Chaos Project

I have started working on the new full skin for CP. Do you guys want me to post some screenshots while I'm working on it?

yeh, who wouldent give up the chance to see something before its releast :D

(http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/8411/snap160fa2.th.png) (http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/8411/snap160fa2.png)

As you see the shoutbox has been integrated into the skin and it will have a dynamic width which matches your browser's window width. >:3

cool, looks smart.

cant wait to see it finished

Interesting screenshot you pose there Blizzard. I like the sleek look, but I'm so accustomed to the color scheme and style of Rhett, that I don't know what to do when it switches. Of course, with this new theme CP will turn into a new professional style, I just can't see this unique community switch easily into that. I like the theme however, good job.

It's far from done. :P It's just an small example of how it will look like. And it will be give a more modern/futuristic feeling than professional. And yeah, I will keep a bit of the color scheme of Rhett. I'll use red, white and dark grey. It might remind some people of the CPXtreme theme at the old forum, but it will be much better. :D

EDIT: Here's a little update.

(http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/162/snap163pz7.th.png) (http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/162/snap163pz7.png)

I only made the images quickly, they will look MUCH better when they are done. It actually looks pretty stupid right now.

I like it xD

I'm still a fan of the old school skin though

looks good Bliz!

Yeah... cause right now i honestly dont like the skin we have got at the moment!  :o. Looking forward to the new one!  :haha: (no... the skin doesnt affect how much i go on the forum :P)

will there be a new Dark Theme too?

Yes, I will make a corresponding Dark Theme. This isn't much of a work, I only have to change the colors of the images and the CSS file.

Here's another screenshot. It's still not done, but it's way better than before. I'm simply lacking the inspiration. I'll just have to sit down and draw it on paper first. It's a much quicker way to try out some ideas. I just have to brainstorm.

(http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3849/snap169ik9.th.png) (http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3849/snap169ik9.png)

i love it :D keep up the good work...hehe im in the shoutbox xD

...You spin me right round, baby right round, like a record baby, right round, round round...

...You spin me right round, baby right round, like a record baby, right round, round round...

*Funky groove*

I'm so glad I'm in it too...?  8)

And I noticed on your tab there the Chaos-Project icon is in near inverted colors, which intrigues me. Do we, as the consumer, get to see this icon when we're on the site too? Or is this part of the Opera theme and there's no special gimmicks you did here...Which I doubt as the inverted colors there are not the same as the icon we have here. :/

i think it's the theme considering the other 2 arent inverted.

Yeah, it's the icon of my locally hosted forum so I always know which forum I am on so I don't do something bad like deleting posts/topics/sections. o.o

I worked on it yesterday before I went to sleep and here is the result. It's looks somewhat inconsistent so this isn't the final design.

(http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3922/snap170ql2.th.png) (http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3922/snap170ql2.png)

Yes! This definitely fits the color scheme of the Rhett theme, yet incorperates the technology theme of CP (As seen on the "homepage"). Great work, Blizzard. Of course, it's "inconsistent", but I await the final design definitely.

Now this one is much better. It might be the final design.

(http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/4189/snap175it9.th.png) (http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/4189/snap175it9.png)

EDIT: Which logo base type do you like more?







Here's a sample of one of the logos.

It's hard to tell it says Chaos Project and not haos roject...

But I'd say 3

I'd say 4

Quote from: Ryexander on September 15, 2008, 06:21:28 pm
I'd say 4

That's Number Two in a fancy design. :P

Number Three is the one that least looks like a "Haos Project" (What is a Haos?  :O.o: ) That has my vote. :)

The Theme is definitely more Chaos-Project like, but I'm disappointed, I only see the shoutbox and not other contents. Oh well. Great job, Blizzard.

I like 1

I'd go with number 2, but separate the C and P by a few more pixels, because I agree that I looks like haos project.

Perhaps something like this:
(http://christiansenryan.googlepages.com/cplogo.png)

I know, but making it separate like that looks inconsistent. If I made the letters smaller, it might look better. I will experiment more and try a couple of alternative logos.

@SRK: It's not even close to done, but here. Are you happy? :P

(http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/4527/snap178kb5.th.png) (http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/4527/snap178kb5.png)

Of course, viewing this theme in Internet Explorer completely messes up the design. -_- It is even too dumb to interpret the colors of png images right.

(http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6549/snap179vx1.th.png) (http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6549/snap179vx1.png)

Cool :haha:! I like how its coming along. AND THERE IS A MOD FORUM!!!!!  :o.... no fair  :(

I like three

Quote from: Blizzard on September 16, 2008, 07:44:03 am
@SRK: It's not even close to done, but here. Are you happy? :P

Those icons are insanely large, but thank you for the screenshot of the upper body. It's looking very nice, and I especially like it better than Rhett, great job Blizzard.

