[brightonmike]

SOOOOO


http://tinyurl.com/7anjp9f

This is the site for our new business, a handling agent at the airport.

There are still bits to do, content to add, pictures to add, pages to add. So if a link doesn't work or whatever, bear that in mind. It is also the final design, so nothing major or extreme will be changing.

Today only you can fill in the forms and submit them - they will send to me. After today, please do not, unless you genuinely would like to fly here...

Pictures - they're not great, and we've had a lot of finishing touches since added to the new building - so these will be changed.

Colour scheme - the red is set in stone. We've had signage on the building, clothes, etc we have basically spent thousands of pounds on things using this colour. So if you don't like it, I'm afraid it is one aspect that just isn't up for debate

Also, I am aware of the bug with the Google map in the accordion. It opens fine first time, but if you close it and re-open, it's bugged.

I'm also aware that the responsive design is a little iffy for the iPad size. I just need to fix some CSS, but for mobiles and desktops over 1025px it should scale nicely for those devices. I've tested on my Android Galaxy S2 and I'm pretty chuffed with the result.


Anyway, I think I've waffled on long enough, so I hope you like it!

Whilst I'm at it, thank you so much to everybody that's helped me on here. I could not make work like this was it not for you.

This post has been edited by MikeChipshop: 10 February 2012 - 11:03 AM

[jamesosix]

Hi Mike.

Lovely site. I really like the design and layout. The one thing I really dislike is the camera effect on the images. At first I liked it, but then suddenly my eyes felt strained in a funny sorta way.

Just my 50pence

Also +1 on WDF's help

[4colourprogress]

Nothing really to say really, design works great it's easy to use and navigate and the contrast is spot on. The thing I would suggest is to not use a fish eye lens when taking your interior shots.

[hodephdesign]

I like the clean look you've gone for, I'm not a fan of the rollover effects on the nav though (or the rollout) - the shadow looks a bit wierd in my opinion.

Also where the map expands out there is a gap between the middle elements and the footer. I'd make that fluid if you can, so there's no gap when the map is closed. Also when you click on the "open contact form" it would be handy if it scrolled down for you...

[brightonmike]

Pics are being replaced as we speak! They were not my doing...

I would make the height on the homepage fluid, but if you do that then the accordion causes the footer to jump around which is kinda annoying. It does mean a bit of a larger gap than I'd like but I think I prefer that to the jumping around.

Cheers folks

[Anonimista]

Hey Mike,

here's what the site looks like in my IE8.


 capture1.Png (46.16K)
Number of downloads: 56

[francine87]

Anonimista, on 07 February 2012 - 06:15 PM, said:

Hey Mike,

here's what the site looks like in my IE8.


capture1.Png

Because I'm at uni on IE8, that's also what I see unfortunately! Have opened up Firefox now..it's very clean and professional.

I think some subtle use of texture in the main nav and some subtle gradients could work quite nicely with the icons in the footer, just to lift them off the page a little. A friend's sites here works quite nicely in terms of balancing texture/gradients. Not too keen on how the type/font looks in the <h3>, just to be picky!

p.s.-mobile version is looking great!

This post has been edited by francine87: 07 February 2012 - 08:10 PM

[kree8or]

I like it but I have one suggestion. at the bottom of the page where you have the graphics "secure handling" etc, it would be good if they were links to the relevant parts of the site, the scream out to me "We are links!", seems a shame to not use that first impression.

[brightonmike]

Cheers for the IE8 heads up. It's just an issues with respond.js, should be an easy fix! I'll fix tomorrow when I'm back at work.

[brightonmike]

IE8 issue fixed!

kreee8or you're spot on, it wasn't originally the intention but I'll look into it

done!

This post has been edited by brightonmike: 08 February 2012 - 10:07 AM

[Renaissance-Design]

Mike, I forget where you posted the Pingdom for this, but it's pretty damned impressive. Where'd you host it?

[brightonmike]

No problem, thanks

May have been a one off to be honest, sometimes the results vary

http://tools.pingdom...tp://kaexec.com

My brother is an IT consultant and hosts all our sites for us.

