Looking for new Tech Staff - Frontend/Design/Accessibility

[Kyallisar]

If possible, have an option to use the site as it is now, maybe an old school skin

[Aadhiris]

If possible, have an option to use the site as it is now, maybe an old school skin

I'd also like this, I was thinking about asking for that!

[Anozia]

[...]
Open NationStates and think the default theme is, like, so 2013
[...]
Spend your free time checking out the week's hottest new CSS frameworks

Scream in despair at the icon fonts all across NationStates' buttons

Remember what the web looked like in 2002, and want to do everything in your power to eliminate every last trace of it
[...]

Can't you just take drugs if what you want is an interface full of colors and fancy things and nothing work and it's horror for someone sober?

edit: just hire the guy that made that:

Can't go wrong with this WC...I mean CV.

[Kinqueven]

I would like this. Problem is, don't have any skill.


Also, question. Does a laptop count as a PC?

[DataDyneIrkenAlliance]

I like the old school design of nationstates tho (>.<) - modern design is souless and always comes out looking like its fresh off a corporate web 3.0 or whatever template. Apple color rounded boxes with a single "strong" motif makes me gag.

Sure a website should always be accessible but some amount of friction keeps things visceral and more engaging in the long term imo. Don't make nationstates into mediocre trash plz xD

[Johodovill]

I like the old school design of nationstates tho (>.<) - modern design is souless and always comes out looking like its fresh off a corporate web 3.0 or whatever template. Apple color rounded boxes with a single "strong" motif makes me gag.

Sure a website should always be accessible but some amount of friction keeps things visceral and more engaging in the long term imo. Don't make nationstates into mediocre trash plz xD

Or if you do, please make classic (2nd edition/2.0) a theme option. Preferably two, actually, one in light mode and one in dark mode.

[United Calanworie]

I would like this. Problem is, don't have any skill.


Also, question. Does a laptop count as a PC?

A laptop does in fact count, as long as one is speaking colloquially. Personally I program from a Mac and test on a Linux computer, neither of which meet the classical definition of a "PC." (e.g. Wintel)

Edit: y'all, please stop talking actual themes etc here, this isn't exactly the thread for that, this is instead a thread for questions about the staff position.

[Sawenia]

Can i use a old pc

[United Calanworie]

Can i use a old pc

You can use it all you want, but given that I already shot you down when you tried to get a NSG moderator spot, it's probably not going to work out super well for you this go-round either.

[Shizensky Prime]

Sure a website should always be accessible but some amount of friction keeps things visceral and more engaging in the long term imo. Don't make nationstates into mediocre trash plz xD

"Some amount of friction" for a normal user could translate to literally unplayable to a user with disabilities. Depending on which part of the game a user is playing, this could be keeping a lot of people from even participating.

[Youtube Inc]

What we are Looking For

Two years ago we added to our Technical team to address a lack of skilled development staff. We are now repeating this excercise, but with a focus on frontend development, design, and accessibility.

As a volunteer, you would generally be free to dabble in whatever you thought would be helpful to site users. This might involve:

• designing a new default theme for the site
• designing an alternate theme
• improving overall site accessibility
• improving UI elements
• working with our existing tech team to change the way we generate content

Note that as one of the internet's older sites, NationStates doesn't currently employ modern frontend frameworks. We are mostly old-school HTML and CSS. Migrating to modern tools is desirable but also challenging.

We're interested in applications from people with a range of skills and experience. Ideally, we're seeking someone with both design skills and the ability to implement those designs in HTML/CSS; however, we're also considering pure designers, i.e. people who know color, fonts, icons, images, and layout.

How to Apply:

We are only taking applications for this role, not nominations. If you are interested in applying, please contact us via Getting Help Request.

Supporting information on your skills is essential, as well as letting us know what you think you could achieve in the role. Ideally please link to design projects or a github profile. We understand that some code mostly in their profession, so this is not always possible - but if you do have a github profile, please add it.

FAQs:

What's the deadline for applying?
There is no particular deadline for applications - when we are no longer looking, this announcement will be taken down.

How many people are you looking for?
We do not have a target for a number of people to take on - it depends on the applications that come through. The end result could be no-one is brought on board, or multiple people are.

My preference is for backend development - am I able to apply?
Our focus is on frontend developers. However, we are willing to consider exceptional applications from others who believe their skills could contribute significantly to site development.

I have some blemishes on my Moderation record. Can I still apply?
Yes. This is considered as part of the Moderator team review, and there is also the potential to contribute in a non-staff role, for example as Northrop-Grumman has done for years with the Dark Theme.

Please feel free to ask any other questions you have in this thread, but do not use it for applications/nominations.

I'm aware that this site is running on what is the web equivalent of a "99 corolla, in the FAQ's it mentioned a lack of modern frameworks, is there any framework? i assume it cant be pure HTML/CSS/JS and it's not react, so what is it?

