The Def Guide to Zzap!64

Nowadays, most people who design websites also code them in terms of CSS/HTML5/Javascript etc, if my brother's job descriptions and progression are anything to go by. You may get people who do the heavy SQL, JQuery and such separately, but a lot of web designers put the design together knowing how it can be coded as well, and do that on top.

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Ah, I see. Maybe, who knows what'll happen. After all, there's still bits of the website that have that horrid grey background, no borders and none of the neatness of the Home page...

Many of the pages are over 15 years old at this stage and look it

It's a very big job to redo the pages so that's one good reason why it hasn't been done but when I start on the new Zzapbible pages and then onto redoing the scan pages, I'll have them on a new design with proper w3c compliant pages etc.

Probably what the site really needs initially design wise, is a nice top banner with a horizontal navigation and then a colour scheme with something simple html / css wise to do boxes around text etc. Although maybe that's all a bit retro these days too, but I'm certainly not looking for a flashy design with that slightly sea sick feeling that backgrounds scrolling at different speeds gives me.

Personally I like the front page as it is. It's definitely retro-like, but it's neat, it's easy to navigate, and it's uncomplicated. Mind you a side bar on the left would be very useful, a bar present on all pages of the website for even easier navigation...

The blue boxes aren't too bad I guess, just need a slighter bigger font and more space around the edges etc.

A top navigation is definitely needed, I like the idea of the one here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/

Nothing too fancy (I don't like the dropdown bits when you click the arrows) and I like when you scroll down the page, it shrinks to a small bar and stays at the top. That's very handy (saves having to scroll all the way to the top to get to the nav again) and doesn't take up too much real estate of the screen.

A nav of something like:

Home - Features - Reviews - Scans - ZzapBible - Forum

Although I'm still unsure how to handy scans vs html versions of pages.

I do like that top navigation.

Home - Features - Reviews - Scans - ZzapBible - Forum - Store <-- I think that would be better.

With regards to your last point, I'm not completely sure if HTML versions are needed. I mean no offense to the people who must've spent surely hours on it, but Internet is fast enough at my place in Texas to load scans relatively quick, and the Internet at my place isn't known for its speed or reliability, of which both are questionable.

I suppose it comes down to you. Perhaps the Scans page would take you to a selection page, split into two sections, similar to the Zzuperstore just with two sections, not three in a row, with HTML on one side and SCAN on the other side, an image as an example for each, followed by a short description, like...




...to illustrate my meaning.

Putting the Zzuperstore on the nav is probably a good idea at it wouldn't fit into any of the others sections, although there will probably be a "Misc" link in there as well.

The main advantage of the HTML versions is searching and search engines and maybe being able to read the text easier than compared to some of the large magazines with crazy backgrounds.

I'm thinking of the scans being the main part of it with much improved data and searching as discussed somewhere else in the Announcements a few years ago (!) (actually 7 years ago! viewtopic.php?f=6&t=935&start=0 ) and then a link to a HTML version if it exists.

Iain