Forum Topic: AwesomeStart.com

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VKX

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Posted at: 10/29/05 05:28 PM

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I'm working on this new project -

AwesomeStart.com - Free Custom Homepages.

I bult it using php. It was pretty much my first exposure to php, so I'd love so feedback on what I really meesed up on. Bascially, the idea is you can pick a theme (any movie or band on the site) and edit all the links on the page. Then you make it your homepage, and every time you open your browser you have all the links to all the places you usually go right there - and a google search.

So I've been lurking around here for a few hours checking out posts, and I guess this seems like the best place to mention this new project I'm working on. After all, it's right above a 'look at this thing I made post.' I've been over and over the rules, and everything looked ok . . . so .. . for the love of God, please don't ban me.


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Greeley

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Posted at: 10/29/05 05:48 PM

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That is kool... I made a homepage! YES!


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WoogieNoogie

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Posted at: 10/29/05 05:55 PM

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Not a bad idea.


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VKX

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Posted at: 10/29/05 06:03 PM

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Glad you guys like it. Everyone I show it too seems to be pretty into it. I just don't really know how to get the word out there. I think I have an idea lot of people would like, but I don't know how to . . .you know, spread the word or whatever.


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decaf

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Posted at: 10/29/05 06:32 PM

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Your sig has quite good slogan in my opinion, I've seen it around enough to recognise it now lol.

As for the site, it's pretty damn good if it's your first exposure to PHP. Not bad, not bad...now to maintain it lol.


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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 10/29/05 06:34 PM

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Yes, if you get some afflitates, and advertisements and stuff word will get out.

Just go to some well known websites, like hotscripts.com.. sitepoint.com - websites like that. E-mail them and see if they want to afflitate.

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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PONGpaddle

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Posted at: 10/29/05 06:47 PM

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The idea of it is good - even if it's not the first time it's been used. It's the way it's implemented that I really like.

There's no need for registration (since less and less people want to give out personal information, this is a great feature). Everything is stored in cookies, not a database. (These last two things alone prevent the possibility injection attacks.) People can edit thier data incredibly easily. The FAQ is strait forward and easy to understand.

There's also an oppurtunity to advertise. You could have a small text ad underneath the custom links, so that users' attention is drawn to it easily. But that might just be my ultra-captalistic brain thinking away there. =)

I think this has a lot of potential. This is both useful, customisable, and the themes look great too. This is excellent - nice job!


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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 10/29/05 06:48 PM

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Hey, ive made a theme.

And ive got my image.. can I submit it to you?

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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VKX

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Posted at: 10/29/05 07:14 PM

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lol, yeah, sure submit away! I will say upfront though that I'm only incharge of programming and the like. All the design submissions are reviewed by some other guys.

info -at- awesomestart.com <- Send it there

TO EVERYONE ELSE - Glad you guys like it. We had a lot of people suggest using a database at first, but for the exact reasons you mentioned we've decided to stick with cookies. The cookie lasts a full year, too, so our users are in pretty good shape as far as that goes.

We've though about text ads to help pay for advertising, but I think it might just create clutter on the pages. Google has some simple text based ads that are nice, but they are dynamic and change to fit page content, and our pages don't have enough content for them to get a good read. I know that might not make sense, but if you've used google adsense you know what I'm talking about.

How would I go about finding affiliates? What does that entail? As I said before, there isn't a whole lot of room on the specific start pages to put ads, banner, etc. Plus we're trying to keep load time down, as no one wants the first page they seen in their browser to take time to load.

-Oh, that brings me to another question - these pages don't change much. Every once in a while, I clean someting up or fix something, but all in all the main start page graphic (the box in the middle of the page) stays the same all year. Is there someway I could tell the browser to cache it or something so it doesn't reload everytime someone visits the page?

Or do most browsers do that anyways?


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NGF

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Posted at: 10/29/05 07:16 PM

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At 10/29/05 06:03 PM, VKX wrote: Glad you guys like it. Everyone I show it too seems to be pretty into it. I just don't really know how to get the word out there. I think I have an idea lot of people would like, but I don't know how to . . .you know, spread the word or whatever.

thats because everyone likes to make homepages, by the way go to http://free webs.com/


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NGF

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Posted at: 10/29/05 07:18 PM

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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 10/29/05 07:20 PM

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It looks like this;

It still needs some tweaking, and thats not its original sized. Its croped to fit NG upload's.

AwesomeStart.com

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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VKX

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Posted at: 10/29/05 07:20 PM

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It's not THAT kind of homepage.


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Jessii

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Posted at: 10/29/05 07:27 PM

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I think it's a cool idea I guess. Only problem is that everyone's pages are going to look the same :/

goes back to procrastinating on coding the rest of my page w/css

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PONGpaddle

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Posted at: 10/29/05 07:45 PM

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At 10/29/05 07:14 PM, VKX wrote: We've though about text ads to help pay for advertising, but I think it might just create clutter on the pages. Google has some simple text based ads that are nice, but they are dynamic and change to fit page content, and our pages don't have enough content for them to get a good read. I know that might not make sense, but if you've used google adsense you know what I'm talking about.

