Preserved Topic: local youth baseball site... review if possible :)

have just finished laying out a 're-design' for a local youth baseball Website and I was wondering if anyone would like to give me some feedback? its a fairly straight forward website.. no bells and whistles!
http://www.almontyouthbaseball.com

thanks in advance! <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">



[This message has been edited by vogonpoet (edited 06-10-2000).]

The layout looks quite good, but I think your choice of colors could be better. The blue text has little contrast against the gray. A darker blue would be better. On some of the tables you used aqua and orange. That did'nt look too good. But the rest is good. Very functional design.

Just my humble opinion.

I got a little confused at first by the two menus (it doesn't take much, does it? <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">
But once I had looked at the page for a little while that was no problem.
Maybe you should define some more fonts besides the Comic one, to avoid that the default font being used. That is what happened on my system.
I like the mouseover in the menu, and the drawings at the top.
I never like scrollings texts much in general, and it seems you would not be able to fit much in that little news window. I think the page would look better without it.

I agree also about the colour of the text.
I think it is a good general layout, that is easy to find your way around in <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

Awilthil: I know what you mean about the colour of the text.. one of the things I have been wondering about, and also the table background colours.. I shall play around with different colours and see if I can improve the legibility.. thanks

Zox: not sure if I agree with you about the 2 menus... I wanted to tried to divide the subjects into 2 groups and thats how they got there!.. I know what you mean about the java applet (scrolling text).. I just thought it was a good way of doing 'news headlines' and then let vistors go to the 'news page' for details... if I removed it I am not sure what I could fill that corner with!!! lol thanks for the comments..

~Vp~

Lets start at the beginning.

The splash page needs some help -- it doesn't fit with the rest of the feel of the site. The baseball looks an awful lot like Sloloem's golfball that he made with a small displacement map (if I remember correctly, and I may not). It's not very realistic. I'd say steal a real baseball and play with it a little bit, or go more stylized on the design of the ball.

Color-wise, blue on gray is almost the most difficult combination for text in the entire universe. It hurts the eyes. a LOT.. throw in green and you've got yourself a fountain of vomit. Add a sprinkle of yellow, and you've destroyed my retinas. Thanks.

The header on the main page is wonderful, save for the blue/green on gray combination which, as I mentioned, hurts my eyes. Also, you might want to change the font on that, because it honestly took me some time to read "Almont" ... I swear it said "Almost" and that scared me. A lot.

The roll-overs are nice, but introduces another color to an already chaotic (yet strangely simple) design.

The interface on the left needs some help. It looks like a mistake in coding, because it seems like it should be directly under the header with the green stuff.

Good beginning. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

lmao.. good thing I am drinking beer! *hick* lol.. thanks for the comments Twitch!... actually.... the only thing I would disagree with you on is the comment "Good beginning" heheh now that hurt!

However.. I take your comments well and shall dwell on them (for at least 30 secs or so).... <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

~Vp~

I have never even seen a baseball up close, so I would not know if that looks realistic or not <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/tongue.gif">
Such a deprived childhood... <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

<inserts 30 seconds of thinking music>

Baseballs have little red stitches along the seem that define them as baseballs. Vogons kinda look more like white tennis balls.

I also read 'Almost' not 'Almont' and thought nothing of it? 'Til I read it again.

oh, vp, stop being a baby. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif"> You needed to hear what I said, and I refuse to take any of it back...unless I said something about your questionable parentage, in which case I take that back.

just kiddign Twitch^.. you are right about most of what you said, and I do appreciate any and all feeback.. it all helps me get perspective...after staring at a website for hours on end, it is easy to miss stuff and grow accustomed....

edit <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/frown.gif">questionable 'parentage'.. hehe your not gonna say sumin bad about test tubes is ya?):end edit

weadah: right about the base/tennis ball... lol... I know it needds improvement and will be fixing that when I can... I am gonna borrow one from somewhere and stick it on my monitor as reference....

I think the main critism is the color choices and I think that shall be my most urgent change.. (wish I had leant how to use CSS )

thanks to all for all your input so far.. is well appreciated <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

~Vp~




[This message has been edited by vogonpoet (edited 02-10-2000).]

