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Microsoft MVP

 

Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts?

 
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All Forums >> Web Design >> Site Critiques >> Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts?
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Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/18/2001 20:40:00   
Trying to get a cleaner look and we will be sellig add space soon. Directive from the boss was to have 3 125 X 125 ads visible on screen when the page loads.

I'm stuck as to how to acomplish the navigation, have room for content and the ads. Trying to keep things looking the same in different resolutions too.

Current site is at www.kwpnfm.com
Work in progress at www.kwpnfm.com/testweb not everything is funtional or complete there yet, just working on the page layouts. Would love you thoughts on what I've done there so far and navigation suggestions.

Thanks folks!
Rich

abbeyvet

 

Posts: 5095
From: Kilkenny Ireland
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/19/2001 20:11:00   
I think it looks great!

The only thing I would suggest is moving the ads slightly to the right so that they line up under the contacts and information menu.

------------------
Katherine

InKK Design
LinKKs - Kilkenny's Online Magazine


-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Dogs have owners, cats have staff!"


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Swirl

 

Posts: 2708
From: Cincinnati, Ohio USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/19/2001 20:13:00   
Hi Rich

I like the new look too, but I agree with Katherine about moving the ads to the right of the page. For your navigation, have you considered using dropdown menus? Here's one I like...
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex1/dropmenuindex.htm

Swirl

------------------
Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness.


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/19/2001 13:10:00   
Times like these I wish I understood more about html. I've been playing with with the menu from dynamicdrive and can't get it all to line up right. I see how to change some things in the menu, but can't figure out how to change font size.

Is there much of a browser compatibility problem using this?

This is my dynamic menu test http://www.kwpnfm.com/testweb/topnavtest.htm

Thanks for the suggestions.

Rich

[This message has been edited by Richard Sterling (edited 03-19-2001).]


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/22/2001 20:36:00   
Hi, Rich -

The "new nav" works in IE & NN, but not at all in Opera. The drop down menus work fine in all, and look better IMHO. In Opera, the first drop down box is a bit lower than the rest, but that's a VERY minor thing, especially considering how few are using it compared to IE & NN.

http://www.rabmarketing.com/ecstations/cfdocs/shopping.cfm?station=kwpn -- I'm getting an error when clicking on the bottom banner ad.

How much control do you have over the looks of the shopping pages? Also, you have the old logo here and blue at the top... purple for the new logo. Can you use purple throughout? What colors are used for the station's advertising?

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/23/2001 14:47:00   
I seen that in opera too. I've got it under control on a new page in the root that will become "default".

RAB who controls the shopping page promised to put the new logo up 2 days ago! And now the page just doesn't function at all. They must be having problems.

All of the advertising with the logo off-site is black and white only. I'm thinking of going pretty drastic and make all text black and using standard colors for the hyperlinks.

Something I didn't realize earlier on is that the dropdowns created by jbots are "relative" (I think thats the term) so I have to do all of them over again. My top tav is now in the root to get that under contol http://www.kwpnfm.com/new.htm The big logo is just taking up space at the moment kinda like the sports and radios collage on the testweb. Still trying to decide what to place there.

Thanks for given it a look Linda!
Told ya I haven't left home 8^)

Rich


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 20:46:00   
You can leave as long as you always come back!

...a bit late with this, but another suggestion for changes. I'll send this one to your email.

Keep in mind what works for the "big" sites. Simple layout and design, plenty of info just a click or two (or three :/) away. www.cnet.com www.zdnet.com www.hitbox.com etc. I know you don't have nearly that much info, but I still think you'd be better off working more on some written content. If you have a hard time with this, recruit someone in the office or post pages here if you need extra help.

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 20:31:00   
LB all I can say is WOW!

It's amazing to me how a real web designer can look at a page, move things here and and come up with something completely different that looks very nice yet is very basic.

http://www.rubymarketing.com/test/test.htm

I like it a lot! Every time I tried to get the same information on the screen it seemed like there was no room for the real content. LB I hope you don't mind if I run with this concept. After seeing the purple though, I think I'll try and blue up the logo a bit again.

Linda, you are awesome!

Rich


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Andy from Spain

 

Posts: 922
From: Ipswich
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 20:55:00   
Hi Richard,

The layout Linda's come up with look really smart - you wouldn't go far wrong following up on that. She's done a couple of similar things for me in the past and both worked out superbly. Sometimes it takes someone to throw up an idea when things are getting stale.

Best of luck with it.

Cheers
Andy

------------------
Internet Business Solutions S.L. (Spain)
Dreamweaver Users Forum


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 23:53:00   
Thank you, guys. You're welcome, Rich. Grab the code and go for it. Keep in mind that you'll want the left and right columns empty (top aligned) with include pages. If you want black lines on the right, insert new columns to the left and right of that cell, change background color, width to 1px, and insert a 1px black gif.

You might want to have the purple (blue) cells be part of the main table so they'll stay the same width in smaller windows/res.

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 18:44:00   
I'm glad you posted the extra tips there. Ive never tried the 1X1 pixel trick before and was pulling my hair out.

http://www.kwpnfm.com/test/test.htm

Just a few of the links work so far. Got the bluer logo that I do like much better. The other colors I'm not so sure about yet. Even made my first attempt at the rounded tables.

Thanks again! Lots of work to do, but It's starting to get fun again. I'm off to download netscape.