Can't remember who he resells for and he doesn't have any information on it on his own site but I'll find out, I'm curious to know myself!

This post has been edited by brightonmike: 08 February 2012 - 04:03 PM

[J.P]

Nice work Mike!

love the responsive template as well. My only concern with this is the date picker, I haven't got my phone with me today but I could imagine it being a bit of a pain to use with so many buttons to accidentally click. Im not sure if theres anyway to increase the size slightly.

Apart from that the only thing I would style up a bit more are the 'Recent Posts' and 'pages' sections as they look a bit default at the moment.

[brightonmike]

J.P, on 08 February 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

Nice work Mike!

love the responsive template as well. My only concern with this is the date picker, I haven't got my phone with me today but I could imagine it being a bit of a pain to use with so many buttons to accidentally click. Im not sure if theres anyway to increase the size slightly.

Apart from that the only thing I would style up a bit more are the 'Recent Posts' and 'pages' sections as they look a bit default at the moment.

I think you're bang on with all of that to be honest!

I just checked the date picker. For me it's OK, but I'm tempted to make it fatter and bolder for mobiles just so it's easier - good call.

You're also right about the sidebar! I'm not entirely sure what to do with it if I'm honest. I think it definitely needs attention though.

[donnyady]

impressive design, really like the clean layout, well done

[Renaissance-Design]

brightonmike, on 08 February 2012 - 04:02 PM, said:

No problem, thanks

May have been a one off to be honest, sometimes the results vary

http://tools.pingdom...tp://kaexec.com

My brother is an IT consultant and hosts all our sites for us.

Can't remember who he resells for and he doesn't have any information on it on his own site but I'll find out, I'm curious to know myself!

For reference, I didn't think mine was too bad for WordPress on a shared box, but you blow it out of the water.

[.dark .negativ .antisocial]

I really liked it. The response is great. Mobil looking fine. I may find the red a little bit to dark. But mhhh you already told it´s not debatable

[notbanksy]

Visually this design works well, I don't really have anything to comment on other than the weird effect you've used on the thumbnail images - not sure that works very well. But in terms of user-friendliness, I think you've overlooked one of the most important considerations: orientation.

If someone lands on your homepage and spends a few seconds scanning the nav area (like I did), if they don't look below the main picture before it scrolls for the first time, they see a 'comfortable lounge'. Although I read in your post that your business is handling agent for an airport, I don't think your site makes it obvious enough. I would suggest something underneath your logo - a few words or a short sentence explaining your business and your ethos.

Apart from that, nice work

[brightonmike]

.dark .negativ .antisocial, on 08 February 2012 - 08:09 PM, said:

I really liked it. The response is great. Mobil looking fine. I may find the red a little bit to dark. But mhhh you already told it´s not debatable

Aha, yeah sorry I know it sounds kinda narrowminded but we really cannot change it now, not even by a shade.

notbanksy, on 08 February 2012 - 09:47 PM, said:

Visually this design works well, I don't really have anything to comment on other than the weird effect you've used on the thumbnail images - not sure that works very well. But in terms of user-friendliness, I think you've overlooked one of the most important considerations: orientation.

If someone lands on your homepage and spends a few seconds scanning the nav area (like I did), if they don't look below the main picture before it scrolls for the first time, they see a 'comfortable lounge'. Although I read in your post that your business is handling agent for an airport, I don't think your site makes it obvious enough. I would suggest something underneath your logo - a few words or a short sentence explaining your business and your ethos.

Apart from that, nice work

To be honest you're damn right. I do think a lot of people visiting will already know, but it could be more obvious.

What about putting something where the email/number is?

[notbanksy]

brightonmike, on 09 February 2012 - 08:56 AM, said:

What about putting something where the email/number is?

To my mind that's not an obvious enough position. You either want it in the header somewhere, or somewhere that's not in such close proximity to something so attention-grabbing (the large image).

