Friday, October 21, 2005

Crystalline Green

Well, I'm glad that's over. I haven't been online at all for the last week or so. It looks like the sinus infection I had last weekend was just a warning of things to come. Much worse things. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that it involved not eating (and hardly being able to stomach water) for about six days, losing plenty of weight as a result and so on. Yuck. Don't think I've ever had a virus that nasty before. Anyway, I'm now back. And I'm here to respond to your responses. ~_^ Alan: Obviously it's still too early to confirm a lot of things (which is probably why Adam isn't in a position to announce things to you personally), but I do expect us to have an export option for the next version. You'll never have to get your hands grubby on myOtaku ever again! Yay! Maggie: You didn't see the piercing when we...? I think you just need to be more observant. ~_^ snow fox: Thank you for voicing your support, I appreciate it very much. ^_^ Zid: I thought you'd think so. After all this time, you finally saw her. Haha ~_^ Otakusennen: I think you'll be in luck, my boy. John: I'm glad you enjoy the posts. By the way, who is that in your profile picture? Shinmaru: Yeah...I think that's why I'm the odd one out a bit. I don't look exactly like either of my parents, I'm just a strange kind of mix. Oh well. Oddly enough, my dad's hair was bleach-blonde when he was a child...then it went black and then grey. I suspect that I have only a few years left before my hair starts to go the same way. Annie-kun: Yeah, she does need some convincing, hehe. Art of Otaku will be great, I am now joining production on it and I will be polishing it up so that it's ready to go! Dagger: I'll tell her you said so. ~_^ Speaking of OB Evolution, I am going to be wanting to speak to you and Deb about that on AIM. So don't forget to keep that program on. ~_^ Doc G: Thank you! There have been pictures of me, but I tend to be pretty careful about sharing those around these days. I've had some unpleasant experiences with that. I might be able to send you one over AIM if you ask, but we'll see. indifference: myOtaku Premium is a subscription-based service that we'll be launching in the future. It'll be like a "mega-deluxe" version of myOtaku 3.0. As for OB, well, it's still too early to get very specific on that. However, I think you will enjoy the end result when it finally arrives. And thanks for the compliment! Bio: Oh it will be. It will be ridiculously cheap, I assure you. I think you will enjoy what we are doing with myOtaku's basic service, because it will give you a lot more general styling flexibility and stuff. I've been pushing to have more specifically-changeable things and it looks like that'll happen. It will also be fantastic to dump our graphic logo and focus only on the graphics of the page's owner. As for OB Evolution, it's very hard to be specific about something that is still mostly an idea. I mean, don't get me wrong - as we speak, I have about five full-page layouts of the new site on my computer. So it does definitely exist. But each of those layouts represents a slightly different direction - the difficulty is to narrow down the concept and bring things together in a more cohesive way. In any case, I'm sure that it will be a surprise at the very least. RaR: It won't be much of a bandwidth hog because it is not a web site. When you buy it, you will download the entire thing onto your computer. ^_^ The ratings thing that you mentioned is precisely something that I intend to include. I have this idea related to posting on OB, where conditions have to be met for the post to appear. That may sound a bit scary or controlling, but when you see what I have in mind, I think you will breathe a sigh of relief. Chab: Art of Otaku will be an eBook. We will distribute it ourselves (so you will be able to download it from us). However, it is a PDF and is therefore entirely print-ready. If you wish, you can print off a chapter at a time to take with you anywhere. That's up to you. It will be very elegant and shouldn't require too much ink. We may offer a bound version in the future, but that probably depends on the success of the initial offering. Baronness: Thank you. ~_^

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Sunday, October 9, 2005

The future.

