Topic: Tips/Suggestions

Just want to get an idea of how this site: http://www.unusualfrequency.com
views in different Browsers/OS.

Tested in:
Opera v 7.21
Netscape v 7.1
IE v 6.0

What about FireFox and other browsers?

UnusualFrequency -=BmF=- Clan

Hello!

Well, I had a look at your site even though I am using Explorer 6.0 on this machine. Your site looks fine here, as you already know. I like the looks of your site a lot, clean, Colour scheme is good, easy to find and so on. The typical clean look a CSS based site usually has.

A very brief look at your html code:
You could save tons of space by not using tables in your menus. Maybe you stepped into the same problem as I did, "want to have lists, but CSS makes them jump like 5 px from left edge of the box". This is how you could try to make it in CSS:

Put ul and li into your CSS document, list-style-type : disc for ul, and margin-left : 0 for both ul and li. That way your lists in your menus should start at the very left, and you could skip the entire table system you have made for your menus. The menuheader in your list could have the background color in .menuheader as well. You only need to say:

<div id="lmenuLYR">

<div class="menuheader">.: Webmaste(R) :.</div>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.unusualfrequency.com/index.shtml">Main</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.unusualfrequency.com/index01.shtml">Info</a></li>

<! -- the rest of your menu -- >

</ul>

</div>

By the way, do you need to put out the full address for your links? I haven't worked with shtml, so I don't know if it works differently when linking to documents inside your main folder. But isn't it enough with - for example - a rel="nofollow" href="index.shtml" for documents in main folder, and a rel="nofollow" href="3Dworld/index.shtml" for document in another folder? Maybe it's different with shtml, I don't know. If so, I apologize for the comment.

I am an amateur in web design, but willing to help if there is something I know about. Good luck with your site. Looks good!

~~Kartis - in Cell 1025~~

Well, it looks the same in all the bworsers I tested it in, but it looks uniformly bad in all of them.

For starters, get rid of that half-toned background. It makes the text look super ugly and creates a moire pattern on my monitor (and I'd bet this happens with most aging CRT screens) which is kinda cool given the name of the website, but it's causes an annoyance that far outweights it's novelty value.

Very little attention to whitespace (lack of margins, cramped text etc...), no order in the colour scheme (links and headings the same colour). Add to that the everything-in-a-box design trend which is starting to get really bloody old and the heading is looking like a 5 second photoshop bevel.

Overall it's a nice try but it's severly lacking. There's definatly room for quite a bit of improvment.

quote:

---

A very brief look at your html code:
You could save tons of space by not using tables in your menus. Maybe you stepped into the same problem as I did, "want to have lists, but CSS makes them jump like 5 px from left edge of the box". This is how you could try to make it in CSS:

Put ul and li into your CSS document, list-style-type : disc for ul, and margin-left : 0 for both ul and li. That way your lists in your menus should start at the very left, and you could skip the entire table system you have made for your menus. The menuheader in your list could have the background color in .menuheader as well. You only need to say:

code:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div id="lmenuLYR"><div class="menuheader">.: Webmaste(R) :.</div><ul><li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.unusualfrequency.com/index.shtml">Main</a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.unusualfrequency.com/index01.shtml">Info</a></li><! -- the rest of your menu -- ></ul></div>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


By the way, do you need to put out the full address for your links? I haven't worked with shtml, so I don't know if it works differently when linking to documents inside your main folder. But isn't it enough with - for example - a rel="nofollow" href="index.shtml" for documents in main folder, and a rel="nofollow" href="3Dworld/index.shtml" for document in another folder? Maybe it's different with shtml, I don't know. If so, I apologize for the comment.

I am an amateur in web design, but willing to help if there is something I know about. Good luck with your site. Looks good!

---

Never thought of using a list for the menu, completely missed that, might end up changing it (gotta test it out see if does what I need).
As for the includes yea it has to be a full url or I would end up putting the SSI in every directory below that which would mean editing that much more. Directories below the SSI read it as if the link is in or below the same directory the page is in. No apologies necessary.

quote:

---

Well, it looks the same in all the bworsers I tested it in, but it looks uniformly bad in all of them.

For starters, get rid of that half-toned background. It makes the text look super ugly and creates a moire pattern on my monitor (and I'd bet this happens with most aging CRT screens) which is kinda cool given the name of the website, but it's causes an annoyance that far outweights it's novelty value.

Very little attention to whitespace (lack of margins, cramped text etc...), no order in the colour scheme (links and headings the same colour). Add to that the everything-in-a-box design trend which is starting to get really bloody old and the heading is looking like a 5 second photoshop bevel.

Overall it's a nice try but it's severly lacking. There's definatly room for quite a bit of improvment.

---

Yea seems in resolutions other than 1024x768 have a problem with the screened background. And again never thought about the link/header colors. And I seem to be graphically challenged in the photoshop area.

What I intend the main interface to be is more of a jumping point to interfaces and other various things. That's the reason behind the simple design or as you say

quote:

---

the everything-in-a-box design trend

---

.
And yea it does kind of remind me of a pre-made template but it wasn't. I really wanted to go with something different but I just hadn't been able to grasp any kind of graphic gesign. Everything I've done looks like a 6 year old made it lol. I kinda thought the logo was rather good, seein as how it took me a few hrs to get everything to line up. Thx for the tips hope there's more.

UnusualFrequency -=BmF=- Clan

Just wonderin' about the lack of margins and cramped text. What screen resolution you use? And are you talking about the content margin or the menu?

P.S. Does it look better with the background gone now?

Also I tried using a list for the menus but I can't seem to get it to accomplish what I want.


UnusualFrequency -=BmF=- Clan

[This message has been edited by newbielike (edited 04-05-2004).]

[This message has been edited by newbielike (edited 04-06-2004).]

I think it's a decent effort. Nothing spectacular but a good start.

In terms of margins, It's mainly the left and right margins (though the right isn't so bad just because of the nature of the beast) but the left menus are so tight to the left that it almost pulls your eye off of the browser window. Just a couple of pixels space before the list items should do the trick.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

I'd just like to add a few things to what has been said above... mostly impressions, really, and a few nitpicks.

My two biggest problems with this design would have to be color and space. Color-wise it is at best uninspired, and at worst confusing (as Cameron pointed out). It is overwhelmingly gray, with only that dark red to break things up, and I just don't think it works. Space-wise, I'm getting the sense that you perceive this page as a conglomeration of elements rather than as a whole space. It seems rather disjointed--the various elements are not working together. Does that make sense? I know what the page makes me feel when I look at it, but I'm not sure if I'm putting it into words properly. On the concrete level, yes, a lot of it had to do with margins and padding.

Nitpick #1: What is the purpose of the capital letters in parentheses in the menu headings? My first thought upon seeing them was that they indicated access key assignments, but then I realized that not only would that not make sense, but you also have two "S"s, which would screw things up. I don't really see the point in doing this, and I don't think it's worth the possible confusion.

Nitpick #2: The "view intro" link on the left side just reloads the page.

Nitpick #3: Why italics on hover? Most text on the web looks pretty bad in italics... I would think a color change and the underline would be enough.

That's about it for now. Hope that helps.


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