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    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 6th 2006 edited
     # 1
    2006.09.27: Current prize pool, approx $250.00 USD. Please donate to Mark's Paypal via the Paypal button below!

    BACKGROUND
    I really love how most community-supported projects like WordPress have an active community of CSS wizards making up styles for personal and community use.

    We had a ton of community-made styles for Vanilla 9.x, but very few for 1.x. What's up with that? What happened with the Clockworks? (just like Default but in different cool "iMac" colors?) The Roots? (dark background, new format for determining old/new threads, sidebars on the other side, etc) Others?

    Well, I want more styles for my community to choose from. But I'm not that great with CSS. So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and host a contest, to try to get some spirit into the Vanilla Styles community! (I do these kinds of contests ALL THE TIME for Tabletop RPG, Japanese translation and Programming communities, so I know what I'm doing!)

    So here's the thing: I'm putting down some money for a contest. A paltry $22.00 Canadian (a little over $20.00) to start us off. What I'm hoping to do is to two things:

    1) Get some visual/creative people into making some cool or useful Styles for Vanilla.
    2) And recruit other folks like me who have interest in new styles, and money, to pitch a little bit into the contest.
    And tangentially:
    1) Get more varied, cool and creative styles into our community
    2) Hopefully attract more visual people into adopting Vanilla, and writing cool tools, styles and themes for it
    3) Create a new base of creative styles and themes so that other folks can use them to take Vanilla to the Next Level.

    Sound good? Good, let's go!

    The Rules

    1) The contest ends effectively September 30th, 2006. You must upload it to the Lussumo Community's Vanilla Add-Ons page by then. The Style doesn't count if it's located anywhere other than the Vanilla Add-Ons section (like your website, etc). If it appears on the Vanilla Add-Ons page on October 1st, your entry is in. If it appears October 2nd or later, your entry won't be counted towards this contest. It also has to be a 1.X Style, not 0.9.X.

    2) I will be the sole arbitrator of the winner. It's easier, less confusing, and far less messy that way. My wife is a professional visual designer and I'll tickle her until she gives all the entries a once-over as well, so there will someone with some artistic taste looking over the entries as well. But I run a pretty huge, active Vanilla community and will be looking for what is not only pleasing to the eye, but can stand up to the test of hours of community use ("Oh! Gorgeous Style! But my eyes burned to cinders after reading with it for 30 minutes- Ouch!" etc). I'll also be asking Mark to help review the finalists as well.

    3) There will be two prizes: The Main Prize and the Creativity Prize.

    4) The Main Prize will be awarded 3/4 of the collected money, the "pot". The Creativity Prize will be awarded 1/4 of the "pot".

    5) The Main Prize will be judged on a few simple categories: DESIGN (major). USEFULNESS/PRACTICALITY (major). INTEGRATION WITH/ENHANCEMENT OF VANILLA (minor). If you go nuts into making the style all creative and weird and cool, but it turns out to be not too useful, hard to read, etc that will be "minus points". If your style changes the fundamental look of Vanilla, rock on, just make sure it's also a useful, easy to read and solid design, and doesn't break dozens of extensions in the process. Pretty simple, right?

    6) The Creativity Prize will be awarded to the design that is the most creative with design, and enhances Vanilla's capabilities. It pushes the limits ("it is aaaaaahhhhrt") while still readable.

    7) Both prizes will not go to the same Style.

    8) You are free to also create new THEMES, and STYLES to go with those themes. Doing so will not get you "bonus points" just because you went that route, but this is definitely a way to explore with vastly new and experimental themes (if that's the way you want to go. Or are specifically aiming for the Creativity Prize). Again, though, for the Main Prize just make sure your awesome new Theme doesn't trash 90% of all Extensions.

    9) I say "Integration with Vanilla" above. This does not mean you must test your style/theme with each and every Vanilla extension. Just do your best. I won't deduct points if "Smooth Page Scrolling" or some other minor ones don't work, but will be more critical for the Main Prize if, say, 90% of the commonly used extensions break on it.

    10) There is no limit to the number of themes or styles you are allowed to submit. The more useful submissions you make, the better it is for our community in the long run. Go nuts! Do a New Style, then do it again in Cornflower Blue!

    11) Themes and Styles that are already in the Add-Ons directory are also included. In fact, if the contest ended right now with no submissions, Jazzman Style 1.0 would be the winner.

    12) The winner will be announced no later than October 9th, 2006 in this thread.

    Does this make sense? Are there any questions?

