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My Site's new design

~pcwiz

By ~pcwiz,
in Web and Graphical Design

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Rate pcwizcomputer.com's new design  

38 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you rate the new design (0-worst 5-best)

    • 0
      10
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      7
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75 posts in this topic

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skyhighmac
skyhighmac
Posted
Posted

Well, I'm sorry that I can't hand code. That isn't just my specialty. pcwiz told me what he liked, and I did it. Also, pcwiz has done some modifications on his own. The names work for me. I also designed this to be a template for dreamweaver, so that he updates one page, and all pages with that template work with it. Blank tags, don't see any.

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inimicus
inimicus
Posted
Posted
So what do you suggest I change the colors to? If you could give me the color numbers (e.g. #0000), I can very easily change them.

 

Just follow the scheme on the forum. Use a color picker, if needed.

 

You can borrow elements from he forum, too. In fact, more of the structure is already laid out for you -- view the source. You could easily convert this into your main layout.

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scj312
scj312
Posted
Posted
I wanted to say something about the votes:

 

Some people vote 0 just to be plain mean. I'm not saying that everyone who voted 0 had this in mind but its a fact on polls. I don't get why people try to ruin in for people who actually want to help.

 

21 people have voted so far and only a few people have given actual reasons and those people are the honest ones.

I voted "1" because there IS readable text and content.

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~pcwiz
~pcwiz
Posted
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Posted

I don't want to convert a forum layout to my main design...

 

But I will follow the advice about the colors. The forum doesn't really have a "color scheme" and using the forum color scheme with the existing design isn't gonna work.

 

Does anyone have EXACT info on the colors I should use for this? skyhighmac?

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cbmkgd
cbmkgd
Posted
Posted

You can see the color scheme of the forum in the css file:

http://######.com/forum/Themes/mesh/style.css

 

The link style is:

a:link {color: #cbcbdb; text-decoration: none;}
a:visited {color: #cbcbdb; text-decoration: none;}
a:hover {color: #ffffdb;}

This is a light grey-ish color, with a yellow-ish hover. The "text-decoration:none" removes the underline; if you want to keep the underline, just use the color part.

 

I'd bold the links also, when they are not inline text, when they act as headers. This can be done in the style sheet, or directly on the page.

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~pcwiz
~pcwiz
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So are you suggesting that I change the colors to this scheme? I just tested out the scheme you suggested and it looks PLAIN UGLYLook at it:newscheme.JPGLike I said, the forum color scheme will not work with this design. The links are the same color as the text with this scheme. Any other color ideas?

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cbmkgd
cbmkgd
Posted
Posted

My main suggestion about the links is they should be more readable and smooth for the eyes.

When the links act as headers, they should be in a bold font.

Pure blue (#00000ff) on a black background isn't good on they eyes; perhaps when bolded it would be better. But then again a lighter color could be used, and one example is the color of the links on the forum. But if that is ugle, try something else.

 

I suggest you try offline what this would give, and try other colors.

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cbmkgd
cbmkgd
Posted
Posted

Check here for a tool to chose colors:http://sunrise-pashmina.com/colorssp.html

 

Click the LightsOut button to get a black background.Then scroll to see other bands of colors to see the interaction with the background. Down that page you see the blue hues, maybe you'll like one of them (eg french blue, aqua, etc...).

 

/edit:

Here's a nicer tool!

http://www.charles-reace.com/PHP_and_MySQL/Color_Picker/

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cbmkgd
cbmkgd
Posted
Posted

You can use the ColorPicker for links too, it's text after all. What will make it stand out will be bolding the font of the links when they act as headers. Remove the "text-decoration:none" if you want the underline to still appear; try with and without, chose what you prefer.

 

If you want to stay in the blue hues, #00ccff, or even a lighter #0000ff would be less straining.

 

Here's with aqua links (0000ff), bolded, no underline:

post-35294-1194655542_thumb.jpg

 

with underline:

post-35294-1194655700_thumb.jpg

 

Maybe having a bigger font size would be better:

post-35294-1194655866_thumb.jpg

 

It still may not be gorgeous, but at least it's less of a strain on the eyes.

 

The other headers (which are not links) could be another blue hue.

