11.11.11 - Website Redesign "UPDATED" Concept Image (Need Somebody to Build it NOW!)

[Sentinelrv]

UPDATE: I originally posted this on the money bomb forum in this thread (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326689-Website-Redesign-Concept-Image-(Took-me-6-HOURS-to-Create-in-Paint-PLEASE-LOOK!)). I got a positive response and some good feedback, so I updated the concept image with the suggestions people gave me. I added in the large donation graph with the old Ron Paul picture on it. I removed "Ron Paul's from above the "Support Them Now" title and put it above "The Military's Choice" instead. I also added in the first two sentences of the description that TexMac suggested.

If everybody likes this, we need to fast track it and get it built IMMEDIATELY, as we have little time left to promote it! I'm not a website designer, so I can't help here. If Gage would like to do it, then he needs to speak up. If not, we can have somebody else design it and then hand it off to Gage to update www.SupportThemNow.com (http://www.supportthemnow.com/). This is an urgent matter. Time is short, so somebody needs to step up. I'd like Dusman to do it, but he hasn't been answering my PM's for some reason. We also need to get the leader board and pledge competition on the website and started as soon as possible. People need to get active on this now or 11.11.11 will be the biggest grassroots failure Ron Paul's ever seen.

---

Original Post:

Ok, I didn't plan on doing this, so here is how it started. On the chipin thread, TexMac raised some very serious concerns about the current website design. Here was my reply...


Gage, I believe TexMac's criticisms of the website are valid. I know you're doing the best you can and we appreciate everything, but with a website like this, you only have a couple seconds to capture people's attention. If it's not immediately clear to them the purpose of the website, you just lost a potential pledge whether you like it or not. You need to catch people's attention IMMEDIATELY. If you make them think, then you lose.

He brought up a question about the title "Support Them Now". Newcomers visiting the website might ask the question "Support who"? If people are required to read the description first in order to understand the event is about supporting the troops, then you've already lost. Reading should not be required in order to understand what the event is about. It needs to pop out at you visually. For example, if you were to take the title "Support Them Now" and combine it with a soldier instead of that old picture of Ron Paul, they would immediately connect the dots. With the current setup, if given only a couple seconds glance at the website, it's much harder for a person to connect the dots.

So I decided to take Dusman's military donations ad here...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PQNUTaqpc3U/Tqsdqp_FEQI/AAAAAAAAAUA/XjKMSy5Tq-0/s640/Fullscreen%2520capture%252010282011%252052407%2520 PM.jpg

...and design a website around it using Microsoft Paint, yes that's right, PAINT! I don't know how to use Photoshop. Anyway, it took me 6 hours to finish and I think it turned out pretty good. I changed the wording a little bit in the description. It now mentions the military donations straight off the bat to fit with the overall theme of the website. I also added our pledge goal and made the suggestion to donate $100, like we did on the Nov 5th website. I even added the donation graph in an easily viewable part of the website. The only thing I didn't add was a banner for the leader board competition. With this design, I think anyone can IMMEDIATELY tell what "Support Them Now" actually means. The dots will be connected, and then they can read the description and find out HOW they can support the troops. One note, the link in the upper left hand corner of the website takes you to my planning thread (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326262-11.11.11-Official-Planning-Thread-Want-4.2-Million-We-Need-17-000-Email-Pledges!) on RonPaulForums where you can help out in the planning stages and learn how to promote. Please tell me what you think. Is this something we should switch to?

Click the picture to make it LARGER...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/SupportThemNowRedesignSmall3.png (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/SupportThemNowRedesign2.png)

[eleganz]

Very nice, approved!

[Sentinelrv]

Again, I really wish Dusman would take this on, but I can understand if he's taking a break. If Gage would like to do it instead then please let us know. If not, we need somebody new.

[parocks]

What I think is that all the moneybombs should have a boots on the ground component.

[Sentinelrv]

What I think is that all the moneybombs should have a boots on the ground component.

I agree. That will be organized for the Tea Party money bomb like in 2007. I don't think we have enough time to organize for this one though.

[garyallen59]

Yes, that looks amazing. I really hope someone steps up.

[TexMac]

Who of the RPF belongs to this?

Web Developers For Ron Paul (https://www.facebook.com/groups/247340371974786/)

If you are going to do a web design for the Ron Paul campaign, what better job than this one?