    THIS THREAD

    This thread serves a few purposes:
    1) If you're thinking of entering, tell us!
    2) If you finish a design (or three), upload them and brag about them here!
    3) If you want to encourage others to join in (even if you don't have the CSS skillz or time to participate), do so!
    4) If you want to tell us you're contributing money to the contest (see below), drop the good word here after donating!
    5) If you have a question about the direction or purpose of the contest, or had a question on a specific point, ask away here!
    6) Tips, pointers, suggestions or help for people submitting their styles. (If you have a request for tips, pointers, help etc feel free to open a new discussion if you're stuck; that's probably the best way to get fast feedback).
    7) General positive comments and energy. Drink the Kool-Aid!

    This thread is ABSOLUTELY NOT for:
    1) Negative comments about the contest
    2) Negative comments about the community, CSS design, etc
    The contest has been validated and approved by "Lussumo Mark" himself, and he has said that Negative Comments will be moderated away. So this isn't the place for a debate. Thanks!

    DONATIONS TO THE CONTEST

    1) Mark has volunteered to be the "Escrow Service" for this contest. You can Paypal him your donation, and he will give it to the winners!
    Here is the direct link to Paypal Mark your money (please note somewhere in the payment that it is for the Styles Contest):

    The Link to pay in Canadian Dollars (US Dollar link is in the next post):

    (link removed; contest is over)

    2) No need to go nuts here, it's a small contest; we're just supporting some new hot styles developers with a little beer money. If you feel like contributing just $5.00, that's totally cool.
    3) When you have paid at the above Paypal link, please post here in this thread with the amount you contributed, so that I can keep track of the total prize pot!
    4) I'll total up the prize pot every few days
    5) Entrants: If possible, please set up a Paypal account (especially if you live in a non-US country) early so that sending you the funds is as easy and painless as possible.
    6) Finally, no pressure on donating. The main point of the contest isn't to flood Winners with Money, it's to bring as many cool Styles into the community as there are cool Extensions.

    In the end, sure, there's a money prize and all that. But I don't expect it to reach sky-high. Consider it a little incentive for those awesome stylists out there who have been thinking of getting around to making that new Vanilla style "any day now" to get up and do it! So I want to make it clear that the ultimate goal isn't "FAT CA$H KA-CHING!", it's "Flood the Vanilla Add-Ons Section with useful and creative styles for us to make use of, or creative ones for folks to use and bend Vanilla in new ways (or build off your work)." Cool? Cool.

    Thanks!

    -Andy

    (ps, again, before posting, please read the "THIS THREAD" section, above!)
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 6th 2006 edited
     # 2
    Here's a link to pay in US Dollars, if you prefer (again, payments going to Mark/"Lussumo" to hold until the end of the contest):

    (link removed; contest is over)
    •  
      CommentAuthorbugsmi0
    • CommentTimeSep 6th 2006
     # 3
    Ok lets try this again ;-) keeps lips glued,

    now how about that idea I suggested as the prize ? make the - buy me a beer - link the reward ? so everyone can buy the winner a drink that way they would possibly get much more than $50 what do you think ? I would buy a drink or two to a winner anyway i'm going to go now before the flames heat up ;-)
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2006
     # 4
    Well, I absolutely encourage anyone who wants to contact the winner (or heck, even just the designer of a style or extension they like) via email or the forums to send them some cash if they want to. In fact, if there's any other styles that I end up using in my community, I'll probably end up contacting the designer and expressing my thanks. That's the way the Vanilla community rolls.

    Otherwise, for the purposes of this contest it's probably just easiest to round up one (small) sum and split it out that way. "Buy a beer" is one of the extensions that probably won't be brought online on the community forums anytime soon.

    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2006
     # 5
    Money add!

    A user in my community donated approx $23 to the contest, bringing the total to about $45-50 after Paypal's cut! Money has been forwarded to Mark.

    Thanks!
    -Andy
    • CommentAuthorLooZ^
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2006 edited
     # 6
    5$ US Dollars goes to Mark.
  1.  # 7
    I will contribute $20 into PayPal at the beginning of October as promised in other thread.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2006
     # 8
    Forgot to announce the infusion of more cash from Mark and others: We're up to approx $165 US now as of 10.10 for the prize pool.

    Hopefully people are on their way to making some interesting styles for the community!

