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Posted by unionjack on Mar-10-2003 11:49:

Web Site needs looking over

MY WEB SITE NEEDS YOU
Hi I have been putting a web site together over the last few weeks.
On sunday march 2nd I posted a link to it and got a great feed back from a man like CUBE. He gave me loads of advice and my web sites gone from being dark and grim, to bright and happy.
All I need now is some more feed back. I just need you trance addicts to go check it out and then send me any thoughts or ideas you get.
Please can you use the email form on the web site as I need to check out its all working fine and I want to file all comments and ideas so i can go back to the for inspiration.
I am not looking for comments on the content that is already there but I would like to hear of any other ideas to put on it.
I'm just looking for feed back on Looks & Lay out & any other content.

Thanks once again to a man like Cube ya been a big help

Trance Zone UK

Posted by Rostros on Mar-10-2003 15:32:

hmmmm , just been to your site, unfortunatley , i don't really the design , the blue has to go , it reminds me of a pop up window blue colour, ill give you credit for putting stuff onto you site, as mine is still quite bare , plus im lazy, i recommend you use Dreamweaver and photoshop and maybe learn some php or asp scripting , if you want to add any of your links to my site to increase visitors you can. pm me when u have more content up.

Posted by unionjack on Mar-10-2003 16:42:

Thanks for looking at the site, Sorry to hear you don't like the blue.
It will be staying for now as I want to concentrate on content for a bit, It Would be great to swop links with you as my links page is next to be put together.

Trance ZoneUK

Posted by fr0st on Mar-10-2003 23:50:

Ok I don't like the site i believe the color scheme is way to bright and hurt my eyes... And I do not like the big buttoms(maybe you could resize them), I don't like having to scroll down to navigate a site. maybe rearrange the buttons smaller and at the top. Check my site out.....I dont have much time to work on it...but you can see what ive done in a few hours i like to use a color scheme that isnt soo birgh....Maybe its all just my personal prefrence.

www.Frozen-Web.com My content is lacking atm but the layout is good imo.

Posted by unionjack on Mar-11-2003 00:04:

Thanks for taking a look, My 1st attempt was dark like yours most people said it would look better brighter, althought maybe it needs breaking up a bit that i am looking into.
Thanks for your input

Posted by Vanilla on Mar-11-2003 00:45:

Yea, the blue is too bright. Try and get the colors so they dont contrast one another so much. But my biggest tip would be to get comfortable with photoshop so you can make some nice looking graphics.

Here's my site if you need any idea's SITE

Posted by sothis on Mar-11-2003 01:45:

bright is not always a better thing. id rather see something dark than bright blue and yellow :/ (reminds me of a candy raver page!)

i think you are off to a nice start, but the design is way too basic. its all completely flat looking except for the buttons and the top image, so the contrast is way too much. just looks like you threw some buttons on the side and then added some text. it would work for a simple page, but if you want something to draw people in, it needs to be a lot more advanced.

so, yes. frame the page with some sort of graphic, or do something to draw the overall content of the page together, rather than it looking like stuff has just been thrown on the screen. black text on blue background is hard to read.. id chagne the blue, and also put some sort of color behind the text so its readable (again, if you add a background image graphic of some sort behind the logo/buttons/text, this would be easy to do.

i also really dont understand what that image bar is doing at the bottom of the screen. i tried to scroll/drag past it for a good 5 seconds before realizing its just an image hanging out down there.

on sublevel pages, i woudlnt use the same pill graphics as the links at the bottom. it looks kind of tacky.

sorry if this sounds overly critical, im not trying to be... you do have a good start.

Posted by unionjack on Mar-11-2003 02:00:

Thanks for the input its great to get so many comments obviously I cant make all them work as we all have out own tastes and what we like but I agree it looks to flat. I have lots to be getting on with now so maybe in a week or so take another look and see how I am getting on.
Thanks to everyone for there help
UJ

Posted by sl.ent on Mar-11-2003 05:55:

Good luck

Posted by fr0st on Mar-11-2003 06:12:

Noticed something else you have it set so the buttons open a new window that is realy annoying.

Posted by Rostros on Mar-11-2003 16:23:

not at bad site vanilla , just some more advise to union jack , The hardest thing about creating a webpage is to actually start off the design , using your mind can be hard, the best thing to do is to get lots of images from , girls , cars , dj's , and stock photography, get familiar with PSP or Photoshop , I recommend PSP for begginers as it has more or less all the same functions as Photoshop, download some fonts and play around with the images , use built in tools like clone brush , gamma , or maybe get some plug ins, dont go to heavy on the design as ppl dont want to be sat waiting for ages for images to appear, stick to a color scheme , dont go wild crazy colors , try and come away from bright colors esp Red / Blue / Yellow, White and Black are perfect , use .gif compression instead of JPG and Defo use CSS , otherwise the text will look shit. check this site out

www.thebestdesigns.com

Posted by unionjack on Mar-11-2003 18:54:

OK back again, I took all of your ideas and worked on some new looks.
Its not bright any more. I have put the buttons at the top now, hope this helps.
I am slowly getting there, I got photoshop8 at the weekend, been playing around with it at least my images are not going blocky now.
I want to get the links page done so it has more info. so any links to your sites or places of interest pass them on please.
I have someone setting me up a pop up free forum so that's more stuff to look forward to.
As for now i want to just get more info up any 1 got pics i can put up?
By the way the radio station linked onto my site is back up and running, Just got to wait to they go back on air.
Trance Zone Uk

Posted by fr0st on Mar-11-2003 19:12:

nice me likes the colors. Now the next thing i would do is center it.
Allign your table to the center. I personaly dont like the asymetrical look but thats me...