Remember the title to my last post? "Success is the best revenge"? I really love that quote. I feel that if anyone is ever in doubt of what you say, your work can always speak for you. That's always been true of Adam, Justin and I...and it'll be even more true in the future. Right now, there are three major projects being worked on by the three of us: Art of Otaku, myOtaku 3.0 and OB Evolution. Art of Otaku is the furthest along, with OB Evolution being at the earliest stage of development. Previously, although I've been able to discuss our future plans in a vague way (with certain specifics), it's been difficult for me to confirm a lot of details. What I say on this page is usually just my own thoughts - by that I mean, I generally don't make it a habit to officially announce anything here. But from time to time, I'm happy to reveal details about works-in-progress. Art of Otaku, for example, is something that we've been developing for quite some time. I haven't been involved with the project (though I may be involved in some of the finishing stages before release), so it's hard for me to gauge exactly how long it's been in development. I do know, however, that Adam has been editing it for the past month or so. I had seen a couple of individual chapters and today, I saw the full beta version (in other words, the edited copy with all chapters, sans various final touches). I'm very excited about the project, because I think it could open a lot of doors for the network. I'm sure that you've seen "how to draw manga" books and web sites before. Afterall, many fan artists uses these references to help them learn about their favourite visual style. What we are doing is similar, with a few key differences. First of all, Art of Otaku will contain nine different artists. Each artist has provided multiple tutorials and they all follow an incredibly understandable format. Each tutorial is colour-coded and features an introduction, which basically lays out what materials you'll need and so on. One thing that really struck me was the amount of steps in each tutorial. You literally have your hand held every step of the way - we're talking updated imagery for very small additions in each tutorial. This means that you'll never be confused about moving from one step to another; there's tremendous detail in even the most simple linework. Furthermore, Art of Otaku is big. I mentioned nine artists, right? But I should also mention that their tutorials cover 752 pages in all. So, Art of Otaku is something that will keep people going for a long time and hopefully it can be used as reference material in the future as well. Best of all, there's lots of variety. We have an entire chapter related to drawing dozens of facial expressions/emotions and we also have a chapter based around chibi characters. There are also tutorials for male and female characters (and even drawing male and female bodies at different angles - there are entire tutorials dedicated to these differences). I do not know what the final price will be for Art of Otaku, but I think it will really appeal to our visitors. The success of Art of Otaku will also help to more clearly define the overall value of our network. I think that on some level, it will help us to gauge how we can offer myOtaku Premium as well. Speaking of myOtaku, there are a few interesting developments on that front as well. Obviously I cannot provide you with a complete feature list, but I can say that right now we are focusing on the free version of the site. myOtaku Premium will launch later. By approaching things this way, we can ensure that we are able to really focus on making the free service the best it can be. We can then spend time making additions for Premium. I keep in contact with Justin on a frequent basis, when it comes to this project. Adam, Justin and I are all involved in some manner. There are many exciting prospects. With the new version of myOtaku, it will be possible to import old blogs (from other blog sites, such as Blogger.com) to myOtaku. It should be a seamless process that will not require technical knowledge. In addition, we are investigating the possibility of allowing members to synchronize their myOtaku account with multiple other blog services simultaneously. So if you update one blog, your myOtaku will update itself in accordance. Again, this can be done with minimal technical knowledge. But there's so much more. We are also looking at offering desktop-based software that will act as a kind of RSS feed tool, to allow you to retrieve myOtaku updates from any page without visiting the site. It will even be possible for us to create a new, myOtaku-based chat system within this same piece of software. Whether we do that or not is really based on further testing, but all of these things are what we're looking at right now. I can also tell you that for myOtaku Basic users (ie: free users), you will still have tremendous customization of your page. We will be dramatically expanding styling options, while simultaneously simplifying the page layout. One thing that I'm happy about is that our logo will no longer be displayed on myOtaku pages - instead, there will be a text link. This way, there will be no graphics from us on your page. That, in turn, means that there isn't anything clashing with your own styling and graphics. For my part, I'm still working very hard on the design of the new backroom and so on. There are still various alternatives floating around and my goal is still to develop something that caters to anyone - particularly those who aren't 'net enthusiasts. So far I'm having some success on that, but the ultimate test will be when we finally launch the new service. And then there's OB Evolution. It's still incredibly early, so much so that I have yet to nail down many general aspects of it. However, I think it's worth mentioning that it will be more than a series of forums. Instead of looking like we've taken a Virtual Bulletin and dressed it up in OtakuBoards clothing...this site will feel purely like OtakuBoards, as though it were designed by us from the ground up in every way. Of much importance is the need to emphasize our uniqueness through software. For example, we have so many sticky threads on OB that relate to various things (ratings, for instance). Hard-wiring those things directly into the site will help to make everything feel more natural. Also, most of our new visitors originally come from theOtaku and myOtaku. Although I'm happy about that, I would like to see if we can make OB a gateway to the rest of the network. So, I would like to make it "more than just a forum" - it really has to be its own community site, which places less emphasis on useless vB features and more emphasis on general community access and creativity. I hope that I can talk in more specific detail about OB Evolution at some point soon. RiflesAtRecessNC: Ouch, a fever at Christmas? Not nice! I'm feeling much better now, though I still talk like a frog. ~_^ Sammy: Yeah, this will be my first and last piercing. I have no plans to get anything else. My sister, on the other hand, now has eight piercings. But I'd say that hers are mostly relatively subtle (she has a few earrings, a belly button ring, a lip ring and now a tongue ring). I wouldn't have the guts to get a tongue ring, really. lol I'm sure an earring would look good on you. ~_^ Also, this is what my sister looks like: So there you go, for those who may be curious. She sent this to me and gave me permission to put it up, so I thought I'd let you see it. Apparently she looks more like my mother, whereas I'm a mix of mum and dad. So some people think we look similar, others don't even know we are brother and sister. In fact, my sister often gets asked "is that your boyfriend?" about me. And that is uh...embarassing. Yeah. Alexus: Ahh yes...well, I really wish I could spend more time there. But it's tough, no? Still, I'll do my best. Today's running around Piken Square was great. Panda-chan: A panda tattoo, eh? That would be very cool. I do want to get a tattoo - just one - and I have a couple of ideas about that. Something small and private, no doubt. Annie-kun: I knew you'd appreciate it. ~_^ But then again, your sense of fashion is just too cool. Those boots of yours are the most awesome things on Earth. HalfBreed: Got a cold? Aw, no good! Hopefully you feel better soon. I'll send positive thoughts your way. Aaryanna: Aw, thank you much. That's very nice of you. I really never thought I'd get a piercing, it's only something I've wanted to do in the last few months. As far as they go, it's pretty light stuff. But I'm happy enough with that. Like I said earlier, I could never get a tongue one or anything...that's getting a bit too real for me, haha (even though tongue piercings can be rather cool). John: I'm happy to hear that my spike offends you! But seriously, it's very cool. It's relatively small...I want to get something larger in future. And of course, the benefit is that I can put any kind of thing in there that I want now...be it a spike, a ring, or something else. ^_^ Baronness: Don't worry, I'm told by everyone who's seen it that it dramatically improves my fuckability. That can't be a bad thing, right?

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Saturday, October 8, 2005

The best revenge is success.

It's been a strange few days (I always seem to say that, don't I?) But in this case, it's definitely true. Unfortunately it's mostly been negative. Yesterday I went with my sister and got a piercing. She got her tongue done (I'm told it will be her last piercing) and I got my eyebrow done. I chose one of those double-ended spike things, which is kind of cool. But when it heals up further, I will get something bigger. And then, last night, I went down to Phillip Island with some friends. I was intending to stay for more than one night, but I ended up coming home in the morning - I have developed a nasty little sinus infection. Yuck. I'm feeling better now, but I still feel like ass. The worst thing is, I can't really sit and work on things here, which frustrates me a lot. Hopefully I will be mostly better by tomorrow. Anyway, I want to thank those of you who commented on my last post. When I think about it, my current situation is nothing new. The main thing that annoys me, though, is that I feel that I have always done my best to support various people. Biting the hand that has fed you is never fun (at least for the hand and its owner ~_^). But I shouldn't let it concern me too much - I think my post title really says it all. In the meantime, I'll just shake the flies off my back. I won't respond specifically to comments, just because I think it's time to move on with more positive things. But I would like to thank you again for commenting - considering how gross I've been feeling today (with the trip being cut short and feeling sick and so on), your comments made me feel a lot better. ^_^