[Birdlady]

I really like your take on it Sentinel. I absolutely hate the current website and it's theme. Sorry I am being very brutally honest right now. Makes it feel a little too happy and cheerful as people are dying overseas...

Your concept brings the focus point back towards the troops who are currently in the military rather than an old military picture of RP, which doesn't mean anything to me at all...

[beardedlinen]

Excellent new layout.

[Chainspell]

looks really good I can do this. +rep

[TexMac]

looks really good I can do this. +rep

Hero!!! ++++++REPS!!!

[Tinnuhana]

Should someone merge the two threads on this?

[Sentinelrv]

Should someone merge the two threads on this?

I really think we should just merge the new money bomb board back into Grassroots Central. Since this split, planning has dropped significantly. That's why I posted this here instead. We need everybody in Grassroots Central to participate in this just like we did for Black This Out. All the activity is on this board. Maybe we should contact Josh to ask him if he'd merge the board back into Grassroots Central.

[2ndfor1st]

I really think we should just merge the new money bomb board back into Grassroots Central. Since this split, planning has dropped significantly. That's why I posted this here instead. We need everybody in Grassroots Central to participate in this just like we did for Black This Out. All the activity is on this board. Maybe we should contact Josh to ask him if he'd merge the board back into Grassroots Central.
Chainspell i you need any help, would love to work with you on this.

[Sentinelrv]

I can do this layout this weekend. Chainspell i you need any help, would love to work with you on this.

He PM'ed me and said he can have it done by tonight as well as the leader board, so I don't think he needs any help. We are going to need new banners to replace the ones in this thread (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326262-11.11.11-Official-Planning-Thread-Want-4.2-Million-We-Need-17-000-Email-Pledges!) though. I asked Dusman if he had a full version of the soldier's face so we can use it in the banners. His inbox is full so I had to message him on Facebook. Hopefully he gets back to me.

[Gage]

supportthemnow.com (http://supportthemnow.com)

[Sentinelrv]

supportthemnow.com (http://supportthemnow.com)

Oh wow, lol!

[lucent]

Nice work. Needs updated banners and widgets with this design as well. :)

[Sentinelrv]

Thanks a lot Gage. You're definitely on the ball, lol. Would it be possible if you could make some of the changes I did in this new version? I listed all the changes in the first paragraph of the post.

[Chainspell]

nice job! looks awesome

[Sentinelrv]

Oh, also are you working on adding the pledge competition and leader board? If not, Chainspell told me in PM that he can code it up in like five minutes. Let us know.

[TexMac]

Did the soldier change sides? The print is running over the soldier image and it's hard to read.

[Sentinelrv]

Did the soldier change sides? The print is running over the soldier image and it's hard to read.

Yeah it did, but I don't see the print running over the soldier. It must be a problem on your end.

[garyallen59]

Did the soldier change sides? The print is running over the soldier image and it's hard to read.

same here. can the soldier be moved to the right hand side of the website?

[Gage]

Text fixed.

Waits for something else to be criticized by TexMac.

[lucent]

Still need a prominent member take take control of advertising it and setup a chipin. Any longer and there won't be time.

[Chainspell]

Yeah it did, but I don't see the print running over the soldier. It must be a problem on your end.
Gage moved the soldier to the left because the face of the soldier is cut off. The whole page is now aligned to the left edge which is okay when someone resizes their browser the face will stay on the left. if the page was centered you would have a problem of the soldier's face getting cut off in the middle of the page, and you can't align pages to the right.

i was thinking of having a frame like this beige color as the background so even if the face gets cut off it doesn't look weird if it was a black background. that way you can still center the whole page.

another solution is if ur already mirroring the image, mirror the page elements also. move the pledge counter to the left and the text to the right.

[garyallen59]

Gage moved the soldier to the left because the face of the soldier is cut off. The whole page is now aligned to the left edge which is okay when someone resizes their browser the face will stay on the left. if the page was centered you would have a problem of the soldier's face getting cut off in the middle of the page, and you can't align pages to the right.

i was thinking of having a frame like this beige color as the background so even if the face gets cut off it doesn't look weird if it was a black background. that way you can still center the whole page.

another solution is if ur already mirroring the image, mirror the page elements also. move the pledge counter to the left and the text to the right.

Yes, makes perfect sense. If you can Gage just mirror image Sentinelrv's design.

