Hello people,
The Art Nexus is a non-profit art commmunity that gives the opportinity to artists to put their art online. We are currently under heavy construction, and seeking for help on PHP scripting through MySQL.
Currently we own webspace, and a domain name, but we still brew out our plans through a forum not located on the main server.
Below I will post our current (25 oct 03) design document for the site which should give you a nice indication of what it is all about. Note that this document is always under construction, and is updated regularly. So what you might read now, is not neccesarily there tomorrow.
If after you have read this you are willing to join, please browse here:
http://www.thr3ddy.com/artforum and leave a message on the board.
Thank you for your time.
Eddy Luten (admin)
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The Art Nexus
Design/Functions Document v0.2 (unfinished)
by Eddy Luten
1. Foreword 
First of all I'd like to say that this document is under construction. I re-evaluate every word I say here 10 times per day.
Second is that without comments on this document, the site can not be finished to your needs, and you might see some things that you don't like or things that aren't even there.
Third and last, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for signing up, and making the project work till now.
/Eddy
2. Topics / Navigation
On the left side of the screen there should be a Menu for browsing the side, the topic that would be listed there, I post here.
|- Home/Frontpage (defined further on in this document)
|- News(defined further on in this document)
|- News Archive (defined further on in this document)
|- Submit News (defined further on in this document)
|- FAQ (defined further on in this document)
|- Gallery (defined further on in this document)
|- WIP Section (defined further on in this document)
|- Forum (defined further on in this document)
|- Links (defined further on in this document)
|- Submit Links (defined further on in this document)
|- Report user behaviours (defined further on in this document)
|- User Collaboration
Defining Home/Frontpage
The ideal frontpage would be to combine the news, recent posted gallery submissions, recent forum posts as links on the forntpage. So you have a good idea what the site is about even on your first visit. Also somewhere there should be a permanent link to the FAQ on the page, too many people who want to join the group don't read that thing, even though it is written for that purpose.
To define the frontpage a bit further:
- A welcoming message.
- Newly submitted artwork shown in a table containing thumbnails of the artwork.
- News shown as headers, and a description of the full article.
Defining News
Well this should be self-explanatory, but I'll try to define this anyway. This is where all the submitted news combines to one page. News about the site, or news about outside influences should be listed here. Also significant news like CompanyX has released a new version of programX and so on. There should be an option to comment the news also. Giving a simple form field with a textbox.
Defining News Archive
The main thing is to store news here. Even 'old'-news dated back forever should be accessible here. Probably with a simple search function that would search through the database though headers and messages.
Defining Submit News
Here registered users can submit their news. Only thing is that it would be filtered on relevance by the admins. News that isn't neccesary would be cut out by the admins.
Defining FAQ (frequently asked questions)
This section should be accessible from any section of the site. The members should know what they can and what they can not do on the site. There also should be an option to comment the faq.
Defining the Gallery.
The gallery can be seen as two galleries actually. One being the gallery for members and one galery for the elite member section. The gallery's frontpage is showing links to the member gallery and the elite gallery defined below. There should also be a table which contains recently submitted artwork from both sides (member- and elite- galleries.)
Sub -> Member Gallery
The member gallery should have various sections for posting the art. Examples are shown below:
3D Models
3D Scenes
Abstract
Animations
Anime
Anthro
Comic
Dark
Designs
Digital Painting
Fantasy
Females
Freehand
Game
Illustrations
Light
Males
Medieval
Minimalistic
Miscellaneous
Photo Manipulated
Photographs
Political
Pop Art
Psychedelic
Scenery
Science Fiction
Tattoos
Technical
Traditional
Vector
Wallpapers??
if you know more, let me know.
Each and every submission can be rated and commented, so the artist knows what he's doing with the public's eye. The total layout is defined in a different section.
Sub -> Elite Gallery
The ideas of the elite galery are still in discussion, but here's a cutnpaste direct from the forum:
Quote:
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Thr3ddy
Should we have Elite members on the site?
The original concept is that all members are equal, regardless of their skills.
Please vote.
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krazykrista
I'm going to mull over this a bit before I vote, but I've got a couple of questions:
1) Is there going to be a moderator system to keep the work quality high?
- While it would be easier to not have a moderator system, I personally very much prefer the systems (Epilogue and GFX) that cut out some of the lesser quality work. These two have been better for getting exposure since more people are more likely to browse when they know they'll see stuff they like.
2) Is there going to be a voting system at all? (Not necessarily to bring people up to an Elite status, but at least for sorting through the art.)
