Views sought please

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wsh -> Views sought please (8/13/2005 17:36:24)
About to re-vamp the web page but need a few ideas....... www.welshsporthorses.com

dpf -> RE: Views sought please (8/13/2005 18:04:55)
my view? you are right to redo it - looks amatuerish. 1. ditch the page transitions 2. ditch the whirly/spinny stuff 3. ditch the link "buttons" whatever they are 4.ditch the black background 5. ditch the dark picture of the horse on the cover. 6. redo the logo - make it 3 dimensional and better quality. thats enough for now. good luck

caz -> RE: Views sought please (8/13/2005 20:31:15)
As a first step to achieving the above I would also suggest that you get the Firefox browser in order to use their Web Developer extension. This includes the HTML Tidy option and is a quick way to tidy up your page's Frontpage proprietry nonsense and add a DOCTYPE. Your principal aim should be that the page is usable in as many browsers as possible, Firefox will help you to achieve that. Those gorgeous horses are worth it. [;)] Firefox GB

farmer_Tom -> RE: Views sought please (8/13/2005 21:01:00)
To start the redesign, I would download a web template to start, using a theme rather than a plain black background. Look for nature themes but nothing black, it would clash with the horse. Avoid spinning text and special page transitions. Pick an interesting font and put pictures of the horses next to the text rather than above them. Lastly, avoid typing email address straight on a page, instead hyperlink the text to email. Best of luck with the redesign!

Tailslide -> RE: Views sought please (8/14/2005 3:50:54)
Definitely the first thing to do is to download Firefox and test the site in that as you go along. Also you might as well download Opera 8 - both of these browsers have a free version. Code for Firefox, test in opera and fix it for IE. The black background is too overpowering and heavy - definitely go for a lighter overall scheme. I agree 100% with Dan about the buttons and animated gifs - they're very "1994" I'm afraid. The first thing you should notice on your page is the horses (currently on FF there's no pictures of horses on the homepage) - not animated gifs or buttons. Be wary of including your e-mail address directly in your page as you will be spammed mercilessly! Try an e-mail obfuscator like this one: http://www.seowebsitepromotion.com/obfuscate_email.asp where you type in your e-mail address and it'll "disguise" it using hex and iso characters. Visitors to your site will be able to read it but at the moment most e-mail harvesters won't. Just copy and paste it over your current e-mail link in your HTML view. I cut the spam on one of my sites by about 85% doing this!

womble -> RE: Views sought please (8/14/2005 4:51:04)
I'd agree with everything that's already been said. The colour scheme just doesn't match the subject matter of the site, and the neon menu, while it looks good with the black background, I don't think fits in with the subject matter of the site. You've got an awful lot of dead space at the top of the home page, you need to get all the important information, what the site's about, who it's aimed at etc. on screen 'above the fold', and that logo is rather garish. As already mentioned, you need photos of horses on the home page. You've got some great photos on there but your current look just isn't doing them justice.

wsh -> RE: Views sought please (8/14/2005 14:00:40)
Phew, a lot to take in, especially as I am a complete novice (as you have already noticed!!!) Much of what you have all said makes sense, colours,themes (don't agree with the nature ones though....can't abide them) etc. Firefox I am not familiar with.In VERY simple terms, what is it? The link takes me there but non the wiser sorry. I do get some spam but not a massive amount but will take heed of what you say. Keep it coming folks, you are a great help.

womble -> RE: Views sought please (8/14/2005 14:06:06)
quote: Firefox I am not familiar with.In VERY simple terms, what is it? Probably the best browser on the planet. Seriously better than IE (though that's not difficult), (mainly) standards compliant, you can download loads of extensions/themes, and best of all, the web designer's best friend, the Web Develope's Toolbar - worth the free download for nothing else...and more... Most people find once they've tried it they don't want to go back to IE. [;)]

caz -> RE: Views sought please (8/14/2005 15:24:57)
Beginning web design with Frontpage. you should look at the tutorials on this site, you can find the link on the blue bar at the top of this page. But here's a shortcut [;)] http://www.outfront.net/frontpagetechniques.htm You got more than you bargained for with your question, I think, so just take it step by step ( first step being getting Forefox, of course) and remember, we were all beginners too.[:D] The Sistine Chapel took a lot longer to do than you will to do your project. Good luck and ask if you run into problems. Cheers Carol

wsh -> RE: Views sought please (8/14/2005 18:12:04)
Have downloaded Firefox and the web tool but can't honestly see any difference to IE (although I don't use that either!) . Someone mentioned above that I have a lot of dead space on the opening page, I suspect this is where the image to the stallions head is but for some reason its not visible on the Firefox screen.

womble -> RE: Views sought please (8/15/2005 16:02:23)
You possibly won't notice much difference in FF, unless you're using CSS. There are usually some minor rendering differences between browsers, but you really start to notice a difference in different browsers with css. Though on that subject, it was me that mentioned the dead space. I'm viewing in FF (I only use IE now for testing) and there's no stallion's head there (just fired up IE to have a look at it in that and it's there in IE) - for some reason FF's not rendering it at all, which is one reason you need to test your site in as many different browsers as possible, as sites can look very different in different browsers - as the stallion's head shows...nothing there at all in FF. An image disappearing isn't too big a deal in the scheme of things, but if it's something vital that's not showing in a particular browser like your navigation or something, then visitors to your site aren't going to hang around too long.

Tailslide -> RE: Views sought please (8/15/2005 16:15:23)
Hi again Quick test on this - if you remove the negative z-index on the horses piccy and put a plus z-index on your logo picture (say z-index: 10;) then it shows up in FF. I thin the scrolling thingy is likely to be IE only though.

wsh -> RE: Views sought please (8/16/2005 17:37:28)
quote: ORIGINAL: Tailslide Hi again Quick test on this - if you remove the negative z-index on the horses piccy and put a plus z-index on your logo picture (say z-index: 10;) then it shows up in FF. I thin the scrolling thingy is likely to be IE only though. Way beyond me sorry Tailslide but no worries as I am def going to revamp the site now. Just need to find someone/something to re do our logo and I will get started. Cheers.

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