The Revamp... at last!

[sarab]

Hi all,

Well, that didn't take long, did it?

SO many things got in the way that Jennifer and I only just managed to finalise an agreed new format for her site's pages at tea-time today.

So, hot off the press (or whatever), please check out:

www.algarve-beach-life.com/test-page.html
This is the cleaned-up, got-rid-of-the-gradients version. But we still can't decide about the nav buttons. So we've included 3 versions, to get some feedback about those too.

The previous (i.e. current) page design is at:
http://www.algarve-beach-life.com

Thanks for any comments, and we'll remember you all in our mantras, next time we fire up a joss stick!

SaraB

[diciccod]

i have a question on the "www.cosmicneon.com" site.
So i highlight over the page to see what are images and what are not, which is what i think most of you do? And it seems that barely anything on the page are images. For example, basically the whole header including the logo and that sort of rift in space in the top center. I see the images are buttons but i am wondering how it was accomplished that the Cosmicneon logo is not an image i can highlight and the borders of the page.

Also a thought i had about the beach page, maybe you could get an actual picture of some nice sand on a beach, and then bevel in the text you have there now, so it looks like it was drawn in the sand but a little darker.

[sarab]

I suggest you read more about designing sites and start allover again.

Thanks for that ironhacker. You're not in the Diplomatic Service by any chance?
My friend and I are absolute newbies and freely admit it. Most people offer constructive advice, so I suppose I'm grateful for that.

Sara

And thanks again to ceetee, for the useful URL. Jen and I will take a good look at that one when we get a moment (we're rehashing the layout again tonight).

Good tip diciccod, but we wouldn't know how to do that yet.

[ironhacker]

ooh..well I say what I feel, I think it's better to tell someone that his website is not good - this will make him study more and develop his skills...not say to all people that their site is nice, or that i like it for instance, this will influence on them and they'll think they know everything and they certainly won't expand their skills. Do as you want to do, I am just saying what I think. Good luck on designing your site

[Maverick]

What do people think? Short-term fix using customised templates, or lose subscribers while sorting out everything 'long-hand'?

If you are in it for the long run and plan on keeping this site alive for a long period of time, I would suggest you do both.

Meaning, for now, so you don't lose subscribers, transfer all your content to the template design, which may not be very orignal, but like you said, at least it is functional and easy to maintain. Then you can design your own site in your free time, perfecting it until it is exactly how you want, before going live.

[sarab]

Thanks for that, mav26...

I think Jennifer had decided pretty much along those lines, 'cos she was trying to customise templates to 'integrate' with the feel of her site when I went round last night.

Will post for feedback when she's done.

ooh..well I say what I feel, I think it's better to tell someone that his website is not good

Agreed, ironhacker. I wasn't complaining; more tongue in cheek (mainly where I burned it on that hot pizza last night).

Thanks all for the input.

Sara

[sarab]

... and by the way, is it my PC, or are the images not coming through on the forum pages today (11.15 London GMT)?

[waynarky]

lol. i was just about to suggest that you take a pic of real sand etc. when i saw diccicod wuz ahead of me. maybe not a bad idea since 2 of us thought of it?

[sarab]

take a pic of real sand ... maybe not a bad idea since 2 of us thought of it?

You may well be right, waynarky. Trouble is, we'd have to draw the site logo right into the sand, since neither of us has the nous to get that effect over a photo using graphics progs. It's noted down in the Things To Consider jotter, though.

However (roll of trumpets)...
We've both skived off work for the afternoon and lashed together the latest version of the page layout. And we're very proud to relate that we did it in 1stPage2000, instead of the usual WYSIWYG thingie Jen uses. Good thing was, when we used the validation checker, there wasn't much to put right, so we were understandably pleased.

The point of which is to relate that the latest version of a page layout can be seen at:

http://www.algarve-beach-life.com/new-style.html

Please take a look and compare it with the current home page. We both feel that it's 'cleaner' and should load faster because we used text instead of button images for the navigation. (Although we didn't scrunch down that big logo image at the top, but we will when it's finalised).

Are we moving in the right direction with this? I know this must be like having your teeth pulled (for you real designers out there) but we want to know if we're going forwards or backwards in our efforts on this one.

Also, Jen customised one of her host's template things for her Subscribe form page, just to make sure it was working, and so as not to lose any e-zine readers. She says it's as close as she can get to the look and feel of the current site page layouts, and at least the damned thing's working. It's at:

http://www.algarve-beach-life.com/al...ch-lovers.html

I suppose from the point of view of those who hated the blue gradient buttons, it at least does without them.

Thanks, as usual, for any comments, suggestions, crits and ideas....

Sara

[tekp]

Hmm I really think you should get a background colour, maybe a light brown or something, and I think you could easily get away with having the links on the left hand side as text and not images. This would cut down loading times and it would make them look a lot neater. Maybe the faveourite beaches and subscribe buttons could still be images at the bottom of the list. Also, I have attached a new banner image for you, it might give you some inspiration I realise you may have already redesigned but I'm in a good deed mood.

PS. Also have the image on the main text large and have the page header aligned to the left.

[sarab]

Thanks for the advice, blackdragonhide:

I don't want to sound thick (I know - too late!) but what do you mean by background colour? Isn't what's there a colour (sand)?

The left navbar links are being redone by Jennifer as I write, but as 0.5k PNG images, rather than text. (Should still load a lot faster than it used to at 4k per button image?). Jen was tempted to go for text only nav. but worried about the font to choose. Wouldn't it look different on various platforms, depending on what fonts were present? (I have to ask, as we don't know).

Also have the image on the main text large and have the page header aligned to the left.

Not sure what you mean by this (I told you I was feeling thick...) Which image? The logo? And why would you favour the header on the left? It was left-aligned in an earlier effort, but Jen didn't think it looked good.

And many thanks for the banner. I'll show it to Jennifer, who has just finished redoing her own effort. What program do you use, if you don't mind mentioning it?

Sara