Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback
No, we're not about to discriminate against blind people. But we want to talk to some sighted users on the site about what we could do to make the site more visually appealing? Of course, we will maintain accessibility for our blind users. But while we know a lot about accessibility, we don't know as much about visual elements. Sure we have a lot of things in tables to make them easier to see, but I know there's some things that just stick out that we should think about changing to make the site more fun for everyone. So jsut write in this thread or send me a PM if you have any comments on this.
Thanks.
Hmm...I'll have to think about that one. How about adding some more color to the site...some borders and cool backgrounds... I'll have to look around a bit and see what else would look cool...
Yup borders and color would be nice. I am VI but on my personal site I was able to do background images, 2 column table and in the main menu bar on the left with the main links to the main page color coat the background of each main menu bar to cordinate with the background color or the image of the body of that page. Example: if I just used color tags body of the page would be a dark green, the main menu bar would be a regular green or vise versa. Background image has a pattern of pink and black, make the main menu bar black but with white links/text.
And here's what I've seen on some sites: Do a regular site with color and imagry with lots of tables. But do a text only for the blind/vi. Even as far as for the vi white on black, yellow on black and vise versa. Am I confusing yanyone?
Thanks for the great ideas. We would like to avoid doing two versions of the site. Frankly, I don't think it's necessary if the proper accessibility features are incorporated in.
My husband is sighted, but not a member of the site. I will have him take a look. <smile> He usually knows what works and doesn't from working with me. He also won't frequent sites that don't look good, so, if it's ok...
Yeah I have a text only and a imaged section of my site. But it's very time consuming. If you update the sighted version of the site, you gotta update the text only version as well. But if you still don't want to add any background images you can still do color tags.
We can do color and background images, sure. That won't effect the site for the blind people and make it look better.
Hey,
well as most people have said, colors and cool backgrounds would be a good idea. It would also be nice if we had someone make a zonebbs banner. I think it would contribute greatly to the outlook of the site. I might add more to this later. Bye for now :)
The site looks okay like it is. Some more color would be nice though. It would be cool if you could have an alternating colored background for every other post on the boards. Like the first post will be a white background, the second post on the thread could have a light gray background, the third white, fourth gray and so on. I don't know if that would be too hard to do but a lot of other message boards do that.
Hi bug, I know exactly what you mean. The site would look great if it had a different color to seperate the posts. That's one thing I didn't think of when I posted a few suggestions, lol :) c ya!
yeah that would be something different for the boards. And I love the idea for a banner for this site. Because people who have personal websites of their own can add the banner as a way of promoting the site. Which means for the Zone BBS more people add the banner, the more newbies and hits they might get. BTW to clairify on the text only/sighted version, that's on my personal website.
Anyone here with the know-how and creativity to create a banner?
I absolutely love the idea for a banner, although I'm afraid I don't have the know how to create one. I love design and stuff though; so I might be a help in creating the right look. I guess it all depends on what you want, what you want to show on it...what colors and so forth. I think the colors for different posts would be a good idea.
Also colors for posts in graffiti would be cool. I'm not sure how difficult or even practical this would be but perhaps being able to customize the look of your personal profile would be neat...maybe even adding pictures if you wanted.
Hm... personally I have to admit I sort of like the 'minimalistic' feel of the site. Many websites are so overdesigned that they're like a visual landmine going off on your screen :-). However, I do have a couple of suggestions: Firstly, I notice that on this site, most text and links are blocked on the left margin. For sighties, it looks nicer and also makes things easier to find when they are a bit spread out across the screen. Moreover, I notice that almost all text uses the same font style and size, although the color varies between black and blue. It might be nice to use a diffent typeface, a different size of font, or a different color for certain features. For example, I often overlook new Quicknotes because they appear in exactly the same font style and color as the rest of the text, and are tucked in the middle of a bunch of links and text, with nothing to separate them. It would be nice if they could be made to visually stand out, somehow.
I hope these suggestions are helpful.
Susanne
I know someone who might be able to do the banner. Just depends on how much and how complex you want it. He does great with graphics from what I've been told...
Great stuff again. Ya, I think we aren't going to overdue the site design, but there are some great ideas for small things we could do to make browsing easier. Changing fonts, etc. The multicolored board posts are quite doable.
Like in everything else a conformed and flowing look with several color indication will make it interesting. Too many colors and 'busy' backgrounds will make it visually unappealing as it will be like a room full of people all talking at once = very confusing and disturbing! I have a graphic background and if you want I can help with the banner and the design. I have offered to help make this website visually more interesting long, long, long ago when your website wasn't even called yet The Zone BBS...
A main menu bar would be real nice. Go to my blindvi website for a ideas. I used table columns instead of frames. I'm not that advanced lol. Another idea for site promo JJ is a Tell A Friend item on the site. So if someone wants to tell his or her friends via email and or news/email groups on the web they can do it that way. Pretty much their email addy, the sender's email addy and hit send! You create the look and feel of what your email will look like when the receiver gets it. Again go to my site for ideas. You know....... Someone brought up customizing the look and feel of their profile. If they're thinking of color for background, text and links suggest use the body part of their profile to add the code since I was able to add html to my profile. Lemmie give it a shot since I'm always playing with the profile lol.
If you have sight or if you're vi you'll be able to see the classy profile I just did! I added a dark and light brown swirl as my background image. While yet keeping to contrast I used white for all links and text. How did I do this? I just added a little html code in the body part of my profile. Along with adding a little style to my fonts just a underline for now. I'm kinda tired so I'm gonna go ahead and sign out. But do check my profile out :)
I have to agree. It is rather easy to change the colors in our profiles. I've done it here, and I know at least one other person has done it.
I had to change to just a background color. The image only lasted for one night til when I came back on the next day I saw a wall paper instead of some website. Tripod and Angelfire wont let u link up. I'm also trying to find a way to highlight a entire heading in my profile so that it's not just highlighting a word.
I suggest that we get the site off Times New Roman font. It's just way too plain and "oldish". If you want Zone to be a little more "hip" in a way, change to Arial or some other font that's easier on the eyes.
I have to agree about the font. Maybe you could even use different fonts for different things.
well background colors would look nice. On my personal site I do this for each section. Each section was color coated: Games: blue, braille section: gold, chat and boards: brown. The bar cordinated with the background so if I had a background with brown swirl, the main menu bar would be brown and of course the colors were always dark with light background for those who are vi. And if that doesn't work, use high contrast on windows, that'll take it out. But for those who might be hard of seeing and might not use zoom text or other magnifyers, all they would have to do is look for the color so if they accidentally clicked on chat when really they wanted to be in games all they would have to look at is the color. Oh so the color changed to brown not blue. And it's eye catching too. But be advised we use the same background and matching main menu bar color on all sections to that category. Instead of doing light blue for board games, baby blue for card, and dark blue for word it's strictly dark blue with a electrifying blue pattern background.