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Older articles
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject: Current Theme
 Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 08:11 AM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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I see that you have made additional changes to the theme on the front of the site known as the Portal Themes 2 theme. As changes bring with them new perspective, here are my most current thoughts on the theme in question:
1. On the left block, the gradient effect needs to be flipped 180 degrees, so that the gradient washes to white on the inside of the left block, rather than on the outside.
2. At the top left portion of the center block, above where it says "OUR CURRENT PROJECT," the gray grain background appears to have an overlap. Right clicking on it reveals the following item that needs to be deleted from that exact spot:
http://www.portalthemes.com/themes/port ... es2_04.gif
3. Behind the navigation menu on the left hand side is a gif file that presents a solid gray background, one that extends all of the way down the left hand side of the page. The file name is: portalthemes2_07.gif
This gray background should be eliminated, to make the background of the left blocks emulate the look of the background behind the right blocks.
4. Behind the Portal Themes logo in the upper left hand corner of the front page are what appears to me to be 3 small gray squares with a white or light gray interior. They do not enhance the aesthetics of the site.
5. The orange bar beneath the SITE STATUS title bar on the right block is more attractive than the solid gray title bar of the NAVIGATION section on the left block.
6. In the left block, where Galleries, Get Themes, and Communications are in bold, you might wish to leave them in bold, but to also make that bold text in the same orange color of the theme. This I would recommend due to a white space consideration, in an attempt to further break down the white space of the left block segment of the site.
7. The orange mouse-over effect of the links in the upper right corner of the page are very slow to activate. I would recommend speeding this mouseover effect up.
8. The amount of space between the right edge of the page and the right edge of the right blocks should be the same as the amount at the top of the right blocks. I am referring to the amount of grainy gray background that is displayed in these thin sections.
9. Have the left blocks offset in a manner similar to the right blocks, with grainy gray background displayed on the far left edge of the left blocks.
10. The current revised theme feels out of kilter, due to the center lacking clear definition. Where it says latest site news and our current project, those are the true centers of the visual layout. Everything else sits off-center. This effect is not a positive one. In conjunction with the portal themes logo and the featured site section being top right, along with the welcoming message now also on the top right, the center's lack of definition is made all the more pronounced. This status quo does not compliment the page look or feel.
11. The thumbnails for the galleries should be clickable links to those galleries.
12. Grainy gray background should be displayed between the center blocks.
13. The height of the Latest Site News section of the center block should be reduced, so as to create a smaller footprint for that block.
14. In the Latest Site News block, I think that the double orange line effect at the top of that block should be moved to the bottom.
15. At present, the site has lost some of its prior "clean look." Conversely, the right area looks very nice, I think.
16. The mouseover of the links for the right, left, and center blocks should be changed from a pale gray to a bright orange, so that the links really stand out when rolled over with the user's mouse.
17. While I think that the right block section currently looks the best of any section on the page, I also think that the information displayed in it at present looks very nice in that area. The right block just seems to be a very nice fit, at present.
18. At present, the three sections of the site that I disfavor the most, in order of most disfavored to least disfavored, are:
(a) The trio combination of the portal themes logo, the featured site section, and the welcoming message yield a very bulky effect in their current configuration.
(b) The featured site section. It is all gray/silver, and its lifeless color scheme is worsened by its off-center location. There is nothing about the featured site section that I like, either its look or its location.
(c) The theme gallery trio of thumbnail pictures presents its own clump effect for the right side of the page.
19. I very much like the font style used in the Portal Themes logo. Have you considered making them larger, and then placing the featured site section between the two words, that Portal is on top and Themes is on the bottom of the featured site logo? Perhaps you could curve them, in a semi-ball shape, and then center it all above the center block section.
20. The bottom two-thirds of the page have less wasted space than the top third.
21. Looking at things from a different perspective, from the top of the page until you reach the "OUR CURRENT PROJECT" section of the center block, the true center of the page is empty. The negative visual impact that this creates upon the eye does not escape notice.
22. Changing the Portal Themes colored text in the Welcoming message from red to its current color was not an improvement. The color of that colored text segment simply fails to compliment anything.
