Coming soon: the x264 website (looking for a graphic designer)

[Dark Shikari]

We've got a web programmer and webspace, and a domain name (x264.com!)... we need someone who can do graphic design (Photoshop)--mainly, coloring/fonts/positioning/styling .. everything related to a website layout design. We have a basic layout concept (.PSD) that you can continue.

Just to note.. you do not need to code any HTML/CSS/JS, you just need to provide a visual outcome of the design. If you're willing and able to help, either post here or PM me.

This is just the beginning of a major project... expect to see some rather interesting x264-related bits over the next few weeks. Among other things, I have plans for a DivX-like simple GUI to bring x264 down to the idiot-proof level ;)

[Sharktooth]

i wouldlike if you jst can wait some days ill recover from the MS (no... not microsoft...) attack.

[audyovydeo]

May I state my personal preference for minimalist, low- (even NO-) graphics pages, x264.nl -style, for any such site ?

cheerio
a/v

[Dark Shikari]

May I state my personal preference for minimalist, low- (even NO-) graphics pages, x264.nl -style, for any such site ?

cheerio
a/vThis will be a professional-looking site, but yes, it will be relatively minimal; I'm not going to shove icons everywhere on it because that would look silly. Any good website needs to not only look appealing but also get straight to the point--an overcomplicated website turns off users.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Where is .psd file?

[Dark Shikari]

Where is .psd file?Once I get a graphic designer our web programmer will show him some PSD files.

[atreides93]

Wow this is exciting news. I can't wait to see the site.

[smok3]

i could do some work there, especially if it is well payed.

[Atak_Snajpera]

I could do some work just for fun (for free)

[Seraphic-]

i could do some work there, especially if it is well payed.

For your payment, ask for High Profile 4:2:2 encoding for x264. :D

If I had extra time I would lend a hand.
Anyway, good luck getting this together.

[bob0r]

I'll stea.... borrow everything from x264.com aswell.

What about a real logo (contest)?

[CruNcher]

Hmm i really thought about creating a new Wallpaper for X264 allready but i lost it and currently i have no new idea for X264 and im not sure if i should use the old QPS one anyways just replacing stuff isnt my Style :P
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/XviD-1600-final.jpg

The Theme would be obvously have something todo with "Next Generation" and more based on the "Psycho Visual" direction tough how to show it in Pictures im not sure of that yet maybe some other good Graphics Guy has a idea here, also i really have to find the time for it :)
My initial idea was a big Human Brain and the Visual Cortex part of it specialy presented, it's also a cool idea for a Logo if you ask me :)
Feel Free to use my idea if you like, i would like to see how another Artist would tackle this :)

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

The closeup of the eye reminds me of the ol' Voodoo boxes :D

Among other things, I have plans for a DivX-like simple GUI to bring x264 down to the idiot-proof level ;)

That sounds great. So will it be a slider bar or something that adjusts the quality/speed ratio? Also, will it have an "advanced" area for full tweakability?

[Dark Shikari]

I could do some work just for fun (for free)Which part of it could you do--the graphic design with Photoshop?

As a general note, if you're willing to help, it would help to give me specifics on exactly what you want to help with :p

[Sharktooth]

i would like to help (for free) too, i dont use photoshop though. GIMP is my preferred tool.

[Atak_Snajpera]

First of all I need to see basic layout.
I need to know what web site would contain then I could answer your question.

I use PhotoShop but mainly I prefer Corel Photo-Paint X3. Yes I know I weird :)

[Shinigami-Sama]

yeah like I said in IRC if you need some quick help with this that or the other thing I can help out, but I really don't like doing extended html/css/php sessions :P

[iwod]

Nice. Is that a signal to x264 going to 1.0 release?

[smok3]

better post the psd and somebody will pick on it (or we can distribute the work to many, if needed)

[Sharktooth]

Nice. Is that a signal to x264 going to 1.0 release?
no. x264 is based on a continuous development and WILL NEVER be version 1.0. it has NO sense.

[techouse]

haha :p

[bob0r]

Maybe revision 1.000? :D

[clsid]

no. x264 is based on a continuous development and WILL NEVER be version 1.0. it has NO sense.Since when does versioning implicate a hiatus in development? A version 1.0 is nothing more than a milestone.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Well, an official v1.0 release means that you stop adding new features at a certain point and concentrate on testing/debugging for a pretty long time until you finally release the "stable" version. That definitely isn't the case with x264. The latest version on Git usually runs rock-stable, yes. But even if you download a perfectly working revision today, an important fix/improvement might be committed tomorrow. Therefore simply tagging a specific revision as "1.0" would be the wrong signal. People might keep on using this instead of the latest revision, because they think it's more stable, although the latest revision has seen various improvements since then. No, if you want the latest "official" version simply go with x264 Git. If you need the latest "experimental" features go with a patched build...

[Atak_Snajpera]

The same rule applies to FFDShow! Some people use older builds only because it says 'stable'...

[Dark Shikari]

I see we've gotten quite a bit of response here--I invite anyone interested in helping out with the graphic design work to try their hand at this PSD file (http://iii.dontexist.net/4.psd); its a very basic initial layout. If you are interested, send me a little sample of your own "touch" so I could see your approach. Feel free to mess with the original idea all you want; I'm not particularly attached to it.

The basic idea is to put the logo on the top, along with a menu on the bottom of the top section, potentially with dropdowns. Content will go in the white area, about/contact/legal on the bottom.

[smok3]

some info that would be helpfull:
a. purpose of the site (one sentence will do it)?
b. amount of subsites/subsections planned?

[Dark Shikari]

some info that would be helpfull:
a. purpose of the site (one sentence will do it)?
b. amount of subsites/subsections planned?Purpose: information, promotion, support.

Rough draft, proposed sections and subpages:

1) About x264
--History of x264
--Who's behind x264
--Who's using x264

2) Why x264?
--Features
--Speed
--Quality

3) Get x264
--Binaries: Windows and Linux
--GUIs
--Source code and libx264

4) Using x264
--Documentation
--Using libx264 (API docs)
--Licensing (MPEG-LA/etc)
--Support

[smok3]

some more:
c. can you post a jpg composite of that psd (i don't think this was opened correctly)
d. color blue has any special meaning with the project?

[Dark Shikari]

some more:
c. can you post a jpg composite of that psd (i don't think this was opened correctly)
d. color blue has any special meaning with the project?Image (http://iii.dontexist.net/4.jpg).

Blue? No, I just like blue. But its not particularly important.

[smok3]

ok, so i was close with cs2,
anyway, didn't do much besides some idea shaping (some huge icons that will make main pulldown navigation), snap;
http://somestuff.org/4.jpg

[audyovydeo]

Rough draft, proposed sections and subpages:


I'll leave the graphics to experts, I've never gone beyond matchstick-men. But here's my 2 cents [€€€ of course] on content :

x264 reference site

1 - get it :
1.1 - binaries
1.2 - GUIs
1.3 - libx264
1.4 - source
2 - use it :
2.1 beginners :
2.1.1 - History
2.1.2 - Who's behind x264
2.1.3 - Who's using x264
2.1.4 - Usage guide
2.1.5 - cmdline options reference
2.1.6 - video encoding general concepts (?)
2.1.7 - x264 ? H.264 ? AVC ? xvid ? MPEG 4 ? 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...? (ie: a disambiguation page)
2.2 specialists :
2.2.1 - cmdline options reference
2.2.2 - making (?)-compliant videos (?)
2.2.2 - Using libx264 (API docs)
2.2.3 - Licensing (MPEG-LA/etc)
2.2.4 - Support

3 - support it
3.1 - word-of-mouth ?
3.2 - ask your hardware player manuf to support it ?
3.3 - ????


Implied is the fact that I make the distinction between a reference guide for each cmdline option, and a conceptual usage guide.
Both are needed.

cheers
audyovydeo

[Sharktooth]

4 - Contribute
4.1 - Participate in x264 development
4.2 - Propose new ideas
4.3 - etc.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Just curios: Are there any news about the progress of the new x264 web-site?