It's coming along great, thanks for the all the work you're putting in.

[Sentinelrv]

Besides getting this website theme to match up, I think our most important priority is getting this pledge competition up and running. If we don't have that, then our pledges will suffer. It was a huge success last go around. Is this being worked on or would you like Chainspell to take it on? No need for you to do everything yourself Gage if we can all help out.

[Chainspell]

like this center aligned for people who have resolutions at 1920x1080, but not that important:

http://i39.tinypic.com/f4343d.jpg (http://i44.tinypic.com/5rayd.jpg)

[FreeTraveler]

AWESOME! This is a moneybomb I can promote to anybody. Current military, veterans, and the general public. Even neocons... what are they gonna say now? :D

Thanks to everybody for their hard work.

[Sentinelrv]

One other thing, I think it would be best if we change the top link "Help to Plan & Promote This Event Here" and direct people to my planning thread here...

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326262-11.11.11-Official-Planning-Thread-Want-4.2-Million-We-Need-17-000-Email-Pledges!

It will contain the latest information and promotion techniques, so you won't have to keep updating the website with that info. I'll take care of it. It also gives people a place to help out in the planning stages.

[Gage]

Here is what it would look like mirrored.

http://supportthemnow.com/mirrored

[Chainspell]

Besides getting this website theme to match up, I think our most important priority is getting this pledge competition up and running. If we don't have that, then our pledges will suffer. It was a huge success last go around. Is this being worked on or would you like Chainspell to take it on? No need for you to do everything yourself Gage if we can all help out.
It has to be done by gage because the database is on his server. also, Im not sure what scripting language the page is on, and what database. but pulling data from a database is fairly easy.

also I don't know if it's the same design as dusman's but it's pretty easy to link pledges to a referral number that is linked to the users table.

[Chainspell]

Here is what it would look like mirrored.

http://supportthemnow.com/mirrored
yeah looks good either way. :) if you can right align the pledge counter and text so that they all stick to the center line i think that would help aesthetically

[lucent]

Could you put the Ron Paul logo where it says "Ron Paul's"?

[Sentinelrv]

Could you put the Ron Paul logo where it says "Ron Paul's"?

What logo is that?

[garyallen59]

Here is what it would look like mirrored.

http://supportthemnow.com/mirrored

Looks great! I think before it looked to busy on the left hand side, the mirrored look is much easier on the eyes. I'm sorry if this is nitpicking but if you could align all of the center yellow lines, center the bottom of the page up, and flip the videos and the I took an oath ad so that the ad is under the soldier it would look perfect. Once again I don't want to offend or place too much a burden on you, but i believe it would make the page much more eye appealing. Thanks again for all your hard work.

[FreeTraveler]

Here's the text I used for my FaceBook post. It fits nicely. Feel free to copy and paste for your own purposes.

Support the Presidential candidate the troops support. The top three professions donating to his campaign are Air Force, Army, and Navy troops; not employees of banks, lawyers, or other special interests. More donations from the troops than all other candidates combined, including Obama. Click the link for the full story.

The link is to supportthemnow.com, naturally. :)

[Chainspell]

Looks great! I think before it looked to busy on the left hand side, the mirrored look is much easier on the eyes. I'm sorry if this is nitpicking but if you could align all of the center yellow lines, center the bottom of the page up, and flip the videos and the I took an oath ad so that the ad is under the soldier it would look perfect. Once again I don't want to offend or place too much a burden on you, but i believe it would make the page much more eye appealing. Thanks again for all your hard work.
okay now... let's let gage do other things :p we're gonna be stuck editing this thing forever if he keeps changing it to everybody's whim.

[lucent]

What logo is that?

The campaign logo.

[Gage]

I'll be saving the mirrored version as the index page if no one objects.

[Sentinelrv]

Once we setup the pledge competition and have that vertical banner, we can include the large donation graph also. We probably don't want to include it yet anway, because there will be a large gap since we don't have the banner ready yet that would go there.

[FreeTraveler]

One other thing. People are going to think that if they pledge they have to give $100. Bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

[2ndfor1st]

Gage has got this.....it's looks great you guys!

[Sentinelrv]

Here's the text I used for my FaceBook post. It fits nicely. Feel free to copy and paste for your own purposes.