23. You might wish to consider getting rid of the all capital letters of the welcoming message, with the exception of the initial line of that message.
24. You have a huge swath of horizontal orange at the top that now goes under utilized, with most of it not being utilized at all. The end result is that it is treated as a form of white space. White space is, in essence, more about being space than it is about being white. Any color or pattern can constitute white space.
Just some additional thoughts. Take 'em or leave 'em, as you see fit. |
Last edited by GlueBeard on Aug 21, 2004 - 04:23 PM; edited 2 times in total
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 05:48 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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Ah, more changes to the Portal Themes 2 theme. I think that the theme has definitely improved, but here are my latest thoughts, in light of the most recent changes:
1. The orange border around the Featured Site section is definitely a big improvement over its prior lifeless colorless scheme.
2. Between the last location and the current location for the Featured Site section, I definitely like the current location better.
3. The gradient effect behind the left block (portalthemes2_07.gif) seems to have been reversed, except this is not the gradient I was referring to. This particular gif file should be eliminated, to allow the gray grainy background (back.gif) to show up around the top and bottom edges of the left block.
4. You deleted the http://www.portalthemes.com/themes/port ... es2_04.gif file that served as a spacer, apparently, between the OUR CURRENT THEME section and the top of the gray grainy background. Elimination of this file was recommended, primarily because it noticeably ended in mid crossing of the center block section. Losing the extra area of grainy gray displayed at the top of the center and right blocks is not a desirable effect, though. If you have to have a spacer gif file in order to created a wider top border, to allow the grainy gray background to show through more, then I would suggest a wider gif file than previously used, one that extends the full width of the page, and just make to a totally transparent file, so that the grainy gray background can shine through unobscured.
5. The addition of grainy gray area between the OUR CURRENT PROJECT and the LATEST SITE NEWS areas of the center block is definitely a big improvement. Can you emulate that same side of grainy gray that you have between those two blocks around the top edge of the left, center, and right blocks, and also again on the left side of the left blocks and along the right edge of the right blocks? If so, then you can effectively frame the entire lower two thirds of the page, which I think would bring a decisive transformation to the "feel" of the front page. Presently, the lower two-thirds of the front page look good (with a couple of notable exceptions), but it doesn't quite feel as good as it looks.
6. The NAVIGATION menu block on the left side needs to be offset from the left edge of the page. Once you achieve the desired degree of offset, I would suggest then centering the FEATURED SITE section over the NAVIGATION title bar. I am not sure that is where the final location of the FEATURED SITE section should be, but I do think that it would be worth looking at, once the changes in question are made to the left block area.
7. The horizontal swath of orange at the top, the one that stretches the width of the entire page, looks the best it has looked since I first saw the Orange Cyclone theme. That area now has a nice "clean" look to it. It is not nearly as cluttered as it was. The "clutter effect" really has less to do with putting something in the area than with WHAT you put there, and HOW you choose to display what you put there. Since one of the initial positive impressions with the theme in question was its clean look (at that time effectuated primarily by the center and right block areas which was devoid of right blocks at the time, if memory serves me correctly), the fact that the orange swath now has a cleaner look to it builds on this effect.
8. The true center of the page's lack of definition has been positively impacted by your most recent set of changes. In the OUR CURRENT PROJECT section, the wide gray space between the PREVIEW and NOTES sections, while it is actually a swath of nothingness, has now become the visual true center of the page. That wide space of nothingness actually draws the eye back to the center of the theme and away from the edges, which is not a bad effect on this particular theme. Visually, it serves as a sort of quasi-dwarf column, and actually lends an increased sense of strength to the theme, overall. I think that this is due primarily to the opening up of the horizontal orange swath at the top, in conjunction with the less cluttered effect of the current location of the Portal Themes logo, Welcoming Message, and Featured Site trio.
9. The elimination or moving of so many links out of the left block, since I first saw the theme, has really been a nice change, as the left block looks far less overcrowded now compared to when I first saw it a few days ago.
