Blue Cavern

Hi there folkes... I have posted the third major rewrite of my smurfy website.. hope you like it.

The first page is mainly the same .. still cluttered with a few changes. Now I don't keep an area for customised smurfs only ... they have broken free and now infest any corner of the site they can... except the collections part. I will start using more of the regular smurfs where they fit too rather than just concerntrating on customiseds. The "inside front cover" page takes over from the pimp my smurf section. In time I hope to reduce the clutter on the title page by moving some links back there.

The travel page is a highlight.. still working on an USA, German and Scottish page.. as well as Italain page once I edit the Venice piccy and maybe work out what I'l doing with old verses new aka history verses tourist page...

Events calendar is very new and I'll have some xmas scenes, easter, valentines etc etc.. to make and post in time. Looking at the xmas competition scenes here I doubt if I could do anything as good as them though.

Smurfy scenes section is poised to disappear with some content being moved into other areas, but for now I have so many bits I'm working on I'll get around to it when I get some fresh ideas. I have been working every night for a couple of weeks and all last weekend so I've had no time for social life or making any new customised smurfs.

I have more work to do on the sports/weather page and odd spot page but you can see where I am heading with these.

The big problem is the movie reviews page.. I have merged the two concepts of the customised poster and the customised smurf but now its too big and at the bottom there are fifteen movies without reviews.. because I have run out of ideas here I have just left it as is and would welcome suggestions as to how I could arrange this... I could split the page into 3 or 4 and make thumbnails so they load quicker, but then we are talking about a further level of menuing. The site is getting rather big and complex already. So for now I have become stuck in the creative sence.. I want to do things that are different and exciting rather than what is conventional. Maybe movie reviewer smurf could present them all and segragate them by some method?

I know some of the customised smurfs aren't up there yet but they are on their way.

Anyway have a look and see what you think.. any feedback appreciated... I may get creative again after a break from it, but for now it's in a unfinished state.

Smurfy regards
Daryl

Well after posting this I guess I talked myself into splitting the movies page up.. so thats done now.. page 4 is very much the work in progress page. All the links work but I just have to work on that menu ...

Wonderful, I especially like "Around the World with the Smurfs"

Hi Daryl, I will have a nice cup of tea and go and check it out.

Hi Daryl, I will have a nice cup of tea and go and check it out.

I will do the same, except swap tea for Jack Daniels and coke

Hi Daryl, I will have a nice cup of tea and go and check it out.

Well i'll have a coffee and check it out

Well it looks like the microsoft IE browsers don't like client side image mapping and redirect you to server side instead hense if you are getting a login screen this will be it..... I'm going to have to see if google has some coding examples to help me otherwise I'm not sure how I'll fix that. both my work and home I use firefox browser which seems to allow client side imagmaps (and both work fine). I may have to wait till I get to work when I can find an IE machine to test things on.

I'm assuming this is why everything is quiet out there...

sorry

Hi Daryl, I have just had a really good look around with a nice cup of tea.

I love the new sections off the Feature Index showing your fab creations, all very cleverly done and I love that background with the blurry Smurf Weekly smurf. I think the way you are now incorperating the smurfs into features is great and very funny too.

I do find though that I am still getting a little lost once I have got into the site as I always have to use the back button to return to pages. This does mean that visiotrs might get a bit confused and miss out on some pages which would be a real shame.

Definitely improving though.

Hi Rachel

If I was to add menus to each page then its best to use frames. The webhost doesn't allow frame because they have that annoying advertising banner. The other way to add menus is to replicate the code on every html page. Over the last week I have added 89 new html pages in place of those previous 6. Personally I prefer the browsers back button as it uses my local cache.

The only thing I don't like about the intermediary menus (front section etc) is their cluttered, text intensive look. Yet I like the boring list approach even less. It needs character.. you see what I mean comparing the movie pages to page 4 (well you would do if you used any browser other than IE). Its a kin to making the smurf village into state housing. All regimental and looking the same.. it just wouldn't be smurf!

Currently the webhost wants money, so to allow IE clients to view the image mapped pages. I dont use IE and wasn't aware of the problem until I found someone who has it. I'm not sure if paying them will also get rid of the advertising banner and therefore allow frames or not. I have emailed them asking about this. If so, then I'll add it to see what people think, but personally I think its cluttered enough without adding navigation menus.