[Dark Shikari]

Just curios: Are there any news about the progress of the new x264 web-site?We had some very busy stuff at work right after this, so I stalled a bit, and now I'm getting back to college... and we still haven't gotten a graphic designer.

I would really want to get this going, but it seems that few people have much motivation...

[bob0r]

Thats because people are still in shock after seeing my graphics skills.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Yeah right :)

[smok3]

sorry i just can't find enough time for it....

[mikeytown2]

We could go lazy and use a CMS with a downloadable template. Then again with the number of hits the website would get, this would not be a good idea.

I'm not a super star graphics guy, but I could give this a little bit of my time. I'll be using GIMP. What do we have and what do we need?

[Zwitterion]

What about something like this:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6605/x264ec1.th.png (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264ec1.png)

[Ranguvar]

Damn, that's pretty slick. And LOL @ r664, again :p

Perhaps the x264 'logo' could be used in there?

[Dark Shikari]

What about something like this:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6605/x264ec1.th.png (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264ec1.png)That is extremely nice. I love it! Maybe the color could be adjusted a bit, but overall its great.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Indeed! very clean.

I'm not totally sold on the orange / black gradient scheme. The idea is good, perhaps a different color?

I really like the design though!

~MiSfit

[LoRd_MuldeR]

I agree. But are the "themed" scrollbars possible with all browsers? It wouldn't look that nice without these...

[Sharktooth]

not all browsers. opera, for example, ignores them and uses the scrollbar style specified in the user selected opera skin.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

After some Google research it seems only IE supports the "scrollbar-" properties, but it can be emulated using JavaScript + graphics. Another option is Flash, of course. But I hate Flash-based web-sites! A few Flash-objects inside a normal HTML web-site is fine. But those web-sites, that consists of one single Flash animation and few lines of dummy HTML, suck...

[Ranguvar]

Screw IE :p Firefox support, and maybe Opera, is all we need. I seriously doubt very many people will be visiting the x264 website on IE, and if they are, let's convert them ;)

[Sharktooth]

what's IE?

[Ranguvar]

Um. Internet Explorer.

[Audionut]

what's IE?

LOL

Um. Internet Explorer.


LOL even harder.:D

[Gabriel_Bouvigne]

Except the fact that it's orange...
I am wondering how are you going to have a gradient as background which looks good whatever the browser resolution?

And regarding the scrollbars:
"Though it may make sense to design a styling mechanism to control the presentation of scrollbars, the MSIE scrollbar-*-color properties make too many assumptions about a particular scrollbar appearance design.

The working group considered adding the scrollbar-*-color properties and rejected them quite some time ago.

For CSS3 Basic UI, it is too late to add such a significant new feature. It could be considered for a future version."
( http://www.w3.org/Style/css3-updates/css3-ui-comments )
Of course you could create some custom scrollbars totally from scratch using some javascript, but....

[smok3]

i don't have time, but i can still find some to be 'smart': the look of the site nowadays is almost completely irrelevant, only content matters, for something as specific as x264 that should be true even more.

[Zwitterion]

Here is the gimp file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?jmgrxjr4mrs
You'll probably need Arial Rounded MT Bold and uni 05_54 (from here (http://www.miniml.com/)).

I agree the colors and background need work.
But I like orange because Xvid, DivX, Ateme and Mainconcept all are blue. :eek:

grey/orange:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3310/x264sketch2bxq6.th.png (http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264sketch2bxq6.png)

[Sharktooth]

a variation based on Zwitterion idea.
http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web/

[LoRd_MuldeR]

a variation based on Zwitterion idea.
http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web/

Looks good, except for background :p

[Sharktooth]

background is a single vertical line to show horizontal gradients can be made.
it can be changed withouth too much problems.
the news are just an IFrame, so scrollbars are shown when needed, except for Opera that has its own behaviour...
the navigation buttons have a hovering effect too (im just learning how to play with Adobe Fireworks...).

[LoRd_MuldeR]

the navigation buttons have a hovering effect too

IMHO a more unobtrusive hover effect would look better...

[Blue_MiSfit]

IMHO a more unobtrusive hover effect would look better...

Concur, maybe a drop shadow or illumination effect would go nicer.

I do like the overall design more.

[Sharktooth]

tomorrow... :)

[Sharktooth]

update... same URL: http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web/
html + sliced images: http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264_html_export.7z
fireworks .png with layers and slices: http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264webdraft.png

[Kurtnoise]

I see red/blue point on the left top corner when I click on buttons (Home, Download, etc..). Is it intentional ?

:p

I'm using FF3.

[Sharktooth]

uhm.. no? also i cant see them. what browser are you using?

[kemuri-_9]

he said he was using Firefox 3, as am I, and I'm getting the same problem:

it's this little small 2x2 or so square that appears at the top left of a button after it gets clicked.

it's blue from being clicked and turns red during a click.

[wyti]

He's using Firefox 3
I'm using it and i see the bug too
in css words : a:active display a red point (square ?) at the left top corner of the link and a:visited (i think) display a blue point

[Sharktooth]

firefox rendering bug? opera, safari and ie do not show that...
however i confirm FF3 shows the blu and red dots - it's a browser bug. dont worry, on the real website javascript wont be used for the hovering effects (it will be done with CSS... at least i was told so...).

[bob0r]

I love the basic photoshop filters used :p

That's why for my x264 logo, i used many and many until it became somewhat original....

Background and the logos/buttons need a lot more work.
Details on those are what make a difference + ofcourse proper css usage!

[Sharktooth]

i was told to keep minimal graphics. the logo... well... it's not a logo, it should be replaced.

[Brother John]

On the whole I like that design. It's plain and simple, easy to scale dynamically and different from most of the other quite corporately looking codec websites. It might not win a price for originality, but that's hardly a major goal. Anyway, very fitting for a straight forward no-nonsense type of project like x264.

On to the critique!
The background gradient doesn't blend in with the rest because it introduces too much “messyness” and the colours don't fit. Imo a plain light grey-brown or something similar would work better.

Also I'm against the newsbox-with-scrollbar because scrollbars in the middle of a page tend to be bad. Most of the time this leads to too small content areas in all non-enormous browser windows. It's a lot cleaner and more flexible if the whole page just extends downward as far as needed with a single vertical scrollbar for the whole window.

At the moment I find it a little hard to imagine how a wiki with it's rather rich functionality and accompanying UI elements can be integrated into this minimalistic approach. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it sure needs some serious thinking.

Oh, and I assume this is just intended as a design demo and commenting on technical implementation issues isn't useful?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

dont worry, on the real website javascript wont be used for the hovering effects (it will be done with CSS... at least i was told so...).

I hope so! There are very few web-designers that keep in mind that the user might disable JavaScript in his browser.
A lot of web-sites simply stop working or don't show up properly, when you disable JavaScript nowadays. That's really annoying.
You really shouldn't use JavaScript for things that can be done with simple HTML code plus CSS.
And if you really need to use JavaScript on your site, then please show some alternative content to None-JavaScript users.
The <noscript>...</noscript> tag exists for a reason!

[Sharktooth]

@brother john: got it i'll remove the box in the next update
the background, as i said, can be easily removed. it is there to show horizontal gradients can be made. ill remove it in the next update as well.