10. The PREVIEW and NOTES sections of the OUR CURRENT PROJECT block in the center block area sit too close to the edge of the orange background of the title bar. They need to be centered between the top and bottom edges of the gray area that serves as the background for them. The particular background I am referring to is not the grainy gray background, but rather, the solid gray background with the gradient effect that transits northwards (newest_05.gif).
11. The Welcoming Message has two errors in it, one grammar and the other punctuation. Between NOTHING and YOU, you need to insert the word THAT. Also, between APPEALING and THEN< you need to insert a comma.
12. The red lettering of PORTALTHEMES.COM is definitely better than the too pale orangish color used in that same section. Could you try highlighting the impact of that red lettering by placing it in bold, also?
13. With it being in all capital letters, the Welcoming Message conjures up images of people in text chat sessions who complain long and hard about how using all capital letters in chat is the supposed equivalent of shouting. Don't SHOUT at me, they would say. By going with all capital letters, and then by bunching them all so closely together, you Welcoming Message actually yields less impact than it otherwise might. The Welcoming Message presently is the one section of the front page that looks the least "clean." It is like a mass of words crammed into a small space. Perhaps we should call this the Tuna Effect, since the Welcoming Message look like capital letters just suffered a population explosion. A more decorative looking font, one less plain, might also help transform the Welcoming Message into something more visually palatable.
14. The links in the upper right corner now just sort of sit there, out of the way. I'm still not quite sure what purpose they serve, since their existence is duplicative. The font size of the lettering in those links is too small. You need something with more impact, perhaps bolder, perhaps a wider font, to make those particular links look less pussified. As long as the Portal Themes logo is in its present location, I do think that these links help to balance that top horizontal section of the page.
15. With regards to the Portal Themes logo in the upper left corner, it doesn't look bad, either its color or its font type or its location. However, just because a given element of your site doesn't look bad does not automatically mean that it can't be improved, and made to look even better. The theme is your canvas, and you are the artist. You are the architect, and the theme is your work of architecture. Do not be afraid to indulge your creative self. "Oh, what a cute little Portal Themes logo. How tubular!" I can just hear the Valley girls saying now. The font, itself, is not broken, so don't change it. But, you really should be ashamed of yourself, Mars, for taking such a nice looking font, and then stuffing it into a box effect. Just look at it! Nice font - Square look. I don't know, exactly, what specific change you should make to the Portal Themes logo, but it is not wise to allow oneself to become closed to a better solution. Perhaps you could make the font size bigger, and perhaps you might consider having the word Portal curve down and right, at sort of a 90 degree angle, curving around the Feature Site box. Then, have the worth Themes curve similarly, but in the other direction, curving back over the top of the Theme Galleries thumbnails.
16. The two biggest sore thumbs, right now, are the portalthemes2_07.gif file behind the left block, and the Welcoming Message. Of the two, even though the portalthemes2_07.gif file is more noticeable, the Welcoming Message, in its current incarnation, is simply uglier. The portalthemes2_07.gif is not a bad effect, rather, it's just the wrong effect for this theme at this time. I recommend a total makeover for the Welcoming message. In its current status quo, it simply detracts, rather than adds to, the front page.
Yet again, for whatever it is worth. |
Last edited by GlueBeard on Aug 21, 2004 - 04:25 PM; edited 1 time in total
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mars |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 05:59 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 15, 2004
Posts: 4277
Status: Offline
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Keep it coming! 
Oh and this isn't Orange Cyclone... This is portalthemes2
Orange Cyclone is a free theme download. |
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 06:08 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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Oops! Hehehe.
I knew that, Dammit!
Can we change the name of this topic, then? |
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mars |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 06:59 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 15, 2004
Posts: 4277
Status: Offline
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Done.
Updates shortly... Prepare to Control-F5 |
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 07:21 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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mars wrote:
Keep it coming!
Famous last words.
Very well, so be it, then. Cry havor, and let slip the dogs of thematic war!!
Thematic War - Rather appropriate for Mars, God of War, wouldn't you think, eh?
Puns aside, onward to the daunting task that lies ahead.
