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Makeover for Schoolies Week

Discussion in 'Websites' started by Dominic, Oct 30, 2004.

  1. #1
    I just cleaned this site about Schoolies Week up (old version prob. in cache), I'm a real beginner when it comes to graphic design, but I think it looks ok. Anyone got any tips for me or have I done any design no no's?

    www.Schoolies.org.au
     
    Dominic, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  2. DarrenC

    DarrenC Peon

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    #2
    Looks good Dominic!

    The only suggestion I would have is put a thin border around the site, makes the main page stand out more.
     
    DarrenC, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  3. Colleen

    Colleen Illustrious Member

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    #3
    The colors need some work Dom.

    Take the orange out from the background and try the orange/red from the word "schoolies" in the title. You can use the color picking tool in your graphics program to find out the color code if you don't already know it.

    The blue background in the left column is kind of blinding and hard on the eyes. Try less contrast, a softer not so loud blue. I realize that blue is a graphic :( But it shouldn't be too hard to change the whole color of it in Adobe Photoshop. What program do you use Dom?

    That peach color all over perhaps should be white.

    Try those suggestions and we'll see from there.
     
    Colleen, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  4. Dji-man

    Dji-man Peon

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    #4
    looks fine overall, but you menu looks bad with images instead of css text. I always wonder why people choose to use images for their menu text as text always looks better than images, is more accessible and 1 image is heavier than all of your menu as css text. And you can have the equivalent of your alt tag using title in your links. Being graphically incompetent myself, I always go with css instead of images wherever I can. ;)
     
    Dji-man, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  5. Colleen

    Colleen Illustrious Member

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    #5
    Dji-man is right, try using text instead of graphics, it's best. The less graphics the better.
     
    Colleen, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  6. Dominic

    Dominic Well-Known Member

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    #6
    The alt text is very important as we rank #1 for just about every related search and the all important destination versions. For example Byron Bay Schoolies (little more compeditive) are you saying that if I use the text 'Byron Bay' with a title tag 'Byron Bay Schoolies' that google and co. will treat it as a text link 'Byron Bay Schoolies'?

    [​IMG]

    Which orange red did you mean for the background?

    I use Fireworks.

    With the blue in the menu how do I use less contrast?

    The peach is a new addition, was white previously and can return to white. You don't like the peach? I'll swap it and have another look.

    LOL, I had an =1 boarder in the old design and just took it out! Caused too many problems in Dreamweaver. I don't (can't) code by hand (just look at the source code - you'll have a heart attack!), so ditched the border as it screwed the alignment of columns sometimes and I don't know enough about code to get it working properly. I'll give it another shot though since I don't have a banner above the masthead anymore.
     
    Dominic, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  7. Colleen

    Colleen Illustrious Member

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    #7
    Hi Dom,

    Try that red in the word "schoolies".

    The blue menu - you need to make it duller or maybe even a light grey? I am not familiar with fireworks. You could just make them over from scratch. But it's easier just to change the whole thing.

    In photoshop, I just go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation and lower the saturation.

    It looks like this - [​IMG]

    Yes, the peach doesn't look professional and it clashes with the orange and reds.
     
    Colleen, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  8. Dominic

    Dominic Well-Known Member

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    #8
    I'll use http://gold-coast.schoolies.org.au as the test environment. lost the peach and changed the bg to the red (can change adsense colours later).

    That red... um. Not too sure. it's #ED1B23 ...

    Will have a knock around in fireworks and do the menu items next.

    PS the mood of the site is 17 / 18 yr old's finishing high school and celebrating for a week. (Schoolies Week) is a national tradition - big street party with 50,000+ people partying on the street / beach for a week.
     
    Dominic, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  9. Dji-man

    Dji-man Peon

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    #9
    IMO, probably not, as your anchor text will be "Byron Bay" and not "byron bay schoolies", but you can change your anchor text to "Byron Bay Schoolies". The title tag should help you if your BB page's header is "Byron Bay Schoolies" instead of BB only, even with the anchor text as BB. IMO, you don't need to have the word schoolie 62 times on your home page to be #1. Just optimize each page separately for the town's name + schoolie. That's what I would do anyway.

    I'm sure everyone has an opinion on the value of alt tags vs titles + h1 vs anchor only.
     
    Dji-man, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  10. Colleen

    Colleen Illustrious Member

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    #10
    It's looking better Dom, maybe a gray background if you don't like the red.

    Also the blinding blue has to go, lol. It's just too bright. Much better without the peach, and the google ads being white or #EFEFEF would be ideal.
     
    Colleen, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  11. Dominic

    Dominic Well-Known Member

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    #11
    #EFEFEF does look good for the adsense.

    Yep - the blue has gotta go.

    I'm going to stick with images (over text with titles) as I don't want to fool with any of the seo at present - it's peek season for the site and we are #1 for most related searches on google and the money word. And the reason why I moved to images is I want to make more tidy and easier to navigate. (see the cache for the old version where I was using text links).
     
    Dominic, Oct 30, 2004 IP
  12. Colleen

    Colleen Illustrious Member

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    #12
    It's looking better Dom! :D
     
    Colleen, Oct 30, 2004 IP