[thesite] user power cubes..

[David Mccreath]

From: Garrett Coakley <garrett at polytechnic.co.uk>

> Dean is telling bad jokes in #evolt so I thought I'd escape for 5mins.

Can't we set up one of the bots to do that? That would save us a bunch 
of time.

> I didn't pay too much attention to the original conversation about the
> cubes as, well, I don't really have an excuse, I just didn't, ok *:)

I don't think there's anything for you to not remember ... er ... I 
think this is the first time the power cubes have been brought up on 
thesite list. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, please.

> Anyways, I'm paying attention now since dan posted his examples. At
> first the branding issue didn't enter my mind, but since David posted
> this, a few thoughts have been buzzing around in my head.



> First up, I think some kind of marker to someones 'evoltness' is a 
> coolidea. Might stimulate more people to contribute. 
> 
> My feeling would be to go with something based on the single cube.
> Although I agree with the branding issue, my reasoning would be more
> from a layout point of view than anything. From the example dan posted
> earlier the logo looks a little forced, if you see what I mean. It
> breaks up the lines of the page and sits too proud. 

That's a valid concern, too. Do we need to display the power cube(s) on 
the article page? What if they just display on the user page? Or would 
that defeat your purpose, Dan?

> Nice anti-aliasing though.

Yo, no offense to Dan, because it is a nice job, but the original logo 
cubes are not anti-aliased, and the power cubes really shouldn't be 
either. Anti-aliasing something that small can get kinda twitchy. 
(Although you did do a good job, Dan. :))

> As this is going to a kind of ranking/grading/howcoolareyou system,
> wouldn't it be wise to follow the other grading schemes out there 
> (likefeo for example) and use a row of [insert icon of choice] so 
> people can
> get a handle on what is being represented?

I think *I'd* prefer that approach. 

> So from dans example you would have:
> 
>    Building A Quick Countdown Application
>    Author: mwarden [cube] [cube] [1/2 cube]
>
> Nice and neat, wouldn't break the flow of the page, and everyone would
> be able to see right away that matt is a two and a half cube kinda 
> guy.

You may mean this, but I'm not sure. What I'd do is 

[cube] [cube] [wireframe with progressively filled-in sides] so that 
each power cube in a person's, um, arsenal (just to further the 
videogame geek thing) represents four steps. 

> The exact mapping between number of articles and number of
> [whojamaflips] would have to be worked out to some meaningful level
> obviously... 

Obvussly.

> .. so yeah, what David said +1.

YEAH! D3Z1GN3RZ R00L! ... er ...