1. Gradient effects, quite rightly, often produce a "washed" look. However, applying the concept of "wash" to a theme is NOT akin to washing clothes. The great object is NOT to wash everything in sight, as if it were all dirty laundry piling up all over the floor. As such, I question the supposed necessity for so much of the orangeworks (Nice word, eh? Orangeworks!) to be bleached with this washing effect caused by the apparent addiction to the gradient to white. Unless the objective is to whitewash the whole fence, Tom Sawyer, then resort to mass whitewashing via gradients is the Huckeleberry's way of approaching the thematic challenge before us. What is happening is that the white wash from the gradient on orange is now competing with the white wash from the gradient on gray. Unless white is to become the dominant color scheme of this theme, you might wish to recant this newfound white-based thematic ideology. White is the most powerful of all colors, because it is perceived by the visual sense as purity, of a sort. A little bit of white paint goes much further than a little bit of any other color. If you do not believe me, then shut yourself in a closet at night, and see how much of the black darkness is obliterated by a single lit match. The match, however, does not emanate white light, for if it did, it would have more the impact of a flashlight. The moral of this lesson? Gradients should normally be used in a restrained manner, lest they break out and overrun everything. The best laid plans of mice, men, and themes go astray, but few are they who realized that the culprit was a gradient troll.
2. There is a horizontal gray section that stretches the entire width of the page, the one that the Feature Site box and the Theme Galleries thumbnail graphics sit on top of. At the top of this area, it is bordered by a curb like gray horizontal swath. This curb is near duplicated (only slightly more heighth) at the very top of the page. Let us call this the Curb Effect, for this discussion's sake. I believe that you should craft a miniature version of this curb, much reduced in heighth, and place it along the bottom of the gray swath that the Featured Site and Theme Galleries thumbnails sit on top of. You would, thus, have a curb at the top of this gray swath, and a smaller curb at the bottom.
3. You know, I am sitting here, looking at the front page, just taking the theme in, trying to relax and be at peace with the world. But.....this theme will not allow it. You say that the name of the theme is Portal Themes 2 (Oh, how very non-catchy sounding that is!), and yet, as I sit here admiring this unfinished piece of sculpture, I cannot help but to wonder what is missing. Quite plain and simply, there is no portal. A play on words.....BUT....does the theme have to be so limited? Where is the Portal, Watson? You are transfixed on the unholy trinity of the Theme Galleries thumbnails, Featured Site, and Portal Themes logo, I believe, while the real opportunity passes us by unnoticed.
A portal, though, is what? A door; a window; a passageway; a gate. Something along these lines does, I believe, qualify as a portal. You could have one central portal, or multiple smaller portrals. Multiple portals could allow for a more prominent display of your Theme Galleries thumbnails. Speaking of which, the border for those thumbnails does nothing to compliment the rest of the page. They yield a very "blah" effect, and detract from the thumbnails. I believe it is a combination of two things. The gray color of the border, which looks so lifeless, much like a dead fish just lying there, not even possessing the decency to flop about a bit. The other culprit is, I believe, the curved corners of the border, which seem to be trying to stake a claim to "most prominent feature" of the theme. Just like a bunch of damned curves, isn't it? Always trying to "round up" instead of "rounding down." Always trying to do things their way. Sneaky little bastards, those curves are. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky!
4. The curb effect at the very top of the page, what if we eliminate it, and in its place put up a Roman column looking thing, one laid on its side in a horizontal manner. Something along the lines of crown molding that one finds in many houses. It should be in the same color scheme, I think, though I am not sure if the gradient should wash to the bottom or to the top. Not seeing it there makes it somewhat more difficult to envision the possibilities that such a transition would mean for the front page as a whole.