Support the Presidential candidate the troops support. The top three professions donating to his campaign are Air Force, Army, and Navy troops; not employees of banks, lawyers, or other special interests. More donations from the troops than all other candidates combined, including Obama. Click the link for the full story.

The link is to supportthemnow.com, naturally. :)

Sounds great. I'm getting excited about this now like i was for BTO. I think the theme we're using now has the potential to lure in a lot of new people that didn't know these facts about Ron Paul.

[2ndfor1st]

One other thing. People are going to think that if they pledge they have to give $100. Bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

Good point. I always wondered why there wasn't an amount field so we can make a leaderboard for the amount projected.

[Sentinelrv]

One other thing. People are going to think that if they pledge they have to give $100. Bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

I used that $100 amount so people don't think they can half ass their donation. This is the description we used for Nov 5th and we brought in $4.3 million...

"Please join us this November 5th for the largest one day political donation event in history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $100 each, creating a one day donation total of $10,000,000.

Please subscribe via feedburner below to confirm your commitment to donate. Each day you'll receive an email with our total number of subscribers. In this way we will know exactly where we stand in our efforts. Our goal is 100,000 subscribers.

Please subscribe now. Please spread the word. Thank you."

[garyallen59]

okay now... let's let gage do other things :p we're gonna be stuck editing this thing forever if he keeps changing it to everybody's whim.

Yeah, I don't know how long stuff like this takes, and definitely do not want to impose too much a burden. I was just making suggestions to what I know would make the site the most appealing upon first impressions. It looking good either way. :cool:

[Sentinelrv]

Good point. I always wondered why there wasn't an amount field so we can make a leaderboard for the amount projected.

We actually did do this for BTO, but we removed it later because we realized the amount pledged wasn't accurate and it was just demotivating people who thought we wouldn't bring in a whole lot. More people donate than actually pledge.

[D.A.S.]

I still don't like the slogan "Support Them Now"... Support who? Is the moneybomb for Ron Paul or for the troops? Support them how? Does the money go to the troops?

It would be much better to brand this moneybomb as "Bring the Troops Home" moneybomb (or Bring Them Home). That way there's no ambiguity as to the objective and who will accomplish the objective. Because we know who has said "Bring the Troops Home" time and time again.

I can tell you now - try to sell this to people on business cards, and they will be like "huh? support who? how? why giving money to Ron Paul supports the troops?" The concept of "Bring Them Home" makes everything clearer and more focused, in my opinion.

[Gage]

I still don't like the slogan "Support Them Now"... Support who? Is the moneybomb for Ron Paul or for the troops? Support them how? Does the money go to the troops?

It would be much better to brand this moneybomb as "Bring the Troops Home" moneybomb (or Bring Them Home). That way there's no ambiguity as to the objective and who will accomplish the objective. Because we know who has said "Bring the Troops Home" time and time again.

I can tell you now - try to sell this to people on business cards, and they will be like "huh? support who? how? why giving money to Ron Paul supports the troops?" The concept of "Bring Them Home" makes everything clearer and more focused, in my opinion.
Buy bringthemhome.com or supportthetroops.com and we'll change it.

[FreeTraveler]

I used that $100 amount so people don't think they can half ass their donation. This is the description we used for Nov 5th and we brought in $4.3 million...

"Please join us this November 5th for the largest one day political donation event in history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $100 each, creating a one day donation total of $10,000,000.

Please subscribe via feedburner below to confirm your commitment to donate. Each day you'll receive an email with our total number of subscribers. In this way we will know exactly where we stand in our efforts. Our goal is 100,000 subscribers.

Please subscribe now. Please spread the word. Thank you."
Okay, just add "or what you can" after the $100. Then you don't scare off the $10 and $20.12 pledges. We're aiming for the general public, not just ardent supporters.

[Sentinelrv]

I still don't like the slogan "Support Them Now"... Support who? Is the moneybomb for Ron Paul or for the troops? Support them how? Does the money go to the troops?

It would be much better to brand this moneybomb as "Bring the Troops Home" moneybomb (or Bring Them Home). That way there's no ambiguity as to the objective and who will accomplish the objective. Because we know who has said "Bring the Troops Home" time and time again.

I can tell you now - try to sell this to people on business cards, and they will be like "huh? support who? how? why giving money to Ron Paul supports the troops?" The concept of "Bring Them Home" makes everything clearer and more focused, in my opinion.

