Hi All.
First try designing a web site using Xara.
The menus are not yet working because I have not done the other pages yet.
Please let me know what you thing of it so far?
OSCAR User
Printable View
Hi All.
First try designing a web site using Xara.
The menus are not yet working because I have not done the other pages yet.
Please let me know what you thing of it so far?
OSCAR User
Hi Rik :)
The panel with the newspaper seems to be trying to distance itself from the menu.
That orange in the logo jars a little with the grey. Maybe use a darker grey.
Other than that it's coming along nicely :D
OK Drwyd.
I shall try a darker background.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say that the newspaper seems to be trying to distance itself from the menu?
Cheers for your comments, so far.
The centre panel has a larger gap between it and the menu than the gap between it and everything else :DQuote:
I'm not sure what you mean when you say that the newspaper seems to be trying to distance itself from the menu?
The greys you used on your original were just right. This version seems to have lost some punch.
I can see what you mean about the original having a bit of punch when it was all darker.
But, I couldn't get the rest to work as I wanted.
So, I'm trying a very light background.
Does it look worst now?
It does take some of the sting out of the orange. What about a gradient page background ?
Make the site more organic Rik. Make the site unlike anything you or we have ever seen. Buttons do not need to be buttons, the page does not have to be a page. Things do not have to be static. Pull out all the stops. Wow us. Amaze us. Think outside the page. JUST DO IT! You have the vision and talent.
What kind of software is Oscar? what does it do? how do I get to the main Oscar website? Who makes Oscar? These are some of the questions your site should answer.
You have favicon declared in your page 4 times. Probably placed code in the different fields (for example, a couple of head placeholder objects and/or page head code and/or website head code fields).
Frances: Very good questions. But, none of these need answering on and for the website! If I can say that respectfully.Quote:
Originally Posted by angelize
Why?!
Well, that's because the site is for my work, to help with what I do and what I train on.
So, the site will only be of use to those who are using my company software, which is OSCAR.
Hope that answers your questions.
But, I would welcome your views and ideas on, is the look and functionality etc...
John: I know what you're saying and I have been trying to get the favicon to work in Internet Explorer. It just refuses to work in IE.
That's the only reason why you're seeing the code, here there an everywhere.
I tried just the method that I had seen recommended in a tutorial and when that didn't work, I then tried... well... what ever!
So, if you have any ideas as to why it works in just about any other browser I try, apart from IE, I would appreciate your suggestions.
Drwyd: How would I get the pasteboard, as well as the top part of my page to have a graduated fill?
To go from a dark to a light linear fill?
Rik it seems you have the favicon working in IE9.
Thanks Bill.
I am using IE8, because I can't get ieSpell to work properly in IE9.
But, thanks very much for letting me know.
Favicon may only be a small thing, but I like to get these things to work!
Hi Rik
A quick tutorial for you. Not a brilliant one as I can already see a better way. The diffusion step should be done later.
Rik the favicon is working in IE8 on my system.
Your info is much appreciated, Bill.Quote:
Originally Posted by Soquili
I've tried a slightly different code and I cleared the browsing history and the cookies etc...
It seems to be working now.
Cheers.
Rik, Designer Pro 7 includes it's own favicon feature which is designed to ensure the favicon works in all browsers.
This removes the need for any addition manually entered code.
Have you tried it?
Create your favicon image (it doesn't have to be 16x16pixels), place it on the pasteboard somewhere and assign the name 'favicon'
Xara will do the rest.
Hi Steve.Quote:
Originally Posted by sledger
Are you saying: Create your graphic, place it on the Pasteboard (ensure it's unlocked first), apply a name (favicon) to your graphic, and that's it?
Does this do away with the need to add any code to the <head> on your website?
That's exactly correct Rik.
Though there is no need to unlock the pasteboard layer.
This favicon will show in all browsers after you publish (though it will show in FireFox in local preview)
From what I can see, Xara don't do web counters.
So, if I am going to add one, (and Xara is not an HTML editor) how would I add the counter, where I want it to appear?
I would probably get the counter from somewhere like webcounters.com.
But how would I add it, where I want it?
Rik use a placeholder and replace with HTML .
Spot on, Bill.
The Placeholder 'thingy' worked. Seems a pretty good way of placing HTML code or even flash animation (which I haven't done yet) where you want it.
Cheers.
Yes Rik, placeholders are very useful.
I assume that Email Forms are an external thing as well, and not something that Xara can do?
So, if my assumption is correct, then is that done by using a Placeholder as well?
Yes Rik you can use a placeholder for an email form. I believe there is also an email form widget in the Designs Gallery.
Thanks again, Bill.
Yes, I've seen the widgets, now, in the Design Gallery.
Just need to work out how to use it and get it to work!
With some help from everyone, things haven't been too difficult. So I hope that this part will be the same.
I think Frances is right.
It isn't clear at all what your website is about at first glance.
As a user, all the design of the site is irrelevant if I can't immediately understand what your service or product offers.
Don't expect your users to wade through your content for find out as they won't bother.
Make the meaning clear, then provide the content.
- Andy
Hi Andy.
I appreciate what you say, but as I explained earlier, this site is not for the general public.
Sure, they can log on to it if they want but it will not mean anything.
The site is to help me with what I do for my work.
And anyone who I have trained on the software they will be using, called OSCAR, will know exactly what the site is about.
That is the sole purpose of the site.
This is the first site I am building using Xara. I have always used FrontPage and if I had done that, then I would not be here asking for opinions on how it looks, and more importantly, to ask for help when I can't get something to work.
So, I've been asking questions on how to get things to work, using Xara for web design.
Please don't worry about whether it makes sense to you or anyone else you know.
Unless, of course, they work for the company I work for.
I've managed to get a second page working now.
If you click on the 'How To' menu and click on 'Side Panel' - that's the next page I've managed to get working.
But, that page will not mean anything to those who do not use the software I train.
Hope that explains things.
Just a few passing comments:
I find the site a bit cold. Possibly the gray shading suggested would help. The white is awfully WHITE! My site is totally unlike yours but I have a graduated background you could look at: ptolemeeplus.ca/triphotos/France2011
I realize the content is only provisional but you have repeated the same content three times. Might be better (as mentioned) to explain a bit more exactly what you are offering. Small error in the second line of text: the verb should be "shows".
If you spread the button box to the left you can integrate the middle (newspaper) box a bit better.
I hope this is of some help, DaveC
Hi Dave.
Thanks for your input and thanks for spotting the grammatical error!
The reason why it's all WHITE, is that if you go to the 'Sidepanel' page, that's a set of pages that I've copied from the magazine the sales people can download and print. The magazine is done with white pages so that it's not too heavy on printer ink etc...
To save a ton of work, if I am going to copy pages from the magazine and put them up on the web site, then things need to be white(ish).
That's not to say that I don't understand what you mean by everything being all white.
I also understand things being repeated.
I will probably remove some of the repetition in time, but initially, I want them to be able to get to pages that explain what's changed from a number of places.
The bit about what I'm offering (to be more accurate, what OSCAR offers) is something that I need to work on. That's for sure and I just haven't got there yet.
What is being offered, however, is not too critical. Those who are visiting the site have already been trained by me and are there just to remind themselves of what they may have forgotten etc...
But, I am not pretending that I've got everything worked out perfectly, by the way.
I completely understand your thing about printing and ink cost and it's obviously what works best for you. But a light shading might help set off the foreground from the background. Good luck!