5. If that patch of links at the top right is just going to sit there and never be used, then let us transform them into something more aesthetically pleasing. If you want to have a pumpkin patch of links, then I would suggest to you that pumpkins would fill this role better than the current squares that are in place there. I would remind you that pumpkins are closely associated with the color orange, and rightly so, since they are, well.....ORANGE. But, pumpkins do not have to be about Halloween. Pumpkins preexisted the concept of Halloween by a considerable margin, I might add. No one said that they had to be traditional pumpkins, now did they? What if you moved the Portal Themes logo to top center, and then have the top right links growing off of that logo like pumpkins on a vine? Who also says that a portal cannot be a pumpkin? It was for Cinderella. She rode to the ball in a pumpkin, for crying out loud. The moral of this story? Why settle for the thematic step sisters, when you can have Cinderella, instead? |
Last edited by GlueBeard on Aug 20, 2004 - 08:15 PM; edited 5 times in total
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 07:24 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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| I just now noticed, after posting the above message, that you had changed the top right links while I was writing the previous message above. My most recent comments aside (but not to be disregarded), the orange lettering in place in the upper right links I like much better than what you had in place there, before. Could you trim them in orange, though, especially if you are resistant to the pumpkinological approach? |
Last edited by GlueBeard on Aug 20, 2004 - 08:00 PM; edited 1 time in total
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 07:30 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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The changes to the bottom two-thirds of the page look terrific! However, while I am not one to nitpick, of course (Smirk!), along the extreme left and right edges, you need to increase the width of the grainy gray background displayed. It is still a tad narrow on the far left and far right vertical edges.
The thing that really galls me now, though, is that the LATEST SITE NEWS block has decided to become a real bastard, and it is trying to bastardize the entire process. I say that we not let it get away with this! That section has grown too big for its britches, and needs to be chopped off at the legs - quite literally! Have that section only tall enough to hold two news articles at one time. The object is to try and keep the viewer from having to scroll down on the front page. Different criteria hold true for the underlying pages of a site, but on the front page, contrary to popular belief, eliminating the necessity to scroll down to take in all of the landscape of the front page will not sound the death knell for all humanity. If I could, I would kick that LATEST SITE NEWS box right now, just for being a bastard! Go on! Do it! You know that you want to kick it, too! KICK! KICK! KICK! |
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mars |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 10:02 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 15, 2004
Posts: 4277
Status: Offline
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YEEEEEOUCH!
Ok I am tired... just got off work, decided to try and work on this one some more, and uploaded the wrong set of images... (this machine had an older version)
So no more work on this theme today... lol  |
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Ray |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2004 - 10:25 PM
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Information Hound
Joined: Aug 17, 2004
Posts: 686
Status: Offline
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LOL, what do you think of switching, if it can be done that is, the gradient in the navigation block to the opposite side so that it focuses the eyes of the beholders to the center of the page. It would create a nice balance with the blocks in the right block side of the site. Just a small thought of mine and you may smack me along side the head for suggesting it......  |
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 21, 2004 - 03:28 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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1. From previous posts, I highlight, yet again, the change that needs to be made, with regards to the left block:
Quote:
1. On the left block, the gradient effect needs to be flipped 180 degrees, so that the gradient washes to white on the inside of the left block, rather than on the outside.
Quote:
3. The gradient effect behind the left block (portalthemes2_07.gif) seems to have been reversed, except this is not the gradient I was referring to. This particular gif file should be eliminated, to allow the gray grainy background (back.gif) to show up around the top and bottom edges of the left block.
Quote:
LOL, what do you think of switching, if it can be done that is, the gradient in the navigation block to the opposite side so that it focuses the eyes of the beholders to the center of the page. It would create a nice balance with the blocks in the right block side of the site. Just a small thought of mine and you may smack me along side the head for suggesting it......
2. For some inexplicable reason, you have now widened the amount of grainy gray background that is displayed to the right of the right blocks. This is too wide. The targeet size to shoot for is the amount of grainy gray that is at the top of the right, left, and center blocks.
3. In the LATEST SITE NEWS section, between the left vertical orange border line and where the announcement blocks are, there is a small gap that needs to be replicated on the right side of the LATEST SITE NEWS BOX. This gap is directly to the left of where 'WELCOME TO THE NEW SITE and ORANGE CYCLONE THEME announcements are listed, but if you look at the far right, to just past where AUG 15, 2004 is displayed, you can see that no similar gap is created next to the right yellow vertical border line of the LATEST SITE NEWS section.