I think it's pretty obvious now. It wasn't before. As soon as they visit the website they can see the answer is the troops. Then it says in big letters "Ron Paul, The Military's Choice". If they look even further there is a graph and a description that spells it out for you. This type of theme will bring more people in that might not already support Ron Paul because they had this misconception that he was weak on defense, when the opposite is true. It will help to convert Republicans that were on the edge. I think we need to broaden our donation base if we're to keep getting these million dollar days.

[FreeTraveler]

Sounds great. I'm getting excited about this now like i was for BTO. I think the theme we're using now has the potential to lure in a lot of new people that didn't know these facts about Ron Paul.

Feel free to grab that text and post it in the OP or wherever people can pick it up for their facebook posts. It's hard to get the important stuff into a short message like Facebook allows.

[D.A.S.]

Buy bringthemhome.com or supportthetroops.com and we'll change it.

I looked - both domains are unavailable, otherwise I was ready to buy one. The only one resembling this that is available would be bringourtroopshome.net

I'm guessing .net isn't suitable. If that is ok, then I can go ahead and purchase that one.

[Gage]

I looked - both domains are unavailable, otherwise I was ready to buy one. The only one resembling this that is available would be bringourtroopshome.net

I'm guessing .net isn't suitable. If that is ok, then I can go ahead and purchase that one.
I know. Why do you think I said it. And no it is not suitable.

[D.A.S.]

I know. Why do you think I said it. And no it is not suitable.

bringtroopshome.com and bringallthetroopshome.com are available, however. If either one is suitable, let me know.

[Gage]

bringtroopshome.com and bringallthetroopshome.com are available, however. If either one is suitable, let me know.
No.

Please get it through your head that the name is not going to be changed.

[Sentinelrv]

I think it's pretty obvious now. It wasn't before. As soon as they visit the website they can see the answer is the troops. Then it says in big letters "Ron Paul, The Military's Choice". If they look even further there is a graph and a description that spells it out for you. This type of theme will bring more people in that might not already support Ron Paul because they had this misconception that he was weak on defense, when the opposite is true. It will help to convert Republicans that were on the edge. I think we need to broaden our donation base if we're to keep getting these million dollar days.

And as a side note to this, I think a link that says bring the troops home will prevent these newcomers from even visiting the website. At least with SupportThemNow they wouldn't have a reason to object before they even visited the website. Right now we can hook people's curiosity so that they'll visit the website and learn about the military's support for Ron. If we switch to a bring the troops home link, there will be no curiosity because it would be pretty obvious from the link what it's about and certain people might be turned off by that idea. Right now we can at least hook them and lure them onto the website before they have a chance to object. The best we can hope for is that once they see the content of the website, they'll change their mind or at least do some research to learn more about him.

[2ndfor1st]

bringtroopshome.com and bringallthetroopshome.com are available, however. If either one is suitable, let me know.

Yeah get through your head. Pound it in there! :)

haha just playing

[D.A.S.]

No.

Please get it through your head that the name is not going to be changed.

I didn't mean to frustrate you with my suggestion. It was a friendly suggestion. I won't bring it up again.

[D.A.S.]

Yeah get through your head. Pound it in there! :)

haha just playing

Ha! I wasn't trying to piss anyone off - I promise :)

[WD-NY]

Buy bringthemhome.com or supportthetroops.com and we'll change it.

I've been out of the loop - is bringTHEMhome.com owned by someone on RPF? I think that the "them" is this instance would be akin to the "this" in BlackTHISout (which was awesome in a vague sort of way :).

"Bring" projects a different vibe than "support" ... but not in a bad way - just different.

My one suggestion for the website at this point would be to simply center the content and give the body a border. If it's being aligned to the left because of the image of the solider's face is cut in half... giving the body a border and floating the 'sliced image' directly against it like apple does on its product landing pages (http://www.apple.com/iphone/built-in-apps/camera.html) will actually make it easier to process it.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8074/appleiphone4sshootamazi.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/521/appleiphone4sshootamazi.jpg/)

[pen_thief]

You've done a wonderful job at the design :)

[D.A.S.]

