Nameless Voice on 6/4/2009 at 10:20
I despise websites with search boxes that do not apply to the sites themselves. An extremely common pitfall of bad web design which far too many sites stumble into.
cosmicnut on 6/4/2009 at 10:26
On one job I had we found the perfect compromise. We had an artist draw a web page that looked "incredible". It was then my job to turn it into something "usable".
As an approach it works well as you have the artist's design ethic and the coders realism.
If you REALLY want to create a site that displays EXACTLY the way you want, I would splash some cash and get Adobe Flash/Shockwave or M$ Silverlight.
While normally used for adding touches to web pages, you can actually create a whole site in it.
The problem with that approach is that it usually takes a while to download and will give PC's with low power processors a headache.
As ZB said. You never have control over how the browser displays HTML.
I recently designed a page for a friend. It took me ages since its been a number of years since I last created one. It took hours to re-learn javascript and all the new changes(OMG document.all doesn't work anymore! :confused: ). In the end I got it looking... well... not bad (certainly not up to my old standards and certainly not for viewing here!). However, all the testers moaned that it didn't work.
Problem was that it looked great on my 1920x1200 24" TFT, but any lower than that and bits started disapearing. In the end I had to re-design the whole way the site worked.
Keep it simple. Try it on multiple browsers. Re-size your browser and make sure it adjusts to make the best use of screen area.
Designing a web page is about creating an experience, rather than a static picture.
Enchantermon on 6/4/2009 at 13:14
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
Don't confuse perfectionism with being a control freak.
Good point. When I design a web page (which isn't very often), I write it so it looks how I want it to in as many browsers as possible. If it changes on someone else's end due to settings specific to them, I don't really mind as long as the site still works (well) for its intended purpose.
Yakoob on 6/4/2009 at 13:58
Quote Posted by Enchantermon
That's probably why I wouldn't be a good web designer. I'm too much of a perfectionist.
Lol, that is exactly why I despise web design after a year of part time work in it. That and cross-browser compatibility. Dear god, 2 hours of tweaking just to get the shit that looks great on Firefox to be at least readable on IE.
cosmicnut on 6/4/2009 at 14:22
I gave up web design in the IE4 era. 90% of the time a designer chose a browser to customise for and left it at that.
Javescript, frames, even the handling some basic HTML tags differed between old netscape and IE4.
Then of course there was always someone trying to use mozaic!
Add to that the limitations you had of the 28kbps modem :eww:
Kefren on 6/4/2009 at 14:55
One thing it does well is to create anticipation in someone who hasn't played the games before. It is the kind of thing I could point a friend at to get an idea of why I keep going on about these games.
So the content is there, it sounds like it is mostly the presentation and format that needs tweaking.
RocketMan on 6/4/2009 at 16:43
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
I despise websites with search boxes that do not apply to the sites themselves. An extremely common pitfall of bad web design which far too many sites stumble into.
What do you mean? I put those search boxes there precisely because they DO apply to the subject matter. I've restricted the searchable URLs to only those that are relevant to system shock and rockets.
@ Kefren :thumb:
Kolya thanks. It'll be a useful start....gawd i hate HTML though...not that i think there's really anything wrong with it though.
ZylonBane on 6/4/2009 at 17:01
Quote Posted by RocketMan
Kolya thanks. It'll be a useful start....gawd i hate HTML though...not that i think there's really anything wrong with it though.
So use a WYSIWYG editor.
Kolya on 6/4/2009 at 17:31
What? No! My pure code! Do not desecrate it with a WYSIWYG editor.
Nameless Voice on 6/4/2009 at 18:49
Quote Posted by RocketMan
What do you mean? I put those search boxes there precisely because they DO apply to the subject matter. I've restricted the searchable URLs to only those that are relevant to system shock and rockets.
It's slightly less of an issue with your site, but I can't stand it when websites have boxes for Google searches of the web, since I'll invariably try to search the site itself with them, and they just give me Google results - something any web user is more than capable of getting themselves, by simply going to Google directly.
