InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "OFWGKTA"

I know it seems pretty ridiculous to do a tutorial/walkthrough of Hollow-Art of all places, but they've completely redesigned their website and I thought a walkthrough of sorts might help anyone who hasn't seen the new layout to get used to it. Plus, it showcases some pretty awesome stuff they've done with the new look. Just click on the cut and you're good to go!

Why a Tutorial of Hollow-Art?I created this walkthrough because at first glance, the new design/layout of Hollow-Art (HA) is a little misleading and may turn away RPers who are used to the old one. The redesign came to my attention only recently when a fellow RPer complained that you now had to sign up to view icons. I thought that was a bit odd since HA never had you do that before. But, here is a screenshot of the new design (it's horridious /personalopinion): Considering one of the first panels of the redesign is the login/sign up box, I can understand how one might see it that way. That, I think, is the first misleading aspect of the new design. The second is the link [Icon Glossary]. Given that a "glossary" is a list of terms and/or vocabulary and what they mean... I think the link could be renamed to "Icon Directory." Clicking [Icon Glossary] will take you to a new page and, I think, how to navigate and use it is pretty self explanatory. What I want to direct your attention is this: The search function. Tap that bit--UH, I mean click that link! It'll take you to this page: BEHOLD T3H AWESOMENESS! HA has completely shoved aside aesthetics for functionality here and that, my friends, is what makes this redesign totally—pardon my French—fucking awesome. If anyone remembers the search function from before, you had to type in a lot of keywords (just like searching Google), or there was the alphabetized sets on the front page. Kinda tedious, right? Well, now you've got all kinds of choices to choose from right at your fingertips, folks. You can type in an actor's first name... And it'll give you a list to highlight and select from. But what if you're looking for icons from a movie or something? Well, say no more because HA also has the search capability of movies, tv shows, and even music bands/groups. Just type in the name of the movie (or show or band) like so... And you'll have another list to choose from. That's all well and good, Erin, but what if I don't want to look shit up using actor or movie names? Well, there's more! As you've probably seen from the screenshots, there is also the capability of choosing various descriptions and options to select. Basically, this provides you, the RPer, with a shit-load of combinations to end up displaying exactly the kind of face or icons you're looking for. For example, I chose Set Type: male, Description - Age: twenties, Description - Eyes: blue eyes, Description - Hair: brunette... And after clicking [Apply]... ... I got the following results. Ohai Aaron Taylor-Johnson! ♥♥♥ To Conclude...While the new design may not look visually appealing to some folks, I don't think at this point anyone can complain (too much at least) that it got much easier to find specific icons versus having to do a lot more searching. Hopefully, someone out there has found this useful and if you have please leave a comment. :)