PlanetCatfish.com

The change to centre alignment has reduced the readability of the site in my opinion.

I must admit I'm not a fan of mouse-over navigational graphics, but in this case it works reasonably well and I find I no longer accidentally drag down the menus when going to clck on the forum root links. Mind you it is getting a bit crowded up there ;)

Guys,

We're pretty stoked about this even though it's not finished. Like the new layout / branding / front page - http://www.planetcatfish.com/ ? (hit refresh a few dozen times).

All comments welcome, this is far from finished. Especially interested if it doesn't render well in some environments.

Jools

I for one, think it looks great !!! i am looking forward to seeing it when finished!!
sue

Looks good, feels goood.

When I start PC up, sometimes a piece of the frontpage is missing. Only the M of Mark Twain is there; the rest (to the right) isn't.
But I take it this is a temporary problem.
The frontpage and the new inside layout are looking good.
Very refreshing. Well done.

It takes a while to load, because the google adds put the brake on my browser I think.

I kinda liked the old look better, because it was less "white"; now there's a lot of white on top of the screen. but YMMV

Nice, no complaints. But I'll miss the great Zebra plec shot on the opening page. Maybe rotate in some shots from the cat-elog rather than the drawings?

Don

As mummymonkey wrote... I don't think that using center alignment of text is a good idea. It reduces readability.

Regarding the drawings... may i ask, who's the artist?

I'm a-okay with it. I look forward to checking out ZebraPleco.com.

Much more attractive and easy to navigate. My kudos to those that are responsible .

Dave

Looks good, loads up just fine in IE and Firefox at this end!!!

Toolbar is easier to navigate, and looks very tidy.

Compliments to the chef!

Oh, and of course, the zebrapleco.com link looks excellent!

rob

sidguppy wrote:It takes a while to load, because the google adds put the brake on my browser I think.

I kinda liked the old look better, because it was less "white"; now there's a lot of white on top of the screen. but YMMV

That's your imagination, , it takes approx. the same amount of time to load! The "delay" in loading is the menu not specifically the ads. I am considering a feature that will remove the adds for a subscription fee of $1 per month (assuming you are logged in).

You will be pleased however that the majority of the white at the top of the screen is going to be removed when I get the next bit done.

Jools

djw66 wrote:Much more attractive and easy to navigate. My kudos to those that are responsible .

Dave

Thanks,

Jools

Marc van Arc wrote:When I start PC up, sometimes a piece of the frontpage is missing. Only the M of Mark Twain is there; the rest (to the right) isn't.
But I take it this is a temporary problem.
The frontpage and the new inside layout are looking good.
Very refreshing. Well done.

Does this still happen, I've done all the cross browser checking and it should load OK...

Jools

Fish Soup wrote:Nice, no complaints. But I'll miss the great Zebra plec shot on the opening page. Maybe rotate in some shots from the cat-elog rather than the drawings?

Don

The idea with the drawings was to provide a unique feel to the doormat, any site can do even very good digital images.

I am considering a random image feature on every page header that will select a species image a random and allow you to click on it and get the catelog page for it.

This might not please everyone however as it would slightly slow down page loading.

Jools

TalenT wrote:Regarding the drawings... may i ask, who's the artist?

http://www.jerrywilsonart.com/

Jools

bronzefry wrote:I'm a-okay with it. I look forward to checking out ZebraPleco.com.

Check out their webcam, http://www.zebrapleco.com/zebcam.php , if you'll forgive me, it rocks! Must get a planetcam installed here - maybe once the new fishroom is built (2006-07).

Jools

I have to get used to it too (to say the least). At this moment I would say that left alignment makes better reading.

mummymonkey wrote:The change to centre alignment has reduced the readability of the site in my opinion.

I've merged this thread into the original one regarding site redesign. Maybe it's personal opinion at work here, but I find it easier to read than on the left.

Anyway, I plan to add more background graphics to the top of the page in the coming weeks. Also, the menu is controlled in a such a way I could probably add code to allow you to switch it left or centered.

There is a problem that it doesn't automatically center on smaller window sizes and that doesn't make it very good right now for smaller screens.

Jools

Jools wrote:

Marc van Arc wrote:When I start PC up, sometimes a piece of the frontpage is missing. Only the M of Mark Twain is there; the rest (to the right) isn't.

Does this still happen, I've done all the cross browser checking and it should load OK...Jools

Yes, it still does. Also the texts are still aligned to the left. However, this is on my older PC with a 17" screen. If I read your last message here carefully, I take it that may cause the problem, right?

What browser are you using and what version of it?

Jools

Internet explorer 5 version 6.0.

Marc van Arc wrote:Internet explorer 5 version 6.0.

Ah, OK, I need to find a machine with 5 on it (I tested it using 6).

Cheers,

Jools

First time I checked the painting, can't say I like it....it seems to be a cross between a walrus, a plec and something vaguely Synodontis decorus-like......

IMO it's amateuristic, there must be plenty artists out there that have a better clue about the anatomy of a fish.It has no whiskers for example , but a bloddhound-like 'snout'; can't make much of it.

I checked the link on Jerry Wilson; his paintings probably look great painted on the tank of a Harley Davidson or in a comicbook on zombies, vampires, horrorstories et al.

but again; it's all in the eye of the beholder I guess......

Hi,
the site really works fine now.

But, in spite of the pretty drawings, the "old" picture of the Zebra Pleco on wood was phantastic - I loved it ;) - it can´t get better...

IMHO Center alignment is difficult and exertive to read...
Extremely difficult with the captures of the threads...

You can't beat a good forum for bringing you down a notch or two. Deserved however as I omitted to explain what we (or I in this instance I guess) are aiming at.

The big idea is to create a brand. I specifically commissioned Jerry because I wanted a web style comic book look for the front images. Jerry's brief is to create a range of images that get across the global diversity of catfishes; the two plecos and the decorus are just the beginning. I plan more including Glass Cats, Banjos, and others.

I specifically wanted a comic book look as we have a cat-elog full of great images that depict catfishes in real life. It's hard to pull from that a common feel. If I was able to get a dozen or so catfish species all resting at 45 degrees on a bit of wood in the style of the zebra pleco I would have done that, but that wasn't feasible.

sidguppy wrote:First time I checked the painting, can't say I like it....

Look again, the image is randomized. As I say, you get a different cat each time and that pool of pictures is to increase. The decorus is getting redone as I wasn't happy with it, my fault there as the picture I gave Jerry wasn't as representative of the species as it could have been.

I'm also going to use the "brand" for a new range of t-shirts, mugs, mouse mats and the like that will be launched in the next month or so. So, goodbye to the cafepress store too.

As to the zebra pleco front page, this isn't a zebra pleco site, it strenuously isn't a pleco site and so that one front page needed to be replaced with a broader view of catfishes as a whole.

I love that page, and it will always stay online, you can find a link to it in the site map.

And finally, the centering, I will need to research the readability issue, but it does demonstrably cut down "mouse miles". However as I said previously in this thread, it isnâ??t finished and once I add some graphics to the top of the page, it may well end up on the left again.

New look in general: 5/5.
Centered text in the forums: 0/5. Sorry, but I just hate it...

Can this be made optional Of course it can, but the real question is: Is it reasonable to make it optional?

There's a very good reason why the text in newspapers, books and most other place is left-justified... And that it should be right-justified if we were reading in arabic... That is because the eyes like to follow a nice line...

--
Mats

Mats,

That doesn't make sense to me, newspaper logos are centered! Anyway, the reason for centering is it looks better and, moreover, it means you mouse travels less.

Anyway, I'm reading that it must go back to the left...

Jools