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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Cool autumn day.
I'm feeling more relaxed than usual today. Last night I finally finished everything that I had to do for N-Sider (graphics-wise anyway). This is a big load off my shoulders. There was a lot of stuff to do. Most of it will be added after E3, I assume.
On that note, Cory (the Site Manager) wants to make some structural changes to the layout after E3. So that could potentially be a pretty big deal. He's already sent me some of his ideas, which are pretty good. So although it means more work for me, it's not something that should be too intensive.
The funny thing about N-Sider is that in some ways I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.
If you look at the main page (the URL is www.n-sider.com), you'll see three large cells toward the top. The first two relate to the current Cover Story and the latest big N-Data update.
Generally, it was understood that whenever someone requires a new icon for one of these cells, they'd approach me with a request. This way, we can ensure that all of the site's graphics have a similar feel. So even if the images are different all the time, they can use some common colours and things like that.
However, on various occasions, people will just go ahead and put up images without approaching me first. This can be frustrating, because quite often, the images they're using are being put together by one of the writers, who may or may not be able to make things gel.
If you look at the icons underneath, at the bottom (for the regular site updates), you can see that they were all designed by someone else. It's not a matter of whether they "look bad" in and of themselves, it's more a question of them not necessarily matching the site's overall design.
And then if you look at the Columns area on the right (with all the heart icons), you can probably see that those are all my designs (including the N-Banter icon). There are only two types of column on there at the moment, but all of the column icons still "match". Know what I mean?
This has led me to wonder if I'm being realistic here, or if I'm just a control freak.
In some ways I think the latter can't be possible, because there are times where I'm more than happy -- eager, in fact -- to have someone else take control of something. And this is usually because they may posess skills that I don't. So I feel that, naturally, they can do a better job at it.
I know that my designs skills aren't the best out there. There's no question in my mind about that. But still, I was asked to design N-Sider and I was asked to be responsible for update icons. To me, it always seems jarring when someone else's icon goes up -- because I can immediately tell that it doesn't fit the site, as such. And I feel that if I can tell, the readers probably can too.
But then again, right now, even with the top three icons...only one is mine (the N-Universe one on the right). The other two are technically fine. But yeah, it's just that consistency thing again.
I feel like I actually get almost disturbed if things aren't consistent. Isn't that weird? lol.
Anyway, that's my rambly update for today. I never really talk about N-Sider here, so I thought I'd give you a little insight into my other online love.
I've had some interesting experiences with N-Sider, come to think of it. Perhaps I should talk about them in my next update.
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