Well, here's revision 3 to request a review for. I kept my last "face" for my site for about 6 months, but between the fact that new features needed to be added and the load time of the front page was getting unbearable, I opted for a complete rework.
Some things to mention:
- the Texoma area consists of counties on and around the border of northeast Texas and southeast Oklahoma. I'm telling you this because I can't put it on the page itself. I've tried convincing my boss otherwise, but it's just one of those "don't go there" things.
- I'm especially worried about whether or not the tables I've got set up look right. I tested the site at all resolutions from 640x480 to 1024x768. Our target audience seems to use that range of resolutions. I also tested the site with both IE 5 and NS 4.7, both load everything well.
- I've still got some work to do on the search feature (it doesn't like single quotes... that's a Cold Fusion thing I know I need to fix).
The layout looks much better and a lot more professional than it did previously. You also have a really good color combination.
The single quote isn't really a Cold Fusion thing but a SQL thing. SQL uses single quotes as String delimiters. You should be able to override it by using two single quotes together (''). Test it with your database to see if it works. If it works with your database then just replace all the single qoutes with two single quotes before you submit it to the server.
Comments above just go to show you how tastes can vary.
I think the site has a nice, clean, straight-forward appearance and I like the color scheme. It's not INCREDIBLY visually interesting, but not bad. IF you want to add something visually,I'd keep it pretty simple - maybe use the burnt-orange color that is used for the headings on some of the pages a little more (where - I don't know). I like that color with the blue and the light background. Other than that, maybe a simple, unobtrusive bg image to go behind text in the main content section. (Again, I don't know what, exactly, but....)
Really, I think the site is fine as it is. All links that I tried worked well. It's easy to navigate. Looks like good information (which, as a Dallasite who likes the border area for weekend camping trips, I plan to use).
I would probably make the headings a little larger (bold too?) in comparisson to the rest of the text. As it is, except for the color, they don't really standout from the text below them.
On the wording, that was something that was determined by my (somewhat stubborn) employer...
TWT, I did try the color you recommended and showed it to the "powers that be". I was given a dirty look. (*sigh*) Sometimes working for a "mom-n-pop" business can be a PITA!
I didn't see your older ones, but there's not to much wrong with this one. More color variety is difently needed. maybe some colorful horizontal bars somewhere in there. However, like others are saying, it is very strightforward and gets the point across. Nothing is worse then getting to a website and not being able to figure out what it actually is there for.
Netscape 6 is still beta but because the current version of netscape is so behind and slow some users have already switched to it. Also when it is released I would think you would want your site compliant right away.
I don't really like the blue navigation bar at the 'creamy' background, but that's personal. Maybe you would better not use so much bold words, it makes the site look a bit messy. Nice design.
1) I would add some type of bullet next to each of your menu items. For some reason menu's w/o bullets makes them look unorganized to me.
2) The top logo part looks too bulky for my taste. You have all that blue space which isn't filled up. Then just the "ConnectTexoma" text, which is kinda boring in my opinion. What's that thing on the left side anyway?
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