The Anime Brigade!

[Senkusha]

Hi all!  I invite you to visit the Anime Brigade if you enjoy discussing shoujo anime and role playing!  Anybody is welcome to visit and enjoy the safe space that I've created, although, people who enjoy older anime of the 1990's and 2000's would probably have the best experience the site has to offer.

What is shoujo?  Shoujo is a Japanese word that means girls'.  Therefore, the definition of Shoujo anime is that where the main characters are girls -- heroines.  Typically the plots of these anime focus on Slice of Life, coming of age, magical girls, forming friendships and even romances.  Some popular anime series that fit within this genre are Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Fruits Basket, and many more.

This is also a place where members can create role playing games and run around as their favorite anime characters, or even create an anime inspired character.  The settings can be set during any time period and feature most any genre imaginable, although there are a few exceptions.  Most of the role playing systems featured in the community have a focus on an anime setting and the site is geared for people to explore these alternative table top role playing games.

Right now, there are very few modifications to the site other than a dice roller and using TinyPortal as a Welcome Page., however, in time I do have plans to expand and put together a full character management system, where members can toggle between various characters they have created and post using special BBC code to differentiate between characters and have a quick reference system for character sheets.

Although the site is fairly new, it's gone through several domain name changes, reboots, and there have been periods of time when I haven't had the ability to give the site the attention its needed.  I have plans to add more reference material related to the featured anime including episode, character, and series information.  I also plan to add a fan art module and an area exclusively for fan fiction (whether it's a dedicated board, or an area to link to popular places such as Fanfiction.net or other blog sites -- I haven't decided yet.)

After much searching for a theme that would match the nostalgia of the site, I decided upon the Windows XP theme, as this was the most prevalent computer operating system at the time when many of the anime featured on the site were being shown (in the USA).

I'm open to ideas to help grow the site and make it feel like a cozy home for Otaku (fans of anime) and people who enjoy classic table top style role playing games.

Thank you for your interest!

https://www.AnimeRPGs.com/index.php?action=forum

[Steve]

Topic approved. Nice looking site. 

[Senkusha]

Thank you!

[Steve]

You're welcome. I was looking at the rules for this board and it does say you need to post a link to your forum but I let that slide since you did such a great job on your initial post otherwise. 

[Senkusha]

Sorry about that!  I fixed it.

[TheRaven]

I like the Windows XP inspired theme you've got! I'm a anime nerd myself, I'll have to check it out sometime. Your forum reminds me of being a preteen/teenager in the early 00's!

[Senkusha]

Yes, my site does invoke a sense of nostalgia.   Thank you!

[Senkusha]

I rewrote the welcome page, and I'm looking for a critique of it.  Does it draw you in, or is it too wordy, or does it turn you away, and why?  What could I do to make it better?  Thank you for your advice!

[Steve]

I assume you mean the page here: Anime Brigade

To be honest, this is why I don't like narrow themes. Any lengthy text is made to look even more lengthy than it really is. I have a feeling most people will do what I did, read a couple of lines of each section to get the gist and skip the rest (I went back a second time and read it all). I can't give an opinion on whether or not it draws you in because I don't bother with portal pages. I go straight to the forum. Keep in mind, that's just me.

I can say one thing, you did a great job in the way you laid it out.

[lurkalot]

To be honest, this is why I don't like narrow themes

I hate them too, especially when running left and right panels, though I don't think the theme is actually narrow, but possibly the forum width mod is being used to make it narrow enough for the logo to fit full width.  Great on a massive wide screen monitor, but on a smaller laptop or tablet screen it is very small.

The other thing, and I mentioned it on our TP support site, is why a page (article) is being used instead of a block, thus showing the pagination just below it.

Loving the look apart from that though.   
 

[Senkusha]

To be honest, this is why I don't like narrow themes

I hate them too, especially when running left and right panels, though I don't think the theme is actually narrow, but possibly the forum width mod is being used to make it narrow enough for the logo to fit full width.  Great on a massive wide screen monitor, but on a smaller laptop or tablet screen it is very small.

The other thing, and I mentioned it on our TP support site, is why a page (article) is being used instead of a block, thus showing the pagination just below it.

Loving the look apart from that though.   
 

Are you talking about on something like a smart phone?  Maybe I need to do some more tests with the layout.  In fact, I am using a Width Mod, but that's only because on my screen moving my eyes left to right constantly causes a lot of eye strain.  Maybe there's something I can do to correct that?

Also, I don't think I understand the block/article issue you mention.

[lurkalot]

Are you talking about on something like a smart phone?  Maybe I need to do some more tests with the layout.  In fact, I am using a Width Mod, but that's only because on my screen moving my eyes left to right constantly causes a lot of eye strain.  Maybe there's something I can do to correct that?

Also, I don't think I understand the block/article issue you mention.

The width thing is really a personal preference thing, I mean what I don't like others might love, and vice versa.  Everything looks quite small on a 15" laptop screen.

Regarding the block vs article thing.  If you look below your welcome post you'll see a page number, this is because you're embedding a page (article) on the front page.  If put it in a front page block instead you wont see that page number.

[Senkusha]

Okay.  I've looked at the TinyPortal settings.  How exactly do I put my Article that I've written into a Frontpage block?

[lurkalot]

Okay.  I've looked at the TinyPortal settings.  How exactly do I put my Article that I've written into a Frontpage block?

OK. 

Grab the code from your article.

Go to blocks admin and add a HTML/Javascript block in front page blocks.  Paste in your code, and save.  Turn it on,

In TP Admin > Front page settings, where it says "What to display on frontpage" Set it to "Frontpanel only"

Click save.

If happy, turn your article off.

[Senkusha]

AH!  Thank you!  That does look much nicer.