Website Upgrade

[Paul Henry]

That's actually a bit ironic, because when I opted to use white text on a black background (which was a feature of the previous version of the web site, as well), it was after reading various reviews of other web sites that specifically mentioned that white text on a black background was easier to read on a computer monitor. :-)

Sorry Matt,I'm with RAF, but I think those reviews that suggested dark backgrounds with light text were misleading. It's generally accepted that for accessability /visually impaired readers, that a dark backgorund makes reading much more difficult , and most advise is to go for a plain light background( not neccessarily white) with a good/reasionable contrast ( so not always black on white)
There is a nice article here:white text on a dark background but it does make a point about reading versus scannning.
There is a huge ammount of content on the site, and very interesting with a lot of information, so I'm not knocking what you have done, and obviously others like it, but I'm just questioning whether it would confirm to accessability protocols.

[artificer]

Very nice upgrades!

Two quick observations.

A little more space between one selvedge picture & it's description and the next one might be helpful.

The label for one rests right atop the picture of the next.

Regarding the dark background and brighter text- tt may be a personal issue. I have no problem reading it and find the change from a bright to be pleasant and stylish.

I don't know if I'd want to read a day's worth of reports that way, but it certainly doesn't make your website harder to read (at least for me).

ith:

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Looks good Matt, and not surprisingly, with lots of historic information not typically found on retail sites.

A bit of feedback on the language of the selvage page, if I may?

The last line of text before the selvage photos says: " You can compare the quality of the selvages..."

I'm not sure that the photos really show the 'quality' of the selvages as they do the differences in selvages. And a complete novice may not be able to even see much difference without an accompanying photo by photo explanation of what they are looking at. The only one that appears significantly different to the untrained eye is the uneven line of the HOE traditional selvage. But, as we recently saw with Paulhenry's thread, Dalgleish can send out some pretty uneven material as well.

I'm not trying to be unnecessarily critical, my point is that, for novices, your layout may not be accomplishing what I assume you are attempting to accomplish. And for those who know the difference in selvages, it may be an unnecessary comparison. For what ever that's worth.

Respectfully,
Brooke

Thanks for this feedback, Brooke. I may have to revise the text on the comparison page. I'm fully aware that I may be entering the zone of "too much information" and potentially confusing people; there are simply some aspects of tartan and kilt wearing that, while I may find them fascinating, the average joe simply does not care about! However, I decided to delve into all this on my web site because, if anything, X Marks has shown me that there are a lot of discerning kilt wearers who appreciate all of this information, and really do care about things such as how the selvage of their tartan is woven.

Equally, there are those who have no idea what a selvage even is, and so may be confused by the fact that their kilt does not have a hem in it when they receive it!

So I decided to err on the side of more information. But I do want it to be clear and helpful information, so I will take your comments into consideration for possible revision. Thanks!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Well, the white text on black background has been the style of my New House Highland web site since it was created, so that's more or less a settled issue at the moment, though I do appreciate that some people will like it and others not so much. But thanks for the feedback, in any case!

[rlloyd]

I'm just throwing in another vote for light text on a dark background. Any website that gives me a style sheet option, such as most forums, I always go with "light on dark" over "dark on light" because I find it much easier on the eyes.

[creagdhubh]

I'm just throwing in another vote for light text on a dark background. Any website that gives me a style sheet option, such as most forums, I always go with "light on dark" over "dark on light" because I find it much easier on the eyes.

Agreed.

[Ryan Ross]

Agreed.

For what it's worth, I agree too.

[gmc]

Matt,

I like the look of the site overall. It is fairly intuitive and easy to navigate.

I browsed through all of the responses and didn't see it mentioned so hopefully this isn't a repeat.

The one thing I found is it little formatting issue. If you go under Kilt Info -> Care & Maintenance, the text "Click here for cleaning tips", shows through the drop-down boxes on the tool bar, making it hard to read some of your selections.

Gary

[JRB]

I'm just throwing in another vote for light text on a dark background. Any website that gives me a style sheet option, such as most forums, I always go with "light on dark" over "dark on light" because I find it much easier on the eyes.

***

I think a darker background looks classier to me somehow, though I"m not sure exactly why.

One other point...I noticed that I wasn't able to find much info on the tweeds available. I'm not sure if I just didn't find the proper link or if ther is no link. You make it very simple to locate available tartans and I think available tweed options should be as easily accessed as well.