The unveiling of the new-look TCL is only 2 weeks away!!
With just another 14 days to go, I’ve started working as much as my spare time will allow to get as much content completed and site-ready as possible - however, if I’m being honest, I’m becoming concerned that things are not going to be ready, not just for the sections I’m involved in but for the site in general. With your indulgence, guys, I’d like to make a list of everything that IMO needs completing for uploading on 10th December!
Toy Section:
This section needs incorporating (I assume by MannyF) into the new site design. I believe MannyC and Neil also have some content ready to go online here.
Cartoon Section:
A substantial number of pages need creating and/or incorporating into the new site design, some stuff even needs writing from scratch.
At the moment we only have two episode guide pages completed - however, I am working at knocking some more out, modifying Kyle’s template! I plan to update this section on a weekly basis.
Cartoon Guide articles and features - at the moment we have nothing whatsoever to go in there. However, I do have plans for this section, and again this is something that I’ll update on a regular basis.
Animation Art & Production Materials header needs re-creating to say simply “Animation Art” as per Mark’s request. The names also needs changing on the sub-menu on all Cartoon Section pages!
Animation Art:
Mark needs some images watermarking, and had asked if MannyF could do this - last I heard he had yet to hear back from Manny about this.
For the cels that Mark wishes to upload as part of his update, some still need identifying and then they need a corresponding screen capture to complete the images for the page.
The HTML needs creating for each page of Mark’s update - unfortunately I fear I’m likely to be out of my depth with this, and so really feel that either MannyF or Kyle needs to do this.
The “Animation Art & Production Materials” section needs restructuring from Kyle’s & my original plans, again as requested by Mark - I need to discuss these changes with him, but as I understand it, in order to incorporate Matt/MannyC’s production artwork, the “Production Materials” subsection needs scrapping and incoporating into the “Animation Art” section itself, with a modification to the index page for that section.
Once that’s done, of course, each page of production artwork will then need adding to that section, each complete with a thumbnail and a piece of descriptive text (which I’m assuming Mark will want to write?).
I’m assuming that Mark would prefer the “Scripts” subsection that Kyle & I had incorporated into the “Animation Art & Production Materials” section to be housed elsewhere. That’s cool, but we will need to think of where to put it - I would suggest the logical alternative place would be the Cartoon Guide section.
On the subject of scripts, we have two complete scripts ready to be uploaded that should, IMO, go online on December 10th. I’m also hoping that Matt will still be OK with scanning and uploading his, which would be great to have up by December 10th, and I need to discuss with him his concerns re: the watermarking (which I’m sure will be fine).
Comic Section:
I have created several pages from scratch for this section, notably the new index page for the Comic Section, the index page for the Original Comic Art Gallery, the index page for the Marvel section of the aforementioned gallery, and a template page for each gallery page. Unfortunately those last two apparently display really badly on a Mac computer, and so Kyle & I need to sit down and try and resolve these issues, which has caused a delay for this section.
New index pages need to be created for the Star (Marvel) Comics, DC/Wildstorm Comics, and UK Comics series.
To get the Original Comic Art Gallery completely online (which I want to do, as some people who donated images have been waiting up to 5 months to see their material online), I have to create over 100 pages, complete with an artists’ credit, owners’ credit, any relevant website links, a brief description, and watermarking on the artwork images where requested.
Podcasts:
I know that Neil is very keen to get the first episode of “ThunderCast” recorded and online ASAP, and I share his enthusiasm - I think that this will put TCL at the absolute cutting edge of the online ThunderCats community! I don’t know when you guys all hope to get this online, but I remember something being said about it coinciding with the release of S2V2 - if that’s the case, this will also need recording, editing and uploading within the next couple of weeks!
With Kyle up to his neck in work, and myself a complete novice at HTML, am I the only person who’s beginning to panic that this stuff all needs to happen in the space of the next 14 days?!
Cartoon Guide articles and features - at the moment we have nothing whatsoever to go in there. However, I do have plans for this section, and again this is something that I’ll update on a regular basis.
I should have my Voice Actors Information completed for the update, I’ve dont all the research and such, just not had the time to put it all together yet. I’ll also try and get some Articles/Features ready.
That’s outstanding, Martin, thank you!! It would be great to have some content to go in there, even just a couple of really high-quality, informative articles, such as the type I know you were going to be working on, would make a big difference!
