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cussedness
Adept

Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 799

Posted 3/19/2007 7:17 PM (GMT -4)

My webmaster has decided to revamp my site and wanted me to look around for ideas on the net. Can people point me at some author sites they think are cool looking?

Janrae Frank
I have no skeletons in my closet, they are all hanging from the yardarm.

Once there were three brothers, Brandrahoon the vampire, Isranon called the Dawnhand, speaker to spirits, and Waejonan the Accursed, first of sa’necari. Isranon defied his brothers and was destroyed, his descendants forced into the darkness.

Blood Rites
www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook29989.htm
website
www.janraefrank.com
Darkzone
www.janraefrank.com/Vanilla.1.0.1/

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4607

Posted 3/19/2007 7:40 PM (GMT -4)

I like mine actually

http://sojourn.omnitech.net

Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!

Visit my art gallery on art wanted at
http://artwanted.com/crystalwizard

All my books in print:
http://sojourn.omnitech.net

cussedness
Adept

Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 799

Posted 3/19/2007 7:53 PM (GMT -4)

That is a beautiful site. I just suggested something similar to my webmaster. I like S. C. Bryce's site also.

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4607

Posted 3/19/2007 8:08 PM (GMT -4)

Thanks Janrae :)

cussedness
Adept

Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 799

Posted 3/19/2007 8:13 PM (GMT -4)

I think that one of the things that really needs to change about my website is that right now it is too text heavy on the first page. I like the way that both you and Bryce use visuals to point to other sections of the site. There is a quiet, visual calm that doesn't overload the reader, and actually seems to invite them inside.

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4607

Posted 3/19/2007 8:24 PM (GMT -4)

It is a little text heavy, but it might not be a problem if the text wasn't taking up so much of the page.

Let me ask you a question:

What is the primary reason you want people to visit your website?

Whatever that is, that's what your home page should focus on.

Mine... I'm trying to market my enter series.

Ray Bradbury however, http://www.raybradbury.com/ is marketing Ray Bradbury. He also uses pictures but does not focus only on his books.

Jim Hines has a nice site here: http://www.sff.net/people/jchines/

And Terry Pratchett has yet another idea, also an interesting site
http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/

cussedness
Adept

Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 799

Posted 3/20/2007 4:05 PM (GMT -4)

I showed them all to Phil this morning and he liked some of the ideas and (his ego is showing) said he could do better. Well, we'll see.

SC Bryce
Aspiring Hammock Tester

Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 1089

Posted 3/23/2007 5:50 PM (GMT -4)

Thanks! It took a long, long time to come to a format that I was really comfortable with, especially since I had no design experience was doing everything myself. I think I tinkered with it for a year. I think most of the sites I looked at were either too slickly professional for my taste (basically the big authors) or looked like they'd been done in the basement. I wanted something that didn't look like the latter, but that I could maintain myself too.

SC Bryce

www.SCBryce.com

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4607

Posted 3/23/2007 6:22 PM (GMT -4)

Well you did a very nice job on it :)

Firlefanz
Sage

Date Joined Mar 2007
Total Posts : 1143

Posted 3/26/2007 5:08 AM (GMT -4)

Even as a newie, I'd like to pitch in with a few cents. ;)

I prefer lightly colored sites with dark text to dark sites with white or light text. That's because I tend to get some glare from the window and dark sites get near unreadable at most times of the day.

In addition, I love clean sites, with few graphics, very clear navigation (preferably on one side or the top only), and a logical structure.

Well, just my humble opinion, of course. :)

- Call me Firle.

Hannah Steenbock

Mystical Adventures
Beyond Horizons

cussedness
Adept

Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 799

Posted 3/26/2007 12:30 PM (GMT -4)

Very good points. Thank you, I'll pass them along to Phil.

Daniel Arenson
Neophyte

Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 80

Posted 5/8/2007 9:20 PM (GMT -4)

I like your website the way it is, but I know where you're coming from -- I like to completely redo mine every six months or so.

Daniel
"Discover a world at the edge of imagination..."
Firefly Island, a fantasy novel
www.DanielArenson.com

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