- I'm a fan of the GFX voting system, and though I try to reply to most new pieces, I'm glad that the best stuff gets pulled out for me. The problem is that work often comes in and moves through the main page so fast that I don't catch it in time, so there's some really good stuff that gets missed. This is a problem that it'd be good to develop a solution to in our place. Nothing worse than being overlooked in a voting system! (You see this on Deviantart too quite a bit, only it's much more pronounced than on GFX)
3) What's the catch for this community? What kind of community are we striving for? Is our goal to show the best work (Digitalart.org, GFX)? The best of a certain genre (Epilogue)? Just a certain Genre (Elfwood)? or anything that people want to post (Deviantart)? ...or something else that I've overlooked?
-I really think if we can answer this one, the rest will fall into place, but it's pretty important to choose a direction. I'll mull over this as well before I give my opinion
---------------------
Thr3ddy
Quote:
1) Is there going to be a moderator system to keep the work quality high?
Yes, for sure. I think a system can not function without admins/mods.
Quote:
2) Is there going to be a voting system at all? (Not necessarily to bring people up to an Elite status, but at least for sorting through the art.)
Yes, and comments.
Quote:
3) What's the catch for this community? What kind of community are we striving for? Is our goal to show the best work (Digitalart.org, GFX)? The best of a certain genre (Epilogue)? Just a certain Genre (Elfwood)? or anything that people want to post (Deviantart)? ...or something else that I've overlooked?
Anything that people want to post, BUT categorised, and I think that things such as WIP's (like you said) should be posted in the forum, and not be exposed on the main pages.
So there's no catch.
These are my ideas, mold them if you like
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krazykrista
So maybe the new art page, however that may be done, will be somehow divided into sections as well...so that all the new art isn't just thrown together?
Maybe it's all displayed on the same page, but just in clumps according to its genre... I kinda like that idea.
If there are mods, are they sorting through the work and saying "this is good quality, this isn't" or are they just making sure smut doesn't get posted?
I suppose I'd almost like to see a GFX style system with quality/legality mods. For example, a person submits a photomanip with no credit given to the original photographers. The submission then gets looked at by the mods, they see that there wasn't credit given and reject the submission, requesting that the appropriate credits be given. The artist may then resubmit with the appropriate info, and it gets posted. The voting system then determines the quality of the piece.
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Thr3ddy
Good idea. But a lot of coding will be done to achieve this, and so the overall site might not be online for a couple of months. < what the heck
I'd like to see more members replying on this topic. So that it doesn't restrict itself to us admins
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krazykrista
I'm going to say yes to elite members...it definitely gives people something to strive for, which is definitely a good way to keep them coming back and trying to improve
plus
by pulling out the elite members and setting them aside in their own category, it gives non-elite members the opportunity to rise up in the ranks and get noticed. Otherwise it would just be the would-be elite members at the top of the voting system all the time, drowning out everyone else. It seems hardly fair.
Unlike GFX though, I think that the votes given to elite members should still count for something...maybe there should be a top 5 or 10 among the elite members in order to keep the quality of their art high as well. (I've seen some kinda marginal pieces come into the elite gallery on GFX.)
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Thr3ddy
Ok, but how do we get these member into an elite status then?
By giving them points or a 1/10 score?
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krazykrista
I'm thinking on this, but here's some food for thought:
On GFX, I've noticed that a lot of people become elite artists and have some really nice work...then occasionally they'll post a work in progress or a piece that just doesn't have that same elite quality that their other work does. That stuff kinda defeats the purpose of having an elite section.
I do think that GFX has a good idea when it comes to the initial voting in of elite artists. They require that 2 pieces of that artist be in the #1 position in the members' gallery for at least a day each, then at the end of the month. That gets them the nomination. Then at the end of the month, the members vote to determine which of the nominees become elite. This seems to really limit the problems that could potentially come with a system that *just* let users vote for whoever they wanted. However, the problem I mentioned before still comes into play.
What if there were sort of potentially 2 galleries for each person: a "normal" gallery and an "elite" gallery. (We should call it something other than elite ) Maybe art by default will go in the normal gallery--all art--but if a specific piece makes it to the #1 slot that piece also is shown in their elite gallery. That way, users/viewers can browse just the elite gallery if they like.
Now I'm going to take most of that last idea back...If we have the elite work mixed in with the not-so-elite work, it's going to make it hard for the not-so-elite work to get much publicity. But we need a way of checking to see if the elite work really is elite quality. Thoughts?