I usually make icons larger than they will be in the end, because of the image degeneration upon sizing down to smaller resolutions. That way I can create several images at high quality in different resolutions from the actually same image. Here's a little update on the skin. >:3

(http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1048/snap181pw9.th.png) (http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1048/snap181pw9.png)

To be honest... the whole circular thing going on is a bit odd. :huh:? Its kinda reminds me of a candy pop :haha:. But everything else is sick!  8)

_{so.... this mods forum? Potential joke on us or something!!!! :o}

Quote from: Valcos on September 17, 2008, 08:13:58 pm
_{so.... this mods forum? Potential joke on us or something!!!! :o}

Um...*cough* *Goes in a voice that sounds ghostly and mystical*

This mod forum...IT IS A JOKE! THAT'S WHY IT STATES THE JOKE WITHIN...It's more fake than Chuck Norris' muscles!!!

I never noticed this, but the new theme makes CP very sleek and smooth, resulting in a sexy look.

Valcos, those "crystal balls" are only place holders. :D

thumbs up.

i like the look but the logo looks a bit plain to me (but hell what do i know :^_^':)

great work, cant wait to see it finished.

Lol... oh so the balls are going to look better after eh? :haha: And you putting the chat on the forum page!!  :o!

Quote from: Valcos on September 18, 2008, 07:40:56 pm
:haha: And you putting the chat on the forum page!!  :o!

That makes life easier, especially since there's no real navigation to chat.chaos-project.com except through a single thread AQUA made.

I just noticed those rubies...Those don't seem very fitting to the theme, yet it does in the sense of a color palette.

Quote from: Valcos on September 18, 2008, 07:40:56 pm
Lol... oh so the balls are going to look better after eh? :haha: And you putting the chat on the forum page!!  :o!

I'm not going to use those balls at all.

Quote from: Shadonking on September 18, 2008, 05:15:21 pm
i like the look but the logo looks a bit plain to me (but hell what do i know :^_^':)

It's just the logo, not the entire banner. :P I just can't think of a better one so there is a chance that I will not really use a logo especially since I have a cool idea for a banner without the use of a logo yet containing the phrase "Chaos Project".

Quote from: Starrodkirby86 on September 18, 2008, 07:45:29 pm
I just noticed those rubies...Those don't seem very fitting to the theme, yet it does in the sense of a color palette.

I know. I'm still not sure if I will really use them. I was going to try to use some hexagon pattern on the sides and then I got the idea to put in rubies (RGSS Ruby = Scripting xD).

i love the new style! its very good! the images are very clear and clean.
do you do all that yourself?

The ruby idea is brilliant  :ninja: and they fit the theme quite well. I think you should leave them.

The rubies are pretty clever to insert because of its relation to Ruby RGSS, but my gist is where that CP should be technologically bent (As shown in this image:

)

Rubies are not fitting of a technology based theme...That's science fiction like. Of course, if Blizzard is inserting multiple themes then you can leave rubies or something, who knows. It's all personal opinion and classification, so yeah.

FYI Blizzard, the link the image leads to on that homepage is STILL http://chaos-project.com/forum.chaos-project.com . Mind if you correct it?

(._.') *goes off and corrects*

I think I will leave the rubies. But I might add some technology around it. i.e. a machine powered by ruby-amplified light. It would still be technological, yet with a mystical touch. I've done quite some work on it during the weekend (between the times I was totally drunk). I'll post a new screenshot in a couple of minutes. :) When I finish the banner, I will take the forum down and update everything since I had to change some of the non-skin files. Sadly this will render to forum most probably incompatible with other generic skins. But oh well, beauty has its price. At least all the edits I have done are contributing positively to the new layout like the integrated shoutbox. :)

BTW, there will be only 2 themes:
- ChaosX5
- ChaosDark5

EDIT: Ignore the menu, it's not done yet. And the banner is a placeholder.

(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/5973/snap187sg4.th.png) (http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/5973/snap187sg4.png)

looking good.

i like the idea of a machine powered by the amplified ruby light effect. (i think that made sense lol)

when this is done its goin to look way better then the other forums iv been on.

That's a good compromise, Sir Boris.

How long would this downage be? Hopefully you'll take it down during the most inactive part of the day; the dawn-morning time, around 1-4 am for the US, which who knows what it is in Croatia...Usually I don't see so many users on, especially around Midnight there too. I hope it's quick and painless as well, nothing gets lost in the mix...

Maybe an hour. As soon as I finish posting, I will take the forum down and put up the alpha version. >:3

EDIT:

Alright, here it is. Remember, this is the alpha version. I still need to fix some stuff and I need to put up a new banner (obviously). I also have to make the part where the chat is integrated into the skin. After I have done all that, the skin will be beta and I will created a dark colored version of it which will be ChaosDark5, the dark skin. All other skins have been removed.

