The Guardian of Forever

[CX]

New Stories Added:
- Enterprise section
- Reflections in the Mirror - Part 3, by Lady Rainbow
- Lost in Universal Translation - Part 4, by Lady Rainbow


BTW, if I've left anyone's updates out, please let me know.

[panyasan]

New Stories Added:
- Enterprise section
- Reflections in the Mirror - Part 3, by Lady Rainbow
- Lost in Universal Translation - Part 4, by Lady Rainbow

I really like the Lost in translation-story...

[CX]

New Stories Added:
- Enterprise section
- Reflections in the Mirror - Parts 3 - 5, by Lady Rainbow
- Lost in Universal Translation - Parts 4 - 7, by Lady Rainbow
- Depths - Part 2 of Conclusion, by Asso
- Wrecked, by Asso
- Reflecting to You - Chapter 25, by MissAnnThropic
-Original Works section
- Star Trek: Pioneer - Chapter 9 - Constantine, by Darrell Schielke
- Star Trek: Lost Prophets, by Jon May (aka Jimi James)

[CX]

I'm playing catch-up, so anyone who's submitted everything, please bear with me. Also, if you usually just updated on your own website or at FF.N or someplace else and just had me grab it from there, please let me know if you've made any updates since 15 December, because I haven't really done anything with the site since then. There was an update to Dinah's Briar Patch story by my helper in my absence, but I haven't had the time over Christmas break to really make any announcements or to make any updates on my own.

[Asso]

Depths - The Conclusion - December 18, 2008

[CX]

New Stories Added:
- Enterprise section
- The Briar Patch - Chapter 5, by Dinah
- Depths - Part 3 of Conclusion, by Asso
- Lost in Universal Translation - Parts 8 & 9, by Lady Rainbow
- A Matter of Trust, by Lady Rainbow
- Purgatory - Chapter 9, by Blackn’blue
- The Lerteiran Chronicles - Episode 7, by Blackn’blue & Distracted
-Original Works section
- The Lerteiran Chronicles - Episode 7, by Blackn’blue & Distracted

[CX]

When I first started building this site I expressed an interest in having a picture background with the text being in semi-transparent boxes so you could actually read it, but I lacked the skill, so my solution was to simply put a semi-transparent filter over the background image itself. Jedikatie has been doing some work on her own website though, and has been experimenting with the kind of thing I was talking about, and she seems to have found a way to successfully accomplish it. So, I was wondering that if I went ahead and did it, what text color would be the best for everyone's eyes to read. After all, some of these stories are rather long, and I don't want anyone to get tension headaches from straining their eyes as they try to read the content on my site. So, to that end I have three samples here for you to look at.

Sample 1, Dark yellow text

Sample 2, light yellow text

Sample 3, white font

Another thought I had was to try making the text background a different color (like white or some other light color) with black text, but if you have some other ideas for colors, or think I should leave well enough alone, don't be afraid to tell me.

[Alelou]

I would have trouble with any of those, CX. But I have crappy old eyes.

Reading white text on plain black, as in Drogna's site, literally makes my eyes tear up. So it's not just my preference, from growing up in the time of books, to be able to lose myself visualizing the story in my head and not be distracted by what's surrounding the type.

But I suppose that may be part of my objection here. I enjoy beautiful design and vivid illustration as much as the next person, but I want the story to remain the focus. In other words, I don't want anything to disrupt the path between the words and my head. Perhaps that is a way of reading that is going to die out with my generation.

However, in ad agencies you will find that even the most creative and talented graphic artists take great pains to make type easy to read (at least the type the advertiser WANTS you to read). In those situations money and sales are often riding on making that path between the words and the consumer's brain as direct as possible -- unless of course an image is so iconic it can speak for itself.

[Asso]

I think the text background is too vivid in all samples. I enjoy the background's presence, but It should be more discrete, in my mind. Besides, the text frame is too exact, I think. Frame should let some space from its limit to the text's limit.

[CX]

I'd have to completely recode every page on the website again, and after already having done that this summer I can tell you that's never going to happen again.

So I'm going to take that as two votes for "leave your website alone"

[Aquarius]

For what it's worth, I wasn't distracted by the background at all. I actually thought it was kinda cool. The only thing I'd say is that the second choice with the light yellow text seemed a little less harsh on the eyes--bright yellow and white were just a little too stark.

[CX]

As you can tell by the dates I have them listed as being added to the site, these have both been a long time in coming. Apologies to the authors for the long delay in getting the work they submitted up on the site.

New Stories Added:
- TNG section
- The Romulan General's Woman (NC-17), by K.K.Glinka
-Original Works section
- Star Trek: The Atlantis Chronicles, by Adam Murray Briggs

[CX]

Well, I'm managing to slug along, I guess. Rah. Apologies to both authors as I yet again took a while to get these up after you submitted them.

New Stories Added:
- Enterprise section
- Payment - Chapter 11, by Blackn’blue
-Original Works section
- Star Trek: Pioneer - Chapter 10, by Darrell Schielke

[JadziaKathryn]

Can you still do that nifty thing where you take the stories from fanfiction.net? Because I have a couple more stories:

Crossing the Line (VOY)
For Jadzia (DS9, obviously)

[CX]

The Dude abides.

New Stories Added:
- Enterprise section
- The Briar Patch - Chapter 6, by Dinah
-Deep Space Nine section
- For Jadzia, by JadziaKathryn
-Voyager section
- Crossing the Line, by JadziaKathryn