New splash screen and icon

[user2357]

Salutations, Commanders <o

Would it possible to attach all (or at least the major) previous logos, icons, fonts etc. to the  Branding wikipage, or, at least, on that page, hyperlink to repositories of all previous resource-materials in this regard (with associated dates of having been in use, and record of first introduction/reveal)? Would it be possible to have that page be the dated, historical record of Oolite branding development and progression?

Example: Oolite (progress) LiveJournal Userpic (https://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=oolite) 7 April 2004 - ??? (proof of start-date: https://oolite.livejournal.com/profile)

My concern is that even on the initial 2006-01-03T18:26:46 post of the Oolite wikipage (https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php?title ... oldid=1294), the original, blue logo (in use at the time of the initial posting of that page) has now been replaced by the new, red logo.

Let not our origins be forgotten, as happens to the location of Old Earth in GalCop Space! ...nor as happened during the  Great Deletion.

Thanks for your consideration of this request.

Kind regards
user <o

[Cholmondely]

Salutations, Commanders <o

Would it possible to attach all (or at least the major) previous logos, icons, fonts etc. to the  Branding wikipage, or, at least, on that page, hyperlink to repositories of all previous resource-materials in this regard (with associated dates of having been in use, and record of first introduction/reveal)? Would it be possible to have that page be the dated, historical record of Oolite branding development and progression?

Example: Oolite (progress) LiveJournal Userpic (https://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=oolite) 7 April 2004 - ??? (proof of start-date: https://oolite.livejournal.com/profile)

My concern is that even on the initial 2006-01-03T18:26:46 post of the Oolite wikipage (https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php?title ... oldid=1294), the original, blue logo (in use at the time of the initial posting of that page) has now been replaced by the new, red logo.

Let not our origins be forgotten, as happens to the location of Old Earth in GalCop Space! ...nor as happened during the  Great Deletion.

Thanks for your consideration of this request.

Kind regards
user <o

You will find a partial response on the "Discussion"/"Talk" tab for the Branding wiki page.

Hiran and I were enjoying a state of confabulation about this branding gubbins. We surmised that there might be a point in maintaining different favoricons (is that the term) for the browser tabs for the wiki, this BB and the oolite.space site. When I have tabs from all three open (as he does too) it becomes impossible to distinguish between them when they all have the same favoricon. Alas, it seems impossible to change those on this BB and on the wiki as neither of us possess the appropriate authority. But we do see an argument not to make everything identical, and use some of the older icons.

[hiran]

Would it possible to attach all (or at least the major) previous logos, icons, fonts etc. to the  Branding wikipage, or, at least, on that page, hyperlink to repositories of all previous resource-materials in this regard (with associated dates of having been in use, and record of first introduction/reveal)? Would it be possible to have that page be the dated, historical record of Oolite branding development and progression?

Example: Oolite (progress) LiveJournal Userpic (https://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=oolite) 7 April 2004 - ??? (proof of start-date: https://oolite.livejournal.com/profile)

My concern is that even on the initial 2006-01-03T18:26:46 post of the Oolite wikipage (https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php?title ... oldid=1294), the original, blue logo (in use at the time of the initial posting of that page) has now been replaced by the new, red logo.

Let not our origins be forgotten, as happens to the location of Old Earth in GalCop Space! ...nor as happened during the  Great Deletion.

Thanks for your consideration of this request.

Kind regards
user <o

Your request makes absolute sense. And that is why we do have the page anyway: Remember when/how Oolite was branded, when to use which logo and whatever comes with it. Yet we need someone with the drive to maintain it.

Are you willing to contribute? Even if not the full history can be tracked from the beginning, it is definitely possible to add what we know.

[user2357]

Greeting, Commander Hiran <o

I think I could try to maintain the Branding wikipage... although I'll have to read up on the manual of style; I have never done anything like this before.

However, my main concern is that I am a relatively-late arrival on the scene, and I've only recently become concerned about maintaining Oolite developmental history. So, my point is: I do not have access to any of the older/original branding/logos (except that which I've already mentioned: the Oolite (progress) LiveJournal userpic). I don't even know through how many iterations the branding has been already (except that the LJ userpic was apparently slightly different from the later bluish-logo).