@all the dark-skin lovers: You have to use this one until I put up the beta and the dark skin. I apologize for the inconvenience.

awesome skin.

I'd love to see a green/black version

actualy that would look quite good.

and yeh it looks good, cant wait for the dark version tho.

and im glad there is a link to chat now, noobs will beable to find it easyer now.

Blizz just told me to inform you that if you notice ANY trouble with the skin, post it right here or PM him.

You heard the bass man. :)

And yes, my idea of a dark version of this skin was black+grey+green where it would be that yellowish neon color.
After I'm done with the beta and the dark version, I will make a homepage. >:3

MY EYES! *eyes are burning*
Its soo bright! *hiss*
*turns down the contrast*
Much better, I like the skin, can't wait for the dark version though.

I thought the other one was brighter. o.o I'm actually already working on this skin right now. I just fixed the shoutbox archive.

COOL! this is awesome. cant wait for the Dark Theme.

The buttons for reply, notify, and the like are extremely small. Picture-oriented icons for them would be better, as long as a size would be smaller. The New Posts are great, but they are extremely large and somewhat distracting. The whole theme overall is a larger at a whole, I don't know if that translates into we're going in larger boundaries here.

EDIT: Possibly do some more flare with the post boxes. White with red won't particularly do...

Definitely fix up the Reply items. One nitpick...

Chaos Project > Community > News/Suggestions/Feedback > Post reply ( Re: The new skin )

Should Post Reply be somewhat like the same size, as I noticed this on my theme.

Note that I am using Mozilla FireFox, not Opera or IE. There may be some changes.

Great skin, overall. :)

yes, took me a bit to find the reply buttons and stuff, also here's some suggestions. the new topic stuff, new post, you should change the color, to like blue, so it's easier to tell. also [lol this is stupidish] the little diamon shapes annoy me, on the corners of community and such xD...they just dont fit in.

IT! IS! AWESOME!!!

@Chaze: New skins are like that. Most people love it, a few hate it. I remember when Silverline changed the skin to white on RMRK long ago. I couldn't stand it. But after a week or two I got used to it and now I prefer bright skins. BTW, the "buttons" are at the same positions as they were before. :P

@SRK: Good notice. It happens in Opera as well. I will fix it immediately.

Thanks Blizzard. Small cosmetic changes like this really add up to make an excellent skin.

---

I don't know if this problem is completely strange, but I'm posting this using a proxy. Why? The web browser won't load CP for both computer in my household. I don't know if it's the Internet Connection; Aqua had a similar problem, except she resolved it by resetting her DSL connection. Any jiff on this?

Quote from: Chaze007 on September 23, 2008, 09:18:02 pm
yes, took me a bit to find the reply buttons and stuff, also here's some suggestions. the new topic stuff, new post, you should change the color, to like blue, so it's easier to tell. also [lol this is stupidish] the little diamon shapes annoy me, on the corners of community and such xD...they just dont fit in.

blue won't work on a red skin :P

That weird, I'm having the same problem, SRK. I sometimes can access and I sometimes can't. i.e. Right now I can't. I'm posting using a proxy. But I also can't access the ftp server. I think it has to do with the host, not with our PCs. I wonder if the host is blocking our IPs because we're frequently active. >:O

BTW, I fixed that problem (perfection is the key ;)) and I also added the "different" chat. :P chat.chaos-project.com will be taken down now because there is no more need for it. :) If you're curious what's different, click the chat link in the top menu bar.

very nice. 8) now it is truely part of the website.

im not sure if you said you were going to change this but the images that show that there are new messages are way to big.

What do you mean? Can you make a screenshot of that?

BTW, this skin is now beta. I think I fixed the majority of small things which I wanted to. They were mainly invisible to you anyway, they were in the admin area. :P

He's talking about those icons that notify you if there's a new message on the board. I made a similar nitpick about this.

Quote from: Carrodkirby86The New Posts are great, but they are extremely large and somewhat distracting. The whole theme overall is a larger at a whole, I don't know if that translates into we're going in larger boundaries here.

(http://forum.chaos-project.com/Themes/ChaosX5/images/off.png)

This is the image Shadon and I are talking about.

---

I can view the Administrator area. :P Now I'm posting this without using a proxy, so yeah, the host must be a badman. Then again...around the weekend I was responsible for more than 2000 hits for the site... ._.;

Alright, I might make them smaller.

And you're supposed to see the admin area. You can ban, remember?

Yes, I'm aware of that fact. Of course, I'm just saying that as a taunt to any person reading it, along with that I am definitely privileged with this.

