HLC part 2 (Full Version)

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labs123 -> HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 6:17:04)

Hi after having my work ripped to bits and things,, i have taken on and made all the changes that everyone suggested.

I have gone and done other stuff too which normally means that ppl will either like it or in my case normally not. I have learnt one valuable lesson from outfront that not everything has to flash or move and am resisting the temptation to do anything with the title which i think is needed, maybe a flyin title because i need to put our slogan "skills for life" somewhere

the link is here but the original is still loaded (only attempted the homepage so far)

http://www.healthcarelearningcentre.co.uk/home-test.htm

thanks [:D]



jaybee -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 9:31:33)

Now that is so much better!

quote:

do anything with the title which i think is needed


Yes, you're right, it needs something done with the title to make the name of the site more obvious. Increase the text size. Turn it into a H1?

quote:

maybe a flyin title


NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
There is plenty to look at on there already. Do not give in to the temptation to add scrolly things and flashy bits.



[image]local://upfiles/9075/BADF8D5D266A4809BF956C9FE01A26D6.gif[/image]



Mike54 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 9:38:36)

quote:

Do not give in to the temptation to add scrolly things and flashy bits.

AMEN!



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 10:10:43)

Thanks Jaybee im gonna go work on that straight away. It looks so much better and I know this sounds weird but now i see the difference its like ohhhhhhhhhh thats what they were saying like the penny has finally dropped.


Its come along way from the days of a 10 minute loading time all thanks to outfront. A big up to all the outfront community!!!!!



jaybee -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 10:29:26)

[:D]

Something I just noticed. All the content is defined as an H1 with a font size of 2.

Make it normal <p>aragraphs. All H1s might cause probs with the search engines.

I would also make the first bit of content an
<h1>Welcome to the Healthcare Learning Centre website</h1> and set it to maybe a font size 3

This will make it stand out, give the SEs a handle and move your text down a bit more. It looks a bit squished up to the top at the moment.



golfer -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 14:26:20)

Hi Labs. Two threads for one discussion. Now that is really something. Can't wait for part three....

Thanks for responding to my comments in part one.

Jaybee has these good ideas and the heading looks good on your site. Gets away from that banner colour. If you are forced by 'the powers that be' to use that colour in the title it would be wise to use it VERY sparingly

Ian



Nicole -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 15:18:26)

Hi Labs,

That looks so much better now...soon we'll have it looking just the way WE want! lol.

Jaybee's idea of the heading being above the pictures is good, i tend to put the title inside the banner with any slogan as well though. Not sure what you prefer, but it'd be difficult to put a title inside that banner as it is at the moment though, as the colours are either very light or very dark. If you were to do it that way you'd probably have to fade the photos or just rearrange them so the lighter ones or the darker ones were together to write the title and slogan over.

Did you notive that the background picture (the arrow) repeats a bit depending on the screen resolution?

Anyway, it's looking much better now.

Congrats

Nicole



jaybee -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/4/2005 18:06:25)

Nicole, the problem with putting text in this banner is twofold,

First, as you mentioned, there are light and dark areas which mean you either fade the graphic or go for really bright text.

Second. It's a busy banner and won't look too good with more in it. Fading it takes away the impact of shiny happy people liking to learn.



Donkey -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/6/2005 7:20:19)

A great improvement.
Personally I don't like banners I think they are an over used design cliche. However yours works fine as it is, I agree with Jaybee about not putting text in it.

Just a few points to consider;
1) Why put the uri on the page? Surely there is no point because if they didn't know it already the visitor wouldn't be there and it will be visible in the browser address bar anyway.
2) You have an empty cell between the cell containing the navigation and the main content cell. IMHO it would look neater to delete the empty cell and increase the LHS padding (slightly) to the main content cell.
3) The background image makes some of the text difficult to read, perhaps you could lighten the background image slightly.

In general though it looks fine to me.




labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 6:57:12)

quote:


1) Why put the uri on the page? Surely there is no point because if they didn't know it already the visitor wouldn't be there and it will be visible in the browser address bar anyway.
2) You have an empty cell between the cell containing the navigation and the main content cell. IMHO it would look neater to delete the empty cell and increase the LHS padding (slightly) to the main content cell.
3) The background image makes some of the text difficult to read, perhaps you could lighten the background image slightly.


All done,,, Just loaded the changes now. I have shown my boss and told him that we dont need the orangey colour and he seems ok about it!!!!!!

anything anyone want to add before I change the whole site[:)]
anything I have missed????



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 8:28:05)

Hi I have just loaded the page and noticed that there is a space between the title and the banner,, it only happens when i change the heading to h1 but is ok if i dont use the style sheet.

any idea whats going on????



d a v e -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 8:46:43)

keep it as h1 then asssign an id (because there's only going to be one instance of it per page) to it e.g. 