@lord mulder: as i said the guy that will build the website wont use JS. to quote him:
lets try to keep all clients preference offtopic
not modifing anything via JS/DOM of his browser
scrollbars-color/width/shape windowsize/title/rollovers/links
etc etc
CSS can handle it for all current browsers
(I'm one of these freaks who likes STANDARDS and validation)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

@lord mulder: as i said the guy that will build the website wont use JS. to quote him:
lets try to keep all clients preference offtopic
not modifing anything via JS/DOM of his browser
scrollbars-color/width/shape windowsize/title/rollovers/links
etc etc
CSS can handle it for all current browsers
(I'm one of these freaks who likes STANDARDS and validation)

Sounds like he is willing to do the job in the proper way :)

[Zwitterion]

Also I'm against the newsbox-with-scrollbar because scrollbars in the middle of a page tend to be bad. Most of the time this leads to too small content areas in all non-enormous browser windows.
Right now the newsbox is very big, but I see nothing against a small box that shows no more than two news entries at a time and would disappear when scrolling down.
Where to put the news instead anyway? I'd keep them on the front page, so that everyone immediately sees how active the project is. :)

some more thoughts:
- I'm not a big fan of dropshadows... they are a bit out of place here I think.
- For hovering effects I had a color change like this in mind:
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5954/hoverrt2.png (http://imageshack.us)
- What's that crease in the upper left corner?
- IMO lowercase would look better on the headlines.
- Does it have to be *.com? Usually I associate a *.org domain with an open source project.
- What about the logo from x264.nl (if there should be a logo at all):
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png (http://imageshack.us)

[Sharktooth]

yup, that could be good... i have a "RGB" version of the x264.nl logo i made some time ago for the x264VFW encoder settings icon. i have to search it, ill show you tomorrow.

[Dark Shikari]

- Does it have to be *.com? Usually I associate a *.org domain with an open source project.Akupenguin owns both .com and .org, I believe, so we can get the best of both worlds.

[Sharktooth]

here it is... (i made some modifications... it now looks better):
http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264logo.png

[saint-francis]

If you're taking votes, honestly I'm partial to the x264.nl logo.

[kemuri-_9]

hmmm.... the first i thing i thought of when i saw the above logo was:
"Ugh.... micro$oft colors"

I'm just getting this large m$ feel from it... not particularly a good one either.

[Sharktooth]

not my fault if M$ uses RGB too in their windows logo...

[Warpman]

here it is... (i made some modifications... it now looks better):
http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264logo.png

oh nice! i like it :)

It's so shiny :D

[e-Pawel]

update... same URL: http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web/

To be honest... I don't like it :( The layout is okay, but I neither like the combination of black and orange nor the background. As for me it doesn't look professional.

Here's a website a created (but I don't have anything in common with what's on the page :) ) quite a long time ago (which hasn't been finished til now and won't be):

http://growbusters.funpic.de/

I'd suggest rather such colors and such background.

Dunno why the buttons look that strange but it doesn't matter either.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

To be honest... I don't like it :( The layout is okay, but I neither like the combination of black and orange nor the background. As for me it doesn't look professional.

I don't like the background either, but AFAIK it's simply a demo/placeholder. The rest looks very promising...

[bob0r]

LOL don't use my x264.nl logo, its highly copyrighted and too beautiful to be used!

No really, we need some gfx people here :D

[Sharktooth]

i made another update...
*see below*

[Atak_Snajpera]

New logo prototype
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8569/new1bs0.th.png (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1bs0.png)

[Sharktooth]

nice... but could you try with different colors? maybe it's me... but i dont like yellow and cyan...

[BlackSharkfr]

You know what ?
i still prefer the simplicity and style of the x264.nl logo which was shown on the previous page

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png

[Sharktooth]

D_S is quite busy actually but i've talked to him and he expressed his preference for the x264.nl logo (the one above) so... there we go...
heres another update ... same url (reload if necessary): http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web/
html+sliced images: http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264_html_export.7z
fireworks .png + layers and slices: http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264webdraft.png
photoshop .psd export (fonts may be screwed - ensure you have Bitstream Vera Sans installed): http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264.psd

for the .psd and fireworks .png you may need the bitstream vera font: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/

the vertical size is auto-adapting if the content grows.

[e-Pawel]

I like this logo fine.

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7803/x264ml3.th.png (http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264ml3.png)

But I modified it a very little bit. The coloured surfaces are gradients from transparency to green/red/blue.

[Atak_Snajpera]

What do you think about this
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2789/new1ze9.th.png (http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1ze9.png)

[e-Pawel]

What do you think about this
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2789/new1ze9.th.png (http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1ze9.png)

Looks great :D Though I actually prefer the simple design of the old x264 logo, your one is great too and the page looks much more professional. But could you made the link-bar glossy?

[Sharktooth]

nice, i really like it. this time i like the colors too :)

[e-Pawel]

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6391/ataksnajperatv5.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ataksnajperatv5.jpg)

That's how I'd like to see it.

And could you use another font for the caption above the logo ("highly...")? The one you've used in RipBot would be nice.

[plonk420]

if professional fonts are used in the logo, will you (or the company you work for) pay for them? or can a donation be taken up?

[Atak_Snajpera]

http://www.fontcenter.com/fonts/vdub.html

[Rumbah]

I really like the design but I have to say that I think that the contrast between the light brown background and the white of the font is too low. It may work for the big 264 but for the "small" words on top I think it's too hard to read (maybe it's my eyes ;) ).

So although I like the general design it's exhausting to look at it for my eyes. The orange/dark gray design was much easier to look at an I liked the colors :) .

[Atak_Snajpera]

I really like the design but I have to say that I think that the contrast between the light brown background and the white of the font is too low. It may work for the big 264 but for the "small" words on top I think it's too hard to read (maybe it's my eyes ).

I suggest you to calibrate monitor:)

[bob0r]

I suggest you to calibrate monitor:)

Nah he is right, on 1920x1200 its no so clear.
The orange theme demo is much clearer.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

I prefer the "orange" version and the simplistic (http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png) logo. The [><] logo looks too "commercial" to me ;)

[Brother John]

Yep, simplicity rules! Also the x264.nl style logo has the added benefit that it’s already well known. Because of it’s simplicity it’s also well suited to put on hardware devices. Just dream of a nice and shiny stylish multimedia box with integrated x264 encoder. :)

[audyovydeo]

any takers ?

http://mapage.noos.fr/manamba/x264/pm5544.png


;-)
a/v

[Kurtnoise]

funny but imho...the last decision about the logo's choice should be taken by the x264 devs themselves.

[bob0r]

Yep, simplicity rules! Also the x264.nl style logo has the added benefit that it’s already well known. Because of it’s simplicity it’s also well suited to put on hardware devices. Just dream of a nice and shiny stylish multimedia box with integrated x264 encoder. :)


http://x264.nl/x264-sony-bd-small.jpg (http://x264.nl/x264-sony-bd.jpg) <-- click :)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

What exactly does the logo of an encoder do on the front of a player device?

If you want to say that this players will play any video encoded with x264, then that player must support the full "High" Profile without Level/VBV restrictions...

[bob0r]

1: its a funny image, nothing more.
2: it just shows the player can play x264, in the world of marketing nothing is based on facts!

- Read my sig.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

it just shows the player can play x264

So that player is able to play a software? Wow! Does it play the C-Code, the ASM-Code or even compiled x86 code ??? :D

[Sharktooth]

another try: http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web2/

[Dark Shikari]

Looks a bit over-colorful to me... too bright, in particular. We don't need neon blue and green, IMO.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Do you want me to continue with this or not. I'm asking because i don't want to waste time for nothing
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1177554#post1177554

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

One thing I've noticed in many professional logo's is that they have 1 character that either "blends" with the rest of the text or is uniquely different. Not necessarily the very first letter of the name, for example, the "E" in "DELL" is at an angle to the rest of the letters, or the first "o" in Microsoft has a slit in it that also connects the the tail of "s".

The "X" that creates a box around 264 is pretty good, but I was wondering if there could be any other creative ideas. An overly fancy looking letter probably won't cut it.

[Sharktooth]

@Atak_Snajpera: sure, if you have time.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

another try:
http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/x264webdraft2.png

Sorry, I neither like the colors nor the layout. The "orange" sample was much better! :o

[Sharktooth]

i replaced the image with a link to a html export...

@lord_mulder: the layout is the same as the gray/orange one...

[LoRd_MuldeR]

@lord_mulder: the layout is the same as the gray/orange one...

Not exactly. The logo is much bigger now, IMO far too big. And the sub-menus are located on "tabs" now, which look a bit strange (too hard to distinguish from the background).