So...this is the what the skin will look like now...Any future changes will probably be minor and not a major overhaul...Great job overall Blizzard. Although I'm not accustomed to the large space of the skin, I'll get used to it eventually and begin to love it more than Rhett. I still think something more can be made here...Not hinting at those previous suggestions should be taken into action...>_>;

It's time for that Homepage to come, spic-and-span, sexy and new, and other adjectives that have positive connotations...

My suggestion would be to add the PM info at the bottom again with a link that flashes if there's a new PM.  I miss that :(

@SRK: Yup. I am about to put up a few more fixes (i.e. the smaller images :P) and the banner. I have a banner idea, but it's hard to tell how good it is. That's why I will post 3 different editions so you can choose. Then I will make another banner, an idea I had today during a class, and put it up as well.

@Aqua: The "My Messages" button DOES blink when you get a PM. Let me demonstrate it to you by sending you a PM.

cool, the icons look way better know.

p.s i like the new banner

I don't like it, though. ._. Let's see what I can pull off with the second banner idea.

whats your second idea?

i like the banner, but im starting to see it doesnt really fit with the rest of the theme. i think it was the border that made me like it :P

As I said here (http://forum.chaos-project.com/index.php/topic,1887.0.html), this is one variation of three. And yeah, I know. Something just doesn't seem right with the banner. You'll see the new idea soon. I'll start working on it now. It should be done within 30 minutes if it turns out as I thought it would.

yeh the 5'th one looks the best. nice work. (i think i better start posting comments on the banner in the banner topic)

when will the dark version of the skin be out?

After I make a good banner, I will take a couple of hours to do the recolor and the css edits for the dark skin. Expect it all within the next few days.

wow thats quick, i thought it would take longer then that.

shows you know what your doing.

Sure. The CSS edits will take less than half an hour (maybe even less than 15 minutes). I will mainly have to change the colors used in the theme. With the images it will be a bit more tricky. I'll have to edit the already existing files. I kept all the PSD files for this purpose so I can do some indepth edits. I'll have to test the images a few times so it will take longer than just doing a recolor. I want it to look consistent as the bright theme does.

The wing-like border area is nice looking, and the red grunge/machinae look is also very beautiful in itself. It still feels a bit off, but it's definitely a keeper for a while. A great thing to spice up the forum.

It's the creation of the skeleton/first draft of the CSS that takes the longest. Making final edits, perfecting it, welding it into something plausible, that's all pretty simple to do.

Blizz. The new skin is sick!!!  8)! The Chaos Project thing at the top came out very nice  :haha:

Take a look now. And it's just 50% done. :naughty:

EDIT: I put up the almost finished version of the banner. With "almost finished" I mean that I am waiting for you to find stuff that isn't so good so I can fix it.

EDIT: ChaosDark5 Alpha is up. >:3

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/8618/snap209tj5.th.png) (http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/8618/snap209tj5.png)

First of all, wow. That's a lot of windows with "Ch" in it. Not as much as when I proxy bombard this site, but it's still a lot. Secondly, I like the black and green feel of it, those colors really intertwine themselves well, especially in a mechanical environment. You're doing a fine job Blizzard.

The banner, it would look better if there's a little more brightness with the center spot in the middle. In fact, with the whole center spot vortex-esque whatever, there can possibly be a better effect for it. There's a good background though around it, I like that. The text effects are nice, but my least favorite area would be the "P" place...Probably because it's directly over the center of that...You really did a nice job, once more Blizzard.

Thanks, I'm trying hard. :) You probably noticed that I did several banners, each better than the preceding one. There were a few other banners which I didn't put up. I stopped making new banners when I noticed that I'm going backwards and the quality of the banners started dropping.

I tinted the background a bit darker so the P stands out more, that's all I could do. If I tinted it more (I might try again, though), it looks inconsistent. Same for some shade around the letters, it starts looking inconsistent and too much like collage.

And those many windows are there because I tested different areas of the skin locally and on the site itself, i.e. profile, message view, board index, topic view, etc. Nevermind it, it's just my usual workspace. :P

I'm a big fan of the ChaosDark. And when I say big I mean huge. By which I mean grandnormous. By which I am asking, can I have its babies?

Whoa, I'm noticing something when I'm sitting low enough on my Vista computer...The text boxes for the post have a faint color change with the text post. This looks really awkward at that view, but I'm sure there's reason why you did that....Is there?

It looks a little funny too...

I think I know what your saying. In the old skin, Child Boards with new posts had bolder and darker writing. That's faint and hard to see now...

I think I know what you mean. I'll see if I can update the css of both skins it looks as eaarlier again.

This is not a big deal but when you zoom the page in fire fox you get this weird vertical red line appears in the nav buttons

Probably the color background. It's a big deal to me. :) I'll fix it ASAP.