Aberystwyth Lifeboat touch up

[hotnuts21]

Hi,

I manage and run this site http://www.aberystwythlifeboat.org.uk I like the site layout, but i think it needs updating or freshening up just so it looks more modern, crisp that sort of thing. Its just a bit of a face lift it needs stick to whats already there but tidy it up make it look nicer/better.

The news box at the bottom is going, its just going to be the main shouts and 4 per the front page.

any questions let me know :)

[hotnuts21]

No takers then? Or is everyone just mega busy?

[hotnuts21]

Palmer,

It appears no one can help so you may as well delete this post :(

Any big business wanna pay for a small face lift contact me! :)

[Palmer]

Paul, I can barely get enough people to enter the paid template contests right now. It's just crazy busy. I'm sorry they couldn't help, there is someone that isn't on the design team that I told to contact you. I hope they will be able to help you.

[hotnuts21]

Its not a problem mate, I know that a lot of people use this forum for building a portfolio and touching up an existing site is probably not as appealing!

I may have just landed a nice contract, if so I will be signing up for the resseller scheme, so keep you eyes peeled for that $100 :)

[hotnuts21]

Got that contract so reseller scheme here i come :D

Also the person you told to contact me, did do and we have worked together on the project. He has come up with a great design, but I dont like to ask him to do too much coz i am nice like that.

You can see the design Here (http://www.42i.co.uk/al/) The blue header background is gonna be white instead. I would like some feedback and any ideas anyone has, I want this to be the best of the best.:) and its definitely going that way.

Any ideas for how I can present the shouts/news items and also any other ideas thoughts you guys have would be good.

Hope you can spare 5 mins to give your opinions :tup:
thanks

[Palmer]

Looks really nice, I honestly don't have any advice on the shout box. Looks fine. :tup:

[hotnuts21]

Thanks Palmer,

If you look at the main site you can see how we lay out the shouts with the time, date, weather etc. And I was just seeing if anyone had any idea on how we could make this bit look better, maybe the layout we currently use would be ok!

Anyone else got any thoughts?

[Mike]

Looks awesome! :D

[Mike]

Only thing: I think it looks a bit better with a blue header. Just isn't enough contrast when it's white ;) Just my humble opinion :D

[chris]

It has a blue header background now... is that better? I wasn't convinced, but I can't remember why!

[Mike]

I like it :D

[hotnuts21]

Yeah it looks good Chris, its growing on me, maybe soften the edges of the banner somehow??

Also we have got to incorporate that flag somewhere that i sent you with the text so you can add that to one side of the banner. Also i thought adding text like

"Atlantic 75 currently on station
Our own 'Enid Mary' B-704"

Just an idea what do people think?

[chris]

Done and done. How's this? http://42i.co.uk/al/ :tup:

[hotnuts21]

flag looks good, I meant adding the text to the header somewhere.

How does it look at 800 ? Ok i spose.

Could we make the flag 40% smaller please??

Come on people your thoughts would be appreciated :)

[lang]

I like it! Compliments to the chef. :)

[hotnuts21]

Cool glad you like it :)

Any ideas on how we can lay out present the shouts? They just look like a bunch of text at the moment i want them to be less intense! :help:

[lang]

I think perhaps have the background color on those shouts changed to something else besides white - maybe a faint beige or gray, to give it more focus.

Also, have the text divided into 2 columns, maximum 8-10 words per sentence. It's much easier on the eyes - one reason why magazines are so easy to read. On my 19 inch monitor, sentences that run across the length of the screen is tiring to follow. :)

[chris]

True, but then for people running at 800x600, the text would be in very thin columns...

[hotnuts21]

I have just had an idea for the layout, i quickly whipped this up using 'paint' dont laugh its the only graphics prog on my laptop :unsure:

Anway here it is.

<img src='http://www.sankesolutions.co.uk/layout.JPG[/img]

The colours are just for showing the areas. Baically haveing the picture where the white box is, then the shout info, date, time, crew, wind force weather etc in the pink area and then the details in the purply blue area wrapping the picture. Or something like that anyway.

I like the idea of coloured background for the text and i think a light pastel colour that is hardly noticeable but there would be good.

Does that float your boat folks?

[Zoe]

howdi,

You could try something like this (liquid though) but this is how it would look for 800x600. Have each shout in their own box underneath one another.

[hotnuts21]

Yeah i like the idea of that :)

I will have to work out a nice font to use. I like this forum font actually :) I might put a bit more info into the header too, like the 'cause of service' - 'persons in water' type of thing

Thanks for your thoughts so far, keep em coming ;)

[Mike]

So are you going to be using this design?

I have a CMS to finish when the new design gets finalized ;)

[hotnuts21]

I thought you had given up on us Mike, i have been looking at using ezpublish and incorporating the excellent shout map and stuff you had done into it, but that could take me a year or more to sort out. By the way someone else has done a shout map just like ours so i am gutted we didnt get it finished sooner.

I have the html if you wanna finish what you have been doing finally ;) A few more links need adding but on the whole its all there, email me or catch me on msn

[Mike]

Just had too many things on my plate :(

I hope the other guy used the map we already did, or made one that works the same way. I thought the one we did was rad. :D

If you wanted me to finish, I'd use the same map we already did, but redo the rest of the CMS. Your project was the first one I did, so you can clearly see the progression in the code go from bad to OK :P I'd prefer to just redo it entirely ;)

Now that I've started univercity, I have a bit more free time it seems. Oh the irony.

[hotnuts21]

You can see there map here

http://www.swanagelifeboat.org.uk/home/rescuemap.asp

There on the south coast not the west coast like us, but he has done the CMS so its added when someone adds a shout which is cool. Just annoying someone got there first grr.

Mike if you fancy working out how to use ezpublish you can have a go at that, but i wouldnt bother i wanna see the site this year :D Although im having trouble getting there installer to work on a new site i am working on.

Start again if you like its upto you :)

[Mike]

Oh wow, he totally ripped me off ;) hehe

eZpublish is complicated as heck. Makes OScommerce look like plain HTML :|

[hotnuts21]

Yeah i know even the installer isnt that simple :S

So go ahead and start from scratch mate, just be quick and let me know what you are doing ;) If you want i can email you a workboard to keep track of whats going on?