[oakleaves]

brightonmike, on 07 February 2012 - 11:54 AM, said:

There are still bits to do, content to add, pictures to add, pages to add. So if a link doesn't work or whatever, bear that in mind. It is also the final design, so nothing major or extreme will be changing.


Pictures - they're not great, and we've had a lot of finishing touches since added to the new building - so these will be changed.

Colour scheme - the red is set in stone. We've had signage on the building, clothes, etc we have basically spent thousands of pounds on things using this colour. So if you don't like it, I'm afraid it is one aspect that just isn't up for debate

Also, I am aware of the bug with the Google map in the accordion. It opens fine first time, but if you close it and re-open, it's bugged.

I'm also aware that the responsive design is a little iffy for the iPad size. I just need to fix some CSS, but for mobiles and desktops over 1025px it should scale nicely for those devices. I've tested on my Android Galaxy S2 and I'm pretty chuffed with the result.

Hmm, if I can just get past all this red tape here..

I think somebody mentioned about the effect used in the images, it doesn't need to be used on the smaller ones it seems a bit of overkill, like you've discovered a new effect and want to use it everywhere. It does work on the main ones though.

The other thing that bugged me was the expanding form at the bottom, when I opened it I would expect the site to scroll automatically but I had to move the scrollbar to see this new area (think someone mentioned that already too)

[Renaissance-Design]

It's timing out for me at the moment.

[brightonmike]

For some reason the host decided to do server maintenance during server hours. Beats me as to why.

[rallport]

brightonmike, on 09 February 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

For some reason the host decided to do server maintenance during server hours. Beats me as to why.

Ouch, haven;t had chance to see the yet, but who are you hosting with?

[brightonmike]

Turns out our host was the victim of a DOS attack which knocked out all the servers. They have apparently had to move all servers to new IPS etc or something along those lines.

Ouch!

[MikeChipshop]

Looking good Mike. A couple of things that bug me (and apologies if they've already been mentioned above).

• Call to action is hidden. I'd have no idea what the site was for if you hadn't already explained it. I'm aware it is there, just not very eye catching.
  
• The 'minus' icon on the accordion gives the impression that you can re-close the section, which you can't.
  
• The stages of responsiveness seem quite harsh. One minute it's full screen, the next minute it's mobile.
  
• Under the images section you have a roll over effect but nothing happens when you click.
  
• A small description of the company wouldn't go amiss on the front page. Possibly above latest news?
  
• The links just above the footer (the ones with the big icons) don't give any indication that they are links, there's no roll-over what-so-ever.
  
• An indication that the contact form expands below the link would be nice. Maybe a small arrow. When i clicked 'open contact form' the form opened off page and i wasn't aware it was there.

Only a few small usability problems there but other than that (and they are basically just personal opinion) a lovely responsive design Mike well done mate. And for the record, i think the colour scheme is excellent!

[brightonmike]

MikeChipshop, on 10 February 2012 - 09:34 AM, said:

Looking good Mike. A couple of things that bug me (and apologies if they've already been mentioned above).

• Call to action is hidden. I'd have no idea what the site was for if you hadn't already explained it. I'm aware it is there, just not very eye catching.
  
• The 'minus' icon on the accordion gives the impression that you can re-close the section, which you can't.
  
• The stages of responsiveness seem quite harsh. One minute it's full screen, the next minute it's mobile.
  
• Under the images section you have a roll over effect but nothing happens when you click.
  
• A small description of the company wouldn't go amiss on the front page. Possibly above latest news?
  
• The links just above the footer (the ones with the big icons) don't give any indication that they are links, there's no roll-over what-so-ever.
  
• An indication that the contact form expands below the link would be nice. Maybe a small arrow. When i clicked 'open contact form' the form opened off page and i wasn't aware it was there.

Only a few small usability problems there but other than that (and they are basically just personal opinion) a lovely responsive design Mike well done mate. And for the record, i think the colour scheme is excellent!

