[Web4lib] need some free design advice

[Sharon Foster]

Ironically, the previous site was done in WordPress. It wasn't as
pretty, not having been professionally designed, but it was much more
functional. I think we now know how to have the best of both worlds.

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 8:30 PM, Robert L. Balliot
<rballiot at oceanstatelibrarian.com> wrote:
>
>
> It seems that there would be a real benefit to
> extricating the site from the design/hosting service
> and using a standard commercial host.  Perhaps they
> did not have a tech person of Sharon's ability before and
> decided to outsource design.  Many, many libraries
> did that and are stuck with designs they cannot change
> without external permission and lack control
> over their primary external marketing tool.
>
> I think the site looks nice, but it is missing many
> parts and has tables nested in tables, in tables, with
> divs and very hard to modify.  Since they hired Sharon,
> they could now benefit from internal control over design
> and features.
>
> It always bothers me when I see a hosting/design link
> in the footer of a library page. That is simply an
> SEO/Marketing tool for the designer and IMO should be not be
> included in any paid design work.
>
> *************************************************
> Robert L. Balliot
> Skype: RBalliot
> Bristol, Rhode Island
> http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
> *************************************************
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Graeme Williams
> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 8:02 PM
> To: web4lib
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] need some free design advice
>
> Sharon,
>
> It *is* possible to edit the style sheet from Javascript, although the code
> appears to be browser dependent.
>
> As an example, the following will display a randomly-chosen picture each
> time the page is refreshed:
>
> r = Math.floor(Math.random()*4) ; // 0-3
> imgs = new Array("images/chess-565x228-text.jpg",
>                 "images/library-night-cropped-whiteedge.jpg",
>                 "images/opera-565x228-text.jpg",
>                 "images/homegrown2009.jpg") ;
>  cssRule = "td.main-photo-cell { background-image: url(" + imgs[r] + ") }" ;
>  x = document.styleSheets[0] ;
>  x.insertRule(cssRule, x.cssRules.length) ;
>
> This (lightly-tested) code only works in Firefox.  To put this into
> production, you'd need to add code to detect the user's browser, and add the
> code for IE.  IE uses addRule instead of insertRule, and the arguments are
> different.
>
> This isn't a full-blown slide show, and no doubt the best long-term approach
> is to redo the whole page, but if this approach is sufficient for your
> short-term needs and you'd like help with the next steps, let me know.
>
> Graeme Williams
> Waltham, MA
>
> 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?"
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Web4lib mailing list
>> Web4lib at webjunction.org
>> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>