4. The Welcoming Message is more legible, since you cast the ALL CAPITAL LETTERS aside. This also helped the red lettering of PORTALTHEMES.COM to stand out and be even more noticable, which is a good thing. The Welcoming Message, itself, though, does not cease to be problematic. The very last line, for example, has only a single word (rate) in it. This makes the Welcoming Message appear to be a hatchet job, and is not complimentary to either aesthetics, generally, or to the clean look of the site, specifically.
5. The Welcoming Message is comprised of 4 individual sentences, if you break it down into its component parts. There is nothing which dictates that these 4 component parts must stay consolidated and grouped together. You might wish to consider scattering them, to both improve aesthetics, as well as to end up with an overall stronger communication of the individual messages conveyed in that overall message. Text can be useful as a way of organizing white space, in such manners.
6. The Featured Site section is definitely more noticable than it was before, and looks better. However, just because it looks better than it did is not de facto reason to not try to improve it further. I would suggest a fancier border, and a different font for where it says FEATURED SITE.
7. The present location for the Welcoming Message sinply does not work. At least, not with the current way that the Welcome Message is composed. It has a rather ungainly look about it, and severely detracts from the overall clean lines of the site. I state this again for the purpose of emphasis of this particular iten.
8. In the OUR CURRRENT PROJECT section, there are two primary boxes in that section. These 2 boxes are PREVIEW and NOTES. These two boxes need to be centered vertically in the gray area of the OUR CURRENT PROJECT section. Presently, they are closer to the top edge of the gray background area than they are to the bottom, where the OUR CURRENT PROJECT section is concerned.
9. In those very same PREVIEW and NOTES boxes, in their respective title bars, the font size is simply too small. Nothing is served by visitors to the site having to strain to read a font that is too small to begin with. The same holds true for the font size of where it says LATEST SITE NEWS.
10. In the NOTES box, with the exception of the top line, the rest of the wording contained in that box should be aligned LEFT, rather than aligned CENTER.
11. The Welcoming Message, if it is to wrap past one line, should be aligned LEFT< rather than aligned CENTER.
12. Some small sound clips to use as mouseover sound effects for the links would be a nice touch, even if you just used the same sound clip for all links.
13. I would suggest that you try adding either a 1 pixel or 2 pixel wide orange border around the links at the top right corner.
14. Out of curiosity, what is the font that you used for the Portal Themes logo? |
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 21, 2004 - 04:36 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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Additional observations of the theme as it currently is structured are as follows:
1. The Welcoming Message is not centered between the Featured Site box and the Free Themes thumbnail graphic.
2. The Featured Site box is not centered over the left block.
3. The Featured Site box is almost dead up against the left edge of the page, unlike the Custom Themes thumbnail on the left edge of that gray background swath that both entities presently occupy a position on top of. |
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mars |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 22, 2004 - 03:34 AM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 15, 2004
Posts: 4277
Status: Offline
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Ok got strapped for time this weekend but should get some work time tomorrow.
Oh and the font is called Snap ITC |
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 22, 2004 - 06:51 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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I like the font, but I was hoping that it was a free font. I didn't like it enough to buy it. <smile>
Anyway, I load this site, after getting out of bed, and lo and behold but what should appear before me but the latest manifestation of the current theme, Portal Themes 2.
1. The inverted gradient of the interior of the left block is, arguably, the best change that you have made to the theme, thus far. The end effect of that change is that it casts the spotlight, so to speak, upon the center block, which, for this particular theme, is a plus. It also enhances the overall clean look and feel of the front page, something that has been a hallmark of the theme since I first visited it from the link that you had posted in the PostNuke.com forums area.
2. The centering of the Featured Site box over the left block is another noticeable positive improvement, adding to the clean look and feel even further.
3. The Theme Galleries thumbnails allow more space on the right edge of the underlying horizontal gray swath to be displayed, compared to the left edge over by the Featured Site box. The end result is negative, and makes the horizontal gray swath area to appear off-center of the page, compared to the lower two thirds of the page. The Theme Galleries thumbnails, in their present incarnation, is not working well, as far as layout considerations are concerned. I would encourage you to consider a major revision of this item.
