[Project Complete] Forum Header Needed - $100 - 5/25/05 Deadline

[nwingate]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 75N828680A)

Oh Great Ones!

Once again I come to you for your services. I know I've come to the right place and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

I need a new header for my website www.ContractorTalk.com. We are adding a lot of new content to the site and we are hoping for a fresh look.

Our current design can be seen here:
www.contractortalk.com

We are hoping to move to something like this:
www.contractortalk.com/3/

The header must include an area for a 468x60 banner.
I'm not really looking for pictures in the header but I would like to see some textures used to soften and smooth out the look. I would also like to make the top blue like the current site. Maybe a blueprint could be used somehow? Not sure if this would work or not.
All words will be text based for better SEO.

Let me know if you have any questions. I can't wait to see the results. BTW, I would like this header coded if possible.

Please PM me if you would like a copy of our logo.

[cursal]

Please PM me if you would like a copy of our logo.

Designers are not permitted to speak privately with clients.
Could you post your logo in a zip file for direct download? Or contact an Admin to do it for you.

I will be entering.

What is the max size of the header?
This is not just a graphic, but coding involved too?

Thanks :)

[nwingate]

I just PM'd you the link for the download.
I'm not using PM to share any private info but I will NOT post the source files for my logo in a public place. Sorry.

The header must be viewable on a 800x600 screen and be expandable..

My hope is that this will be coded to but I'm open. If the design is really good I'll pay someone else to code it, but I would perfer if it was coded. On the other hand don't code it if you don't know what your doing. I had a designer create a website that took 15 seconds to load one time. :eek:

Thanks for entering and I look forward to seeing what you come up with...


Anyone else? Let me know and I'll PM you the link.

[SecretAgentRege]

I plan on seeing what I can come up with, if you could supply the logo that would be great.

Thanks.

[cursal]

Nathan,

Quality coding is not a problem. Just making sure I work on what your are asking for. :)

I will be submitting an entry.

Note* I did receive your PM. It contained nothing more than the link to your logo in .eps format among others. Thank you

[nwingate]

SecretAgent: Logo link sent.

Thanks guys!

[AlexC]

I'm interested. May I receive the source materials?

Thanks

[SecretAgentRege]

Nathan,

I recieved your PM, however, the zip file the link pointed to was not there.

If you could double check the link, or make sure the zip file is there, that would be great.

Thanks!
Rege

[nwingate]

Sorry about that. The correct ZIP file has been resent.

Thanks,
Nathan

[Luc]

I'm in! Please send me the logo too.

[nwingate]

Link Sent...

[Luc]

Got it!

[Luc]

Here's my entry.

[nwingate]

Thanks for the entry Luc.

I'm not sure if you visited the link i posted or not but please see this layout: http://www.contractortalk.com/3/

This is really what I'm looking for but I just want to make it look more professional and a little bit more unique. I need two layers of navigation as displayed on the mock up and everything needs to be expandable and text based for good SEO.
Really, my only problem with the example that I gave is that the white area around the logo needs to be blue and have something interesting added to it. Also, the green bar could stand some texture as well.

Does that make any sense?

[Christian]

I'm in! I'll start working on it promptly after getting the logo.

[SecretAgentRege]

Nathan,

I created a header for you. Because the header must look good at 800px width, and have room for a 468px banner, there isn't a ton of room for extra stuff, I found.

I created a mock blueprint of sorts. Note that text / measurements/etc. to enhance the "image" as a blueprint can be added or taken away as well!

The samples are the same image, just what they would look like at 800px, and what it would look like scaled to a browser at a larger width.

Looks like at 800px:
http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/contractor talk_001_short.jpg

Looks like scaled at 1000px:
http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/contractor talk_001_long.jpg

Oh, and I would be able to code easily for what you are looking for.

Thanks! I look forward to your comments!
Rege

[Luc]

[QUOTE=nwingate]Thanks for the entry Luc.

I'm not sure if you visited the link i posted or not but please see this layout: http://www.contractortalk.com/3/

This is really what I'm looking for Which one? My entry or your layout? Sorry im just confuse :D

[Flava]

quick mock

[nwingate]

Luc: To clarify, I'm looking a layout similar to what I had given a link for. Not the one that you had given. I'm trying to add more content to the site if that makes sense.