Chris I will have my scripts uploaded to my section within the week or so.
I also have a few other production drawings that MannyC didnt get (as I forgot about them. One is Ben-gali and it says he is Tygras brother, and a Hiachiman drawing) THe bengali one is already in my section
YES!!! Thanks Matt, this is exactly the sort of news I was hoping for - please don’t worry about the watermarking on the scripts, I’ll work with you to make sure that they’re watermarked to your satisfaction. And, I’m delighted to hear about the production drawings - officially those are now Mark’s area, so I will need to mention them to him, but I’d be surprised if he didn’t want to use them!
Chris I just thought of this. I dont remember if I talked to you or Mark about the pic of the comic plate used for printing issue number 6 (marvel US release). But we were given the go ahead to use it on the site, the pic is in my section. Let me know if you want to use it. I have the contact info for the guy when we/if we put it online. But there is no hurry with it as I plan on buying it after Christmas
I have no idea what I’m suppose to be doing for the cartoon section, if I’m even doing anything (redesign-wise). I know it was talked about in the meeting that I would be doing something…but it was never brought to my attention what exactly I need to do. Again, I know everytime I say something on the forums someone gets upset which is why I haven’t said much, but I’m probably more confused than I was before the meeting regarding this issue.
As for the toy section, about section, and the community section, those will be ready for December 10. Those were the sections I was put in charge of (redesign) and that’s what I intend to do as those will just incorporate the same layout with the new header graphic.
Matt that is amazing news once again, thank you! Yep, I will 100% be using that - I don’t know if it will be as part of the December 10th update, but if it’s cool what I may well do is use it as part of the next update after that!
Fantastic news!
The problem with the last meeting is that everything at the end was rushed because people needed to get off, so a lot of the issues that were raised towards the end weren’t thrashed out properly, this being one of those…
I’ll hopefully be talking to Kyle about these issues tomorrow sometime, and I will also obviously need to talk to Mark - but, my suggestion would be maybe if Kyle & I handle the other pages of the Cartoon Section and you help Mark update and incorporate the Animation Art Section into the new site design? Like I said, I need to have a chat with Mark about what he wants to do specifically with changing the layout of what is currently the “Animation Art & Production Materials” section, but once I know precisely what he’s after there, assuming Mark is happy with it maybe you could help me there, Manny? There’s no way that Kyle’s schedule will allow him to process an update of that size and I would be completely out of my depth - what do you think?
BTW, just to say, I personally don’t get upset whenever you say anything my friend!
Manny, we welcome whatever input you have to say…if we dont have your input on things we will not know how things are going to turn out in a few weeks. I dont think any of the team members will get upset with anything you have to say.Communication is key, Manny and we look forward to you being more involved. Please dont think we will get upset if you think something needs fixing or taken care of… we are here for each other and not against. While I may think something looks nice another person may think it could use a bit more tweaking, so long as we all reach a happy medium we will be alright…sometimes a little compromise may be needed but we all know that, after all we want the best work out there and the only way to get that is we have kind of like quality control. Hopes that makes any sense :? Take care
I think MannyC just summed it up, communication is the key here. If we are talking about the html template thing that we eventually ironed out at the meeting, it was because I didn’t understand what you meant. I’m not the cleverest person when it comes to understanding something (especially something written in text) Sometimes I can be a bit slow. You didn’t upset me
If you ever want to discuss this or talk to me about anything I’m always happy to chat on Skype with you or even MSN messenger But please don’t avoid the forum and fear posting here Manny!
Yeah, this is why I didn’t post in this thread, because I knew Manny was handling the Toy section. Manny are you still ok to do that clean up work we discussed at the meeting? If any text or pics need formatting to appear better on each page feel free to amend stuff. I want my work to look as professional as possible so if I’ve done some html anywhere that makes the page display wrong then by all means amend it.
Like I said, if you need to talk you know where to reach me.
Oh and can you do the Merchadise section placeholder in the new design as well? Not sure if you already had or not as it isn’t in your list above.
Chris, if you and Kyle need more time…we can push it back to the end of the year. I don’t mind. I know it’s suppose to be for the 1 year anniversary, but I’d rather have everything done than put up section by section…unless others think that would be better. I know Kyle is really busy so whatever is easiest on the both of you.
Neil, I’ll put a placeholder for the Merchandise section.