4. Upon closer inspection, the grainy gray background area that is displayed at the top of the left, center, and right blocks is not all the same size, is it? The size that I think looks the best is the size over the left and right blocks. The area over top of the center blocks section seems to be slightly taller. Likewise, the grainy gray area displayed on the right and left edges (sides) need to be the same width as the height of the grainy gray displayed at the top of the left and right blocks. This will increase, of course, the amount of grainy gray displayed on the right and left edges of the center block, but this will be a positive change, for this particular theme. It will, in fact, give back a slight portion of what that area possessed when I first saw the theme with no right block. The more that space on the left and right edges of the center block display grainy gray area, the more that it highlights the center blocks. In conjunction with the gradient wash of white, that now points inward from the left edge thanks to the change you made their most recently, this will be beneficial, I feel, since it is not preferable that the right and left edges necessarily compete with the edges of the center block.
5. The bottom of the front page, as I scroll down, certainly posses a very clean look to it. This looks very nice, even though it is, technically, nothing but blank space all the way across the horizontal width of the page.
6. The Portal Themes log needs to be centered over the Featured Site logo, if you intend to keep both where they are. At present, the Portal Themes logo is left of center, where that consideration is concerned.
7. Overall, the pages, as nice as it looks, still retains a heavy reliance upon an overall square and boxed look. I believe that it would be beneficial to the overall page display if you considered altering this dynamic. The injection of new geometry in certain specific doses can change this equation in a very positive manner, I think. There are different ways that you could go about it, though. I am still pondering the play on words, and the OUR CURRENT PROJECT box could realize a geometric transformation that would imbue it with the portalistic characteristic. The bevel at the top of OUR CURRENT PROJECT box, on the left and right edges, what if you extended the first bevel down to about center way of the OUR CURRENT PROJECT box on both the left and right edge, and then beveled it again to the existing outer edge. That, I think, would greatly reduce the immediacy of the visualization of the theme as square-dominant.
8. The small curb at the bottom of the horizontal gray swath that I suggested previously is overdue for inclusion, I believe. The impact that this small change would make would be sizable, I think, from the perspective of visualization of the entire front page as a collective entity. It should not be as tall as the existing top two curbs. It should be a mini or dwarf version of the same, as far as height is concerned, but like the existing curb effects, it should extend horizontally across the entire width of the page. It will also increase the sense of strength across the top third of the page. It will be a very defined and pronounced effect, creating a slight illusion of being recessed, for the horizontal gray swath.
9. If you intend to retain the Theme Galleries thumbnails in their current incarnation, then at least place the Theme Galleries wording, itself, on top of the gray curb above it, and then center the thumbnails between the top and bottom of the inside of the horizontal gray swath. The Theme Galleries wording is too small, anyway, and possesses reduced legibility, as a result. Just as a font change on the links at the top right corner greatly enhanced the visual appeal of those links, and also the legibility of the link lettering, itself, I think that if you will eliminate the remaining vestiges of the font wording that continues to be legibly suspect, I think that the overall benefit to the page as a whole will be a noticeable improvement.
10. When not logged in, in the right block, the numerical counts for members and for those online sits too close to the right edge of the right block. This is visually distracting. |
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GlueBeard |
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 25, 2004 - 06:14 PM
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Pirate Critic
Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 347
Location: The Isle of GlueBeard
Status: Offline
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Having not commented on the current theme (Portal Themes 2) for a few days, I now resume my analysis of the theme in question, following the most recent changes made to it.
1. I do like the addition of the new small curb effect that has been added, that runs horizontally across the width of the page. That said, the dark gradient used provides far too much definition in such a relatively narrow height area. The effect that this pronounced definition has is too disproportional, and it sits like an iron bar across the width of the page. I would recommend that you try the same shade of gradient that is used on the two larger curb effects above it.
2. The Theme Galleries thumbnails have been centered between the top and bottom curbs bordering them. However, the Donation Themes thumbnail is not centered between the Free Themes and Custom Themes thumbnails, presenting a skewered look to that section.
