School Website Layout?
Hi,
I'm currently in charge of redesigning my schools website. The target audience is mostly students but parents will view the page as well.
I want a colourful look using red, blues (multiple shades) and yellow (school colors). I had an idea about having the layout looking like the picture I liked to at the bottom. I like the file folders idea. I was wondering if anyone could give some direction to maybe scrap the current redesign and suggestions on a new idea or suggestions to the current plan.
Also I'm looking for more sites that use these sort of curves and would appreciate any help in this.
Some inpiration for the site
http://www.545studios.com/
and
http://www.ascenvia.net
The picture of the layout is here
http://teenadvice4u.netfirms.com/test/GCI-layout2.gif
Because of netfirms you'll have to paste the url into a new browser.
Thanks in advance
disaster-master posted this at 01:41 — 27th March 2003.
She has: 2,154 posts
Joined: May 2001
When I try to view the link for the GCI-layout2.gif I get a message that says,"Directly downloading images is not permitted on the Netfirms FREE plan. If you are the owner of this site, either ensure that this image is embedded in a web page, or upgrade to one of the Netfirms premium plans. "
nevermind the above. I see it now.
I like the concept that you have now. Be careful with all the different shades of blue though. IMO, too many shades of blue will make it look gaudy (for lack of a better word)
I will poke around at some school sites if I have time and see if I can find something.
Coog03 posted this at 01:52 — 27th March 2003.
They have: 38 posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Thanks for the quick reply.
Yeah netfirms is a free host who has now caught on to people using it as a storage place to keep pictures. I like the design too. I am trying to play around with some different things.
The part of the site that isn't in the picture will have a sub-content navigation on the left under that dark blue shape and then the main content in the big empty space.
Rebies posted this at 01:53 — 27th March 2003.
They have: 14 posts
Joined: Dec 2002
I like that. It looks really good and professional. My only suggestion might be the dark blue tabs at the bottom of that image. I don't like the sharpness of the upper right corner - goes against the "flow" of the image.
Andrew
Suzanne posted this at 02:38 — 27th March 2003.
She has: 5,507 posts
Joined: Feb 2000
I think it's quite rough still -- the layout isn't finessed, and the demo image is mostly aliased and rough. The fully saturated red and yellow are galling.
The logo colour isn't matched by the solid blue on the right.
The tabs don't line up and it will be hard to get them to line up without resorting to a set-width for the page, which may introduce accessibility problems, and the header takes up too much realestate on the page.
Renegade posted this at 05:51 — 27th March 2003.
He has: 3,022 posts
Joined: Oct 2002
You header look incredibly rough, you have curves but sharp edges, and corners, if you want to use curves, then you 'have' to have soft and rounded corners, or else it just doesn't look right.
The colours are quite contrasted, try blending them in a bit more (although using soft edges will help in this area a bit)
And on one last note, IMO youe header takes up too much space, remember, it's not the graphic that people are visiting your school site for, it's the content, try reducing the size of it down. When I make my header graphics, I usually start with a height of 100px; and a width of 600px;
Good Luck!
The Webmistress posted this at 08:17 — 27th March 2003.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
I agree with what's been said by the others, it's a good start but you will have to be very careful with your colour choice as a red/blue/yellow combination is very hard to get to look good and most of the time they look gaudy together and blues don't always work well together either. I also tend to keep my header/logo sections to around 100px high.
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
Megan posted this at 14:21 — 27th March 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
This is in Cambridge, right?
I think that you've got a good concept going here. I'm not sure about the tabs though. I think a regular navbar would work better here (using graphics or even with just text and CSS). I do like what you've done with the logo area but it should really stretch all the way across instead of ending like that. Also move the text towards the right side in to the shape formed by the curve.
Actually, what you could do is expand that curve area so that there's room for a logo in the top-left corner where the navy blue is. Then use the part where the logo is now for photos of the school and school activities.
Is GCI a regular public school or is it private? I always wondered that when I used to drive by there. Looks awfully fancy for a high school
Megan
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Coog03 posted this at 15:09 — 27th March 2003.
They have: 38 posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Wow, I didn't think the reply to my request would be so big.
Anyways I know that it is very rough, I just wanted to know how I was doing with this "file folder curve" design. If the layout was complete I would have that logo image blend with the solid color on the right and smoothed out the edges. I am currently working on a twist on this sirt of design and should be posting something tonight or tomorrow.
Megan: GCI is a regular highschool which celebrated its 150th year last year. It looks fancy because much of the main building is stone architecture that dates back 40 years and further back to 1852.
Thanks for the overwhelming supply, although I am still looking for more inspiration in using this kind of curve.
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