Topic: The DinnerTimes

[redbullmarky]

Ok i've actually managed to (almost) finish a site which is a first in itself...

The DinnerTimes is an online Newspaper where the users actually created the articles themselves. The idea being a bit like a blog, but in a journalistic style. there are other features there too and it's ever expanding.
i've still got some work to do on the main homepage, just because i think the colours could be much better.
but have a look and lemme know what you think...

[a href=\"http://www.thedinnertimes.com\" target=\"_blank\"]The DinnerTimes[/a]

(btw i'm already aware that the site doesnt completely validate but i'm working on that as we speak)

cheers
Mark

[redbullmarky]

i just noticed that a couple of entries on the site logs are going to the 404 page, but i'm not sure why as i didnt know any of my links were broken.
can anyone who visits the site that gets a 404 error please tell me where the broken link was or what they were trying to do?

cheers
Mark

[redbullmarky]

anyone have any thoughts?
cheers

[moberemk]

It's an interesting idea, to be sure. I like it myself, and think that it is fairly well-designed. I don't like the darkness of the side menu though-you need to fix that. Also, I don't like the way that you have it be fixed-width, and worse yet, have it fixed-width at just above 800*600. Also, with your articles and rankings, it might be a good idea to put a level of quality for all of your articles, and separate humour articles from serious articles. Personally, I would rather not have a joke about Bush right next to an update on the whereabouts of bin Laden.

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=337805:date=Jan 18 2006, 09:30 PM:name=moberemk)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(moberemk @ Jan 18 2006, 09:30 PM) [snapback]337805[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Personally, I would rather not have a joke about Bush right next to an update on the whereabouts of bin Laden.
[/quote]

lol yeah point taken. i was thinking about how to do that in the best way possible, without actually making things too complicated. i was thinking maybe it could be a users preference what they see, just like the language filter will be. i think tho in the end, my decision was to keep the whole site quirky and not even have ANY serious articles but i'm not sure yet - i definitely think that this is gonna be a project which will continue to evolve, just like a real newspaper.
as for rankings (based on user votes, i guess), that's gonna be brought forward even more, as it only really features on the article pages themselves and not next to the headlines or in any 'top stories' lists.

can you elaborate on the bit about being fixed width a bit more? i kinda understand, but how else should i approach that? as for the colours, i'm not even sure ANY of the main colours will remain. i toned the colours right down as it was more comfortable staring at the screen all day, i just haven't yet bought the colours back to what they were.

thanks for your thoughts!
Mark

[moberemk]

Well, fixed-width means that your site has a certain width, and doesn't get any wider, right? So you would want to edit that main content table's width to 800 pixels, to make sure that you don't alienate anyone who runs that resolution. Which, as it turns out, is most of the web.

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=337942:date=Jan 19 2006, 12:11 PM:name=moberemk)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(moberemk @ Jan 19 2006, 12:11 PM) [snapback]337942[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Well, fixed-width means that your site has a certain width, and doesn't get any wider, right? So you would want to edit that main content table's width to 800 pixels, to make sure that you don't alienate anyone who runs that resolution. Which, as it turns out, is most of the web.
[/quote]

ok, so if i'm getting this right - maybe a little wider in total, but with the ability to make the browser window much smaller without content falling off the edge?

[moberemk]

No, this would make it thinner. What you would do is make it exactly the most common screen width on the internet, so that 800*600 users won't have to scroll the the right to read it all.

[redbullmarky]

ahh ok i get you. i think the whole think is about 900px wide at the moment, so i guess losing a bit off the sides won't hurt. i get what you mean though - it's mad tho how easy it is to forget that some people have smaller sizes and slow connections when you're so used to it yourself. i wasn't aware that the size of it stretched the screen width tho, as when i resize my browser, the content gets squashed together rather than clipping off the screen.

thanks for your help, i'll look into it.
Cheers
Mark

[chris_davidsonuk]

If I was you I wouldn't use images that aren't yours you could get into trouble.

Let me guess, for that little kid scratching his head you typed confused into google images?

Hey, I am not the Internet Pollice I am just talking out of experience, and people don't like you taking their content. For cheap images I use [a href=\"http://www.dreamstime.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.dreamstime.com[/a] where images are $1. You can't say fairer then that.

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=338329:date=Jan 20 2006, 10:22 AM:name=chris_davidsonuk)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(chris_davidsonuk @ Jan 20 2006, 10:22 AM) [snapback]338329[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
If I was you I wouldn't use images that aren't yours you could get into trouble.

Let me guess, for that little kid scratching his head you typed confused into google images?

Hey, I am not the Internet Pollice I am just talking out of experience, and people don't like you taking their content. For cheap images I use [a href=\"http://www.dreamstime.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.dreamstime.com[/a] where images are $1. You can't say fairer then that.
[/quote]

that's a very very fair point mate. i think i'd just been a bit lazy and not yet updated the actual pictures. there's a few other sites too with free images and stuff so i'll definitely be looking round those.
thanks for the reminder!

Mark

[redbullmarky]

ok i've altered the width and a few other bits and am currently looking around for a  few suitable 'built-in' images to replace one or two of the ones i've got at the moment.
any more thoughts?

[redbullmarky]

ok i've updated a few things going by some suggestions, and added some new sections including the 'classified ads'. anyone have any comments on any of the changes?

[moberemk]

I really don't like the font choice. It's both too big and too curly. Rule of thumb I've learned: Serif fonts never go over well. Meanwhile, your menu system could use some work. It's a huge grey block-kind of ugly, really.
As for your classifieds, it may be a good idea to take them and make them moderator-approved before posting them.

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=343669:date=Feb 8 2006, 02:21 AM:name=moberemk)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(moberemk @ Feb 8 2006, 02:21 AM) [snapback]343669[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
I really don't like the font choice. It's both too big and too curly. Rule of thumb I've learned: Serif fonts never go over well. Meanwhile, your menu system could use some work. It's a huge grey block-kind of ugly, really.
As for your classifieds, it may be a good idea to take them and make them moderator-approved before posting them.
[/quote]

lol the classifieds ARE moderator approved lol (they just kinda take on a bit of an adult theme).

this one about font choice has stumped me as i've had very mixed opinions on it - from feedback from here and friends i've passed the site onto, some like it, some hate it. the idea was trying to pick a good font that would sit in with the theme of a newspaper. the choice of grey is also pretty much the same reason - just to give it a bit more of a 'newspaper' feel. but points taken. i'll prob have a look at the colours in the nav like you say, but the font is something i'm gonna really need to do some digging about.
Cheers
Mark