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Post by indycals on Mar 10, 2010 16:29:52 GMT -5
I am in the process of re-designing www.indycals.net from the ground up and I would like some input as to what improvements you would like to see. First and foremost, I am adding a FAQ page and a search box. I also hope to add a customer gallery. Part of the reason I am redoing it from scratch is that the original site was designed over 9 years ago and I was a real novice when I did it. Now, I'm not a web design expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm working at getting better and I know more now than I did then and technology has come a long way. But the original site was designed in such a way that to make any global changes (like adding a search box) would require modifying every single page on my website.... hundreds of them. The new site is being designed so that changes can be me made globally on the fly by just modifying one page. Navigation should be a bit smoother and less graphic intensive for those on dial-up and the page size will be more dynamic. The look will be different, but familiar. Frankly, looking back at how I did it and how messed up a lot of the code got from using WSYIWYG methods to put it together, I'm amazed the site has held up as well and as long as it has, LOL. |
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Post by Calvin on Mar 10, 2010 17:01:32 GMT -5
I like the current layout, Its nice and simple. But It would totally help out to have the FAQ of recommend pant colors for the new customers.
Like for example: Your 1974 Winner page would have the picture of the model, under that would be the buy it button, then under that could be the recommended color: Tamiya TS-56 Brilliant Orange.
But one way or another Painting tips seems to be a big part that could be used IMO.
Also I think having a customer gallery would be a great idea, because it would be a motivating factor for anyone.
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Post by indycals on Mar 10, 2010 17:09:49 GMT -5
I knew I forgot to mention something in my previous post. I'm one step ahead of you... one of my FAQ questions is "What paint did you use on...?", and the answer has a link to an entire page of paint recommendations. I was also thinking of a tips and tricks page, but if I do that will likely be added after I get the new site up and running. I like the current layout, Its nice and simple. But It would totally help out to have the FAQ of recommend pant colors for the new customers. Like for example: Your 1974 Winner page would have the picture of the model, under that would be the buy it button, then under that could be the recommended color: Tamiya TS-56 Brilliant Orange. But one way or another Painting tips seems to be a big part that could be used IMO. Also I think having a customer gallery would be a great idea, because it would be a motivating factor for anyone. |
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Post by stuboyle on Mar 10, 2010 17:13:58 GMT -5
I think it would be pretty cool if you had a "kit selector" where you select the kit you have and then it returns all of the decals which will work with kit you select.
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Post by Calvin on Mar 10, 2010 17:20:00 GMT -5
I knew I forgot to mention something in my previous post. I'm one step ahead of you... one of my FAQ questions is "What paint did you use on...?", and the answer has a link to an entire page of paint recommendations. I was also thinking of a tips and tricks page, but if I do that will likely be added after I get the new site up and running. Yeah, that would be good. Decal tips and tricks would be helpful. Also maybe having a page of "what kits work with these decals" link. The link would go to a pg. with the list of kits along with a picture of the box art. But I dont know if you want to get that detailed.  |
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Post by indycals on Mar 10, 2010 17:34:24 GMT -5
I think it would be pretty cool if you had a "kit selector" where you select the kit you have and then it returns all of the decals which will work with kit you select. Interesting idea. That might be beyond my current scope of ability... but then again, so were some of the other things I've done in the new site until I tried them |
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Post by stuboyle on Mar 10, 2010 18:16:39 GMT -5
I think it would be pretty cool if you had a "kit selector" where you select the kit you have and then it returns all of the decals which will work with kit you select. Interesting idea. That might be beyond my current scope of ability... but then again, so were some of the other things I've done in the new site until I tried them Well, instead of kit selector, you could just a kit link instead. You would then have a unique page which would list multiple decals for each kit. |
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 0:33:00 GMT -5
Here's a sneak peak - the links are not all set up, and there is just garble for text in the main text area, but the search feature should work, as should the sub category menu in the "Decals" link: www.indycals.net/templates/indycalstemplate.dwt this is just to give you a feel for the new look. The F1 Decals link does work, some of the other links take you to the current website, and some are just dead ends right now. |
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 1:01:24 GMT -5
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 1:09:39 GMT -5
Looks good to me. I like the updates. I like the callout block. The top link worked for me.
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 1:20:52 GMT -5
Calvin, what browser and system are you using?
