Does the main site need a redesign?

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by JosefCarlin

But a number of websites have run a contest where designers/programmers are invited to submit new designs and code using current graphics (or only slightly modified graphics) and actual content or paste up. The final designs are featured with a comments section for user feedback. The winning design is tested by running it in parallel with the original site and after bug fixes is rolled out.

The winner is given some swag, mad props, a resume item for advancing their career, and of course credit on the site.

That was the plan, but I called it off to make this thread.

And even if the site was redesigned, I'd still want a fixed width site (although it'd be wider). Fluid is a pain for content producers like me as all my short posts look like shit on monitors such as mine (24", 1920x1200).

[Jos J.]

the site doesn't need a redesign, i check the site almoste everyday, and the main page layout is ok. It just needs a little face-lift

[LeMans GTR]

^ I agree, just snazz/freshen it up a little and you'll be fine.

[mgkdk]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

What, you never download Top Gear?

There's usually links from the forum, I practically only use the main site for access to the chat (yes I know I can get mIRC to do it, but it failed last time )

[Dygear]

There how ever nothing wrong to redesigning it to use divs!

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Dygear

There how ever nothing wrong to redesigning it to use divs!

If I'm gonna do that, I might as well do a full redesign. Not worth the trouble converting it to div's as there'd be no real payoff.

It's like changing the engine when you go to change the oil.

[James May's Hair]

I think the forum is fine. Maybe a new coat of paint, but otherwise it works; it's easy to use and it doesn't go all slow and make you shout 'cock'! at the screen.

[TopGearDog]

I think it's just fine. It has a nice sleek design with a great colorscheme.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by James May's Hair

I think the forum is fine. Maybe a new coat of paint, but otherwise it works; it's easy to use and it doesn't go all slow and make you shout 'cock'! at the screen.

Site, not forum. The forum's design is essentially default, we're just using different colors.

[pengwin]

I dont contribute here much, more of a creeper, but i think you guys should definately look for a new design. the current one works but i think there are better, more sleek designs with easier navigation. something like this.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/5...igntestbt8.jpg

edit: if you guys do decide to change the website and need some help i've got some experience and i'd love to give something back after stealing so many episodes of TG.

[Dygear]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

If I'm gonna do that, I might as well do a full redesign. Not worth the trouble converting it to div's as there'd be no real payoff.

It's like changing the engine when you go to change the oil.

I don't mind doing it.

[Viper007Bond]

Meh, I'm really picky when it comes to my XHTML and CSS. I'd either want it to be done myself or not at all, heh.

[Dygear]

Originally Posted by FrontPageSourceCode

<!--
So what are you doing looking at my source code, huh? It's not much use to you anyway - it's all dynamically generated by PHP.
And yes, I realize that tables are bad, but the original design was via tables and I'm too lazy to convert it to divs and CSS
-->

Indeed, seems to be a WordPress page. I've done a lot of work with WordPress from the blog.holidays.net website, and I did all of the XHTML and CSS for that site, along with the main site and all of the sub sites. (holidays.net) - I'd also like to point out that I only did the HTML work and CSS (I also did the PHP Work, but you really don't get to see that as much, and some of the JavaScript), hence I have no part of the Flash on that site who happens to have a terrible load latency issue, and that I no longer work there.

For me, I need HTML that works in all browsers with out the use of hacks. For example, I would never use the IE only comment tags to allow something for only IE7, but not IE6. I find that point less, as all things can be made to look the same with one Style Sheet and some HTML given some time.

I understand where your coming from tho, I would hate for some one to come in and mess with my HTML. It's made this way for a reason. I don't come into your house and tell you how to cook!

[Dygear]

That said, here's an example div mock up, if you like it, awesome, if you don't I wll not continue work on it. Only took me about an hour to get to this point, so it would only take about another two or three to get the rest of it done. And as always, for my work, it works in all major browsers (Tested In IE7, FF3, Safari3 & Opera9.5).

