Coming in a few minutes a completely re-designed front page for vn750.com! It looks slick! and a lot like the forum page.

Spence

I looks great! Kudos to our webmaster.

Mike

thanks, more good stuff to come! Keep watching

Spence

Ok, I've been replaced.. Do we get a photo gallery now?

The new front page looks GREAT!!

Working on the photo gallery now. This dam coppermine is a bitch to work with.

Spence

Nice work on the new front page, but I think it needs something. How about a picture of a whole bunch of VN750s? I think it would be great if everyone at KY Lake could pose all of the bikes and take an overhead picture, maybe from the roof of the cabin? Just an idea.

Good idea, but I think we shoud include that in the new gallery page. I want to keep the front page clean and clutter free. It's going to be mostly text and a few graphics for now. I am however open to any and all suggestions! Feedback accepted!

Spence

Ha! I'm not gonna suggest anything cause you just redo my stuff anyway! *G*
good point - Does have a more uniform look though.

Something to consider - Plain is good, but you also want soemthing to grab their interest and make them want to venture into the site.
The ones here now what is within. The thing that has made the group so good has always been the people within the grioup. I don't see much on the front page that looks much more than text book.
The bar at the top for links is good, but speaking from experience, not everyone tries out all the page options. If they are looking for a group to share and get info with/from, they need to know it is more than just a text manual. The main page has to sell them on the site not give them a text book.

Just my .02 worth from 6 years of web design.

Dianna, I'm a big fan of simple. I'm just getting off the ground with php and have a long way to go. Any suggestions that you might have I sincerly value! Just want this to look professional, not the amature hack job that I did in the beginning. I think a few more graphics and links will be "just enough" to make the page look absolutely stunning!

I agree.. It is possible to reach a happy medium.
Simple is good, but get the hook set to reel them in too.
One suggestion..
In the first paragraph, you list the features. I know it may seem redundant since the tool bar is just above it, but when you say "forum" have that be a link to the forum, and same for the tech page, etc..
Human nature says.. "Oh! a link.. let's see where it goes!" *click*
It may sound silly, but it works *L*

Done, how does it look now?

Much better! You got the hook, now we just reel 'em in *S*

Oh I hope so! I would like to move everyone off that piece of crap Yahoo, but they will have to come on their own accord. As soon as I figure out the e-mail thing, everyone will be happy! Oh and the gallery too.

Spence

Spence!

It looks great! Yeehaw!! Very special beads for you :-)

Great job Spence ! Love the clean look. As you tweek it, I'm sure you'll find a happy medium between professional functionality and attractivness. Keep up the good work !!

Very nice... I like it!!!

Spence,

I like the new opening page, but I have a question. I use a Mac at home, and if I open the forum with Internet Explorer I get the new page, but if I open with Safari, which I am more likely to be using, I get the old page. Is that to be expected? I am using the most recent versions of each.

Thanks for all the effort and thought you put into the forum.

Ratty

Just hit the refresh button in safari, it's cached locally somewhere on your machine

Spence

Thanks Spence,

The refresh button worked like a charm. I really like the new forum.

Ratty

Thanks Spence,

The refresh button worked like a charm. I really like the new forum.

RattyI really like this forum too...one reason is just above. I was going to tell you about trying the refresh button, but it was easy to see that Spence already had, instead of there being 25 post all saying the same thing. And now that I am done with this post, it is easy for me to go back and read the new post since my last visit and read each thread in order. I know you can view by thread in Yahoo, but not as easy or nice as here.

Keep up the good work Spence

Thanks Fallguy,

I agree, it is easier for me to keep track of threads here, too. Of course the numbers aren't so overwhelming and that may be part of it, but it just seeks so much more organized.

Ratty

Cool, thanks

Hi Spence,

You are doing a great job with the site and I much prefer this format over Yahoo. A few comments (and I am no means a pro and these are kind of nit-picky but hey for what its worth), first, on the home page under VN750.com, it says home of the Kawasaki Vulcan, I think it would be more accurate to say home of the Kawasaki Vulcan 700/750. I would also put somewhere in the same general area some type of statement like "A site for owners by owners" or something along those lines so that it is obvious that this isn't an official Kaw site (Its not is it? That is one more professional looking home page :) Finally, on the tech tips page it may be helpful to have a brief (few words, one sentence max) about each link. Some aren't obvious (vulcan verses, goat's belly) for example. Please don't think I'm being critical because I really do like the site.
- Phillip

Good points Phillip, I am in the process of re-writing the verbage to make it a little more intuitive. Funny I saw all the same things that you did! The basic format of the page is static, will not change, but I can add lots more graphics, and links. I think this looks much cleaner.