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Monday, October 3, 2005

Stuff

The last week has been interesting. I think I had a bit of an epiphany. Because of my position within this network, I think that I tend to try to be relatively polite about certain things, because I feel that I have to set an example. But it's funny, it's a position that is kind of restricting me in some ways. This week I came to understand that I should not simply put up with certain things because I don't want to make waves. Someone said something very simple to me, along the lines of "it's your site and you can do what you want with it". It's such a simple thing but it's easy to forget. This week I have kind of put myself back in control a little bit more - I have been a bit more direct and a bit more honest about how I feel on certain things. It doesn't mean that I'm going to suddenly turn into a tyrant or someone who isn't easy to get along with. It's just that there are various people who have relied on me in the past - who have taken and taken and left me with nothing in return. It may be time for me to shake these people off and cut the strings. Let them survive on their own and let me get on with my own business. I know that in itself is probably a little cryptic, but it's something that's on my mind right now. There are people who really do deserve the leg-up; people who are really genuine and who appreciate what they've gained from assocations with me or the network. And there are people who simply aren't like that. Basically, I think I've just realized the obvious - I have the power to create the environment that I want to create. Others would say the same about their own ventures. If there's one weakness I've had in the past, it's that I've been far too slow to react to people who have simply been leeching from me in one way or another. I'm going to attempt to be a little quicker to react to those things in the future, I think. Anyway, as I said, that's just something that's been going through my mind lately. I had a good long talk to Annie about it recently and that helped to clear my head a lot - much thanks to Annie for that. ^_^ I'll get straight to my responses, because I don't have much else to say right now. Alan: Yeah, I think you have a better understanding of my intention now. In regard to myOtaku...I think again we have to make some distinctions about "serious" bloggers. As I mentioned, I'm sure that there are plenty of people who are serious about blogging, but who will not be able to set up their own site. For such people, there are many choices. myOtaku's main attraction for bloggers is the portfolio system, which I think is a significant element. For myOtaku 3.0...I can tell you that we will support many advanced features. That includes a permalink option. We will therefore provide all the advantages of standalone blogging technologies, while simultaneously providing user-friendly features for those who do not have coding knowledge. On the IE/Firefox thing...yeah. We are now on the same page, haha. indifference: Well, a lot of people are happy to use what comes with Windows, because they simply don't know better. Or they don't see the benefits of moving to another browser. I mean, there are users who don't like Firefox because it displays some of their favourite sites oddly. This is not the fault of Firefox itself - however, the user doesn't care who's fault it is. They only want the site to display correctly. This is a fundamental concept that I was trying to convey earlier. Yes, I think the arguments about IE being awful and so on are all entirely valid. But most Internet users aren't aware of that - and even more don't care at all. At the end of the day, I think it comes down to a basic concept for users: "I don't care how it works, as long as it works." It has to be like magic - nobody cares how you do it, as long as the end result is what you're looking for. Of course, people who are programmers and designers are perhaps more interested in the enthusiast side of it. And that's fair enough. But my interest - and my real goal - is to think about Internet users who are unconcerned and uninterested in such things. I keep being reminded of what my aunt was saying about the Internet. I may have mentioned what she said when I showed her Art of Otaku...but her general comments interested me. She talked about using Google and coming across sites that have pop-ups and she doesn't understand what they're for. She talks about being led to sites that she didn't ask for and about how some sites use language that is too confusing. Her complaints are irrelevant to someone like me (and many of you), because we are comfortable with this environment. But she's only been using the 'net for a couple of years and she has absolutely no history with computers. But so many sites are designed by designers, for designers. Or by programmers, for programmers. That's cool, but it would be great to design something that is as useable as any other everyday item. There are some designers who are very good with this type of thing and I am looking to them for inspiration I think. I like the fact that I studied graphic design rather than web design or programming, at times. Learning about the fundamentals of visual communication really opens your eyes...and so much of that can be applied to the web. Of course, there are many people who are much better at design than me (many, many people). But my hope is simply to have the right goals in mind and to get closer to those goals each time I make the attempt. As long as I'm doing that, I think it's the most I can ask for. Aaryanna: I am glad that the discussion was informative for you! And I really appreciate your response. Actually, the same goes for everyone who responded - I appreciate the time you've taken. Your responses are always very enlightening, especially from those of you who are not very experienced with the web. As a matter of fact, I may have a job for some of you less-experienced folk at some point in the near future. A bit of an experiment, maybe. I may talk about that soon. SunfallE: I appreciate your reply and what you said does strike a chord with me - I primarily use IE, even though I am 100% aware of the benefits of other browsers. Yes, I do have Firefox and Opera, but I rarely ever use them. Part of this is because I do want to see our sites through IE and I want to have the same experience that our users are having. But also, changing browsers is definitely difficult, especially when other browsers don't display things as I like. But again, that relates to what I mentioned above. Anyway, my hope is that the new myOtaku will be easier to use than this one. I think this one is easier to use than many sites of its type, but...we can always always do better. For one thing, the menu and divisions on the new site should be a lot easier to understand. So myOtaku 3.0 will be a good experiment in relation to this subject. But I think OB will be an even bigger one, because I really have no restrictions with that. It's also much smaller than myOtaku, so I feel more comfortable taking bigger risks. Apologies if any of my above post is rambly or incoherent - it's very late here at the moment. I just felt the sudden compulsion to update the page.

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Monday, September 26, 2005

Response to your responses.