Flava: Thanks for the entry. I think I like the logo on the left hand side better than the right. Also, I'm looking for a blue background on the top of the header as listed in my specs. Any other entries?

SecretAgent: Love it! :D I would like to see a few alterations though. I want the button layout to stay simple and text based... but can we try and spice it up a little. Or just change it a bit. Right now its a copy from Yahoo News and I don't want it to be an exact copy.
Also, I really like the Blueprint layout but I wonder if we could meke it more construction based somehow. Any ideas?
I would love to see anything else you can think of. Looks great!

EVERYONE: Because of my delay in responding to entries I need to extend the deadline. Please let me know if you are still working on a design so I know to wait on your entry. Thanks to all!

[SecretAgentRege]

Nathan,

Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I'm sorry, I thought you had already built the menu items/toolbar and was just looking for the graphic for above it. I'll take a look at changing the menubar for the next revision.

I'm glad you like the bluprint look! You'll have to excuse me, but as I'm a lowly graphic designer, I'm not exactly sure how to make it more construction based. Do you have any keywords/ideas how to enhance the blueprint to be more of a construction look? I'll try to step outside the box and take another swing at it.

Thanks again!
Rege

[nwingate]

Not sure what to suggest. I'll think about it while you work on the navigation area. Let me know when you have something to look at.
THANKS! :D


Anyone Else?

[nwingate]

Any updates or new entires?

[SecretAgentRege]

Nathan,

Sorry I took a little longer to get back to you. However, I've worked on the menu bar. I know you wanted to keep the same style (2 bars, etc.), so I altered it a little bit and made the colors match the header file. Let me know what you think. I didn't code the menu out b/c I'm not sure if you want it to look like that. I did code the header so it scales.

Contractor Talk Header w/ Menu (http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/Contractor_Talk.html)

Thanks!
Rege

[nwingate]

Looks good! A few changes please...

* Can we add some green into the design somewhere? Maybe on the search area?
* On the tabs, lets match the font that I had before. The font you used looks a little too rough for me.
*Also, I'm worried that the header is too long. Can I see how it looks to remove all the notes on the blueprints and to make it thinner?


Also, will it be easy to add or change content on the navigation bar once this is all coded? I want to use this for all the pages.

Thanks! GREAT JOB!

[SecretAgentRege]

Thanks!

If you choose me, I ask that you confim it by selecting "Designer Chosen," then I will work on the revisions you've mentioned.

I'll add some green like you mentioned. As far as the tabs, they are actually the exact same font, size, and spacing as your Yahoo News Example. Do remember that the menu is more of a representation in graphical form. Once it is coded, the browser will render it as text (not as a graphic).

I'll remove all the notes for the next revision. Do you mean thinner as in the height (shorter) or thinner as in it's too wide? I can make the margin around the graphic wider, which will not let it go to the edges as far, and create space between the graphic and the browser's edges?


Also, as far as the coding goes. If you are familiar with basic HTML it should be fairly easy to change the content and links. I will build and design the menu in HTML as it is shown, if you supply me the URLs for the links, I will link the text if you want me to. As far as creating an entire menu system, that would be something seperate and beyond this job.

Thanks again!
Rege

[nwingate]

Well, I always get nervous to name a winner when there is still work to be done (and there is). There are quite a few variations that I would like to see and play with before I finalize the design. They aren't huge changes but this site gets a lot of traffic and I want to make sure everything is perfect before proceeding to the code.
Are you ok with sticking with me through a few rounds of revisions?

[nwingate]

Alright. I think all the entries are in.

We still need to do a few revisions but i'm ready to name a winner.

SecretAgent :D

Congrats! I look forward to working with you to finish this design up.
Thanks!

[SecretAgentRege]

Nathan,

Here's a revision with the notes you gave.

http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/contractor_talk_003.jpg

I added a green texture to the search box, and shortened the blueprint graphic. I also darkened the tabs and whitened the text to give the higher-contrast of the original as well as increased the sub-menu's text.

Let me know where you want to take it from here.

-Rege

[nwingate]

I like the color changes.