I think it's pretty obvious now. It wasn't before. As soon as they visit the website they can see the answer is the troops. Then it says in big letters "Ron Paul, The Military's Choice". If they look even further there is a graph and a description that spells it out for you. This type of theme will bring more people in that might not already support Ron Paul because they had this misconception that he was weak on defense, when the opposite is true. It will help to convert Republicans that were on the edge. I think we need to broaden our donation base if we're to keep getting these million dollar days.

You did a fantastic job with the website redesign.

If perhaps the widget for the website could be updated to reflect your new design - with the picture of that soldier from dusman's ad instead of Ron Paul's young picture and the new color scheme - that would awesome.

[Sentinelrv]

You did a fantastic job with the website redesign.

If perhaps the widget for the website could be updated to reflect your new design - with the picture of that soldier from dusman's ad instead of Ron Paul's young picture and the new color scheme - that would awesome.

I'm trying to work on that right now, a concept image, but I'm having trouble filling in the space. I wish I had the full picture of the soldiers face.

[Chainspell]

yeah you do... you have one side of the face so that makes it...

drumroll please.....

[D.A.S.]

I'm trying to work on that right now, a concept image, but I'm having trouble filling in the space. I wish I had the full picture of the soldiers face.

Yep, like Chainspell says - mirror it, and you got a full face. :-)

[Sentinelrv]

I think it looks a little strange, lol. It's not completely half of the face. A sliver is cut off so his eyes are too close together and he's missing part of his nose...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/TwoFace.png

[lucent]

That looks stupid. :)

[Sentinelrv]

Ok, I asked Gage about the leader board and pledge competition and if he or Dusman was working on incorporating it into the website. Here is his response...


I would not know how to do the leaderboard feature. Someone else would have to code it, and provide the code to me to add to the website. If Chainspell is able to do it fine, as dusman is not working on it either.

So nobody has been working on this. How can we go about getting this built?

[lucent]

We need a sidebar widget. I asked for one during BTO and never got one and still need one for this one.

[2ndfor1st]

We need a sidebar widget. I asked for one during BTO and never got one and still need one for this one.

I'll do the sidebar widget

[lucent]

Do we have updated banners?

[Chainspell]

did a quick edit how about this? added a gap in middle so his eyes arent so close lol and added shadow on his right cheek

http://i44.tinypic.com/2z99r0g.jpg

[lucent]

Honestly, without support from Daily Paul and other Ron Paul sites, this doesn't look like it'll do very well.

[lucent]

did a quick edit how about this? added a gap in middle so his eyes arent so close lol and added shadow on his right cheek

http://i44.tinypic.com/2z99r0g.jpg

Still looks stupid. :)

[Mahkato]

The pie chart really needs to say All OTHER GOP Candidates

[Chainspell]

what about this?

http://i39.tinypic.com/wkr8uq.jpg


took a little bit of the whites in his eyes, lessened more on the right
http://i43.tinypic.com/37k0p.jpg

[justatrey]

I like everything but the slogan. Support them now? That's what all the neo-cons say! In all seriousness, this should be the slogan for a RICK ****ING SANTORUM moneybomb!

The obvious thing to me is "Bring the Troops Home" or something similar. Although I'm sure plenty of others have recommended this by now :confused:

I'm still going donate of course. Just saying :)

[Whathadiv]

I'm a web designer/developer and wouldn't mind helping put this together. My page is www.justinhubbard.me if you want to check out some of my work. Let me know either way.

[2ndfor1st]

Gage

It's looking awesome, surely an improvement.

I know your busy so I hope you dont mind I reduced your background image size (could be even better):
Heres the updated background image: http://ronpaulronpaul.com/img/spnbackg.jpg

Just replace your code:


<body background="http://www.supportthemnow.com/spnbackg.jpg" bgcolor="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#FF0000" text="#000000"
onLoad="window.onresize=new Function('if (navigator.appVersion==\'Netscape\') history.go(0); else center();'); center();">

With this code:

<body style="background: #000000 url(http://ronpaulronpaul.com/img/spnbackg.jpg) top left repeat-x;" link="#0000FF" vlink="#FF0000" text="#000000"
onLoad="window.onresize=new Function('if (navigator.appVersion==\'Netscape\') history.go(0); else center();'); center();">

The current image is 559.15 KB, the new one is 117.11 KB - that should cut down on the load time a bit :)...

You can host the image where its at or on your host, just trying to save you some bandwidth, you're gonna need it.

[Sentinelrv]

In case nobody saw this, here it is again. This is the most important thing to be woring on right now. It's what will jumpstart our pledges...