Well, I can have a word with Kyle about this - there is content ready to go online for the Cartoon Section, and there’s no way that all 130 episode pages are going to be ready complete with reviews, notes of interest, quotes and screenshots this side of Christmas anyway (like I said at the meeting, my plan is to update that section weekly). But, I have to say from my perspective that extra week or two would make a huge difference, and I know that Kyle finishes at university for this year a week or so after December 10th…
Unfortunately if we’re talking about debuting the whole new-look site then it becomes much harder to do as people are busy, but I spoke to Kyle last night about doing a (second) big update to the Cartoon and Comics sections of the site at Christmas, maybe Christmas Eve - I’m happy to upload stuff on that day, I even have a special comics-based TCats Christmas feature in mind!
At the moment I’ll just keep plugging away with the viewpoint of getting as much done for December 10th as I can - if it ends up being later than that date then that’s OK too, as it means there’s a likelihood of extra content! LMK what you guys all think we should do.
Apologies for the double-post - but, at the risk of incurring the wrath of my fellow team members, I’m just writing to make a formal request to ask whether the new-look site relaunch could be pushed back by a week, to December 17th?
I have been plugging away consistently at the work on the site as much as my spare time allows - but, with Kyle hard at work at university and training for/working at his new job, I’m having to do probably 80% of the HTML for the Cartoon Section and practically all the HTML for the Comic Section. I have to say I’ve actually impressed myself with the work I’ve done - but, given that I’d never touched an HTML document in my life before about 8 weeks ago, at times I am hopelessly out of my depth and a page that would take Kyle or MannyF 10 minutes to create is taking me an hour!
I’ve been working on the pages for the Original Comic Art Gallery, and even though I’ve only done roughly 25% of them, I am actually quietly optimistic of having this completed for this Sunday - but, there is no way on God’s earth I’m going to get that done, plus the pre-existing content for that section transferred, plus all the pre-existing Cartoon Section content transferred, plus add the new stuff I’d like to those two sections (such as scripts), PLUS collaborate with Mark on altering the “splash page” of the Cartoon Section with reference to the Animation Art section (as well as help him update that section) before Sunday!
I would have been sorely tempted to ask if we could go along with Manny’s offer and push the relaunch back to the end of the year - however, I realise that several of you guys have Toy Section-related updates ready to go up with the site relaunch, and it’s not fair for my slowness with HTML, plus my four-week “dry spell” following my Grandad’s death, to cause a delay in these going up. However, one extra week would help me enormously, plus it might mean that I could take advantage of an extra amount of the minimal spare time that Kyle currently has!
I very much hope that you guys aren’t offended by me asking about this - please can you LMK your thoughts? Many thanks!
No offense taken Chris…making the site look good is better IMO than to have something rushed.If a little bit more time is needed then I agree with it. I would even agree to the re-design being online on new years day, we have all been hard at work and we shouldnt feel pressured or rushed to have this online right on the 10th. Yes it would be nice but we also have to look at how much will be done and the quality of work…1 week is not really going to matter much and even 2 weeks IMO will not matter much. So I agree on an extension of even up to New Year’s Day
That’s cool, Manny - funnily enough, when I discussed this with Kyle he even suggested a New Year’s Day update!
I personally would like to see the new look online for Christmas, I even have a Christmas-themed special feature for the Comic Section planned - for, in the UK comics, the ThunderCats would celebrate the winter festival of Ramistide, their version of Christmas! However, it’s good to know that you personally would be cool with a delay of a week or two - what do the rest of you guys think?
EDIT: BTW, MannyC, I shall PM you a note of my address - and, please tell Nadja that another job I regard as urgent is taking a look at that material she sent me - I still haven’t forgotten!
But I’m away from Dec 15th to Jan 14th and won’t be able to work on my section of the site at all. I’ll get as much done as I can this weekend and then leave the rest to you guys to do the html etc.
First of all, thank you everybody for being understanding about the extension - Kyle has told me that he will have a lot more free time over the Christmas period and so if we’re shooting for a New Year’s Day update he will be able to help me a lot more!
No problems Mark - to this end, I was wondering if I could have your comments regarding the look of the Animation Art pages in the new site design, as well as some guidance from you generally as to where you’d like material positioned, etc.? I’ve posted up some questions in your “ready for update” thread - please can you get back to me about these? Many thanks!
