How to make it look more professional

Discussion in 'Websites' started by Kat2, Mar 30, 2006.

  1. #1
    I have a page on my website that gets up to 100 hits per day (though on rare occasions it spikes up to 200). The page is all the different colors you can get video game consoles (such as Xbox 360, PS3, etc) in.

    Right now it has the same CSS design as the rest of my personal website. I'm happy with the page layout, but not the graphics... at least for that page itself.

    I asked 3 different people to design layouts for my site, FOR PAY, and none of them worked out. One stopped answering my e-mails, one flaked out and never designed anything after a basic storyboard, and one (who actually volunteered to do it for free, as a friend) well, I didn't like what he made. (hadn't paid any of them yet).

    I am a novice at CSS - my site was my first attempt, but fluent in HTML. I really suck at graphics though... I whipped up the one on top of the rest of my site for myself after no one else worked out.

    I'm definitely going for a minimalist approach - I want the page to be fast and not cluttered with a ton of graphics. What can I do to make it more professional looking? Obviously its own domain would help, but I can't afford it right now. http://www.upontherainbow.com/games/console.html

    Please note that I'm happy with that layout as the personal part of my site. It's only that page I want to change.
     
    Kat2, Mar 30, 2006 IP
  2. indiadc

    indiadc Guest

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    #2
    You can try using a content management system like phpnuke.org, geeklog.net etc which are GPL (free to use). They have some professional themes that you can select.
     
    indiadc, Mar 30, 2006 IP
  3. Kat2

    Kat2 Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Well the thing with that is my friend Kimmie and I share the hosting account (at Bluehost) - I paypal her half the money every year. Our arrangement has been like this for a few years now but she is fearful of giving me the password - only because, she says, she's afraid of it getting out. (No, I don't know why she feels that way, but whatever...) Anyways, I have my FTP account which is a sub-account, and only have access to my section. She had to park my domain and has to do anything regarding those sorts of installations, and at the moment she's working full time and hasn't been able to be online long enough to do anything like that.

    I guess what I'm saying is I would prefer the solution to be one I can implement myself without her input. As far as I know, I can't implement PHP without access to either the Bluehost control panel or the main FTP account.
     
    Kat2, Mar 30, 2006 IP
  4. AmyNelson

    AmyNelson Peon

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    #4
    Hi Kat, the colour is blended too much, there is no focal point. You need to break up the space a little bit.
    That's why most sites have headers and footers.

    You could try playing around with some free images from sites that provide free banners/bars in various colours, and seeing how it looks.
     
    AmyNelson, Mar 30, 2006 IP
  5. mitash

    mitash Peon

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    #5
    you can have your menu in a differnet background....that will make a huge difference....

    plus ur header and footer...
     
    mitash, Mar 30, 2006 IP
  6. buzzfretz

    buzzfretz Peon

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    #6
    The main issue I had with your layout was tthe width of your page. I had to keep scrolling back and forth on my tiny postage stamp-sized monitor to read your text.

    I would suggest reformatting your text so it will be less cumbersome to view.

    Using a different background color for your menu would be nice also (as the previous poster noted).

    Otherwise I was impressed with your site. It's packed with cool stuff!
     
    buzzfretz, Mar 31, 2006 IP
  7. chachacallis

    chachacallis Well-Known Member

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    #7
    try giving the menu a different colour from the content
     
    chachacallis, Mar 31, 2006 IP
  8. Kat2

    Kat2 Well-Known Member

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    #8
    Buzzfire, what's your resolution? If I get this working I'll try to make the layout more fluid.

    Okay, I'm experimenting and need a bit of help.

    http://upontherainbow.com/test/test.html

    Right now I have that darker blue side bar. How do I make it go the entire length of the page, yet be flexible? For example, if the page itself is 500 pixels, I don't want the darker blue to stop at 400px nor to make the page 600px (if I set the height at 400 or 600 respectively.) If I don't set a height at all, it disappears completely.
     
    Kat2, Mar 31, 2006 IP
  9. buzzfretz

    buzzfretz Peon

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    #9
    My screen resolution is 800 x 600. And I'm using a Windows browser.

    PS I like the new color!--still have to scroll sideways.

    Buzz
     
    buzzfretz, Mar 31, 2006 IP
  10. Kat2

    Kat2 Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Thanks Buzz and I will work on layout fluidity. Just wanted to know your res.

    I fixed the CSS problem by asking in the CSS forum.
     
    Kat2, Apr 1, 2006 IP