The Front Page

[Barry]

I've been playing around a bit with css and html to create a better look for the wiki's Main Page. Since it's only a draft, the layout can be viewed at my UserPage, see:

User:KillUglyRadio

... and let me know what you think...

[emdebe]

I'm OK with this, although I would suggest the use of other colors...

... I suggest something simple with avocado green, yellow orange and robin's-egg blue in it (yes, apparently HIS favorite colors)...

[Barry]

I spend an hour and a half divising the content into four blocks; then I spend about 5 minutes giving those blocks a color. Thanks for the input anyway mdb...

[UniMuta]

I like the idea. It's a nice lay-out.

One small question: don't you want to have some sort of "latest news page" for announcements: radio broadcasts, concerts, new books, bootlegs and maybe even albums?
a bit like http://www.united-mutations.com/123/big_note_files_news.htm

One small remark: i don't like the names of certain categories / topics, but i'm guessing these will be discussed as soon as they're about to be filled / edited?

-- UniMuta

[Chris]

Nice job! I'm diggin' it. Ease of use is what we're going for here, and you duly have links grouped logically, all scannable by the eyes at one time.

[Barry]

One small question: don't you want to have some sort of "latest news page" for announcements: radio broadcasts, concerts, new books, bootlegs and maybe even albums?

There's an idea... of course there's already Hot Poop, but having the *really* important news-bits over at the wiki's frontpage is interesting.

One small remark: i don't like the names of certain categories / topics, but i'm guessing these will be discussed as soon as they're about to be filled / edited?

By all means feel free to discuss it right here. Which category/topic names do you think could be approved?

Thanks for the input!

[UniMuta]

Well, just to name one:

the "bootlegs" category should include bootlegs.
The BTB albums are not bootlegs, but are legitimate reissues of bootlegs, so these don't belong there. The original bootlegs would, however.

or: "touring":

zappa did tour, but he also participated in other concerts: 200 motels at UCLA, the Varèse thing that he conducted, participating in Ensemble Modern concerts in Frankfurt, ...

-- UniMuta

[emdebe]

The BTB albums are not bootlegs, but are legitimate reissues of bootlegs...

The BTB albums are in two categories: "Beat The Boots" and "Bootlegs"; that way you have 1 page to discuss the 2 versions of each album. This is called the "economical" approach... If more people prefer the more "capitalistic" approach (seperate pages), then so it shall be, I guess...

"touring": zappa did tour, but he also participated in other concerts: 200 motels at UCLA, the Varèse thing that he conducted, participating in Ensemble Modern concerts in Frankfurt, ...

Maybe "piping" could help... [[Touring | Touring, Performances & Appearances]]... or something like that... Or maybe we just need more categories: [[Touring]], [[Performances]], [[Appearances]]...

Thanks for the input!

By the way, UniMuta, what do you pay this guy, Barry? You get a "thank you" for saying you don't like something; when I do that, I get an icepick in the forehead...

[emdebe]

...
or: "touring":
zappa did tour, but he also participated in other concerts: 200 motels at UCLA, the Varèse thing that he conducted, participating in Ensemble Modern concerts in Frankfurt, ...

How do we continue?

Where do I put the performances of The Ramblers (not exactly a "tour")?
Where do I put the performances/appearances of FZ behind the Iron Curtain?
Where does the Steve Allen thing go?

In other words: we need some extensions here...
Or: do we need some extensions here?

Appearances
Performances
Concerts
Tours
...

1) How many do we need/accept?
2) What's their hierarchy?

[Barry]

How do we continue?

Where do I put the performances of The Ramblers (not exactly a "tour")?
Where do I put the performances/appearances of FZ behind the Iron Curtain?
Where does the Steve Allen thing go?

In other words: we need some extensions here...
Or: do we need some extensions here?

Appearances
Performances
Concerts
Tours
...

Maybe a "Live Zappa" (or some such) master category which has Appearances, Performances, Concerts, Tours as subcategories? Don't implement this just yet - let's brainstorm about it a bit first...

[emdebe]

Maybe a "Live Zappa" (or some such) master category which has Appearances, Performances, Concerts, Tours as subcategories? Don't implement this just yet - let's brainstorm about it a bit first...

Hear my brain storm...

"Zappa In Public" or "Public Appearances"

Subdivided by:

- Appearances (TV, Radio, Court, Hearings,... everything that’s not a performance)
- Interviews (also under Bibliography)
- Concerts (band concerts, not part of a tour)
- Tours (a series of concerts as a whole)
- Performances (non-band concerts: jam sessions with other artists, conducting, readings, ...)

[Barry]

I'm okay with "Public Appearances".

I'm not so sure about including "Interviews" here though. All the other subcategories are either spoken word (audio or video) or music (audio or video) - interviews are written word. I'd like to keep the spoken word separated from the written word... what say ye?

[emdebe]

.. what say ye?

I can live with that.