New website look (LOL)

[Melanie Jayne]

Hi guys

I have just given my website a new look (again) I have tried to give it a more grown up appearance and I am kinda happy with it, there are a few bits to be finished off, but I am off to the NEC in November and I wont have time until then. So I was wondering whether you would like to give me some feed back on my site so far.

By the way for those of you who do know me I did promise not to play with it again, but I could not help myself (LOL)

Anyway here is my site address if you would like to look www.beartreasures.com

thanks
Melanie Jayne

[Jenny]

I think it looks really great...I like the olde worlde feel ...not sure about fading in and out when you click on the next page...but I am really impatient and so that's just me (you did ask!!)

I like the colour scheme....I like the link to old things..hence the 'treasure' aspect..I like the bears...

I like it!!

Never worry about updating..it's when you don't you have to worry!! Mine is in serious need of an update..except I haven't a clue ...I have someone do mine for me!!

[Melanie Jayne]

Thanks for your comments Jenny and I am so pleased that you made the connection between the colours behind my website and my name (Treasures), the funny thing is when I came up with my business name I never really gave it any serious thought and I often think that Bear Treasures means something old or traditional and really does not represent my bears well. So I am kinda chuffed that you recognised my website scheme in my business name.

Also thank you for the comments on the fading in and out thing. It seems to fade in and out quickly on my computer so maybe it takes longer depending on the connection speed, if this is so I would like to know as I this can easily be altered too, like you I am also inpatient.

Hugs
melanie

[Jenny]

It's quite slow on my computer where usually pages open up quite quickly. The other thing that happens is that for a few seconds half the page is black...I don't think that is part of your plan and probably needs sorting out.

I am a bit fussy about websites and am hard to please..LOL!! I hate music in any shape or form on websites and keep my sound turned off all the time..I don't like trailers on the curser and won't usually stay on websites that have them (partly because they set my vertigo off a treat and I'm nauseous for ages afterwards) it has to be a particularly interesting one for me to stay and if a page takes longer than about 5 seconds to open I am off!! So if I am like that I'd guess that others are too!

I know my website is far from perfect and we need to jazz it up a bit but plans are afoot for after Christmas!! We put a ticking clock on the front page of our website once and loads of people said, in a nice way..'Get that noise off your website or I won't be back very often' So we we did!!


All in all I think it's better to say the things I don't like as well as what I do like because it's all too easy to say 'WOW..it's fab'...you don't get anything thing useful from that...but when I say I like something..I really do!

[shebob bears]

Hi Melanie, I think your website is really good, except for one thing. I hate to admit this, but I went and made a cup of coffee whilst it was downloading! My computer never hurries anything, so it is probably an original steam driven one. I felt your colour scheme was excellent and everything was very much in keeping with the name of Bear Treasures.

Well done, Melanie.

Sheila.

[Chowlea Bears]

Hi Melanie

I'm always popping into your website to keep abreast of your creations - you work too fast-:D

It loaded quite quickly for me - thank you - I like the colours - like those on my site - I like colours that are softer on the eye. Very bright ones make my head hurt - literally - how boring is that.

You DID PROMISE not to play with the site for a while - you owe us all some chocolate as penance - you make the rest of us look bad.

I don't know whose worse - you or Penny - do you girls EVER SLEEP. :D

[Melanie Jayne]

Thanks so much for your honest feed back, I think I am going to really enjoy this forum honesty is hard to find and given in such a nice constructive way is even harder to find, so thank you very much.

I really like the fade on my website, but I have now put the fade on a short time so hopefully the page change will be much quicker now. I must admit that I did have a few problems with the new design of my website as I had not considered the different screen resolutions, which unfortunately caused me some huge problems. To over come this I had to add a black background and now each page of my site is built in photoshop and loaded onto my site as a full page image, so there is little I can do with black background. However the actual pages are much smaller than my last website style, so I am guessing that they should be loading quicker again this will depend upon the connection speed of the visitor.

It is so good to hear your feed back as its easy to judge something from my own computer screen, but every internet user and computer is different so obviously I have to work out problems right across the board for different users. Again thank you and I still welcome anymore feed back or advise you may have.