Yup, the colors are the biggest problem here.

My suggestion would be to lighten up the grey significantly if not make it white altogether. That would help increase contrast with the blue.

I think this site has a very specific audience, probably of people who are slightly less web-savvy than the average web designer <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif"> Therefore, I think sticking to the tried and true conventions makes a lot of sense. I think the most important thing for that demographic is having the links the default blue color and nothing else.

Also try keeping some of the main text black so that when you do choose to use a color for a header or something it really stands out. In terms of color choices, other than the bright blue links, I would say make any other colors less bright and saturated. Softer pastels or dark tones are not so jarring.

Now that I've railed on your design, I should say that I really like the header graphic, especially the players (soft tones!), I might change the color of the title just so its not the same color as the links.

Other minor design notes:

On the schedules page I think the bounding boxes around the colored tables detract from the flow. If you remove them then the tables line up with the bounding boxes of the paragraphs of text in between.

The green around the links hugs the edges pretty tightly. Try giving a little padding so the baseballs are surrounded by green a bit more.

I love small fonts, but considering your audience of more middle-age type viewers a slightly larger size type might be less frustrating to old eyes <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif"> 12px or so?

Hope that adds something.

Jiblet: "more middle-age type viewers" lol.. I think you are right there!.. actually, i am hoping that the little leaguers themselves will use and enjoy the website as well as the 'wrinklies'.. 12 px (theres that CSS stuff again...groan) I do need to learn that stuff...

the table borders and bg colours are just copied straight from the original website and I agree with you...need more work

also I see what you mean about keeping consistency between the 'links' and color...
very good point..will look into that

now I have all this feedback I shall spend some time 'sprucing' and 'tweaking' things

thanks for your feedback Jiblet
~Vp~

The problem with not using stylesheets is that you can not specify absolute font size. So just when you think you've made the text large enough it's tiny on your friend's computer.

CSS is really quite simple to use. The trouble is keeping all your attributes straight, cuz there're a ton of them. Wish I could point you to a good reference, but unfortunately I just use Dreamweaver to create my Stylesheets. *ducks as Ozone throws a rock he's been using to carve his latest website.* <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

Jiblet: so CSS will override someones font settings in their browser?... I didnt know that.. cool...

anyone one else possibly have a good link to some reference stuff on CSS?.. pretty pleez <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

I think that besides the aforementioned color problems the background texture ads to the confusion of the page. They make it harder to read. I am not a huge fan of textured backgrounds I prefer flat colors behind text. It also makes the java app look a bit "dropped in"

ZOX

here ya go (GO GIANTS) now you have seen one.




Walking the Earth like Kane

[This message has been edited by bitdamaged (edited 03-10-2000).]

Wow! thata a huge "Ball" lol.. actually.. I just reworked my attempt and uploaded it.. not quite as good as your version Bitdamaged , but close!! <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

o O (darn... looks like I am about to go back to the drawing board with this website!!!!) ~phew~

~Vp~

Ack! The colors for the schedules are terrible! Use like blue and white or something like that.

I like the design of it otherwise.


Broken promises don't bother me. I just think, "Why did they believe me in the first place?" --Jack Handey

*falls on the floor and kisses ya feet* (well,,,hmmmm,, as in 'virtually' as in cyberspace kisses) lol... . thanks for the review Krets, I think we can all agree that the colors "suck" lol..

cheers ~Vp~

ok.. well I ditched the 'blue' Text colour and added some nice red stitches to the 'tennis-ball' (baseball lol) ... anyone feel like going and re-checking the site?

one thing I am having a problem is , is with the 'schedule' page. It loads, but after a delay... its strange....I have checked the code and rebuilt the page even but I still get a 'lag' any ideas why?
I am not sure if there are too many tables (nested) etc...

