First of all I have to thank Kasra for spending a lot of time to make the pages available.

Kasra jan khasteh nabashi!

Secondly I have to remind you again that the pages are very very simple. We need someone with better programs and knowledge to put flashy things in them. They are (it is) just meant to be a start before they (it) can be editted later.

Anyways, I made 2 different versions. I thought to use the Iranian flag colors theme at first! Specially in the text (The Iranian forums) or as the background or something. But then I thought it would become so typical and just like any other Iranian site. So I made a colorful text with irrelevant background instead to make them more unique.

Anyways, take a look at them and discuss what you think.
Specially the text, I think, needs to be editted by someone with better english than me.

http://www.theiranianforums.com/test/indexsly.html

http://www.theiranianforums.com/test/indexsly2.html

Ps. if the name of the site was decided to get changed, we could always edit "The Iranian forums" later.

Ali joon thank you for getting us going with the first page discussions. Your html pages look great - it is a little simple as you said. Since w're only planning to have a single page at this point, it really has to capture the visitors' imaginations and tickle their mind IMHO. As such, I was thinking of something a little more flashy - possibly even using Flash! ;)

I worked on this little project a while back using SwishMax (by Adobe) which is a very easy software to learn and use and it creates incredible presentations. Obviously, the pictures in the attached file are copyrighted and we can't use them on our front page. Nonetheless, I wanted to include it here as a sample of the kinds of things we can do to set us apart from other sites. Again, this is just a samlpe, but the pictures and text can easily be modified to suit the message we want to convey (I spent about half an hour today to edit it from what I had before to jive with the forums a little bit).

We can definitely work on this together in finding the right pictures and overall image, come up with some catchy slogans and then add some of the links you had in your HTML - that's if the rest of the gang likes the idea...

Ali joon thank you for getting us going with the first page discussions. Your html pages look great - it is a little simple as you said. Since w're only planning to have a single page at this point, it really has to capture the visitors' imaginations and tickle their mind IMHO. As such, I was thinking of something a little more flashy - possibly even using Flash! ;)

I worked on this little project a while back using SwishMax (by Adobe) which is a very easy software to learn and use and it creates incredible presentations. Obviously, the pictures in the attached file are copyrighted and we can't use them on our front page. Nonetheless, I wanted to include it here as a sample of the kinds of things we can do to set us apart from other sites. Again, this is just a samlpe, but the pictures and text can easily be modified to suit the message we want to convey (I spent about half an hour today to edit it from what I had before to jive with the forums a little bit).

We can definitely work on this together in finding the right pictures and overall image, come up with some catchy slogans and then add some of the links you had in your HTML - that's if the rest of the gang likes the idea...
The attachment doesnt work for me, with wich programm should I open it ? Are you sure you added the right file?

It's an .exe file Kasra jaan, so it should just run by itself. Was anyone able to open it?

It's an .exe file Kasra jaan, so it should just run by itself. Was anyone able to open it?

Yeah I know thats why I said are you sure its supposed to be an exe ? Is it a programm ? What are you trying to show? Anyway it doesnt work for me

Alright guys, try this one. If it asks you what file to use to run it, pick your browser. As long as you have a Flash player installed (which is pretty standard these days), you can run it.

That's weird. I can open it from my computer directory, but from here it won't run! Any ideas commander?

Alright guys, try this one. If it asks you what file to use to run it, pick your browser. As long as you have a Flash player installed (which is pretty standard these days), you can run it.

Yeah it works for the first seconds and then gets stuck, but I get the Idea.

It actually ran though? Mine doesn't do anything at all. :(

It actually ran though? Mine doesn't do anything at all. :(
What do you want to show though, is it something you made or is it an existing site? Maybe you need to convert it too an php, using the code. Anyway flash is real cute and all but it needs to be possible for us too to later implement. I think we need something between Sly's basic idea and your extravagant Idea, If you can make it good than fine by me, but we might get problems along the way if its too fancy.

Swishmax is really easy to use. you know I'm not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to this stuff, but I can still use this program to put somehting together in a couple of hours, once we have the concept. I can actually create presentations with this thing faster than I can write HTML code and with much less trouble.

I dont mean using the programm but the later implementation in this site, it might be easy to, but we are having problems already with the attachment you gave. Not saying it will be hard but it can be. If we want it to work in the end it needs to be an php or html file otherwise it probably doesnt work in directing to the file, bc VB works on php's mostly and I dont know if .swf work on them self.