Also there is another "menubar" on the bottom now. Last but not least I didn't see space for "banners" on the previous design :p

I have to say that I don't like those fancy "color gradient" effects all over the place. This makes it hard to concentrate your eyes on the important stuff...

[bob0r]

Space for ads banner <-- NEVER!

I asked before if they wanted ads on x264.nl, they answer was: NO!

[DarkZell666]

Do you want me to continue with this or not. I'm asking because i don't want to waste time for nothing
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1177554#post1177554

@Atak_Snajpera : I like your template and logo a lot !
Not too keen on the brown/cream colour though, but very good style ;)

The original brown/orange template has something "missing" imho, dunno what though :o

[smok3]

i think new 'logo' might be a good start, the current one is a bit childish if you ask me, proposal;

the logo

preview (2 versions from which one may be selected or both can be used dependent on document type & placing)


http://somestuff.org/x264logo/x264logo_proposal_small.png

bigger preview
http://somestuff.org/x264logo/x264logo_proposal.png

vectors in editable pdf
http://somestuff.org/x264logo/x264logo_proposal.pdf

font
http://somestuff.org/x264logo/font/liberation-fonts-1.04.zip

the page

edit, quick and dirty page layout pdf
http://somestuff.org/x264logo/page/pageLayout_freezed.pdf
(in this layout: everything should be textual only logo is bitmap,
combination of sans and monotype, in this case arial and lucida console.
Everything besides footer is left aligned, footer is fixed to bottom right)
edit3, theme based on this layout
http://somestuff.org/x264logo/page/pageLayout_freezed_theme.png

the player 'joke'
http://somestuff.org/x264logo/player/x264-sony-bd.jpg

this artwork licensed under: do as you please license, unless you get really rich with my work.

edit2: yes, i should be working on my education, not on this....

edit4: some more or less interesting font resources http://www.geocities.com/hartke01/

[Atak_Snajpera]

logo prototype v2 (very fast dirty work)
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4798/x264websiteyg1.th.png (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websiteyg1.png)

[gav1577]

logo prototype v2 (very fast dirty work)
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4798/x264websiteyg1.th.png (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websiteyg1.png)

Nice i like it would look nice silver against black backround

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

logo prototype v2 (very fast dirty work)
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4798/x264websiteyg1.th.png (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websiteyg1.png)

Interesting design, but the missing spots above/below the "X" and the lower-right corner of the 4 makes it seem a little strange. Something about the X's design should be done to look unique but similar to the "264." The "><" styled X doesn't fit quite right IMHO. Not as "curvy" as the rest.

EDIT: Also, the 6 seems "too complete" compared to the rest of the characters :D

[Atak_Snajpera]

Interesting design, but the missing spots above/below the "X" and the lower-right corner of the 4 makes it seem a little strange.
Yes I agree. I don't like it either now :)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

logo prototype v2 (very fast dirty work)
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4798/x264websiteyg1.th.png (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websiteyg1.png)

Looks a bit fishy to me :D

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/4990/x264fishul2.th.png (http://img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264fishul2.png)

[Atak_Snajpera]

Looks a bit fishy to me
hahahaha!!!! Good imagination!!

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2491/x264websitexk8.th.png (http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websitexk8.png)

[smok3]

oh, i failed to mention: don't get all excited about my work, that could make me do more....

[Atak_Snajpera]

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8669/x264logoue3.th.png (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoue3.png)

[wyti]

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8669/x264logoue3.th.png (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoue3.png)

Very nice ! i like it !

[LoRd_MuldeR]

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8669/x264logoue3.th.png (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoue3.png)

Yup, much better than the "fish" icon. I like it :)

[J_Darnley]

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8669/x264logoue3.th.png (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoue3.png)

I like this too, but may I make one small request? Could you try the above but replace the X font with the one out of the following, including the bits sticking over the border?

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2491/x264websitexk8.th.png (http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websitexk8.png)

[gav1577]

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8669/x264logoue3.th.png (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoue3.png)

Very nice indeed although i agree with J_Darnley the other X would look nice :)

[Ranguvar]

I agree with J_Darnley as well; the new X is a little too basic IMO.

[Snowknight26]

hahahaha!!!! Good imagination!!

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2491/x264websitexk8.th.png (http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websitexk8.png)

Looks very good to me. Might suggest adding color, unless that doesn't work out.. then its fine.

[Atak_Snajpera]

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5100/x264logojb0.th.png (http://img526.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logojb0.png)

[smok3]

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5100/x264logojb0.th.png
do some backreading;
- a battery
- about 80% full
- i have 264 minutes free for recording
- whats that x about?, maybe i'am using wrong type of battery?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Maybe it's time for an official contest/voting ???

[DarkZell666]

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5100/x264logojb0.th.png
do some backreading;
- a battery
- about 80% full
- i have 264 minutes free for recording
- whats that x about?, maybe i'am using wrong type of battery?

Doh!, don't over-do it either ... x_x
I find that one *perfect* ;)

[Dark Shikari]

I still like the original monochrome logo on Sharktooth's orange website :>

[gav1577]

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5100/x264logojb0.th.png (http://img526.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logojb0.png)

Much better i like it allot very stylish ;)

[Sharktooth]

I still like the original monochrome logo on Sharktooth's orange website :>
the original idea was by Zwitterion.

[RadicalEd]

It's not much, and it doesn't scale well, but it is shiny :3
http://tab.command-q.org/img/x264.png

[Brother John]

So far I’m with Dark Shikari. The x264.nl style icon is still my favorite.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8669/x264logoue3.th.png (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoue3.png)
But this one is good as well. I like the colours and the overall layout. The multiplication-sign style X is a nice idea and goes well with the professional-minimalistic approach. However the 264’s font doesn’t fit. Too much playfulness in there. A very strictly geometrically constructed no-nonsense font (think of Futura) would make this logo a lot better imo.

[Ranguvar]

Sorry, RadicalEd - WAY too OS X - reminiscent. :p
And I detest Apple :p

[Atak_Snajpera]

do some backreading;
- a battery
- about 80% full
- i have 264 minutes free for recording
- whats that x about?, maybe i'am using wrong type of battery?
This was good . Hahahahahaha :) You really made me laugh!!! Guys You definitely have better imagination than I have! It was only made for those users who requested. I also prefer previous version with simpler x.

[Atak_Snajpera]

However the 264’s font doesn’t fit. Too much playfulness in there. A very strictly geometrically constructed no-nonsense font (think of Futura) would make this logo a lot better imo.
What would you say about this font?
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9087/x264logoip8.th.png (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoip8.png)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8241/74469453op8.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=74469453op8.png)

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2268/25801474nx9.th.png (http://img381.imageshack.us/my.php?image=25801474nx9.png)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/5421/88225911vi0.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=88225911vi0.png)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9791/71834888uv0.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=71834888uv0.png)

[gav1577]

What would you say about this font?
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9087/x264logoip8.th.png (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoip8.png)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8241/74469453op8.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=74469453op8.png)

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2268/25801474nx9.th.png (http://img381.imageshack.us/my.php?image=25801474nx9.png)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/5421/88225911vi0.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=88225911vi0.png)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9791/71834888uv0.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=71834888uv0.png)

Top font looks best imho but like the bottom ones color

[RadicalEd]

And I detest Apple :p
We differ strongly in this matter :p

[Ranguvar]

We differ strongly in this matter :p
I shall use my utmost restraint to keep myself from hijacking the thread.

*cough*closedsystem*cough*

:p

[plonk420]

i can't say i'm good at quickly slapping a color on...