Also, IIRC, there might have been different sizes/resolutions for the different logos...? Ideally, I'd like to get a hold of, and preserve ALL of them.

Any advice/direction in this regard will be greatly appreciated.

Will attempt to start working on this immediately.

Kind regards
user <o

[hiran]

Greeting, Commander Hiran <o

Friendly hail!
No need for ranks and titles, at least in my case. I do not feel like a successful pilot. More like a forum writer...

I think I could try to maintain the Branding wikipage... although I'll have to read up on the manual of style; I have never done anything like this before.

Welcome aboard then. Register on the wiki, let us know if you need help with privileges or something.

However, my main concern is that I am a relatively-late arrival on the scene, and I've only recently become concerned about maintaining Oolite developmental history. So, my point is: I do not have access to any of the older/original branding/logos (except that which I've already mentioned: the Oolite (progress) LiveJournal userpic). I don't even know through how many iterations the branding has been already (except that the LJ userpic was apparently slightly different from the later bluish-logo).

Many of those active now are not the ones from the early days, so we all lack some knowledge. It even seems you are longer on this board than I am. Feel free to collect wisdom as you go and find the shards.

[Cholmondely]

I think I could try to maintain the Branding wikipage... although I'll have to read up on the manual of style; I have never done anything like this before.

I'm unaware of any official manual of style.

There is this: https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Elite ... l_of_Style - which has very little on it. You can click on the history tab and see the older versions by clicking on the dates (Debresser deleted some stuff, as you will see).

There is also this: https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Elite ... llage_pump and this https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/EliteWiki:Sandbox

You need to look at the dates on things before getting worked up about them!!

And I've collected some formatting goodies on my User talk page: https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/User_talk:Cholmondely

[user2357]

Excellent! Thank you both, Hiran and Cholmondely.

[user2357]

Hiran,

In your original creation of the  Branding wikipage, you also referred to fonts... Which fonts? Where might those fonts be obtained?

Thanks.

Kind regards
user

P.S. To anyone interested, a parallel discussion is also being conducted at https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Talk:Branding.

[hiran]

Hiran,

In your original creation of the  Branding wikipage, you also referred to fonts... Which fonts? Where might those fonts be obtained?

Thanks.

Kind regards
user

When I automated PDF generation in the Github Oolite builds I found out the documents were making use of Microsoft Windows fonts. Which is a problem if you want to build in a non-Windows environment.

Have a look at the OpenOffice documents in
https://github.com/OoliteProject/oolite/tree/master/Doc

However I have no idea of any standards that may have been in use before. We are documenting a de facto standard now.

[user2357]

When I automated PDF generation in the Github Oolite builds I found out the documents were making use of Microsoft Windows fonts. Which is a problem if you want to build in a non-Windows environment.

Have a look at the OpenOffice documents in
https://github.com/OoliteProject/oolite/tree/master/Doc

However I have no idea of any standards that may have been in use before. We are documenting a de facto standard now.

Oh. OK. Errmmm... Yeah. I thought you might be referring to in-game interface fonts...

... Don't know if this would be useful, but... My own personal preference for OpenOffice/LibreOffice fonts is DejaVu Sans Mono. It allows for very nice vertical alignment of letters underneath each other (especially when typographical layout becomes important) without that "typical mono-ish look", and the font table is very extensive, including many other alphabets and technical characters. It might even work within a Windows/Mac environment. https://dejavu-fonts.github.io/

[hiran]

Well, Oolite branding should not belimited to logos and screen fonts in gameplay. I believe all the material that are visible should follow some design guidelines so we can market the game with a homogenous, easy to recognize pattern.

So yes: the screen layout is part of it. If you write down the status quo (and feel free to add example pictures) we might even see something does not match well and change it.

The fact that I mentioned something you did not expect is a win win situation.

[user2357]

I agree. I think you make a valid point; one which I had not previously considered.

So, as far as the font(s) is(are) concerned... I think most of us will agree that a FOSS or similar font(s) should be used.

