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[info]tokudama
2007-05-22 09:12 pm UTC (link)
uh.... how are you supposed to choose?!?

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[info]knotty_tree
2007-05-22 09:24 pm UTC (link)
Click on the poll# then click on "Fill out poll".

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[info]pirogoeth
2007-05-22 09:42 pm UTC (link)
You don't even have to take that many steps. You'll see two little white circles with the options next to them, choose the layout you like best, click on the circle next to it, and click "Submit Poll".

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[info]knotty_tree
2007-05-22 10:05 pm UTC (link)
There wasn't a way to choose for me either so I had to click on the poll # to be able to choose one. All I saw was the results.

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[info]pirogoeth
2007-05-22 10:57 pm UTC (link)
Ah, yeah. Sometimes that's a glitch with LJ's poll system. Sometimes it shows you the poll results before you've even voted.

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[info]pirogoeth
2007-05-22 09:40 pm UTC (link)
Is that a compliment or an honest question? :)

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[info]dragonlady73
2007-05-22 10:11 pm UTC (link)
Terrific layouts...was a tough choice! Well done, both of you! :)

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[info]mersipan
2007-05-22 10:26 pm UTC (link)
Now this is an unfair question, and a quandry! Both are so beautiful.

How am I going to choose one or the other??

Great work on both :)

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[info]pinkpolarity
2007-05-22 10:36 pm UTC (link)
I hate to be the voice of dissent, but where's the option for "neither"? They're lovely, but white text on a black background is incredibly pain- and eyestrain-inducing for an awful lot of people, especially as we age. Both of these layouts mean adding "?style=mine" to yet another community. Accessible design > pretty, IMO.

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[info]nerglish
2007-05-22 10:58 pm UTC (link)
The second layout has grey text.

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[info]pinkpolarity
2007-05-22 11:20 pm UTC (link)
Okay, amend my comment to "light text on a dark background". Reading ability varies by individual, but dark text-on-light background is a web design standard for a reason.

They're lovely, I'm not saying they're not. I just can't read them.

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[info]valkyrwench
2007-05-22 11:39 pm UTC (link)
I think they're both beautiful, but the grey text on the black background totally defeats my eyes. I have a little easier time reading the white text on the black background. Definitely adding "?style=mine", as much as I hate to.

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[info]nerglish
2007-05-22 11:41 pm UTC (link)
It's hexidecimal value is probably 666666 which isn't the darkest of the generic websafe greys but it's not the lightest either. Perhaps it's the screenshot that makes it harder to read since it's resized.

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[info]plaguebloom
2007-05-22 11:12 pm UTC (link)
If the majority of the community prefers black text on white background, I could make an alternate layout.

I tried to make it a balance of both "accesible design" and pretty as well as I could.

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[info]pinkpolarity
2007-05-22 11:22 pm UTC (link)
It's a lovely design, truly. :) And light-on-dark is very popular, especially with younger people. It's just too hard to try to read-- thankfully, this comm is pretty good about LJ-cutting stuff, so I can usually read it on my friends page.

But it's still something to think about re: web design in general. There was a really good article on this that was Metafandomed a while back, I can try to find it if you're interested.

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[info]pinkpolarity
2007-05-22 11:24 pm UTC (link)
BTW, I need to add something-- your header is *great*. :)

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[info]plaguebloom
2007-05-22 11:27 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for the compliments. I'm not offended by the criticism. I've had people saying much harsher things to me in the past regarding my designs. If the community prefers a lighter background with a dark text, I don't mind making a new layout.

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[info]yueni
2007-05-22 11:41 pm UTC (link)
Here's the web design accessability link that I think one of the girls was talking about. I, too, strongly prefer dark text on a light background. =) But it's honestly no skin off my nose to add a ?style=mine at the end of the comm link if the majority prefers light text on dark backgrounds.

I just really find it a highly annoying web practice, largely because it strains my eyes (especially if the text is miniscule), and I start getting tension headaches. =) If you could (since yours seems to be winning by a long shot) could you please style the comment pages to reflect the LJ default and not the comm layout default? I ask this favour (having designed more than a few LJ layouts myself) because sometimes ?style=mine or ?format=light doesn't work on the comment pages, and I have to squint/suffer through a tension headache to read what would otherwise be a very interesting discussion.

=P It's not that yours is awful or anything. In fact, kudos on a very lovely and very subtle design. It's just that for some of us, being able to read this comm sometimes supercedes the pretty. =) It's why I ?style=mine to read [info]worldofwarcraft.

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[info]nerglish
2007-05-22 11:44 pm UTC (link)
Um, or increase the text size via your web browser?

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[info]yueni
2007-05-22 11:52 pm UTC (link)
Well, I do do that, if it's just the text size that's bothering me, but the light on dark text doesn't help either at times. And some times, designers will hardcode the font size so that I can't increase the text size via browser, which creates some problems for me.

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[info]nerglish
2007-05-22 11:53 pm UTC (link)
Well if they do that, then they are just being douches. Miniscule blog fonts are so trendwhore and not worth reading imo.

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[info]yueni
2007-05-23 02:17 pm UTC (link)
Well, see, here's the thing, some people (especially the ones new to layout design and so on) don't realise when they're hardcoding something in. It used to be de rigeur to do that, just so the page would display the way you want it to, and people were simply applying what they had learnt from print design to web design.

