Dear Webmaster Talk Members,
You have been invited to participate in the creation of TechTuts version 4. For those of you who don't know,
TechTuts has a long history; growing from a very small group of members and only a handful of tutorials over a year ago, to over 1000 members and over 500 tutorials. Recently, version 3 of our website has been plagued with slow load times, multiple hackings, and lower community involvement. We have had many layouts designed, but we need something different and fresh, which is why we are holding this competition.
Prizes
Designing the layout for a website which receives thousands of visitors a day isn't enough? Alright, alright, here are some pretty decent prizes, but don't forget that this will also look great in your portfolio.
First Prize - $135 US (Payment via PayPal or Check through mail), TechTuts email, custom title indicating that you designed the layout on the forum (if you desire).
Second Prize - $10, Techtuts email, custom title (if you desire)
Submissions
Please make a new thread for your entries in the
Contest Entries forum. There is no limit to how many entries per user. If it is a brand new entry, please make a new thread, if it is an update to a previous entry, please post in that old thread. The entries will be viewable by all, but only the administrators will be able to comment. We will be providing feedback for every new design update that you send us, telling what we like and what to improve. If your design is chosen, you will be asked to code it, but no bonus points will be given to those who code their layout before the contest ends.
Specifications
We have looked at using some pretty complicated and graphically intense layouts. We have decided that we need to use something that is more modern, more Web 2.0 (
what is web 2.0?)...more simple.
Your job is to design, through CSS and use of graphics, a layout which is not only simple, but extremely attractive. Please view the sites below to find some designs which we consider effective yet beautiful. Note the fonts they use, the gradients, and how they lay everything out. I feel that templates such as these get alot of their attractiveness through their logos, so if you make a good logo I may want to award you for that also. Please note that you need to make room for alot of content, how you do that is up to you.
http://www.sitepoint.com
http://www.cssvault.com
Try to keep your colors on the cool side of the ring (blues, greens, etc). I'm sure this won't be a problem, but if we cannot find a layout which we feel would work well for version 4, then we reserve the right to not declare a winner.
Deadline
The deadline is the 17th of October. As soon as it is the 18th, EST, then no more entries will be accepted. That gives you two weeks. It will be decided on by the administration but I may put up a poll to see how the members feel about certain layouts.
Good luck,
Dan