Posted by verminator on Mar-11-2003 22:24:

anyone who wants to make an easy site for me?

just want one cool pic/design as the "main" page, and with two buttons which i can link to two subdirs and let ppl go through some pics/dl liveset. need nothing more
no place to write nor nothing =p

for example if site is : http://come.to/blabalba
i want to link to http://come.to/blabla/liveset and http://come.to/blabla/pics

and then do nothing more about it

Posted by sothis on Mar-12-2003 02:56:

this is MUCH better...

i recommend (once you get good with photoshop) to still put some sort of image background, or something behind all the buttons/boxes, so its all framed nicely. also i would add one more color, but this blue is definitely better. you could even maybe just put one frame/table thing behind the center part/text, with a white background or a different light colored background, to stand out against the text more

nice progress!

Posted by unionjack on Mar-12-2003 03:07:

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT
Just keep on checking back from time to time

Posted by Rostros on Mar-12-2003 11:21:

Looking better I Must say just a few things I recommend you do.

>>>>>>Intro Page

Background Looks like you have tiled the image and looks quite poor, I suggest you increase the size or merge it into the centre and use a transparent effect so it blends in. Try and add some more information on the intro page, 2 Images does look plain. maybe a disclaimer or something.

>>>>>>Main pAGE

Ive noticed that you have use UPPER Case and lOWER Case for the file names , e.g TranceZoneUKhome.html , maybe tzukhm.html. I also suggest that you get a better navigation bar with buttons into it , maybe roll overs , also a top frameset.

gl

Posted by unionjack on Mar-12-2003 13:34:

Taking notes

Yeah I see you point its a little hard on the eye still to read.
I will work on that next I got the logo all centred correctly on each page now and by the weekend my new forum should be ready.
I'm on the look out for a nice high res quality snap of loads of people dancing maybe in a club or some venue its purposely for making a new screen tag.
any 1 can help please send it to [email protected]

Trance Zone UK

Posted by pnuemo on Mar-12-2003 18:22:

the site is okay, no load time. you COULD spruce it up a little, but if that's the style you were going for, nice one. plain and to the point. not confusing at all. now, since i helped you, you help me and hook me up with that beccy chick!!!

Posted by unionjack on Mar-12-2003 19:42:

Thanks for looking

Yep we are getting there now, It's starting to take shape. Just keep playing and trying ideas but even I think its looking much better now.
Sorry Cant hook you up and I think you mean Fay the blonde one?
but cos im nice you can have another pic.
here.......
Trance Zone UK

Posted by Ashelon on Mar-13-2003 23:13:

I only just looked over your site so I have no idea how bright it was before, but this blue is nice. It allows you to use different colors that contrast well (like yellow and white) later on, should you wish to do so.

There seems to be some inconsistency in your navigation. The buttons on your Premier page are different from those at the main page. It is usually a good idea to keep that structure the same, unless you really want to confuse people and force them to think at every page.

The textboxes seem to be GIF files? I suppose you have a good reason to do so. It is a lot easier to update when they're just plain text in a table. The font you are using right now seems to be Tahoma. Good choice, nice and readable. Stay away from seriph fonts and please, do not use Times New Roman. Ever.

The jagged "pixelated" edges you see at the left and right bottom corners of your banner logo need anti-aliasing. It's not as obvious for the top corners.

Good background image. As others previously mentioned, it doesn't look very professional for browsers with a resolution of 1024 and up, the tiling is pretty obvious.

Given the fact that you started from scratch, you're doing really well. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to build a community from nothing, and it seems that you are well on your way. Once your site looks awesome and you have excellent content, traffic will start flowing in. You can do it!

Posted by unionjack on Mar-13-2003 23:21:

Thanks for support

Thanks you for taking the time to look over the site, its coming along slowly but surely.
Its nice that everyone is giving me there ideas as I try to do the best i can with what I got and I am totally self taught.
Even thought we all have our own ideas of what we like and colours and so on I really think since you peeps have told me your views it has come on along way.
I hope to have a new forum tomorrow or at least by the weekend up and running.
Also my links page.
keep checking up on me now and again, and thanks again to one and all.
UJ
Trance Zone UK

Posted by Ashelon on Mar-13-2003 23:30:

Re: Thanks for support

quote:
Originally posted by unionjack
Even thought we all have our own ideas of what we like and colours and so on.

Very true. Don't let someone talk you into making changes you don't want to. If twenty people complain about something for example, it's usually worth it to go and have a critical look at it.

If you're self taught, you will definitely want to teach yourself CSS or Cascaded Style Sheets. Layout, image placement, clean menus, fast loading... CSS rocks.
It's also a good idea to have a look at succesful sites and see how they do things, get some inspiration. Take a few different concepts and create something new out of it.

Posted by sothis on Mar-13-2003 23:54:

the text in the middle is much easier to read now

Posted by Orbax on Mar-14-2003 02:13:

alter buttons on mouseover and button highlight for page currently on. Lose the tile backgrounds

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