ezlo
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by ezlo on Aug 8, 2007 8:45:29 GMT -5
Jeff, Thanks for being such a servant. You do so much for the Christian Spec Fic industry (if there even is one lol). I'll be praying for your guidance with these issues. As for contributing, I can help you on the tech side, I'm a huge computer geek. And maybe eventually once I finish my book Epiphany(if I ever), I'll send it in to you. For the website, I would recommend keeping it rather simple for the start. Intros and animated GIFs are nice and flashy and all, but their requirement is rather limited. You should try using Nvu( www.nvu.com/index.php free web design program) for your problem with the tables, although I wouldn't recommend using tables. Look up some things on CSS(Cascading Style Sheets), they help organize the design of the site outside of the html files. Using those, the content is easily editable and the sites design consistent through the entire site. Or if you have no idea what I'm talking about I can always explain it to you and recommend some more things. lol -Andrew
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Aug 8, 2007 9:32:06 GMT -5
Thanks, Andrew. I do have Nvu and have used it. It couldn't handle some things for www.WhereTheMapEnds.com so I switched over to PageBreeze. What is it about Nvu that makes it better for what I'm trying to do? Does it allow me to do tables with no cell wall lines? I agree with you about not being so flashy at the outset, but what can I say--I loves me a kewl site. You're probably wondering why I'm asking about tech things and not about BOOK things, like titles, contracts, genres, etc. Well, I'm doing all that, too, but feel like I have a pretty good handle on those. What I don't know is the tech stuff. So that's what I end up asking about. I use CSS for WhereTheMapEnds and was probably going to use them for Marcher Lord Press, but I read somewhere that CSS were kind of useless. But maybe that site was old? The other thing is that I created the WhereTheMapEnds site using a beta of Microsoft Expression. It handled/created the CSS automatically. Now that the beta is expired I'm creating on PageBreeze and it doesn't create the CSS file automatically. So I don't know how to do it manually or what goes into the styles.css file. I'd still like to get the animation compressed and at least think about posting it on an intro page. Can you help me out? And I'd love it if I could have a slowly rippling banner (animated GIF) in a portion of the screen. I know it's not necessary and once I look at it I may decide against using it, but I'd like to try it out. Any help? Jeff
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ezlo
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by ezlo on Aug 8, 2007 9:59:54 GMT -5
I probably should have looked up a little more about Pagebreeze before posting. I had used Nvu for a little while and from what I remember creating the CSS was pretty easy. I'm re-downloading both of them, and fiddling around for a little bit to get the hang of both of them. As for making a CSS file manually, it's a pain in the neck and you have to learn all the commands and sytax, like HTML. If you send me what you have so far in a zip file or something, perhaps I can make a CSS file for you? Or you can go into Nvu and check out the CSS editor, fiddle a little? As for the animations, avi is easily convertable to flv(a flash video format). Try MediaCoder ( mediacoder.sf.net ). It might take me some time to make the little banner waving (I am at work atm, and when I get home I'm going straight to a bible study at 7, then it will be late). But I can attempt to do it. Granted, I'm no artist, but we'll see what I come up with.
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Aug 8, 2007 20:16:16 GMT -5
Sweet; thanks, Andrew.
Jeff
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Post by Christian Soldier on Aug 9, 2007 6:01:31 GMT -5
What are you calling animations? Are we talking full on video(.avi or .flv), something simple(.gif), or something a little bit more involved(Flash)?
.avi and .flv are both movie/video formats. i.e. if you wanted to have a video of yourself addressing your potential customers. .gif is life that banner I made a while back. Nothing complicated, just a few flashing pictures and that's about it. Flash, on the other hand, is complicated, but worth it. You can design an entire web site around, or in, Flash and animate everything. You can also make flashy buttons and pretty graphics with it. If you knew all this before hand, I apologize for the lecture. I figured it would be easier to explain it all in the same post as I ask to save time.
So, back to the original question: What do you mean by animations?
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Aug 9, 2007 8:18:23 GMT -5
Thanks, CS.
The intro animation is a full-on avi (at 50 MB).
I'm also interested in a simple animated .gif to make it look like a medieval banner is slowly furling and unfurling in the wind kind of in the background of the site.