Spence

I like the new design. And I like the bit of history and info about the 700/750 Vulcan, that's pretty cool. Now just waiting for a gallery page. Curious to see what other folks are riding, and would like to post a few of my baby. :)

Wayne

While you're waiting, you can see what about 160 of us are riding right here:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/VN750/

grambo



I like the new design. And I like the bit of history and info about the 700/750 Vulcan, that's pretty cool. Now just waiting for a gallery page. Curious to see what other folks are riding, and would like to post a few of my baby. :)

Wayne

I posted this one the yahoo board and will post it here too.
This is our site and as such WE are the ones that need to help build it, which means WE need to provide input see the changes come about.
With that in mind.. the posting from the yahoo group..
Everyone needs to be objective here. And as many suggestions as
possible will only help.
Imagine this, You are surfing the web for information on the VN750.
You are particularly interested in finding other owners and getting
some answers to your questions.
You find http://www.vn750.com in the search results and you click it
and go to the main page.
What in your opinion would make you want to explore the site at first
glance? This is the important thing because we KNOW about the site,
but pretend you didn't. Is the toolbar along the top prominent
enough? Are the other links obvious and do they give a good
indication of what they are? What would you add or take off from the
page? What would make you click something?
Consider the main page of the site a marketing tool. What is going to
sell you on it?
That is the kind of input that Rob needs.

Spence,

I like the new page's clean layout.

If you get a chance, look at the page at different extreem screen resolutions such as 800x600 and 1600x1200 to make sure you are happy with how every one sees it.

For me at 1600x1200, the fonts are readable and clear but a little on the small side.

If you say so ......
But read post #10. I count six "I" 's (one implied) and narry a "us", "we", "the Group", etc. Jax always got consensus before making a change. I don't see that happening here.

That said, to answer your question, the first thing that comes to mind is the site is a "dot-com". Wonder why we didn't use a .org. Dot com to me means somebody is wanting to sell me something <g>.

"We" (for the sake of argument) are an organization,, not a business.

grambo



[QUOTE=Dianna]I posted this one the yahoo board and will post it here too.
This is our site and as such WE are the ones that need to help build it, which means WE need to provide input see the changes come about.
With that in mind.. the posting from the yahoo group..
Everyone needs to be objective here. And as many suggestions as
possible will only help.

VN750.org is not available

Can't answer that one for sure.. There isn't a vn750.org registered, but to change now we start over with the search engines, redo several pages etc.
It can be done, just would take some effort on redoing the site and all the connections.
I agree that there does need to be a consesus done if this is to be a group site. If I am reading the repsonses right, the group's priorities are the email and photo galleries. That is what they are interested in most.
Which brings to mind something I caught on the main page under news..
September 30, 2004 Rob's BLOG
???

One further note.. I have gotten a few emails about a typo on the page. I cc'd my reply to Rob.
I did not do the new front page. Rob did. Having worked in the industry for 33 years now, I do not go in and change someone's code without giving them the oppurtunity to do it first. It's called professional courtesy *S* That is why I suggested that any changes people wanted to the main page they should contact Rob.

I like it being vn750.com. It would be the first thing I would type to find the group.

I must be in the minority here, but I don't like the new front page. WAY to much text and not enough graphics. There is no way folks are going to wade through all that text on the front page. I agree with Dianna, the front page should hook the viewer. The rest of the site needs to reel them in. In my opinion the front page should be more like a magazine ad; minimal text and lots of graphics (with links). Just my opinion.

I agree with you and Dainna. I was just getting a good "clean template" to be able to edit. In this format (php) I can edit the code easily to include lots of links and graphics. This page is by no means "done" I'm relying on input for other members to make it work for everyone. I just wanted the front page to be absolutely clean. Once we have a good template it makes it much easier to edit one thing without screwing up the whole page! (I have been known to do that)
So in the long run, cleanner look, less prone to my fat fingers!

Spence

I dont know why they would even care about the e-mail, unless they dont have a browser, as if they truly did try to use the new forum, you would see, you just log in and pick the thread you want to read, and it is all there, no click, back, click,m back to read it, just scroll down! that is so easy, I dont see the trouble, but even so, if somebody did get the e-mail like the posts im subscibed to, they link back to the thread and you just click and wow, your there ready to post.... unlike a yahoo digest where you have to cut snip nd paste, and do all that thinking........

anyway, I think those that dont want to be on this type of forum truely havent given it a fair trial........it is so simple once you get familliar with how it works.....and I will leave my homepage opinion to myself at this time, I just really like an organized threading system where you can read ALL posts on the thread at one time, without click, ad, click, read, back back, click, ad, click, log in again, click , post, ad, click, type,click GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
too much trouble, and the e-mail method is just as hard if you get a digest, or face a swamp of mail each day.

Beavis