[BEEstreetz]

"Have you ever looked at a pixel?"
I feel like I'm reading a commit from Vaxry on adding an svg protocol for displaying the mouse cursor. Actual thing btw.
So you have two choices basically.
If you're looking for light-weight re-design that would likely boost performance but at the expense of pretty basic visual designs - You don't need more than HTMX
Since you're getting complaints about people (such as myself) who wish to have variety in choice and prefer this 2001 forum website design, but at the expense of probably needing more server maintenance - SCSS

I must include this. The context is important going forward. R is the first language I truly learned. The first language wires your brain a certain way. It wired mine to enjoy writing R, Lisp, OCaml, Pascal and C, which I could do on a daily basis. However, it limited me, since I cannot wrap my head around C++, Java, JS/React, Ruby, Perl, so on. However, thanks to CRAN and HTML:
While I enjoy design in my life, I really dislike having to consistently code new UI/UX, most I can give you is like one theme or a general layout. I don't think this qualifies for application, since I also can't be consistent in Staff, but I'm still going to ask whether a "theme-environment" can be applied as well. I'll likely probably end up writing one up at some point and just send it.

Also for this very clever person from bootcamp, I believe the website uses Drupal-SQL-PHP with some parts of Geoffs Airscore. I'm a bit surprised how stable it is given the lack of funding.

[Roavin]

I'm aware that this site is running on what is the web equivalent of a "99 corolla, in the FAQ's it mentioned a lack of modern frameworks, is there any framework? i assume it cant be pure HTML/CSS/JS and it's not react, so what is it?

It's using mod_perl, but it's not a framework in the modern (e.g. anything from the past 15 years) sense. A simplified explanation is that it's a bunch of Perl code manually generating HTML on the fly.

[Youtube Inc]

I'm aware that this site is running on what is the web equivalent of a "99 corolla, in the FAQ's it mentioned a lack of modern frameworks, is there any framework? i assume it cant be pure HTML/CSS/JS and it's not react, so what is it?

It's using mod_perl, but it's not a framework in the modern (e.g. anything from the past 15 years) sense. A simplified explanation is that it's a bunch of Perl code manually generating HTML on the fly.

Long before time had a name... By which I mean 2007 I used to be competent on pearl, not anymore

So yeah I think I'm out for applying then

[Republic of bihar]

I think one thing NS badly needs is a responsive site for mobile users on the web. I would also love to design a high contrast theme for people with visual disabilities

[Tinhampton]

I think one thing NS badly needs is a responsive site for mobile users on the web.

https://m.nationstates.net

[Isla Pluma]

i think i should have the role in frontend i will make the website purple

on a more serious note i think you should try and make individual nation & region pages more customisable (eg changable font, text colour, background colour) but it's fair enough if you don't want to

[Republic of bihar]

tinhampton that's a site just made for mobile users. I was thinking of integrating it all into one, m sites are no longer popular these days because of the hassle of keeping up with dev changes on both sites and the additional expenses. Making responsive websites are easier than ever even for people who don't even know how to code!

[Refuge Isle]

tinhampton that's a site just made for mobile users. I was thinking of integrating it all into one, m sites are no longer popular these days because of the hassle of keeping up with dev changes on both sites and the additional expenses.

I mean the m subdomain just forces Rift's mobile skin. Most mobile devices will encounter that skin by default when they look at the normal nationstates site.

Making responsive websites are easier than ever even for people who don't even know how to code!

Yikes

[Necoarcistan]

terrible news
modern user interfaces are literally demonic

[Sedgistan]

We've had some good applications so far, and are close to the point where we'll get in contact with our initial shortlist.

We'll continue to consider further applications too.

[Sovereign California]

Now this looks like a job for me.

And I’ll check if Stryke might be interested.

Modding the themes via Userstyles has been a helpful learning experience to know what’s under the hood.

I'm interested. Like Orioni, I've had to peak under the hood so to speak to create some of my own user styles for the game.

https://i.imgur.com/cvUYqfW.png
https://i.imgur.com/QtSDcgD.png

[New Westmore]

I used to be quite skilled at HTML and CSS but I've gone a little rusty since then in that regard. I do have a good eye for design and I would be down to help conceptualize new themes, icons and logos for NationStates.

[Billyabna]

I mean, I'm meh at HTML and CSS but I have very good ideas on design that I could probably incorporate into NS. I feel that although the dark theme and some other things about the design of nationstates are either charmingly rustic or genuinely nice looking, it is ABSOLUTELY in need of a modern update.

Unfortunately, I do not currently have any supporting things such as webpages or GitHub posts as I recently purchased a new PC and it wiped a lot of stuff I had due to my overall stupidity on choosing NOT to back my stuff up.

Still would be honored to be considered!

[Torisakia]

I used to be quite skilled at HTML and CSS but I've gone a little rusty since then in that regard. I do have a good eye for design and I would be down to help conceptualize new themes, icons and logos for NationStates.

Want to add that I consider myself fairly skilled with Photoshop and can help design new icons and logos for NS as well.