blueline Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 Hey everyone. I just reformatted the look of my site and was hoping to get some people to look at it and let me know what you think. Understand that this is just a test page, and depending upon the comments I recieve here I will or will not set it up throughout the entire site. If you click on any links, they will work, but they will go back to the original format. Thanks for your adivce guys, here's the link: http://www.bluelinehifi.com/shop/works.php -Chris Chris Sullivan
Aodhan Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 If you can, limit the size of the header/footer nav bars, so that they appear inside the left and right borders instead of running over the top of them. Change the colors of the boxes to match/complement the borders, they kind of clash. Your logo in the top graphic is a little hard to read in the current setup. However, the page layout and the border around it are a nice look! Good job on that, I know you worked hard at it! Aodhan
blueline Posted December 12, 2002 Author Posted December 12, 2002 Thanks, Yes, it was pretty challenging. Being that the whole site is inside a table with a max width of 80%, and the side peieces are 20 pixels wide...how do I limit the header and footer bars so that they don't run over the images? I am going to change the color scheme. My partner likes it because that gray color was pulled from the gradient that we are currently using, but I think it will be changed. I think it clashes as well. So you don't like the logo there? I thought it was kind of creative to have it there...it is a .jpg file, which also includes the gradient so we had to match that perfectly. Of course I am always open to new suggestions if you've got them... Thanks Aodhan...for all of your help through this tedious process, -Chris Chris Sullivan
Aodhan Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 So you don't like the logo there? I thought it was kind of creative to have it there...it is a .jpg file, which also includes the gradient so we had to match that perfectly. Of course I am always open to new suggestions if you've got them... Thanks Aodhan...for all of your help through this tedious process, -Chris No, it isn't the placement of the logo, its the color. Since you gradient out to white, you lose the top and bottom borders of the letters. On "Blueline" it isn't too bad, but since "HiFi" is sideways, it makes it a little hard to make out the word. The logo itself is fine... One way I've found to place stuff in gradients is to chop them into two graphics. Say you have a 500x50 pixel gradient jpg, and you want a logo (such as yours) to be in the left whatever. Chop, oh, lets say 100px out of the left side, so that you have two graphics. One is 100px, the other is 400px. You can now play with them, and when you put them into a table, just make sure that you have no borders and cellspacing/cellpadding are both zero, and that their respective cells border each other. Aodhan
blueline Posted December 12, 2002 Author Posted December 12, 2002 I'm sorry. I am kind of following what you are saying, but at the same time you kind of lost me. OK, take a jpg of a gradient and cut it into 2 pieces and place them both in a table. I get that...but why? Right now I have a top-left-corner.jpg and a header-background.jpg and a top-right corner.jpg and then of course logo.jpg. What I have done is created a table with a background of header-background.jpg and then jsut created 3 columns and placed the appropriate corner and logo .jpgs in their place. Sorry, but I'm just a little lost...could you please explain further? Thanks, Chris Chris Sullivan
Aodhan Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 I'm sorry. I am kind of following what you are saying, but at the same time you kind of lost me. OK, take a jpg of a gradient and cut it into 2 pieces and place them both in a table. I get that...but why? Right now I have a top-left-corner.jpg and a header-background.jpg and a top-right corner.jpg and then of course logo.jpg. What I have done is created a table with a background of header-background.jpg and then jsut created 3 columns and placed the appropriate corner and logo .jpgs in their place. Sorry, but I'm just a little lost...could you please explain further? Thanks, Chris That will work too. If you like, take a look at one of my sites under production, www.gaeliccrossings.com. When I created the top, I made the jpg, chopped off the left part (Containing the text, etc) and saved that as a layered image. Now I can play with it and change it, and do whatever I like. I chopped a 5px wide chunk of the basic background to use as a cell background. That way, the background repeats no matter how wide the table gets. Also, one of my favorite types of layouts is the graphic that blends across the top and left sides (Kind of like yours, a left border and a top border), and placing menu stuff along the left side. I basically create it as one huge graphic, then chop out the chunks I need in the sizes I need and place them in tables. Aodhan
Guest Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 Is it only me and my IE 6.0 ( 800 x 600 ) or .... that blue border on the left of column left is only on the left ? Regards
Aodhan Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 Is it only me and my IE 6.0 ( 800 x 600 ) or .... that blue border on the left of column left is only on the left ? Regards Wierd. No, it's me too. When I view it at 1024x768 (IE 6), I see both bars as gradients. When I view it at 800x600, the left bar is compressed to a solid line (Which actually looks better, IMHO), and the right bar disappears. I would suspect something in the pixel width versus percentage width in the table setup, and the right table cells are being compressed enough to where you don't see the right bar. Aodhan
Guest Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 Ok ...I see the same thing as you 2 differents views in 2 differents resolutions
kn1ght Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 Nice site! however, I have one common issues I'd like to resolve. When u select any categories (in this case - Mobile Audio, Subwoofers) mouse over to PRODUCT NAME+ you will see that the color match the background. How would you change this so that the link would act like the one on-top: My Account | Cart Contents | Checkout
blueline Posted December 12, 2002 Author Posted December 12, 2002 That is something that I am going to have to fix. That's simply an issue with the stylesheet.css coding. Quick fix. Other than that, and I will look into the frames, is that site ok? What would you guys suggest I do in the info boxes (the boxes inside the borders) to make them work better with the site...? Graphics, colors, any ideas??? Thanks, Chris Chris Sullivan
kn1ght Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 If I would say... your gradient is too hard/strong
burt Posted December 12, 2002 Posted December 12, 2002 Personal Opinion only: I would not buy from a site that looks like that, the design is not my cup of tea at all... I think it is your gradient borders - they are ruining the site...
blueline Posted December 13, 2002 Author Posted December 13, 2002 Well, I have gotten a pretty good response (# of people) on this topic and so far I am very confused. I have gotten a mixed number of responses on this forum...particularly about the gradients. I have had a pretty even number of people tell me that they are too strong and to take them down, but at the same time I have had people tell me they like them. I don't know what to do. It was a good learning activity...and I haven't seen another osC site that actually has a border all the way around the site like that, without just using the sides of the boxes as the border. Should I redesign the site again, or keep it? Thanks for your opinions, -Chris Chris Sullivan
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