cpc style site . . .

[carvediem]

well I have recently set up a site for alpine snowboarders at freecarvers.com . . .

anyway one can register and get a personal weblog / site at freecarvers.com/username too . . .

what sounds like random spam to promote this site so far actually isn't

I have set this up using the wordpress software with network functionality and for the network of user sites I can make themes / designs available and I thought about creating a totally "off snowboarding topic" CPC theme to satisfy my own personal love for the amstrad cpc I had as a kid (and still have) in a creative way . . .

of course anyone snowboarder or not would be welcome to set up a site in CPC look once I have such a design available for the weblogs / sites . . .

so . . . I just wondered if anyone of you could give me any pointers, tips or tricks or ideas for creating a cpc themed design for sites . . . for example fonts that come close to the original cpc yellow on blue, the hex color codes of the original blue and yellow or any ideas for graphics / logos to possibly include on such a design or just how you would like a cpc related site design to look like . . .

I admit I am writing this before thinking a lot about it on my own since it doesn't have prime priority after all I am running a snowboarders site but DEFINITELY I want to come up with a cpc themed design sooner or later and wondered if anyone was willing to think about something like that too . . . a weblog site featuring a cpc related design . . .

again, anyone can get a personal weblog / site with 1 GB of space in cpc design should this work out so thanks in advance for any ideas . . .

Bernhard Hoffmann

http://freecarvers.com

[Xyphoe]

Hi,

You can get the Amstrad CPC font for Windows on this link - http://genesis8.free.fr/frontend/graphic/amstrad.zip

A CPC themed errr theme would be nice! I'm not sure how you would do it really, are there any other WP themes out there designed around other systems?

I've always wanted to do something similar, outside of WordPress I wanted to do a layout that looks like you were using and viewing through an Amstrad and my shitty efforts resulted in this http://gx4000.co.uk/gamebase/ - some like it some don't - but in terms of WordPress I got really frustrated with it so on another site I just hacked it to pieces and got it to its bare bones of just articles/comments/categories that will display 'within' a website and its own layout in CSS. I like the functionality of WordPress and how quick and easy it is to put up articles, but not its front end design and end result - WP sites just end up looking like every other WP site unless you're amazing with CSS and/or prepared to take ages creating your own themes.

Good luck!

[Gryzor]

*OT* any ideas where we could put this font on the wiki?

[carvediem]

searched wordpress themes a while ago and didn't find anything cpc or other retro computer style . . . a quick check right now again showed nothing not even for "c64" or "commodore" . . .

which I don't mind I am looking forward to fooling around with this . . .

what I did find on unrelated look arounds were some simple themes that might serve as a basis on the other hand I think I might get into creating themes from scratch too after all and after fooling around with other software I will stick with wordpress for the site so the more I know about it the better and with the coding knowledge I have I think I should be able to approach the topic of creating themes from scratch too . . .

anyway thanks for the font and site link I think that's not at all shitty but a cool idea on your site also like the details like the cartridge being clickable . . .

as for wp sites all looking the same (or most of them) I agree that a cpc theme should not just be a color scheme and a font but result in a site with some other than standard wordpress functionality and that's the real funny thing to think about some combination of a cpc feel without stripping the site from modern functionalities common for weblogs . . .

so way to go but should be fun thanks for the replies . . .

[carvediem]

okay I think and thanks to Xyphoe's inspiration I could make it a site that just shows a cpc . . .



with the dynamic weblog content appearing on monitor screen (of course needs a higher res photo) and a toggle option to go full 'blue' (or whatever color) screen anytime . . . well not sure if a strictly yellow on blue animated gif 'boot' intro on screen before the weblog content is shown would be a good idea - maybe if its quick enough - as the cpc booted quick in real life too - to not annoy anyone repeatedly visiting the site . . .

apart from enjoying its obvious cool looks or alerting those not in the know that they are viewing a sort of funny layed out site another advantage of starting out with a cpc hardware photo (could be a theme each for 464, 664, ...) would be that I could easily assign easter egg functions to keys on the keyboard including a tape loading sound for sure . . .

of course the range of little cpc related thingies that could be added as easter eggs is . . . well like the full range of thingies that could be . . . some key could link to cpcwiki another one start a flash based game or whatever - guess I shall refrain from keyboard shortcuts to not inferfere with comment writing for example but do this all mouse over click on keys of the graphic keyboard shown

and a one click option to go full screen toggling the hardware 'frame' away would make all of that bearable for visitors who just want to see the actual weblog content in a convenient way . . .

so this would be one way to go and an easy one too since it would not even require the cpc feel to come only from the actual weblog content presentation so not so much weight would have to be on overhauling core functionality of content presentation I guess . . .

although still I would not want to have "whatever" standard design for content presentation but one could get away easier without modyfieng to much of core functionalites . . .

well I hope I don't bore you with these elaborations on ideas guess a thread can be just for those interested in what its about

(of course I do not plan to use any pic or include any easter egg thingy without permission)

since creating the theme will be some work and I am a photoshop idiot (actually not even having the software) I would of course be happy about any usable hardware photos or easter eggs ready to be included if some of you would be willing to contribute such things . . .

anyway this is fun to me and thanks for your consideration and so far ideas . . .

[carvediem]

should we go so far as to have an animated gif spring opening the tape deck when hitting the eject key? haha and well ideas come before putting them into action and talk is cheap but on the other hand without ideas nothing will end up being put into action

[Gryzor]

Well, now you're not talking so much about a theme or a design as for a UI. That's a totally different thing and, in my experience, seldom works...

[carvediem]

well the ui will be a gui I found a wordpress theme though that is rather text based as for the initial post titles overview and such and have started to fool around with it to make it look cpc like enough and I think this could actually work out to some degree well I already made it look cpc like to some degree within an hour (okay 2 hours) . . . and then maybe I can make the initial startpage such that it shows a cpc with the dynamic content framed into a monitor graphic and have a keyboard below to which keys I could assign various easter eggs . . . so not really a cpc ui there but just a graphical vehicle frame to add some fun stuff and have a toggle switch to remove the cpc computer frame and show the still cpc like designed dynamic weblog content full screen