Ok, I asked Gage about the leader board and pledge competition and if he or Dusman was working on incorporating it into the website. Here is his response...


I would not know how to do the leaderboard feature. Someone else would have to code it, and provide the code to me to add to the website. If Chainspell is able to do it fine, as dusman is not working on it either.

So nobody has been working on this. How can we go about getting this built?

Do we need some kind of information from Gage before doing it?

[2ndfor1st]

I'm a web designer/developer and wouldn't mind helping put this together. My page is www.justinhubbard.me if you want to check out some of my work. Let me know either way.

I would love to work with you....I can see already by the looks of your site, you'll be able to help with page load. Welcome to the party

[Whathadiv]

Well that's the easy part. You can bring up Firebug and test it using YSlow. Compress your CSS/HTML and JS files. Smush your images through smush-it. Add headers to the .htaccess file (only necessary for large sites), among a large amount of other ways. If you would like advice I'll be glad to help but right now I have some work to finish up and won't be available until late next week sometime to physically work on the site.

Please let me know what questions you have. :)

[Sentinelrv]

Ok, I finally finished making a concept image of the horizontal pledge widget. Not sure what to do from here but leave it up to you guys to build. If you need to know, the font I'm using is Impact...

EDIT: Check the next couple posts. I updated the banner again...)

Oh, and that soldier image worked out great Chainspell, thanks! I used the one where you took some of the whites out of his eyes. Did you have a larger version of that image so we can make some banners?

[Chainspell]

In case nobody saw this, here it is again. This is the most important thing to be woring on right now. It's what will jumpstart our pledges...
Do we need some kind of information from Gage before doing it?
its a little complicated...

i need to know what the script language for generating the pages are
how is it storing the emails (sql, mysql, access db, plain text file?)
what's the connection info for the database
is the database and the web pages on the same server
can gage create db tables?
how is it pulling the data of current pledge numbers from the database?
can you run both php and aspx on the server?


DB Design:

[emails]
entry_id *key
email
amount
date
ip
ref_url
referrer_id

[promoters]
user_id *key
referrer_id
username
date_created
hits

SQL strings:

get number of pledges:
select count(*) as pledges from emails

get total amount:
select sum(amount) as amount from emails

get all promoters sorted by hits:
select username, hits from promoters where hits > 0 order by hits desc

get top 5 promoters sorted by hits:
select top 5 username, hits from promoters where hits > 0 order by hits desc

update promoter hits:
update promoters set hits = (select count(emails.email) from emails where promoters.referrer_id=emails.referrer_id) where referrer_id = @in_value


then what's left is to put that data on the webpage.

[2ndfor1st]

Ok, I finally finished making a concept image of the horizontal pledge widget. Not sure what to do from here but leave it up to you guys to build. If you need to know, the font I'm using is Impact...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/STNpledgeWidget.png

Oh, and that soldier image worked out great Chainspell, thanks! I used the one where you took some of the whites out of his eyes. Did you have a larger version of that image so we can make some banners?

That will work great here on the forums...Couple things the standard size in most blogs is 728x90. Also, is there anyway we can start adding "Veterans Day" to these creatives?

[Sentinelrv]

Deleted

[Sentinelrv]

Crap, it seems somebody beat me to it. RonPaulForums already updated the banner. I actually like the close up shot of the soldier's face better, so I changed my banner to match it. I like this one the best, especially because it has the pledge counter...

Deleted.

[beardedlinen]

"This is your chance to make a difference. Please pledge to donate at least $100 to the Veterans Day "Support Them Now" Money Bomb by signing up to the right. Our goal is to collect 17,000 pledges, the same amount of pledges we collected on the $4.3 million November 5th Money Bomb in 2007. On November 11, please only donate at"

Delete everything in bold imo.

[lucent]

At this point we need less web designing and more promotion.


what about this?

http://i39.tinypic.com/wkr8uq.jpg


took a little bit of the whites in his eyes, lessened more on the right
http://i43.tinypic.com/37k0p.jpg

Nope. Still looks stupid, sorry. :)

[Sentinelrv]

That will work great here on the forums...Couple things the standard size in most blogs is 728x90. Also, is there anyway we can start adding "Veterans Day" to these creatives?