    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorJazzman
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2006
     # 9
    Already on it. I think most people will upload it the day before closing... at least I am :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorc-unit
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2006
     # 10
    If a coder wanted some mockups I'd do some for them for free, I just think it would be fun to see a mockup come to life.
    • CommentAuthordeel
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2006
     # 11
    i'm in.
    •  
      CommentAuthorblizeH
    • CommentTimeSep 11th 2006
     # 12
    c-unit does some awesome designs, so it'd be great to see some of his ideas come to fruition :)

    Is it limited to just styles btw, not themes?
    • CommentAuthorithcy
    • CommentTimeSep 11th 2006
     # 13
    8) You are free to also create new THEMES, and STYLES to go with those themes. Doing so will not get you "bonus points" just because you went that route, but this is definitely a way to explore with vastly new and experimental themes (if that's the way you want to go. Or are specifically aiming for the Creativity Prize). Again, though, for the Main Prize just make sure your awesome new Theme doesn't trash 90% of all Extensions.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 11th 2006
     # 14
    More money into the pot. We're up to approx $190 US. Thanks Dinoboff!
  2.  # 15
    I'm in the middle of car-service-bill-related depression and i'm also about 3 weeks away from finishing my job without a guaranteed replacement yet, but hopefully when I've worked things out I should be able to chuck some money in. I'll keep you posted.

    Looking forward to some new themes!
    •  
      CommentAuthorØ
    • CommentTimeSep 11th 2006
     # 16
    I've just sent $5 USD more to Mark.
    • CommentAuthorithcy
    • CommentTimeSep 11th 2006
     # 17
    $10 here also :)
  3.  # 18
    and another 5 usd from me
    • CommentAuthorSilencio
    • CommentTimeSep 12th 2006
     # 19
    $10 from Silencio.

    Thanks, I am looking forward to new and exciting looks!
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 13th 2006
     # 20
    Cool, I recalculated the above in the total. Thanks all. Also, just 17 days left (two weeks plus change). I'll probably "bump" with reminders at 2 weeks, 10 days, 1 week, 3 days, and 24 hours.

    And guess what- I'm even giving my own hand a try at a style! I dunno if I'll finish in time, and even if I do I'm disqualifying myself from the contest in advance, but running this thing has gotten me a little hot for my own style. We'll see what I can pull off.

    -Andy
    • CommentAuthorpuffy
    • CommentTimeSep 14th 2006
     # 21
    I think you should wait for the winner for the comm to know what s next
    • CommentAuthorpuffy
    • CommentTimeSep 14th 2006
     # 22
    then the question is what kind of style do you need and it will be done
    • CommentAuthorredux
    • CommentTimeSep 14th 2006 edited
     # 23
    I'm up for this, and infact created one today, however, the uploader is limited to 100kb. my style is around 140 including the altered header image (around 77k alone).
    Any chance of increasing the cap a lil bit ?

    Edit: never mind, nerfed the images a bit. not so smooth but still work.
    • CommentAuthoralnokta
    • CommentTimeSep 14th 2006
     # 24
    @redux : have you tried zipping and uploading it?
    •  
      CommentAuthorMark
    • CommentTimeSep 14th 2006
     # 25
    I can increase that if people need.
    • CommentAuthorredux
    • CommentTimeSep 14th 2006
     # 26
    alnokta: yeah I tried zip and rar but there was the 1 header image file that was 77k on its own. I nuked it down to 2k. Its all good now.
    Anyways to the topic. I have uploaded BlackDiamond, my first style for vanilla. I'll be adding at least 1 more style, possibly more (depends how early I wake up).

    Oh, do all styles count as 1 entry or are they rated individually ? Just curious.

    p.s. a 200k limit should be plenty for a style. Some graphics can get quite large, depending on format and complexity.
    Of course some of the less efficient formats are sometimes required for colour continuity.(as we know, IE and Mozzy do tend to render slightly differently, especially when trying to match a hex colour with a jpeg title image for example)
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2006
     # 27
    Oh, do all styles count as 1 entry or are they rated individually ? Just curious.

    They'll be rated individually. No averaging of awesomeness. :-)

    Mark: If you could bump that upload size, that would be great. Thanks!
    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorMark
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2006
     # 28
    Okay, increased to 200k.
    • CommentAuthorMav
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2006
     # 29
    Sounds interesting, always wanted to create a custom theme/style for vanilla. The thing that held me back were the numerous tweaks I had to make to a fresh install to make things work properly. Haven't checked the forums for a while, waiting for a next version. But I see 1.0.1 is out now, so I'll give it another try. And if it all works nice out of the box I may just start working on a theme and/or style too. :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorVincent
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2006
     # 30
    may i ask, if i made a theme, but it isn't made by divs, would it still be allowed to be put into the themes directory even if it didn't meet the requirements of this competition?

    i'm thinking of finishing/fixing this theme and publically releasing it...


