The Webmistress — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 07:48:38 +0000

I don't particularly like it at all. If I were you I would just have the text changing colour as a normal link. You also haven't specified a font for the links so this makes it look awful on my browser! & give the page some colour!

nike_guy_man — Wed, 06 Jun 2001 17:14:32 +0000

Hello!
Thanks for your ideas!
I changed the nav bar, no more images, yet.
I used some mouseover codes and some style sheets
The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't go back to the background image.
Is there a way to onMouseout return to a clear background?
Please tell me what you think of the new nav bar
This is just for each ladder page.
http://www.e-ngl.net/gin/test.html
This also doesn't work in Netscape, and i'm looking for a netscape effect.
is there a mouseover effect that works in netscape butnot IE?

No links work, but please tell me what you think!
Thanks!

The Webmistress — Wed, 06 Jun 2001 07:27:52 +0000

Quote: Originally posted by nike_guy_man
Thank you everyone for your replies on the current page.
I have a few options now, so please tell me which you think would look best:
A javascript/HTML navbar on the left.
Frames (again)
Javascript/HTML navbar stretching across the top.
Different images
Flash

I would say that you want to just redesign the buttons, place them within a table to line them up down the left hand side.

Flash is not your answer at all as you would still need to design a good looking image/button to start off with and then unless you are good with flash you are going to get into all sorts of other problems!

TheGizmoid — Tue, 05 Jun 2001 23:42:23 +0000

nike_guy_man,

You might want to look into some plug-ins like PhotoTools from extensis.com or BladePro from flamingpear.com. Either of these will have making spiffy-looking buttons in no time. I think BladePro has a 30-day free trial.

mairving — Tue, 05 Jun 2001 23:12:43 +0000

Photoshop 6.0 actually. I couldn't remember if 5.5 on down had those or not.

nike_guy_man — Tue, 05 Jun 2001 21:49:53 +0000

Hmmm
Were those directions for Adobe Photoshop 5.5?
I tried that, and didn't see a thing like that at all...
There was the layers box, but no Bevel and Emboss feature when I double clicked the layer...
I don't think i'll use buttons like that any more.
Thanks anyway.

mairving — Tue, 05 Jun 2001 19:24:34 +0000

To create a simple button in Photoshop.

Create a new image usually with a transparent background.
Go ahead and create a new layer.
Zoom in with the magnifier a bit so that you can be more precise. Make sure though that you can see all of the image on the screen.
First pick a color, then I like to use the rounded rectangle tool, so click this one. Now starting in the top left hand corner drag the image all the way from edge to edge. If you put the edge of the rectangle right at the edge of the image, then you don't have to worry about the jagged edges as much.
Once you have your rectangle, go over to the layer box, usually on your right and double click on this layer. Now check off Bevel and Emboss.
Now double click on the Bevel and Emboss. Check off anti-aliasing.
So you have your button. Now let's add some text. First pick a Font, I kind of like Tahoma, Bold, 12-14pt, Smooth (anti-aliased). Once you select the font, add the text and center the text on the Beveled and Embossed rectangle.
Now go back over to the layer box and double click on the text layer. Check off the drop shadow. This helps to give it a more professional look.
Now save your file, I like to Save it as Optimixed though ImageReady in a GIF32 format. Also make sure that you save your this as a PSD file so that you can quickly make a new button since the PSD file has the layers intact.

This is just a simple way of doing a button. You can improve upon it from there. Hope this helps.

nike_guy_man — Tue, 05 Jun 2001 18:19:12 +0000

Thank you everyone for your replies on the current page.
I have a few options now, so please tell me which you think would look best:
A javascript/HTML navbar on the left.

Frames (again)

Javascript/HTML navbar stretching across the top.

Different images

Flash

The Webmistress — Tue, 05 Jun 2001 08:54:29 +0000

First on e-ngl.net you get a horizontal scroll bar at 800*600. This is because you have not specified any width (pixels or percentages) for your table.

The buttons look too big & you must make the text the same size. Decide on how big you want the buttons to be & set the text size according to the "Sign up in advance" as this has the most letters. Obviously the others will not fill up the button but they will all look the same.

The animated gif with the "The NGL Gaming Ladders" looks awfull. Either do away with the stipes as a background and have a solid colour so that your gif can have the same colour or do away with the animation (the same goes for the E-NGL.net logo - it looks odd with a white background). Where you have it as a transparent background the text just doesn't work at all well.

The rest of the images just look like they have been plonked on the page. Think about the overall layout and rethink them.

On e-ngl.net/gin you have too many head tags & two titles. Again you haven't specified a table width. The buttons again all need to be the same text size and lined up.

TheGizmoid — Tue, 05 Jun 2001 00:13:25 +0000

The load time on a 33.6 was pretty bad. I watched the status bar say it was downloading 235K, 232K, 247K, 164K, etc. What have you got there? I really don't see anything that justifies this.

>>If I used the same text size, they would not all fit.
They are all the same font.<<

You are distorting the text on the buttons by stretching it or squishing it, that's why they look inconsistent. Keep the buttons the same size, keep the font the same size. They can also be much narrower in height. You will have varying amounts of leftover space, but they will look much more consistent.

I like to use a crisp, easy-to-read sans serif in all caps for buttons. I think this is easier on the eye at smaller sizes than a serif in upper/lower and doesn't clash with a fancier font in the logo or page heads. Something like Verdana works nicely. Check out the buttons here:

http://www.13thbombsquadron.org/index1.html

I would also add a "contact" or "email" link to your nav bar.