Wind of change
As the more perceptive of you might have already realized, Barts News looks a little different now. What started in April has pretty much reached its conclusion. The most noticeable change is, of course, the new header made by brilliant Iulian from primer. I actually wanted to have some pretty graphics up there for a long time already, but unfortunately my mediocre graphic skills coupled with my perfectionism and general lack of time resulted in severe delays. But no more!
My favourite beta concept
The evolution of the header graphics was already presented on Blip and goes like this: first alpha concept, retro take by Iulian, mash-up of his idea with mine, his reworking of my idea, ironing details in the next iteration and the final version that you can see above. I love how it turned out - the final result both looks like I wanted it to look (my favourite game characters FTW) and fits Barts News' look'n'feel. Thanks a bunch, Iulian! Also, for those that might be interested, Iulian's primer is taking all sorts of graphic design work requests, especially creation of identity, at very reasonable prices, so if you need something done properly, do send them inquiry email.
And now for that strange thing, Blip, that's the other change that you might have noticed - the rounded box with short updates on the right is Blip widget. But what is Blip? In short, it is the Polish answer to Twitter, not without its faults, but generally much more usable. One can use it from the start via communicator, text messages, MMS, webpage, post images - all that without any plugins or mastah-haxoring. It also allows users to embed YouTube movies, use tags and nicknames, couple it with Twitter account and more. In short, it is prettier and easier to use.
I have long felt that some posts on Barts News didn't deserve to be actual full articles. I feel that some information are best conveyed as short messages, instead of making them into posts. Hence, this Blip thingy.
You can use Blip widget on the right to check what comes next, because some messages will evolve into full-blown posts (such as the one on retro demakes which resulted in this post). You can also jsut treat it as a small distraction on the main page and occasionally click on a link or pretty image, if it catches your attention. You can check it for some juicy bits when there are no longer posts for a while, which, I'm afraid, will keep happening ever now and then when my life gets even busier than it normally is. You can also skip the widget altogether and check the updates on this page, called Bliplog (clicking white 'bartsnews' on top of the widget will also get you there), or even start following Barts News on Blip - that is, if you are able to cope with Polish interface, because sadly it is not available in English (yet?). Or you can ignore it altogether.
There might be some other changes coming up, such as random header graphics and personalized favicon, but these are minor things and seeing how I am now writing for three other portals (alas, in Polish), helping with organisation of TEDx Krakow event and managing my work and private life at the same time, the chances of other site updates happening anytime soon are rather on the slim side.
As the more perceptive of you might have already realized, Barts News looks a little different now. What started in April has pretty much reached its conclusion. The most noticeable change is, of course, the new header made by brilliant Iulian from primer. I actually wanted to have some pretty graphics up there for a long time already, but unfortunately my mediocre graphic skills coupled with my perfectionism and general lack of time resulted in severe delays. But no more!
My favourite beta conceptThe evolution of the header graphics was already presented on Blip and goes like this: first alpha concept, retro take by Iulian, mash-up of his idea with mine, his reworking of my idea, ironing details in the next iteration and the final version that you can see above. I love how it turned out - the final result both looks like I wanted it to look (my favourite game characters FTW) and fits Barts News' look'n'feel. Thanks a bunch, Iulian! Also, for those that might be interested, Iulian's primer is taking all sorts of graphic design work requests, especially creation of identity, at very reasonable prices, so if you need something done properly, do send them inquiry email.
And now for that strange thing, Blip, that's the other change that you might have noticed - the rounded box with short updates on the right is Blip widget. But what is Blip? In short, it is the Polish answer to Twitter, not without its faults, but generally much more usable. One can use it from the start via communicator, text messages, MMS, webpage, post images - all that without any plugins or mastah-haxoring. It also allows users to embed YouTube movies, use tags and nicknames, couple it with Twitter account and more. In short, it is prettier and easier to use.
I have long felt that some posts on Barts News didn't deserve to be actual full articles. I feel that some information are best conveyed as short messages, instead of making them into posts. Hence, this Blip thingy.
You can use Blip widget on the right to check what comes next, because some messages will evolve into full-blown posts (such as the one on retro demakes which resulted in this post). You can also jsut treat it as a small distraction on the main page and occasionally click on a link or pretty image, if it catches your attention. You can check it for some juicy bits when there are no longer posts for a while, which, I'm afraid, will keep happening ever now and then when my life gets even busier than it normally is. You can also skip the widget altogether and check the updates on this page, called Bliplog (clicking white 'bartsnews' on top of the widget will also get you there), or even start following Barts News on Blip - that is, if you are able to cope with Polish interface, because sadly it is not available in English (yet?). Or you can ignore it altogether.
There might be some other changes coming up, such as random header graphics and personalized favicon, but these are minor things and seeing how I am now writing for three other portals (alas, in Polish), helping with organisation of TEDx Krakow event and managing my work and private life at the same time, the chances of other site updates happening anytime soon are rather on the slim side.
