Benchmark Reviews 2.0

[Olin Coles]

Benchmark Reviews will soon release our 2.0 version of the website (if anyone is counting). A sneak peek is available at: Benchmark Reviews 2.0 (http://demo.benchmarkreviews.com/)

http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/M_images/Benchmark_Reviews_2_Logo.png

Keep in mind that this is an 'alpha' release of the site, and that most (if not all) of the layout will be changed. I am currently looking for improved menu components, and need to do more work on the logo.

Possible launch dates are early 2010. Your suggestions, offers to help, and feedback are welcome.

[Steven Iglesias-Hearst]

Do you have a design breif for the logo or is it pretty much flexible?

I would very much like to help where I can but my HTML skills are basic.

[RagingShadow07]

This is a bit of a small suggestion, but I'd definitely make the search bar on the top right stand out a bit more. It looks like it would be pretty easy to overlook if you're skimming over the site.

Other than that, I love the looks of the new design!

[Olin Coles]

I'll see what I can do with the search section, and thank you for the suggestion.

The logo is limited to 78px tall, but 360px wide. I welcome all submissions, but please keep original PSD files (or similar).

[Olle P]

I agree about the search bar. Now since I knew what to look for I was able to find it, but it's very low visibility and not directly indicated to be a search bar.

The width adjustment adds a nice touch. I'm still a bit undecided about the implementation though.
Instead of just changing the width of the main column, why not implement two alternate designs to be used with wide screen and narrow screen respectively.
The main column is easier to read if it's relatively narrow, but on a wide screen you can fit more supplemental info into side columns rather than having it on the top or bottom of the page.

Cheers
Olle

[Olin Coles]

Search bar has been 'fixed'. It still has issues though, because it's supposed to have the word "search' actually inside the bar. I'll be adding that to the list of bugs.

[RagingShadow07]

Definitely more noticeable now, but what's with the characters above the search bar?

[Olin Coles]

Definitely more noticeable now, but what's with the characters above the search bar?

Those are for the layout: full-width, wide or narrow. There are also font-size buttons.

[Olin Coles]

I've discovered a great suckerfish-style vertical (main) menu for the new site, but unfortunately it requires a CSS master. Anyone out there fit this description?

[Olle P]

I've discovered a great suckerfish-style vertical (main) menu for the new site, ...I, personally, find those very annoying where used!
I prefer vanilla links and lists that stick to the same relative place on the page.

Cheers
Olle

[Olin Coles]

I, personally, find those very annoying where used!
I prefer vanilla links and lists that stick to the same relative place on the page.

To be fair Olle, you're impossible to please. :rolleyes:

What I'm trying to do, or rather, the reason I'm looking to use the expanding Suckerfish menu, is because the featured review section has two-dozen sub-sections. We expose most of them on our current menu, but I don't want to do it that way this time around. What I want to do is have it expand-out on a hover-over and show all of the sub-sections.

[Nate Swetland]

Ugh, it's been a while since I have touched CSS... I don't know how helpful I would be.

It seems like the page content starts low on the page... I am not such a big fan of how big that grey box is with the Latest Featured Content and Industry News is... it seems like it takes up half the height of the page. I wonder how they would look off to one side?

Just my input.. I like the changing header logo, though.

[Servando Silva]

I share Nate´s opinion on the Latest Featured and Industry news box. It takes half of the page already and I´m using 24" inches monitor (1200p vertical).
Having this reduced or maybe on one side could be better.
The new logo looks great IMO.

[Olin Coles]

I'm at a crossroads with the new website. Here are my three biggest concerns:

There's no migration from Joomla 1.15 to version 1.5x, and so established URL's will be broken by a move (to either a sub-domain or sub-directory) into the new CMS.
The Joomla 1.5x CMS we're developing with already has a replacement (Joomla 1.6) that's in alpha and moving into beta very soon. A stable version of Joomla 1.6 is expected around April 2010.
Moving into a new CMS requires re-training of personnel, and there's a dramatic difference between 1.x and 1.5x. There's also a significant difference between 1.5 and 1.6.After much tweaking of the 2.0 template CSS, I've come to the realization that I don't particularly care for Joomla 1.5 and it's lack of native functionality (most of which was present in 1.x). Sure, it will work and add some functionality in other areas, but Joomla 1.6 is only 3-5 months away and does much more.

At this point, I'm looking for reasons from staff and visitors to move now or wait for the change.

[Daryl Greene]

My 2 cents.....
If you think that 1.6 will give you what you want in the long run, and moving now will require retraining twice to move to 1.6 later, WAIT.

[Servando Silva]

I think there´s nothing to be hurry , so patience and working in the best upgrade should be always a priority. It think a better change in some months is better than a hurried change with those problems, and BmR is always prepared to challenge everything in a good-ordered way.

Regards.

[Hank Tolman]

I agree with waiting. If you are not happy with 1.5, there is certainly no reason to start using it. Might as well fight the beast we already know then to learn a new one that we won't even be proficient at before moving again to another one. If you were happy with 1.5 and liked the product, I would say move, and move again to 1.6 at a later date. In this case, however, I would suggest waiting.

Hank

[RagingShadow07]

It's not like the site's not functioning well as it is. Everyone's familiar with everything by now, I'm sure. No sense in upgrading twice.