EAB's Amiga Hardware Archive AHA team need a graphic artist

[woody57]

Due to the work load of our original Artist there is a vacancy that needs urgently filling in order for our design Webmaster Binox to be able to advance beyond a code only site.

The site requires a LOGO for the AHA name & standard buttons using the web safe colours that suit ALL browsers, this is so the site can be accessed from REAL Amiga's as well as PC browsers.

The suguested pallette should be close to the HOL colour scheme so it will be instantly recognised as an EAB project as the site will be hosted from the Abime.net server

Could any board members with the time & suitable experience step forward & answer in this thread

Thankyou for taking the time to read this

woody57

[woody57]

*BUMP*

This request is NOT going to go away ,so please lets at least have some one answering this thread

[alexh]

Just out of curiosity, what is AHA going to be?

[woody57]

The current two well know Hardware resouces

1] The Big Amiga Hardware Book
2] The Amiga Hardware Database

Both have a similar approach in that they put technical information 1st & only give a hint over "what connects to what"

AHA aims include:-

1] full handbook/pamphlet pdf download mulitlanguage if possible for each item

2] Enhanced pictures/diagrams showing what connect to what

3] Real user based reviews of its useabiltiy positve & negative points

4] An eazy to use path of expansion guide for a particular base machine

5] Possibly an upto date driver link once your machines specs is entered in a start/member gui so you can know if you have the latest versions etc

6] A basic "what do I do next" section for when things go wrong after adding a new piece of kit, finally referenced BACK to EAB for more individual answers.


With the exception of a different specially designed user interface & more search pathways than eiether of the above two sites mentioned thats about it .

Inline with most current EAB projects the eventual content will be donated by members to be built up over a year or so before its official opening, ensuring ALL content is original & accurate where ever possible.

Once it is complete it can be used by board mods members etc as alternative source to give simple hardware answers , it can never make area specialists redundant & has NO AIM to do so

[Zetr0]

ok my dear woody - woodstah' i spent 5 mins for you, if there any good or help others its good...

all attached is yours (even if you dont want it *hehe* )

[Zetr0]

and yes some more..

themse can easly be created from these sets including intellegent rollover buttons

i will post more... if i get some more time.

[sarek2k]

Hi i Drew a quick logo for this project keeping similar colours to this site!
however when i tried to export the picture from xara extreme with web based colour scheme (which i assume is what you mean by web safe) it looked awfull so here is the jpeg version of it!

[sarek2k]

@Zetro just like busses nothing for ages then 3 posts at once

[woody57]

You are quite right Sarek2k and you each have a different approach to a solution,


Which is even better than just the same old Red No 93 with standing room only

I will pass these masterpieces to the team's webmaster with BIG thanks to both you & Zetro

[sarek2k]

@Woody57 this isn't meant to be my finished logo just bashing a few ideas around and it's more a sample really wanted to make something similar colour / design to what we have round here @ E.A.B. And of course it was to see what the deal is with websafe colours! I assume you are gonna be using .gif 256 to keep websafe or can u use jpeg too?

at least is some intrest now from myself and Zetro!
might spark others into action too even

[woody57]

And for the above exact reasons I have posted a note to our webmaster Binox to look in on this thread to look over the designs the pair of you have submited.

This in the FULL KNOLEDGE they are sketches & thus working ideas in progress

You are correct too the 216 websafe colours are the ideal palette but because the site will also have photographs to display , there must be allowances.

So the limitation on board graphics is to keep its loading time down as well as low end computor useable.

I certainly hope your admirable work inspires others to donate some time & original designs to this stage of the project as in the end it will be FOR ALL to use not just a qualified few

[sarek2k]

Woody57 my idea was to have the very components you mentioned within the logo ie A for Amiga (which has the keyboard A1200), H is for Hardware and contains a part of an A1200 motherboard you can see where i am going here the Other A well at this moment in short notice i hadn't found or thought of the Archive bit however now that springs to mind what about a hd or even cd rom (Amiga type) to imply the archive!

I appreciate the logo's Zetro has done but i very much like the icon type buttons he has done maybe if i could take the logo and he could do the buttons i see he has coverd the web safe colours! I don't wish to step on his toes and i am sure he don't mine! maybe a co-op (so fondly remeberd from Amiga scene days!) He's thought much more about the design of the logo where i have thought much more about the look of it! On my part perhaps the backlight effect was a bit too much for a web safe palette i was just looking for a striking effect!

I am sure we can all work together to get the best results something that could only happen with Amiga user's current or Ex We might be slaves to the PC (some of us anyway) but we fondly remeber the days of deluxe paint on our Amiga's!