Since your responses were so long, I thought I'd take the time to actually respond in some detail. Enjoy. ^_^ Alan: Notice that I said "pretty much any code you desire". Of course it doesn't support everything, but I don't think people would expect that anyway. It's necessary to balance the desire for customization with the need to have a unified and secure environment. In regard to your comparison, I think it's worth mentioning a few key points. Firstly, as I stressed in my last post, people who are great with coding and who are prepared to invest in a domain and hosting are unlikely to choose myOtaku over a different service. That much should be obvious. myOtaku is primarily designed for people who do not have knowledge of web code and who are not prepared to invest in setting up domains and hosting on their own. However, myOtaku is still relevant to those who do have knowledge of web coding. Just because a user has experience with coding does not mean that they are willing to go and shell out for a domain and hosting tomorrow. It doesn't work like that. In addition, many people do not necessarily even want to have their own site - perhaps they don't update often enough to justify the investment of time and money. Or perhaps they don't want to invest the time gathering a new audience and setting up a portfolio system of their own. Under such circumstances, myOtaku is an ideal solution. I think it is important to understand the distinction I am making there. You are correct in saying that myOtaku isn't really a competitor to other blogging services in the most raw sense, but myOtaku is also relevant for a wide variety of users at the same time. In regard to your comments about IE and Safari...I think you are missing my point. As I explained, there is value in developing primarily (or only) for these minority browsers. If your entire audience uses Firefox and if you are only intending to capture a very limited audience, that is 100% fine. However, if you are physically blocking IE users and if you are expecting people to install a new browser just to visit your site, then I would not regard that as strong design in any sense. I also think that many web creators do not understand the danger that attitude poses to their future growth - most people simply aren't going to make such a change on the strength of one site, especially if they feel that the site is alienating them as a user. For you, it's perfectly fine to say "fuck the consequences". You have a limited pool of users who are all operating on the browser of choice for your site. For a site like ours - or for any larger site - this is simply not an option. Obviously, if we decided to drop all IE support tomorrow and focus entirely on Firefox, the network could probably collapse. Finally, your statement about CSS and IE support. What you've told me there is nothing new. I understand this problem and I'm aware of the difficulties that IE brings with it. But what you have to understand is that from my point of view, a web creator needs to work around these difficulties. If it is necessary to sacrifice a technological feature in order to make the site more widely viewable, I think that's a reasonable compromise. If a site is relying on something like drop-down boxes in order to maintain a streamlined functionality, then I would submit that the site is already relying too much on technology and not enough on good design. (You may want to read John's comment on my last post, where he pretty much summarized what I was saying about IE support). It is important to recognize that technology is not an end, but a means. It is a vehicle through which you deliver a service. As a result - and if you are designing a mass-market site - the technology should only be seen as a tool to deliver the ideal experience to users, regardless of the browser they are using. So if someone were to tell me that they cannot support IE because it won't let them use drop-down boxes, I would tell them to find an alternative that works just as well and maintains ease of use. Finding alternatives and improvising in order to ensure a strong experience for all users is the essence of good design - this is true not just on the web, but in many different industries and markets. Tony: Yep, I agree 100% with what you're saying here. My intention is not to suggest that all web creators need to follow the general philosophy that I've set out. Obviously, if you're a site where 90% of your users are running Safari, then it makes sense to cater to your userbase. Similarly, if you are trying to be accessible to everyone on the Internet, it is absolutely critical to have cross browser support, with an emphasis on Internet Explorer. My feeling is that many people who support minority browsers are doing a good service, because they are creating content that will work perfectly with those programs. This can only give more incentive to Internet users to try out these alternative browsers. But of course, if the ultimate goal is to be user friendly for many people, it is ridiculous to alienate the majority of the Internet on something as inconsequential as a drop-down menu or some other CSS-related feature. It would be a bit like Microsoft saying that you won't be able to use Xbox 360 unless you have an HDTV. Sure, HDTV is probably optimal for the best picture, but at the end of the day it's something that makes the game slightly prettier. Is it worth alienating most users on the strength of a minor aesthetic issue? I would call that a poor design choice. So I think you can see what I'm saying there - I think that example can be applied to the use of any number of web-related technologies, whether we're talking a CSS feature or Flash or something else. The main thing is, I think people sometimes get the user-creator relationship mixed up. There is a sense that the creator is in charge and that the creator must dictate what people need to see and use. But in reality - and if one is working professionally - it's quite the opposite. As a creator it is most important to cater to the end user as much as possible - to satisfy their desire for ease of use, for functionality and effectiveness. As mentioned, this obviously does not apply to very small niche sites that are catering to a particular group. But as a general rule, whether it's on the web or in any other design industry, I think it's very important. DDG: Me too, I hope that it makes the entire network a bit more manageable. ^_^ John: Bingo. That's what I was getting at on that point. A good designer needs to work around issues like that, rather than simply cutting off the majority of users. But of course, that's if we're talking about a site that holds broad accessibility and ease of use in high regard. That is why I felt that many sites claiming to be developed with these things in mind are actually self-contradictory in terms of the way they've come out at the end.

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Blueberries and milk? Maybe.

