Talking about asking too much ..=)

(O,-)Zzz.. (half-asleep).. Oh yeah, I was writing a post..

This is when I come up with the most selfish and diabolical ideas to drive any site admin. crazy..
when I am either half-drunk or half-sleep, take your pick.

Anyway, One probably obvious question and probably with a "No *#$%!@ way" answer is this:

How about having the customizing ability to use the "color and layout scheme" editor---separately---for each main section (i.e., gallery list pages, wishlist, feedback,private, links, and about pages) so that, a member could customize their gallery scheme--- even more.

AND! (As if that wasn't enough dreaming already)... incorporate the same functionality-- (one of those geek phrases)for banners.

Have those colors looking like you want them on each page, have the banner you want on each page--Ha! :P

(*E imagining--jn, throwing his coffee mug at my head like Roger Clemens, saying "Go back to sleep fool!")

I do see a problem with this though. Having seen some of the awful and sickening crazy neon flash galleries already, is probably asking for more-- well...Bad taste.
-- OH just forget about it.. pay me no mind...just another pipe-dream ... =) Zzzz...

Actually not hard but as you guessed it is not in the interest of good taste. I could do this in a few hours except part of the reason for this site is sort of as an educational tool for good design practice (granted, it doesn't serve the purpose in many ways... but it tries).

It's the reason why you can't upload a background image to place behind the site text. While there are exceptions that do look okay and don't hinder legibility, it's just way too easy to screw up.

As an example of "good" things, it makes me a happy camper to see lively discussions about unobstructive layouts, convenient paging of catagories, consistent iconography/grahpic style, etc. People interested in thinking about design in terms of user experience rather than flashy pictures means this site will never be a waste of my time.

So, the reason why this doesn't already exist? Too easy to screw up. It can be done -- and it can be done well -- but too many options to click on encourages a "more is better" mindset that is very unhealthy for the Internet in general.

For the knowledgable design people out there, I'm redoing all the gallery pages with proper CSS and every visible object on your website will be documented and alterable. I'll add an extra form blank for "stylesheet" for each page.

Hey, you gave me sort of an idea... ><'

How about a "Gallery Design Contest.." ?

I'd offer the winner: Yahoo Auction perks on there next auction. (one of the benefits of living here)

1.) A fee-less bidding service (from me-- forget the other guys) on their next Yahoo auction. That means that I wouldn't charge ANY processing fees. This means more money goes where money counts-- on the cel bid.

2.)I would do the bidding for them, if they don't have a Yahoo acct., I will do all of the middle man work which includes, communicating with the seller, translation, banking, posting, and processing-- again-- for FREE.

TERMS: they would pay for the cel(s)via Paypal in advance of course--with their max bid, including shipping fees), and their Yahoo fees if any accrued from the seller, but not from me. Also, shipping to their address via Global or EMS insured (I wouldn't do it otherwise).

But again, NO COMMISSION charged. Sort of like duty-free shopping.

Whaddaya think?

I could put up my gallery for the contest guinea pig.

The theme would be my favorite anime (Battle Angel) I could supply some image files, sites, etc., and the sky's the limit design wise. We could limit the number of eligibles, etc.

We could have an open "poll vote" and the winner would get the prize. All in good fun.

We might even be able to thrown in those silly toys that you probably still have (*tongue in cheek*).

If they could design their contest site on RS realtime so everyone could have access to the view and set a time limit, might be interesting. The contest could be featured "somewhere" (Polls?)
You could set up a voting page (similar to the rating page) temporarily (see how I volunteer your time already--sheesh)..

Anything else?

Oh crap. You just reminded me that I never picked a winner for that contest like... a year ago. Holy crap I suck. I still have several unopened bags of figures. Man, I'm such a jerk. I totally forgot about that.

Argh. I think they might actually be still in a box waiting to be mailed out.

The problem with the gallery redesign thing is that people would have to find somewhere to upload these things. I'd have to make it so that you can swap gallery skins or something so that people can test on their own galleries.

Good prize though.

What was that contest anyway? (smiles*)..