Thanks Jafo... Anyhow.. I have changed my site... Check it out... How do you preload images (for my buttons)?? Any help would be appreciated...

Thanks
Shawn

http://www.wstaylor.net

New buttons, New Colors, Easier to read (I hope) and a cleaner layout... Check it out... Please Let Me Know What You Think

Thanks for the mail Glad we could give some advice.

you are welcome styl...

ill email ya the javascript for reloading

k Design Caddy Thanks

anymore comments would be nice

For those of you that commented but do not have an e-mail address listed:

Fellow Skinners,

First of all, I would like to thank you all for your kind comments and insightful thoughts concerning my website. I believe that you have all played a part in making my site look much cleaner and I have had a lot of fun with all of you on the message boards. It is people like you that make the skinning community such a special place for me. I know that without you, my site would never be as good as I would like it to be. I have been working diligently to make my site as inviting and as pleasing to the eye as possible you have all played an important part in helping me realize that goal. From the kindest comments to the harshest criticisms, I have taken them all to heart and wanted to let you all know that I really appreciate your time and energy.



I have listed items on my site that would not have changed without your ideas:



Buttons (I think I have conquered that one)
The scale of the website… made to fit a 1024 resolution now scales wider on screen resolutions that are higher.
The layout size (now the home page and wallpaper pages are the exact same width).
Resources for download are now gone… No worries of a lawsuit by Microsoft (hopefully).
The body filling the screen now the website is made to fill 75% of the users screen. (For resolution purposes).
Scroll bar color… now the site is complete with matching scrollbars.
Made the browser icons smaller in the static index to give them less visible background against the stars.
I wanted to use only *.jpg images on the main index.htm due to gifs not displaying properly on some computers.


Moved the links down to the bottom of the page and out of your immediate view.
Worked on the overall colors and tried to make the site a little easier to read.
Moved the resolution and browser comp issues to the bottom and outside of the table.
Tried to soften the gradients and made the skin of the site more appealing.
Gave the skin more of a metal-look and tried to use less long-fading gradients.
The page background color (changed from gradient to black and then to a dark gray) Hope it looks better.
The buttons are now clickable and interact with a mouse-over.
Made the text dark against light colors and light against dark colors.
Added links to the text above the browser icons on the static index.
Changed the wording of the disclaimer on the static wallpaper page.


There you all have it. Teamwork beats a single person’s work anytime. I hope that you will all continue to visit and maybe put a line in my guestbook so that I may remember this experience. I have made this site for all ages and all users of any browser type and any screen resolution… Please, if you have any more ideas and/or comments email me at: [email protected]





Sincerely,

Shawn Taylor

www.wstaylor.net

Shawn,
Thanks for the lovely letter! I'm glad I was able to contribute, even if just a little bit. You've won a new fan!

thanks wulfn1

Ok I had a quick look at your site, I assumed you wanted me to comment here then ppl would be able to say if they agree with or not

First thing is why have buttons at the bottom and the side? I think the side ones are the only ones needed. Put other things at the bottom like your 9/11 tribute (love the linkin park song in it btw, a fav). On my screen (so it may just be me) it was abit annoying that the middle bit had a scroll bar and then the whole page did too, so by the time I got to the bottom of the page both bits were moving (does that make sense to you ) I like sites that have a side bar on either the top or the left that doesn't move and so contains all the buttons to navigate with but then the rest of the page is free to scroll. But that's just me

And yet again the contact me thru outlook page argh to you pesky outlook ppl. AOL just doesn't support outlook for emails so i can't use it and just irritates me lol

The colours work well, no spelling mistakes and everything seemed well proportioned and nothing out of place. All in all a professional looking site but....

What is it you are hoping to achieve through your site? The title implies web designing but is it that you design and want to share or that if we need your services then we should contact you? There is a big difference (mostly involving money ) and would be nice to have it defined. Why not put abit about yourself in it. Why you doing it all, what work you've done in a portfolio. what you enjoy making and where you see yourself taking it all. It doesn't have to include the family xmas photo album and some embarrassing stories about when you used to draw on the walls at home blah blah blah but some insight is always nice.

All that said and the only other thing is just this niggling feeling when I look at the site. It's not a great word to use but it's the best I could come up with. The site is boring. Safe and boring. It doesn't have to be full of gif's and dramatic stuff that leaves the eyes tired but it's nice to go on a web design site and see something that makes you go wow, i've never seen something put that way b4 or seen that kind of a design b4. If I looked at ten different sites I doubt i'd have remembered yours, which is a shame cos it's got some good stuff in it. I suggest that while you have this site up you start designing the next look for it now.Take a look round at other sites and see what catches your attention.

Hope i've helped somewhere along the line. Happy to review anytime you want hun ok

claire xx

Make the world at the top small enough to fully fit into the banner, at the moment it looks badly cropped. The centre animation could do with some work but other than that looks ok

Thanks Claire... (scratches head) hmmmmm... -> off to the drawing board. I'll email you when I have something else in place. I've had the site up for a full week now. So, I'd say that I do need to really work on it more.

I'm working on new flash banners... I'm thinking about losing the Web Design and just letting people make assumptions about the site. I think I'll just go with wstaylor.net

I will change the "contact me" into the Feedback page. (btw, you can change your default email client in internet explorer to AOL)...

As far as content, innovative ideas and more "blah, blah, blah" stuff... I'll be getting to that. I hope not everybody finds my site boring. I have yet to see one like it (maybe im bias) Oh well, I'm working on 2 new designs... (one will be entirely flash and the other will be a more toned down and flat look)... I'm thinking about making a splash screen where the user can choose the look of the site... Should be pretty cool...

anybody else...

nice i love it.

/me is remaking his site

coool cant wait to see it...

Had a quick peek at Ugoin's site and i'd say it's too wide and too green... makes me want some mint choc chip ice cream but as it's under construction i shall wait for a full verdict lol

Oh and by the way it wasn't the contents that were boring but the layout.

okay Gypsy... I'm working on the layout as we speak... Thanks

got it! http://www.sdzine.com

if you need help with graphics, email me at [email protected] peace, gotta go to work. see ya.

/me is makin money.

Looks better Ugoin but the links don't work on the wallpaper bits or the xp bit or is it just me?

oh, those are the unfinished parts.


WStaylor i found a minor issue


the windows logo background is slightly brighter than the rest of the background, not a major but still a little annoying problem. :^)


cant really see it here but its more visible on your site.
[Message Edited]

ill check it out... thanks ugoin