Categories Dressing

[r1formetoo]

"Popup images"? Do you mean substituting images for text, or using them for headings? Those are the only ways Categories Dressing uses images...

I suppose. I haven't seen this type of category in action so I'm not sure what it looks like and if I'll like it or not.

[r1formetoo]

Glenn, what did you think of my layout with colors and general look and feel?

[nummell]

Thanks Glenn

It´s working again...

Keep up the good work with your mods


Best regards

nummell

[gjh42]

I haven't seen this type of category in action so I'm not sure what it looks like and if I'll like it or not.

Look at nummell's site for a prime example of text replaced by images with hover effects.

[r1formetoo]

Ok, I think I've found a set of color combinations that looks good. My last thing to address is this. When you click on a subcat and enter the next page the only thing in the menu that lets you know that you're inside that category is that the little red arrow has changed from pointing right to pointing down. I feel that the menu should better display that you're inside a subcat. How would you do this if you were me? There are many options. We can have all the subcats display once you're inside of one of them. We can have the background color change once you're inside. What have you seen that works well?

[r1formetoo]

Look at nummell's site for a prime example of text replaced by images with hover effects.

Oh I see now. My old site was like that and I had to create images for each new category and I hated that. I also had good reason to believe not having a text based menu hurt my rankings with Google. Thanks but I'll keep the text based menu.

[gjh42]

Re: general look and feel... I think it's basically good, though the listing description being centered is an annoying fact that makes it harder to read and seem less well thought out. I know it's the default; that doesn't make it good:)

I notice that nearly all of the descriptions have the last word or two orphaned down on another line, drawing attention to themselves over the rest. They would look better if the truncation were changed to a bit less (for two lines) or a bit more (for three fuller lines), or the width of the description was narrower so the text filled the space better. Picky, I know, but niggling things like that may make readers uncomfortable without knowing why.
A bit more space between rows in the listing would make it more comfortable. Not sure if a divider would be good - test and see - maybe very light to not be obtrusive.

Colors are good, red obviously following from the name and blue making a perhaps unconscious evocation of "patriotic" colors. That just this moment occurred to me, and most would probably not think of it, but it is likely not a bad thing.

I think the one critique overall would be that it seems "full" with little intentional white space in the page. White space gives eye relief and lets text stand out. Take these comments as musings that may not all be compatible, just things to consider.




You posted while I was writing - for the subcats, the styling I played with above dealt with current category identification among other things. I haven't looked at your latest color changes yet.

[gjh42]

If it's just categories menu changes, I did see the black border. I don't think it helps; in fact, the border should go away, and I think your menu would work better without the arrows/markers, but using text and background colors and font-weight to distinguish status. The blue hover bg is too dark to read the text on it. My trial handled all of these comments.

[r1formetoo]

Re: general look and feel... I think it's basically good, though the listing description being centered is an annoying fact that makes it harder to read and seem less well thought out. I know it's the default; that doesn't make it good:)

I notice that nearly all of the descriptions have the last word or two orphaned down on another line, drawing attention to themselves over the rest. They would look better if the truncation were changed to a bit less (for two lines) or a bit more (for three fuller lines), or the width of the description was narrower so the text filled the space better. Picky, I know, but niggling things like that may make readers uncomfortable without knowing why.
A bit more space between rows in the listing would make it more comfortable. Not sure if a divider would be good - test and see - maybe very light to not be obtrusive.

Colors are good, red obviously following from the name and blue making a perhaps unconscious evocation of "patriotic" colors. That just this moment occurred to me, and most would probably not think of it, but it is likely not a bad thing.

I think the one critique overall would be that it seems "full" with little intentional white space in the page. White space gives eye relief and lets text stand out. Take these comments as musings that may not all be compatible, just things to consider.

You posted while I was writing - for the subcats, the styling I played with above dealt with current category identification among other things. I haven't looked at your latest color changes yet.

Some of your thoughts I'm "in tune with" and some I'm not. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "listing description being centered." If you look at my real site www.RedlineStands.com you'll notice that my home page description is different. Is that what you mean?

I don't see these issues that you see about my categories menu doing any truncating to the next line. Can you post a screenshot?

I agree that my menu looks a bit full and could use a little extra white space in between each listing. I'm sure this is a stylesheet change, though I'm not sure how to do that. Please keep in mind that the live site www.RedlineStands.com already has a huge menu and making it much taller might not be for the best....

The black borders and dark blue were all done for continuity. The black borders connect the main menu to the subcat menu. The blue was chosen because it's the same blue used right above the menu. I understand what you're saying and I'm going to try your changes and see how I like them. I do, however, agree completely that the arrows should disappear completely. How do I remove them?

[gjh42]

My long comments were about the site generally, and the product listing in the center column.

Removing the arrows is part of the code I posted for you.

I think the extra black border adds to the busyness of the column without relating to the rest of the usually visible column.