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

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.

Ah, hand't thought of that, Al, perhaps you could kick off a thread on this in the IFAS committee board?

Bart.

Ah, hand't thought of that, Al, perhaps you could kick off a thread on this in the IFAS committee board?

will do

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

Bart.

Pretty much, yea.
If a real image is not feasible, then have a look at the east antrim site, www.eaas.co.uk/
I cant quite put my finger on it, but I prefer the background there for some reason.
Note the fading bands and scrolling text, the whole site looks cleaner, although I'm not suggesting we copy their site :lol:

First, I think it's a good idea to get people's thoughts on this. Hopefully everyone here will provide comments/feedback.

If I were to use one word it would be "Simplify" the layout, by that I mean fewer options on any one page and the options can have larger print i.e. easier to read and less cluttered. However, this is nothing personal or anything, alot of forum websites are of a similar format to this. It's just that if we are going to revise it, we may as well put the opportunity to maximum use.

Perhaps a review of the website stats will show the parts of the site people access the most and then base the structure around that.

In relation to the forum categories, rather than a written explanation of it's meaning, could the explanation appear (like a comment box in excel) only when you move the mouse over it. By their title, the categories are rather self-explanatory and anyone who uses the website a few times will get the "feel" of it very quickly. This would help "clean up" the page a little. Less clutter; plenty space between text; result: makes it easier to read the print.

I'm not that keen on white on black, although it is sort of topical. Cloudy Nights is one example where they didn't take that approach and it works well there. Colours that are easy on the eye are the most important. OTOH, I'm not that keen on large areas of white space either - very bright and a real pain on the eyes, especially if you've a bad refresh rate on your auld monitor. Perhaps some softer colours in between. Greens, blues etc. Green isn't a bad idea for the irish effect, perhaps in a softer tone though. The current site colours are closer to how I would prefere them but could perhaps be tweaked a touch darker.

Another little thing, the stuff about "Disable BBCode" and "Disable Smiles" under the "Post a reply" message box could probably go. I doubt many people here use it, although feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

Another vote for black (dark) text on a white (light) background.

-- Jeff.

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.

copyright is an issue there,
but there are enough astrophotographers on this site who could provide an image, maybe if we a number of us do submit images and we all decide/vote together, provided the image is usable by you...