# Whatcha Think?



## Dris (Nov 30, 2002)

A site I'm helping on.  http://dris.drischris.com/XSLT/handler.php
I know the links aren't connected and all that.  It's just a test page I made while figuring out XSLT.  The final site will be fully skinnable...This is just one sample skin I made for testing purposes.  It's tested in Internet Explorer (Mac and PC) as well as Netscape, and it's resolution-independent.  All 100% pure, unadulterated CSS.    By the way, I didn't write any of that, save the top part and the bottom part.


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## Trip (Nov 30, 2002)

I'm going to be brutally honest here. Nothing personal, and of course not a professional opinion: THAT'S PHP?! Boy...you guys have a lot of work to do. I know it's a temporary skin but I have to just comment that those colors are absolutly horrid! The over-all layout isn't really that interesting, but for the purpose of the website it looks like it could do.


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## plastic (Nov 30, 2002)

I think you need a lot of help on graphics... Trip... time for you to get a freelance job to work on the graphics... LOL...


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## Trip (Nov 30, 2002)

If he asks.


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## mdnky (Nov 30, 2002)

I have to agree on the colors, they're a bit out of place when combined.

If you're going to use PHP, why is it using frames?  I would suggest getting rid of the frames ASAP.  The navigation "menu" on the left......it seems to big for what you have in there.  Maybe slim it down which will give more room to display the intended content.

As far as the layout, it's clean and very easy to understand.  Seems any information this site will convey will be easily accessible by anyone surfing it.


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## Dris (Nov 30, 2002)

Heh, I actually kinda like the colors, but I guess that's just a matter of personal taste.  So it's a good thing it's gonna be skinnable.    The frame is there only because we're temporarily using NameZero's service, and that frame is from them.  It won't be there in the final version, as we're moving to another host entirely.  As far as "uninteresting" layout, my plan to this design was to keep it decently minimalistic and allow plenty of room for the actual content.  The site's purpose will be for people to show off their stuff, so I won't want the design stealing the spotlight.    I will slim down the navbar, it's kinda on my nerves anyways...And on second thought, those are kinda weird colors to be putting together...You shoulda seen it when I had the links in the navbar as green instead of blue...  Thanks for the constructive criticism, I'm getting back to work right now!


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## Dris (Nov 30, 2002)

Alrighty, http://dris.drischris.com/xslt/handler.php
I slimmed down the navbar as needed, and replaced that vile green color.  I think it looks a lot better now, but you can be the judge of that.
And if you want to see a more working version of the site, go to http://dris.drischris.com/  All you can do is sign up, sign in, and sign out, but we're still working on it.  We're getting ready to move the whole darn thing to XML, which is why I have that XSLT subdirectory.  Oh, and the layout's different on the actual working version, but I kind of threw it together.  In other words, it's not likely that it'll look the same on every system, but whatever.


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## Trip (Nov 30, 2002)

Ok, I was thinking about this and came up with this: It looks like a website from the 70's. Which I guess isn't too bad, but the fact we're now in 2003 (give a month) I think that type of work is "out". I can't really explain why, but I guess since, like you said, it's just going to show off other peoples works there are no worries.


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## Dris (Nov 30, 2002)

I don't quite get what you mean by it looking like something from the 70's...Considering the web back then was for the exchange of scientific and research documents, I don't think a site is capable of looking like it's from that time, unless you turn off the CSS.    Exactly what do you mean by "that type of work"?


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## Trip (Nov 30, 2002)

It's nothing personal or anything: but the style (cross fading, tiny gifs, blunt colors, no real images) just doesn't appeal to a large group of people these days. Sure: it does appeal to some, but not many.
If you want to spruce it up a bit can I suggest adding more images, working with the cross faders, and getting a good color setup going?

This may not be the case then again. Like you said: the site will be skinnable. So what I'm saying here could be bluntly: worthless words.