Alright commander, I actually followed your lead and put the stuff in the same format you had for the other HTML's. I also moved everything from the image directory to a test directory (where we can muck around and not to have to keep track of the files we may have to remove - so I edited Sly's post to reflect the next directory).

Having said that this is what we have so far as far as suggestions for the 1st page:

http://www.theiranianforums.com/test/indexsly.html
http://www.theiranianforums.com/test/indexsly2.html
http://www.theiranianforums.com/test/TheIranianForums.html

They should all run fine on everyone's computer. Thanks for figuring out how to post HTML's for testing Kasra jaan. I don't know what we would do without you. Most likely...
:hanged2:

Behrou jan, that front page you made was really cool and flashy. As you said it does catch the visitors' eyes. The only things I thought about:

1. Great song. At least at first or for a while. Then at some point we need to change it since it could get very boring and disturbing for the visitors to hear that every single time they visit the site. So either we have to get rid of the song after a while or just change it quite frequently to a new one.

2. I don't know I still think we could do better without the political messages, thoughts, nationalism, iranian flag, history of Iran, Perspolis's monuments etc. etc.? I mean I know even the name of the site (at least for now) is the "Iranian" forums but on the contrary to practically all the iranian sites on the internet, we could actually have images of something totally different and irrelevant to Iran as the first page to catch the visitors' eyes? Like I don't know...it could be what ever, from the picture of a bowl of yoghurt to a simple guy riding on a donkey. Even cool images of the spring, flowers, from anywhere.

I mean if we really MUST have Iran related pictures or themes, these kinds could be cool too?

http://home.att.net/~aturpat/images/kabab.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Gaz_Candy_From_Iran.jpg

http://www.persianschool.com/images/norooz08_1_withcopyright.jpg

http://www.payvand.com/news/07/mar/Persian-Parade2007-11.jpg

http://www.pishrow.com/F%20pishrow/khoshkbar/images-Larj/pesteh.jpg

Or what do you think?

Oh yeah, I agree with you totally Ali joon. That was just a sample of something we can do with Flash and the message is definitely way "too heavy" for what we're doing here - not to mention that those are all rights managed images and to run that particular presentation on the frontpage would cost a few thousand bucks for 6 months!!!

But, there are sites that offer Royalty Free pictures for less than $1 ea., so we should be definitely be looking at those types of things and a much more "fun" message. I really like your idea of not using the typical pictures. I've always really liked associating rugs, cats and caviar with Iran too - all nice and posh things. ;)

I guess we should first brainstorm a little and find the message we want to get across - that's if you like the idea of the Flash thing in general. What did you personally have in mind?

BTW that koubideh with the egg on top looks phenomenal. Yum yum :)

lol Behrou jan that chelokabab does make you hungry, doesn't it? :D Jaaye hamegi khaali I'll be going to Iran in about a month time. I will be remembering you everytime I eat it. ;)

Anyways, I see... :) then I also agree and as said earlier, the flash thing looks great!

About the pictures though. If we find some nice pictures, we could just ask the owners nicely and they might even let us use their images for free? We'll see.

What I had in mind was something totally out of the ordinary. Unique, funny and cool but at the same time not necessarily complicated. It could be something very simple.

But in order to find and select the theme, I think firstly we need to talk about:

1. What is the real purpose of this site. Is it a sports site? Is it a football site? Is it a fun site. General get to gether? Political (which is not.)? I many cases, the fugitives (deported members) of other Iranian forums? (;))

2. Who are our "main" (not only) target groups? Young people? young and middle aged? everyone but childeren?

3. Last but not least the permanent name of the site (which will be easier to choose after we answer the above questions) and which could play a role for finding ideas for the main page.

LOL. Yeah, load up on those koubidehs for sure bro and if anyone tell you why you're eating too much, say you're eating for two people :)

Those are some very good and complicated questions you ask my good man. Hopefully other people can jump in here and help us a bit. This is my PERSONAL thoughts on those questions:

1. What is the real purpose of this site. Is it a sports site? Is it a football site? Is it a fun site. General get to gether?

I'd say the best way to maket the site is as a virtual hang-out. A place to get together with friends and discuss anything and everything one's heart desires, be it football, politics or just good old plain jafangiat. If we can get the straming going soon, I think our focus will shift a little bit toward football, but I think if we keep it more general, we'll keep all our options open.