The hierarchical structure that I have put in place has them categorised by what they are doing (eg travel section, movies etc). This has ment that it has got three or four levels deep before you get to the money shot. I guess you have to ask is this a site for just seeing smurfs or putting them in context with a catagorisation, story and scene. I have started on non-customised smurfs for this too (eg Scottish smurf, cowboy/indian etc) for the next update. I have left pictures in many cases of the customised smurfs against both the scene (superimposed on a background) and the plain backgrounds so it showcases them better if others want to copy them. Just to think I haven't got all the content up there yet!!!!

cheers
Daryl

Well the good news is, the webhost has got back to me and by registering all my worries go away. Sounds good to me.. while I'm at it though, they have an offer for cheap domain name registration. I have had some ideas but maybe we could through it open to suggestions?

Rules are I can't have the word Smurf or schlumpf etc coz now that I'm getting serious about it all it would be a shame to be pinged by the big guys (I define big means anyone over 6 apples high).

Suggestion #1
"www.theweekinblue.com" ???

it would be a shame to be pinged by the big guys (I define big means anyone over 6 apples high).

Suggestion #1
"www.theweekinblue.com" ???

I like your name you suggested Daryl

Well after sleeping on the idea its grown on me, so this morning I paid for the hosting and registered the aforementioned domain name.

Now that the advertising has gone I'll write a menu with the title page, inside front cover, updates log (I'll have a go at a drop down menu linking to the latest editions) and site counter along the top. This means I can get rid of the updates log off the title page to reduce clutter. I should have some new pages to post over the weekend.

Cool websites Hfos and Raelene.. I spotted them on your above postings and took a peek. Very smurfy!

Thanks all
Daryl

Okay finally got that navigation menu up... the updates log has been moved off the main page and a few more bits added or moved. Sports stuff is up as is the remaining travel locations.. I took the history links off the travel page incase people got confused.

I've still gotta get the events calendar underway along with page 4 of the movie reviews and some items to update my collection page. I have spent too long away from making smurfs and its no fun, but am finally happy that I've got most of it done.

enjoy

Hi Daryl, looks great and so much easier to get around now. You have done a great job and I love the world atlas, fab idea.

Great choice of the new name too.

Thanks for that Rachel
Its been a long time in the making, nearly a month without a social life and with hardly any TV. Whats maddening about it is the further I go technically the worse the problems get. I have allowed for those who can't use frames and those with different browsers. but my original thing of keeping it simple has definately gone out the window. Basically now if you don't have a browser newer than 3-4 years old and a screen resolution less than 1024x738 then things are going to look pretty bad. Even IE when it first loads gives security complaints when it first encounters javascript and says it is blocking content etc.. its just the menu thats all. Its so frustrating getting this technical when all I want to do is show case my smurfs.

I still have some more work to do to remove all reference to schlumpf.netfirms from my code and replace it with theweekinblue and fix some spelling mistakes and then eventually the events calendar, movies page 4 etc etc but for the next few weeks I hope to distance myself from it and maybe make my last batch of customised smurfs that are sitting waiting to be made.

On the old system to make an update I simply added a picture and a caption to an existing html page and noted it in the updates log.

Now I make a seperate page for it.. no drama there. Link it to the site. This can be a major pain if its using the image maps and I have to recreate the entire map from scratch for each batch of updates. Then write the coordinates in the html file, and then again in the server side cgi-bin map file. If its not on the image map then it requires a small write up on one of the feature indexes. After that we add it to the updates log as per usual and then to the javascript menu. Makes it quite a hassle to make changes.

Word of advise to all those starting out on websites... keep it simple!!! This used to be a hobby and now its more of a chore. But still, I now have a sense of achievement and a site showcasing my newly found webdesign skills. I had added it to my CV back in April ... I guess thats why I haven't had many interviews. I guess they all think I'm a qwack!

better go

Hi Daryl, I am using IE and didn't encounter any problems.

Personally I don't like using frames as they I think they cause more problems than they solve but yours seem to be working fine for me.

I will certainly agree with you about website building being time consuming but I would also have to add it can also be very satisfying as well. Blue Imps is now approx 600 pages and on about version 17 and every big update means every page has to be altered. IMHO, I don't think a website is ever totally finished, especially with a hobby such as ours which is always expanding with new information becoming available, new releases, new discoveries, new creations, new stories etc. etc.


Keep up the good work.