CRAP! I just realized what I've been doing wrong. I've been using the print screen button to copy and paste images from my browser. I just realized that my browser is zoomed in 125% so it's been throwing off the size of my images. Now I have to redo everything I've been working on......:(

[Sentinelrv]

Alright, this should be the final version, 728 x 90...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/STNpledgeWidget728x90.png

[2ndfor1st]

Alright, this should be the final version, 728 x 90...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/STNpledgeWidget728x90.png

(design by Sentinelrv).

[pauliticalfan]

The unibrow, guys, the unibrow...

[Sentinelrv]

The unibrow, guys, the unibrow...

Don't worry, we're not using it, lol.

[2ndfor1st]

Don't worry, we're not using it, lol.


Ha Ha

[2ndfor1st]

Moderator: I just updated the code to fix that :)

[Sentinelrv]

Ha Ha

Here is both widgets READY TO GO, COPY PASTE - 728x90px and 180x350px
http://www.ronpaulronpaul.com/widgets.php

You know that's supposed to be a real pledge counter right? I know we don't have 17,000 pledges yet, lol.

[2ndfor1st]

You know that's supposed to be a real pledge counter right? I know we don't have 17,000 pledges yet, lol.

Haha well thats what it is until someone gives me access to the feed. haha

[2ndfor1st]

You know that's supposed to be a real pledge counter right? I know we don't have 17,000 pledges yet, lol.

I can do the pledge counter, I need the feedburner id

[JoshLowry]

Nice work! I changed it to Bring Them Home on the right hand side. Will change it again if you can work that out with Gage.

I'm not sure that the pledge number on the site updates in real time. Thanks!

[2ndfor1st]

Nice work! I changed it to Bring Them Home on the right hand side. Will change it again if you can work that out with Gage.

I'm not sure that the pledge number on the site updates in real time. Thanks!

Nice!

[2ndfor1st]

Nice work! I changed it to Bring Them Home on the right hand side. Will change it again if you can work that out with Gage.

I'm not sure that the pledge number on the site updates in real time. Thanks!

Nice! Josh! You're the banner switcher guy....nice to meet you.

I updated sentinelrv's banner too, until I get the feedburner id, then I'll make the pledge count real time.

[Sentinelrv]

Nice work! I changed it to Bring Them Home on the right hand side. Will change it again if you can work that out with Gage.

I'm not sure that the pledge number on the site updates in real time. Thanks!

That's cool! See, people got what they wanted afterall.

[JoshLowry]

:)

[2ndfor1st]

Ok, just need gage to activate the "API-Awareness" under the "Publicize" tab.

If one of you guys has his number, pass that message on to him.

[lucent]

We really need Lyman's list. Think we could get our hands on it?

[Sentinelrv]

We really need Lyman's list. Think we could get our hands on it?

I highly doubt it.

[Sentinelrv]

Alright, I've been working on a vertical banner we can use on Facebook. I'll need to get ItsTime to update the BlackThisOut Facebook pages, and I'll see about getting the Ron Paul 2012 page to help out too...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/STNBanner180x420.png

[Gage]

I really don't like the font. Looks like it came straight out of MS Paint.

[lucent]

Still need a sidebar widget.

[Sentinelrv]

Still need a sidebar widget.

2ndfor1st made one here...

http://ronpaulronpaul.com/widgets.php

[lucent]

2ndfor1st made one here...

http://ronpaulronpaul.com/widgets.php

It says 17,000 pledges...

[Sentinelrv]

It says 17,000 pledges...

I asked him about that and he needs Gage's help to make the pledge count active...


thats what it is until someone gives me access to the feed. haha

[Sentinelrv]

Ok, Gage suggested I use the font Gotham instead, so here is the replacement vertical banner. Now I just need to redo the horizontal banner and I'm going to bed...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/STNBanner180x420-2.png

[Chainspell]

banners should be clickable

[Sentinelrv]

Ok, here is the replacement for the horizontal banner. Hopefully these are the last updates to these images. Let me know what you think.

I didn't move the entry box or the pledge button. All I did was change the font.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/STNpledgeWidget728x90-2.png

[D.A.S.]

Ok, here is the replacement for the horizontal banner. Hopefully these are the last updates to these images. Let me know what you think.

I didn't move the entry box or the pledge button. All I did was change the font.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/STNpledgeWidget728x90-2.png

Love LOVE this one!

Great work.