[Web4lib] need some free design advice

[Sharon Foster]

Many thanks to everyone who replied! Yes, it has a few other problems
besides this. (Look at it on a mobile device--the two
Contribute-editable regions don't scale.) What can I say? I was not
present at the creation, having just started this June, and it's not
clear that I would have had any influence even if I had been there.
Certain constraints were imposed, such as the town seal, without any
awareness of the consequences. And we don't even report to the town,
we report to the trustees. It is a problem that it was designed and is
hosted by the same company. I have reason to believe that the custom
(yes, custom) calendar feature depends on some server side code, so
I'll never be able to port this to another host, even if I wanted to.
I've already started writing an RFQ for a redesign. But in the
meantime...

I like all the suggestions, especially getting rid of the seal
altogether, but I will probably try floating it over the slideshow
first. Then, if I can locate the original images, so I don't have to
paste together the pieces, I will see about moving the seal to the
bottom of the page. And thank you for correcting me re div vs.
class--I still can't sight read CSS without my little handbook yet.

It IS bad form to put important text in a graphic, and I will separate
those in my slideshow after I get the basics working.

Thanks again!
Sharon

Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS
Technology Librarian
http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/
"Have you tried switching it off and on again?"





On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 4:39 PM, Sharon Foster <fostersm1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Collective Brain,
>
> Here's my library's website:
>
> http://www.ryepubliclibrary.org/
>
> The first large image (it may not be for the art reception by the time
> you see it) was implemented (not by me) as the background image for
> the div titled main-photo-cell. It's defined in the style sheet so
> can't be changed on the fly. The lower left quadrant of the town seal
> is painted over it. I would like to convert from having the image in
> the background to having it in the foreground so that I can make a
> slideshow. I could *try* to incorporate the seal into every promo I
> make, or I could move the seal, or eliminate it from the front page,
> or narrow the image area and fill in the empty space with _?_.
>
> What would you do if you were me?
>
> Thanks,
> Sharon
>
> Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS
> Technology Librarian
> http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/
> "Have you tried switching it off and on again?"
>