Topic: Code Town Redesign

http://www.codetown.org

I am interested in getting your thoughts on both the code and the design. I am pretty solid on the code end, but there are always a couple of issues there. I am, however, far more interested in your ideas about the design as design tends to be one of the areas which I fail in more often than not. If you have any sugestions at all let me know.

Thanks for your time,

Dan @ Code Town

Not bad, the blues and greys are nicely balanced, but the abstract image seems jarring to me because its colors just don't fit everything else. Perhaps change the image to one with blues in it, or pull some fushia/browns into the overall site color scheme. Or (another thought), have the images rotate on refresh, so that it's just not one static picture all the time. That way the colors in the image don't matter so much.

On your Image Gallery page, you have "Art of Something Like It" instead of "Art or.."

Code I can't really comment on, since I'm still learning to write my own and have far too much to learn still. I like the layout, it's nice and clean and easy on the eyes, but it's not simple. Very well done. Congrats on graduation, BTW.

_____________________

le coeur du feu
Qui sème le vent récolte la tempête!

Thanks for the nice sentiments on my graduation!

I guess the one image that popped for you was the one that didn't go with the color scheme at all, because that image there is on a rotation, it will change on refresh.

You also caught on to one of my other weaknesses - spelling and grammar - nice catch.

So, for the fixes the random image, I went into PS and messed with the hue saturation levels and set it to be a bit more blue. I did notice that it was glaringly off but I thought that it wouldn't be such a big deal. Since you thought it was off, means it probably was a big deal.

The gramatical error has also been taken care of thanks for the catch!

Thanks for the input,

Dan @ Code Town

(Edited by WarMage on 09-12-2004 01:01)

Ahh.. I see the rotation now, but I have to actually refresh each page to see the image change. If I just move between the links, it keeps the same image.

No worries on the spelling, using "of" instead of "or" is one my failings also, as well as transposing the "h" with the next letter in any "th" words (Like teh or taht). Just my sucky typing skills at work.

Nice rework on the first image I saw. The purple and blues look nice, and I like the image itself, color aside.

_____________________

le coeur du feu
Qui sème le vent récolte la tempête!

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

That was worthwhile. Thanks.

Dan @ Code Town

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

Could you explain "unachieved"? I am also interested in the weird hover effect. I can't reproduce that.

For the borderless issue of the menu do you have any sugestions? The funny thing is that the menu's came first and the rest of the site seemed to change leaving the menus a little out of touch with the rest of the site. I am going to keep trying. As I said design is definately not my strong point so any sugestions on this end would be appreciated.

I agree about the unprofessional part and about the content being um... is dismal a good word? I'll work on that for me, the content is a painful process.

And as my audience is definately not a potential employer I am pretty safe on that end. It is really just for fun.

Thanks for the time in the reply. Hopefully I can do something to rectify the problems.

Dan @ Code Town

<edit>my grammar sucks</edit>

(Edited by WarMage on 09-14-2004 14:50)

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

Hi there Dan
Sorry to say, I don't really like it either...
I've looked at it a couple of times and there are some things that keep nagging at me.

General feeling is that it feels like it's put together from different parts created one by one without any real thought of how they should go together.

Like one day you did the header which in itself turned out pretty ok.
The next week you where fiddling with the menu as a separate thing.
Another week you did some abstract images that was cool.

A month later you put it all together on a page and added content.
While all parts by themselves are ok, together they lack a "red thread" to keep them together.

The header has blocky text and waves, the waves does not return in any other place, perhaps pick that up in a theme of abstract graphics that has more witespace in them, makes them a bit less in your face.

The flow from the wave thing can be picked up in the menu as well if you like.
The base of my line of thought is "What is grouped together belongs together" and "What looks similar belongs together" These two things are something your brain does automatically, It looks for patterns, color, placement, shape/form in order to create order from what it sees.

Work along these lines to make the elements of the page work together instead of acting as freestanding elements. Easily said, harder to do, I know, but it's a good thing to remember.

Then, what's the focus of the page?
As it is now it's on the graphic, especially this specific time when it loaded something that was 2/3 solid black & the rest divided between greenish and blue. It's right smack dab in the middle! And right now, sorry but it doesn't deserve that

Either work for a theme for them that fits with the overall thought or move them in order to place focus on the content.

Keep working on it, that's the only way to learn!

/Dan

{cell 260} {Blog}
-{ ?Computer games don?t affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we?d all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.? (Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.) }-

Excellent! Thanks and thanks. This is how I learn.

It is too quick for me to get anything together to actually respond. The common theme idea is something I completely understand yet have a lot of trouble actually getting.

My current thoughts are that this isn't exactly something that can be fixed. I need to start again, take some more time to organize some ideas and then but it together as one complete entity. And you are correct about how it came together, it was all thrown together at different times.

I think I am going to spend some time just thinking about this, and then go from there.

I'll be back!

Dan @ Code Town

And we'll be here waiting /D

{cell 260} {Blog}
-{ ?Computer games don?t affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we?d all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.? (Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.) }-