Here is my first attempt at a website using a CMS. My hosting provider made it easy to try several open-source CMS applications with automated script installations and I found Drupal to be the easiest to use for my learning style. I also compared it to other applications using one of the matrix sites and Drupal had what I wanted.
I do not know php or how to modify a CSS so I am sticking with modules, themes, and snippets available from the community.
I would welcome all comments and criticisms, especially those pertaining to the menu structure and site navigation.
I haven't taken the time to install views or CCK and from what I am reading they would help to improve the layout of the site. Thank you for taking a look.
Here is a link: http://oneidalakeview.com/
The webcam is in the eastern standard time zone of the United States (GMT-05:00) and is currently only operating during daylight hours.
By OneidaLakeView on
Comments
Light blue text is a bit too light and, well, blue.
The light blue text washes out on LCD. When a similar blue is used on other sites, including drupal.org, it is only for links and is made stronger.
The light blue text is used both for links within your site and links to external sites. There should be more separation so we know what is unique to your site and what is just a googletrap.
Also validate. HTML and CSS techniques and tools.There is not much to fix on your home page and you may have to feed stuff back to module or theme developers, but it is worth it. You could be using a combination of modules and theme that nobody else is using and that could highlight incompatibilities that are easily fixed by the developers.
For international visitors, I suggest the maps page, or the home page, have a general map of the country with your location on it. There are maps at http://openclipart.org/media/tags/map and you can modify them with http://inkscape.org/.
petermoulding.com/web_architect
petermoulding.com/web_architect
Blue
Thank you for the comments. The blue text could be stronger when viewing on a CRT as well. I just tried several different blues and none seems dark enough. I will have to learn how to make them stronger.
As for the "googletraps" - Google encourages their publishers to create ads that blend in with their sites as long as they are clearly marked as google ads and not in violation of their terms of service; and they make it extremely easy to do so. I think that they are useful to the site visitors and so far I am pleased with the service.
I looked at the HTML & CSS link and will need to block out some time to read through it.
I like the map idea and downloaded an appropriate svg image. It seems obvious now, but I hadn't considered that people would not know where Oneida Lake, NY was. I hadn't used svg's before so I did a quick search. It seems that IE will not display the svg without a plugin so I am waiting to do a little more research.
I apologize to anyone who visited the site this morning; the ISP where the cam image is uploaded was down but is back up now.
Drupal Oneida Lake Webcam Site
http://oneidalakeview.com/
Export PNG
You can edit the SVG then export at a fixed size to PNG. You keep the modified SVG on file because you can resize it to anything you like, add bits, change colours, merge in SVGs of wildlife.
petermoulding.com/web_architect
petermoulding.com/web_architect
PNG
Peter,
I've created a map using your links: http://openclipart.org/media/tags/map and http://inkscape.org/
The map appears on the About Us page http://oneidalakeview.com/about which is promoted to the front page. Thank you.
Drupal Oneida Lake Webcam Site
http://oneidalakeview.com/