Site RELAUNCH

[cben]

Im overhauling my site for 2004: The Cad Block Exchange Network

Im going for:
1. crossbrowser access (IE, Netscape,Mozilla)
2. 800x600 Resolution friendly
3. maximum AD space without compromising site content display.

I want to use CSS as much as possible in order to get consistent results among all browsers.

The test page is not open to the public and I must say it is not yet finished, but if you can comment on it I would appreciate it.


See the present page, and the Under Development page:

BEFORE: http://cben.net
UNDER DEVELOPMENT : http://cben.net/cben_2004.htm


"Now be BRUTAL BE BRUTAL.....because heavens know they will"
Roger Debris, The Producers.
:D

[Laurey]

brutal 'eh?

hmm.. not a lot to be brutal about to be honest, but I certainly can be nit-picky when I wanna be!

colors: white is typically hard to read anyway.. but on gray (even a medium gray) is hard.. when you add in the BRIGHT red, well.. at least I already had my headache...<G>

The site & CAD news are 'below the fold', if you are going to keep them down there, I'd suggest a link near the top to it at the very least so people know it's there..

you pass the 800x600, but the cben.net header image isn't centered, which was distracting.

you have a lot of white (gray) space between your main page area (what's new) and your site news/cad news section - thereby potentially enforcing the thought that there is nothing down there..

I see no copyright at the bottom, average users typically look to the bottom for contact us as well..

The center justify on the main menu (top left) makes it hard to read, it's easier to read left aligned txt.. centered should be used to emphasize..

while the exterior border is nice, the ones inside the table are distracting (especially at the bottom.. looks like maybe you are still playing w/your tables a bit??)

IE is telling me 'error on page'

Netscape 7.1 & IE 6.0 tested.

hope that wasn't too 'brutal' ;)
hth,
-L

[Mirzabah]

What can I say? Laurey has said it all. Particularly the bit about the colour scheme...

Mirzabah.

[cben]

I will take some of your comments into consideration.
As I said...its not finished....it needs 10000 more hours of work.

The page needs to scroll down becasue there is no way i can fit everything in 600 x 800 format, at least vertically.
Its not that bad...Yahoo.com scrolls down.

where did you get an error message? I have been checking and rechecking the code using netmechanic.com and it says 5 stars.
Im not sure how reliable that is but I really want the code to be bug free.

I dont know why i am still getting a little bit of horizontal scroll. I made the table 755px .

Color scheme...... I ll try out a few variations and post them here.

thanks

[Laurey]

In the lower left portion of the status bar is where the msg pops up, it usually means a javascript error...

[BerksWebGuy]

I don't get any error message here (IE 6)...and I even have my little Visual Studio Error checking on :D

Seems the 2 sites are on the same level...one not being better than the other. Color scheme could maybe use a little work. I like the layout...but I think you need some more organization. Its OK for repeat visitors, but alittle confusing to new visitors...like us. Maybe not centering all the text...left align it...and maybe but some 'bullets' to make it stand out alittle more.

But I like it...but from what I see...you can do better dude :D

[(jj)]

Originally posted by cben


I dont know why i am still getting a little bit of horizontal scroll. I made the table 755px .

thanks

Maybe its from your nested table that is:
<table width="808" border="0">
This table could be set to 100% and it would just fill to the max of the main table.

Or it could be the main table where a few lines down you have 2 <td>'s, one that is set for 150px and the second at 650px

I did not get the script error in either IE 6.0 or Mozilla Firebird.

[Laurey]

hmm.. and I'm no longer getting the error either.. mabye my IE was wacking out last night.. or it's possible it was an ad on the page that isn't loaded this go round..

[cben]

I made different 8 color schemes
take a look


http://cben.net/colors.htm

I made a little poll

[!CC]

I forgot to leave a comment with my vote in your pole..........and give you the reason I voted for none.....And that is they are all grey....only the 'trimming' color changed....Granted all the colors do go with grey.....but it really doesn't do much to give the site character....That much grey I find to be extremely 'flat' and unappealing..

[BerksWebGuy]

I agree...it still isn't that appealing with the grey backgrounds.

A good site I go to for some ideas is CoolHomePages.com (http://www.coolhomepages.com)

[cben]

Better?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://cben.net/cben_2004_fix.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------
left the menu links half and half

also take a look at it in netscape.

[BerksWebGuy]

Seems like the exact thing as: http://cben.net/cben_2004.htm ...but only more orange.

Still scrolls alittle on 800x600 resolution. Netscape looks the same as IE. Like the top of the links...the 'orange' text.

You have alot of contect on your index page...so it does seem to be alittle overwhelming and confusing...but thats the price you gotta pay. I think a really nice title image (with a background and different layers with something like photoshop) on top would make it stand out...so it wouldn't be so plain.

But I like it...and its easy for repeat visitors to find what they want.

[Laurey]

you are making some fabulous progress here!

I would still suggest centering your header in the table instead of the right cell, and notice that the date (Dec 16) under CAD News is just a shadow. The white font in there is VERY small and hard to read, and finally a little cell padding (just a little) wouldn't make things in your left column look crammed in there.

As your old one is gone now, I couldn't do a side by side comparision, but I am impressed w/how much has changed for the better in such a short time. Though not personally a fan of orange, it seems to 'go' well in here. And the removal of the white (was gray) space has me scrolling.

Good Work! and looks good in NS as well as IE.

Laurey

[!CC]

Definitly an improvement.........but to me the grey is still overwhelmingly prominent........maybe try some different 'shades' of grey? something 'lighter' perhaps and 'warmer?

[cben]

good call on the title image idea. Ill work on that idea.
I also gave the menu table a little cell space and it reads a l ot better.
Im still undecided on the menu text color.

White or Orangy?
I used CSS to change text to white on hover which works well with the orange text ( and looks nice), but on the other hand the white text is clearer.



I am also undecided on wether to keep the on mouse over change backround color to orange. A little too much?
It works well with the white text...but not as well with the orang text.

What do you think?
http://cben.net/cben_2004_fix.htm

Regarding the centering of the header.Do you mean the white and red CBEN.NET logo? It should be centered.

http://cben.net/cben_2004.htm YESTERDAY

I MADE A VARIATION WITH THE MENU FONTS:

Today:
http://cben.net/cben_2004_fix2.htm
http://cben.net/cben_2004_fix3.htm

ALSO INTEGRATED THE DATABSE FORMAT: SEE <<TESTING DB>>>

[cben]

Im working on the SUB pages.

SEE: <<< TESTING DB >>>

http://cben.net/2004/1.htm
(YOU HAVE TO SEE IT WITHIN THE FRAME)

[cben]

well...almost...... which color font scheme do you think works best?
I posted 4 variations

http://cben.net/VOTE/1.htm

[!CC]

Personally I prefer the version with the Red 'trim' but don't like the 'orange' text with the red......it fits well with the others though that have orange trim. This is your site and apparently you really like the 2 shades of dark grey you keep using . It doesn't appeal to me personally.

[gforce75]

Can't view the other page

[cben]

THREAD CLOSED

[BerksWebGuy]

HeHe...had enough 'suggestions'. Just trying to help. Its your site...nice layout and content...but we're just trying to help out with the color scheme...but leave it as it is...you won't lose any visitors over it.