Critique Needed/New Site!

[Bi4Be]

Hello everyone! I finally got the BAN (Beanie Ad Network) got partially up!!! Actually I had the design down but I just never got around to it.
Anyways, check it out! :) It is very bright and almost "giddy" with it's colors compared to Bid4Beanies, you might want to wear shades. 8) (OK! Now would be a good time for that smiley with the sunglasses... I miss him so much :D ).
It hasn't gone public, so the main page is at[nbsp][nbsp]http://www.beanieadnetwork.com/xchanger.shtml now.

Could you guys also critique Bid4Beanies... I changed some things and got rid of the screwed up Java Script. I also switched to Arial fonts.
http://www.Bid4Beanies.com/
(AND YES, I know about the News on the Auction page! It is running way too long and I am getting around to fixing it).

Please be as picky as you want... I can take harsh critique rather well (if given in a nice way :) )
Thanks...
-Bi4Be

[Armand]

Me thinks you've been using the UBB too much...LOL... I believe this to be unintentional but on the webmaster tools page you used the ubb bold code. And might suggest better lining up of the table topics on that page.

Still not sure what I think of the color scheme though. http://www.arcanumcafe.com/ubb/cool.gif


[This message has been edited by Armand (edited 05-11-99)]

[Bi4Be]

hehehe... I can't beleive someone caught me doing that! I catch myself daily... whether I am in my own thoughts or what but it slips my mind. Alot of time I have to edit my posts from HTML to UBBCode, gets alittle tedious lol! ;)

The color scheme needs some getting used to though, and the Webmaster Tool links need the table change but I am alittle lazy.

Hopefully I will launch the BAN tonight with the help of Bid4Beanies.

Any other oppinions on either of the sites? Design/Colors/Tables?

I figured this site will eat enough bandwidth with the banner exchange alone, so I made the web pages a faster loader with less graphics.
-Bi4Be

Critique:
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] http://www.bid4beanies.com/
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] http://www.beanieadnetwork.com/

[hearts]

well.. after reading all the posts.. i clicked your signature and reached a "coming soon" page.. so I went back to the prior window and read the original post... and ended up in the right place. :D

I didn't find those colors to be awkward at the BAN site, but the bid4beanies, well.. that blue blue blue background kinda clashed with the navy. However, overall.. site layout&naviagtion[nbsp][nbsp]at both sites were comfortable.

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hearts
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[Armand]

The only prob I had with the BAN color scheme was that I found it weird that the link color was the same as the text or so close I couldn't tell the difference.[nbsp][nbsp]Threw me off a bit.

[Bi4Be]

Thanks everyone...

Hearts, I too find the background at Bid4Beanies really weird and clashes with the navy. But what color could I replace that bright blue with? I've tried almost every color imaginable including navy and white but they don't look any better. Any suggestions?

Thanks again you guys :)
-Bi4Be

[hearts]

Hey Bi4Be..

I quickly played with the colors at your site, and this is what i played with for colors.

I selected this color for your background: BGCOLOR="#000087"

I changed the text color to this: TEXT="#8080C0" and links to this: LINK="#CC0000" except the fonts that were in the navy blue background table, I used white for the font.

where you have your copyright notice I would keep the font color this color #000087.

I do have two questions.. I found this in your codes (hidden in your tables w/navy background & navy font), but the only way you can read it off the[nbsp][nbsp]web page itself is to run your mouse over it... is there a reason for that?

here are the two sentences:
FREE LISTINGS AT OUR FREE BEANIE AUCTION (above the copyright notice)

http://www.Bid4Beanies.com A TY Beanie Baby, Buddy,[nbsp][nbsp]Attic free auction site (below the copyright notice)

I didn't browse through the whole site tonight, I just went to your main page http://www.bid4beanies.com/ and stole the code for a few, and deleted it! ;)

(my suggestions may not be what you are looking for since you are looking for enthusiasm.)

Since them little beanies are in all sorts of colors, I would play with font colors and make it colorful like them. Like where you have a description of the links.. the wordings in bold.. play with those colors.

When I have some time tomorrow I will play with it more.. :)

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hearts
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[This message has been edited by hearts (edited 05-13-99)]

[ChrisG]

Okay - just a quick look around the site - looks good.

Neat functional design - sometimes sorely missed on the net these days

The only tip I can offer is chuck a couple of BR's right now at the bottom of the pages to lift the bottom nav bar up slightly - it always annoys me when navigating to have to get my mouse in the exact position hence that little bit of extra scroll make like easier.

Ahh - yeah - the T&C is not working either....... :)
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AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHH!!!

I feel better now......

[Bi4Be]

Thanks Chris, Hearts! :)

*Eeek!* I forgot the legal junk, I'll have to get on that today as today will be the launch. (hehehe - right in time for the 5 hour server move... oh well, hopefully visitors won't mind *grin*)

Hearts, I will try the colors you suggested... although I must say that I am alittle skeptical about the main font color you picked :D (lol!)

You also caught me there with the text! I figured instead of putting an old   in there I'd throw in some 'concealed' text for the bots. Although I am not so sure that it will work as it isn't visible, and I've heard it doesn't consider text concealed like that.

-Bi4Be

[Bi4Be]

OK, the legal junk and nav. bar are now fixed. And I went ahead and changed the xchanger.shtml to index.shtml so it is now only accessable at http://www.beanieadnetwork.com

But great jahasophat poopies, I just came to thinking that when I circulate the BAN's opening to the beanie world tomorrow they are going to have alot of probs with the move etc. and I will miss alot of visitors. So I just decided to have BAN lay low for a bit until at least Sat. daytime or Monday. *sigh* oh well, tis' life isn't it? :)

-Bi4Be

PS: I am going to play around with all of your suggestions tomorrow, Hearts! ;)