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~pcwiz
~pcwiz
Posted
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I think I will use a shade of Aqua with maybe a bigger font and no underline. Is there a more darker shade of Aqua I can use? That shade is a wee too light and bright. And do you think I should just change the link colors for the index pages or all the pages on the site?

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cbmkgd
cbmkgd
Posted
Posted

Another variation, with 00ccff (darker):

post-35294-1194656618_thumb.png

 

The pure blue unbolded links can be hard to see all over on a black background.

With a style sheet, one would only need to change it to change color scheme all over the site, if the site has been prepared adequately.

 

For example, you could remove the a:link and a:visited styles from each of the pages, and put just one a:link, a:visited and a:hover in the css.css stylesheet, which should affect all links on all pages that calls css.css.

 

This is where skyhighmac should enter and tell/force dreamweaver to make all pages to call only one stylesheets. Also make a style for inline links (ie links within a text), and header links (ie links that serve as headers), as these last ones should then be of bigger font size. Later, you can then change the styles of both kinds of links independently.

 

Inline links can be of the same size of text, but bolded; here's an example with 00ccff and bold (home page):

post-35294-1194657333_thumb.png

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cbmkgd
cbmkgd
Posted
Posted

Much better! Déjà bien mieux, avec le look du forum en plus.

 

But as said before, the header links (System Maintenance, The Complete Security Solution, etc) could have a color that separates/contrasts them more from the text below them. Perhaps of the same color/hue that you used for the sections (eg a variation around #ffdFa0), or more blueish, depending on which color set is chosen.

 

But on the whole it is the right step. Look how it's great to have a consistent look with the forum.

 

I have the template pointing to one stylesheet.
Ok, then pcwiz has to learn to modify the css.css style sheet when doing modifications. If he's using DWeaver too, this should be easier with the style editor.

 

/edit: several edits as i added stuff.

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~pcwiz
~pcwiz
Posted
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Posted

That design looks awesome. I have a good idea. Make the design as wide as the forum, and put "Take your computing experience to the next level in digital font" underneath the title. Then make the navigation buttons (Home, Forum, etc.) Whitish or Greyish and Un-bold them.

 

I think that would look awesome. Could you make those changes inimicus and show a preview? But this would mean a full complete redesign. It would be too much trouble for skyhighmac, he has devoted a lot of time and it would be rude to waste anymore of it. I am willing to help since its my own site but I admit that I am not skilled at web design and CSS, I am just the guy who makes the content.

 

If the redesign problem is sorted out, I'd be glad to change the design.

 

EDIT: The width of the forum is 80% so change the container width to that size

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inimicus
inimicus
Posted
Posted

I dunno, dude.

Now it seems to me that you're looking for someone to do this stuff for you.

 

The intention of my example was to show that your forum design _could_ be used as a main layout. I don't have the ability (see: time) to help you out to the degree you're looking for.

 

I am entirely self-taught and have been designing webpages since 1998. Everything you need to know is out there, it's up to you to want to learn the stuff enough to teach yourself.

 

You seem to have enough of a grasp of The Way Things Work to get it done. I'm happy to help, but I don't have the time to hold your hand through the process.

 

Sorry if I sound harsh, but you can do it.

 

The page I created is simply HTML. Everything in the design is in the source, I would recommend starting there.

 

Goodluck. Hit me back if you get stuck.

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skyhighmac
skyhighmac
Posted
Posted

I've spent the last couple of days think of some ideas because I've been sick. iminicus, I still like pcwiz's current design, but some things that you did with yours I like a lot, and I think I will incorporate them into the design, Thank you! (Could have written that in french but I am too lazy and I don't now the shorcuts for the accents. :) )

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  • 2 weeks later...
rawmassen
rawmassen
Posted
Posted

If you're designing for 1024, use a width of 950px. That takes into account varying window borders and scrollbar thickness. You can get away with wider layouts if you have a 'frameless' design.

 

Also, just because people are starting to use 1024 more frequently, it does not automatically make it 'the new standard'. You'll find its the new *trend*; they are totally different things. It all depends on your audience. If you're designing for an audience that are more techical (i.e. are able to increase resolution size), 1024 is fine considering todays average monitors, however if you're designing a corporate website, 1024 is avoided for maximum compatibility.

 

Get yourself Firefox + Web Developer Toolber + Firebug. Invaluable.

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