Today I was shown a mock-up for the new myOtaku front-end. I'm looking forward to working on that with Adam, because I think it will be significant improvement over what we have now. So far my work has mostly involved the back-end, which relates to backrooms and all of the things that you see when you're updating and editing and so on. The front-end is your actual user page, which the public sees. On myOtaku 3.0, we are stripping it down further and making it even more customizable. This will of course be particularly useful to those who do not have great HTML skills, but who want to create a great looking page regardless. It is likely that the Premium service will launch later than myOtaku 3.0 itself. Adam and I both agree that it would be best to focus our energies on building a strong main-site update first and then focusing on Premium after that. Considering that our membership numbers are growing more quickly with each week, a strong new free-access site will help to keep things moving rapidly. So, I think you can look forward to what we are building in terms of the free stuff. It will certainly feel like a major upgrade, I think. In semi-related news, you may be aware that we are purchasing our fourth dedicated server for this network. I'm not certain what the causes are, but hopefully this will help to correct any speed issues that some people might be having. At the very least, it'll provide guaranteed space for growth. To jump back to the myOtaku subject for a moment, it's true that myOtaku allows you to use pretty much any type of coding you desire. So even for those of you who have more advanced coding skills, myOtaku is relevant (especially if you want to avoid paying for a domain and building everything from the ground up). At the same time though, it's true that myOtaku doesn't offer the power and flexbility of freely-distributed blogging services. Although it is not our intention to really be any kind of competitor or alternative to those services (our focus is, afterall, on the portfolio aspect of myOtaku), I think it is likely that the next iteration of this site will feature more sophisticated options and features. When I talk to people about the services they use (and when I talk to webmasters in general), I get the sense that many are out of touch with regular Internet users. For example, if you look at OtakuBoards, I think you'll find that it's quite an easy site to navigate. Most of you won't have much problem with it. But what if your mother or father registered an account tomorrow? What if your grandmother registered? Anyone who uses the Internet less frequently - or who uses it often but only in a very simplistic way - is going to view OB as an incredibly complex prospect. The same is true when it comes to a service like myOtaku or deviantART, where you have a blogging service combined with a portfolio system. Although we do allow great customization for those who know some sort of web code, it is true that most of our users posess no knowledge of such things. As a result, using myOtaku (or OB) really has to feel very seamless and simple. This somewhat relates to the idea of designing web sites only for Firefox or Safari. Yes, there's merit in doing so - and I think it can actually be a good thing for people to do it - but designing exclusively for such programs (at the expense of Internet Explorer) can be a self-defeating exercise. There is always a kind of niche audience for that stuff. For example, building a really technically advanced Flash site is great for those who have the ability to view it. But are you going to be accessible to everyone? Are you limiting appeal because you are setting high barriers to entry? I remember seeing a web site that was designed by a former OBer, which physically blocked anyone using IE from entering. This individual would quite happily stand there and talk about the benefits of open source and the need to be inclusive and so on, yet he would deliberately block 90% of Internet users from his site. So is his position really related to inclusiveness and a sense of community, or is it more about self-importance and egotism? I'd say the latter. When I saw the notice that basically ordered me to use Firefox, I closed the site and never returned. I'm willing to bet that most IE-users would do the same and not think twice. So, bang, he kills off a large percentage of potential visitors. With our network, we do struggle with issues like these. When you are engineering sites that hundreds of thousands of people use, you do not have the luxury of creating a "niche" destination that will only operate on a minority of browsers. It is necessary to support those browsers, but it is even more critical to ensure that all of your functions work correctly in the dominant platform (in this case, IE). I notice, with some amusement, that the CSS-based movement is growing all the time and the emphasis seems to be on clean and intelligent design. I think this is a fantastic trend. However, I also notice that many sites which are ostensibly designed with maximun functionality and useability in mind, actively reject or penalize IE users. How are these philosophies compatible? If your intention is to create something that is easy to use and aesthetically pleasing, does it not logically follow that you should place a similar amount of energy on ensuring strong brower compatibility? Or at least, a support for as many users as possible? All of this relates back to more than technology. It comes back to the idea that many web designers are designing for themselves and are ignoring their potential audience. Potential is the key word, I think. Technology is part of the equation, but so is a general design philosophy. If you look at your own site or you browse various sites on the web, put yourself in the place of your grandmother. Imagine that you have never used the Internet before and you have no idea what the terminology is, you have no idea what the conventions are. Under such circumstances, how many web sites become that much more difficult to navigate? I would say that OtakuBoards is ridiculously complex by those standards, as is myOtaku, as are most sites. So, for me personally, I think OB will be the big experiment. It is through this prism that I am viewing the site, but it is also through this prism that I am designing it. I have no idea what the outcome will be, except to say that I think it will be more positive for everyone. myOtaku 3.0 is not exactly being designed in this way, but I think it will be both more complex and easier to use than its predecessor. Anyway, that's quite a disjointed ramble, but hopefully some of it makes sense. It was something I was thinking about recently and a few of my thoughts just spilled out onto the keyboard as I began my post. ~_^ RiflesAtRecess: It's interesting you mention the size of the new post window. That's something we can and should consider adjusting. I agree about Revolution. There's just so much potential, both with traditional and non-traditional games. Annie-kun: Yeah, I wanted to keep it simple. But you never know, I might change my intro image again soon, there are a few others that I quite like. indifference: Thank you. I do recommend reading some of the stuff about Revolution, or viewing the demo video of the controller. I think you will be impressed. John: Apparently it's very easy to support the controller in terms of the API (Application Programming Interface). The big issue is just the ideas. I'm less confident about that than any finacial support, honestly. As for the song, I think I should just link to it and let you download it. Click here to download Strict Machine (that goes for anyone else who can't get it by clicking on the link at the top of the page). flirtinangel: Actually, I'm just very fast when it comes to typing. I can thank years of touch typing classes in primary and secondary school for that (funnily enough, touch typing classes were compulsory at my primary school...all the way back in 1993/1994 - if only they knew how forward-thinking that was). Congrats on the play. ^_^ Otakusennen: Two things come to mind. I think the hardware specs will genuinely surprise people (especially Matt from IGN) and I also think that what hasn't been shown on the Revolution controller is actually quite significant. You can check the Revolution thread at OB for a little hint about that. Aaryanna: I honestly have no idea where that 84 came from, lol. But yeah, it would not be Celsius, that's for sure. Nearly boiling point! Hehe. Thanks for your comment, I hope you are doing well. ^_^

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Sunday, September 18, 2005

In love with your strict machine.

