Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (Full Version)

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_gail -> Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (4/30/2003 15:52:53)

I' ve always believed it' s important for a website to have a consistent look/layout throughout, including the navigational structure. In other words, as you go from page to page, the header and sidebar areas look about the same graphically; have pretty much the same or related colors; links are in the same place, etc.

I' m in the very early stages of designing a small website for a fledging model and I sorta want to break the rules.

I want a visitor to her site to feel like they are gliding through a photo gallery, so each page will look quite different. There will be some consistency, however: each page will contain photos of the same individual. When I receive the rest of the photos, there will be a different one, or a combination of several, on each page. Other consistent items from page to page will be, width of the main graphic or table, colors and font styles. Placement of links in the footer area will be the same, but not necessarily in the header area.

Here' s what I' ve done so far: http://alexandrablakely.com/

Any thoughts or suggestions?

thanks, gail

ps how GREAT it is to work with professionally done photos!



Gil -> RE: Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (4/30/2003 16:20:05)

quote:

I sorta want to break the rules.


LOL - What ' rules' ? Go for it gail - I think you' ve got a good idea for it.

Is there more than the one page? I looked for some links - are they hiden? or is that it so far?



_gail -> RE: Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (4/30/2003 16:27:15)

Oh, I forgot Gil. Rules are for web developers, there are none for web designers.[:D][:p][;)]

No, there are several pages and all the links are working, though a few have the same placeholder until I get more content. But I' m glad you brought this up.

The links on the home page are at the bottom, maybe the color for them is too dark against the dark background color. But another issue is whether the image is too big so not everyone notices them at the bottom of it.

Can anyone see/find the links on the home page?

gail



Mike54 -> RE: Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (4/30/2003 16:31:21)

Let your creativity run _gail. You said it was a small website set it up the way you envision it and sit back to study it. If you like AND the client likes it [image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/micons/m6.gif[/image].



johnanthonygroup -> RE: Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (5/1/2003 17:07:14)

Gail,

As the son of photographers, I love your site http://alexandrablakely.com/.

It is amazing to me how many web designers miss the obvious and underplay the message. Your site needs no words; it is elegant and to the point.

You might find the next two sites interesting: www.holowitz.com and www.steve-sherman.com (my parents and a friend).

I' d also like to learn more about your technique for the home page. Did you use photoshop and how do you come up with the ideas?



Gil -> RE: Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (5/1/2003 17:24:48)

quote:

The links on the home page are at the bottom, maybe the color for them is too dark against the dark background color. But another issue is whether the image is too big so not everyone notices them at the bottom of it.


I went back and still can' t see any links - I moved the mouse around and found them, but would never have known they were there...

I don' t think the image is too large - taking into account the content of the site I think it' s fine.

Good job!!



_gail -> RE: Philosophical question: Consistent look and feel of a website (5/1/2003 18:46:32)

Thanks, Gil. Even though I bolded the links since first receiving your input, I obviously need to work on them more.

quote:

I' d also like to learn more about your technique for the home page. Did you use photoshop and how do you come up with the ideas?


Tony,

Thank you for your kind words. I believe I emailed you a while back after taking a look at the photography sites of your parents and friend. As I mentioned, they are just lovely!

As to the idea for the home page, the photos themselves inspired me. They are professionally done and at 200 dpi appear huge on my monitor when fully opened. Therefore upon my first look, it was only possible to see a portion of each image at a time. I saw close-up the lovely features of the young lady, who I know personally and never consciously noticed them before. I felt her gift of beauty spoke for itself, and that everything else should get out of the way.

The background facial image is taken from a full-length photo. I believed it should be understated and that by not showing the entire face, the overall affect was enhanced.

The desire to understate prompted me to use two shades of brown for the text (I originally used burgundy, nice but not right). That color selection led to my decision to apply a sepia tone to the background image. I then reduced it’s opacity by 80%.

I deleted the right-hand portion of the background of the foreground image by selecting it, using a feather of two pixels. I then applied a drop shadow. Adding a strip of black to the left side of the photo allowed me to shift the bottom portion of the X outside the box.

I then moved the background layer around until I felt it had a perfect fit, so to speak, with the foreground layer, with facial curves complementing the full-length figure.

I' m very lucky; I have a beautiful subject and professionally done photos. And I' m working with a medium in a field I love...photography.

When working, I don' t usually ponder why I do something. Your questions prompted a meaningful exercise in creative thinking. Thanks for asking!

gail


[edit] ooops, forgot to answer. Yes, I use Photoshop. [/edit]



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