Random Banner

[HellishHades]

I've coded my layout so that a random logo image appears when loading a page on PokémonFAQs (http://pokemonfaqs.uni.cc). The banners also do a little colour-addition transition when the mouse goes over them.

Any comments would be appreciated. Should I add more banners, or are there enough? There's about five right now: Pikachu and Porygon2, Porygon, Pikachu and Friends, Jigglypuff, and Psyduck.

[Koroku]

Server is down. -_-;;

*will try again tomorrow*

[Geometric-sama]

I think it looks very cute. It would be nice if you had a banner for every Pokémon, but that would take too long to do XD

[Kylie-chan]

Do what you want to do. Too many banners gets a bit annoying... so just as many as you feel reasonable.

[Dragonfree]

@_@ Loads... too... slow...

[Claire]

The transition looks really nice, but i think a larger banner would be better -it's a tiny title and picture ^^; you want ppl to remember the title of your site

[HellishHades]

Server is down. -_-;;

*will try again tomorrow*


My host has had lots of down-time lately. I'm too stingy to get a paid hosting account; I get what I pay for, I suppose.


@_@ Loads... too... slow...


That may a server issue at the time you visited the site, or it could be that you have a slow Internet connection. I'd rather have a nice layout than one that loads quickly. I used to have a simpler layout, but I got too much flak from visitor saying that it was too simple, so I changed it.

The site loads in under one second on my Internet connection. I don't believe many people use 56k connections anymore. I could be wrong.




The transition looks really nice, but i think a larger banner would be better -it's a tiny title and picture ^^; you want ppl to remember the title of your site


I hate having large, obnoxious banners, though. I thought it would be enough that the logo is largely isolated from the rest of the site -- navigation, sontent et cetera.

I tried to use the line design to attract the viewer's eyes to the top logo panel, but I guess it's not working as well as I thought it would be.

[Claire]

I hate having large, obnoxious banners, though
..i didn't say a "large obnoxious banner", just a larger banner so that people see the title of your site -.-

[Dragonfree]

I have a very fast internet connection, but all the images haven't fully loaded until around one minute after I click the link.

[PichuSecretBase]

Sweet :3 Where do you get those images?

[HellishHades]

Sweet :3 Where do you get those images?


I get them from TCG scans and official Pokémon of Japan art mostly.

[pokefuture]

whats the code for the banner i was searching everywhere for it?


and your site is really cool i go on it most of the time to look at the faqs

[Pokedragonfire]

Very cool, but adds time to loading. I mean instead of having the same image stored in temperary internet files, it must load again, but since you aren't designing for speed I guess that isn't a big of an issue, even if you were concerned about loading time. Adds something to the already nice layout. I think that alternate style sheets with alternate banners are much cooler, but that's just my opinion ;)

[Imakuni?]

nice, i really like it, keep it up helly!

[HellishHades]

whats the code for the banner i was searching everywhere for it?


and your site is really cool i go on it most of the time to look at the faqs




<?php

$imageNum=rand(1,5);

// The last number, in this case 5, indicates the total number of "random" images.

$imageName="logo";

/* The above represents the consistent name of the images (i.e. for logo.gif,
logo2.gif, and logo3.gif; the name would be "logo".

You can also put the directory of the images up there. Remember that
directory separations must be represented by foreward slashes (/) not
backward ones (\), otherwise you'll be cueing an escape character and have
to use two backslashes (\\).
*/

$fileType=".gif";

/* The type of image being used. Use .gif, .jpg, whatever you want. Just

indicate it here.
*/

if ($imageNum!=1){
$imageName.=$imageNum.$fileType;
} // end if

/* The first image shouldn't have a number.

So...

logo.gif
logo2.gif
logo3.gif

is okay.


And...

logo1.gif
logo2.gif
logo3.gif

is not.

*/

?>


Somewhere in your page...



<?php

echo "<img src=\"$imageName\">";

?>




That's it minus the onMouseOver stuff. If you want the image-over change, then I suggest preloading the images -- don't use any of that JavaScript preloading rubbish, either. Simply abolute-position the images you want to load off of the visible page.

I didn't find the code, I just wrote it. That's the advantage of learning how to code: you can write code that does nearly anything you want.

[pokefuture]

i cant do it if i give you the pics i want can you fix it up for me?

[HellishHades]

i cant do it if i give you the pics i want can you fix it up for me?


Yes, but each image must be formatted to the same size already. Otherwise, they won't work very well in your layout.

Your host will also have to be PHP compatible.

[Geometric-sama]

More people still use a 56k connection than not, so you'd best be careful in that case.

[HellishHades]

..i didn't say a "large obnoxious banner", just a larger banner so that people see the title of your site -.-

True. I find large banners obnoxious, not to say that's what you were recommending -- the obnoxious part, that is.


More people still use a 56k connection than not, so you'd best be careful in that case.

I wanted to make the site more 56k firendly, but I couldn't get the proper feel for the layout that way. I decided to just forget the 56k users. That may sound rude; but after all the flack and cack I got for the simpler layout, I decided that I'd just make the site look pretty and disregard loading times.

[Imakuni?]

the way hellish uses it, it looks nice ^^

[Geometric-sama]

You could try having two layouts: one simple one, for 56k users, and then your pretty long loading time one. I think Simone used to do that on PWC.

[HellishHades]

You could try having two layouts: one simple one, for 56k users, and then your pretty long loading time one. I think Simone used to do that on PWC.

I'd have to rework the code a bit, but it's possible. I'd also have to use one of those bloody splash pages. Or, I could use some sort of button link.

Or, the user could take some initiative and set their browser to cache the images, so that the pages don't load slowly. Not likely.

[Geometric-sama]

Never trust a user. XD Too many of them are stupid XD :P

[HellishHades]

Never trust a user. XD Too many of them are stupid XD :P

Suddenly, the PokéPeninsula's hits drop by 40%.

People are impatient. If they don't want to view my site, then they can go somewhere else. I don't make the site to get hits, I do it as a passtime.

[Geometric-sama]

*looks @ stats for TPP* You're right! Aaargh! XD *runs from the rioting visitors*

[Claire]

People are impatient. If they don't want to view my site, then they can go somewhere else.
eheh..try to be more positive and appreciative of your visitors than that ^^; having a positive welcoming attitude is a good thing for webbies to have ^^;

[HellishHades]

eheh..try to be more positive and appreciative of your visitors than that ^^; having a positive welcoming attitude is a good thing for webbies to have ^^;

The Internet is based upon convenience: on-line shopping, quick research, instant chat/messangers, et cetera. On most sites, the average visitor quickly (30s - 60s). Most people quickly find the info they need, and leave, or don't like the site and leave.

Psyduck is a positive fellow. What more could you ask for than a wee Psyduck at the top of the page? Psyduck is happy in its own ignorant little way, I think.

The visitors will only be impatient if they can't find what they're looking for; and if they can't do that, then they should leave the site. The info on the site is easy to access, so there shouldn't be any problems like that. If they can't find it on my site without patience, they won't find it anywhere else with patience. Patience will weed out the Psyduck-like visitors.

Sorry for the ranting.

[Geometric-sama]

*psyduck psyduck psyduck* Are you insulting Psyduck? Because if you are, beware. :P