Input requested on design and layout of V3.0 of this site

I am now starting to work on the skin for the next itteration of this site.

What I am looking for now is some inspiration and comments on the skin for this site. Ideally speaking I would love to see some mockups posted here for people to chatter about but even much simpler comments are most welcome or even little ideas for a theme for the styling etc.

To get discussion going I will throw the following two poitns out for debate:

1) Stick with white on black or change to black on white. Both previous versions of this site have used white writting on a black background. This is the "done thing" for astronomy sites but that does not mean that we have to keep it. I find that in general sites with dark text on a pastile background look more proffessional than sites like the current IFAS page with white text on a black background.

2) Loose the green or keep it? The green on this site came abotu because I wanted to make the site look "Irish". Question is, should the new site keep with the green theme (even if it is a totally different shade or what ever) or should we go with another colour as the core of our colour scheme?

Thanks for your input.

Bart.

Bart,
There are a number of things I'd prefer to see if possible.

1, is it possible to have a scrolling (vertical or horisontal) ticker at the bottom of the first page showing this months club meetings, it would be the responsibility of each of the club reps to send you the data at the start of the year or as the year goes by, and you'd put it in at the start of every month.
This way, any visitors to the site would see a progressive list of IFAS club tals without them having to go search for it.
Is this a mad idea, is it feasible ???

2, The following point would make the site much more user friendly to the un-initiated.
Have the "View post since last visit" ON THE FRONT PAGE, in clear sight for all to see. To be honest, I found going through all the forums a total pain until this button was pointed out to me, I didnt see it at first.

3, Black on white/white on black, I'd prefer black on white but I'd get over it if it didnt work out that way.

4, The green is abit stark, if it was darker maybe and in places faded into the black background???

5, The background is abit sparce looking, would it be possible to throw up a more interesting background, say something which has a bigger pattern, or maybe a big dark green DSO object that could be used as a background image???

I dont ask much do I. :lol:

Bart,
There are a number of things I'd prefer to see if possible.

1, is it possible to have a scrolling (vertical or horisontal) ticker at the bottom of the first page showing this months club meetings, it would be the responsibility of each of the club reps to send you the data at the start of the year or as the year goes by, and you'd put it in at the start of every month.
This way, any visitors to the site would see a progressive list of IFAS club tals without them having to go search for it.
Is this a mad idea, is it feasible ???

Leaving asside the fact that I'm not sure a scrolling ticker is the best way to present the info the concept is most certainly sound and it is a good idea. It woudl of course be dependent on the clubs submitting thier data but it is something I have been planning. Further to just showing the eventso nthe web site I also plan to publish a calendar file that people can get their calendar programs to sync off with the same info.

2, The following point would make the site much more user friendly to the un-initiated.
Have the "View post since last visit" ON THE FRONT PAGE, in clear sight for all to see. To be honest, I found going through all the forums a total pain until this button was pointed out to me, I didnt see it at first.

Excellent point, never thought of that!

3, Black on white/white on black, I'd prefer black on white but I'd get over it if it didnt work out that way.

I have a feelign I feel the same but I'm gonan wait and see what other think and till we have some mockups before making a call.

4, The green is abit stark, if it was darker maybe and in places faded into the black background???

Nice idea, will bear it in mind

5, The background is abit sparce looking, would it be possible to throw up a more interesting background, say something which has a bigger pattern, or maybe a big dark green DSO object that could be used as a background image???

This is a nice idea but would kill any poor bugger on dialup. Another thing to be carefull of with backgrounds is that they don't end up makign the text that runs over them hard to read. I know what you mean about the current one, it will have to go but I'm still not sure what to replace it with, I'm very much open to inspiration here!

I dont ask much do I. :lol:

TBH you don't, this is exactly the kind of comment I was hoping to get. Thanks a million for taking the time to post.

Bart.

or how about an image like one of the below as a background.

www.guidescope.net/starfields/nmw.htm

Obviously there might be copyright issues with this particular one, but I'm sure we'd find something suitable, and there are bandwidth issues.

Is this totally off the wall??

or how about an image like one of the below as a background.

www.guidescope.net/starfields/nmw.htm

Obviously there might be copyright issues with this particular one, but I'm sure we'd find something suitable, and there are bandwidth issues.

Is this totally off the wall??

I see where you're coming from but a problem with tat kind of image is getting it to join with it self seamlessly. That and possibly copyright!

Basically, you like stars but you want more interesting stars is that the gist of it?

Bart.

Bart,
There are a number of things I'd prefer to see if possible.

1, is it possible to have a scrolling (vertical or horisontal) ticker at the bottom of the first page showing this months club meetings, it would be the responsibility of each of the club reps to send you the data at the start of the year or as the year goes by, and you'd put it in at the start of every month.
This way, any visitors to the site would see a progressive list of IFAS club tals without them having to go search for it.
Is this a mad idea, is it feasible ???

Leaving asside the fact that I'm not sure a scrolling ticker is the best way to present the info the concept is most certainly sound and it is a good idea. It woudl of course be dependent on the clubs submitting thier data but it is something I have been planning. Further to just showing the eventso nthe web site I also plan to publish a calendar file that people can get their calendar programs to sync off with the same info.

We need a commitment from clubs to submit info. JohnF has expressed some frustration in the past at not getting this information for Arcturus.

Its great if the clubs are willing to give details, if not it might be detremental since it would give the impression that IFAS clubs do nothing if it is empty.