---------------------
Thr3ddy
krazykrista wrote:
I'm thinking on this, but here's some food for thought:
On GFX, I've noticed that a lot of people become elite artists and have some really nice work...then occasionally they'll post a work in progress or a piece that just doesn't have that same elite quality that their other work does. That stuff kinda defeats the purpose of having an elite section.
I do think that GFX has a good idea when it comes to the initial voting in of elite artists. They require that 2 pieces of that artist be in the #1 position in the members' gallery for at least a day each, then at the end of the month. That gets them the nomination. Then at the end of the month, the members vote to determine which of the nominees become elite. This seems to really limit the problems that could potentially come with a system that *just* let users vote for whoever they wanted. However, the problem I mentioned before still comes into play.
What if there were sort of potentially 2 galleries for each person: a "normal" gallery and an "elite" gallery. (We should call it something other than elite ) Maybe art by default will go in the normal gallery--all art--but if a specific piece makes it to the #1 slot that piece also is shown in their elite gallery. That way, users/viewers can browse just the elite gallery if they like.
Now I'm going to take most of that last idea back...If we have the elite work mixed in with the not-so-elite work, it's going to make it hard for the not-so-elite work to get much publicity. But we need a way of checking to see if the elite work really is elite quality. Thoughts?
Yes, that's a tough one.
We add a score counter. And the average of all the art gives the member the opportunity to become 'elite.' A plus or minus score.
Artpiece1 has an average score of 5
Artpiece2 has an average score of 9
Artpiece3 has an average score of 10
Total = 24 / 3 = 8 average
At the end of the month the user with the highest score gets elected for elite.
At the elite section you can also vote, but different.
Artpiece1 has an average of 3
Artpiece2 has an average of 2
Artpiece3 has an average of 7
Total = 12 / 3 = 4 = not enough for elite status, user gets kicked out of elite.
Something like this?
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krazykrista
Not exactly...because then it gets confusing for people browsing. "I saw this great piece in the elite gallery but now I can't find it..." We don't want to frustrate people by continually moving art around. I think it should be a "once elite, always elite" thing. It's a question of sorting out which art is elite and which is not.
Plus, averaging them means that worse stuff can get in too, if the scores of the other works are high enough. It really needs to be on a piece-by-piece basis, I think.
Whatever system we create needs to be able to adapt to an increased number of users and thus an increased number of votes as well.
---------------------
Thr3ddy
krazykrista wrote:
Not exactly...because then it gets confusing for people browsing. "I saw this great piece in the elite gallery but now I can't find it..." We don't want to frustrate people by continually moving art around. I think it should be a "once elite, always elite" thing. It's a question of sorting out which art is elite and which is not.
Plus, averaging them means that worse stuff can get in too, if the scores of the other works are high enough. It really needs to be on a piece-by-piece basis, I think.
Whatever system we create needs to be able to adapt to an increased number of users and thus an increased number of votes as well.
then we will need to assign people for that particulair job
---------------------
krazykrista
I dunno...I kinda hate to have specific people designated for that job, as it can create some resentment. I'd rather have it up for vote.
Maybe once an artist is determined "elite", their new artwork, when posted, goes into kindof a middle-ground (purgatory? ) that's not quite elite and not quite the normal gallery. There, members can vote as to whether it goes to the elite gallery or to the normal gallery. It wouldn't be a "Top 10" system...just a yes or no thing, and then once there are say, 15 votes (for example), the majority decision determines the piece's place.
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back to the document:
The elite members should have the same topics to post in as the members in the member gallery.
Defining WIP section (work in progress)
WIPs are the unfinished in-betweens of an artist. Going from raw material to coloring. The finished products go in the normal gallery. Also this section of the site is under discussion again the cutnpaste from the forum:
Quote:
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Thr3ddy
If someone should post a WIP on the site, should it be deleted after a period of time? Since WIPs are not what it's all about.
I myself find WIPs very irritationg, and should be just a tiny portion of the site.
---------------------
Klaas Koopman
Creative Existance
wips are very important, cuase it will show people what stages are used to create an artpiece!
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krazykrista
I really don't think that WIPs should be up for voting...that just doesn't make sense. I don't think we should just set aside a section of the forum for them either, because a lot of people might not use it. Perhaps a non-voting gallery (much like the normal gallery) would be appropriate for works in progress? Maybe it could be set up to show multiple versions of the same piece too...that'd be cool!
For example:
Artist posts their piece for some in-progress critique. Other people respond with their suggestions. Artist then revises the piece, and posts the new version under the same name as the other piece, only it shows up on a new page, and the last version and comments are still preserved on their own page for future reference. (And so on and so on, as new revisions are posted...) Then when the artist decides that a version is the "final" version, they can post once more in the WIP section and maybe click a little button that says "finalize" which deletes the WIP stuff and posts the art in the main gallery.
