Dan Zen “You are in the Dark” – New Interface Launch

Dan Zen launches a new interface!

Here is a look back through the various interfaces.  Click on any picture to go to the interface.

The “dark” interface is better suited for mobile and like the interfaces of the past offers a touch of playfulness with a light metaphor of early text based games.  [It almost made me want to make one of those.]  There is the recent http://altura.mobi if you are in the mood for text based interactive storytelling.

Up top we have the Dan Zen logo as a pixel art logo this time around (click it too).  Note that each interface is represented by a vertical totem logo variation.  There is a * link to a surprise feature, an about link, a contact link, a text ad and a GOGO Ad.

The main body as has five sections roughly as follows:

1. Guidance
2. Media
3. Games
4. Feedback
5. Create

The first section is always at the top and the others randomly rotate.  There are little >> marks after links that will pop up more options.  The other links pop up a new browser window or tab.  You can use key press letters to launch the links as well.

We hope you enjoy the site.  The design makes it simple to feature items although it is a bit more exploratory which is good or less good depending on your mood and purpose.

Dan Zen

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Inventing for the Internet the Early Years

Over on the Inventor Blog, I have just posted on Inventing for the Internet – the Early Years. Below is a brief synopsis but please see the post for the examples.

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Here is a look at inventing for the Internet written in 2005 looking back over the ten year period from 1995 up to 2005. In general, the focus was on making new use of the medium:

1. People can interact to make content not just view content
2. People can communicate with each other
3. A computer mediates to enforce rules of a game or environment
4. Production and distribution of virtual objects are free

Other inventive focus was the relation between story and game play. Sometimes a story would suggest game play but usually a relevant story was created for a given game play.

Here are the comments about inventing features for the Internet in the early years. Many of these ideas would have relevance being redone in today’s social media aware world – because we were socially aware in the past but perhaps did not quite have the platforms and sharing systems worked out.

Inventions for 2005 – 2010 will be the focus of the next posting.

Enjoy – Dan Zen – Full Post

Dan Zen Site Launches New Tree Blossom Menu

Dan Zen has a new front menu in the form of a tree with animated blossoms and leaves.  A new signature totem logo is at left and the tree grows from the Node Zero logo from Nodism.

This menu was planned about 3 years ago. The previous Deck of Creations from 2005 has been moved to Creations under the Fun branch of the tree.  The deck was designed to accommodate any number of features.  This can sometimes be a bad design as there is less intensive to update.

The new design reveals a shift in focus for Dan Zen over the last 5 years from game and gadget features to a wide range of areas.  The occasional game has been made but the main focus has been on the following topics:

PHILOSOPHY
Nodism Philosophy of Connection
Environmental Ideas

MUSIC
Thee Gnostics – Psychedelic Space Rock Band

PHOTOS
Focuso – Out of Focus Photography
Flickr site of Dan Zen Photographs

EDUCATION
Teaching aspects of Inventor Dan Zen
Tools of Inventor Dan Zen

SOCIAL
Dan Zen Facebook Page
YouTube site of Inventor Dan Zen
Twitter Site of Inventor Dan Zen

BLOGS
Dan Zen Blog of Inventions, Games, Gadgets and Communities
Beryea – a Language, a Culture, an Island
Zen Vlog – Video Logs of Inventor Dan Zen
Inventor Stories and Ideas

All the best!