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 1:31:53 GMT -5
Calvin, what browser and system are you using? Windows Internet Explorer 7 |
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 1:36:03 GMT -5
Cool.. I'm doing everything on a Mac and I won't see how it looks on IE until tomorrow.
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 1:52:21 GMT -5
For my age group I'm not that smart tech wise. I took web classes in High school...but I was to busy goofing around on racing sites  and not doing my school work. All I remember is I used Dreamweaver. ;D But I know how to use a Fadal CNC Mill BTW ;D |
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 2:03:24 GMT -5
I'm using Dreamweaver... it is probably the worst written app for the Mac I've ever used. I swear Adobe hired a bunch of Windows XP designers for this piece of crap.
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 2:09:59 GMT -5
I'll take your word for it, because I have no clue |
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Post by macsparty on Mar 11, 2010 9:36:27 GMT -5
That sample layout looks nice. I'm looking at in Firefox. And those are some pretty good ideas presented so far. If I may throw one more idea out there, any chance at multiple angles of your complete builds using your decals? Left and right sides would be good.
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Post by indy on Mar 11, 2010 10:31:56 GMT -5
Looks good on Firefox in XP  I'll try it with Google Chrome at home, too. Nice work on this Michael and I like the thought of not continuing "The Split"  makes me want to reconsider the sections here, again - lol Jordan |
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Post by Patrick on Mar 11, 2010 11:35:39 GMT -5
Chaparral2K that's what pisses us teachers off! LOL We don't get that time lookin' at cars until we get home!! LOL
Michael looks excellent to me and in my age group we only used hammer, chisel, and rock!
Patrick
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 11:54:02 GMT -5
I just looked at it in Safari on my Mac at work and it's pretty f'd up. What color are all of you seeing the links as? They should be the same color blue as the header and they should turn lavender when you put the cursor over them. I'm seeing them as red on the template and F1 decals, but when I go to FAQ that page shows up correctly. iCab is doing the same thing as Safari. Firefox and Opera are displaying it correctly. This is weird as I tested all four browsers on my Mac at home and they were fine.
I'm also looking at it on IE 6 on a PC and it looks like $#!t - the decals link is showing a white background, the type on the FAQ page is way too big and decals submenu where it lists Indy 500, Other Indycar, F1 and CanAm decals is also showing a white background - that is NOT correct. Firefox on the PC looks fine.
Later tonight I'll post a screenshot of what it should closely resemble.
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 12:20:30 GMT -5
What color are all of you seeing the links as? They should be the same color blue as the header and they should turn lavender when you put the cursor over them. They are the same color as header and they turn lavender. |
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 12:25:23 GMT -5
the decals link is showing a white background, the type on the FAQ page is way too big and decals submenu where it lists Indy 500, Other Indycar, F1 and CanAm decals is also showing a white Yep thats what I see. On the FAQ page type looks like the font size of a 10-12 But I really like the FAQ page, very good. on that same pg some of the links dont line up. For example the ligier / wolf 1/12 link throws it down to the bottom of pg. not to the top and a few other links will throw it in the middle of the pg and I have to search for them. |
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 12:48:53 GMT -5
I tried IE 8 and it is just as bad with the links, although the type size on the FAQ page is better. Just goes to show that Microsoft is STILL incapable of creating a modern browser. And I'm not even using the latest technology. The day they make something that doesn't suck is the day they start making vacuum cleaners! So far Firefox is the best browser I've used on either platform. Regarding the FAQ page link issue, it is being limited by the bottom of the page. For instance the Liger/Wolf question is very near the bottom so it is not possible for the browser to position it at the top of the page. the decals link is showing a white background, the type on the FAQ page is way too big and decals submenu where it lists Indy 500, Other Indycar, F1 and CanAm decals is also showing a white Yep thats what I see. On the FAQ page type looks like the font size of a 10-12 But I really like the FAQ page, very good. on that same pg some of the links dont line up. For example the ligier / wolf 1/12 link throws it down to the bottom of pg. not to the top and a few other links will throw it in the middle of the pg and I have to search for them. |
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 13:12:35 GMT -5