any suggestions would be welcome thanks
http://www.almontyouthbaseball.com

Thanks for the instructive picture Bitdamaged <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif"> Now all I need to do is to learn the rules, since I will be moving to the US next year. So, GIANTS is the team I should root for, is it? <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">
Vogonpoet, I think it looks better with the black text. I am not too fond of the green colour you use for the titles on each page, besides it's being a rather ugly colour in itself (IMHO) it also doesn't match very well with the rest of the page.
I'd say that the reason the "schedule" page loads only after a bit of a delay is that you have a lot of tables there. Big tables are always a bit heavy and slow to load.
I think your changes are certainly an improvement - it's getting better! <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

Thanks for the comments Zox. The green titles are only temporary til I can figure out something a little more 'attractive'

appreciate the feedback <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

Like your graphics for the header and navigation.

Why don't you use more of the page?? If you are worried about peoples screen size just stick it in a table at 100%. So many things go just over a page, it would neaten it all up and give you loads more space to work with.

Ditto a lot of the other comments - please don't go with the grey it doesn't compliment anything else.

Ali.. what would you suggest as an alternative to grey?

I designed the page to be 600 pixels wide (fixed) and am using frames to allow the page content to float for people with larger monitors and higher resolutions...

I guess I need to get out of the habit of desgining for 640 x480 ! lol

thanks for the comments <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

I shall have a play tonight and tell you later!

Ali (really busy now at work <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/frown.gif"> )

What about this?

suggestion

This way you don't have to change any of your images, yet you are adding the colour to the site that everyone was asking for.

Ali <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

so you have left justified the page allowing the page to 'stretch ' depending on the size/resolution of a viewers monitor?.. I guess that would work..

are you thinking about a 'green' BG colour while maintainng the grey as well?... I'll have to ponder that one..

I do like the way you moved the 'design by' to the left and changed the colour of the 'page title' (off yellow) looks nice....

its funny that you prefer left justified and using a percentage to allow the site to fit all windows, because that how I designed the original website 2 years ago! LOL....


all very helpful Ali.. I really appreciate your input and will try and implement some of it this weekend! (I too don't get enough time to do what I love!) the old site is still up there and when I get home tonight I shall repost the old URL for you to have a laff at the old design!..

thanks again Ali <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

EDIT: next time I get over to good ole 'blighty' the beers on me! lol... sheesh i do miss my old local.. can't seem to be able to get a decent pint here! oh well..



[This message has been edited by vogonpoet (edited 10-10-2000).]

I'll hold you to that one mate!

Sorry to do this to you when you are pondering a Brit pint - but I'm off to the pub.

See ya soon

Ali <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

rofl.. hey now..that's pure torture me ole china! well at least have pint on me!

Edit::: ok.. for your amusement only ALi! lol. this is the original website that I am re-designing now (or trying too very hard!) hehe Dont laugh too hard!.. http://www.almontyouthbaseball.com/index_old.html

~Vp~

[This message has been edited by vogonpoet (edited 11-10-2000).]

Guess if I ever need to know anything about animated gifs - you're my man!!

Poet you got skillz drawing no doubt how bout some kinda grass texture for the back ground or dirt.. and mebby make a score board with the news applet or something like i did with my applet..here-http://www.geocities.com/melstudios/indexad2000.htm -- .put it into your page ( cause every body hates pop-ups theses days) somehows(i put a lil window maby reload it if the crappy geo cities banner makes it big) mebby just a thought .. the text looked crisp to me good mouse overs but red???? more pics of baseball stuff like mebby the back of a baseball card intergrated into the stats ect... good otherwise i thought

kryptsta-

Ali : lol.. as you might be able to tell.. I am not into the animated gifs no more! hehe ..when I first started designing sites, I must admit I thought they were quite cool, but now looking back on it.. *shudder* they give me the creeps... I started working on a revision last night and this weekend I should have something finished and uploaded (I need 8 days a week!)

Krpyt: thanks for your comments, I am beginning to think the choice of most of my colours missed the mark on this website.. lol
but I havent given up yet!!!!! ya gotta love layers for editability!.. I like your idea of maybe some baseball card type of theme... interesting.. cheers

~Vp~

[This message has been edited by vogonpoet (edited 11-10-2000).]