[Project Complete] Software Solution Website - $500

[AhmedF]

(Admin code added by Michael - 96379345H)


Hello all,

Some might remember the previous work on getting evo-dev.com a logo. Time to get it redesigned :)

Site Name: Evo-Dev
Site URL: www.evo-dev.com

Purpose: Provides high quality web software for webmasters

Intended Audience: Small-business webmasters who are looking for help in management of their website [our primary product being evoArticles, an article management software]

Feel: Simple, elegant, and professional approach. Refer down below to example/competitor sites.

Style:
I already have an idea of how I want the design to look like.
http://www.evo-dev.com/design/
I hope no one finds it too limiting, but it is the general approach we want.

Example/Competitor Sites: <with what we like>
http://www.adaptivepath.com/ - top right links
http://www.orangegeckoweb.com/livonia-web-design/ - colors
http://www.interspire.com/ - top menu, left menu, right menu, and use of lines [dotted lines,etc etc]. [competitor]
http://www.interactivetools.com/ - sort of same approach overall. [competitor]
http://www.webposition.com/default.asp - nice soft look
http://www.traffick.com - top navigation with drop-down menus

Notes
The template will need to be sliced. And not just sliced, but done in very clean XHTML and CSS. We will lean towards who can give us a well done CSS solution so that most of the design elements are in the stylesheet(s). We can do it, but prefer not to :)

The actual logo files I will have soon - need to get a little thing cleared up.

The one problem in all of this is that I need this done asap unfortunately - January 28, which just leaves two weeks.

[AhmedF]

Also to add, I will be gone this weekend and so will not be able to comment :blush:

[geofharries]

I'll be participating in this contest. A few questions though:

1) You state that one of the primary focuses of the site should be on evoArticles. Shall we use screenshots of this in action or do you prefer to keep it as is, with the demo link? If screenshots, are the colours of these current pages going to change?

2) There is a link to http://www.orangegeckoweb.com/livonia-web-design/ for its colour choice. Do I then interpret this to read that you want white, blue and orange as the main colours of your own website?

3) XHTML 1.0 Strict or Transitional? I prefer Strict, but it's less forgiving of older browsers like Win IE 5.5. If your targets are Win IE 6, Firefox, Netscape 7 and Safari then you'll have no problem with the former.

By the way, there are only a small handful of us (2 or 3 including myself) who are intimately familiar with valid XHTML/CSS for entire sites. Most of the design team only uses CSS for text and link styling, building sites with traditional HTML tables. If you open up the option to the latter group, you'll get more entries.

thanks

geof

[Lori]

Good questions above Geof - I will be waiting on these replies, and the logo...

I will be entering this contest ;)

[AhmedF]

Okay to reply.

1. Currently our main product is evoArticles, but we will be expanding We will have both screenshots and demo link in order - the colors of the demo link are external to the site design and considered its own 'website'

2. I dont want to lock anyone in, but I do like their comination of orange, blue, and white. I like it, but does not mean I will demand onl those colors.

3. Strict or transitional are okay. Its just a measurement of makignh sure the html itself remains valid. I would prefer strict of course :)

4. I understand, and do not want to chase anyone away that uses tables. It was more meant as a tie breaker - if it comes down to two designs that we think are of equal value, someone who can do it using css-p will likely win over the table based. Its not a big deal, just would be a nice 'bonus' :)

[Lori]

AhmedF,

I have another question after looking through the sites in the brief..

Would you like your layout to be fluid or fixed width? There are examples of both up there, so just checking on your preference.

Thanks :)

[AhmedF]

Full width :)

[Anne]

Hi

I went ahead and made a design using the logo from the logo competition. I tried to make it simple, elegant and professional. Instead of orange I've used a light beige because I thing this one goes well with the blue and also makes it a bit more "elegant" than orange (in my opinion). I've also taken some of the content from your current site, don't know if you want to use that but this can be changed of course.

Click here :) (http://www.staff.no/do/)

Hope you like the design.
Anne

[AhmedF]

Great stuff Anne! I like it a lot :)

A few quirkies:
1. The logo will have to be modified slightly. Idea is to use mbleigh's text with bogglin's logo image combined. Getting that done :)
2. Remove the evoarticles header image/text.
3. Show the design fullwidth [Looks like 800 res, I dont know yours, but lets try to see it at 1024 :)]
4. Hover-link color?
5. Drop down menu style? [so many different styles thus would be good to look at]

That does look fantastic :)

[Anne]

Thank you for the feedback.


