45 replies to this topic

[softwebworks]

In my opinion, visibility is the main feature which can be improved in this site ...
colors, font size and also navigation ..

[petri]

In my opinion, visibility is the main feature which can be improved in this site ...
colors, font size and also navigation ..

Any specific suggestions on colors, fonts or navigation?

[ScottSalwolke]

I focused more on the copy and the photographs and how it related to your business. The large photograph makes me think its a rafting company, not hiking. I'd suggest showing someone on a trail. Also the first paragraph should help them experience the adventure. Instead this seems like bullet points without the bullets. I'd focus on the once in a life time experience, the getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Things like that.

[petri]

Something like this?

I changed the first paragraph into list and added to links.

[icecape67]

personally i don't like how with nearly every page there's a different color schema and header. I keep getting the feeling that i just jumped into a different site

[petri]

personally i don't like how with nearly every page there's a different color schema and header. I keep getting the feeling that i just jumped into a different site

I'm in the process of completely changing the design, and it takes time because I don't use Drupal or similar that would make things easier. I do it page by page, and while I'm at it, I also rewrite some of the copy, check head lines and title tags. It's going to take a while until everything is changed. And then it's probably time to start all over again

[Jill]

@petri you may want to think of getting a content management system so you can automate all that. It's long past the 1990's my friend!

[petri]

I downloaded Drupal a couple of weeks ago but the installation process wasn't as easy as I had expected. I'm a Mac person! I get nervous if I'm expected to know anything about writing code or commands with my keyboard
I need to hire someone to put it up for me.

[icecape67]

you necessarily need a CMS to achieve that (although it helps). what you need is to set the common elements of you pages to be managed by common modules so you only have to update in one place to have changes made across shared elements. How do you get around to do this will depend on what language you are using on your site

[1dmf]

Petri, global colour changes should be handled easily with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) if the same clases or id's are used on each page, you simply change one thing in the CSS and all pages adopt the new colours.

Even a CMS should handle such simple tasks as global CSS changes, if it doesn't i'd seriously question the CMS tool being used or look into getting some training if it's more operator problems than CMS functionality.

X/HTML & CSS really isn't that hard to learn if you have the drive too, and you will normally end up with much cleaner, sleeker, semantic code than any CMS or WYSIWYG tool will ever produce.

Right enough of the lesson, as for the change on the home page, much nicer on the eye and friendlier site, IMO , keep it up, you'll be glad you did

[Deverill]

Petri,
No offense meant to anyone pictured but that photo on the front page - my first impression - is a crazy old guy with an animal-hat will yell at me and chase me with a knife. If I saw the picture at the bottom of the page first then I'd be relaxed, interested, and ready to see what the other picture is all about. Just a thought.

[1dmf]

hey we are talking 'Viking' country what do you expect!

Edited by 1dmf, 30 March 2009 - 10:54 AM.

[petri]

A CMS or CSS driven site would be very nice, but I don't think I have the energy right now to start learning something like that. How many days do you think it would take to learn to master CSS good enough to make a site like mine? It's nothing complicated I think, just a few tables.

The picture of the knife yielding person was a joke, but I liked it, so it has stayed there longer than I planned. It's something different, but maybe I should change it? Or at least put it lower on the page not to scare of anyone?

[1dmf]

How many days do you think it would take to learn to master CSS good enough to make a site like mine? It's nothing complicated I think, just a few tables.

How long is a piece of string, I've been coding x/HTML & CSS for @ 8 years now and I still would never dare to claim i've mastered it.

Not sure you ever will, standards change, coding practices, and sometimes old habits die hard!

It's about wanting and willing to learn, as with all learning, you'll learn nothing unless you want to! For a start, if you want to learn CSS and semantic web coding, you have to do away with the concept of your design only being a couple of tables

The concept of CSS is simple, have an element, give it an ID or Class , assign the ID/class a styling via CSS, when you want to change all elements with the same class/ID simply change the CSS and the whole site changes.

The tricky part is getting all browsers to display the same (which normally isn't possible, not all exactly the same!) and understandign the hierachy of CSS.

But the basic principles are quite straight forward.

[petri]

It's about wanting and willing to learn, as with all learning, you'll learn nothing unless you want to!

This is the problem. I don't want to. I would much prefer to give that job for someone else. I know enough to feel confident to go into the code and change details, but I don't want to do it all from scratch.