Now Sandra, Penny is far far worse than me for playing with her website (LOL) and she is such a wiz-kid at graphics too, actually I am holding Penny responsible for my website change as the talk of her new website gave me itchy fingers, well that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it and hopefully it will also excuse me from buying the chocolate compensation on bets taken (LOL).

Once again thank you for your comments
hugs
Melanie

[gotobedbears]

I have checked out your site Melly, it loads really quickly and i don't see any black before the main images load so i guess it will always be down to individual computer speeds...........suppose it is a 'can't please all the people all of the time' type of thing. Personally i would have music, animations, flittery bits, dancing girls, marching bands etc etc etc on my website if i thought i could get the pages to load quickly enough.........I LOVE A PARADE!!!!! ha ha ha

When saving images for the web Mel, always use the 'Save Optimised As' option, you can play around with resolution, amount of colours used, how much dither etc etc...........you can cut a file size dramatically by doing this although you have to decide whether to sacrifice some picture quality to achieve a this, it depends on the type of image.

JENNY.................i'm planning on having some Christmas music on me site soon love, no crappy digital keyboard stuff that is soo loud that it gives you a heart attack when it suddenly starts though..........i'm planning a 1950's doo-wap xmas hit. C'mon Jen, give it a listen. ha ha ha

I love website building.......:p

Penny x

[Jenny]

Well Penny I just might!! You know what when you had an auction with sound effects I really thought my house was haunted till I realised it was coming out of the 'puter. I didn't half jump!!

I think I am just old fashioned...I started turning the radio down the day I reached 50. Seriously though, the flittery things do set my vertigo off...not that anyones cares about me having to sit for half an hour with my eyeballs crossed white as a ghost!! Paints a pretty picture, don't it!!?

Melanie, maybe my computer is slow..though I always think it's quick compared to my sisters ..she can take the dog for a walk while her pages download. Only joking!

[Tina-Maria]

Hi Melanie

I just popped on to your website to look and Im afraid that I didnt get to see your beas as it took so long to open up for me that it virtually stopped. I have a slower than normal internet connection so I have learned to be more patient when trying to open up websites, unfortunately I had to give up with yours. Dont take it personally, if my connection was faster I would probably have seen your bears, maybe one day BT will update our phone lines here and I will see your bears so keep making them. Sorry I couldnt help with any real feedback!

Tina

[Jenny]

Melanie..I don't know what you did but now it's much better...no black bits and the fading is unobtrusive..

It's fab now!! Well done!!

[Chowlea Bears]

Melanie and Penny - all that technical stuff just flows over my head - shame really - it sounds soooooooo impressive. :eek: Still - bet you can't process a crime scene eh?:cool:

Melanie - you still owe us the chocolate - your excuse is not outrageous enough::D

Are you showing at Rivington this weekend?

[Melanie Jayne]

Hi guys

Once again thank you for taking the time to look and to pass on your comments.
Penny I tried the dither thing and understand what you mean about picture quality, I did save one page at the lowest settings (4up) but the quality of photographs went dramatically down ill, so I now save on 2up (hope that makes sense Penny or would you change that?) but I have been saving my pages for the web in photoshop which has reduced the size. Previously my home page was 16k now it is only 10K so this should give a big improvement on loading. I have also found that once you have loaded a website for the first time, the next time it seems to run quicker, so that’s probably what has happened with yours Jenny. To be honest I have broadband and although it is quicker than a dial up connection it is still not the fastest thing in the world.

Penny I can not wait to see the Christmas music theme and I can not wait to see what you produce from your flash 8 thingy and no doubt I will probably be at your door soon enough buying more graphics from you.

Sandra I may not be able to process a crime scene, but I am pretty darn good with the criminal justice system and medical & ethical law if that is any use? Ah ah ah ah… Anyway I am not going to Rivington this weekend I have far too much to do for next weekend and plan some very long long working days over the next two weeks.

hugs
melanie

[thethingaboutbears]

Hi Melanie,

I really like the look of your new site and it loads very quickly for me.
I'll keep popping back to look at your new creations
Regards