Jeff
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Post by Christian Soldier on Aug 9, 2007 16:25:57 GMT -5
Sounds awesome. Unfortunately, it's way outside my experience or expertise. I can do some digging though and see if there are any wizards and such that can do either that or something similar. Or even find one that exists as is. Google, here I come! <Google hides in terror> As for the AVI, you should definitely convert it to FLV. It's smaller and easier to stream that way. *edit* Okay, so here's what I came up with in half an hour: Nothing. Well, nothing that help syou directly. I did find some sites that are either cool or may help anyway. So below are the top three I found prior to bed: www.feebleminds-gifs.com/index.html --Some good, some bad. I liked their backgrounds...some of them anyway. A few might fullfill your purposes, some will give you a headache. A few a cool anyway. www.imagegenerator.org/ --This one's cool if for no other reason than it takes about five minues to check it out. Altough it has nothing you've specified, it still has some really cool generators(including Avatars, btw). I'll probabl use this one myselfto spruce up the Digest(see my site). Okay, I'll poke around some more and see what I get. Most of it has either been drivel or tiny. *end of edit. *
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Post by Christian Soldier on Aug 12, 2007 17:05:11 GMT -5
Following my usual fashion, I've jumped back to CSS and what they can do. Also following CS standard, I'll use links instead of trying to use my own words. So, first of all, there's the Wkipedia Article. Then there's the CSS Zen Garden, where one can find some very powerful examples as to what CSS can do. Finally, I've got a link for WestCiv which includes some additional articles on CSS and a program called the Style Master that is supposedly very very easy to use. It's free to try for 60 days and then some features turn off, but it still works. I haven't had a chance to play with it, yet, but I will later today or tomorrow. God Bless--CS
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Aug 12, 2007 18:54:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the research, CS.
Jeff
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Post by Sue Dent on Aug 14, 2007 15:43:34 GMT -5
Sue Dent here! Just wanted to say thanks Shane for bringing my name up. It means a lot to me. You rock! Also wanted to say things are already changing in this market and a LOT of people are already working hard. My debut novel about a vampire and werewolf and its sequel are doing quite well in both secular and Christian markets. Not one Christian or Secular bookstore has refused to carry it and not one has turned me down. I wasn't published by a CBA house but Eric Wilson is and will have the first book of his vampire trilogy out next year. Just got back from the FaithWriters conference where I couldn't stop selling Never Ceese. God is really moving and it's great. Can't wait to see what Forever Richard will do since it already has a higher sales rate than Never Ceese as a pre-order item. Sorry though, you've got to have a distributor to get the kind of recognition my books are getting. Otherwise, no book store that matters will carry it. And, well, that's just not a problem. Any Independent or small publisher can get you what you need without the stigma of POD.
Well, I've probably said enough, I just hope it makes sense.
So, sorry but it does look like getting the first vampire/wereowlf novel out there that both Christians and secular readers can enjoy is technically unobtainable. So is getting the first vampire/werewolf novel out there that is actually on the shelf at a Christian bookstore.
Certainly something worth rejoicing about. I know I am!
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Post by Christian Soldier on Aug 14, 2007 16:13:00 GMT -5
Absolutely! Grats Sue!
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Aug 15, 2007 7:56:37 GMT -5
Hi, Sue; thanks for visiting the site. I'm so happy to hear that your books are doing well. And I didn't know about Eric's vampire trilogy, so thanks for the heads-up.
Just to clarify, I'm not trying to get into bookstores with Marcher Lord Press. This is a completely different model. I should just stop telling people I'm using POD technology (instead of large print run printers) to produce my product, as "POD" tends to be the last thing people hear and they may stop listening.
Marcher Lord Press will be a small, indie publishing house, so there should be no stigma. But it is a completely different animal.
Thanks again for stopping by! You're welcome here.
Jeff
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Post by jeffisontheroad on Sept 12, 2007 8:37:54 GMT -5
Plans for the launch of Marcher Lord Press continue to move forward. God willing, the site ( www.MarcherLordPress.com) will be up and running before the end of 2007 and the first set of books will release in October 2008. So we're 12.5 months out from that. Since my main sales channel is going to be the Internet, I'm going to need as many e-mail prospects of interested people as possible. Short of purchasing an e-mail list (because I'm no spammer), what ideas do you have that might help 1) generate lots of e-mail prospects and 2) generate a growing interest in Marcher Lord Press? When a certain real estate friend of mine was coming to a new town, he put up signs all over the place saying, "The Rhino is coming." People were intrigued, and when he finally came he had built-in awareness and interest in his services. Could MLP do something like that? What would it look like? Other ideas? Thanks, you guys. Jeff
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 12, 2007 16:19:30 GMT -5
Hmmm... how about something like, "The march is on" . Maybe a logo with marching feet? It's an intriguing idea none the less. Anything else I can come up with has either already been discussed or you would have thought of it first.
Can't wait to see this plan put to action!--CS
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 12, 2007 16:21:10 GMT -5
Hmmm... how about something like, "The march is on" . Maybe a logo with marching feet? It's an intriguing idea none the less. Anything else I can come up with has either already been discussed or you would have thought of it first.
Can't wait to see this plan put to action!--CS
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