Website tinkering

[billhilton]

I've been dorking about with my site:

www.billhilton.biz

..to make it look a bit less brown than it was previously. If anyone has a couple of minutes, I'd be grateful of some feedback.

Specifically, I'm wondering if the background looks too yellow on some monitors. I'm also a bit annoyed that I've got a big empty space in the top right, above the menu items. Clearly it's a blog-driven site, so there are some restrictions on content organisation, but all ideas are welcome :-)

[billhilton]

AAAGHHH! I hate BBEdit links!!

[Mac Yeti]

It looks ok to me, Bill. I have a LaCie monitor here though so will check on one of the less decent monitors shortly...

I have to say though, I actually preferred the brown? :)

I think alot could be done with it... you could maybe make the blog like a bit of a scrap book and put it on some screwed up brown paper type background - maybe with a tea stain on!
Or not :D

It all makes perfect sense in my head but probably doesn't sound very good - will try and sketch you what I mean if you want!

[billhilton]

Hmmm - sketch away, if you have time! What I'm after is a good, clean, Web 2.0 look. I was actually quite fond of the brown myself, but apparently it looked bad on a lot of monitors.

[Mac Yeti]

OK, well probably not an idea to take forward if you want clean...

I just think if you don't mind me saying at the moment although it's clean, it's just a bit bland?

I'd forget it as soon as I left it I think, so you'd have to be banking on your content being top notch to bring people back :)

[billhilton]

Hm - I was thinking about maybe having a photo in the header?

[DuaneJackson]

It looks OK, certainly not memorable. It looks very much like the standard 'moveable type' pages.

The bg color is fine on my TFT

[Dawg]

It looks great on my screen, and I think it is nice and clean w/o a photo.
But...is the font just a tad too small?
You are having to scroll down the page anyway, might not a slightly larger size be more accessable?
(point 9, here) http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/biggest-web-design-mistakes-in-2004-part2.html

Only a small point.. (groan)

[billhilton]

Thanks for the font size tips, Dawg - I've shifted it up a point size, so it should be a bit better. The font is Lucida Grande, which is used on BoingBoing.net - one of my favourite blogs. I'd like to read your blog more, but every time my dog sees the word "b*scuit" she starts barking.

[Jayne]

The typing is still to tidgy! I find it really hard to read when it's small like that. I do like the plain simple look of the site and the lovely light background. Too many sites are putting on dark backgrounds now and I cannot read them well.

Jayne :D

[billhilton]

Is it? Shucks. I've got the main copy as 13pt now. The copy in the margins I could possibly make bigger too, but then it fights with the main copy. I'll play around a bit when I've got a moment... :-)

[Rob Holmes]

Bill - looks ok - bit plain but I'm concerned about 1 thing..

You say you're a copywriter but your site lacks a headline - and theres a big white blank bit of cyber-realestate in the top right of your web page just sitting there gagging for a reason why people should use you or at least a benefit or two.

Just a personal opinion..

Rob

[Dawg]

Bill, I have not got that lucida font, but on my screen your body text looks about 9 pt to me, and it is a serif font: Boing Boing on my screen is a sans serif font, and looks about 12 pt, (if,say this is 12).
And that 'real estate' can be looked at as landscaped parkland adding to the aesthetic appeal, not urban wasteland crying out for a billboard.

BTW Why do people dislike Cory Doctorow?

[billhilton]

Rob, you're spot on about the top r/h corner - I just don't want to crowd things out. I tinkered with putting text there, but it just looks wrong...

Dawg: that's interesting - I'll have another look at the code. if you have a chance and the available technology, could you send me a screenshot?

As for Cory Doctorow, I quite like the bloke. I think, however, that he is the kind of uber-liberal, uber-opinionated web hipster that winds a lot of people up. And if you ever look at photos of him, he does look just a touch self-satisfied. I love his work on BoingBoing, though.

[Jayne]

Hi Bill,

Does uber mean super? I've seen both you and Andy use it and it's not in my dictionary. I like to learn new things, please enlighten me. :D

Jayne

[billhilton]

It's just the German for "over", except in German it would have an umlaut (two dots) over the "u".