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4382/x2641vh4.png

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/4029/x2642zq7.th.png (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x2642zq7.png)
i tried inverting two Vs and doing all sorts of crap, but Warnock just doesn't like to be upside down D:

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/6741/text2447pb2.th.png (http://img391.imageshack.us/my.php?image=text2447pb2.png)
(heh, had a bit of fun)

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1650/text2478na7.th.png (http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=text2478na7.png)
(oops, getting a bit sidetracked and uninspired)

A very strictly geometrically constructed no-nonsense font (think of Futura) would make this logo a lot better imo.
well, as i reread your post, yeah, something simple like Futura (but not. it's a bit sterile. doesn't it also harken back to the 30s,40s or 50s?). there's a copy of Fruitiger (as seen on European traffic signs) with some microsoft download, like a LIT reader or something... IIRC the description of it was like simple but organic or human.

logo prototype v2 (very fast dirty work)
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4798/x264websiteyg1.th.png (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264websiteyg1.png)
i liked that style. i was thinking of it too, based on this image:

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/169/sandberg5772ok0.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sandberg5772ok0.jpg)

[smok3]

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4382/x2641vh4.png
i think this could be a good starting point, you would just need to figure out the placement of black parts to make some sense, thats is basterizing the font...

[plonk420]

i like the ! formed at the end of that one. kind of like the FedEx arrow... only crappy :(

it drives me nuts that, unless you really play with the size of the numbers, they don't fit together interestingly. but then again, i'm a noob.

moar:

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/9493/text3740jf0.th.png (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=text3740jf0.png)

meh, i really suck at logo design (and am getting bored, uninspired by how much i suck). i like playing with text, tho... was trying to make a simple "can" with 264 being the film... then i brazenly broke the rule of not altering the vertical or horizontal dimensions of a typeface...
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/7310/text3880jk2.th.png (http://img411.imageshack.us/my.php?image=text3880jk2.png)

it would be kind of cool if a "professional font" could wrap around the "264" part of the logo, like a vector version of this:

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:f96GvYxgTug6-M:http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nFOIntOaHbA/R5M9jO5RzlI/AAAAAAAAAEY/1bimXFS_QL0/x-logo.jpg (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nFOIntOaHbA/R5M9jO5RzlI/AAAAAAAAAEY/1bimXFS_QL0/x-logo.jpg&imgrefurl=http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_Gs5FTfHySwEnpPxBZ40QA&h=600&w=800&sz=6&hl=en&start=7&um=1&usg=__ukTK3ZzWSWRWPU2FU_p6xt6J9DA=&tbnid=f96GvYxgTug6-M:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dx%2Blogo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dopera%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DG)
or go in the same direction, flat, or underneath in a normal, untilted, centered orientation to the 3Dish X

[Brother John]

@Atak_Snajpera
First one is my favourite. Imo it’s a real alternative to x264.nl now. The x264 devs might think differently of course.

[DarkZell666]

@Atak_Snajpera
First one is my favourite. Imo it’s a real alternative to x264.nl now. The x264 devs might think differently of course.

+1 ! :p

[elguaxo]

+1 ! :p

+2 :)

[Shinigami-Sama]

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9791/71834888uv0.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=71834888uv0.png)

+1
<3 greyscale

[TheBashar]

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9087/x264logoip8.th.png (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264logoip8.png)


This with the earlier slash stylized X would be my favorite.

[saint-francis]

@plonk420.
Your samples look like the covers of punk rock albums!

[Atak_Snajpera]

This with the earlier slash stylized X would be my favorite.
I agree with this guy
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1179299#post1179299

[plonk420]

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9791/71834888uv0.th.png (http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=71834888uv0.png)

this one's decent. i just can't get my mind off of the battery reference in the colored ones...

[DarkZell666]

this one's decent. i just can't get my mind off of the battery reference in the colored ones...

This got me thinking about something :
If it tastes like chicken, looks like chicken, and feels like chicken, but Jack Bauer says its beef ... then it's f*ck*ng beef.

Get the idea ? :D

[Atak_Snajpera]

New website v2
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/664/new3nf4.th.png (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new3nf4.png)

[Warpman]

New website v2
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/664/new3nf4.th.png (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new3nf4.png)

okay i love it :D

[DarkZell666]

New website v2
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/664/new3nf4.th.png (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new3nf4.png)

:eek: Triple thumbs up !

[weaker]

The logos of Atak_Snajpera are nice and very professional looking but they always remind me of a "close window" button with that kind of 'X'.
I absolutely like the monochrome one very much.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png
When I think harder about about why I like it: The right hand side of the 'X' is also shaping the 264 part and I miss that in Atak_Snapjera's proposals.

@Atak_Snapjera: Perhaps you have a good graphical idea to use that '<' shape as delimiter between X and 264 instead of the '|' shaped delimiter in your proposals above.

EDIT:
I made a small draft. I thought of something like that. (The font is standard MS Calibri and is not crucial for the proposal, I'm fine with all the other fonts presented)
http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1294/x264coltshk7.png

[gav1577]

New website v2
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/664/new3nf4.th.png (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new3nf4.png)

Looks awesome nice job :D

[Sharktooth]

New website v2
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/664/new3nf4.th.png (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new3nf4.png)
nice, nice, nice. i really like it.

[Ranguvar]

+1 to the above

[Snowknight26]

Ditto, fabulous work so far.

[Shinigami-Sama]

New website v2
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/664/new3nf4.th.png (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new3nf4.png)

lol dark's avatar
nice nice though

[LaTo]

so dark... it's fashion, but it's ugly :devil:

[Dark Shikari]

lol dark's avatar
nice nice thoughIf you want something up there a much better job can be done than using my hacked up MS-paint avatar :p

[Warpman]

If you want something up there a much better job can be done than using my hacked up MS-paint avatar :p
well how about we using 2 versions... one with aku's ava and one with yours :P

[Comatose]

Um, just a suggestion, please don't take offense - but I think "highly optimized H.264/AVC encoder" should be changed to "free H.264/AVC encoder", because calling it highly optimized (while true) comes off as arrogant D:

[Ranguvar]

How about this, Comatose - we put "free software H.264/AVC encoder" or multiplatform, or something along those lines - then make it link to DS's codec comparison, or put a link right under it, and let the pics do the bragging ;)

[Comatose]

That would be totally mean, but YES! DO IT! :D

[Dark Shikari]

How about this, Comatose - we put "free software H.264/AVC encoder" or multiplatform, or something along those lines - then make it link to DS's codec comparison, or put a link right under it, and let the pics do the bragging ;)No, no, no, no, I can make my own quality comparison pages myself thank you very much ;) We don't need to be silly and have the logo link to hem.

[SeeMoreDigital]

lol dark's avatar
nice nice thoughAgreed... The text looks good also ;)

[Atak_Snajpera]

Um, just a suggestion, please don't take offense - but I think "highly optimized H.264/AVC encoder" should be changed to "free H.264/AVC encoder", because calling it highly optimized (while true) comes off as arrogant D:
"Highly optimized" may sound arrogant but it's true. x264 encoder is very fast (asm optimilizations , mulit-core support plus SSE SSE2 and so on). In terms of quality we have VAQ+PsyRD. In my opinion "The Best" would mean arrogant :)

If you want something up there a much better job can be done than using my hacked up MS-paint avatar
I really had no idea what to put there yesterday :) I will try to create something else today.

[Dark Shikari]

"Highly optimized" may sound arrogant but it's true.But "free" is more informative.

[lexor]

"Highly optimized" may sound arrogant but it's true. x264 encoder is very fast (asm optimilizations , mulit-core support plus SSE SSE2 and so on). In terms of quality we have VAQ+PsyRD.


The real problem isn't arrogance here, but the fact that the statement is only vacuously true without qualification.

x264 runs under linux (better than win in fact, esp the 64bit version), linux runs on ps3, x264 runs like shit on ps3. So no, that statement should definitely be changed, at least to reflect what it is optimized for.

[Atak_Snajpera]

It will be changed to "free". No problem.

[wyti]

or "Open Source" souds better to me tha "Free"

[Dark Shikari]

or "Open Source" souds better to me tha "Free"Hmm, I agree. Too many people confuse "free as in beer" with "free as in speech", so "free" is not necessarily the best way to go.

[SeeMoreDigital]

So something like this then: -

http://i37.tinypic.com/2gvsd4i.png

[mozzle]

http://i37.tinypic.com/2gvsd4i.png

That is sweet IMO.

I'd take the gradient out of the X so the logo can stand on its own.