Just added a new theme. The MP3 is a little large though, so I may see if I can reduce it for those who are interested (edit: just brought down from over 5MB to 1.76MB). The actual song is one of my favourites by Goldfrapp (who I've based my current theme on). I recently purchased Supernature, their latest album and I'm quite enjoying it. If anyone likes Strict Machine I may put up more songs in the future. Anyway, not a great deal has happened since I last posted, really. I have had quite a busy couple of weeks in general, with both work and social life. Last night I went out to a really nice British-style pub in the city, which I'd never been to before. It was fantastic, the atmosphere was wonderful. I came to realize that there are many sites in my own city that I haven't even seen, so that's something I'm going to have to explore in the future. I'd talk about all of the Revolution stuff that has happened recently, but I've done that a bit in the actual thread on OtakuBoards. I'll just say that I'm quite surprised by the highly positive media reaction. It's no doubt due to the fact that Nintendo actually allowed much of the media to try the thing out on the day. The same was not true of the GameCube controller, which is possibly why it received fairly mixed initial comments - though obviously, once people got their hands on it, they understood that it felt as smooth as butter. The same seems to be true if this new controller, which is cool. I think everyone can also look forward to the other aspects of the controller that haven't yet been shown. I just hope that Nintendo do not wait 'till E3 for that. Maybe they'll do something before then, but who knows. Anyway, I'll get straight to the responses. (Oh, but first, click here to see some funny movie posters at Kevin's page). SugarCone: Oh I see, I thought you were referring to the actual game system and not the storage medium. On the game system area, I don't think there's a definite answer. But on the storage medium question, I think it's very likely that Blu-ray will come out on top. Alan-kun: Isn't it funnier that the only time you comment on my page, it relates to bad news? Annie-chan: Yeah, a site would be great for all of those things. Absolutely. 84 degrees? I don't know if it's 84F or what. *shrug* hEvN: Why thank you! Torisuki: Thanks for the comment, Tori. I hope you are doing well too! Hopefully the wedding planning is going well. ^_^ Bio: Yes, yes you should. indifference: Thank you for the compliment. I'm not sure where the 84F came from, I don't remember if I mentioned the temperature in Celsius or not...but obviously, I think every country in the world besides America uses Celsius, so off hand I'm not sure how to translate it. RiflesatRecess: Thanks, I'll add you as well. How are you enjoying myOtaku? Sony's been making a lot of strange statements about PS3 and I would not be surprised if it is expensive. But I would also not be surprised if it sits right around the Xbox 360 price point. PS3 has a lot of great games coming, but most are sequels at the moment. I'm sure I will enjoy what PS3 has to offer, but Xbox 360 and Revolution seem to be providing something a little newer (especially Revolution). Xbox 360 has a couple of new franchises that I'm interested in, so I'm keeping my eye out for those. Baronness: No, I've never heard of them. It's true that it's a somewhat obscure name - I had to explain the meaning to every single person I mentioned it to. But that's okay. I figure that if people really want to know, they'll find out and be pleasantly surprised. Alternatively, I would have included the word's definition on the front page of the site, thus removing any confusion. I am still considering anabiosis.com.au, but we'll see. Getting a .com.au is tougher because of the added business-related hurdles. So I don't know, it might be possible but right now I'm also looking for other ideas as well.

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Friday, September 9, 2005

Sayonara bitches? o_O

So, I'm not sure who of you reads theOtaku.com's front page, but myOtaku was recently featured as #1 site on G4's Filter program. Since the G4/TechTV merger, we haven't been getting the channel in Australia (which is probably a good thing, as far as I've heard). Nevertheless, being featured on television (and at #1 position, no less) is pretty cool. More than anything, I think it tells us that in some way, we're moving in the right direction. I have seen the footage of this show, but I'm not allowed to link to it right now, due to bandwidth issues. However, I might be able to upload it to my own space and link to it from there, via my blog (and since much fewer people visit this page than the front page of the site, it might be doable). So yeah, hopefully soon you will get to see the clip, it's quite cool, except that the host is highly obnoxious. Anyway, I am glad that the weather here is finally warming up again. Apparently our winter was the warmest in 84 years. That's so odd, because it felt incredibly cold to me. Oh well. I am hoping that my family will go down to Phillip Island again within the next few weeks. We normally go once a year and I always enjoy it. So far this year though, we have not yet been. I hope that my parents can both find the time to go. I also discovered that the domain name I was wanting (anabiosis.com) is taken. I had done a search on this using Telstra's domain finder tool a while ago, but either something was wrong with that, or it was registered since then. In that case though, I must have done the search longer ago than I'd thought. So it means that I'll have to come up with something else. I wish that I had not been so preoccupied - the more I think about it, the more appropriate it seems. Blah. Back to the drawing board, I guess. I have also been talking with Desbreko a little bit about the QKT site. I'm getting ready to begin work on that and hopefully it shouldn't take too long to put together. I expect it to be reasonably simple, except that over time, it will contain more and more information. Obviously it will contain data on all the guild members and so on. But I am thinking that it would be a great place to include some resources on Guild Wars itself. For example, little walkthroughs, or character builds, or tips for players. Those sorts of things would be great. And I know that Desbreko has a lot of experience writing that type of thing. In fact, when we were working on ShineGet together a while ago, I remember being highly impressed by his very detailed and well-written walkthroughs. And Deb seems to enjoy writing articles like that, which also seems to be reflected in the quality of his work. So, it will be great to get that stuff rolling. I am really pleased with the guild so far and the new guest system might become pretty useful, as I know that there are people who want to join us on Guild-related activities, but who are members of other guilds. Sammy: Yeah, I'm not sure how widely it was actually read, other than some people jumping in and out. I think mostly it's fun for the actual participants. But then again, I'm not entirely sure which events are better for non-participants. Survivor might be a good one, though. SugarCone: Okay, but that's not quite correct. PS3 will have a Blu-ray drive, yep. But Xbox 360 will have a dual-layer DVD drive. J Allard recently pretty much killed any talk of including HD-DVD in the system, either now or as a future upgrade. As for Sony coming out on top, that's simply something you should not say with absolute certainty. This is the first generation where Sony have started to make some big mistakes - and where they have far more serious and dangerous competition. If Sony come out on top with the same market share as last time, I will genuinely be surprised. If they come out with more market share but their competitors are closer, that'll seem more realistic. But there's a strong possibility for Sony's dominance to be killed off in a significant way. In this case, it's important to understand the history of the industry - the same thing was said about Nintendo in the 8 and 16-bit generations. SunfallE: That's true. In the early stages, most gamers will not know the difference. The differences will largely depend on how different companies make use of these technologies. But also, any kind of prolonged war with these formats would not be good. It would mean lots of confusion and wasted money for consumers. Sara: Me too. My hope is that we can have some sort of variety to these things, so that we are not always attracting the same people each time. indifference: Yeah, these things do eventually sort themselves out. Hopefully it won't come at the expense of consumers though. Aaryanna: You're very right there. It's taken so long for Sony to make a PlayStation 2 model without fundamental disc reading problems, afterall. Still, I guess it's the same with anything. The very first DVD players were slower and more troublesome too. John: Well, I personally care because I follow the industry. It's the same as how a comic book fan would care if there were major changes coming along for that industry. More broadly, it can be said that they're "just video games", but the industry is now much larger than the film industry. So, this type of issue has an impact that goes well beyond enthusiasts. Also, even if you are someone who does not play video games, this format situation will still impact you. If you ever buy movies or ever use any computer medium at all (like CDs or DVDs), this type of thing will have a direct impact. In a real way, it can affect both the type of content you get as well as the cost of that content. So I am interested more as an enthusiast, but there are repercussions that go well beyond the game industry itself. choku: Thank you for commenting anyway! ~_^ Baronness: That's true, but there will always be people like that. There are people like that who argue over what forum or what site is better, too. However (and thankfully), there are a lot of level-headed people and people involved directly in the industry, who actually want to see the best possible outcome. Like all things though, both of these formats have advantages and drawbacks. I think it's mostly just a case of waiting and seeing who will come out on top.