1. Maybe you are right, but aside from plonking a button over the slider I'm not really sure how I would make it more eye-catching. As long as people can come onto the site and either find contact information or a form I think it should be fine....in theory!
2. I think you're right here....but the problem is I can't make the accordion have that functionality, and what would I replace the icon with? If I kept it as a "plus" icon I think that would be more confusing.
What about the same icon circle but without a plus or a minus inside? Better?
3. There are three different sizes for the three most common device sizes (though the tablet sizing needs working on). Personally, I don't like 100% fluid layouts that jump about the second you re-size your window, and I will be changing my media queries so the mobile CSS only targets mobile devices etc. I don't think you need your website to re-size for mobiles on a desktop!
4. There will be!
5. I think there's enough on the page, for example on the slider we have "Welcome to KA Executive Handling - Shoreham Airports Handling Agent". That might not mean much or anything to you but to the pilots, operators and people flying to the airport they will know exactly what that means. So they shouldn't need any explanation - if that makes sense?
6. Possibly, but someone else in this thread said the opposite, that they DO give the indication they're links....you're possibly right on the rollover, I'll have a look at it
7. Good point too! An arrow sounds like a plan.

Anyway - cheers for the feedback! Some really great and useful points.

[Renaissance-Design]

2. What about triangles/arrows in circles? They can point down (expand me), up (close me) or sideways (this is the current section and I'm not implying any affordance).

[brightonmike]

Renaissance-Design, on 10 February 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

2. What about triangles/arrows in circles? They can point down (expand me), up (close me) or sideways (this is the current section and I'm not implying any affordance).

Good idea! I'll try this.

[brightonmike]

Can someone change the URL in the OP to http://tinyurl.com/7anjp9f

Thanks

[MikeChipshop]

brightonmike, on 10 February 2012 - 10:56 AM, said:

Can someone change the URL in the OP to http://tinyurl.com/7anjp9f

Thanks

Done

[brightonmike]

Thanks for that. I've added a hover to the footer links, hopefully they communicate their purpose better. And I've changed the accordion icons!

[brightonmike]

My boss feels the handling page is too bare and bland.

Any ideas on what I could do to spruce it up?

Without impacting loading times!

[Glowbridge]

Quote

My boss feels the handling page is too bare and bland.

The form page? I'd drop the 'comments closed' column in the middle and make all the fields/spacing smaller. Make the form 2 column. Their details on the left, their needs on the right. The red 'services required' checkboxes should be enough to liven it up.

[mantis]

First, very clean and professional and nice use of the icons. In terms of sprucing up the handling page perhaps a light gradient? It would be a shame to clutter it up.

My biggest issue is with the flickering of the photos and the navigation. I'm not entirely sold on the screen effect on the photos but I don't mind it either. They do flicker when I navigate and I don't get the impression it was done on purpose. An ease-in-out transition on the navigation would be nice too for those of us with browsers that support it.

[OneGoodMan]

The website looks Good, I think you used Joomla to develop it.

I think the only part that you need to do to improve is to change the upload menu color a little. It will make the website looks more a life.

[kree8or]

OneGoodMan, on 10 February 2012 - 10:13 PM, said:

The website looks Good, I think you used Joomla to develop it.

I think the only part that you need to do to improve is to change the upload menu color a little. It will make the website looks more a life.

Not joomla , its wordpress.

[brightonmike]

All right ladies (and gents) I've made some changes.

Add a subtle background to help the site jump out a bit. I've tried to go for something very subtle but just noticeable. The problem with this though is different people are going to see the background at different "strengths" depending on your screen and it's contrast.

For me, it's only just there and isn't at all strong. Also done some general tidying up of the styling, removed the transitions on the navigation, etc etc.

Cheers for all the feedback, it's been quality.

QUALITEEEE.

[mantis]

Background looks good here, subtle but clear, I'm on mac/firefox. I like the ease-ins. Have you shown it to your client yet? Pity they can't get you some better photos.

[brightonmike]

No clients here, I'm employed full-time by one company and this is our second company. My boss/colleagues seem very happy with it though.

I think the pictures are OK, but they probably will be done again as some things have changed in our lounge bit!