News's Journal

04/09/2006 23:48 #30245

The estrip logo that will stay
Category: design

Sorry it took me so long to publish this repsonse. I refused to publish it until I changed the site code to check for real (e:name) links before I wrote it because I didn't want (e:strip) to show up as a name link.

Besides being one of my bestest friends, (e:twisted,359) has donated the most money, time, and hardware than any other peep to this community. Not to mention that I generally value her opinion over all others because of her deepest understanding of the project from the hundreds of hours of dialogue we have had about it. In fact I would say that on many levels, the project would not have happend if it wasn't for her and her commitment to it's existance. In essense, (e:twisted), I love you!

Here is my deal with the colon. Like (e:matthew,717) I find that the colon is important in the name and the logo. One reason being that there are two commerical products that use estrip as a name. One is envirostrip and the other is some sort of medical imaging system. I suppose I should just trademark (e:strip).

Seeing as the site is not a commercial project I could care less if some people can't find it because they are too stupid to try googling with a colon. It's not like I will sell less widgets because of it. I like the colon as part of the design as it reflects the identity of the site as I intended it since march of 03. Everything that ever said (e:strip) had the colon. It is in fact how you guys link your journals together. Unfortunately, they do not allow colons in URLS.

People can find it by typing (e:strip), ((e:strip)), elmwoodstrip, or elmwood strip into yahoo or google. Soon it should come up under number one for estrip as well, it just takes some time for the robots to catch up with the changes.

Eliminating new peeps that are not capable of making the jump from the (e:strip) logo to estrip.org or elmwoodstrip.org might be to my advantage as I am the one who deals with all the people who need help figuring stuff out.

So this is the final logo. (e:matthew) approved. It provides the most space for the (e:strip) and is compliant with the way many of the old street signs were formatted in buffalo. It also makes it obvious that it is not estriporg as one one. I really liked the google it, but I removed it as I don't want to support a private corporation.

paul - 04/12/06 03:28
The org was added to make it more obvious that it was a web thing fro people that couldn;t make the jump from (e:strip) to estrip.org. Many of the road signs here have the street extension written vertically like that.

ajay - 04/12/06 03:26
Why not ditch the "org" and just make it like a street sign?

metalpeter - 04/10/06 19:19
I'm glad That a final solution was reached. I'm glad that the webadress has been clarified also.

jenks - 04/10/06 15:37
I like that. I definitely like the colon from a design/logo/aesthetic standpoint. But I agree with twisted's points about simplicity/usability too. But if google etc can find it with or without, then it seems we've solved both problems, no? But the other thing is- in this case, doesn't the colon function a little like an apostrophe? (i.e. replacing missing letters?) i.e. (e:strip) is an abbreviation of elmwoodstrip, right? I mean, this site is elmwoodstrip, first and foremost, isn't it? B/c while it's nice to have the estrip.org doman, I wouldn't want to see elmwoodstrip.com/org disappear altogether... I feel the term (e:strip) only makes sense if you know it MEANS elmwoodstrip. Does that makes sense?

twisted - 04/10/06 11:16
Thanks (e:Paul). I love every pixel of (e:strip). And as the chief (and only) PR person for a:link, I thought long and hard about how to get new users (not that it did me any good) -- which may be why I came up with such a treatise on usability when given an opening. Then again, I can spout off on many topics, so I guess I don't have an excuse. ;-)

Anyway, thanks for caring enough to ask us common peeps for feedback. We love you too!

kara - 04/10/06 08:07
hooray I like it.

jessbob - 04/10/06 07:47
good choice

ladycroft - 04/10/06 02:51
i like that very much

04/07/2006 22:50 #30244

Design Choices for the Bumper Stickers
Category: public relations

point your links to estrip
First thing first. If you have your own website or some other place where you post links, please make sure to point your links to estrip.org. The more people that points their links here, the faster we take over who ever estrip medical is in the google rankings.

bumper stickers
Okay, so here is the deal. Is it more important to have your URL in your bumper sticker or a small keyword people can type into google. If you go to google and type (e:strip) with the colon we come up right away so maybe that is best. Plus it adds the extra step of discovery for the people who type it in, making it a little more fun for them.

So which design should it be? My fav is the first one with the parathesis. Also if anyone know a local shop where we could get this done, I would much rather support local busines than order them on the internet.

Thank you to all the people who made generous donations to make this possible. A special thanks to (e:olemanrunin) who made the largest single donation we ever had at (e:strip).

ajay - 04/12/06 03:33
"google it" ? What kind of a crazy language is that?
"YST it"! or "Yahoo! it". That sounds much better...

joshua - 04/08/06 00:59
The third one - the simplicity makes it look more elegant than the first two.

mike - 04/08/06 00:52
I definetely like the parenthesis better. It seems much better!

kara - 04/07/06 23:54
I say go with the first one. I like the "google it" option.

twisted - 04/07/06 23:47
I think the parentheses version has too many "enclosures." I like the white border, so I wouldn't want to lose that. But I think it's too hard to "parse" the parentheses inside the border with the colon and the sideways text all at once on a passing vehicle. But maybe I'm just slow.

Of these three I like the arrow one too. The arrow makes "google it" an action. I can get that. But being outside the parentheses makes it seem like a tagline -- something to ignore. I do kind of like the concept of discovery -- I'm guessing most people will be expecting a stripper/porn site.

Even though the 3rd one is the closest to the real URL, it's unnecessarily off-putting. By the time you do a double-take -- is it a ":" or an "i"? Is that supposed to be a URL or something else? It can't be with the colon, right? By then you've lost their interest. Might as well just go with estrip.org for that version.

That's just my opinion, but you know I'll love it no matter what. ;-)

04/07/2006 20:20 #30243

I fixed the search and epoetry links
Category: estrip

They now properly highlight the search terms in the journal they come from. Try out one of the epoetry poems by clicking on the epoetry tag on the top right of the site. When you click on any of the lines of the poem it takes you back to the original jorunal it came from with the text highlighted.

You can see it below, here is an example url

04/07/2006 18:16 #30242

Bumper Sticker Donations
Category: public relations

I am going to order the bumper sticker very soon, if anyone is gonna donate now would be a good time.

04/06/2006 02:32 #30241

hangman on a break
Category: estrip

hangman is on a little break whiel i upgrade some stuff.

The site should be ecen faster now and I have some more upgrades coming soon.