Boring, pretentious people like me do indeed use it as a kind of ironic replacement for "super", because we're under the impression we're funny. It derives from a usage kicked off by Friedrich Nietzsche in the nineteenth century.

Don't you learn some useless stuff on this board?

[Mac Yeti]

Über
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Uber)

The word über comes from the German language. It is a cognate of both Latin super and Greek ???? (hyper), as well as English over (as in "overkill"). During the late 1990s, über also became a synonym for super; i.e. übercool - supercool - generally with a slightly intensified meaning. Über is commonly written as uber in English, though with slightly different meaning.
The normal transliteration for the 'ü'-Umlaut when changing from German would be ue, not just 'u', however it could be argued that American English use of the word uber is a new word distinct from ueber. This is because English is defined by common use of words, which dictionaries and academia record, not the reverse. The use of 'ü', 'u', and 'ue' in the word is a emerging trend in common usage with no clear consensus.

[Dawg]

The word über comes from the German language. It is a cognate of both Latin super and Greek ύπερ (hyper), as well as English over (as in "overkill"). During the late 1990s, über also became a synonym for super; i.e. übercool - supercool - generally with a slightly intensified meaning. Über is commonly misspelled as uber in English, although the correct substitute for the 'ü'-Umlaut would be ue, not just 'u'.
Well thats what Answers.com says

BTW moderator 'uber-forum.co.uk' is available..

[Dawg]

Answers.com says it means:
The word über comes from the German language. It is a cognate of both Latin super and Greek ύπερ (hyper), as well as English over (as in "overkill"). During the late 1990s, über also became a synonym for super; i.e. übercool - supercool - generally with a slightly intensified meaning. Über is commonly misspelled as uber in English, although the correct substitute for the 'ü'-Umlaut would be ue, not just 'u'.

(And BTW forum owner, 'uber-forum.co.uk' is available!)

[Dawg]

Posting redundantly...twice. Oops, apologies.

[Jayne]

Thank You all, i'll be using the word uber later. Very interesting reading!:D

Is uber cool new word :D

Jayne

[billhilton]

Before you can wear it you need a pair of Buddy Holly specs, some cargo pants, an undersized denim jacket and a large collection of Green Day CDs stretching back to at least "Dookie". A laptop bag slung over your shoulder and an affected taste for sushi is also helpful.

[billhilton]

By the way, that's *not* a description of me.

[Jayne]

Get your picture on here then and we will judge for ourselves :lol:

Jayne

[Mac Yeti]

Before you can wear it you need a pair of Buddy Holly specs, some cargo pants, an undersized denim jacket and a large collection of Green Day CDs stretching back to at least "Dookie". A laptop bag slung over your shoulder and an affected taste for sushi is also helpful.

Oh my god I'm such a cliche (minus the cargo pants, they're a bit 90's) ;)

[billhilton]

www.billhilton.biz/bill.jpg

I'm too bald to be a hipster. And I wouldn't walk around minus cargo pants - I'd get arrested.

[Jayne]

Yet another pic with no smile on. Why is everyone so serious in their pics on here.

Need another one Bill, with a big cheesy grin. :D

Jayne

[billhilton]

I look like a goon when I'm smiling. There are some more of me scattered around at:

www.billhiltonmusic.com

Try to ignore the fact the site hasn't been updated for a year...

[Jayne]

Oh you are uber talented Bill and I think you need some new pics doing :D

Jayne

[billhilton]

Maybe I should be like Jason Kelly www.jasonkelly.com

Tom Calahan and I were discussing him yesterday. On his bio page (http://jasonkelly.com/photos.html) he actually has downloadable images of himself in various sizes and formats. We'd love to do the same, but we're not sure if our egos are quite fully enough developed.

[Jayne]

Is he famous or something?

I thought you were joking until I viewed the site, does he love himself or what? :lol:

Jayne

[billhilton]

Is he famous or something?

He seems to be working quite hard to get that way. Can you imagine how a Brit would be ridiculed for doing that? America is such a different culture.