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Hi all

 

I've been at this for a good several weeks now and have finally got to the point where it's pretty much formed. There's still a long way to go, but ultimately it's ready to start accepting new members with enough to get involved with and benefit from. Apart from TinyMCE and a bit of CSS for rating, everything (the core framework, blogs, forums, etc) is completely custom.

 

http://www.holdingthebaby.com

 

Let me know what you think!

(Dads, feel free to get involved too!)

 

Cheers

Mark

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yeah the big white gap is def something i'll be addressing, but i didnt wanna fill it with any old stuff just for the hell of it.

 

As for the purpose, i guess it depends. There are lots of things like i say that still need to be done over time, much of it over the next week or so - which will make things like tags a bit more useful (ie, when there's some form of search facility and much more content). The whole point of the site is a place for dads to kick back. There are THOUSANDS of places for mums, just not dads - and as any new/expecting dad will tell you, the support out there is seriously rubbish. It's all about the mums. So a place for dads of all circumstances to kinda breath a sigh of relief and not feeling like they're the only one having trouble - that's the point.

 

Thanks for looking. I may have gone over the top with the colours so i'll have a bit of a play around to see how it'd look toned down a bit.

 

Cheers for the thoughts!

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I'm not sure I agree with the too many colors comment; it sort of fits the theme of the site, at least as far as the group headings go.

 

Here's a possible idea for the big white gap at the top.  Your building blocks graphic could probably be moved into that big gap, then have it fade out about halfway between the 'Help' link and the site's logo.  You'd have to move the 'Login' and 'Register' buttons, perhaps into the top left, below the logo, above the adverts, float them to the right of the 'Welcome' message, etc.  Just try and find a place where they don't appear squished and that isn't so "chaotic."

 

I said before the coloring is fine, IMO, at least as far as your group headings go.  But the sheer amount of blue present in the 'Latest Articles' and 'Tags and Stuff' is a bit overwhelming.  You might get away with coloring those links black, just leave the underline when the mouse moves over them, and I think most people will figure out you can click on them.

 

You could probably color the user names black in the 'Newest Members' as well, since it appears the avatar takes you to the same page as the user name.

 

I think if you cut out a lot of that blue from the links, the color sensory overload that jcombs mentioned might be lessened.

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i agreed with a few points straight off, so made some minor tweaks (usernames, colour of the tags panel, etc) but will have a good think about suggestion for top banner, as i agree with you and jcombs anyway that something will need to be done with the white area. the login/register buttons WERE originally just under the logo and not in that panel at all, so it's no biggie to change that if it looks better. i'll have a play and i'll change it on the main site if it works out.

 

cheers!

Mark

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This is off topic and not meant to be harsh, but I think there is a reason these sites are aimed at 'mums'.  What men are looking for other men to talk to about being fathers?  Sure, I've looked up info about my baby, but nothing gender specific as to the parents.  I don't want to spell it out, but I don't see most men wanting to visit a site to hang out and bs about how tough it is to be a dad. With that being said, I also don't see the point in throwing in xhtml/css buttons at the bottom. DOes the target audience really care?  Guess I'm just bored and nit picking...

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you're right. they've gone now :)

 

you're more than welcome to your opinion about other stuff. however, i strongly believe there IS a place for a site targetting dads. Many things can affect a family setup, in terms of why a father would become more involved in a site to chat to others in a similar boat (eg, by choice, mother working, armed forces, etc). Not all situations are the same and neither are dads. Some have it easy, some don't - so to let off some steam or help/get help from others in the same boat just has to be worth a bash.

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Looks good. There's a lot of work gone into it with some nice touches ( browse members + images).

 

In IE6 (I know its outdated etc etc), but it doesnt render the body images in Hot off the Press:

http://www.holdingthebaby.com/articles/dads/

 

Overall - seems thought out very well and looks good.

 

-steve

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Looks good. There's a lot of work gone into it with some nice touches ( browse members + images).

 

In IE6 (I know its outdated etc etc), but it doesnt render the body images in Hot off the Press:

http://www.holdingthebaby.com/articles/dads/

 

Overall - seems thought out very well and looks good.