I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here. I just read up on IE 8 and this is what I've found: (My comments in bold) Standards mode Internet Explorer 8's main rendering mode, known as standards mode, has improved support for various web standards, especially CSS, compared to Internet Explorer 7 and earlier versions.[53] The web standards supported by IE8 include the following: HTML, including the HTML object fallback and the abbr and <q> elements[54] Data: URIs CSS level 1 is fully supported. CSS level 2 is mostly supported,[55] however several rendering bugs and regressions may affect conformance.[56] CSS level 3 is partially supported. CSS = Cascading Style Sheets. This has been around for at least 10 years. "Mostly supported" for an old version is not acceptable!DOM storage Partial HTML 5 support, including cross-document messaging Selectors APIs DOM, that brings it in line with implementations in other browsers. Attributes and properties in DOM objects are now handled differently, and the behavior of the getAttribute, setAttribute and removeAttribute modifiers have been changed to match the behavior of other browsers.[38] Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) specification for enhanced accessibility in Ajax-based rich Internet applications.[47] However, IE8 does not support some other W3C standards: Then it's not a modern browserXHTML (except when used as a form of HTML) Uh... XHTML is the current standardMathML SVG. The fact that IE8 does not support SVG was criticized by Tim Berners-Lee.[57] Significant parts of DOM Level 2 and 3, including the standard event model used by other browsers. IE8 passes the Acid2 test,[58][59] but fails the Acid3 test with a score of 20/100. During its development, Microsoft developed over 7,000 tests for CSS level 2 compliance, which were submitted to the W3C for inclusion in their test suite.[60] An Acid Test3 score of 20/100? Safari 4 scores 100/100, Opera scores 100/100, Firefox 3.6, 94/100. The upcoming IE 9 currently scores 34/100*! *ref: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_9#Internet_Explorer_9Do yourself a favor - if you are currently using any iteration of IE, dump it and get Firefox, Opera or Safari. |
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Post by indydog on Mar 11, 2010 13:24:43 GMT -5
Also maybe having a page of "what kits work with these decals" link. The link would go to a pg. with the list of kits along with a picture of the box art. But I dont know if you want to get that detailed. Nice idea, but I think it would be easier for Michael to just list colors and possible kits right on the decal page. ... On the Ferrari 312T decal page list the Hasegawa kit and the closest color match. The more pages made, the more complicated things get. I think that would lighten the work load on Michael and still have the information available. The more condensed the website is, the more navigatable it is. You have to remember; this is a decal website, not an indy car model database. Just thinking about Michael here, I have designed websites and know how much work it is. |
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 13:43:12 GMT -5
Regarding the FAQ page link issue, it is being limited by the bottom of the page. For instance the Liger/Wolf question is very near the bottom so it is not possible for the browser to position it at the top of the page. Yeah, I realized that afterwards. |
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 13:44:27 GMT -5
Nice idea, but I think it would be easier for Michael to just list colors and possible kits right on the decal page. Just thinking about Michael here, I have designed websites and know how much work it is. Yep, your right. |
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Post by indycals on Mar 11, 2010 13:51:02 GMT -5
Also maybe having a page of "what kits work with these decals" link. The link would go to a pg. with the list of kits along with a picture of the box art. But I dont know if you want to get that detailed. Nice idea, but I think it would be easier for Michael to just list colors and possible kits right on the decal page. ... On the Ferrari 312T decal page list the Hasegawa kit and the closest color match. The more pages made, the more complicated things get. I think that would lighten the work load on Michael and still have the information available. The more condensed the website is, the more navigatable it is. You have to remember; this is a decal website, not an indy car model database. Just thinking about Michael here, I have designed websites and know how much work it is. Yeah, as it is I already probably have a couple hundred pages to re-do. In most cases I already list the kits that work best with a set decals on each product page, but I can see where someone who has a 1988 Kmart Lola would want to know what decals I have that work with that kit. Thus I do like the idea of a kit selector that could be done on one page. But right now it looks like my hands are going to be pretty full getting modern standards to work with Internet Exploder. |
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Post by Calvin on Mar 11, 2010 14:04:29 GMT -5
;D LOL thats what I've always called it! ;D I have a OT Story I used to work with a guy that hated everything Microsoft.....It would be a mistake to get him on the topic because he would never stop talking he would start to shake/sweat....eventally you would leave the room and he would continue to talk with no one in the room. ;D LOL |
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Post by indydog on Mar 11, 2010 14:12:06 GMT -5
That's why I do all my code in HTML... it works on everything!
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and not doing my school work. 
I'll try it with Google Chrome at home, too. Nice work on this Michael and I like the thought of not continuing "The Split" 
makes me want to reconsider the sections here, again - lol