    • CommentAuthorpete001
    • CommentTimeSep 16th 2006
     # 31
    There's my donation :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorJazzman
    • CommentTimeSep 16th 2006
     # 32
    Nice one Vincent :O Makes Vanilla look completely different! That's the way uhu uhu we like it! :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorVincent
    • CommentTimeSep 16th 2006 edited
     # 33
    i might as well finish it then :)

    it won't be able to go into the contest because of it accommodating the add-ons but i'll give it my best
    • CommentAuthorredux
    • CommentTimeSep 16th 2006
     # 34
    As per the thread purpose number 2) Brag:
    Completed and uploaded 2 new styles for the default Vanilla theme.
    The first is BlackDiamond, have a look, its purdy.
    The second is PurpleHaze requested by my missus. Its somewhat girly being purple n all.
    The second integrates the included css files in BlackDiamond as overrides within the 1 original stylesheet for the most common extensions (quotes and attachments/images).

    I may have a bash at a theme next, If I give up on that, then another style may be incoming.
    Either way, theres more ;)
    •  
      CommentAuthorVincent
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 35
    Another thing, with the themes, does the theme have to be suitable for 800x600pixel screens? i can include a small tutorial how to have a one columned forum with only that size, but it wouldn't include the panel. Otherwise a 1024x786 pixel screen would make my theme fit perfectly.
    • CommentAuthoralnokta
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 36
    @Vincent : your theme looks very nice ... and yes .. if you can make it look good in 800x600 ..it would be great ... shouldn't the forum resize itself according to the user resolution?
    •  
      CommentAuthorVincent
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 37
    That's the problem... it resizes itself and the background gets stuffed up... though i'm working on it so it doesn't so hopefully i'll get it to be 800x600
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 38
    Awesome work sofar, folks. Keep up that effort!

    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy K
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 39
    Oh, and a reminder: Just under two weeks (14 days) left! Good luck!
    • CommentAuthorredux
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 40
    Should have figured out how to do a theme by then, er, I hope :x

    inspiration, neeeed inspiration *panic*
    •  
      CommentAuthorblizeH
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 41
    Styles > Themes

    :X
    •  
      CommentAuthorVincent
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2006
     # 42
    haha, nice redux, a theme will take you a bit more to make than a simple style ;)

    although, really good themes like SoulScape can be made :)
    • CommentAuthoralnokta
    • CommentTimeSep 19th 2006
     # 43
    If someone could make a style with these colors it will a great one
    #8E83BF
    #C8A2C8
    • CommentAuthorAndrewVos
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2006 edited
     # 44
    Woohoo! Can't wait to see the styles! Great idea EDIT: Andy!
    If all goes well this should up your traffic quite a bit! The styles section has been a bit empty :(
    •  
      CommentAuthorblizeH
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2006
     # 45
    It was Andy K's idea, not Mark's! ;)
    •  
      CommentAuthorWallPhone
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2006 edited
     # 46
    Here is a teaser:


    Features:

    • 96 pixel-wide icons (easy to make taller)

    • more traditional gridded discussion list appearance

    • more traditional coment appearance

    • fixed width

    • nifty Fitt's Law CSS rollover effects for tabs and pagination

    • Works with Vanilla's default theme.

    • tested in IE6, IE7, FF

    •  
      CommentAuthorJazzman
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2006 edited
     # 47
    I like what you've done with the Sticky/Closes tags Wall :)

    Here's my teaser:



    Features:
    - Uses a new theme called "tabled"
    - 64x64 icons
    - Grid roll-over effects

    Also, it will be released with a new extension called "Discussion Overview"
    •  
      CommentAuthormaar
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2006
     # 48
    Well...
    • CommentAuthorAndrewVos
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2006
     # 49
    Wow. Jazzman. That makes me want to set fire to the style im working on :)
    • CommentAuthoralnokta
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2006
     # 50
    OMG Wallphone... I like your style already ... it is great ....I think I will try to use the colors I mentioned on it without much tweaking ... thanks in advance ...

    Also we are going to enjoy the contrast Jazzman created ... normally I don't like this degree of green but your mixing is amazing ...

    Great work guys ... and yes .. thanks for Andy for jumpstarting the style making movement(???) ...