The AM Forum

What
Finally had to switch over from Microsoft Frontpage to something slightly more modern as I could no longer update the old site, had been struggling with it for years.
Sooo, I had a vendor who is redoing our company website, http://tinyurl.com/3fz5by8, redo my page in the new WordPress format.

It's got a different menu layout, it's still a work in progress, but things are now searchable, and far, far more easy to update.
It had gotten to the point with my old FrontPage software would not work with Windows 7 and I was literally spending hours just to do one update.

Change is hard, and we tend to get used to that which we know, feels comfortable...so when I saw the new website I thought it looked
stark, plain. But that might be just me, so I am soliciting your feedback and suggestions.

Old Site
Here's the old site, dating back to 1998 -->> http://www.w1ujr.net/
Menu buttons on left, nice images on home page.

New Site
The new layout, not finished product, but would like to hear your feedback -->> http://w1ujr.net/new/
Menu buttons now on the top and right.

Observations
My observations:
1) Not enough images on the home page
2) Mic icon looks goofy

Pluses:
1) Searchable index, saves time and makes site much more useful.
2) Far easier for me to update.
3) Loads much quicker.

Help
Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!
Thanks!

Hi Bruce,

It looks good!  One comment - and a LOT of people make this mistake - the graphics file sizes are too big for the actual size of the graphics.  These large files will work fine over a broadband or other FAST Internet connection, but on anything that's a little slow, the page load time will be excessive.

Your original graphic is 233k - big.  The one below is 61k.

(http://www.classeradio.com/microphone-icon2.jpg)

Anyway, no biggie.... thought I'd mention it  8)

What I dislike about these web page designs is all the blank space on both sides of the actual active part of the site. Seems like a lot of wasted space. The new ARRL site is also done the same way. On my 24 inch monitor, there is 5 inches of blank space on both sides of the active content. Might be a bitch to look at on small screen laptop. Your old site is great for tired "old" eyes.

Bruce

That's why I keep two old computers alive: to allow me to keep up my websites with a minimum of fuss.

Probably wouldn't work for some but for me it works.  I have Win98 for Frontpage 98 and Xp for Frontpage 2003.  Maybe some day I'll change but for now I don't have the time

BTW, I agree with your comments on Vibroplex

Al

Very nice looking Bruce in both cases...I looked at your new site from work where we used Netscape, and all I saw was a bunch of links in blue.  Probably the serve and or our network, it  also has problems displaying things like SI.com baseball game box scores and play by play summaries.

Everything looks great here at home in the iMac.

Recovering from temporarily converting the XC70 to FWD only last night and this morning.  Pulled the driveshaft to the rear wheels out, found a bad middle bearing that was allowing the middle u joint to orbit and whack the shaft tunnel.  Sounded awful..was a PITA job to do on ramps and jackstands, but now running fine in FWD mode for the time being.

Great tip Steve, think she assumes most folks have a broadband connection, but that's not always true.

Pete - Agree, the old site was wider, the new format seems to be the new thing today, as you noted many sites are going to it. I was not unhappy with the old site, just could not update it any longer.
Valid points all.

Al - I could go that way, we just pulled a number of "old" PCs from the biz, but I don't use a PC at home, just Macs. Was running Windows 7 on the Apple just got tired of what work it was.

Chris, we refer to that as "driveshaftectomy", most of our loaner cars have undergone it, prolongs the life of the transmission. Why that bearing is not serviceable, I have no idea, bad design. Like putting the front driveshaft CV joint right above the converter, just cooks it. The Gen 1 cars are very nice, we have 9 has loaners, but the AWD implementation was weak.

Ok, I'll update her with what you shared and get things in order!
Thanks one and all!

Hey Bruce!!

Did a quick "drive by" on your new site with a Mac and Safari.

I agree with your microphone, and with Steve's comment of the graphic size.

I think your menus can be organized better. The small text on the items on the right side minimize what lies in them.

I would like to see your W1UJR magazine covers a little larger...maybe on the sub pages.

Good start and be proud of the good info on your site...

Dan

Bruce, I never could open the new site.   ???

Mike

HI Bruce,

I like the new site, where do you find all those Crystal Sets or are those just Pic's..?
everything loaded fine on this end.FBOM.. :)

73
Jack
KA3ZLR

Hi Jack - xtal sets are mine, new passion. Out with the 1950s in with the early gear.

Tnx for the feedback all, going to tweak the site with the designer next week, she told me that was just the quick conversion, and we can do the detailed layout. Yea!

Looks very nice Bruce ;D ;D ;D

\


Hello There Bruce,

 Well done I really like the sets Classic man.... :)

73
Jack
KA3ZLR

FB here!

73DG

New site looks good, looking forward to perusing everything. ;)

Hi Bruce,

Well done as usual, OM! And it is obvious from the comments here that others feel the same way.

73,

Bruce

It looks very clean Bruce, and I like the clear labeling and easy access to the links along the right side. I do agree with Pete regarding the wasted "real-estate" along both sides, but that is not really a big problem for most viewers. I have no experience with frames, but it would be nice if it would re-size automatically by viewer screen resolution. It looks like everything is fully functional even with no scripting enabled in the browser, which is very nice in my opinion.

73,

Rob W1AEX

I was able to open it today.  ;D ;D Looks great !!

..bruce...i like it...i'm on dial-up here, as there are no other options...it loaded quickly, which you can imagine, is a god send...good job..

..sk..

The new site seems nice, the photos seem a bit "different" in terms of "sparkle" between the old site and the new... at least here, there is more 'pop' to most of the old photos... dunno what that is, but minor no matter what.

The one big thing I am missing is YOU!
I see ur stuff, but not YOU!
I'd like to see the man who does all this FB work.

The clickons to the right on the new site, I agree, are a bit too "calm"...

Since I'm on a 1024 wide laptop, it fills mine... I think there is a way that the site can query the system of the person looking, and then set the width of the page and scale it, but I am unsure how that is done, or what code does that trick... I need to desperately redo and update my site as well. Argh!

                _-_-bear

Please get rid of the flashing text.