Megan — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 14:37:05 +0000

Looking better. I definitely agree about the page background. Definitely change that to white. I would also make some changes to all the colours, actually, to get more of a coherent look with a defined set of a few colours. Take the colours from the logo - black, yellow, white, and red, and use only those colours. The green on the left navbar is what I'm particularly seeing as a problem - it just doesn't seem to fit in. I would just change that to black, or maybe a dark red. Also bump those nav items in from the left margin a little bit. I still think that those bat shape header things should be removed; they're pretty cheesy looking.

fifeclub — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 14:23:45 +0000

Thanks again. I'm guessing that since we're just talking about colors and backgrounds (and not table errors) that there's nothing major anybody sees to stop me from launching this week (I'm on a deadline to keep up with the fast approaching softball season).

Some of the things you mentioned are exactly dead-on right. I already hate that faded-grass background too. I do plan on changing it to solid white but the reason I haven't yet is becasue I need to fix a lot of graphics first, which will take a little time. But it is high on my post-launch to-do list.

Same goes for the loose font tags. Just a matter of finding time. After I get everything running I'll go back and clean it up.

And as for the underline on the "Parks Map" link, my reasons are that although it is a link, it is 'above' all the other parks listed below. That page actually just contains graphical links to the same parks listed below it. I know it looks wierd but I figured it had to be singled out somehow as not being like the others in that list.

Thanks again everyone.

The Webmistress — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 09:20:04 +0000

Very nice but I agree with DM, I don't like the background and think white or a solid colour would look much better. Keep the font size the same for your text and don't underline things as it makes them look like links & talking of which, why is the Parks Map link underlined when the others aren't?

disaster-master — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 07:11:20 +0000

Ya gotta love that logo at the top.

Are you planning to leave the font size of the paragraph at the top of the home page bigger than the rest? I think I would make it the same as the paragraphs below it.

I know you are working out some CSS problems now but if you plan to leave the font tags in your code, put them inside the tags.

The italic "Batter UP, Parks and Bullpen" may look better if they weren't italic.

I have tried to let that background grow on me but it just isn't growing too well. LOL Personal preference but I don't like it. As the pages load you see the white background and I think that looks better because the green in the bg and the green of the side bar don't match.

You have done a nice job on this site. Congrats.

REVIEW REQUEST: The Dugout

fifeclub — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 06:13:01 +0000

Hi. I'm back. Those of you who remember what my site looked like last month... please erase that image out of your mind. It was horrible.

Here's my new design. It's not too fancy. The key I'm looking for right now is SIMPLE FUNCTIONALITY and BROWSER COMPATIBILITY. I'll worry about eye candy later. The only things I'm concerned with now is are there any problems?

Before I list the url, there's several known issues you must ignore.
1) The CSS links in the menu section aren't the right color in NS4, but they do work in IE4+ and NS6.
2) I'm still working on gettng the forums integrated into my template. When I do, they won't pop-out and I'll make them the right colors, so ignore the forums all together.

Here's the url:
http://www.charlottemlb.com/softball/home.shtml

Thanks a bunch. And I'll get my 3 more minimum in soon.

Busy — Mon, 18 Feb 2002 09:23:21 +0000

Modemsite, another way to read text on a conflicting site is to select all from your tool bar and thus making it easy to read, unless its in a graphic then your stuffed.

Modemsite — Mon, 18 Feb 2002 07:07:29 +0000

I'll add one more -
it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me to easily read any of the white text in the main body part of your pages except for the bold headings as - for my eyes 0 there is too little contrast between your background and the white text. Even if I could distinguish the text, it's too small.
(Every now and then I run across a site say with a black background and dark blue text that I really want to read and have to copy and paste the text into Notepad or something to actually be able to read it. Similar situation for me here - if I wanted to read it, it would be a big effort!)

The Webmistress — Sun, 17 Feb 2002 12:27:10 +0000

I think everything has been said about the site. Good start and with some tweaking it should come together really well. I don't think the batter is bad but maybe would look better in a different colour.

For CSS here are some tutorials

http://www.mako4css.com/index.htm
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/authoring/stylesheets
http://www.pageresource.com/dhtml/indexcss.htm
http://www.wdvl.com/Authoring/Design/Layout/Style.html

And for actually creating the stylesheets this is a good utility: http://www.bradsoft.com/topstyle/index.asp

Busy — Sat, 16 Feb 2002 22:37:12 +0000

Quote: posted by fifeclub
P.S. I tried to review some other sites here but they all look so great to me, so I've got no constructive criticism.

reviews can be good and bad, people love to hear what a good looking, easy to follow web site they have (if they are), just saying you like their site could make their day , but only say it if you mean it, no one likes getting false hope. If someones site has problems, code errors, clashing colors ... then its better if they knew this, as thats what they are here for.
whether it be good or bad, having mutli outlooks on the same site is helpful to all.

remember to smile as it confuses people

Thanks

fifeclub — Sat, 16 Feb 2002 19:53:19 +0000

Thanks for the advice everyone. I knew the navigation needed to be better but I thought it could wait a little while. I guess I really shouldn't wait on that aspect. I chose it because I needed a lot of sub sub-menus but for now I'll use simple text links, which will also aid in search engines (that's why I had those hidden links at the bottom).

As for some other issues:

The frame at the bottom is from an URL redirection service. I'll drop that and get a real URL if this becomes more popular (and I'll also add my own forum rather than a 3rd party)

The "No-right click" is a habit from my only "real" website CharlotteMLB.com. I have copyrighted graphics that are unavailable anywhere else on the internet and I found people taking them and putting them on their 'geocities-type' homepages. It isn't as important for this content.

I'm not too familitar with using CSS for anything more than changing the hover color of links, but I'll look into it more.

Well Thanks again. I've got to "launch it" soon because the season is coming up. I'll fix the most importnat aspects before launching and then fix it up much more after that.

P.S. I tried to review some other sites here but they all look so great to me, so I've got no constructive criticism. I wish mine could ever look that good. Thanks agian and I'll let you know when I've come up with a new and improved version.