web design in progress
I’m curious to know what people think of this design… I’m re-designing a college site, annnnd… now I have no opinion of what I’ve made so far, which is a problem. The photo is actually going to be a video/photo slideshow Flash insert. And, those two boxes are like widgets you’ll be able to move around and customize.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!
by Nick | 05.15.08 | Uncategorized |

I only have a sec…I’ll respond more later. But I really like the reflection at the bottom. Nice.
p.s. wha happened to the iron man post?
I didn’t do the reflection on the bottom…it’s from the other web designer here, but I’m using that header and footer for all our pages.
Ahhh I accidentally uploaded two photos with the same file name as the Ironman post photos… so rather than get the screen shots again and rename the files I just deleted the post
I definitely think the black header looks better. I think the organization of the tabs is better in the first one … Future, Current then Alum, so their in chronological order as far as a person’s relationship with the university is concerened.
The links at the VERY top need a home… Maybe justified to the last black menu button, and moved a little closer to that black menu?
I like the blue bar with the link1 link2 link3… Was the first one going to have an expanding menu?
The colors are very good. Not sure if they are just the school colors, but subtle shifts of blue are really making the page look good.
I’ve updated my portfolio site again if you have a chance to look..
Oh the Tab organization is completely out of my hands…but I’ll mention it to them. The links at the top are another story, also. The problem with their site, is that if you go to the main page: www.wvu.edu, every page you go to thereafter is different. So, they’ve finally started to institute that main header on every single page… if I move the links, it’ll shift over when people visit the arts and sciences site (the one I’m designing). And, that header also pulls from a file I can just link to… like PHP, but it’s a different program that they’ve designed here with Ruby on Rails language called SLATE. It will be open source soon, and it’s far better than PHP, imho…it also has an easy-to-use blog-like interface for clients to edit their site. Eventually I’m trying to get them to use the same menu system that I set up, so that people can navigate the entire site.
Their school colors are blue and gold like UofM, except, their blue is lighter.
Thanks very much for the input!
Your site looks good, but I still can’t see the Cinemax motion graphic.. only the first few seconds plays, then it stops loading.
Nick, thanks for spotting that video error. It’s fixed now, and It must have been an ftp thing…the version online was only 154k, but the one on my computer was 1.2m. Their the same now, and It should play fine!
I like the second one better than the first. The extra bar for links is something that looks nice, and will be very functional where it is at. I like the all caps for the navigation at the top. It makes the site seem more professional and serious without over-doing it. Also, the submit your story button at the bottom looks better away from the right edge of that column. It still needs to line up with something, though. Try moving it to the left a little to line up with the copyright/address/etc. info at the bottom.
Thanks, Jenna! How’s the new job coming along? I’ll have to post the revisions I did to this, cause it’s totally different now…
My uh, “3 week contract” that I started in March is going great. Last week they said I’m guaranteed another 4-6 months of work. They’ve proved true to their word and are giving me a variety of projects, and I’m loving it. I’ve worked on everything from creating an online community, to graphics for videos, and icons for new software. A lot of the stuff I’m designing for screen is for touch screens, so not only am I learning to design for screen instead of print, but also making sure everything is big enough that you can click on it with a finger instead of a mouse. I never thought I’d be designing for iphones and touch screen ipods. It’s definitely keeping me on my toes. How’s your job going?
Well, i’ve got a busy job here, so far it’s a great place to work, and It lets me be much more creative than the advertising agency… there are about 30 sub-sites to design after I finish the main layout and template of the main college site. There’s also a magazine we’re releasing, and illustrations to make, but mostly I just do stuff for the web, and have to meet with lots of the faculty and staff of all the departments to coordinate and implement everything. They have this PHP-like program that they invented here for people to manage their content, which is really nice, and apparently I have to teach people how to use it every now and then…but it’s just like a blog. You should post some of the stuff on the blog that you’re making. It sounds pretty cool.
Hi Nick - sorry I’m just finally getting back to you.
I really dig the first one. I like the layout, it’s not confusing at all…simple and not over done. I like the large space used for the site to flip through pics (I’m guessing). The only thing on the first one is that I find it difficult to ready some of the text. Can you make it a point larger or a little brighter?
I’m a little confused about the function of the widgets. How are they customizable? Can you drag them to your computer? If not, do you just move them around within the space of the web page?
Well done!
Thanks, Erica!
The widgets would move around like: bbc.co.uk
Something to that extent…where each department in the school would have a widget they could customize. I’m not sure if they’re going to be movable or not. Nasa.gov doesn’t make their widgets movable…which is kinda annoying, but we’d only have a couple at a time probably. The large space would be photos and video you can flip through.
It’s so cool to read about what you all are up to these days. Keep on bloggin’
Leslie