APFS: Any ideas for a comeback

Hi

Looking at the archived version of APFS I wonder if anyone has any plans to create a similar website?

I don't know but FTV World Forum is similar.

They don't seem to have a mock section.

Rob tried it with TV Live Presents. It lasted about four months.

Tried and failed. Won't be returning.

Ah well. Thanks for letting me know

I am extremely proud of APFS and rather chuffed that people still remember it! I actually considered bringing the site back to life a few years ago but due to commitments in my personal and work life, it just wasn't practical. It was set up at a time when I was single, wasn't in work and had quite a considerable amount of spare time on my hands. APFS was inspired by Brad Jones' Java TV - which I believe was the site that introduced mock TV presentation to the world. It wasn't necessarily the graphics themselves that impressed me (though they were rather good), but the creativity behind it all. Rewriting TV history and/or creating an alternative universe where long-defunct companies were still broadcasting was a mind-blowing concept to an impressionable TV presentation fan in the early days of the worldwide web.

Would APFS work now though?

What I liked about APFS was that you could be a) very young (my first galleries were submitted when I was 12) and/or b) have no major graphic design software, yet still submit a gallery and indeed it would still be received warmly on the forum. My first galleries were made on Microsoft Paint in the absence of anything else, and, of course, look hilariously terrible :p I then moved up to a very early, Freeware version of Paint Shop Pro I found on an old PC Format disc and truth be told they then get worse for a bit as I pile on a ton of filters and special effects which cause some rather eye-bleeding images. But always were there positives and helpful advice to be found, I don't ever remember any "What the hell is this?! It sucks" posts on the forum for anyone's contributions, and one such on the Guestbook calling one of my MS Paint creations "childish doodles" was immediately followed by someone replying that, given I was a child myself at the time, calling said galleries "childish" was a bit silly.

It meant that I wasn't put off by any negativity, kept on improving both software and skills and I'm still quite proud of my last couple of galleries in about 2005, particularly my ATV 1982-1999 one which was done on the latest version of PSP then-available. It would still require a remake if I redid them today, one because they're in 320x240 resolution which on today's screens is tiny (not on the old 800x600 screens circa 2001!) and also because my dark monitor meant lots of compositing artefacts are much more noticeable than I assumed at the time. Was a great website and community, although as Mark McM says, perhaps rendered obsolete in these days of Youtube and blogs where anyone can upload and post their images.

I still wonder to this day whether the Thames Television logo introduced in real life in 2001 was inspired by my fake 1960s one uploaded to APFS about six months earlier, there's a surprising amount of similarities! Even got mentioned on this forum at the time...

Blimey, I was 15 when my first gallery was submitted. I'm glad to say my mocking skills have improved somewhat...

Billy, I remember that gallery very well. Viewing your design side-by-side with the Thames redesign in 2001, the likeness was uncanny! To my eyes it looked like a graphic designer somewhere had been considerably influenced by your original concept.

APFS was fortunate to have received many creative submissions during its time online.. Ashley Barrett, Mark Boulton, Dan Evans, Nigel Stapley, Ed Hammond, Chris Oakley and Andy O'Brien are some names that immediately spring to mind. Yes, there were many, many others who provided some fantastic submissions - the contributions section had over 250 galleries on display by the time APFS closed its doors.

I archived nearly all of my galleries in higher resolutions - just incase the site did make a re-appearance. Here's a couple of blasts from the past. If I may indulge...

http://www.markmcm.co.uk/red.jpg

http://www.markmcm.co.uk/atv.jpg

Ohh. You've got to bring them back!. Put them on the Gallery. Any one else agree?