3. I do like the new font and lettering that you overlaid the Theme Galleries thumbnail graphics with. However, the edges of that lettering lack sufficient definition, and it needs to be made sharper, to really stand out, and to enhance legibility even further. At present, this new lettering appears fuzzy around the edges, and consequently, legibility suffers slightly.
4. In the center block section, I like the fact that the height of the Latest News section has been reduced from what it originally was. I think that this reduced height, even though it limits the amount of latest news headlines that are displayed at any one time, nonetheless, it enhances the aesthetics of that particular area considerably.
5. The amount of grainy gray background that is displayed at the top, middle, and bottom of the center blocks section needs refinement. The top of the topmost center block should display the same amount of grainy gray background as the right and left blocks presently do, which would also be in unison with the amount of grainy gray background displayed between the Our Current Project and Latest News sections. To achieve this increased amount of grainy gray background to be displayed at the top of the center blocks section, I would recommend trimming some of the fat off of the bloated Our Current Project box. It is one area of the front page that can easily afford the trim job, to gain the enhanced aesthetics that the increased grainy gray background will bring with it, where this particular area is concerned.
6. You centered the Theme Galleries thumbnail graphics between the two curb effects that border them, but you failed to center the Featured Site box between the very same curb effects. As a result, the Featured Site box touches the curb at its top, but a small gap exists next to the bottom curb effect. Lack of attention to detail, where this is concerned, impacts the aesthetics and clean look of the site in a negative manner, small though it may be.
7. The list of links contained in the left block Navigation menu continues to be too long, and consolidation should continue, in this area. I would recommend elimination of the Get Themes subtitle, as well as the two links associated with that subtitle, and have the themes downloadable from the respective gallery pages of the Free, Donation, and Custom theme pages.
8. Wherein your Welcoming Message states in part, "If there is nothing that you find appealing," I question the lack of wisdom that inheres in suggesting to prospective consumers of your products that they might find something unappealing to begin with. Sure, they might, but that does not mean that you should necessarily advertise your shortcomings, rather than the strengths and positive attributes of your theme handiwork.
9. I continue to feel as if the horizontal gray swath on which the Featured Site, Welcoming Message, and Thumbnail Galleries graphics are all packed together like sardines is too crowded. One of the most common maladies associated with PostNuke, PHP-Nuke, and other CMS type web pages is that of continually trying to cram too much information into too small a space. The end result is less effective communication of whatever it is that one is trying to say. It is antithetical to the clean look and clean feel concept that one crams too much into a given area. It is a counterproductive approach to addressing the problem of how does one present everything that they want to present to the site visitor, without overloading the visitor's ability to absorb it all with relative ease.
10. The Center Block section is not actually centered between the left and right blocks. It is left of center, slightly, at present. The amount of grainy gray background that is displayed on the right and left sides of the Center Block section is what reveals that to the scrutinizing eye.
11. The very small font size of the Latest News title bar is too hard to read, and continues to cry out for change and improvement.
12. Instead of the left menu listing Get Themes as an option, I would recommend changing the wording of that particular item to Download Themes.
13. The Web Links section is actually intended to be a collection of links to sites that use themes crafted by you. As such, I, personally, think that they should rate a higher and more prominent location in the Navigation menu. At present, they reside at the very bottom. In the instances of this particular web site, I think that is counterproductive to your intended plans and could be detrimental over the long run. By providing links to sites that use your theme, you are, in essence, utilizing them as a showcase of your talents, and by extension, using them to advertise your handiwork. Accordingly, they should be a high priority for inclusion into your site's front page. You might even further consider changing the name from Web Links to Showcase.
14. I would change the Communications subtitle of the Navigation menu to Support, and then move the Support Forums underneath it, and change the name from Support Forums to just Forums. Also, I would have a second item listed under the new Support subtitle, and it should be a handy link to your e-mail address. In its present form, I do not feel that the Communications subtitle portion of your Navigation menu communicates the message very well, and could be improved. It is worth noting, I feel, that text is perhaps the most overworked, and least effectively used component, of the vast majority of web sites that I have encountered over time. |
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