| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 23 2006 : 3:00:38 PM
|
Yesterday (Aug. 22/06) I finally got around to updating the site. I've been working on this update since February and it has been a major update.
Most obviously, the colours of the site have been changed. The original colour scheme showed some...questionable...taste and was getting pretty tired. It was picked when most computers could only handle 256 colours and indeed looked pretty good in that case. However now that systems can display millions of colours, it was a little hard to read since it was actually being reproduced more accurately then before. The old scheme was 10 years old, so these new colours should bring this site into the current millennium. I consulted with a graphic designer friend when I picked these. The aim was "classical, masculin and easy to read". I think I've achieved that goal.
Several new circuits were added, so be sure to check out the circuits page. These include another battery charger, macrovision removal circuit, an interesting computer controlled logic probe and a circuit that can simulate stereo sound from a mono source. Also many older circuits have additions and error corrections. I'm planning even more for the circuits section of the site but that will wait until the next update.
I've updated my electric scooter project with a new motor and batteries. Also threw in a video for good measure. A new project was added in the form of an eccentric shaft lamp. What's that? Well, check it out... 
Several new technical articles were added to the RX-7 sections, and many minor corrections on existing articles were made. The how to buy guides had major additions, and almost a thousand images added to the picture galleries.
Speaking of the galleries, the ones in the misc. section have been updated with images from a bunch of recent auto shows. I've also added a small section with some media clips involving yours truly (hell, it is my website after all...  ).
The old forum was hurting for an upgrade so I've brought it up to the most recent version. There are many improvements too numerous to mention. It's a huge step forward. It is, however, a little slow...
And the slowness can be attributed to the fact that the server is hurting badly. It's under much too high a load with CPU load at 100% almost always. The Google ads are working well and generating revenue to fund a new server so I am hoping that within the next few months I can put that plan into action. |
|
|
Brian
Apprentice
USA
106 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2006 : 03:09:43 AM
|
| You might want to change the color of the hyperlinks as blue text on a dark background tends to be very difficult to see. |
 |
|
|
marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2006 : 2:03:50 PM
|
I must say, WOW! You did a good job on the "new" site!  I haven't had a chance yet to look at the other part of the site, but the forum looks AWESOME! About the server... Yes, it is FREAKISHLY slow! Still running NT? Hmm, I have noticed an increase in posts lately, is it because of the new scheme, or is it because this is the time of the year they all flock in? |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
|
|
|
Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 09:42:24 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Brian
You might want to change the color of the hyperlinks as blue text on a dark background tends to be very difficult to see.
I debated that and asked about 10 people whether or not they would have problems seeing it. No one complained, and I did not find an acceptable substitute...One thing I did notice is that if you are loooking at the site in 256 colour, it can't be read. If I find a decent shade for the links I will change them in the future.
The forum still needs some fine tuning as far as colours go since it doesn't match the rest of the site.
quote:
Originally posted by marks256
I must say, WOW! You did a good job on the "new" site! I haven't had a chance yet to look at the other part of the site, but the forum looks AWESOME! About the server... Yes, it is FREAKISHLY slow! Still running NT? Hmm, I have noticed an increase in posts lately, is it because of the new scheme, or is it because this is the time of the year they all flock in?
It's faster now that it's not under extreme load from the search engines and archiving sites. The issue is not that it's NT, but that it's only a Cyrex P166+ with 64MB of RAM. It's just chugging...The new forum is more of a load on the server which is causing issues...But it needed to be updated so I could start to add things like file upload capability (people are screaming for it). |
|
|
|
marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 12:56:50 PM
|
Would you mind if i screamed any louder?
By the way, this is kind of off topic, but i like your new laptop! |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
|
|
|
cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 2:42:12 PM
|
Y'know, I kinda miss the green and red...
|
|
|
|
Schleusner
Member
USA
47 Posts |
Posted - Aug 29 2006 : 10:22:39 AM
|
| I think this site lookes more profeshional with the new colors. Keep it this way. |
|
|
|
marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Aug 29 2006 : 11:35:36 AM
|
Go cry about it, cirvin! I think you mean Red Green? That's a cool TV show!
I have a suggestion, Aaron. For the Quick Reply box, i would suggest give it some more functions. You know, like a Bold, Underline, and Italics? And maybe some smileys! I only have a few memorized. |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
|
|
|
Binary 1011001101
Nobel Prize Winner
United Kingdom
569 Posts |
Posted - Aug 29 2006 : 1:03:32 PM
|
| To be honost I liked the green and red, this blue is a bit hard to look at. |
|
|
|
Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2006 : 09:12:45 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by cirvin
Y'know, I kinda miss the green and red...
quote:
Originally posted by Binary 1011001101
To be honost I liked the green and red, this blue is a bit hard to look at.
You're kidding? For the past five years, I've been getting complaints about the green and red. So I finally change it and now people don't like the blue? I really like the blue, so that's how it's staying. And it does look more professional and mature...
quote:
Originally posted by marks256
I have a suggestion, Aaron. For the Quick Reply box, i would suggest give it some more functions. You know, like a Bold, Underline, and Italics? And maybe some smileys! I only have a few memorized.
The quick reply box is just as functional as the normal reply box, you just have to know the codes...There is a link on the left to "Forum Code" which has a complete listing. |
|
|
|
Binary 1011001101
Nobel Prize Winner
United Kingdom
569 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2006 : 10:17:23 AM
|
No I am not kidding I was surprised that when I typed in 'electronic circuits' in google you site was the first on the list...  In a way I have to admit it looks more professional in blue.  |
|
|
|
cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2006 : 11:30:45 AM
|
| ^.^ I'm just messing around, I'm not too critical of color scheme, heck one look at my site tells you that. :p |
|
|
|
marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2006 : 12:26:36 PM
|
| speaking of your site, cirvin, when are you going to update? |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
|
|
|
Binary 1011001101
Nobel Prize Winner
United Kingdom
569 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2006 : 04:11:11 AM
|
| Aaron, I have a suggestion for you site. As you know the main menu is on the home page, this can get very anoying when I want to go to another section, I have to click back back back untill I find the homepage it will be easyer for people to navigate is there was a menubar on the side. Please don't take this the wrong way but your homepage looks very unprofessional the 3D text for links looks crummmy. Since your site is very popular (first to come up on the google list) I would think it will be 'neater' (I take back whatever I said about the new colour, the blue is a lot better This is only a suggestion, I hope I am not being to critical/ mean. |
|
|
|
Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2006 : 09:31:09 AM
|
I hate side menubars. Anything that takes away from horizontal space to me is very, very annoying. I'd rather have a thick header and footer then have to deal with side scrolling or limited horizontal space...
That said I did briefly consider making a side bar, but threw out the idea especially considering that I would have to manually add it to every page. A thick footer with menu options would work much better, take up no valuable screen space and be far easier to integrate into the rest of the site. That's likely what I will be doing when I update next...Have you tried the remote? It puts the entire site in a tree as a seperate window which makes navigation better then any other website I have seen.
As for the front page text, it's on my list of things to fix at the next update. It needs to be integrated better into the new colour scheme. |
|
|
|
moody
Mad Scientist
USA
326 Posts |
Posted - Sep 17 2006 : 05:42:18 AM
|
Hay Aaron...I havnt been on in a month or so but man what a great change...I like the new colors.
You did a great job on the new layout...thanks for the hard work on it. |
www.myspace.com/rockinatthehouse
|
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Major Website Update...Details Here