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
	<head>
		<title>FinalGear.com :: There's Fifth Gear, There's Top Gear, And Then There Is Final Gear</title>
		<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
		<base href="http://www.finalgear.com/" />
		<style type="text/css">
			body {
				margin: 0 0 0 0;
				padding: 0 0 0 0;
				background: url("http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/background.gif");
				text-align: center;
				min-width: 770px;
			}
			body #main {
				margin: 0 auto;
				width: 770px;
				text-align: left;
			}
			body #main #head {
				background: url("http://static.finalgear.com/site/headers/32.jpg");
				width: 770px;
				height: 139px;
			}
			body #main #navb {
				background: url("http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_bg.jpg");
				width: 770px;
				height: 36px;
				text-align: center;
			}
			body #main #navb a img,
			body #main #navb a:link img,
			body #main #navb a:visited img,
			body #main #navb a:hover img {
				border: 0px;
			}
			body #main #body #head {
				background: url("http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/main_top.jpg");
				height: 45px;
			}
			body #main #body #main {
				background: url("http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/main_background.jpg");
				width: 758px;
				padding: 0 0 0 12px;
				min-height: 100px;
			}
			body #main #foot {
				margin: 12px 12px 12px 10px;
				text-align: center;
			}
			body #main #body #foot {
				margin: 0 0 0 0;
				background: url("http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/main_bottom.jpg");
				min-height: 37px;
			}
		</style>
	</head>
	<body>
		<div id="main">
			<div id="head"></div>
			<div id="navb"><a href="/"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_home.jpg" alt="Home" title="Return Home" width="46px" height="36px"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="shows/"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_shows.jpg" alt="Shows" title="View all shows" width="55px" height="36px"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="epsearch/"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_search.jpg" alt="Search" title="Seach the news and shows" width="59px" height="36px"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="http://forums.finalgear.com/"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_forum.jpg" alt="Forums" title="Come visit our forums for episode discussions and more!" width="55px" height="36px"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="chat/"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_chat.jpg" alt="Chat" title="Join the IRC channel to come chat" width="41px" height="36px"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="links/"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_links.jpg" alt="Links" title="Links to related websites" width="47px" height="36px"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="http://forums.finalgear.com/faq.php?faq=finalgear"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_faq.jpg" alt="FAQ" title="Frequently Asked Questions" width="32" height="36"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="about/"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_about.jpg" alt="About" title="About This Site" width="51px" height="36px"></a><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_divider.jpg" alt="|" width="10px" height="36px"><a href="http://forums.finalgear.com/sendmessage.php"><img src="http://static.finalgear.com/site/images/nav_contact.jpg" alt="Contact" title="Contact Me" width="68px" height="36px"></a></div>
			<div id="body">
				<div id="head"></div>
				<div id="main">Content;</div>
				<div id="foot"></div>
			</div>
			<div id="foot">
				<a href="http://whos.amung.us/show/leqq54v9"><img src="http://whos.amung.us/cwidget/leqq54v9/000000ffffff.png" alt="Live Currently Online Users Count" title="Live Currently Online Users Count" width="81px" border="0px" height="29px"></a>
			</div>
		</div>
	</body>
</html> 

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Dygear

Indeed, seems to be a WordPress page.

Yes, the news is WordPress powered, but the rest of the site is custom coded (although it uses the WordPress engine for the DB connection, admin authentication, etc.).

The other problem I forgot to mention before is that the HTML is strewn throughout the PHP unfortunately. Getting the design to CSS/HTML isn't too hard as you've shown. An hour or two is all it'd take.

However, going through all my code and converting it over to the new structure is a huge pain in the ass and I'm kinda in the boat of "if I'm gonna do it, it should only be for a new design". I mean, what true payoff comes from converting the current design from tables to div's and CSS? Okay, it'll be nice for the one person who uses a text reader, but that's probably about it.

Hell, literally over 3 years ago I actually did spend a little time and converted it to CSS: http://test.viper007bond.com/finalgear-css/ (a LOT more of those images should be moved to the stylesheet though, wow were my CSS skills crap back then.) However, I came to the same conclusion -- what is there to gain for an existing design? So I tossed it in the bin.

[jeffy777]

Yeah, don't worry about converting it to divs. No one would really notice, except for people that like looking at your source code.

[Dygear]

Alright then, when you want a redesign I'm just a PM away.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Dygear

Alright then, when you want a redesign I'm just a PM away.

Thanks.