Another opinion please (Full Version)

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vision2000 -> Another opinion please (9/14/2003 22:56:33)

Hi,

Help me to choose between these different designs:

http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles/index7.shtml (I am leaning towards this one)
http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles/index6.shtml
http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles/index5.shtml
http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles/index.shtml

Any other comments appreciated

Thanks,
Herman



Mike54 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 6:13:07)

Given the 4 choices I would have to agree with you Herman. "index" and "index5" push the menu down. I prefer to have it where I can get to it. It's just a personal thing[;)]. As for "index6" vs. "index7" I prefer the menu text style in "index7". I'm not sure about the border around the menu in "index7" though and, again a personal preference, would probably use the text style from "index7" with the layout from "index6".

MHOO



Donkey -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 7:16:42)

My vote is for index7. I like the border around the navigation; although there's too much white space at the bottom so I assume that you will be adding more links.

Also I would have the links change colour when active.



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 8:18:47)

Thanks for the valuable feedback - now what's the best way to have the nav text change colors, since I am using an image for the nav bar - I tried hotspots but this doesn't allow change of text colors.

Thanks,
Herman



mar0364 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 11:57:45)

I'd go with 7 also. Like to see your sight when it's done. I grew up in Riverdale Maryland. So I know the state well. I may be showing my age here but does Waldorf still have a drive-in theater "301 drive-in"?



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 12:15:06)

http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles/index7.shtml is my favorite.



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 12:32:40)

Thanks for the feedback - I am going with No 7.

quote:

mar0364


Will do - not familar with Waldorf drive-in even though I am just down the road in Bowie, MD.

Here's a great design tip I discovered very recently for creating the nav bar as an image:

Create the nav bar image in your graphics software (in my case FW)
Create a table on your site with the same dimensions as the image
Create a new CSS style using the image as the background and insert it into the table.

Viola, you now have your nav bar on the site (set as a bkgd) in which you can now create your CSS nav links, or image rollovers.

I hope this helps all you designers who don't know this GREAT tip YET.

Best Wishes,
Herman



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 12:39:22)

www.mrbobdouglas.com/menu_files.zip

Mess around with that.



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 13:14:35)

Bobby,

Thanks for taking the time to create those files, however I think it's still easier to implement the technique I wrote about in my last post.

I'm concerned about having fast loading pages that are SE friendly.

I would think that the CSS method would be better to achieve this (but them I could be wrong )



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 14:49:32)

Oops, I spoke too soon....

quote:

Create the nav bar image in your graphics software (in my case FW)
Create a table on your site with the same dimensions as the image
Create a new CSS style using the image as the background and insert it into the table.

Viola, you now have your nav bar on the site (set as a bkgd) in which you can now create your CSS nav links, or image rollovers.


BUT when I upoaded (background image/CSS/webpage), nav bar didn't show up.
It DOES show in preview mode (DW)

What could I be missing? - is the path incorrect perhaps?

http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles/index8.shtml - currently with blank nav bar

Thanks,
Herman
PS Should this be question be moved to CSS channel?



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 15:50:36)

DO NOT use the entire image as one. Takes too long to load. Thats why I broke it down for you.

All you need to do is create a "mouseover" effect for the images you want links for. That way you save a hell of a lot of time.



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 16:57:21)

Clarification please..

Do I need to create a table on my web page with the same dimensions as the whole image, then just insert all images into it?

Do I also insert the html file into the images folder, outside of it or not at all then upload everything?

FYI I am not familiar with slicing (I can slice but so far did not have much success with positioning the slices on the web page).

Thanks,
Herman



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 18:09:10)

quote:

Do I need to create a table on my web page with the same dimensions as the whole image, then just insert all images into it?

- No. But it is best to do so. If you notice I included the HTML code to display the images.

It does not matter at all where you put the files(the html and images).

Hope that explanation helps.



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 21:40:20)

Yes, thanks that helped, however how to I create the image rollovers for the nav text?

From what I have understood so far, an exact same images must be created (with a different color perhaps) then sliced in the same way and inserted in the same folder.

Do you have a tutorial handy on how to do this?

Thank you again,
Herman



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Another opinion please (9/15/2003 23:51:54)

For Adobe Photoshop 7.0:

Open the .PSD file I linked you to earlier.

Select the magic wand tool. It looks like a wand with some paint on the top left. It is located on the toolbar.

Click on the white area of the image. Then hold down the shift key, and click on the red outer border.

Next goto the Select tab on the top, and select 'Inverse'.

This should select the text only now.

All you have to do now is select the color you want to use, and then select the 'Paint Brush' tool and paint in the color.

By any chance, do you remember what font you were using on the menu?



Nancy -> RE: Another opinion please (9/16/2003 0:01:25)

You mention you are using Dreamweaver, so this following instructions refer to that program.

In DW 4 and above, you can build a navigation bar quite easily. Just have all your images (two images for one rollover) in a folder in your defined site, and then Insert>Interactive>Navigation Bar. DW will do all the scripting for you.

Another method is using CSS. If you check out the tutorials at Project Seven, they have a nice one on using CSS for navigation that appear to be rollovers.

http://www.projectseven.com/tutorials/css_menus/list_01/index.htm

Here's another tutorial on css rollovers

http://www.pixy.cz/blogg/clanky/cssnopreloadrollovers/

Nancy



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/16/2003 0:15:38)

Thanks a lot folks - heck I should have dropped back to the forum before..

I just spent several long hours trying to figure it out with DW...however I did end up with 23 image files in one folder (including spacer gifs etc from slicing up the nav bar text) and 23 in another folder (which includes the rollover files).

Well, I got the desired result (probably the long way to go about it)

http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles/

There must be a quicker way (I'll be checking your resources).

At least I now have a png file if I want to change colors.

Thanks for all your help.

Herman



Flex -> RE: Another opinion please (9/16/2003 4:19:00)

Herman:

I like the first as well. Is this site for you or someone else. If for someone else, I would recommend a true web address instead of a sub-address.

Flex



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/18/2003 22:13:20)

Please scan through the pages of http://www.ihost-websites.com/charles and let me know if anything looks unbalanced or could be improved.

All pages are competed except buyer's resources.

Check load times if you are on dial up (I only have cable).

Any comments appreciated.

Thank you,
Herman



Donkey -> RE: Another opinion please (9/20/2003 7:27:35)

It's looking good Herman.

Just one small thing, and I'm probably being a little picky here, the top header looks a little unbalanced at each end. It's only a small thing but I suggest you equalise the white space around the two grayscale images. A combination of making the red border area slightly greater in height and moving the images out slightly so that the white space above below and outside the images looked more equal would IMHO give more balance, but this is just my personal view, others may disagree.



vision2000 -> RE: Another opinion please (9/20/2003 8:15:34)

Thanks for being picky, and having a sharp eye for details - exactly why I needed another pair of eyes to critique.



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