2. Who are our "main" (not only) target groups? Young people? young and middle aged? everyone but childeren?

I'm good with everyone but children (i.e. anyone over 16 who's mature enough to hang out with a mixed crowd is good to go. Why cut our target audience for no reason, right?

3. Last but not least the permanent name of the site (which will be easier to choose after we answer the above questions) and which could play a role for finding ideas for the main page.

Yeah, that's a tough one. There was no consensus on the Name change thread and it looks like the topic's dead! I think we're going to have to take the initiative on this, pick 5 or 6 appropriate names and put them up for a poll, You are right though, that's really important for giving us ideas. That's why I'd also like the name to be as general as possible. The word Zemzemeh popped into my head last night, but like most of the suggestions is already taken. I definitely like your idea of keeping it light and fun.

What are your thoughts and answers to these questions? ;)

If we're going to go comical or light and catchy, there were a few good suggestions in that thread. Here's some more (all available - my preferenced in green),

MokhePooch
KolbeyeJam
Goorekhar
AbbasGholiKhan
1Kalagh40Kalagh
Jafangiat
ChartoPart

I'll put these in the other thread as well.

I'm in agreement with Kaesra that we should have something inbetween Slys basic idea and behrous flashy idea.

Behrou jaan, maybe we can have something like you had, but also have an option to "skip intro" so that we don't have to wait throught the presentation every single time.

Yeah, the skip button is an absolute must in the final presentation IMHO. For now (i.e. before we get a full web site going and that's if we ever do), this page is really for first time visitors only. The rest of us will just bookmark the forums, so that we would not get the presentation every time.

It is good start and thank you for your hard work but if you want my honest opinion :

1) The rainbow color is too much, it gives it very unprofesional look.
2) It defemitly needs some photo.
3) Font type sizes for the links and ... should be changed to what we see for example in CNN or .... something more standards.


However, all together a good start.

Good questions and comments so far.
1) I would say, the site should be "generic" enough to not exclude anyone (or group). Everyone old enough to post, could be a part of this community.
2) I would certainly stay away from becoming another sports related site, that does not generate a lot of interest from women, besides sports related news/reports etc. are very time consuming.
3) use of pictures is fine, but need to be careful about selecting the picture, so the site remains objective. I have seen some Iranian sites use "well known photoshoped" pictures in their home page. IMO, that might seem to be funny at the first glance but it discredits the site in general.

Overall good concept, lets get it going for now, we can always come back and make changes as needed.

LOL. Yeah, load up on those koubidehs for sure bro and if anyone tell you why you're eating too much, say you're eating for two people :)

Those are some very good and complicated questions you ask my good man. Hopefully other people can jump in here and help us a bit. This is my PERSONAL thoughts on those questions:

1. What is the real purpose of this site. Is it a sports site? Is it a football site? Is it a fun site. General get to gether?

I'd say the best way to maket the site is as a virtual hang-out. A place to get together with friends and discuss anything and everything one's heart desires, be it football, politics or just good old plain jafangiat. If we can get the straming going soon, I think our focus will shift a little bit toward football, but I think if we keep it more general, we'll keep all our options open.

2. Who are our "main" (not only) target groups? Young people? young and middle aged? everyone but childeren?

I'm good with everyone but children (i.e. anyone over 16 who's mature enough to hang out with a mixed crowd is good to go. Why cut our target audience for no reason, right?

3. Last but not least the permanent name of the site (which will be easier to choose after we answer the above questions) and which could play a role for finding ideas for the main page.

Yeah, that's a tough one. There was no consensus on the Name change thread and it looks like the topic's dead! I think we're going to have to take the initiative on this, pick 5 or 6 appropriate names and put them up for a poll, You are right though, that's really important for giving us ideas. That's why I'd also like the name to be as general as possible. The word Zemzemeh popped into my head last night, but like most of the suggestions is already taken. I definitely like your idea of keeping it light and fun.

What are your thoughts and answers to these questions? ;)


Behrou jan, I also agree with you about the question number 1. This would be a place for everyone and anyone to say what ever they like about anything and everyting (as long as rules are obeyed).

also I agree with Artavile about not excluding any group of people. But ofcourse since kids will have other fun things to do than reading/posting in a forum, I also think our main target group is everyone but kids.

About the third option, I will add some more names to that thread too.... :)

(Although at some point we need to gather all our favorites and vote).

(Although at some point we need to gather all our favorites and vote).

Amen to that bro :meditate: