Sign For Banner

[STEVE BURNS]

ONE CLUB, ALL THE CARS
What do you all think of having this included in the top of the web page
also we could have the old graffic that showed the outline of different models that blended into each other that appeared at the bottom of the club mag must be someone out there who could add the 350 to the strip then it would be right up to date

 

[Richardd]

I think that would be a good idea, it may stop the posts regarding what models take preference in this club?
As to the graphic, for someone who has Photoshop experience it would be a simple task.

 

[pmac]

You have got the drift of the idea Steve, but to complete the "idea" you need to have the list of models following the phrase. Ie 240Z, 260Z etc, just like my poster at the show.
Richard D has caught on too. Its designed to inform casual browsers what cars we cater for (and equally important what cars we dont cater for.) Images or outlines are a useful extra but to the uninformed browser on the site the words are of prime importance.
So it goes like this:----
ONE CLUB - ALL THE CARS. 240Z 260Z 280ZX 300ZX 350Z.

Branding and image have never historically been given a lot of prominence in the Z Club, but I believe in the modern 21st century that "brands" and "image" have a vital role to play in all organizations both commercial and volontary as we strive to build the membership and the overall standing of the club

 

[STEVE BURNS]

Originally posted by pmac
You have got the drift of the idea Steve, but to complete the "idea" you need to have the list of models following the phrase. Ie 240Z, 260Z etc, just like my poster at the show.
Richard D has caught on too. Its designed to inform casual browsers what cars we cater for (and equally important what cars we dont cater for.) Images or outlines are a useful extra but to the uninformed browser on the site the words are of prime importance.
So it goes like this:----
ONE CLUB - ALL THE CARS. 240Z 260Z 280ZX 300ZX 350Z.

Branding and image have never historically been given a lot of prominence in the Z Club, but I believe in the modern 21st century that "brands" and "image" have a vital role to play in all organizations both commercial and volontary as we strive to build the membership and the overall standing of the club

agree 100% we have never been that good at branding and "corporate" image

would like to have the layout the same as "Your" poster but don't think it would fit at the top of the webpage
also untill a mock up of the banner is done (hint Russ) we won't know if it would look cluttered with all the words mabe a continual scroll of the words 240Z changing to 260Z to 280ZX to etc and then back to 240Z and so on

not sure how either would look

 

[pmac]

Well Steve, just keep getting on to the bloody nipper until he produces summat to look at. Or see if some of them other web wize whizz kids can do you a mock up. There are enough of them on the board with their fancy Avatars and clever pics!!!

 

[Albrecht]

33 years and still getting it wrong......

Originally posted by pmac
So it goes like this:----
ONE CLUB - ALL THE CARS. 240Z 260Z 280ZX 300ZX 350Z.

That's not ALL the cars though, is it?

What you REALLY need to say is "S30, S130, Z31, Z32, Z33".

Which really DOES include "All The Cars", and not just an arbitrary list of some of the models that the UK is familiar with.

Albrecht

 

[Markp.com]

Get me the photos and tell me which order they go in. Shouldn't take more than 5 mins

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

Re: 33 years and still getting it wrong......

Originally posted by Albrecht
That's not ALL the cars though, is it?

What you REALLY need to say is "S30, S130, Z31, Z32, Z33".

Which really DOES include "All The Cars", and not just an arbitrary list of some of the models that the UK is familiar with.

Albrecht

But that would be about as useful as having a web address such as S30.org!.......Meaningless to the casual surfer who may have an interest in the Z/ZX/Fairlady range!

 

[Albrecht]

S30.org is quite clearly about one series of Z car, and not any of the others. In that respect it would be quite apt for that organisation. Even they would end up with a LONG list if they wanted to have a banner / flyer listing all the model types that the "S30" series type covers.

Which is the problem with the banner idea as it relates to THIS club and its website. Try to make an accurate description of the models you would ideally cover - "All The Cars...." - and you end up with a huge list of models that does not quite trip off the tongue or capture your imagination on the page.

You can't leave any out if you want to be seen as 'all inclusive'. These days its no good just quoting the models that were officially imported to the market where the club / website is based. There are plenty of grey imports out there that need to be included and made welcome too.

Thats why the "S30, S130, Z31, Z32, Z33" is a better solution. It doesn't leave anything out. If you think it might be too confusing for the casual browser, then I would say that THEY are the people that you need to educate. I see no long-term gain in bowing down to the lowest common denominator. EVERYBODY should use the series-type descriptions when generalising about Z cars. "240z" and "260Z" leave out a whole load of other S30-series models, and not all S130-series cars are ZX's - etc etc.

I think its clear that a catch-all banner, to capture and expand on that "All The Cars" quote, actually needs some concentrated thought. Get it right and it will be timeless. Get it wrong and it will be wrong for another 33 years.

Albrecht.

 

[Russ]

I think you could get too anal about it though...

I'm up for the slogan and new banner.

If your gonna do it Mark it needs to be a 264x105 gif and I don't need to tell you that it can't be huge either

Unless we do my current download saving trick where you do 10 revisions of the logo, one with each car and I script it to load a random pic.

Your call...

Anyway I like the ideas and maybe someone should become unofficial marketing guy??

 

[Mr.F]

In terms of search engine success, the terms 240Z, 260Z etc. will be much more useful than the model designations. The concern for leaving out a few minority interest models (as far as the U.K. population is concerned) is by far outweighed by the pure functionality of the original concept from pmac. The only other viable solution would be to use "The Fairlady Z/ZX Series" which, one might hope, would be timeless. This still does not provide the same search engine keyword function.

In terms of new arrivals to the site, it would be instructive to learn who used search engines and what keywords they tried....?

If someone were prepared to monitor it, a site counter with accessible statistics would provide the information about what is working.

 

[john-boy]

I too, think this is a great idea ... and I agree Russ/Mike, let's not get too anal about it.

How about linking off from the banner to a nice page with *all* the models listed? Include a picture, some basic specs and dates produced. That sort of thing would be handy for potential members I should think, and somewhat interesting for casual browsers too. This would sidestep around the issue of including a complete bloodline in the banner, that isn't too small to be read.

To my mind, the majority of UK & European users are going to search on 240Z,260Z,280ZX, 300ZX and 350Z. Any other terms are going to be supplemental to this IMO.

CheerZ,
JB.

 

[Russ]

I like the link idea which brings a very pressing point...


We don't have a details on cars and tech pages AT ALL.


Every car club in the world has pages on the cars, the specs, the options, the years, all the goodies and differences between the years etc!

We are somewhat lacking....

I think I can think of someone who seems to be quite interested in details who might be ideal for this task...

 

[Markp.com]

Russ... I can do it several ways... a little flash app that loads each image randomly then fades it out and loads the next...

One large gif (will be over 100kb easily) and will look quite shitty.

Or the way you suggested, using a script that randomly loads each JPG.

That way each image will be below 15kb (standard banner weight)

And thats about it

We do need some technical info on here too... maybe with some nice under the bonnet photos, as not many car sites have decent photos of how to make repairs on your car!

 

[STEVE BURNS]

Originally posted by Markp.com
Get me the photos and tell me which order they go in. Shouldn't take more than 5 mins

markp & Russ

the graffic I'm talking about is the one that was on the bottom of the old mags and can be seen in the Shop Section of the website
they are on pabes 2&3 of the section

it would need a line drawing of the 350Z added to the strip but havn't found one yet

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

I agree "All the cars" should relate to those sold in the UK market, which is where we draw our membership from.
JDM specific models and other markets aren't the priority in a UK Club.
The specific model designations will be meaningless to the uninitiated.
JEZ

 

[Gio]

Markp makes a good point about image file sizes. FFS keep 'em small as otherwise loading pages is like wading through glue. (Yes I know I've got satellite broadband but think of the zillions of people who still just have POTS modems.)

On S30 etc, I have to say I got confused with the cunning Count von Goetz. I thought I was nitpicky but this beats me.

Just my own, inexperienced opinion, doesn't Z/ZX cover it?

To me that means 240Z to 350Z inclusive.

Some brief research http://zhome.com/History/FairladyName.html would seem to say that the first Z was the Fairlady Z / 240Z - and then we have the line of cars ending up at the pinnacle of the Z32 300ZX Twin Turbo (oh alright then, and carrying on with the 350Z short4rse ).

And we should be courteous to have a link to earlier Fairladies - after all if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have the Z/ZXs now.

http://www.datsun.org/fairlady/intro.htm

Personally (yes I am biased) I have no problem with JDM models or US or any other market. My Z happens to match a UK model but there are probably now more JDM Z32s in the UK than UK ones: NA, SWB hard top etc and, as far as we can tell, a lot of non-UK Z31s and previous.

Let 'em all in - the more the merrier, especially if they pay the sub !

Cheers - Gio

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

Hi,
When I said JDM models, I meant those specific to that market only, such as, for example in the Z31 range you have the 200Z,ZR ZG and 300ZR models, which don't really need a mention.
Most 300ZX TT models now seem to be imports, but as they're all called 300ZXs then they're already covered by the term "300ZX" and don't need a special mention.
Cheerz,
JEZ

 

[Gio]

OK Jez, understood

aaaaand to be really really nitpicky, mine isn't a "300ZX" - it's a Fairlady Z - but then it's covered by the "Z" so that's alright

 

[Albrecht]

Maybe the best way to do this is to connect the "S30, S130, Z31, Z32, Z33" series type names to those outline drawings that were mentioned.

My point being that not enough people understand what the series types are and what they cover. If you can link them to basic body shapes then it will be informative, educational and - ultimately - correct.

How many times do you read articles that start with the line "The 240Z debuted in October 1969" etc? That's wrong isn't it.

The "240Z" ( actually, it was one metallic blue HLS30-U model destined for the USA market ) was just ONE model of S30 that debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1969.

Surely its fine for the Club / Website to be biased towards the models that were specific to the UK market, and the "240Z / 260Z / 280ZX...." etc etc is fine to use as long as you make it clear SOMEWHERE how the Factory delineates the Series types. To leave this out completely is, to my mind, a BIG mistake. Especially as Nissan in Japan use the Series type appellations so much.

Of course "Z / ZX" covers just about everything - so that can also be used. However, after 33-odd years wouldn't it be worth linking the Series shapes / outlines with their proper names in at least ONE place on the Z club website?

If the biggest club in the UK can't be a source of education / correct information, then who can? It's certainly not going to come from the English-language press, is it?

Albrecht
( where's the 'trying to be constructive' Smiley when you need it? ).