If Photographs are to be used then i am sure is space for a high colour jpeg logo rather than a skimped on 216 colour .gif one as long as it isn't too big in size and fits in with the background of the site etc!

[woody57]

You certainly understand the reasons behind WHY contributions are to come from EAB members as a community project, time taken to get it underway is less important than the fact it will contain pieces from around the globe from EAB members & Amiga Users colectively.

I too like your Logo because of its well thought use of each charector to make an overall symbol

Equally Zetro's robust & highly funtional submissions have their own merits, it will probably be a colective of designs as opposed to just picking one ......But until my webmaster has had a chance to confer, It would be nice to see other offering's from other possible contributors.

As so far you have BOTH set a distinct area of approach & proven you understand what is being looked for

[Zetr0]

Heres some more i was playing with.

i like the idea of rotating icons on roll over with sound .... and laser beams.... yeah.... gotta have the laserbeams....

[Zetr0]

Y'know its quite ironic, i was gonna attempt to do something similar to the effect sarek2k achieved, however i went for form / shape first then promptly run outa time lol, i think if we could mix the two you could be onto a winner

And working together, is what this Forum is all about

and insofar as the bus analogy... normaly... in a normal town... in a normal street one could expect the normal form a bus.. none for an hour then 3 at once... however from where i live.... shesh one in three days is considered a luxury!!!! LOL

[X-ray]

@ Woody

I presume all the photos will have to be submitted from scratch? Should we start a thread/database of what hardware users have (including manuals and software) so that when the time comes to put this all together, we all know what is available and what has yet to be found?
For example I can provide the following pictures/scans/disks:

1) Cyberstorm MKII 060
2) CyberSCSI for above
3) PIV + Concierto + Paloma
4) DKB 3128
5) Lola 2000 Genlock (doesn't need software and never came with any)
6) Vidi Amiga 24 Pro
7) Technosound Turbo 2

Partially adequate items:

8) CyberstormPPC (no manual)
9) A4000T (not standard. Has socketed CIAs and a hacked drive chassis. Oh and it is yellow as anything. But the innards are good in terms of photographing daughter boards and connectors)

Some other items of interest that I can provide:

10) External ZIP drive (how to connect)
11) IDE to CF interface and how to connect

X-rays of the A4000T motherboard before the CIAs were socketed and X-rays of the Cyberstorm MKII (for giggles )

[woody57]

Once the test site is complete & the photo size & submitting format have been agreed on

A monthly thread covering ONE specific area will be launched, at the end of that month any items still missing will be requested PLUS a NEW area of request.

For each section a different G-Mail storage account will be created this allows for upto 2+ gigs of permanent storage for each section & a clear address to where item info should be sent.

All team members responsible for data entry can then methodically sift through the donated materiel & enter it into the database.

The individual scoring sheet of how good /bad each item is, will be common for all items so that OVERALL scores are INSTANTLY recognisable

By allowing for 10 meg per post to g-mail allows for multipart zipped, RARED or 7 zipped postings to be made , all this without overloading the abimenet transfer bandwidth & storage.

Obviously scans of pamphlets/manuals will be accepted from the begining as these will take the longest to change to PDF downloadable documents in as MANY LANGUAGES AS POSSIBLE !

we can ONLY accept original pictures {x-rays are FUN ! } and you assume correctly that accurate conection details are VITAL, nicer still if these are ADDED to labeled photo's showing REAL CONNECTIONS & FUNCTIONS.

The importance of knowing if an additional piece of hardware requires new drivers or now opens more diverse areas of functionality is all part of the fresh approach the archive is trying to achieve

So STAY TUNED when were ready for CONTRIBUTIONS or NEED MORE HELP you will easily spot it in thread

[sarek2k]

Back on the graphics front

Here is a mix of Zetro's idea with my design idea!

here is two versions 1 is patternd / orderd dithering 256 web safe palette and the other is a compromise called websnap optimized (from xara extreme) still 256 colours but looks much better if someone could look at it on a real Amiga to see if the colour is safe or not (i'd do it but i don't have my A1200 setup or at the moment don't have winuae setup etc). I have images of the description from xara extreme if anyone wants to read them in the intrest of speed this might be worth while.

also note i have taken out the back light effect and replaced it with a background instead which should dither better etc.

Edit added the descriptions if you wish to view!

[woody57]

You are correct Sarek2k the 2nd image is stronger & more stable

The first while apparently sharper does not blend in well with other web pallette shades

I know Binox is currently in work but as there is NO RUSH to have this part FINISHED this weekend, your subtle differences give even better opertunities of comparision in a demo test page

[sarek2k]

I vote for the first image myself but in the intrests of keeping everything compatible then fair enough the first image only needs to dither what it needs too but like you say i can't see this on an Amiga so i can't say!