[Atak_Snajpera]

I'd take the gradient out of the X so the logo can stand on its own.
it does not look good...

[smok3]

Atak_Snajpera: i like it, however the look is a bit 'over-commercial' imho. (you are free to steal my handwritten X's, if you miss the wacom that is)

[mozzle]

What doesn't look good? The X without a gradient?

[Atak_Snajpera]

The X without a gradient?
Yes. X without transparent layer or above that layer does not look good.

Atak_Snajpera: i like it, however the look is a bit 'over-commercial' imho.
I want to show people that open source project can also have nice looking website. Especially x264 encoder...

[Shinigami-Sama]

If you want something up there a much better job can be done than using my hacked up MS-paint avatar :p

I tried that already
I killed that abomination with fire >.>

[lexor]

Is there a higher rez version of the partition block? the text looks blurry/smudged (especially look at DIR, SKIP and X's in blocks above SKIP). I like the pixelated font, but it needs to be sharper. And the left edge of the entire square is jagged, whereas the right edge is nice and smooth.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Is there a higher rez version of the partition block? the text looks blurry/smudged (especially look at DIR, SKIP and X's in blocks above SKIP). I like the pixelated font, but it needs to be sharper. And the left edge of the entire square is jagged, whereas the right edge is nice and smooth.
I agree therefore i'm doing dark's avatar in higher resolution now :) (256x256)

[Atak_Snajpera]

What do you think about shadow?
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/156/new1lw7.th.png (http://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1lw7.png)

[mozzle]

I think the first one is cleaner. That looks a little busy IMO.

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

It looks nice. Make sure that it can look distinguishable and recognizable as just 2 colors (such as the logo entirely black with a white backgound). If it's too gaudy, itll look strange as a 2-color "cutout." But so far it looks simple enough to look good as a cutout.

[Astrophizz]

I think the first one is cleaner. That looks a little busy IMO.

You think the shadow makes it look too busy? I think at the best it's a small enhancement and at worst I don't notice it when I look at the page.

[Zwitterion]

I like it very much.

I think the first one is cleaner. That looks a little busy IMO.
I agree. Sharp egdes for the win!

Also is it just me or is the "news" very dark? I had to crank up the gamma to see it clearly. My monitor is calibrated quite well.

"about . contacts ..." doesn't look right in the upper right corner I think. At this position it kind of competes against the main buttons.


What are the ideas for the content?
My first idea for the front page was that it should offer content both for the experienced and new user. Hence the "newsbox" and a FAQ section below.
I also like the idea of different subdivisions like at xvid.org (http://www.xvid.org/). One for users, one for developers, one for companies...

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

Also is it just me or is the "news" very dark? I had to crank up the gamma to see it clearly. My monitor is calibrated quite well.

Hmmm... mine's not calibrated, but I can see it pretty easily. I do like the subtlety of it though.

[Atak_Snajpera]

What are the ideas for the content?
in my opinion home section is useless. In download section I would add also guis in which x264 encoder is used (automkv,Handbreak,MeGUI,RipBot264,StaxRIP) as well as FFDshow , Haali Media Splitter and MPC-HC.

[Quark.Fusion]

Home should contain summary from news and about and some quick links to other sections (i.e. how to play h264) and other related sites.

[Atak_Snajpera]

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7341/new1hl2.th.png (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1hl2.png)

Home sections contains News and Download section. Help section should have all necessary information how to encode (+detailed information about encoder's switches) and decode.

[lexor]

I think the home page with just news is rather weak, since we can't expect everyone who gets to it to actually know about x264 and what it is. A short introduction (not history, but a description of purpose, function and goals) is in order.

[Kurtnoise]

About the logo: could you try with a smaller x...It's too big imo. :p

About the news: this could be useful if and only if there is a *real* versioning. :D

[LoRd_MuldeR]

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7341/new1hl2.th.png (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1hl2.png)

Home sections contains News and Download section. Help section should have all necessary information how to encode (+detailed information about encoder's switches) and decode.

"List of programs where x264 is used" - You forgot Avidemux and MEncoder :p

[Atak_Snajpera]

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2850/new1zn1.th.png (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1zn1.png)
This is just suggestion. That text was simply copied from wikipedia. I need somebody to write nice professional introduction to h.264/x264 world :)

About the logo: could you try with a smaller x...It's too big imo.
Old logo also has to "big" X :) Smaller looks too boring for logo

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

Yeah the size is fine, but it does look too square in my opinion.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Yeah the size is fine, but it does look too square in my opinion.
I was inspired by multiplication symbol and old logo. As you know add and multiplication are VERY often used in algorithms(encoders) and so on.

"List of programs where x264 is used" - You forgot Avidemux and MEncoder
Sorry for that.

[mozzle]

You think the shadow makes it look too busy? I think at the best it's a small enhancement and at worst I don't notice it when I look at the page.

If you don't notice, then why have it there? Not to mention that a logo really needs to stand on its own and a reflection might it look a little funky.

Just tossin' in two cents, here.

[Biggiesized]

This logo:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png

and the original orange website (http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web/) are the best proposals thus far.

Why?

Clean. Simple. Efficient. Design.

However, the body of the news portion needs better text spacing. Keep it inline with the News header.

[DarkZell666]

This logo:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png

and the original orange website (http://www.webalice.it/f.corriga/x264/web/) are the best proposals thus far.

Why?

Clean. Simple. Efficient. Design.

However, the body of the news portion needs better text spacing. Keep it inline with the News header.

There is no best :D
We all have our own tastes and preferences, and what is best for you isn't best for someone else ... same old story really ;)

A poll is a good idea here, though the x264 dev's will certainly have the last word : it's the website for their project after all :)

[G_M_C]

or "Open Source" souds better to me tha "Free"

Hmm, I agree. Too many people confuse "free as in beer" with "free as in speech", so "free" is not necessarily the best way to go.

Still i agree with the said above; Free doesn't sound quite right to me. It's Open Source, not free (it's under the GNU OS licencing afaik, wich isn't equal to free).

[nm]

Still i agree with the said above; Free doesn't sound quite right to me. It's Open Source, not free (it's under the GNU OS licencing afaik, wich isn't equal to free).
RMS would probably punch you for that ;)
For example, Wikipedia introduces the GNU GPL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License) with these words:
The GNU General Public Licence (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely used free software licence, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. [...]
Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_licence
http://www.fsf.org/
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html (Why “Free Software” is better than “Open Source”)

... Though I do agree that "Open Source" is probably better for the logo.

[G_M_C]

RMS would probably punch you for that ;)
For example, Wikipedia introduces the GNU GPL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License) with these words:

Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_licence
http://www.fsf.org/
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html (Why “Free Software” is better than “Open Source”)

... Though I do agree that "Open Source" is probably better for the logo.

Well yes, free as in the sence that you dont have to pay money to buy the licence to use it. But it is not free in the sence that you can use the software in any way you like or can think of; There are conditions and terms attached to the license, more in the direction of copyright for writers. And in that context i'm more for the term "Open Source" (especially in the logo).

[burfadel]

A clean sleak website is good as its easier to navigate and looks professional which aids confidence of the products offered for the visitors to the site. However, making it too simple can have the opposite affect especially for a site offering an modern IT type product. To me the orange website looks a bit archaic, the logo shown would much better suit standalone devices (I know thats not going to happen, just an example). I have no idea myself on a design, although Bobor's main x264 logo is on the right track - its a good logo! a half way point between that and the other logo would be good. The frame was kind of a bit small, it looked out of place when the whole screen is not utilised.;

[nm]

<offtopic>
Well yes, free as in the sence that you dont have to pay money to buy the licence to use it.
No, in the other sense. GPLed software generally is software libre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_Libre#Free_as_in_free_beer) (free as in freedom), but not necessarily gratis (free of cost / free as in free beer / freeware). x264 is practically both, but third parties are free to package and sell it as long as they notify the receiver of the license and provide the code when asked for it.

