Redesign of Early Christian Writings

[Peter Kirby]

Hello all,

I have been working on a redesign of my Early Christian Writings (and Early Jewish Writings) website. I want to make it look more attractive, have better features, and provide more useful content.

I have made several changes to the template for the redesign of my site, and I now am showing the new mockup (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/jan9demo/) for a normal document page. Instead of commenting on the changes I made, I would rather have people visit the mockup page and ask the questions, "Do I know what this thing does? Is it done in the most comprehensible and aesthetic way?" Also, ask yourself how you might do certain tasks and what kind of behavior you expect. For example, there is now just a textbox and a button called "Search" at the top of the page. What exactly do you think should happen when executing the search?

I greatly appreciate your feedback.

best,
Peter Kirby

[Garnet]

Wow...new website looks great and I like the way it has been reorganized. The dropdown menus at the top make things much easier to find. I poked around quite a bit. Looks like all the bells and whistles are working. The only problem I have is that the text in the At a Glance box is just too small for me to read comfortably. Of course the fact that I need new glasses has nothing to do with that! :Cheeky:

[ConsequentAtheist]

First and foremost, great job.

Given the above:
It took me a while before I noticed the drop-down menus.
I would use the menu font in your 'At a Glance' box
I would try to find a less obtrusive background color for the box, and
I would recommend against right justification.

[Toto]

I like the plain text version, but I seem to be out of the mainstream.

I do like the navigation bar.

Just one irksome design detail - that cockeyed cross. Is it meant to be artsy? irreverent? just an indication that this is not a standard Christian site?

[RED DAVE]

Nice and clear, Peter. Congrats. My only quibble is the time line at the top gives the impression that this page is about Matthew.

RED DAVE

[Peter Kirby]

Actually, other people have also said that they prefer a non-graphical webpage. Even so, the pages that have been up for years now are not designed around any principle except ease of coding (I started out coding it by hand with just your basic h2, p, blockquote type tags). I could take a stab at a non-graphical design, though, along the lines of my ChristianOrigins.com (http://www.christianorigins.com/) web site, which uses styling to make an attractive layout, though without images. (If I find that there is demand for both types of look, I could choose a fast-loading one as the default and then allow the visitor to choose another template/skin if desired.)

One other person has also said that they didn't find the drop-down menu easily. I have asked Andy to touch up the graphic so that the five keyphrases (New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics, Church Fathers, Other) look like buttons.

For the "At a Glance" box, I'd like to know whether it's helpful and what should go in it. I agree that the text inside should be more clear, the background less contrasting. Instead of left or right justification, it should probably look more like a table (all of the labels left-aligned, and then all of the answers, like 'Greek' or '3' with the same left alignment).

As for the slightly tilted cross, it is not meant to be artsy, irreverent, or make a statement. I thought it just looked better, and Andy agreed (I also looked at it standing straight first). What do the people here think?

I definitely need to redo the chronological thing; it's not completely obvious what it does and it makes the page look busy. Any suggestions for how to incorporate the chronological type of navigation?

best,
Peter Kirby

[ConsequentAtheist]

I appreciate having the menu 'buttons' restyled.
I also think tha you might be better off just losing the At-a-Glance box. If not, your comments on table formatting seem just right.

Consider slightly more whitespace above Gospel of Matthew.

Why the short and long vertical? To what is the top of the long vertical 'nailed', and why are these 'nailes' so much closer to the end of the board than those immediately above? Finally, why 2 pairs of two, but only 1 at the top? (Sorry, I'm a bit anal ...) If you haven't done so already, consider a single vertical.

Finally, particularly if you get rid of the At-a-Glance box, you might want to switch from a greyscale background to a very pale beige (parchment?).

[Sauron]

Hello all,

I have been working on a redesign of my Early Christian Writings (and Early Jewish Writings) website. I want to make it look more attractive, have better features, and provide more useful content.

