Blur Zero - Web Design and Web Hosting Site
I'd love some comments on my latest site, Blur Zero. It's the site for my web design and hosting company. I must admit, this is the first site that I didn't hand code in notepad, I actually used *cringe* Dreamweaver for this, with some hand optimizations, but I'm fairly pleased with it overall. Questions / Comments / Suggestions would be appreciated!
http://www.blurzero.com/blurdesign/templ2.shtml
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
Blur posted this at 17:08 — 30th June 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Okay, I've got a new version ready, take a peek and see if it looks better:
http://www.blurzero.com/bd2/templ3.shtml
JP Stones posted this at 17:43 — 30th June 1999.
They have: 2,390 posts
Joined: Nov 1998
- I actually think it looks quite good without the rounded corners.
- I would use some kind of mouse over system for the right links.
+ Simple easy to grasp layout.
+ Nice use of colours
- Poor logo
Only 5.5/10 so far
JP
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The Webmaster Promotion and Resource Center.
http://www.what-next.com
Carolyn Jones posted this at 18:15 — 30th June 1999.
They have: 327 posts
Joined: Mar 1999
Hi blur,
well it's a nice simple layout. Couple of things I noticed were that the corners need a little work -- they are ragged and don't match.
You may want to darken/enlarge your logo to make it fill up that empty white space a little more.
take care,
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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437
Asymmetric, unique designs for contemporary minds
Blur posted this at 18:43 — 30th June 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
I know that the corners are a tad off, I'm going to try saving them as a higher quality image. as for the logo, eventually I'll have some content in that white box, so the logo won't be the only thing there.
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
Craig Holatko posted this at 19:57 — 30th June 1999.
They have: 42 posts
Joined: Apr 1999
Big problem.. you didn't specify link colors! I can't navigate with bright pink links..
Blur posted this at 21:16 — 30th June 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Craig-
The link colors are specified, in my main.css, but I guess all browsers don't support CSS... thanks for reminding me
JP-
I'm working on a new logo... but I suck at logos
There is a mouse over for the links, but it's in CSS, when Netscape doesn't like, so maybe I'll make them pictures instead... Hmm... and I like the corners rounded 
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
Blur posted this at 03:57 — 1st July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
JP, I've switched the links to mouseovers, and spiced up the logo, any more ideas? Care to re-rate it?
http://www.blurzero.com/bd2/templ3.shtml
Blur posted this at 17:54 — 1st July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Okay, I'll try that now and let you know when I've updated... thanks
Carolyn Jones posted this at 18:32 — 1st July 1999.
They have: 327 posts
Joined: Mar 1999
Hi again Blur
,
.
I really like the layout, much improved!! Those darn corners still bug me though, do you want them "blurry" on purpose? What program are you using? maybe one of us can help you out
take care,
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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437
Asymmetric, unique designs for contemporary minds
Blur posted this at 19:38 — 1st July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Carolyn-
I'm using Photoshop 5.02. The corners should match, I converted the hex colors into RGB, and they looked right in Photoshop, but I can't seem to get the perfect color, and they're always blurry. Not sure what to try next...
Thanks for the reply
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
Anonymous posted this at 19:48 — 1st July 1999.
They have: 5,633 posts
Joined: Jan 1970
I agree with Carolyn, the corner edges really could use a bit of work. I would ditch the blurry effect - keep the curves as a sharp circle.
To avoid the color differences, save these images as GIF files instead of JPG. This way you will keep the exact colors.
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[email protected]
vegas.com.au/~jasper
Blur posted this at 19:56 — 1st July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
lloydhass-
The blur isn't an effect, it's a problem I need to try and fix
I don't see how gif would be better.. unless I used an adaptive pallet... thanks for the suggestion.
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
Blur posted this at 20:04 — 1st July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Okay, I think I've fixed the corners, tell me what you guys think now:
http://www.blurzero.com/bd2/templ3.shtml
JP Stones posted this at 03:00 — 2nd July 1999.
They have: 2,390 posts
Joined: Nov 1998
The blur problem is easy to get round - even in PSP - just create a big circle and then resize this to a smaller size, this will give the desired effect.
JP
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The Webmaster Promotion and Resource Center.
http://www.what-next.com
JP Stones posted this at 18:45 — 2nd July 1999.
They have: 2,390 posts
Joined: Nov 1998
Still look jagged...
)
Sorry.(short and to the point!
JP
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The Webmaster Promotion and Resource Center.
http://www.what-next.com
Carolyn Jones posted this at 01:05 — 3rd July 1999.