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Tuesday, September 6, 2005

360 degrees.

I don't know who of you reads 1UP.com, but a few of the things they've been reporting lately have gotten me thinking. 1UP does a lot of good things. Their cover stories and some of their more unique features are really a breath of fresh air as far as big video game media is concerned. But there are times when their reporting really annoys me, either because it's filled with opinion (and we all know that news and opinion do not go together), or simply because they create inferences that are highly shaky or flat-out false. One of the biggest stories lately relates to the whole HD-DVD versus Blu-ray situation. It's understandable that gaming sites would report on this issue, afterall, media format has a direct impact on the game industry. But really, the only company right now who is making a big deal of next generation media formats is Sony - and the only reason they're doing it is because they have a distinctly non-gaming agenda (ie: use PS3 to push their format into position to become the successor to DVD). But somehow a story came about that Microsoft were considering HD-DVD for Xbox 360. Obviously, this simply could not happen at the launch period - the system is only a few short months away and next generation disc formats are not even completed yet. Including a new and somewhat experimental drive in a system due to launch in a matter of months could be very tricky (and significantly increase the cost of the system). Microsoft did say that HD-DVD is a possibility for them in the future, but now sites like 1UP are constantly linking HD-DVD to Xbox 360. I think it annoys me because it's as though they are trying to create some kind of artificial battle. Microsoft has been leaning toward supporting HD-DVD, but they haven't exactly been very vocal about the whole subject. Yet various sites are trying to turn the situation into some giant war between MS and Sony. We then get told that Xbox 360 and Revolution will suffer if their makers do not include a next generation disc drive in those systems. This kind of logic seems to come from people who think that next generation automatically means "better". Yeah, Blu-ray is very high capacity (50GB on average per disc), while HD-DVD is not quite that high (around 15-30GB on average per disc). But apart from the fact that Blu-ray is more expensive as an investment (because you need all-new equipment to manufacture the discs), there are some potentially major issues on the user end as well. First of all, there's the whole capacity question. More capacity is always good, right? Well, theoretically, yes. But that's not always true. I remember that recently J Allard mentioned that around 90% of Xbox games were only using a single layer of the dual-layer DVDs that Xbox uses. So more capacity was always available, but it was barely ever required. Secondly, in the PC games market (where games are always pushing the barriers of capacity and computing requirements), the transition to DVD-based games is still ongoing. CD-ROM format games are still selling higher than their DVD-ROM counterparts, despite the fact that most computers built in the last few years are DVD-compatible. It is expected that it will be at least another few years before all new PC games only sell on DVD-ROM. Both Xbox 360 and Revolution are using dual-layer DVDs, which store around 9GB or so. Sure, there might be cases where more than one disc is required, especially if a game contains massive amounts of digital audio content and so on. But even then, the cost of a double-disc game won't be too high, because we're talking about an established media format. Also, since DVD has been around for a while now, DVD drives can now run at significantly higher speeds. This means that the seek time (the time taken for the drive to locate the required information) is much shorter than it once was. On a Blu-ray drive, where the disc is running at much higher capacity, the seek time is sure to be significantly longer. I can't imagine how this issue can be solved in time for PS3's launch, unless an extremely expensive drive is included (thus making PS3 prohibitively costly for consumers). So in actual fact, dual layer DVDs are probably fine for next generation games in general. Revolution and Xbox 360 may not be going as far-out as PlayStation 3 in this area, but I regard their solution as far more sensible. The required capacity is there, the cost is low, the loading times will be reduced from what they previously were...there really are no major downsides. I just don't know how Sony is going to make it all work seamlessly in PlayStation 3, without charging a fortune for the console. Even if the system is expensive, we're still talking about a fundamentally new technology. The possibility of disc read errors and long load times is extremely high with PlayStation 3 software. In actual fact, I do think that Blu-ray is probably ultimately a better way to go than HD-DVD, simply because it's a longer-term solution. But in the context of next generation systems, I don't really know why this is an issue at all. It really wasn't until Sony made it one, anyway. More importantly, J Allard seems to have pretty much confirmed that Microsoft is happy to stick with dual layer DVDs for Xbox 360. Why introduce HD-DVD on that system anyway, now that they're locked in? That's no different to having a 64DD attachment or something - it just means that consumers will need to buy more hardware and those who don't own an HD-DVD drive won't be able to play those games. What's the point? Considering that the Xbox 360 will not include the hard drive in the Core System package already, the concept of further splitting the market with an entirely new optical drive seems asenine to me. I'm actually glad that J Allard pretty much backed away from that entire concept. The hard drive thing is bad enough, but it's really the only significant issue in what is otherwise a pretty impressive total package. I just wish that 1UP in particular would stop drawing such long bows with things like this. It doesn't help and it feeds misinformation into the minds of gamers. And that, in turn, fuels debates that are predicated on shaky news reporting. Sammy: I think that part of the appeal of OBB was that people were being "isolated". Every time they visited OB, they could only post in that one area. For the casual user, it doesn't matter. It's probably a turn-off. But for the hardcore user, it means a lot of activity and variety in the posts. Afterall, you only have one place to post about any subject you can think of. Actually, I was somewhat surprised at the success of those two events. It was a very unique concept though, and I think the entire thing was very valuable for the site. My goal is always to create things on OB that nobody else is doing, because I think that tends to make OB a more interesting place in general. Anyway, as for your idea, I would definitely entertain that. Since Shy is our official event coordinator, it's something you might be able to create with him in the future as our next event. It might be worth planning out now, because it sounds like it could require some serious organization. Ajeh: You got that right.

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Sunday, September 4, 2005

He's the one that you're about to meet...