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## Dris (Nov 30, 2002)

Okay, I see.  What you're saying is more of an artsy, visual layout.  Okay, I think I know what you mean.  However, since this isn't a personal site for my portfolio, I'm going for more of a layout that's very functional and visually pleasing at the same time.  By visually pleasing, I don't mean like there's a design-oriented image lurking around every corner, I just mean it's better than looking at a black, white, and blue row of links for the navbar.  But I think I'll go ahead and try to make some skins that are more like those sites that pretty much allow the design to take over.    That's the only way I can think to word it.  Anywho, thanks for the constructive criticism, I'm learning!


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## Trip (Nov 30, 2002)

Good point there. That's why I'm saying all this: because I'm also learning. 

Anyway: I've seen plenty of sites (yourcreations.mine.nu used to be one) that are like what you've got going here. They were very focused on looking good. They wanted to look good so the designers posting their works there looked good. Hard to explain but it's like the skinmites on your skin. You feed them and they clean you. Win win situation.


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## mdnky (Dec 1, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Dris _
> *As far as "uninteresting" layout, my plan to this design was to keep it decently minimalistic and allow plenty of room for the actual content. The site's purpose will be for people to show off their stuff, so I won't want the design stealing the spotlight.*



Ok, I didn't really see what the purpose was before.  The idea of not distracting from others work is good.  It makes sense now.  



> *Alrighty, http://dris.drischris.com/xslt/handler.php
> I slimmed down the navbar as needed, and replaced that vile green color.  I think it looks a lot better now, but you can be the judge of that.
> And if you want to see a more working version of the site, go to http://dris.drischris.com/  All you can do is sign up, sign in, and sign out, but we're still working on it.  We're getting ready to move the whole darn thing to XML, which is why I have that XSLT subdirectory.  Oh, and the layout's different on the actual working version, but I kind of threw it together.  In other words, it's not likely that it'll look the same on every system, but whatever. *



I'm still uneasy about those colors.  Granted a Windows system will be a bit darker, but I think they're (colors) are a bit "bright".  Maybe a bit more contrast on the links?  Much, much better than the green though.

Maybe an off-white background (real light grey like  #E5E5E5) might do the trick and tone the brightness down a bit.


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## Jason (Dec 1, 2002)

i think everythings been covered, i dunno if this has, but you need to have the text within the "frame" of the nav bar and top bar, all your main text is below the nav bar etc... it just looks wrong 

the colors etc can work, with some massaging, you need to look at your font sizes and your typographic work of your title bar, really in this case color is not your weakest area, rather the rest of it is, sowwy, no offense or anything.


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## Dris (Dec 1, 2002)

Alright, I set the background to a very light blue (the grey didn't go very well).  It's a bit easier on the eyes, I think.  As far as adding contrast to the links, I tried a few things, but I ended up just increasing the font size a tiny bit.  I just woke up from a migraine at 2:00am, so I'm a bit lazy.  



> _Originally posted by BuddahBobb _
> *i think everythings been covered, i dunno if this has, but you need to have the text within the "frame" of the nav bar and top bar, all your main text is below the nav bar etc... it just looks wrong
> 
> the colors etc can work, with some massaging, you need to look at your font sizes and your typographic work of your title bar, really in this case color is not your weakest area, rather the rest of it is, sowwy, no offense or anything.  *



What do you mean by within the frame of the navbar and top bar?  Is the text wrapping around the navbar on your system?  It shouldn't be.  If so, what are you using, so I can correct the problem?  As far as the font sizes, they're all proportional to the default size the user has set, using the em unit.  What do you think needs done?  The title bar you're probably seeing is "dris", another artifact of NameZero's.    Try right-clicking the site and opening the frame in a new window.  Then you'll see the actual title.


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## mdnky (Dec 1, 2002)

The light blue makes a big difference IMHO.  Doesn't overload the eyes and makes viewing the content a bit easier.

Two things I noticed is the links and the "important" words (headers, contributors on bottom) are all a common color which might be a bit confusing to viewers.  The logo at the top left corner (DrisCris.com-Breathe) seems, for a lack of better words, hidden.

Only 2,000,000,000,000,000 more trial and errors to go...don't you just luv programming and design!


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## Trip (Dec 1, 2002)

> _Originally posted by mdnky _
> *Only 2,000,000,000,000,000 more trial and errors...   *



I think we've joked around enough with this. Let's get back to reality now guys.


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