They have: 327 posts
Joined: Mar 1999
Hi Blur,
good news is: it looks better then the blurry before picture.
bad news is: besides being jagged like jp mentioned, the white has a hint of green so it doesn't match the background white.
sorry
take care,
p.s. I may go back and see if I can make you some corners when I get some time
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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437
Asymmetric, unique designs for contemporary minds
Brian Farkas posted this at 03:01 — 3rd July 1999.
They have: 1,015 posts
Joined: Apr 1999
Two other suggestions-
1.) Save all those files as gifs... For the text because gifs save text better without pixelation and for the corners because they do not need to have all the colors of a JPEG.
2.) Don't just use the default font! Use Arial or Veranda.
It's improving, but still not quite there yet...
. Sorry, just being honest.
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InfoStar: Web Design - Hosting - Programming
http://www.infostardesign.com
Grandmaster posted this at 04:20 — 3rd July 1999.
They have: 677 posts
Joined: Mar 1999
Hey Blue, I fexed the corner for you, (one of them, just rotate it around) its at http://www.21studios.com/test/cornerblur.gif it no longer has the green in it...I can rotate all of them if you like...
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Ken Prescott
http://www.21studios.com
Ken Prescott
Carolyn Jones posted this at 20:09 — 3rd July 1999.
They have: 327 posts
Joined: Mar 1999
Hi again Blur!
. Save the image in gif format if you like but not until the very end.
ok, here's the scoop.
Unless Photoshop has changed since my older version 4 it's impossible to make a nice circle (without jaggies) in indexed/256 colors -- you can only use antialies option in RGB/millions of colors format. Start with a fresh blank screen -- high res 300+ dpi, make your circle (if you can't get a clean sharp circle experiment with other stuff like a 300 pt round dingbat or a "o" in some round font like "avant garde". crop your circle perfectly then reduce it to what ever point size your whole circle is -- may work at 100% but Im not sure
take care,
Carolyn
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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437
Asymmetric, unique designs for contemporary minds
Blur posted this at 23:42 — 3rd July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Sorry I haven't replied recently, I totally forgot I started this discussion
Take a peek at blurzero.com (still not a released / functional site), I think that the corners have finally been fixed! Thanks to Carolyn for the suggestion, and Grandmaster for doing it before I could stop being lazy and try it
I'd love it if you guys could take a peek now, and give me anymore suggestions. Also, I'm looking for a good, simple whois script, that's very easy to install without all that chmod stuff.. unless it has good documentation... any suggestions? Thanks!
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
JP Stones posted this at 00:58 — 4th July 1999.
They have: 2,390 posts
Joined: Nov 1998
I have managed curves without jagged edges on what-next.com/beta
It is a gif.
JP
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The Webmaster Promotion and Resource Center.
http://www.what-next.com
shai1 posted this at 17:19 — 4th July 1999.
They have: 32 posts
Joined: Apr 1999
Carolyn is correct. You are going to want to use an anti-alias function when creating the corners. It will hide the "stepping" look you have now.
My comments...I think the new site looks much better than the first. I think with a couple of little tweeks you will have a great looking site. I love that the site is easy to navigate. Down sides with the site that I see are the corners like everyone else has discused. The only other thing I see that needs some work is the your buttons. They seem to be too compressed. I mentioned one other time to another person here that buttons are usually better off in .gif format. I think if you resave your buttons as .gifs they will look much much better. Thats my advice, take it or leave it!
Good luck with the site!
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Thanks, Shai1
http://www.blacklightdesign.com
Blur posted this at 18:44 — 4th July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Thanks for the comments
I like the buttons how they are kinda, they were much worse before, but I'm pleased with them now. These corners... agh, so frustrating, those corners should infact be antialiased, I thought I did that when I saved them, but maybe not =\
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
Blur posted this at 20:11 — 5th July 1999.
They have: 66 posts
Joined: May 1999
Whoa.. thanks, it's perfect! I'm going to implement that now.. thanks again! If anyone has a suggestion on how to display my features better on the hosting page, I'd be happy to hear it.
Ed Aronyk (Blur)
Divergent Digital Media
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
shai1 posted this at 02:09 — 6th July 1999.
They have: 32 posts
Joined: Apr 1999
Check out this corner piece.
http://www.blacklightdesign.com/cortopleft.gif
I think it's more what you are looking for.
Good Luck
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Thanks, Shai1
http://www.blacklightdesign.com
jodys posted this at 03:32 — 19th July 1999.
They have: 88 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
hey JP the beta site looks great not too sure about the folder tabs on the left side... but the top is awesome
and how come i don't get notified via email
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Jody Samplonius
www.endura.co.nz
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