Rich



(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 19:24:00   
What its up with Netscape? I've got Netscape communicator 4.7 and this page ain't working at all. Nothing lines up at all!

Gonna be a long weekend.

Rich


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 20:55:00   
LOL. No one ever said it would be easy.

....hmmm. I can't see what may be causing that. At first glance there doesn't seem to be anything much different than on my sample. The include for the ads has a table that's set at 10px wide, which isn't right. For that include, you don't really need a table. Just insert ad > enter > insert ad > etc. No need to align.

Maybe check the coding and see if something is out of place.

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 20:58:00   
I forgot to tell you... I love what you're doing with this!

---
Took another look. The cell with the nav include is set at 1 px wide. The middle cell (with the 100% table) is set for 100% wide. Uncheck that and leave it without a setting.

Maybe that'll fix it?

Linda

[This message has been edited by LB (edited 03-24-2001).]


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 22:38:00   
Thanks for given it a look again. I've tried everything in my limited abilities to fix it. I ran it through a validator program and there are numerous nesting errors, but for the life of me I can't figure out what to do.

My eyes are shot. Time for a Budwesier and bed. Maybe the fix will come to me in a dream. (it could happen)

Rich


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/24/2001 23:57:00   
Fixing those cells widths I mentioned should take care of the NN problem. (tested and it did)

Sometimes printing out the html and checking off beginning and ending tags is easier than sorting out what the validator is telling you. It's a good way to get familiar with the html.

btw - doesn't seem you'll have any problems filling it with interesting copy. You write better than I do.

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/25/2001 20:52:00   
Well I got it to work somewhat in netscape. It's at least functional at high resolution. The nav include gets jumbled with the main content includes at lower res. Must be a % thing somewhere. I'm surprised I never came across this problem in the design we are currently using. I must have just gotten lucky.

I guess I need to take an html class or something....but I got FP2000 to try and avoid that.

Any thoughts on the colors? The logo is back to more of our original color, but I'm not sure the colors in the tables and text are quite right.

Thanks again Linda. If I hear of anyone looking for a designer, I'll definately send them your way.

Rich


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/25/2001 17:03:00   
Well... now that you know the look you're going for, all that's left is to figure out how to make it work.

You still have some cell properties that are messing up NN, but even with that I can't seem to get the 3rd black line to stay at 1px instead of 2px in NN.

Another way to do black lines is to have a table with a black background, insert another table with cell spacing of 1, highlight the cells and change the cell colors to white.

The colors seem fine. Once you get to the point of having everything up and running, adding a hover effect to the nav include text links might be cool. (manually, not with the fp effect)

It's been fun, but I guess I'd better get back to work on my own sites.

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/25/2001 19:31:00   
Teach a guy to fish and .....

You have gone way above and beyond the call of duty on this one Linda.

Thanks again

Rich


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/25/2001 20:48:00   
You're very welcome, Rich. You've worked on this site for a long time and as we, uh, <cough> mentioned elsewhere, you've come a long way from when you first started with this. I will NOT say it sucked ...it didn't. Well, I don't think it did, but my memory may be failing.

Not only have you learned a lot on the way, there's been some really good discussions.

Don't forget the main aspect of fishing. When the fish look like genetic experiments gone wrong in NN and keep jumping out of the net, drink beer (young fishermen skip this), keep trying, bang head on rock (monitor, wall ...whatever's handy), repeat. After 10 straight hours you're allowed a break before starting again.

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
turboguy

 

Posts: 167
From: Beaver Falls PA USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/25/2001 23:38:00   
Hi Richard,

That is really looking sharp now.

If you don't mind one more small suggestion. Your hyperlinks that take a viewer off the site would be better set so they open a new window. That way when you get a viewer who arrives on your home page, notices the coolsavings ad, and clicks it, he can just close that window and be back in your site. You have a better chance of not loosing a visitor.


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
Richard Sterling

 

Posts: 314
From: Cincinatti Ohio West Point, Nebraska USS
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/26/2001 14:28:00   
Turboguy I'll be sure to do that before puting the redesigned site online.

Can anyone explain a little mystery to me?

http://www.kwpnfm.com/test/schedule.htm

This page as it is works in Netscape and IE but If I remove the cell toward the bottom of the page with the red text, or just remove the text from the cell, the whole thing falls apart. (get white space between navigation include and the black line to the right of it) Similar situation on other pages.

I've printed out the html for the two cells to compare, but I can't see what that cell holds to keep it all together.

And it gets even more confusing. The on air staff page was fine in both IE and NN so I copied it to the office and sales staff page and replace the air include with the office include, both of wich have the same properties. Office and sales staff page looks fine in NN but doesn't work in IE????

Thanks
Rich

[This message has been edited by Richard Sterling (edited 03-26-2001).]


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
LB

 

Posts: 5551
From: Montana USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Comlete makeover in the works. Your thoughts? - 3/27/2001 21:17:00   
I don't know why NN treats cells the way they do - I just keep it in mind. If you need to ensure the cell will stay open a certain width, add a 1px high transparent gif set for the width you want.

Sometimes when a page isn't working, just starting over with the page that is will fix it. ..or try another page that's working correctly. (the try, try again theory) If you can't get it to work, post that page in one of the forums and we'll see what might be up.

Linda

------------------
Ruby Marketing


(in reply to Richard Sterling)
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