# How does THIS look?...



## martinatkinson (Jan 9, 2002)

Hello!

Just finished building a design from scratch.  Using nothing but Photoshop 5 and GoLive 5.

Please take a look at http://www.myfamilycenter.org/appletreesw/ and let me know what you think.  Please vote on the poll above and also reply to tell me why you voted the way you did.

Thanks and have a great day!

Albert


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## edX (Jan 9, 2002)

well, i'm not sure if it really needs work. you didn't leave an option to just say "nice".  it looks very clean and simple. i'm not sure you need more than that.

only problem i had was that initial connection was very slow. connection stalled. some folks might not wait around as long as i did. once in, links worked fine.


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## martinatkinson (Jan 9, 2002)

Hello!

Thanks for your reply.  Nothing you saw needed changing?  The logo looks fine, the design is OK.  That is great!  Usually when I design something from scratch I usually get something wrong (especially on a logo).

About the slow connection:  Just got an email from my server saying they were doing stuff to it.  Maybe that is why.

Have a great day!

Albert


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## martinatkinson (Jan 9, 2002)

Oh, almost forgot to ask:  Is there any HTML/JavaScript code that will remove that border that later versions of Internet Explorer puts around links/images when clicked?  It looks really bad.

Thanks!

Albert


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## Nummi (Jan 10, 2002)

The site is very clean... but, enough with the, "already been done a thousand times" apple website look.  I know you are making software for macs.  but cmon.  be creative, come up with your own design/feel.


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## mrfluffy (Jan 10, 2002)

looks pretty cool, sorry im not more constructive.


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## martinatkinson (Jan 10, 2002)

Nummi, I do not quite know what you mean about the apple-like design.  There are no aqua tabs or like apple has.  The only thing I can see that is apple-like are the buttons everything else is original (sat down in Photoshop and spent an hour getting the design just right from scratch).  Is this what you mean.

Thanks you all for your comments!

Albert


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## cabbage (Jul 16, 2002)

I think you meant GoLive 6
<meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 6">

It looks fine though nice and clean it explains what you are trying to sell or show the world like website ares suppose to do.


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## martinatkinson (Jul 16, 2002)

lol...cabbage...if you just checked this site recently then you are looking at a newer design...good eye though!  This thread was posted in January of this year, I thought it was time for a change.  When I designed the update I used Photoshop 7 and GoLive 6  

Classic is pretty much obsolete in my life...last time I launched it was about a month ago...I just put it on a seperate hard drive to free up space on my original one  

Hey, if you guys want to check out the new design, let me know what you think...Nummi, this design is even more "aqua-ish"  I know, I know, you said I should come up with my own look and feel...but I think that making it look like the OS X GUI will portray that it is a Mac OS X software site  

Albert


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## Trip (Jul 16, 2002)

The new design isn't too bad, but...i've seen better like that. For example: http://beta.carrisma.net


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## Lazzo (Jul 17, 2002)

martinatkinson - I found this last year, can't remember where but it works (you might have to juggle it a bit):

"Within the link tag of any link on your page insert the following piece of JavaScript:

onClick='if(this.blur)this. blur()'
<a url='page1.html'>Link to page</a>

So your link will look like this:
<a url='page1.html' onClick='if(this.blur)this. blur()'>Link to page</a>

The bad news is that although this will get rid of those dotted outlines when you return to the page, it doesn't get rid of them flashing for an instant as you click on your link."


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## iFunk (Jul 25, 2002)

> Is there any HTML/JavaScript code that will remove that border that later versions of Internet Explorer puts around links/images when clicked? It looks really bad.



This is a better solution than provided by Lazzo:

<a href="link.htm" onFocus="this.blur();">Link</a>

It works all the time (never will show border), with all browsers and is short and sweet. And also works with any type of object (images, links, image maps, etc). 

Also, If you put it on a text field inside a form, i think it doesn't let them edit it at all... (don't quote me on that)

iFunk


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## Lazzo (Jul 25, 2002)

Thanks for that, iFunk.

I did a test form, but the text field is still editable in a browser. Does it make a difference where inside the form I put it? See attached for my quick paste-in:


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## martinatkinson (Jul 25, 2002)

Lazzo,

I think what iFunk was reffering to when he said "on a text field inside a form" was to put something like this:


```
<form name="form1" method="post" action="">
<textarea name="textfield" onFocus="this.blur();">thank you muchly</textarea>
</form>
```

I have not tested this out but I think that is what you are looking for  

Albert


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## Lazzo (Jul 25, 2002)

Yes thanks, that's the one. I just tested it and it works fine!