Here are the changes (http://www.annesdesign.net/do/index2.html)

Didn't do anything with the logo but I can change this later. The width is now 1024 and I've added a sub-menu.

Anne

[geofharries]

Sorry for the delay. I will be able to post something by the end of this week.

geof

[AhmedF]

I look forward to it :)

I should have the modified logo up very soon - thanks for the wait.

[geofharries]

Please find attached my entry into your contest. This is the homepage with the link hover effect shown in the main menu. The majority of the fonts are HTML, just the main menu and some other small text bits are a graphical font.

If you need samples of my xhtml/css skills, head to xyukon.com (http://www.xyukon.com/), rci.ca (http://www.rci.ca/), caribourecords.com (http://www.caribourecords.com/), or yukonenergy.ca (http://www.yukonenergy.ca/). The last one, yukonenergy.ca was featured at The Weekly Standards (http://www.weeklystandards.com/archives/2004/07/26/index) in July 2004.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback.

regards,

geof

http://greenroomcreative.ca/designoutpost/evodev_v1.jpg

[AhmedF]

Very nice geof!

Can you show me an inner page with a left and right menu, and also how the drop down would look like? :)

[geofharries]

Thanks for the positive feedback.

I will post an inner page design this weekend.

geof

[geofharries]

Mornin',

Please find attached a sub-page and a version of the same with a drop-down menu.

geof

Sub-page
http://greenroomcreative.ca/designoutpost/evodev_sub_v1.jpg

Sub-page with drop-down menu
http://greenroomcreative.ca/designoutpost/evodev_sub_v1_menu.jpg

[AhmedF]

Looks great Geof - my only modification is I think the menu box headers should also be square instead of curved.

Anyone else going to submit a template or shall I choose? :)

[geofharries]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually had them squared off in my first design and then decided to go ahead with the curved tops. No problem on switching them back.

geof

[DesignGeneral]

Ahmed, I'll have something for you :)

[will]

I'll work on something before the deadline :D

[will]

Hi, here is my first concept. I tried to create something that can catch the attention fast and at the same time different from what the competence have. Let me know if you want other colours to be tried.

[geofharries]

If you'd like revisions made to my concept, please let me know and I'll be happy to do so.

geof

[will]

Hi, I'll be out until monday so if you want me to make any change and can wait that will be great :D

[AhmedF]

Okay so its past the deadline.

We got less submissions than I thought, but I am sure its only because of the damned good stuff that Anne, Geof, and Will pulled out. Just wanted to thank you all - any one would have been worth it :)

But there is only one winner, and I have to go with Geof's - the design had a nice air to it, and I think it will work wonderfully on the website!

Thanks to all for participating.

[Anne]

Congratulation Geof

[geofharries]

Woohoo! Thanks for the great news.

When this moves to the Revisions forum, we can start chatting about any modifications you'd like made, etc.

geof

[will]

well done geof

[geofharries]

Thanks for the congrats, Anne and Will :)

Would you like any revisions made or shall I start to build out the site in XHTML/CSS?

regards,

geof

[AhmedF]

Heya Geof,

Only two modifications.

1. Square edged menu boxes instead of rounded =)
2. I think it would look better if in the top menu bar, if the light blue bar was slightly thinner. It just seems too thick when you have the mouse-over menu activated :)

[geofharries]

No problem. I'll make the menu boxes squared off at the top and the second menu bar (teal) a little thinner.

Off to the races!

geof

[AhmedF]

Heya Geof - any update?

[geofharries]

I've got the homepage done and am working on the sub-page right now. That should take two more days (I only can build in the early mornings; sorry) and then I am going to test the code on a Windows/IE 6 combo. I use Mac OS X so I can validate in Firefox, Netscape and Safari, but need to check it out at work on a PC. Should be done by Thursday at the latest.

On a side note, do you want me to build the pages in PHP? I was just going to use some includes and need to know if this is okay.

geof

[geofharries]

Ahmed,

The templates are now complete. You can view the homepage and a sample Product page here http://do.greenroomcreative.ca/

A link to download your files has been sent by private message. Please go to the following link to find the message http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/private.php

After you click the link in my message choose "Save" to save the files to your computer, locate the files you just saved to your computer and then double click the .zip file to extract all the files to your computer. Please contact me if you have any problems.

geof