http://pioneerontheprairie.com/sylvanheart/index.php?p=4
Many thanks to Link (our coder) and Feenix (our inside man) and Deedlit (our banner creator). Please post some feedback
:)
Verry Nice work to everyone involved... that will be of much help to alot of people... keep up the good work...
And Thanks to Abbadon for helping add much of the content to the pages 8)
It's good to see it finally up and running,let's hope everyone will like it :)
I'm sure suggestions will make it even better :)
And glad I had the chance to take a small part in the project,anyway the credit goes to the guys if I may say :)
Hmmm.
It's good looking. However there's one complaint.
Change the background of the text -OR- change the color of the text -OR- increase the size of the text.
In some spots, the text is VERY hard to read. The background draws your eyes away from the text, and onto the background itself. Especially the part where the log over the chasm is, and to the left of that. That is primarily where it needs to change, and is the worst for drawing your eyes away.
I like it. It looks really good. Thank you to all who worked on it. You all did an amazing job.
Caly, it is good to hear from you hun. I have missed you. * hugs *
the New Web Site is awesome. Thanks for all your hard work guys. And Happy Birthday Acacia.
hey, thats not bad. I really like the new player guide too.
*claps hands* well done boys. ;D
Wow! Very nice indeed. Hats off.
Feenix, where's your shirt? Don't you know this is a *family* shard? heh
Oh, one small thing.. Challange should be Challenge.
:D
Ok, seeing as how readability of the site is an issue for some, I've added a new option: a "more/less transparency" link - check it out, and I hope that helps! :)
Also, "Challenge" is fixed heh ;)
I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism. I have to agree with Kodan, the background of the site is a bit too busy and pulls the reader's eye away from more important information. I'm not saying that the background isn't pleasing to look at, I happen to think that its a very nice image, but the information about the shard should be the main focus. When I went to school for graphic design I was taught that when it comes to web design simpler is better. If you have too much going on on the web site you lose the message that you are trying to send to the people looking at it.
Maybe you could use the image in a small border around the text boxes, or find another place to utilize it within the website. I'd go with a simple green background that compliments the colors already being used throughout the website. Or if you still want to use the image, maybe make the text boxes a solid color rather them as opaque as they are with the image showing through. Just something to bring the text out and give it more attention.
Other than that the layout is great and the fonts used are fine. It's great to see that someone is putting in an effort to getting a website done for our shard. Keep up the good work.
Very nice website.... I think the layout is very well done... Very easy to view especially with the Transparency Button.
I really enjoy the descriptions of each staff member and the few shots we have of whats to offer..
I know that its still under construction would like to see if we can get some music added but thats about it.
Very good effort guys...... Keep up the great work.. ;D
Very well done. I agree about the music, maybe something Celtic would suit the theme well. Also, I'd like to see some more of our customs there and mention of custom quests and unique Fel mobs. Like mention widdling and our custom clothing, fish tank, auctions, etc...
In Thane's description event is spelled even.
Hehe, yeah we're going to have to run a thorough spell-check going, since speaking for myself, I'm usually typing stuff up for the site at like 1am, my spelling (maybe Link's as well) likes to go bleh.
Props to Link for the prompt action, I think its very easy to read now with the transparency thing.
Also, we do have a Sylvan Heart promo video in the works which will hopefully depict most of the custom stuff we have here (which is why we decided to keep the Custom Sylvan Pictures a little shorter, lest it turn into a 5 metre long page with screenshots). Got some skara, hedge maze etc. in it along with deco, pets etc.
If anyone wants something particular in the video, just pm me or something and I'll grab my virtual camera :)
Thanks for the feedback and criticism, keep it coming!
Gah, never ever put music on a website by default! Please please please no!
I have to agree that it is a little "busy", and I am slightly concerned about the fact that it's currently a subsite of something else (but I'm not sure what) - is it a self-contained website that can be moved if needs be or is it tied to this "pioneerontheprairie"?
Other than that, it's looking good.
Music was just an idea was thinking of "Stones" playing no not the Rollin ones the song that the best bard in Ultima pulled out of the twin moons Felucca and Trammel. Again was an idea but not necessary...
I'd like to see it get moved to www.sylvan-heart.com.
The fact that is a subsite is because I didn't have anywhere "Sylvanish" to host it... I designed and coded the site to be easy to manage and move. The only thing tying it to it's current domain is a small backend mysql database (yes, it is a dynamic site - those are not static pages... though you could probably guess that).
What the site needs:
PHP
Mysql
And a "Sylvanish" place to live with the above two :)
The database is very small - only one table, but it would be nice to have phpmyadmin access to it because I do some things directly through the database because I have not coded all of the management functions yet and not sure when I will get to...
Now as far as music goes, I don't do auto-play music unless it is insisted upon by the owner because, yes, it is generally a bad idea. HOWEVER, that isn't to say we can't have music :) Though to save load time for us people with slow internet, and due to the fact that embedded music would not work well with this site (because it would restart every time you changed pages), I'd suggest having it optionally open in it's own Sylvanish looking little window when the user clicks something like a small music link :) I might see what I can do hopefully soon.
Music is added to the site - The music is from http://www.sky.fm/ online radio station. And, at this time.... at least on my computer, seems the "lower quality for dialup users" is goofed up... not sure when they'll fix that, but for now, the higher quality one works well at least :)
Please enjoy.
Live streaming music is BAD for dialup. It can screw up a displaying website quite badly for someone on dial-up.
Well the current website/forums are on a linux server that uses a mysql database (yep, smf needs one too), so I'll happily host this website (so long as you don't make sound mandatory - it's a rule I have - I won't host sites with mandatory sound/music, the optional is fine :-) ).
Just send me the files and a dump of the database, and where to configure said db, and I'll host it. I'll even point www.sylvandreams.co.uk at it, as that is in my control, unlike any of the other domains.
Thanks Alder :)
And of course the sound is optional - it even opens in it's own window/tab. I do not like making music auto-play either ;)
Finally it is starting to look like a picture. It took some work, but we found all the edge pieces. Such a great community of people all with different parts of the mixture coming together to form a work of art...
BRAVO!!!!!!!
hey linky... curious question? what are ye doing for keywords and google placement. I seem to be an expert in that field.
example: google norton prams, number 1 and 2 are my online store ( above the actual norton pram site)
google local removals companies, sulexservices = me
google archive storage aberdeen - again sulex one is me. is more and they are all on first pages of google, yahoo and majority are number one. even google uogateway free download its also number one.
so i volunteer my services for setting keyword strategy.. ;D
Yup we had already thought about getting your help for this department :)
Although we have to be careful about putting unsightly tags here and there... If done carefully Im sure we could work our way up the google tree.
I love the new look of the website and the music is awesome. Job well done to you all!!
Now when you click the "readability" link, it will stay turned on for the other pages as well! We've also added a crafts page!
The site is looking very nice! My only suggestion would be to make the font color white to show up against the dark background. This will make it easier to read.
Looks good cept lose the background. Makes it hard to read and no professional website has background images anymore. Its solid for a reason. Easy to read and professional looking.
just my 2 cents