Nowadays, things are different and most people don't hardcode font size or any of that stuff. But newbies do. And there are some web design veterans who still do, too. Most of them don't realise just what kind of an issue that is for some people. =) It's not that they're being douches. They just don't understand. That's all.

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[info]jelihi
2007-05-22 10:45 pm UTC (link)
Wow, these are beautiful. Thanks [info]kiramanic and [info]plaguebloom!

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[info]nerglish
2007-05-22 10:57 pm UTC (link)
Boo at nelfs! ;p

Well done both of you!

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[info]roooof
2007-05-22 11:11 pm UTC (link)
I have to agree with the commenter above above the accessibility issue; the strain of reading white on black (or grey on black where the lower contrast makes me squint to read as in the second) can leave me with a horrendous headache.

However, in my case I have no issues with either being selected (and in fact I've voted for my favourite) as I only browse the community directly on occasion - I usually view entries on my flist.

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[info]roooof
2007-05-22 11:19 pm UTC (link)
Damn, hit enter before I'd finished.

I'm curious also to see how they'd look at full size - the reduced size of the screenshots is possibly why it seems so hard to read to me.

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[info]plaguebloom
2007-05-22 11:32 pm UTC (link)
Live preview.

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[info]nerglish
2007-05-22 11:43 pm UTC (link)
Ah I see what might be a problem now that it's live. The font style seems to blur in spots and it might be a bit small (maybe 11pt?) for those that are having a hard time viewing it. I still like it personally, but increasing the font couldn't hurt.

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[info]plaguebloom
2007-05-22 11:56 pm UTC (link)
If the mods allow it (and if.. my layout is chosen), I'll email a new stylesheet with slightly bigger fonts.

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[info]amarafox
2007-05-23 12:32 am UTC (link)
I think it looks fantastic. but the grey text doesn't have nearly enough contrast, especially on a laptop :(

I voted for it because I like the header, but the text needs some love :)

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[info]pirogoeth
2007-05-23 11:52 am UTC (link)
I have no issues with that, if that's what you want to do. :)

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[info]roooof
2007-05-22 11:47 pm UTC (link)
Thank you - actually once I see it at full size it's a lot easier on my eyes on than many similar text styles I've seen. I'm glad as I thought it was a fantastic design from the start.

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[info]ktknievel
2007-05-23 12:28 am UTC (link)
I usually read the community via my friends page, but I still like to visit the actual main page every few days (usually to find a post that I know was just posted within the last couple days). Both of these are very nice and I'll be pleased to see either one!

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[info]freddiefraggles
2007-05-23 12:57 am UTC (link)
LJ ate my comment. I hate LJ.

So, basically, I don't know which to choose, as I have some issues with both.

I like the header on the first one, nice and atmospheric, but the pink 'ladies' and the floating boxes on the left are odd. I also like the right-hand-toolbar.

The second one has a great background and a nicely spaced boxy layout, but the header is.. odd as well. What's with the forsaken's hand? But those images are almost over-used on the internets.

Both have light text on a dark background, which as is mentioned above, can be a problem. I personally don't like reading light on dark, it gives me a headache.

I don't know which to choose.

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[info]mandyy
2007-05-23 01:16 am UTC (link)
Those layouts are totally sexy :)

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[info]alexia
2007-05-23 01:31 am UTC (link)
Is it just me who doesn't want to know the names of the makers? It would make voting less biased, and it's be a cool suprise at the end.

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[info]ear_envy
2007-05-23 01:36 am UTC (link)
I like that idea.

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[info]vampirenovel25
2007-05-23 01:42 am UTC (link)
I liked both of them, so it was a hard choice but number two won :o
Nice work to both though!

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[info]lougara
2007-05-23 05:36 am UTC (link)
great work both of you^^ wish i was good at desiging layouts ^^

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[info]kiramanic
2007-05-23 07:16 am UTC (link)
Gah. Well can't say I'm surprised at the comments so far. If I'd known we we're going to be 'named and shamed' I probably wouldn't have entered, I'm far too shy for that.

Anyway I know mine isn't exactly great, but in my defense it's the first layout I've ever ever done and I learned CSS specially *guilt trip* anyway I'm voting for the other one too as it's blatantly superior!

p.s. I'll be better next time, I swear...

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[info]yueni
2007-05-23 02:20 pm UTC (link)
=) To be honest, I don't think it's being "named and shamed". You did a beautiful layout, especially if it's the first layout you've done and especially since you took the time to learn CSS for it. I've seen worse layouts on a first time layout *hides all my first efforts* and yours doesn't look like it at all. In fact, count me impressed! =D

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[info]aparna
2007-05-23 07:23 pm UTC (link)
i think you did a beautiful job! well done, both of you. :)

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[info]heinous_bitca
2007-05-23 08:13 pm UTC (link)
Oh please don't. Yours is my favorite. I'm terribly disappointed it's losing. :(

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[info]plaguebloom
2007-05-23 10:43 pm UTC (link)
I was also under the assumption that we would be entering anonymously (or at least the names withheld until the last day). You did a great job learning CSS. It's not easy to jump into quickly and with some practice, you'll do well. ^^

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[info]punkinberry
2007-05-23 02:07 pm UTC (link)
I know I'm being prudish, but if we go with the second layout, would it be possible to put a little less emphasis on boobs? Please?

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