New look

[canadave]

I know what you mean   I used to do a little web design and I always had to force myself to come off of the higher resolution.  That's why I cruise around in 1024x768 now, so I can experience the Web the same way most others do--it helps my design sense

Dave

[canadave]

Just to make a quick suggestion of one example of rearrangement: I'd take the intro text (under the "PIZZA!" logo), put that and the PIZZA! logo in the left half of a table, and in the right half, have your four buttons for forum, recipes, etc.  Then underneath those have the Google.  Like this:

----------------------------------------
|    intro          |         button 1    |
|                     |        button 2     |                 
|    text           |        button 3     |
|                     |         button 4    |
-----------------------------------------
|                                                 |
|          Google stuff                    |
|                                                 |
-----------------------------------------

Dave

[Steve]

Ok, try it now. I think I've got it! 

This menu looks good even at 800x600. 

Thanks for the suggestions!!

http://www.pizzamaking.com

[canadianbacon]

huh ? you mean not everyone runs at 1280x1024 ? .... geez.. what's the world coming to,   
I also love it.  Nothing like a flat panel either hehe.

Yes, you're probably right. I'm spoiled by my 1280x1024 display. 

[canadave]

Ok, try it now. I think I've got it! 

This menu looks good even at 800x600. 

Thanks for the suggestions!!

http://www.pizzamaking.com

Looks much better, Steve!!  Lots better

Just a couple of things:

1)  The text inside the green box (in small type, that starts with "We're all about pizza...") is in VERY small type.  I'd make it larger, and close it up more with the main text under the PIZZA! logo.

2) The Google and "Make Donation!" button is still out of sight...and if you closed up the Pizza Making banner, took out some of the vast white space around it, I think you'd easily fit everything in a non-scrolling page (except if you were at 800x600, where you might have to scroll a bit...but that's fine for those people, who expect it anyway!)

3) The four main menu buttons are fine, but they could be even better!  I just installed a copy of Xara X1 graphic design program, and it makes really cool buttons....would you be offended if I took a stab at making some buttons and emailed them to you?   If nothing else it would help me explore the finer points of this really neat program.  You could always chuck my designs out the window if you prefer yours.

Those are all really minor points...overall I think it's much improved, and it really looks fine as is!
Dave

[Steve]

Dave, I'd be happy to look at your offerings.

Make sure you send "rollover" buttons with three states. Normal, mouse-over, and clicked.

Thanks again!

[canadianbacon]

hey Steve, where did the "ENTER FORUM" button go ? 

I was looking for it for about 7 seconds and just happened to see a tiny menu on the left,
with the "forum" button....

There's nothing from stopping you from putting that "Enter Forum" button also in the middle where it was, and keep
it in the menu on the left.

The forum is the main attaction here yet one would not know that from the menu system.... I'd put that button back,
but that's just me.

Mark

[canadave]

LOL....poor Steve....two people tugging him in two different directions!   I think the buttons just need to be a bit larger and more eye-catching, that's all....I don't see the need to have the forum button be particularly set in the middle of the page.

But that's just me   Steve, do what YOU think will look best!

[Steve]

Well, seeing how you can't go anywhere from the main page without clicking on a button, and the forum is the top button, do we need an "in your face" button?

Comments?

[canadianbacon]

Hi CanadaDave,

oops sorry    I didn't even read your post until I just got your last post.... I had just gone onto the site
saw the menu, and thought " where's the darn "enter" button and then I saw it,
but I didn't read your remarks.. oops.

Yeah I don't want to pull Steve all over, unless he's rubber man ( like in the Incredibles movie haha )

in any event, the forum IS this website, and it MUST stand out.... as it is now, it doesn't, that being said,
I'll shuddup now hehehe.

Btw, I just bought a HUGE beer keg fridge at Costco on Wed night and just got back about an hour ago from having the
Co2 tank for it filled - yeah it came with a 5lb Co2 tank ! whooo !

I can get 4 kegs at 5 gallons each ( that's 67 bottles of beer x 4 )  - for a total of 268 bottles of beer approx in the fridge...

life is GOOD. :-)

If you want to see images of the keg fridge, and me adding in 1 keg at a time,
see here:
http://www.yummybeer.com/newkegfridge/

You can also see new images of my Co2 tank just after it being filled here: ( about 3pm my time )
http://www.yummybeer.com/new-tank/

The keg you see there is a new keg that has Alexander Keith beer in it, - it's a 20 liter keg, that a fellow brew member
asked me to polish off for him hahaha 

[Steve]

Ok, I added the button back. 

[canadianbacon]

ah looks good Steve, and I don't think it's overkill.... we want people to see us,
good job 

[canadave]

LOL....looks much better now.  I only have ONE complaint (honest!): the "Make Donation" button is out of sight!   Put that puppy under the four menu buttons, and you'll have a happy and totally satisfied canadave

Dave

[pizzabill]

Steve,

I'm diggin the look too - way to bring the site features into focus. A few comments...

(I'm looking at things from a search engines point of view for what it's worth)

Though the buttons are cool, graphics can't be read by spiders. The alt tags will help, but most likely will not get the weight that a text link would get. If you really want cool looking buttons, you could always use CSS to have the same appearance using text for the button lettering.

Along the same lines, earlier today I though I saw some front page text with key phrases in it. Seems they are gone now?

Having said that, I think the new recipes page will do pretty well for the phrase - good use of the H1 tag, etc. Bring on the spiders!

[Steve]

Bill, here are my thoughts on the new design.

The main goal for the main menu page was to squeeze as much as possible into the page and still have it fit nicely on a maximized browser window at 800x600 (and still look good). I think I've accomplished that. To do that I had to nix the recipes and some of the other text. But, I think that I will bring back the original text with those keywords you mentioned and create an "About this Site" button/page with the information that's there now.

The "Pizza Recipes" page now has the word "Pizza Recipes" in many places on the page including twice in the H1 tag! So, I'm hoping that will lure in the spiders. And, I am going to put the left-most buttons on each page for easier navigation.

I will play with the CSS tags that you mentioned to get the button text back to plain text.

Thanks for the tips everyone!!

[pizzabill]

Steve,

Here's a link to some decent css button code...

http://www.search-this.com/website_design/css_rollover_buttons.aspx

[Steve]

Ok, I think I'm done with the main menu now. I'm getting tired of tweaking it... I think it's good the way it is for now. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

http://www.pizzamaking.com

[canadianbacon]

Looks super

I wouldn't touch it a tad more, and yeah I know you've done quite a bit of tweekin' it.

Time to relax and have a homebrew.

New to brewing ? ... check out : www.howtobrew.com

all you ever wanted to know, by award winning author John Palmer 

Mark