Ten-321 Enterprises

[curtiss]

Well, I finally got around to re-designing my web site, and I'd like some opinions.

I have spent the last three days building a Content Management System from the ground up, and finally have it far enough along so that I could build my site around it without fear of losing everything when I started re-coding the CMS to implement more features.

Anyway, the site can be found at:

http://www.ten-321.com/

The CMS (with no docs, unfortunately), can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/cagcms/

EDIT - Ugh. I just looked at it in IE, and it looks horrible. I'm going to have to fix that right away.

[Till]

Ok so I only looked in Firefox.

And your logo - you need to export a way, way better quality of it for your website. It pixels. Also, the background - imo way to "harsh" and disturbing.

Also, since I am thinking this is your business maybe more lighter colors are more attractive. Otherwise the page could be mistaken for a metal fanpage or counterstrike clan page.

Some thoughts!

What were your objectives and goals when you built your site?

[Allen]

Since it sounds like you are still working on it, I will wait for full review... but one comment...

take off the "created on / modified on" dates on the bottom - those only are applicable for a site that is changing constantly - on your about us page it is not needed. What happens is that in a month the page would look "old" when in fact its not old.

[Leprakawn]

I am not a particular fan of the colour scheme, nor do I like the nav panel on an activated page--use of ">>" and "<<."

lol Oops!! Looks like you need to use some verification code for your contact form!

I noticed this, too, on the History page: (It does the same thing at the top, too.)

And your logo... it just does not catch me at all.

PS: Awesome stuff about being a Res Life Coordinator! I was an OA and an Apartment Manager while in college!

[curtiss]

Thanks for all of your comments. I'm going to try to start working on fixing all of the issues you guys brought up.

Till - to answer your question about my goals:

I created this site to accomplish the following:
1) Show off the power of the CMS I developed over the last week.
2) Put out my own presence on the web that was XHTML valid, CSS valid, and developed in a tableless layout.
3) Eventually attract people looking for a web designer who's different from most of the web designers out there. I want to show with my site that I am a web designer with a very different perspective from the large design firms.
4) I want to use the site as a showcase for my web design skills, in order to hopefully get a job as a webmaster in a medium-sized company (the type of company that's large enough to need a webmaster, but too small to need an entire design team).

Till - you are right about the background - that's a little harsh. I didn't really realize it before, but after looking at it for a while, it does start to look pretty bad.

Allen - I knew you were going to say that about the dates. I'm actually planning to remove them, but I just had them in there as placeholders to remind me that they are available as a template option in the CMS.

Lep - any suggestions on a better way to highlight the page that you're currently viewing? I didn't really like the << thing either. I'm thinking maybe I'll just bump the current link up a size or something.

Ironically, this is actually the first site I've designed from the ground up in quite a few years. It's kind of strange jumping back on the wagon after doing nothing but site maintenance for so long.

[Leprakawn]

*scratches head*






I just noticed that the Nav panel box is shorter than the log-in box. I am a nut when it comes to things being consistent and even. Can you make them both the same height?




Okay, I click on "Services," and I get the brief info for each selection, and I can click read more for each one. However, when I click on the ind (individual) Service item, I have to click "Read more" to see the rest of it. That seems a little tedious... I mean, I already clicked on the ind service, why do I have to click again to see the rest of it?

Grrrrr... and then I have to click it again when I come from the Services page!!!



*scratches head again*


Okay, I would have to suggest that you figure out a new colour scheme or whatever your background will be, and then fix up the nav panel. Also, I would just call it "Navigation" because "Site Navigation" and then "Site News" is a little redundant if you ask me.

EDIT: Why not place the title of the page in the body content area that way you do not have to get fancy with the nav panel buttons? I think it would be easier to look at the top of the body content section to know where I am at vs. looking over at the nav panel. That is just my two cents though.

[curtiss]

Originally Posted by Leprakawn

I just noticed that the Nav panel box is shorter than the log-in box. I am a nut when it comes to things being consistent and even. Can you make them both the same height?

Not easily, as the box with the login block is widely dynamic, since it contains my bottom-level navigation.

Okay, I click on "Services," and I get the brief info for each selection, and I can click read more for each one. However, when I click on the ind (individual) Service item, I have to click "Read more" to see the rest of it. That seems a little tedious... I mean, I already clicked on the ind service, why do I have to click again to see the rest of it?

Grrrrr... and then I have to click it again when I come from the Services page!!!

