New Home Page

[Irene]

WOW!
Just logged on. THAT'S IMPRESSIVE!!

[CJ Swartz]

Wow! is correct!

Doug, you have really been a productive little beaver this week -- the new look is beautiful, and instantly shows visitors what the good folks here love to do.

Bravo!!!

Double Wow!! I see you've succeeded in creating Challenge pages that let us see both the submitted image and the description on the SAME page -- yippee!! Standing ovation!!

[G. Couch]

I like the new look as well but I do have two concerns. First, the hyperlinks are such a light grey, that I fear some people will not be able to see it. It's not that big of an issue on the front page, but on the restoration page, I could see someone being very confused as to where to click...Maybe a bolder font or different color?

Second, I know BigAl had a problem viewing the new menu bar through a proxy. If someone comes to the site for the first time and does not see the menu bar, for whatever reason, there is no alternative set of links.

But.... the new look is fantastic and is a great enhancement!

[Vikki]

I like it as well, but I have to agree with Craig. If I hadn't read his post first, I wouldn't have known the links where there. I can just barely see them.
Actually, now that I think about it, even if I had seen the shading, I'm not sure if I would have know it was a link.....I guess I'm an old dog.

[Doug Nelson]

Thanks for the comments. There are still a lot of bugs to work out. I've been wanted to redesign for some time, but have been putting it off until the new version of my webauthoring software was released. I've had the new version for about a week now, and I'm slowly scaling the new learning curve.

Question about the links:
I know they're hard to differentiate, but once you know about them are they still hard? I really hate the old blue/underlined look. I'm less concerned about ease of navigation for first-time visitors (although I'm not UNconcerned) and really aiming at an uncluttered look that works once you know what to look for.

I figured a site for visual editors wouldn't need the obvious assault-on-the-eyeballs links so prevalent out there today. But I'm not married to the idea.

Plus this grayscale theme is turning out to be much more challenging to design with than I'd imagined

[Ed_L]

Absolutely fantastic! Doug for president!! But I agree -- the links don't really look like links. I think newcomers will have a very hard time with that the way it is now.

Ed

[CJ Swartz]

Hmmm, I guess I'm used to LOOKING for links with my cursor on unfamiliar pages -- I have visited many webpages that don't make their links bold or blue, but find that they're in the expected places under the words that interest me.

Doug, you'll do what you need to do, but I like the new look.

[debelieson]

I love the new look! It's a great design, Doug. I hope you continue to implement it despite design difficulties.

BTW, I also like the new links in the challenge areas. I think that even newcomers to the site will be able to determine that they should click on the names, JMHO.

In any case, it's a wonderful site and just continues to get better. Thank you for all your hard work

[jeaniesa]

Doug, I like the new look as well, but I do have a hard time seeing the links - even when I know what I'm looking for.
Jeanie

[CJ Swartz]

have a hard time seeing the links

Jeannie, I'm curious -- are you referring to having a hard time seeing the links BEFORE you touch them with the cursor (I don't really see them at all BEFORE I touch them), or do they not show up well on your system even when you touch them?

It's interesting (but frustrating for Doug, I'm sure) how different browsers translate code.

[G. Couch]

Doug, I like the grayscale scheme but you could use that to your advantage as far as the links go. For example, you could use a light sepia color for the links. I don't think that would detract from the overall look and just that little bit of color might be enough to tell a new user it's a link.

Again, for me, the new look and navigation is perfect! My only concern was with a new user.

[jeaniesa]

Originally posted by CJ Swartz
Jeannie, I'm curious -- are you referring to having a hard time seeing the links BEFORE you touch them with the cursor (I don't really see them at all BEFORE I touch them), or do they not show up well on your system even when you touch them?

I can see them easily when my pointer runs over them, but otherwise I can just barely see the gray shading over them. Is there a way to make that shading just a tad darker? Jeanie

[Rey Mendoza,Jr]

Even the first design was goood, Doug. Now it is even better.
What I like best about the site design is the loading time. even if I have a fast connection, I still like fast loading pages ( I guess it's a general preference.)

About the links, I thinks it's alright. but my experience as a web designer tells me that old(or default) links are more generally preferred. Partly because they are used to that and partly because most people are not into those dhtml and css stuff. We as web designers crave for development in web design but our audiences are not as passionate for those developments. They just want an easy to use and navigate web site.

Again the site design is very well thought of. Hats off here!

Rey