PolurNET getting a new look?!
Indeed, the rumors are true. We’re in progress of updating our website appearance, however, most elements and layouts will stay the same. The new look is intended to utilize a more ‘professional, yet simple’ approach, while keeping in line with our existing award-winning unique design. For example, the colors, header, homepage and navigational menus are all slated for substantial changes, but the pages themselves will still be ‘fluid’/'autostretch’ format, a feature appreciated by many.
Here’s a sneak preview of what we have cooking (NOTE: the actual final version will be different than what is shown here):
Click here to visit our BETAlabs Website > PolurNET.com v4
Let us know what you think!
July 28th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Looks “simple” - In fact I think I prefer your “old” site. In fact, I mostly like the old colours and the header, but one gets used to new things quickly.
Maybe I shall just wait and see when it is ready…
July 28th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Hey chelsea,
Thanks for your comment
Actually, we are trying to move towards simplicty, some visitors remarked the page to be too “busy” and “multicolored”.
Here’s a newer preview of the upcoming site, it has many changes compared to the screenshot:
http://www.designfission.com/polurnet/
Let us know what you think
August 27th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
IMO your current design is better. The new one needs more contrast with dark blue and gray, and even black. It also needs rollover effects… images… javascript, and a cool flash thing at the top
September 10th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
I think I agree with .mpr… the appearance is kinda ‘flat’, and I have trouble reading the white links on the pale background.
Don’t like the cartoon bear, and I miss the ‘authority’ implied by the hardware at the current/old site.
When you start scrolling, it becomes difficult to determine where the left column ‘LEARN MORE’ bar is supposed to represent… the info above it or below it. Maybe put the ‘LEARN MORE’ link by itself (a graphic button?), then a thinner bar directly below it - to contain each section. It’s also not consistent with the right column ‘MORE DETAILS’ links.
I don’t think you need multiple (or any, for that matter) instances of the ” Go to More News | Discussion Forum | Customer Central | Network Status ” bar in between content in the main section.
I’d add a small graphic to each of the package sections near the title, to separate/define the packages better. .. kinda like the little icons that are shown in the left column for those different categories.
The header snowflakes look like stars.
IMO, the left column should appear more similar to the right column in setup/structure. What’s up with the alignment?
September 10th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
alignment??
September 10th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Hey Michael,
As usual, thank you for your really accurate comments! In fact, those were things I noticed myself, but the original deisgner who we hired was too arrogant to comply… sigh… I will have to take it up the project from now on anyway since we fired him, so the final version will look different and more improved from what you see today.
To address some points:
1) The fonts, navbar font color especially, and text, are only place holders now. They will most definitely be changed considerably, including making them appear with more contrast, a more \”aqua\” look, and slightly bigger sizes to be able to see more clearly, like we have on our current site
2) Well, personally, I don\’t find anything wrong with the bear, he is the same used for the current site, and can easily dressed up for different occaisions. The logo/header part is different to gear towards simplicity; we want to reduce the graphics in favor of a streamlined look (although, the page is still graphic intensive).
I will however, see if I can bring back the mini line of icons below the PolurNET name that describe our features in a nutshell, like we have on our current site\’s logo
3) I definitely agree with that part. I am thinking of changing the box colors for each section, so that it appears like our original site, each subject box is within its own defined area and separated with a different background shade more clearly. This would then make the learn more buttons together with the section it should be representing.
4) The quick links should only be shown once, like our current site, but the deisgner put filler text as you can see. On the other hand, the right column was designed to be separate, thus it would be too hard to align both left and right buttons, with a fluid layout that varies on different browser resolutions.
5) Agree, I also was thinking of package images, perhaps smaller and more appealing than our current site\\\’s.
6) LOL, yep on closer inspection the snowflakes are messed up, I\’ll attempt to fix that too, I have really nice ones available that I made for the current site
7) As for alignment, didn\’t really strike me before, but that is a great point. I\’ll see that is consistant by the next BETAlabs release
Keep the feedback coming, really appreciate it! ^_^ Stay tuned for BETAlabs\’ v4.1 of the site really soon!
September 11th, 2006 at 7:36 am
“Well, personally, I don’t find anything wrong with the bear, he is the same used for the current site”
Except in the Forum area
I like that ‘ol bear there.
Maybe with the snowflakes you could mix in some l’s and 0’s or some other clever code stuff. The swoops in the header could be made to look more like northern lights - especially with a flash (or other animated) graphic… then you could have slowly falling snowcode too. Challenging to make it work with variable % windows, but possible with planning if it’s split into pieces (like I could just whip it out in a couple minutes!!…not!).
No matter what, the best thing about the website is feeding plan choices to potential customers and maintaining support links for existing. Thanks for the continued great service.