Can we remove the word "search" and repalce it with a Google logo? Its going to be an integrated Google search. I would also like the search box to be white I think.

The dark blue tabs look better with the white font but they blend in a bit to the brighter blue color behind it. Any way to fix this?
Also, I think the subnavigation overpowers the main tab navigation a bit. Can we shorten the height of sub navigation a bit and enlarge the dark blue tabs a bit? Go ahead and remove the "about us" tab to make room to enlarge the tabs.

Does all that make sense?

Thanks, were getting there! :yes:

[SecretAgentRege]

Nathan,

All notes noted for this revision:

http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/contractor_talk_004.jpg

I added "google," enlarged tabs, added a defining edge to tabs, and shortened the sub-menu.

Thanks,

-Rege

[nwingate]

Where getting there... :D Once we make these changes and try this one idea that I have I think we will be done!

Can you edit the tabs:
Contractor Links to Links
DIY Repair to DIY Forum
and add a Weather tab

Also, the white tab matches the blueprint in the header but I think it would be better if it just matched the other tabs. I'm talking about the corners of course and not the color.

Is there any way to make the Google logo look better? Its a little rough right now and blends into the background a bit.


Last, I would like to attempt to add a blueprint in the background of the paper. I'm not sure if it will work or now but I think it would be a good thing to try. It would make the paper make more sense if we can make it work.

Here's an example:
http://www.construction-resource.com/images/ctblueprint.jpg

I'm not sure if I like those colors or if they were reversed to match your original design?
Also, the lines in the middle would need to be split to make it expandable.

I'll PM you a copy of the blueprint for you to use. Feel free to make your own design based on the print I send. It may look better if you actually draw it.

Thanks,
Nathan

[SecretAgentRege]

Nathan,

Here's a few revisions. As for the blueprint: There's two light versions and two dark versions, each with the blueprint solid, and then faded.

http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/ct_005_v001a.jpg
http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/ct_005_v001b.jpg
http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/ct_005_v002a.jpg
http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/ct_005_v002b.jpg

I Aslo did the other changes (the tabs) and enhanced, sharpened, and incraeased the shadow of the google logo to try to get it to stand out more. Other than change the green background of the search, there's not too much more I can do to enhance the logo.

Thanks!
-Rege

[nwingate]

Thanks for integrating the blueprint. I think it might be a little busy and a pain to code in order to make it expand.

* Lets use the original paper background.
* Please move the weather tab over next to the "News" tab and move everything else to the right.
* Can you make one version that has the Google logo and another that just says "Search". I'm still trying to figure out what type of search to use.

After that lets start coding. PLEASE USE AS FEW PICTURES AS POSSIBLE!

THANKS! :D

[SecretAgentRege]

Alright!

Here you go, both are completely coded and ready to go.

I used as few images as possible, and they total only 26 kb (not including the mock-banner ad).

Contractor Talk (http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/CT_HTML/CT.html)
Contractor Talk w/ Google (http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/CT_HTML/CT_google.html)

Thanks, let me know which one you want, or I can send both over (why not, right?). Let me know anything, and when I hear that everything is good, I'll zip up the files and send them to you.

Thanks!
Rege

[nwingate]

CRAP!

Everything looks great except one thing... I forgot to mention that I will be using the area just to the right of the green bar for a text message every now and then. Can you leave two empty tables to the right of the green search bar?

Then you can ZIP up both sets and PM the file locations to me.

Thanks!

[SecretAgentRege]

Sure thing. I left the right half of that third row in the table (after the search bar) open for you to put text into. I also gave it it's own CSS style. The HTML file is adequately commented, so you should know where to add/change things, (such as your banner ad script, the text messages, etc.)


Contractor Talk - w/ Text Message (http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/CT_HTML/CT.html)
Contractor Talk w/ Google - w/ Text Message (http://www.rg3entertainment.com/work/DO/CT_HTML/CT_google.html)

Ok, I'm zipping up the files and sending you a PM to the URL now.

Thank you!
Rege

[nwingate]

WOW, I am very pleased!

Thanks for the great design and professional coding. Its rare to find someone who can do both.

Files Recieved... this contest is closed. :D