"Dammit, Jim, I'm a designer, not a developer!"


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## Pawn Trader (Jul 29, 2002)

I checked out the site and I like it. Subtle, but not barren. Good balance overall. One thing, though: the Javascript mouseovers are kinda flakey. I've noticed that about code from web page apps over the years; I don't have GoLive, but Adobe ImageReady creates crappy mouseover code, too. (And I'll *assume* that FrontPage ain't much better.)

I once spent what seemed like months cobbling together mouseovers  until I got it working in every browser (including the preload). That was back in the 4.0 browser days, but as far as I know it still works smoothly in every browser out there.

Check it out by hitting the 'Suites' link at http://islandworldrealty.com/

It's an old site, one of my first, and I'm in the process of rebuilding it, so no harsh criticisms please. But feel free to check out that code and use it if you want. It's a bit more tedious to re-adapt than other mouseovers I've seen, but like I said, it's the most universally compatible I know of. If you find otherwise, let me know before I reuse it again.


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## TommyWillB (Aug 17, 2002)

1) The blue "thermomitor" bar does not look finished at the top-left.
2) The top and left margins should match more... maybe be the same...
3) The navigation links to not help me understand where I am in the site. They should have some sort of "you are here" hightlighting...
4) It is not at all clear what this software is, what it will do, if it is serious or a joke, or if I should DARE download it. (I didn't.)
5) The Evil Empire thing at the top looks like an ad banner... again I was afraid to click that....
6) Always up is a bad name because it sounds more useful than just for Carracho. If it is not going to keep my machine up, then maybe you should call it CarrachoUP or something...
7) Since the site is at a *.org you need to spend more time explaining if this is in fact a commerical site or not...
8) If it is Appletree software, then why is it copyrighted by Eagle Graphics?
9) The words "contact us" in the home page body text should be a link to the Contact Us page...
10) You could have "conserved clicks" by having all of this in fewer pages...


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## EonBleu (Oct 7, 2002)

I like the site, clean and easy to navigate.  I have a couple of grammatical suggestions in the "about" section. Original Sentance:

All of our software have an easy to use interface that make your experience better and your task faster to accomplish. 

change "have" to "has"

Original Sentance:
 We feel like a lot of the software that is currently out for the Macintosh is very difficult to learn and/or use.

this is just a suggestion, but it seems to flow nicer:
"We feel that a lot of the software currently out for the Macintosh is very difficult to learn and/or use.

Other than that, I can't see anything wrong with the site. well done.


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## iFunk (Oct 7, 2002)

I am at work right now, and just looked at your site on the PC here. It looks shocking! The reason is because IE on PC does not support 32-bit transparent PNGs. It displays, but the transparency don't work as expected.

Also, I think the new look of macosx.com really sux arse!

Too hard to read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

iFunk


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## martinatkinson (Oct 7, 2002)

Thanks for your grammer suggestions, EonBleu, that will really help  

Also, iFunk, I made the site with 32bit PNGs for that very reason, the software I develop is currently Mac only, so PC users shouldn't be looking at it anyhow...lol  

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions  

Albert


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## karavite (Oct 31, 2002)

It is nice and simple and that is good! The consistent use of the left navigator is great, but I think it might be worth having the home page formatted the same as the other pages. Going back and forth to home is visually jarring - the same navigator links/buttons are there, but users "physical memory" of having these links on the left could cause a little frustration and inital confusion every time they return to home. You could still use your brushed metal window in the content section to hold other content or links - just not the main site navigator buttons.

It would be nice if the active link had some visual indicator (for example if I am on Software, have the button be another color that stands out). This introduces issues when you are at pages that are "children" of the main link - for example - PowerText - would you have Software highlighted or not? A lot of people use navigator "sublinks" - following this strategy you would have little buttons indented and placed under Software (only when it is selected) for each page under the software section and each of these would be highlighted when active. Though it may seem a hassle now, it will help to have this sort of thing as your site grows.

Also, you may want to justify the navigation buttons to the left or center - I'm not sure which would be best - maybe center to align with your nice logo.

You might want to consider having the content text start just a little bit lower - I may be off on this, but it just struck me as something to try. Also, you might think about having a more pronounced title for each page - for some reason, the titles really didn't jump out for me. My eyes didn't want to go that high and I am willing to bet this is a result of viewing so many pages that have some kind of masthead.

Please don't take this as anything but constructive critisicm. I work as a usabiltiy specialist and I do this kind of thing all day long. You have done a far better job than most people and this is a very good effort. Good luck.


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