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Academic website
I've been redesigning my Purdue website. The old one was starting to look clumsy. I had based the colour scheme on the header graphic (the banner that reads "Graduate Studies: Department of English) and it's just not worth the pepto-dismal shade of all the pages.
Besides the design and layout of the pages the site is purely HTML based. I've been learning CSS and it's a much nicer tool for a multi-page or regularly updated sight.
The new site is coming along and I'm mostly happy with it.
Several of the pages are empty and few of them are complete. Do you have any suggestions? Form and content are both fair targets for critique.
If you have an academic site (linguistic or otherwise) that you'd like included in the links page let me know.
[Update:
I just noticed that I wrote "sight" when I meant "site"--twice. Okay show of hands: how many of you noticed that and didn't say anything?
]
I like the feel you are building. One thing I am trying to move away from personally is big visual headers, so I might overlap the two names in your header region, or at least bring them closer together. Its not an aesthetic criticism, it more concerns usability and screen economy.
ReplyDeleteYou can compare my old website with the one under development (note: the new one will not work in IE yet).
Its coming along nicely. And, you can always create some extra divs with background images if you want to "round" off the shaow, or carry it up into the header. (I do this on a draft of a local dog park re-design I'm working on, temporarily hosted on my wife's Purdue webspace. This is a different approach, essentially all the page content fits into a div called container, and then I created a div that houses this container. Since the site is one fixed width, the image can be empty except for the shadow regions.
Good luck with the redesign, I'll look for updates!
Looks awesome--are you not using a "program" to make this page? I really wish I could make a page look like that, but I honestly don't want to learn CSS or Latin or anything else... P.S.: I like the picture of a golf course that pops up under the "Home" link. You should definitely keep that.
ReplyDeleteMarc:
ReplyDeleteYes I've grown unhappy with the header for that very reason. It's functionally empty space that doesn't add enough to the page.
It was my first draft for a header graphic.
Right now the top and bottom feel unanchored. I was thinking specifically about rounding off the corners and bringing the shadow around. I'm leaning towards a beveled corner instead of a strict rounding.
I'll take a look at your pages and I'll keep in touch regarding any code that I like.
Casey:
I am using Dreamweaver but it's all been working with code. My biggest cheat was copying the code for a columned layout and messing around with it. If you follow the design link on the index page I've started a little commentary of my design.
The picture is of the 18th hole on The University of Michigan's Alister Mckenzie designed golf course.