Once again, I had a pretty nice weekend. I managed to find enough time to talk to various people on AIM as well, some of which I haven't talked to in a while. So that was pretty cool. Although things are going at a relatively slow pace (or they may appear to be), I am very excited about various things that are coming up for this network. Art of Otaku will be a really significant test, because really, it's becoming quite a unique publication. The sheer size of it is quite remarkable and it manages to cover a good amount of visual styles. More importantly still, Adam is editing it very carefully and it seems that the final result will be something different to what's out there currently. Other things are happening too. Soon I will be handling a redesign of the Velegant site, to transform it into something more representative of our overall network. It is difficult to summarize the network in some respects, without listing off a bunch of URLs. And that's too confusing. So creating a PR hub, so to speak, will be nice. It'll be good to point business partners and clients to one location for a more organized summary of what we do here. I'm also pleased with Shy's latest OB event, The Legionnaires. So far it seems to be doing quite well, considering the ambitious nature of it. Managing so many roleplayers cannot be easy, but Shy is up to the task (afterall, he's had to organize other major events in the past). Speaking of events, I think it would be fun to do another Otaku Big Brother one day. I am still very much a fan of the general concept - it's unique and in practice, it seemed to work quite well. Apart from actually having members who were not involved in the prior versions, it would be nice to put some new spins on the idea and to further increase the production value. I wouldn't expect just one person to operate it though...it would really require maybe two or three senior staff to watch over it. So we'll see how that goes. In recent times, I have also been slowly doing a little work on a next generation N-Sider site. Right now work goes very slowly, because I don't think I'm ready to pull together all of the specific design elements. What I'm really interested in doing is building up some of my skills in certain areas first, before I continue. I have spent considerable time working on various types of glassy surfaces, for example. But to do this properly, I may need to start thinking about using other software. Other than online things, life has been quite busy. More work, more social time (perhaps a bit too much) and recently I signed up to my local gym with my sister. I haven't exercised in about three months now and even when I did, I was never in a gym. So that will be good fun - I've already toured the place and it seems quite nice, although it does lack a few features (the squash courts were rennovated to expand the gym itself, which is a bit disappointing). Still, it should be fun. SamSandy: Ah, but you are missing a key point here. Yes, the "star" of The Sopranos is Tony Soprano, who is a gangster. However, the story really revolves around his relationships with others - including his family, who are largely innocent of any crime. The show never attempts to represent his "job" in a positive light. As a character, his mafia side is not idolized at all. In fact, the show actually demonstrates the many negative consequences of the life he has chosen. As a result, the show is actually against organized crime, by displaying the hardships and difficulties that it brings to one's life. Tony himself constantly struggles with the dual desire to provide for his family while simultaneously coping with what he does for a living. In the final analysis, I think that The Sopranos indicates that life is not a black and white place. There are good and bad things, but it usually comes down to what a person is willing to live with and so on. Anyway, I won't keep rambling, but I think it's worth shedding a little light on the subject. John: Yeah, he has quite an incredible mind. It's funny how Mario has become so popular, considering his relatively humble origins. Annie-kun: I don't watch TV much either, other than a variety of news channels. But Sopranos is definitely worth watching, or at least trying out. ^_^ Sara: But I appreciate that you made the effort! indifference: Yeah, commercials make TV more annoying to watch, especially in recent years. Good thing we have been watching that show on DVD. SunfallE: If you do watch it at some stage, I'd definitely be interested to hear your take on it. It kind of reminds me that there are a few other series I might like to buy, especially Seinfeld. Oh, I saw this article about human evolution on MSNBC a couple of days ago. Obviously no amount of evidence is going to stop fundamentalists from thinking that the Earth is flat and only 6,000 years old, but those who are interested in this subject may want to read it. The second page in particular is interesting, due to the break-down of key points. This reminds me of a documentary that I saw recently about human evolution. They were talking about how scientists did not know what species was the first to significantly deviate from the monkey in evolutionary history. There are, of course, fossils of pre-humanoids (which are not monkies or apes, but which bear qualities from either of those alongside unique human qualities). However, for a long time, it was not known what the biggest single development was, on the path of human development. It seems the brain would be an obvious answer, but the brain seems to have developed partly as a response to other physical improvements. For instance, the feet of the earliest-known human ancestor is unlike an ape and more like our own (ie: longer, thinner, with a non-seperated big toe). This same species (the fossil of which was discovered not too long ago), also had a spinal entry underneath its skull, rather than on the back. This indicated that it walked vertically and was bipedal. I wish I could remember the name of the documentary, it's very worth watching. It reminds me that yes, there actually is quite a lot of evidence on this subject. And quite a lot of specific evidence too - the fossil I referred to just now is essentially the "missing link" species. To my knowledge, similar skeletons have been uncovered in recent years (one was uncovered in Egypt only last year I think). In this documentary, there was also a discussion on brain development. Basically the brain development is thought to have come from the more sophisticated social structure of various monkey species. There is a need to remember many details (physical and social, based on heirarchy) and the ability to interpret sophisticated body language and so on. Some of these same species were also apparently the first to utilize tool making. So I imagine it is somewhat like a snowball effect. Anyway, hopefully that was not too rambly, but it was something I was thinking about just now. In any case, the article is interesting. In case you do not read it, I thought I'd leave you with a revealing quote: "Researchers said the chimp/human comparison served as the most dramatic confirmation yet of Charles Darwin's claim in 1871 that humans and chimpanzees had a common ancestor. Today, scientists believe that the most recent common ancestor lived 6 million years ago. "I couldn't imagine Darwin hoping for a stronger confirmation of his ideas than when we see the comparison of the human and chimpanzee genome," Waterston told reporters during a Washington news conference. The researchers also used the chimp genome as a new reference point for judging how rapidly various areas of genetic code have changed: Waterston said it appeared that genes linked to the wiring of the nervous system and the perception of sound changed particularly quickly in primates, compared with other mammals. As for genetic changes that are peculiar to humans, the "most intriguing" one involves transcription factors, the proteins responsible for controlling the expression of other genes, Waterston said. Scientists believe that tweaks in transcription factors may spark rapid evolutionary change, even though the genes they control are relatively unchanged — just as the same classical melody can sound dramatically different when given a jazz interpretation." Yay for knowledge!

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