Guardian-Mage Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 http://dm.northernlightstech.com/DM/index.php This is a site I am doing to add to my portfolio. What do you all think? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 One word: Decent! I give it 3 1/2 stars (out of 5). I would give it more, but the text in the nav bar (especially the Race Reports & News) seems to crowd the buttons. My suggestion (though probably not needed) is to name it Reports & News, since it is mainly a race oriented site, is it not? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-301754 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 I do agree, and it is like that for one reason. I transfered all the buttons from their old site at their request. I will mention to them about creating new larger buttons. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-301758 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 Just wondering, what would you rate the old site that they made with frontpage... http://splitcrow.com/racing/ Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-301761 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Yours has a better flow to it. One thing though is on the old site it says welcome and tells a little soething about who you are looking at in the picture. A little loudly, though. you may want to implement something of the like, but not so big. Your paragraph text could be centered more with the picture. The run over (their run under) makes it seem a little tacky. Yes . . . use the head lines from the old site (a little smaller, of course) and keep your paragraph text centered with the picture. It will look better IMHO. Try it and see. If it doesn't, I am sure someone will correct me. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-301771 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share Posted July 19, 2007 I am not sure what you are talking about. My site is http://dm.northernlightstech.com/DM/index.php anyway, thanks for the advice, the content is the exact same, word for word Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-301885 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 Let me show you what I am talking about. The attached Pictures have red marks on them marked 1 and 2. 1 - This is the header I was speaking about. As you can see, it isn't exactly on your site. 2 - This text should be centered with the picture. It would give it a better flow. Try it and see. [attachment deleted by admin] Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-302489 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share Posted July 19, 2007 Excellent advice, I have made the modifications. Thank you. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-302552 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 That is looking a lot better. One last thing on the main page though, The text is now crowding the left border. You may want to have the same spacing on the left as you do on the right (the spacing between the text and the picture). That will make it Excellent! Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-302602 Share on other sites More sharing options...
akitchin Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 i'm going to be frank with you - if i saw a site like this, i would IMMEDIATELY browse away from it. the header graphic needs higher quality (it's incredibly pixelated), the buttons are old and from a crap template that was in style tenish years ago (i realize it was at the request of the company), the background is unnecessary. i'll definitely give points for good, clean coding, but it could do with a lot of work, aesthetically speaking. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-302624 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 The header is crap, I know that, and now they do to. They have given me permission to remake the header and background. Unfortunately I suck with graphics, but I will manage. The buttons are something they wish to keep. I will adjust the margins on the left though. Does anyone here have IE6 or AOL9 that they can try it on. Apparently the schedule and 3 other pages have huge gaps when viewed on those browsers. Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303335 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 I changed the buttons to see what he will say, tell me what you think Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303364 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 The buttons look a lot better. One thing, do you know how to make them glow instead of grow? When you move over them, they grow and it distorts the buttons. I think a little mouse over glow would look a little better for the site. That's just my opinion, though. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303370 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 The only way to make it glow is to use filters and that does not work with Firefox. Please let me know if there is another way, however, I will try making a new button image with glow to switch to on mouseover I changed the hover over to a new image that is glowing, but I am not a Graphic Designer, so my images aren't great Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303390 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 That seems to work fairly well. It seems that the background in the information portion of you site is a little darker. Did you change it? It makes the links inside the paragraphs hard to read. The next step will be the header and then applying what you have learned to the rest of the pages! Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303417 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 I am not changing the header, their graphic designer will make a new one. The background in the main portion of the pages is darker, I will change the links also. What else is wrong with the other pages? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303424 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Nothing now. when I checked earlier on the 'Team' page, the text was running into the picture. You have a mighty fine site there. Hopefully they get you that new header. PS Could you post the link on the next post so that people won't have to go to the first post to click it. It is hard to reply when you have to chase down the link. Doing Good! Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303444 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 http://dm.northernlightstech.com/DM/index.php I appreciate all of the help and compliments. Hopefully the clients are as happy with it as you all are. I really like it, it works better than the old site, and I just validated it all as XHTML 1.1. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303447 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 No offense, but I still think it looks awful. But looking at your site, I can see that you don't branch out much. It's the same uninspired design that you used on your site. 1) The backgrounds are awful... it's just some grainy awfulness that looks like it came out of mid-90s web design. 2) The buttons for the menu are simple and the shadow effect is poorly done. I like the font used for the menu but you don't use that font anywhere else in the site, so it looks bad side by side. 3) I personally don't appreciate the full-width/expanding sites. On a monitor like the one on my laptop (1600x1050), it looks far too spread out and I have to scan a single line of text across the entire screen to read it. I'd suggesting going to a fixed-width design. 4) I don't understand people that simply throw up an email address and a phone number and call it a contact page. You're using php extensions on your files, but this entire site screams "static" with the exception of maybe the schedule. Use a freaking form. You're inviting spam otherwise when you just place an email address on the website for all the bots to see. A form also lends itself to collecting information and storing it in a DB if you were to want to report or look at a history of comments/questions. 5) The content has a border on 3 sides.... did the 4th side do something to you or your mother? Make it consistent! It looks like you hacked it together in 10 minutes and forgot to add a border there. 6) Remove some of the whitespace. Fit the header image against the top of the window and fit the content against the bottom of the header graphic. It'll make it flow much nicer and it will look more professional. The gaps just make it look disconnected and "random". 7) Pick a color scheme. The header has yellow in it... the menu has brown in it... you use a lot of grey and black in the content section. I'd play up the yellow if that header graphic is going to remain. Right now it just looks like you designed this in sections instead of thinking about the entire look from a higher viewpoint. Start with those and then we'll hit it again. Again, these are all opinions, but I think they're worthwhile to consider. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303501 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 You seem like the type of person that if I made it fixed-width like you suggested, you would say it has to much empty space. I will limit how much it can expand, but It is meant to work on all screen resolutions. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303519 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 If I suggested a fixed width site and then said it had too much white space, wouldn't that be extremely hypocritical of me? Kind of. Maybe you shouldn't assume things about other people. Fixed with sites work on all resolutions to a degree. I'd rather cut out the 640x480 or even 800x600 people than make everyone else read across the entire screen. Look at any news/information site on the web. What format are they using? Oh... fixed width. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-303664 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian-Mage Posted July 21, 2007 Author Share Posted July 21, 2007 Mine will not expand past 1200px now, but still works on 800x600. I thought it was important that the website worked on the clients screen resolution and they run with 800x600. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-304280 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFilmGod Posted July 22, 2007 Share Posted July 22, 2007 Go all out. Try something new, you practically did the same thing as the previous site expect fixed some stuff up. Change the background. Make it a solid color, like white or something. Add a border on the third side. Make the hover images be PRELOADED! Hoverimages create a very rectanglular feel since the corners glow over the background!! I just don't like it. I feel its very simple and looks like a 1990's website. In the world of CSS, try something new! And make sure it works well in different browsers. However, if your client wants it simple and easy like that, - then its fine. Remember, its the client you are trying to impress not me. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/60655-dm-motor-sports-promo-site-how-does-it-look/#findComment-304658 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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