I have made several changes to the template for the redesign of my site, and I now am showing the new mockup (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/jan9demo/) for a normal document page. Instead of commenting on the changes I made, I would rather have people visit the mockup page and ask the questions, "Do I know what this thing does? Is it done in the most comprehensible and aesthetic way?" Also, ask yourself how you might do certain tasks and what kind of behavior you expect. For example, there is now just a textbox and a button called "Search" at the top of the page. What exactly do you think should happen when executing the search?

I greatly appreciate your feedback.

best,
Peter Kirby


First of all Peter, just a word of thanks for all you do around here to make research easy on us. You're a real treasure.

Second, I like the new format. It's quite usable and aesthetically appealing.

Third - a question: you offer the Early Christian Writings material on cdrom. Will this restructuring of the website include new materials? Enough to purchase an updated version of the cdrom? It's certainly not a problem, if that's the case; it's a bargain, no matter how you look at it.

Again, wonderful work.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I like the new colors. I really like the drop downs and I like the idea of a chronological navigator but I think you need to make it a little more clear what it does.

I like the idea and the content of the at a glance box it just needs to be made a little easier to read.

Other than that, no complaints, execellent work and much thanks for providing such a bloody useful website.

[Peter Kirby]

I have made another redesign of the template. I have incorporated some suggestions, and I intend to incorporate others (e.g. stylized buttons for the dropdown menu). Don't be afraid to repeat comments already made.

Here is the new design (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/jan13demo/).

best,
Peter Kirby

[Peter Kirby]

Also, I noted several people didn't like the graphical frame (or stone background). What would be an alternative?

best,
Peter Kirby

[Garnet]

Also, I noted several people didn't like the graphical frame (or stone background). What would be an alternative?

best,
Peter Kirby


Well, my only complaint has been handled. I can read the at a glance box. And I like the frame. *puts up her dukes to anyone that says otherwise*

[RED DAVE]

On my screen, the "E" in "Early Christian Writings" is partially chopped off. Also, I still think that the title "Book of Matthew" is too prominent.

RED DAVE

[Peter Kirby]

Hi Red Dave,

I'm guessing that your screen resolution and/or browser width is small, such as 640x480. Statistics today are that those with a 640x480 screen are about 2% of Internet users and dropping. Increasing browser width (and screen size) at least to 800x600 would let one view a lot of sites better. (Including IIDB.)

Also, this web page is about the Gospel of Matthew. There will be 155 other pages that are about those texts. And there will be a homepage that will, of course, not have the name of a particular document in large print at the top.

Lastly, I am truly interested in any ideas for another look (with similar functionality), given that there have been half a dozen requests for a less graphic-heavy design like the one linked above.

best,
Peter Kirby

[Sensei Meela]

I'm not really sure what the ratings in the "At a Glance" are telling me [eg. "(3) ***" out of, what, 5? 10? 100?]. Perhaps that could be cleared up [I see there will probably be some sort of explanatory page linked to it in the future; but maybe a (3/10) or something for quicker reference]. You can probably tell I'm reaching for something to 'fault.' :p

[IOW, bang-up job, mate!]

[gurugeorge]

Very nice. One little aesthetic comment, I don't like the Crucifix to the right of the title, it's a bit naff. Either have nothing or have some image taken from a genuine old cross of the time, perhaps something that would have been tooled on the cover of a contemporary codex.

[TerryDucDaul]

Peter Kirby,

The site looks very nice and appears to have some very good potential as a well-used reference and info site. Good job! Kudos!

Terry

[Ted Hoffman]

Thanks from me too for your contribution to humanity wrt research on Christianity.

As someone in the third world, where bandwidth can be an issue, I suggest you remove the background image (the brick wall) and instead use a background colour of your choice: the image takes time to load and we already have quite a number of images in the page. (I have this problem with Ebla - which I can only surf comfortably over the weekends when traffic is low)

Whats that (evolve)fish doing at the lower left hand corner of the wooden frame?