Beta Awards 07: Winners Announced

[Keropi]

To Redwolf:

SPOILER Bamboo Blade episode 3:

Yeah...I wanted to, but then that would have been a spoiler - not a very big spoiler, but a spoiler nonetheless.

Free your mind and let everything hang out. lol

[redwolf]

Well... for the animated sequence category, would you please use the static thumbnails on the page rather than the GIFs themselves? The page lags horribly for me, and I'm on a cable connection. I can only imagine what the dial-up users are experiencing.

I think if you did that then more people would be more willing (and/or able) to participate in the voting for that category.

That was one of my concerns about animated thumbnails. It's not just dependent on your bandwidth (not all high speeds are created equal) but also the capabilities of your computer and what other programs you have installed/running. Static images might even allow a dedicated dial-up user to look at a few of them...probably not all of them to vote (some of the images are just too large). Some of them are pretty well optimized; there's even one that is 17 KB. Also, for ADD me, it's hard to focus on an individual piece when everything else is moving too.

How about two versions of the same page? One with still thumbnails to complement the animated thumbnail page that is already up?

http://terencepage.tripod.com/asdlhahe187.gif

Yeah! Like that!

Maybe if you picked the right image, no one would recognize. I like my ASuki sig, she glares down at everyone who posts after me.

[klet]

That was one of my concerns about animated thumbnails. It's not just dependent on your bandwidth (not all high speeds are created equal) but also the capabilities of your computer and what other programs you have installed/running.

Very true--on my personal computer, I've got an ethernet connection (not sure if that means broadband or cable; it's just whatever my school has set up), but the computer is so old that when I click on the animations page, they all go really, really slowly, which makes them look like crap. However, when I view them at work (which is on the same network, since I work for the school), they actually go the speed the creators wanted them to go, and I really like quite a few of them. Unfortunately, I'll probably be voting from my personal computer, which will bar me from voting on this category . . .

So, yeah, I'm all for static images on the thumbnails page. Long live my crappy computer.

[Keropi]

Nice sig Redwolf. lol I like that one.

The animated thumbnails were going pretty slowly with my cable internet connection also (I.E. 7.0). I adjusted my screen resolution down from 1152X864 to the lowest resolution possible (800X600) and now the thumbnails are running quite well. They look real good.

I have a feeling the animated thumbnails would move slightly faster if I burned a DVD+R to free HD space because my 160 Gb Hard Drive only has 7.2 Gb free at the moment. YJ auction thumbnails pop up a little slower for me when my HD is full.

I wonder if the animated thumbnails might also run faster if they were placed up and down in a column because then there would be less images on the screen at the same time. But then the thumbnail arrangement might look pretty ugly.

At any rate...maybe a lower screen resolution might help some people.

[Cloud]

Perhaps. What kind of people are these?

[blueheaven]

Took almost seven seconds to load the action page for the first time on my laptop. Whew! I had time to blink and everything! I'd have to agree with what's been said already. A fast cable connection means nothing if you have too many programs running at once. Try dumping your cache, defragging your hard drive, and modifying your startup to get better performance.

[Cloud]

Perhaps. How much would you pay for it?

[transmet]

Took almost seven seconds to load the action page for the first time on my laptop. Whew! I had time to blink and everything! I'd have to agree with what's been said already. A fast cable connection means nothing if you have too many programs running at once. Try dumping your cache, defragging your hard drive, and modifying your startup to get better performance.

The animated sequence page does have a lot going on. Regardless, the final effect is sweet! I like having it going while playing some of the featured anime soundtracks in the background. And while it does take a few minutes to fully load, it should all load much quicker if you keep it in your browser's history.

Outstanding job Zetsuai and WC - very impressive!
And thank you Syan and NSP for handling the voting (what are your rates, btw? :Pj/k)

[Cloud]

Perhaps. How much would you pay for it?

[Moop]

How about two versions of the same page? One with still thumbnails to complement the animated thumbnail page that is already up?

If it's feasible, this seems like a great way to make the category more voter-friendly... especially since it's completely optional, and there is no way to know what portion of the silent majority is having problems with it.

[Cloud]

One what?

[SME]

Nice sig Redwolf. lol I like that one.

The animated thumbnails were going pretty slowly with my cable internet connection also (I.E. 7.0). I adjusted my screen resolution down from 1152X864 to the lowest resolution possible (800X600) and now the thumbnails are running quite well. They look real good.

I have a feeling the animated thumbnails would move slightly faster if I burned a DVD+R to free HD space because my 160 Gb Hard Drive only has 7.2 Gb free at the moment. YJ auction thumbnails pop up a little slower for me when my HD is full.

I wonder if the animated thumbnails might also run faster if they were placed up and down in a column because then there would be less images on the screen at the same time. But then the thumbnail arrangement might look pretty ugly.

At any rate...maybe a lower screen resolution might help some people.

A number of factors could be slowing down your computer. BlueHeaven listed a few of those possibilities. It also could be that the cable company could be doing some repairs, and the internet (especially larger or more graphic-heavy sites) will take slightly longer than normal to load. Also, if you have too much in your computer's cache, that will cause the computer to lag a bit and then display the images. Another cause which not a lot of people realize is having too many programs open. You are using up your computer's RAM whenever you have a program opened in the back. If you are running IE, which I assume most people are, you'll notice that a good chunk of your RAM is used to just run the darn thing. Imagine if you had AIM, IE, iTunes, and your Outlook mailbox opened at the same time. Unless you have a lot of RAM (2 gig +), you're slowing down your computer to the point where it will take a while for everything to load. This also occurs a lot when you have say, 10 IE windows opened at the same time as well.

Hope this information helps a bit, because on the three computers and laptop I have running on wireless cable, all of the animated sequences showed up just fine.

[wELCOME cONSUMER]

A solution is being worked on for the animated sequence entries. There will be two pages, one static and one dynamic. Just give it a little time.

The suggestions for optimizing your computer's performance are great, even beyond this contest, because it's important to have a well maintained machine. Limiting the number of programs running is a great place to start and can make your internet experience more enjoyable.

Another thing we are working on is fixing errors in submissions to the contest, ie - hankens in the wrong categories. So, please, if you see anything out of place on the site, PM me immediately with the details. The guidelines and rules exist for a reason.

[Zetsuai]

Also... can the black on black scrollbar be changed...?

*whisper* try using firefox instead of ie...

sorry ... I put the wrong colors in there ... it's fixed now, but as transmet said: the page looks much better with firefox ... (^_~) ...

AND

I seperated the animated sequence category ... if you are on the entries page and click the icon it will lead you to the page as it was before and if you click on the word "animated sequence" you will get jpg first and an animation while clicking on each picture ... (^___^) ...

hope that helps everyone ...

[Cloud]

I think I sometimes am. I am on disk.