What I meant is that you get companies to advertise with you directly and cut out the middle-man. AdSense is quite good, but thier placements arn't exactly design-friendly (which is an important part of the customization), and you don't get 100% of the revenue.

I think you've got a good place to advertise, since the user will see it everytime they open thier browser (but remember that ads should be non-intrusive so not to scare the user away). It's the kind of impression that companies will jump at. You've just got to get them to realise it!

Oh, and browsers tend to cache images, but download text each time.


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Greeley

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Posted at: 10/29/05 08:43 PM

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One thing you need to do is allow people to put as much links as they want!


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Jessii

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Posted at: 10/29/05 09:53 PM

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At 10/29/05 08:43 PM, Greeley wrote: One thing you need to do is allow people to put as much links as they want!

Yeah, it's not all that customizable that way...


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VKX

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Posted at: 10/30/05 01:15 PM

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At 10/29/05 07:20 PM, IWantSomeCookies wrote: It looks like this;

It still needs some tweaking, and thats not its original sized. Its croped to fit NG upload's.

That looks frekkin' awesome. Is there someway Newgrounds can link to it?


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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 10/30/05 02:03 PM

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At 10/30/05 01:15 PM, VKX wrote:
At 10/29/05 07:20 PM, IWantSomeCookies wrote: It looks like this;

It still needs some tweaking, and thats not its original sized. Its croped to fit NG upload's.
That looks frekkin' awesome. Is there someway Newgrounds can link to it?

Hm.. Im not so sure. Add me on msn; iwantsomecookiesng@hotmail.com and ill send you the background that I made for it ok? :)

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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Bizarro

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Posted at: 10/30/05 07:08 PM

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At 10/29/05 06:03 PM, VKX wrote: Glad you guys like it. Everyone I show it too seems to be pretty into it. I just don't really know how to get the word out there. I think I have an idea lot of people would like, but I don't know how to . . .you know, spread the word or whatever.

I think its a great idea

A good way to get the word out about stuff like this is getting linked to on sites like slashdot or boingboing.net or other high traffic sites that just link to others

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VKX

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Posted at: 10/31/05 12:21 PM

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Good idea. What's the best way to get yourself on Slashdot?


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Masculine

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Posted at: 10/31/05 06:30 PM

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http://www.ebaumsworld.com/index2.shtml

Yes I know people hate Ebaumsworld from here but I submitted it yesterday and now it's in the eLinks. Titled "Create Your Own Google Start Page"


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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 11/1/05 12:08 PM

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At 10/31/05 06:30 PM, NL wrote: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/index2.shtml

Yes I know people hate Ebaumsworld from here but I submitted it yesterday and now it's in the eLinks. Titled "Create Your Own Google Start Page"

Awesome. Heres the direct link;

http://elinks.ebaums..com/link.php?id=3734

:D

Its rated 'Cool' at the moment; http://elinks.ebaumsworld.com/ do a Browser Find for awesome lol, and you'll see it.

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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VKX

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Posted at: 11/1/05 12:33 PM

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How does the ebaum ranking work?

Also, IWantCookies - your theme is all set, but I forgot what those other two links were . . .


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Sir-Davey

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Posted at: 11/1/05 02:02 PM

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This is a totally cool idea, and it works perfectly.

What I would suggest though is that you make it a *bit* like Google personalized home page.
http://www.google.com/ig

Google Personalized home page can read any RSS feed, can tell the weather, and tells you about your gmail account.

Maybe let people add an RSS feed, or let them choose a location to get weather forecast of. Maybe standard POP3 inbox checking or something.

I can see this site being popular.


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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 11/1/05 03:36 PM

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Yay thankyou for putting up my homepage. ^.^

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 11/1/05 03:50 PM

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At 11/1/05 03:48 PM, -joah- wrote:
At 10/29/05 05:28 PM, VKX wrote: I'm working on this new project -
and you are?

and you are?

Who the heck do you think you are. Your not a BBS regular, or a BBS moderator, so shush.

You may only advertise using your second secret that posts something on the frontpage... Idiot... I hope you get banned

What are you talking about? Dont tell someone that you hope they may get banned; or you may get banned. ;)

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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VKX

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Posted at: 11/1/05 04:01 PM

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Second Secret? Front page?


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IWantSomeCookies

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Posted at: 11/1/05 05:11 PM

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At 11/1/05 03:52 PM, -joah- wrote:
im always banned... ya kno... ima bBS Regular yes... Im just not hoocked on ng and its not my life... Sorry...

Lol. 600 posts. No your not a BBS Regular. A BBS Regular is someone, to me, with about 2500+ posts. :)

Also, what is about this Second Secret. Your not allowed to discuss them on the forums! Shh!

"Actually, the server timed out trying to remove all your posts..."
-TomFulp


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cashuu

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Posted at: 11/1/05 08:22 PM

cashuu EVIL LEVEL 13

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dood that it really cool! add more custimisation, like NO links at the bottom or whatever. but still its pritty shit hot! i love it!

well done


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