Maybe the artist can dictate who is allowed to see the work in progress too...set it to only artists (who have posted art in their gallery), only members (artists and people who have registered) or to everyone (registered or not). --maybe a premium membership would give you this ability?
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krazykrista
Site Admin
And more to the question at hand, I don't like seeing WIPs in the voting area...but there definitely needs to be a place set aside for them or we *will* see them there.
I think that a nicely done WIP section could be a big selling point for some artists...especially if it's not just a forum, but really designed and thought out so it's meant to be a WIP section.
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back to the document:
Defining Forum
This should be a big section of the site, because this is a form of communication between the members. The forum should only be "postable" for registered members. There should be various forums some listed below:
General Forums
|- General Art Chat
|- Help ads (wanted/offered)
Specific Forums
|- 3D Models
|- 3D Scenes
|- Abstract
|- Animations
|- Anime
|- Anthro
|- Comic
|- Dark
|- Designs
|- Digital Painting
|- Fantasy
|- Females
|- Freehand
|- Game
|- Illustrations
|- Light
|- Males
|- Medieval
|- Minimalistic
|- Miscellaneous
|- Photo Manipulated
|- Photographs
|- Political
|- Pop Art
|- Psychedelic
|- Scenery
|- Science Fiction
|- Tattoos
|- Technical
|- Traditional
|- Vector
|- Wallpapers
This is all subject to change of course.
Defining Links/submitting links
The links should be a fast archive of all the links submitted by the admins of the site (regular links), and the links that are submitted by the members. This all should be categorised into the fitting categories. Links are shown either by a 88*31 picture or a text link. Each member has the right to submit ONE link, the rest of the links should be requested.
Report User behaviour/misbehaviour
If a certain user is acting/posting in the wrong way than is allowed, then members have the option to show repot this to the admins. This should be a simple textfield with a submit button.
User Collaboration
What is this collaboration?
Say an artist can draw outlines, and sketches, but doesn't know his way around the colors and/or photoshopping. This artist puts an ad so that an other artist can voulunteer to help this person in collaborating with him on this piece of art.
This is just an example, and anything could be possible.
So in this section an artist who is having difficulties can place an ad, and invite other users to join this artist in the creation of the piece. Layout and how it exactly works is below.
3. Site layout
In this section I'm going to describe the basic layout of the site. If you have ANY comments on this section post them. This is really subject to change
The basic layout.
the basic layout consists of a large table split in three rows for easy navigation. The row on the lefthand side will be for navigating the site. The row in the middle for viewing the contents, and the right row for all sorts of content. The middle row should be the largest one.
On top of this table lies another table which contains the header for the site. This header contains the logo, and probably a small login textbox.
At the bottom of the page should be a footer-table containing copyright notes, best viewed in X*X resolution, and a link to the credits. < People there who were responsible for making The Art Nexus possible.
This layout is similar to almost any art community website. Because it's easy to oversee. Below I have a little sketch of what it should look like.
http://www.theartnexus.com/basiclayout.jpg
This is of course very raw, like the footer table.. It wouldn't be that big, it just an indication.
Gallery Layout
The gallery eiter Member- or Elite- gallery should have an index which gives an indication of recently submitted artwork. Giving a table which expands for about 80% of the main view (see above) where thumbnails of the submitted artwork should be.
In one of those sections there should be links to specific sections.
Clicking on a thumbnail brings you to a screen showing the picture in full view, and allows you to comment, and/or rate the picture. Here we also see information that the artist submitted about the image. If the image is submitted as a large picture, the Main view should resize with that picture.
Or if anybody else knows something, reply.
WIP section
This is a tricky one
First of all, there is no commenting in the WIP section. When you have clicked on WIP in the menu, you will be presented a screen showing you all of the rescent WIP's listed Ascending by date of submission.
When you click on one of these WIP's, you will be granted a screen showing you a journal of how far the artist is, and other comments. Stages of development will be posted in form of an image.
So in reality, the WIP area could also be looked at as an alternative tutorial showing you all the aspects of development on the artwork.
Clicking on one of the pictures brings up a full sized image showing you a little more detail on the subject.
Site color schemes
Undecided.
Other systems
Private messaging.
Admin area.
Admin/Mods forum.
Optionals
Chat box
Shoutbox
IRC channel(?)
The Art Nexus seeking PHP programmers
Linear Mode
