Thoughts please

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Thoughts please

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All Forums >> Web Development >> Site Critiques >> Thoughts please

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jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	Thoughts please - 4/5/2005 5:33:40 OK, I've come up with a design and logo for a Subaru site I'm working on. Client loves the whole thing (that's a first!). Of course I now have the usual problem that it's all very well designing in PSP but then you have to translate to the web with its inherent download size problems. Ideas on the best/fastest way to get the background/cars done? Oh and any other comments whilst you're at it. Thumbnail Image Attachment (1) _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype?


labs123 Posts: 226 Joined: 7/1/2004 From: Staffordshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/5/2005 6:37:25 I love the design Jaybee. Good use of Yellow as thats the second colour for Subaru after the Blue. No Idea about translating it to the Web but love the whole thing. (in reply to jaybee)


Donkey Posts: 3929 Joined: 11/13/2001 From: Blackfield United Kingdom Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/5/2005 6:39:00 I like it. Very sophisticated look but then I like black backgrounds, reminds me of the old John Player Special F1 livery. I'm no expert as you know but I would make the body background black, then have a footer div with a small background image about 5px wide showing the black fading to grey and repeat that horizontaly, then nest inside that another div of the same height containing a squared off shot of the cars with the black fading to grey background and make sure it stays on top using z-index. You may have to tweak the relative positioning, and obviously use conditionals for IE. That way you would end up with a relatively small image of the cars which should load fairly quickly. _____________________________ I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't. Samuel Clemens (in reply to jaybee)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/5/2005 6:56:51 I've been playing around with various options, all of which have advantages and disadvantages as it's a fluid design. My big problem now is that NTL have very kindly upped my bandwith to 2Mb for free which means I get an even more distorted picture of download times. Catch 22 _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to Donkey)


d a v e Posts: 4194 Joined: 7/24/2002 From: England (but live in Finland now) Status: online	RE: Thoughts please - 4/5/2005 7:52:26 wow looks good! after doing your best to optimise the images the i wouldn't worry too much about load time as: the background images/main car image will be cached, people with fast cars probably have fast connections (well probably!) and those that don't would, IMO, wait a bit longer than normal because it is a car site and if people are interested in subarus then they will wait if the site looks nice. I would wait for it if i was on modem as long as it didn't take ages to load though you know what blokes can be like with their toys (and perhaps women!?) . i would imagine as well similar subaru/preformance car sites incorporate flash and other - potentially - long loading elements so in comparison with the kind of sites your potential audience are used to visiting then i imagine they would wait. i reckon if you could get the whole page below 100k which should be a problem then that would be an acceptable size for modem users. if you had the two blue subarus as one image and the gradient with shadow (from black to grey) as say a couple of pixels wide (i.e. a vertical slice to repeat) and stretch it as a background (maybe position the 2 subs including background in a div flotaing over the background image ay 100%/ repeat -x width so you only see the right hand side of it emerging from below the cars) hard to say whether you can do that with the gradient from the mock-up. :) _____________________________ David Prescott Gekko web design (in reply to jaybee)


golfer Posts: 1815 Joined: 1/5/2005 From: Bath, Wiltshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/5/2005 14:22:33 What a classy site jaybee. It suits the Subaru image completely. I can confirm what Dave has said about waiting for longer downloads from car manufacturers and garages as long as something is telling the site visitor that it is loading. When I was looking for a new car I used to visit sites using dial-up and it took ages but I hung in there. Men?????? How long do you think it takes to download the page in full using dial-up? Ian (in reply to jaybee)


mar0364 Posts: 3244 Joined: 4/5/2002 From: Florida, US Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/5/2005 14:35:20 I like it also. I'm guessing that the Subaru is considered a bit of a Sports Car in the UK? I've always considered as being smart and conservative. Unlike Donkey I'm not a fan of black backgrounds. But if it fits the site, it fits the site. As always you are a pro! (in reply to jaybee)

jaybee

Posts: 14207
Joined: 10/7/2003
From: Berkshire, UK
Status: offline

RE: Thoughts please - 4/6/2005 5:28:10

Thanks for the nice comments people.

quote:

How long do you think it takes to download the page in full using dial-up?

Absolutely no idea. I haven't finished setting the page up yet, what you saw above was a graphic.

quote:

I'm guessing that the Subaru is considered a bit of a Sports Car in the UK?

The Impreza WRX turbo, P1, STi Type R 22B are. The rest aren't.

http://www.sidc.co.uk/default.asp

quote:

One of the main reasons for anyone buying the Impreza is the absolutely stunning levels of performance it offers for the money. For the 4 door saloon, Subaru claim 6.4 seconds for the 0-60 mph (100 km/h) sprint, and a maximum speed of 143.5 mph (97/98 models). The figures for the five door hatchback are 6.5 seconds and 142 mph respectively.

Pah! My MR2 Turbo 16 valve DOHC does 0-60 in 4.8 and has a top speed of 154. (tested at Silverstone)

_____________________________

If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is.

GAWDS
Now where did I put that Doctype?

(in reply to mar0364)


mar0364 Posts: 3244 Joined: 4/5/2002 From: Florida, US Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/6/2005 8:41:26 I'm a fan of the quarter mile track. So it's mostly V8 for me. My car as a young man was a 1968 Chevelle SS with Crager rims L60s on the back 328 motor positive traction rear-end with a automatic transmission and a shift kit and a Holley 4 barrel carburetor. Of course thats back when gas was much cheaper. I know drive a Toyota. (so sad) (in reply to jaybee)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/6/2005 12:55:44 quote: My car as a young man What's age got to do with it. I leave all the kids standing. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to mar0364)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/24/2005 17:11:50 OK, the initial page is up and awaiting client comments. I've managed to get the page size to come in around 53Kb and I reckon, with some tweaking I can reduce the images more. The menu isn't functioning yet but everything else should work. Can you check out some times for me pls. Plus any other comments/stuff I've missed. Oh, don't know if you've noticed but there's a new toy on the FF developer toolbar - Speed report. I'll check your reported times against it to see how good it is. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to jaybee)


solicitors Posts: 16 Joined: 1/5/2005 Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/25/2005 8:20:26 nice page, i would offer to optimise your graphics for you, but now you are down to 53Kb i dont see there should be a problem. (in reply to jaybee)


d a v e Posts: 4194 Joined: 7/24/2002 From: England (but live in Finland now) Status: online	RE: Thoughts please - 4/25/2005 9:37:07 wot no headings?! h1,h2... does look really good - at 800x600 as well! _____________________________ David Prescott Gekko web design (in reply to solicitors)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/25/2005 9:42:03 No headings yet. I don't know what he wants in the page so it's all going to have to change anyway. I've just put that together based on a few bits from his existing site. I'm not mad on the copy or the demo car pics. There was a wheelie bin and a recycling box in the background that I've disguised a bit. When the thumbnails work then he'll have to have some better pics than that. Brings the tone of the site down. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to d a v e)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Thoughts please - 4/25/2005 9:45:31 quote: i would offer to optimise your graphics for you, Thanks. I've pulled them into Photoshop and I reckon I can knock about another 20k off without too much reduction in quality. Not going to bother too much at the moment though as I expect I'll end up with different pics, certainly in the body of the page. The logos that link to other sites are my best stab. His existing ones either go to those or return 404s. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to jaybee)