1
JMorris
Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?
  • 2005/2/12 14:33

  • JMorris

  • XOOPS is my life!

  • Posts: 2722

  • Since: 2004/4/11


I'm working on a new website to be a replacement for my college's old site and I wanted to see if I could get some feedback/suggestions on the overall design, flow, and ease-of-use. There is actually quite a bit more to the site than what is accessible to the anonymous viewer, but for security reasons, I cannot allow access to those portions to the general public.

New site: cit.wvup.edu/tech/

Sorry to make you copy and paste, but I really don't want search engines to spider the site just yet. We're planning for a formal roll out in August.

FYI: The theme is a heavily modified version of 7dana-clean by SevenD.

Thanks!

2
JMorris
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?
  • 2005/2/12 14:53

  • JMorris

  • XOOPS is my life!

  • Posts: 2722

  • Since: 2004/4/11


Oh, I almost forgot. I also setup the server the sites are hosted on, so any performance data you could provide would be really helpful as well.

Thanks again!

3
JMorris
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?
  • 2005/2/19 21:24

  • JMorris

  • XOOPS is my life!

  • Posts: 2722

  • Since: 2004/4/11


Yup, I know it's shameless, but bump. I would *really* appreciate ANY feedback I could get.

What would be especially useful is:
What don't you like?
Is the navigation user-friendly?
Do the colors strain they eyes?
Does the content flow logically enough?
etc.....

I know the site won't pass W3C validation. I'm working on that. I just finished migrating over a healthy amount of news articles and links from the original site (PHP-NUKE). Due to the way NUKE requires you to format Stories, the content spacing got mangled a little, but that's something that I'm just going to have to fix manually over time.

Thanks!

4
jdseymour
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?

I think the site in general is in line with an education site.

The colors are very conservative and friendly on the eyes.

The site is fast loading. Navigation is easy except for the xcal page where you lose the side navigation, took me a couple of seconds to find the (duh) top navigation buttons.

All in all I can see that you have put a lot of work into this site. A good deal of thought also. Good job JM.

5
JMorris
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?
  • 2005/2/19 21:42

  • JMorris

  • XOOPS is my life!

  • Posts: 2722

  • Since: 2004/4/11


Thank you jdseymour!

The xCal issue is one that I'm having a great deal of issues with. I'm attempting to design the site so that it is friendly for 800x600dpi resolution and up and displays consistently in both IE and Firefox. Unfortunately, neither xCal nor piCal give me what I'm looking for. I'd much rather use piCal because of its feature set, but I have yet to figure out how to fix that irritating alignment problem it has with IE. (Month display does not expand in IE when you disable right blocks on that page, but if you leave right blocks enabled, you get a horizontal scrollbar on anything under 1024x768.)

6
jdseymour
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?

Yeah, that's why I mentioned the top nav is available. It's just that it catches you off guard using the side navigation, then have to look for the top. But it is there and available.

Good luck with it. IE can be quite a problem at times. But you are doing great work with that site.

7
Bulls
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?
  • 2005/2/19 22:25

  • Bulls

  • Just popping in

  • Posts: 74

  • Since: 2004/4/8 1


Nice and clean looking site. Like the flat look of css which I take it you are using.

As previously mentioned the site reflects the contents.

Nice job.

Edit: oops I was looking at your old site. To be honest I kinda like it more than the new one somehow. Think perhaps there doesn't seem to be a focal point. Slight adjustment is all that is needed maybe. Could be that the lack of the small images you have in the first on boxes etc are missing on the new site. Could well be all that is needed. Still overall I like it again .

MKJ
My site

8
krystinevo
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?

I think your site looks great! Very clean and easy to navigate. I have just a couple of comments though...

Is there a way you can add the 'WVUP CIT program' into the main logo? Or perhaps add another graphic next to the main logo with that info? It took me a minute to figure out this wasn't the university's main website. Looks like the fonts and colours on your logo are a bit different than the main university logo? (Actually, I like your logo better). And the logo on the printer friendly pages might be expanded a bit to include the main university logo as well.

I like the random quotes. I like the theme. I might use the yellow accent colour to make the different news category icons pop. (ie the Jobs icon -- make the bottom cell background yellow and keep the text blue or vice versa.

All in all, it looks great.

Take care,

Kristine

9
JasonMR
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?
  • 2005/2/19 23:01

  • JasonMR

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 655

  • Since: 2004/6/21


1) you know that piCal comes with skins? (check image folder, and look at documentation, or check at GIJOE's site

2) theme can comfortably be used with 800px, anything larger, and reading the center column is "painfull" (-> subjective, but I feel, that short text should not cover more than 400px in width)
=> 800px screens don't have to display ALL horizontal content at once; users of 800px screens are aware that they are using outdated equipement, and will put up with having to scroll to the right; try to stick "not so important" info, in the part that is covered (headlines as they are, I would regard as such; you want users to primarily concentrate on the news!)

3) sideblocks need better visual seperation from main content

4) " "Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand." --Putt's Law"
=> VERY true statment, and fits the site

10
JMorris
Re: Sneak Peek :: Suggestions?
  • 2005/2/20 0:01

  • JMorris

  • XOOPS is my life!

  • Posts: 2722

  • Since: 2004/4/11


@all

Thank you for your comments and suggestions!

I have made note of and am working on the items you all have pointed out.

Thanks a million!

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