I have fixed that now. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Okay, I would have to suggest that you figure out a new colour scheme or whatever your background will be, and then fix up the nav panel. Also, I would just call it "Navigation" because "Site Navigation" and then "Site News" is a little redundant if you ask me. [/quote]

Ok. I've changed the color scheme to something that should be a good bit better. Hopefully that will be good.

EDIT: Why not place the title of the page in the body content area that way you do not have to get fancy with the nav panel buttons? I think it would be easier to look at the top of the body content section to know where I am at vs. looking over at the nav panel. That is just my two cents though.

I already have done that, but the "page title" is sometimes more verbose than the "link name", so it is not always 100% obvious which item on the nav menu you're viewing. Also, I know people like Allen always get frustrated when they go to a site that doesn't somehow highlight the link that they are viewing.

I've fixed that, now, too.

Till - I uploaded a new banner. Is that one better? I re-created it just for this site.

[Leprakawn]

I do not have much time because I need to report to work at NAS/JRB, but I do like the changes made so far!!!

I will comment in more detail later tonight!

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT

Okay, it does not look liks some death metal band's Web site!! It is much easier on the eyes, so that is good. This idea came to mind: would it be possible to make a distinct border either around the mainblock div or the ind contentbox divs? Just something like a darker gray just to make it look like it has an inner or outer shadow... to give your site some depth.

Nice work on the activated nav buttons. Highlighting them is much nicer than ">>" "<<;" however, "Web Hosing" and "Graphic Design" are not highlighted in the left nav panel--they are on the right side.

Good work on the form verification, but you will see that you may want to make a few more adjustments to it! hehehe

Resume: 1 : to assume or take again : REOCCUPY <resumed his seat by the fire -- Thomas Hardy>
2 : to return to or begin again after interruption <resumed her work>
3 : to take back to oneself
4 : to pick up again
5 : REITERATE, SUMMARIZE

Resumé: 1 : SUMMARY
2 : CURRICULUM VITAE
3 : a set of accomplishments <a musical résumé>

If anyone wants to know, the "é" key stroke is (hold alt) alt+0+2+3+3 =é

[curtiss]

Originally Posted by Leprakawn

Okay, it does not look liks some death metal band's Web site!! It is much easier on the eyes, so that is good.

Yay!

This idea came to mind: would it be possible to make a distinct border either around the mainblock div or the ind contentbox divs? Just something like a darker gray just to make it look like it has an inner or outer shadow... to give your site some depth.

I'll take a look at it, but I'm not sure how I'll accomplish that. All of the conventional methods are a no-go, since I'm using a very code-light, CSS-based method of creating those rounded-corner boxes (no tables, no real nested divs, etc.). I had thought about that before, too, as I don't like the fact that it blends so seamlessly into the background color.

For now, I have just darkened the background color just a little bit to make it stand out a little better against the wallpaper.

I'll keep looking into ways to add borders, though, as I like that idea, too.

Nice work on the activated nav buttons. Highlighting them is much nicer than ">>" "<<;" however, "Web Hosing" and "Graphic Design" are not highlighted in the left nav panel--they are on the right side.

Unfortunately, that's a side effect of the fact that you are viewing the actual content page (which, in the case of "Graphic Design", is actually called "Graphic Layout" on the menu), rather than viewing the category you originally clicked on. I'll look into ways of adding some sort of different highlight for the category, and possibly a third method of highlighting for the section.

I think I forgot to explain this earlier, but the basic structure of the site is:
Sections
- Categories
-- Content Pages (articles)

If there's only one content page in a category or section, clicking on that category/section leads you directly to the content page, rather than leading you to the section or category.

Good work on the form verification, but you will see that you may want to make a few more adjustments to it! hehehe

Yeah, I already knew that I needed to add more verification, as I have not put anything in to verify that the person enters an email address in the email field, etc.

I think I'll look at Till's tutorial on that (the one Allen discovered the other day), but I've at least got it set up so that you can't submit an empty form.

Resume: 1 : to assume or take again : REOCCUPY <resumed his seat by the fire -- Thomas Hardy>
2 : to return to or begin again after interruption <resumed her work>
3 : to take back to oneself
4 : to pick up again
5 : REITERATE, SUMMARIZE

Resumé: 1 : SUMMARY
2 : CURRICULUM VITAE
3 : a set of accomplishments <a musical résumé>

If anyone wants to know, the "é" key stroke is (hold alt) alt+0+2+3+3 =é

Fixed.

Thanks for all the time you've spent looking at the site.

Hopefully I'll be able to get it looking really nice (the next step is to start working on some graphics for the site - icons and whatnot - but I'm not a great graphic artist, so it'll take me a while).