#headerTitle {
    font : 24pt Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
    color : #000000;
    margin: 2px;
    text-align: left;
}
i chose 2px for the margin but adjust to taste! alternatively use a pair of values, one for top and bottom and one pair for left and right like
margin: 2px 0px (2px top&bottom, 0px left and right)

then apply the headerTitle style (class) to the h1 so you have 
<h1 id="headerTitle"> HEALTHCARE LEARNING CENTRE</h1>
(don't need the align left as it's in the style sheet, nor the bold tag as headings are bold by default...)

also you have some errors in the stylesheet
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?profile=css2&warning=2&uri=http%3A//www.healthcarelearningcentre.co.uk/home-test.htm


should be
font-weight:bold
or font-size:16pt

table-border-color-light or dark don't exist in css. just border and colour, style, width





labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 10:10:59)

quote:

table-border-color-light or dark don't exist in css. just border and colour, style, width


thanks for that dave, i got that from a template in FP, i went and checked all the css errors and now I have a css symbol,, wooooohooooooooooo!!!

i went and did the html validation check aswell but keeps telling me it doesnt like to use cell properties background

http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=www.healthcarelearningcentre.co.uk%2Fhome-test.htm

but i used frontpage cell properties to do this was that wrong?????




d a v e -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 10:46:35)

use a css class (e.g. main) and write the background properties in there like 
background-image: url(../images/spam.gif);


btw did i recommend using topstlye lite as a css editor?
http://www.bradsoft.com/download/index.asp



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 11:19:53)

quote:

use a css class (e.g. main) and write the background properties in there like

View Code
background-image: url(../images/spam.gif);


omg your going to think im lying but i just figured out how to do it and was running back to the post to tell everyone!!!! will have to load it tomorrow cause i dont work past 5 or weekends!!!

Thanks for all your help dave,, [;)]



d a v e -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 11:29:55)

glad you worked it out! it's better when you suss it out yourself!

:)



golfer -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 11:41:13)

Hi Labs

Page looks good to me. Maybe the text needs a liitle breathing space and not go right up to the border.

Looking forward to seeing the whole site.

Ian



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 12:01:14)

quote:

glad you worked it out! it's better when you suss it out yourself!


Hiya,,, I just had my site checked for html validation and woooohhhhhhhhhhhh again,,, it works!!! I cant believe it on a high this stuff is really addictive,,,



Nicole -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/7/2005 15:31:32)

Hi Labs,

quote:

Hiya,,, I just had my site checked for html validation and woooohhhhhhhhhhhh again,,, it works!!! I cant believe it on a high this stuff is really addictive,,,


I'm not sure about addictive, but it's certainly a good feeling to know how hard you've worked at making a site look good and have it validate! Kind of like a what's the point of doing something if you're not going to do it properly.

Anyway, congrats!

Nicole



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/8/2005 9:39:53)

Hi Everyone

Just want to say a big thank you for all your help,, I finally have the site looking a bit better than before!! I really appreciate all the comments made. Im happy with it now and will start working on the rest of the pages. If anyone notices anything wrong just let me know I've been playing with it a bit.

When I get the site complete will let you know. Im going to keep it the same simple but effective.

Once again I couldn't have done it without Outfront and this forum!!!!!

Cheers ppl



golfer -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/8/2005 9:47:31)

Stay in touch labs. I will be asking for your help in the next few weeks when my next site comes up for a forum review. Am a real beginner myself and the people here are knowledgeable, kind and fun. I'm saying that so that they will be gentle with me.

Ian



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/8/2005 10:00:22)

quote:

Stay in touch labs. I will be asking for your help in the next few weeks when my next site comes up for a forum review.


Hi golfer I will stay in touch. Im a beginner too soo I will give you as much advice as I can. Im sure everyone will help you out just like they helped me [:D]



jaybee -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/8/2005 11:57:12)

Great. The home page now looks clean, professional, loads fast and has what your visitors want...... information.

If you now compare it with what you had, which is still on your official opening page, the improvement is enormous!

Well done.



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/9/2005 5:07:48)

quote:

If you now compare it with what you had, which is still on your official opening page, the improvement is enormous!

Well done.


Thanks Jaybee thats quite a compliment!!!!

Coudnt have done it without ya!!!!!! [;)]



labs123 -> RE: HLC part 2 (2/10/2005 9:29:56)

"Oh no shes back again" is what your all thinking but I have come across another design issue!!!

OK here goes if you look at my old site (be careful colour might hurt) each link for example (About US) it leads to about 3 different pages. Now do I keep the grey box and have it in the .main class where the sand logo is or do I have the links in <tr> above. I dont know what to do was leaning towards putting a link in the row above the main content not actually in the box.

Just wanted everyones opinion on that

Cheers!!!!



labs123 -> 1 or 2 (2/10/2005 12:47:44)

oops sorry forgot put links in

www.healthcarelearningcentre.co.uk/about1.htm

www.healthcarelearningcentre.co.uk/about2.htm

ok

1? 2? or none?



d a v e -> RE: 1 or 2 (2/10/2005 15:16:12)

1.

2 is too tall -



anderskorte -> RE: 1 or 2 (2/20/2005 12:57:19)

Yes, no. 1 is better, but be sure to put the "Smaller Font" and "Larger Font" links to the same place in both home and about pages. I'm just wondering if you even need them... they can easily get confused with the navigation. At least I can increase/decrease text size on my browser easily by hitting CTRL + and CTRL -, so probably they aren't needed.

In about1.htm they are located below the navigation. It's probably not the best place for them, since they aren't part of the navigation.

Hmm.

But what an improvement from the old site that all is!

anders



labs123 -> RE: 1 or 2 (2/21/2005 12:34:18)

Hi everyone sorry i didn't reply sooner been holidaying [:D]

The main reason i need the font to go bigger is that i want the site to be more accessible to users. As its an educational/health website there are new laws come into the force in the uk called SENDA - Special Education needs and Disability Act,

I have to make the site more user friendly and SHOW THAT!!!!
Its challenging but Im enjoying it and learning loads of new stuff as I go along.[:)]

Need to make Large Text / Small Text stand out [8|]



golfer -> RE: 1 or 2 (2/24/2005 7:59:44)

Hi Labs. Just returned from holidays myself. How's it going?



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