I suspect, though, that the in-game interface and the "out-game" media/materials might have different fonts, since (1) out-game materials (e.g. fanfic) might require characters that the in-game font might not be able to handle/have in its font table, and (2) the in-game interface might not scale very well with the out-game font in different resolutions (I'm speculating regarding the second point; those concepts is quite beyond my expertise).

How would we go about (1) determining which (out-game) font should be used, and (2) establishing and requiring said font for all out-game media/materials? Should we have proposals and a vote here on the Oolite BB? ...or do we actually already have candidate fonts? What would the criteria even be for determining what constitutes a good/the best font in the first place?

Would there be consequences for not using the out-game font?

Should the Elite Wiki and Oolite BB fonts also be changed? Who knows how to, and can do that?

P.S. As mentioned previously, my personal favourite is DejaVu Sans Mono, and I would be rather unhappy if another out-game font was to be required. ...And I can just imagine all the emotions, complaints and counter-arguments against DejaVu Sans Mono, and suggestions for other, "better" alternatives...

[hiran]

So, as far as the font(s) is(are) concerned... I think most of us will agree that a FOSS or similar font(s) should be used.

I am definitely with you.

I suspect, though, that the in-game interface and the "out-game" media/materials might have different fonts, since (1) out-game materials (e.g. fanfic) might require characters that the in-game font might not be able to handle/have in its font table, and (2) the in-game interface might not scale very well with the out-game font in different resolutions (I'm speculating regarding the second point; those concepts is quite beyond my expertise).

There is something else even: The in-game interface was specially designed to mimic the original Elite. Which implies it only supports the specially designed monospace font - regardless of how much text needs to be displayed. But what the heck, it is the status quo. Maybe one day it gets changed.

How would we go about (1) determining which (out-game) font should be used, and (2) establishing and requiring said font for all out-game media/materials? Should we have proposals and a vote here on the Oolite BB? ...or do we actually already have candidate fonts? What would the criteria even be for determining what constitutes a good/the best font in the first place?

To some degree this has happened already. Have a look at https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=289694#p289694

Would there be consequences for not using the out-game font?

As mentioned above, today it is mostly technical. Oolite just does not use <truetype/freetype or whatever they get called> fonts.

Should the Elite Wiki and Oolite BB fonts also be changed? Who knows how to, and can do that?

Definitely something to consider.
Today the wiki and the forum are maintained very badly. The website is under our full control - that could be a start.

But for the time being let's collect the facts, then discuss about it.

P.S. As mentioned previously, my personal favourite is DejaVu Sans Mono, and I would be rather unhappy if another out-game font was to be required. ...And I can just imagine all the emotions, complaints and counter-arguments against DejaVu Sans Mono, and suggestions for other, "better" alternatives...

I like Deja Vu Sans. And I'd choose mono or not depending on where I use that font. So not a problem for me.
- https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans
- https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans-mono

[user2357]

How would we go about (1) determining which (out-game) font should be used, and (2) establishing and requiring said font for all out-game media/materials? Should we have proposals and a vote here on the Oolite BB? ...or do we actually already have candidate fonts? What would the criteria even be for determining what constitutes a good/the best font in the first place?

To some degree this has happened already. Have a look at https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=289694#p289694

Reading that "Simplify release process" post now, I'm wondering... Could it perhaps also be OpenOffice itself that contributes to the layout issues with the pdfs? I use LibreOffice (which also natively saves to .odt OpenDocument format), and pdf'ing anything (images, tables, graphs from spreadsheets, name it) never gives me any hassles. LibreOffice is the successor of OpenOffice, OpenOffice having received its last major update in 2014 only. (https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/li ... penoffice/)

If pdf'ing .odt files continues to present problems, I suggest try opening the .odt source files in LibreOffice, and then try pdf'ing using LibreOffice, in stead of using OpenOffice. Hopefully, it helps a bit. ...if necessary.

[Cholmondely]

Looking at where this is going, it probably makes sense to post this reminder here:

Here's the PDF's of the most recent update I've made to the docs:
OoliteRS.pdf
OoliteReadMe.pdf

I partially proof-read phkb's first version. Has anybody else taken a look?