But it is not free in the sence that you can use the software in any way you like or can think of; There are conditions and terms attached to the license, more in the direction of copyright for writers.
GPL is a copyleft license that relaxes the copyright of the authors. The terms are there to ensure that the code remains libre. You can use compiled binaries in pretty much any way you want and even sell the software (hence the libre/gratis distinction), only the code is protected so that modifications must be made available to users and receivers of the software. Because of this, it can be argued that GPL makes the software more libre than less restrictive licenses, such as BSD. Of course, you are free to disagree, but then RMS will punch you again ;)


Oh well, you pretty much proved Dark Shikari's point:
Hmm, I agree. Too many people confuse "free as in beer" with "free as in speech", so "free" is not necessarily the best way to go.


We can continue this discussion privately, if you wish.
</offtopic>

[bob0r]

There is no best :D...

One exception on this rule:

http://www.lahiguera.net/cinemania/actores/steven_seagal/fotos/1913/steven_seagal.jpg

[Atak_Snajpera]

A poll is a good idea here, though the x264 dev's will certainly have the last word : it's the website for their project after all
Dark_Shikari where are you? :)

One exception on this rule:
No no no amigo :)
http://www.chuck-norris.fr/chuck-norris.jpg

[DarkZell666]

ROFL, you guys never cease to amaze me :rolleyes:
You almost had me fall off my chair ! :eek: (no fake as we say ... :o)

[Dark Shikari]

Well yes, free as in the sence that you dont have to pay money to buy the licence to use it. But it is not free in the sence that you can use the software in any way you like or can think of; There are conditions and terms attached to the license, more in the direction of copyright for writers. And in that context i'm more for the term "Open Source" (especially in the logo).The GPL puts no restrictions whatsoever on the use of x264. It puts restrictions on distribution.

Please don't spread FUD, or at least read the license before doing so.

[Ralle321]

Here is a logo i made:

http://s4.directupload.net/images/080914/lpcsppgf.png


Maybe it has too much detail in it and should look more clean
and less complex but i like the result of my first attempt creating a logo.

[Quark.Fusion]

Is picture blocky? Did it means that x264 produces blocky results? :)

[Atak_Snajpera]

New website test
http://atak-snajpera.cba.pl/index.htm

NOTE: Ads has been added by web hosting service (free account with ads)

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

New website test
http://atak-snajpera.cba.pl/index.htm

NOTE: Ads has been added by web hosting service (free account with ads)

I like the color scheme. Hmmm... it'd nice if it was horizontally scalable since maximizing the window on a high res widescreen monitor leaves a lot of gray space. On the other hand, there would be a lot of 1-liners which were supposed to be short paragraphs :D.

I guess you should leave the body at a fixed horizontal size, but something needs to be done to the gray space... it's a lot lighter than the black main body of the site, and can take up a lot of space. The gray space horizontally covers more than the body's width on my monitor, so it stands out a lot.

Maybe set it to solid black.. or black with a subtle texture? (like how the background text colors are)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

New website test
http://atak-snajpera.cba.pl/index.htm

NOTE: Ads has been added by web hosting service (free account with ads)

Looks pretty cool to me :cool:

[Logical10]

New website test
http://atak-snajpera.cba.pl/index.htm

NOTE: Ads has been added by web hosting service (free account with ads)

Very nice work, although i would like to see CCCP added to playback :p

[Atak_Snajpera]

Very nice work, although i would like to see CCCP added to playback
CCCP = ffdshow + haali media splitter + MPC-HC + something ...

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Very nice work, although i would like to see CCCP added to playback :pCCCP = ffdshow + haali media splitter + MPC-HC + something ...

I don't think this is needed. Actually it's ffdshow itself that enabled H.264 playback in DirectShow-based players, not CCCP.
There are dozens of "Codec Packages" that bundle ffdshow with additional software. Not all of them can/should be listed on the x264 homepage.
And many of them are crap anyway...

Also MPC-HC ships with built-in MP4 and Matroska splitters as well as a built-in H.264 decoder now. The latter even with DXVA support.
Hence people that use MPC-HC neither need Haali nor ffdshow, making the CCCP pack superfluous (more or less).

[Atak_Snajpera]

I don't think this is needed. Actually it's ffdshow itself that enabled H.264 playback in DirectShow-based players, not CCCP.
I agree with you in 100%. CCCP go to hell :) (I don't like that name either)

[bob0r]

New website test
http://atak-snajpera.cba.pl/index.htm

NOTE: Ads has been added by web hosting service (free account with ads)

If you need a free host to test/develope the new website, i can set you up on a mirror. (Drop me a PM if you do)

[Atak_Snajpera]

it's a lot lighter than the black main body of the site, and can take up a lot of space. The gray space horizontally covers more than the body's width on my monitor, so it stands out a lot.

Maybe set it to solid black.. or black with a subtle texture? (like how the background text colors are)
What would you say about this?
http://mirror05.x264.nl/Atak_Snajpera/

[bob0r]

Wow, like the shadow drop at the bottom :)

Could you make a version with the x264.nl logo on your website?
Without the text "open source ...", just the orange X + orange "lines" around 264, just to see how it looks (maybe with some fading or thinning of the lines around 264, just try some)

The current logo is nice, but by accident i created a recognizable logo on x264.nl, maybe someone with skills like you can make something off it, else we need something new, but recognizable!

[Atak_Snajpera]

Could you make a version with the x264.nl logo on your website?
are you thinking about this logo or something similar ?http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png

[bob0r]

are you thinking about this logo or something similar ?http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4898/x264logort6.png

Yes, but then in your style and without text.

[Atak_Snajpera]

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1314/new1qm9.th.png (http://img339.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1qm9.png)
Frankly I'm not convinced ...

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Noooo, not again :D

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/4382/x264fish2ni3.png

[kemuri-_9]

I don't really think there will be anything that will completely satisfy the entire planet, so just pick what satisfies the majority (or better - all) of the important people (x264 devs and graphic designers)

kind of why i've been generally keeping my nose out of the opinions.

[nautilus7]

I have a little question to make: What is the exact name of the H.264 standard? I believe it's MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-4 part10 or just H.264. And not H.264/AVC that's on the logo.

So i propose changing the logo to this:

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/6613/x264ph1.th.png (http://img364.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x264ph1.png)

Despite the name thing, i like it more that way because the "open source H.264 encoder" phrase and the x264 above it end at the same point, without having any of them protruding.

[Atak_Snajpera]

H.264/AVC is just a shorten version of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. When we talk about AAC audio we often omit MPEG-4 part. for example AAC-HE instead of MPEG-4 AAC-SSR

[LoRd_MuldeR]

I have a little question to make: What is the exact name of the H.264 standard? I believe it's MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-4 part10 or just H.264. And not H.264/AVC that's on the logo.

H.264/AVC was developed by the Joint Video Team (JVT), which consists of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).

* The official ITU-T standard is "H.264"
* The official MPEG standard is "ISO/IEC 14496-10" aka "MPEG-4 Part 10" aka "MPEG-4 AVC" (for Advanced Video Coding)

[Snowknight26]

What would you say about this?
http://mirror05.x264.nl/Atak_Snajpera/


Looks brilliant!

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

What would you say about this?
http://mirror05.x264.nl/Atak_Snajpera/

Wow, looks very nice! :D. The background looks much less bland without going overboard, and it didn't even have to be mostly black like I suggested.

With some polish (not talking about the shiny bottom surface, that looks like it was polished enough :p), it'll certaintly look very appealing in my opinion. Now we desparately need the opinions from those who matter (DS, Pengvado, etc.).

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1314/new1qm9.th.png (http://img339.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1qm9.png)
Frankly I'm not convinced ...

There are a few things that are quite different. I think the really thick rectangular box around the "264" threw off some of the appeal of the "original" (the one you're trying to replicate). It should be considerably thinner than the thickness of the X. Another thing about the original is that the "feet" of the X are horizontally flat at the tips... so they line up with the box perfectly.