 

-steve

yeah i'm trying to sort out getting IE6 back on my PC to run with IE7, as i was a bit concerned about that. I managed to fix many of the issues in Opera/FF (Mac+PC), Safari, IE7, but just the main one eludes me...

 

If yourself or someone can pop a snap of the problem(s) then that'd be grand.

 

Cheers Steve

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I really like it!! All the colors seem to fit with babies and all anyway. One question though, how long did it take to make that, or do you have a library of code that you can just copy-paste? Anyway, I really like the concept too, however I didn't find anything about changing diapers and coding at the same time, something maybe you could add later. haha

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thanks! the framework itself (without any site specifics) has been under development for quite a while and it's also in use on another live site.

The application specifics for this site in particular have taken about 3 weeks on and off and includes stuff that isn't yet live but hopefully will be soon. The bulk of it was taken up by the custom forums as it also deals smoothly with the personal messages, comments on articles, etc so needed to be flexible.

 

The place for the last one is in the "Working from Home" forums ;) I guess once the search facility is finished it'll make that sort of stuff easier. ;D

 

Cheers for the comments!

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Sorry I didnt take a screen shot before. Here it is:

http://kartbuilding.net/misc/holdingthebaby.jpg

 

The images are there, it just must be some css setting. Perhaps z-index may solve it (not sure).

 

I'll be back here if you need it tested again.

 

The images dont show either on:

Other Halves

Soapbox

 

They show on all other pages.

 

-steve

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hmm that's odd. i had a similar problem that was affecting IE7 i think it was, and it was a case of using a float inside a div - it didnt like it until i changed the div positioning to relative, or somthing like that.

(as you can guess, CSS is one of my weaker areas :) )

 

problem for me though is i dont have access to IE6 and not sure (with all the updates, etc) if winding back my IE7 install will break anything (it presented me with a huge list of updates, some which looked pretty important). any ideas?

 

edit not to worry, i rolled back to IE6 without (so far) any issues, so should be able to play. there's actually quite a bit to sort out to get IE6 to conform - if you're able to see it in FF or Opera, you'll see how it's supposed to look. ahh well.

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*sigh*

found no less than about 20 issues to sort out with IE. luckily for ease of correction, most were due to positioning - relative/absolute, etc. hopefully now, maybe with one or two i haven't spotted, IE looks as it does on all the others

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Dont you just love IE :-D

 

Anyways, your nearly there.

 

On the "Dads Articles" page, if you hover over "More Articles" on the right.

 

If you need a screen shot, just shout.

 

Its definately a well put together site - lots in it.

 

Also - the Forgotten password page is missing/not made yet.

 

Chat later.

-steve

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ok - regarding the 'jump' when hovering the 'more articles' - that is just bloody annoying and i'm totally at a loss in terms of how to sort that one. hmmm

 

yeah the forgotten password not yet implemented.

 

thanks steve

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I'm jumping on the "too many contrasting colours" boat. I don't like saying this at all Mark, but the colour scheme sucks. Black, orange, blue, red, green and even purple?  ???

 

My personal rule is: no more than 3 "heavy" colours. Unless you have a "plahdoh" theme, then use the primary colours and their direct mixtures like purple, orange and green...

 

Also: too many tags. You could do with half.

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i'm gonna partially skip over the "too many colours bit" as it's more of a personal preference i'm happy with, but i would personally admit that there needs to be a better balance/consistency across the board in terms of the way they're used. not sure what "plahdoh" is? the idea is extremely informal, as the content of the articles shows you, so using colours in a childish (did you mean play dough?) way (hence the Duplo/Lego bricks in the banner) is kinda the point - just to make it less "stuffy".

 

agreed with the tags. there's a few bits i need to introduce onto the homepage that need the tags to be halved anyway to make some room, so good shout there.

 

Cheers John

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y'know what, you're right - it is crude, but there are some nifty little ideas in there, like the bullets on the links and the lack of background colour on the panels (ie, just the header).

 

like i say, i need to play with the homepage anyway, as there are a few bits to go on there still, but by all means some of those ideas might be worth at least giving a go.

 

cheers!

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