Also, the crosses of the X aren't perpendicular in the original. That's probably the least significant... as the X on the x264.nl logo is actually wide instead of narrow, and still looks good. To be honest, I think this (jarod's design) is the most recognizable x264 logo I've seen, so I can easily imagine it being the "official" logo.

I don't really think there will be anything that will completely satisfy the entire planet, so just pick what satisfies the majority (or better - all) of the important people (x264 devs and graphic designers)

kind of why i've been generally keeping my nose out of the opinions.

I agree with you, the final decision ultimately belongs to the developers, imo. However, I still like to share my opinions with constructive criticism though. As long as not too many people disagree with what I think, I hope my opinions can help contribute to this project.

[bob0r]

I agree, the logo is ugly now :)
Use your free mind and try to come up with a great design, smaller lines around the 264, maybe some different font or text alignment, much to do :)

But like many say, its mostly up to the x264 developers, so let's see what they want!

pengvado?
dark shikari?
gabriel?
others?

[Daiz]

don't think this is needed. Actually it's ffdshow itself that enabled H.264 playback in DirectShow-based players, not CCCP.

CCCP however still is the suggested playback solution for Matroska files on the Matroska homepage, and since H.264 video is quite often found inside Matroska files, I'd say adding CCCP wouldn't hurt.

[DarkZell666]

CCCP however still is the suggested playback solution for Matroska files on the Matroska homepage, and since H.264 video is quite often found inside Matroska files, I'd say adding CCCP wouldn't hurt.

I believe you're refering to this page (http://www.matroska.org/technical/guides/playback/windows/index.html) ?

In that case, they mention it as being one of the available solutions, but I don't see any explicit recommendation of CCCP.
IMVHO they put it in first, next to the keywords "Windows Media Player" and "Winamp" so average joe doesn't have too much reading to do :p

This is a thread about the website design anyway. There are some good ideas regarding the actual content, but I believe this debate should come last :)

[Atak_Snajpera]

CCCP however still is the suggested playback solution for Matroska files on the Matroska homepage, and since H.264 video is quite often found inside Matroska files, I'd say adding CCCP wouldn't hurt.

CCCP = ffdshow + haali media splitter + MPC-HC + something ...
.....

[Daiz]

I believe you're refering to this page (http://www.matroska.org/technical/guides/playback/windows/index.html) ?

In that case, they mention it as being one of the available solutions, but I don't see any explicit recommendation of CCCP.
IMVHO they put it in first, next to the keywords "Windows Media Player" and "Winamp" so average joe doesn't have too much reading to do :p

This is a thread about the website design anyway. There are some good ideas regarding the actual content, but I believe this debate should come last :)

Well, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Community_Codec_Pack) says: "As of 2006, the CCCP is now the official Matroska playback solution on Windows, having superseded the Matroska Playback Pack."

And the CCCP FAQ (http://www.cccp-project.net/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#Endorsements) says under Endorsements: "We are officially endorsed by the Matroska Project, the individuals who designed the MKV format. They originally provided their own codec pack, but dropped it in favour of ours as it was of a higher quality and better maintained."

Atak_Snajpera, I'd say CCCP is more than just the sum of its components, mainly due to the provided settings program, settins preconfigured for component compatibility, the CCCP Insurgent and a good documentation.

In any case, DarkZell666 is correct, this thread is about the design of the website, we can argue about the actual content later :p

[smok3]

imho the two-column layout is very plain (blogish) but still better than the even more boring three-column layout.

The solution is to use for example three columns but with non-everyday widths like http://www.kiberpipa.org/ (the same can be found for 2-column way) or use the more unusual # of columns (see my pdf example from few posts back).

[Atak_Snajpera]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1160900#post1160900
This will be a professional-looking site, but yes, it will be relatively minimal; I'm not going to shove icons everywhere on it because that would look silly. Any good website needs to not only look appealing but also get straight to the point--an overcomplicated website turns off users.

no comment

[smok3]

was that for me?

[Quark.Fusion]

Also, the crosses of the X aren't perpendicular in the original. That's probably the least significant... as the X on the x264.nl logo is actually wide instead of narrow, and still looks good. To be honest, I think this (jarod's design) is the most recognizable x264 logo I've seen, so I can easily imagine it being the "official" logo.
X is perpendicular as in ×264, right? :)

[Yoshiyuki Blade]

X is perpendicular as in ×264, right? :)

Yeah... I expressed an opinion about it looking too "square" in another post, but it's supposed to represent the multiplication sign. I think as long as it's styled to be similar to x264.nl's logo, it'll still look good without any angle changes.

imho the two-column layout is very plain (blogish) but still better than the even more boring three-column layout.

The solution is to use for example three columns but with non-everyday widths like http://www.kiberpipa.org/ (the same can be found for 2-column way) or use the more unusual # of columns (see my pdf example from few posts back).

I think it uses too much of the negative space... there isn't much in there except for the lower-left area and the abormally thick bottom area. So the overall composition of the site seems packed or cluttered and unbalanced. Maximizing that page looks strange, as I anticipated in another post from yesterday. I like horizontally-scalable pages (like this forum), but a major drawback is that relatively long chunks of text turn into huge 1-liners when fullly maximized on a fairly high resolution monitor (1920x1200 here).

My suggestion to Atak_Snajpera was to do something to the large negative space so it wouldn't look too plain, and it looks really nice now. The composition remained the same, and the negative space isn't as overwhelming and is balanced on both sides of the page.

Anyhow, DS prefers minimalistic, so I think he'd lean more towards the "very plain" look (though it has nice subtle touches that makes it looks nice).

[Kurtnoise]

so...any news on the official website ?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

so...any news on the official website ?

Sorry for digging out this old thread, but are there any news now?

Will the x264 web-site ever go online after all those announcements and all the proposed designs or was that project dropped finally :confused:

[Biggiesized]

Good question. I can't believe this thread is over a year old and there hasn't been an update.

[mariush]

I doubt you're ever going to see binaries posted directly on the x264.com website. That will probably be for source code and licensing information, for commercial stuff...

I may be wrong but I think that if you publish something that creates h264 video by itself without requiring compilation and so on, you'd have to pay royalties to mpeg-la licensing for each download or a one time payment for the patents or something like that.

[paradoxical]

What has happened to this?

Obviously it never went anywhere since you're again responding to threads that have been long since dead for more than 4 years. x264.com simply redirects to the VideoLan site. And for anyone wanting a licensed version of x264 there is the other website. What else is really needed?

I may be wrong but I think that if you publish something that creates h264 video by itself without requiring compilation and so on, you'd have to pay royalties to mpeg-la licensing for each download or a one time payment for the patents or something like that.

You pay royalties when you ship over a certain number of encoders/decoders.

For (a) (1) branded encoder and decoder products sold both to End Users and on an OEM basis for incorporation into personal computers but not part of a personal computer operating system (a decoder, encoder, or product consisting of one decoder and one encoder = “unit”), royalties (beginning January 1, 2005) per Legal Entity are 0 - 100,000 units per year = no royalty (this threshold is available to one Legal Entity in an affiliated group); US $0.20 per unit after first 100,000 units each year; above 5 million units per year, royalty = US $0.10 per unit. The maximum annual royalty (“cap”) for an Enterprise (commonly controlled Legal Entities) is $3.5 million per year 2005-2006, $4.25 million per year 2007-08, $5 million per year 2009-10, and $6.5 million per year in 2011-15.

For (a) (2) branded encoder and decoder products sold on an OEM basis for incorporation into personal computers as part of a personal computer operating system, a Legal Entity may pay for its customers as follows (beginning January 1, 2005): 0 - 100,000 units/year= no royalty (available to one Legal Entity in an affiliated group); US $0.20 per unit after first 100,000 units/year; above 5 million units/year, royalty = US $0.10 per unit. The maximum annual royalty (“cap”) for an Enterprise (commonly controlled Legal Entities) is $3.5 million per year in 2005-2006, $4.25 million per year in 2007-08 and $5 million per year in 2009-10, and $6.5 million per year in 2011-15.

From MPEG-LA's licensing terms.