Foo - A Foo Poll

Is the new gray/silver gradient bar at the top of the page on my website velobase.com too dark to easily read the links in that area?

Link: VeloBase.com (http://velobase.com/Default.aspx)

Original Img: http://velobase.com/PageImgs/GrayBar40.jpg << the area that looks like this with links in it to other parts of the website.

wohooo! I finally got the first vote in a poll!

Sorry, but yea its too dark IMO. Lighten the whole gradient up a couple notches and I think you would be ok.

Looks good to me!

I like it!! :)

i think it is too dark, now where is my pie and what does this have to do with foo?

I don't even know what you're talking about.

(I voted pie just so I didn't have to keep clicking on 'view results' to see the current tally).

I have a pair of flat panels here at the office and the bar looks a tad on the dark side compared to what was there before (solid color "silver") but wasn't sure how it looked on other monitors, thus the Foo Poll! :) I'll wait to see how the results go tonight before playing with other versions. I also added the blue gradient on the left hand side today to highlight that section a bit more, and changed the font on the website to a san-serif type to improve readability.

teh cypress, click on his link to velobase and look at the bar on the top of the page. dang.

teh cypress, click on his link to velobase and look at the bar on the top of the page. dang.

Still lost.

just shoot yourself then.

Consider it done.

you should have just voted pie and stayed quiet

Who uses that bar anyway? This is the first time I've looked at it with any sort of critical eye.

hmpf.

Is the new gray/silver gradient bar at the top of this page too dark to easily read the links in that area?

It's fine, but the links are way too vertically tight to use on a subcompact PC, Mobile PC or iPhone. I would suggest making them larger in height and the BF link smaller. That would help tremendously.

Sorry if I didn't make it more clear, I meant the gradient bar on my website velobase.com (link now BOLD in original post.) :o

Your initial question doesn't imbed the link so Cypress, among others like me, don't follow. So I voted pie.

Edit: this format for the question would be clearer (this as the link)
Is the new gray/silver gradient bar at the top of this page too dark to easily read the links in that area?

Is the new gray/silver gradient bar at the top of the page too dark to easily read the links in that area?

FYI, it's not immediately obvious that you're talking about the top of a page outside of bikeforums.net.

Its hard to read the blue text on it

:o :o :fight: Added additional clearification to the OP. This is what I get for trying to make a Foo-ish initial post with as few words as possible. :o

we like words

I voted for everything

I'd like to change my original vote from "No", "Pie", and "What does this have to do with Foo?" to "Yes".

Sorry if I didn't make it more clear, I meant the gradient bar on my website velobase.com (link now BOLD in original post.) :o*oops*
Like I stated in a post quite awhile ago, this is going to be a very good site. You can't even read that blue lettering, though. Make it simpler...lose all the gradients and make the lettering some color like dark blue or dark red on a white background if you are going to stick with the white theme. Again, nice work on the site...

and just to screw with everyone....


I changed it! (lightened it considerably, you sould now be able to read the "Velobase Home | Brand Directory | MyBase | Help | Contact Us" much better now, though I will likely set the font in that area to bold to help as well. I changed the font to an Arial type font today which blends into similar colored backgrounds much more. Not sure if I'm going to keep that way or not.

changed what?

Perfect color contrast!

Sorry, but yea its too dark IMO. Lighten the whole gradient up a couple notches and I think you would be ok.

+1

and just to screw with everyone....


I changed it! (lightened it considerably, you sould now be able to read the "Velobase Home | Brand Directory | MyBase | Help | Contact Us" much better now, though I will likely set the font in that area to bold to help as well. I changed the font to an Arial type font today which blends into similar colored backgrounds much more. Not sure if I'm going to keep that way or not.
Why not change the blue type to black (like Arial Black)...far more legible

I also added the blue gradient on the left hand side today to highlight that section a bit more

I like the "header" links background, but not the left side. That should be lighter in my opinion. You want it to stand out, yes, but the background color is too close to the color of the links. To make it stand out more, you could put a single line to separate that part of the page from the rest (I would still lighten the background in addition to this):

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t11/jaiden92/Untitled-1.jpg

nice, but isn't the whole page kinda Web 1.0?

nice, but isn't the whole page kinda Web 1.0?

I've been focusing more on functionality than visual. The site is built in ASP.NET 2.0 with a SQL 2005 back end. No flash or other nonsense.

I like the "header" links background, but not the left side. That should be lighter in my opinion. You want it to stand out, yes, but the background color is too close to the color of the links. To make it stand out more, you could put a single line to separate that part of the page from the rest (I would still lighten the background in addition to this):

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t11/jaiden92/Untitled-1.jpg

I tried a black line (though slightly wider than your example), but because so many of the other pages on the site have a lot of tables with borders (for example the Brand Directory (http://velobase.com/BrandDirectory.aspx)) that the line in the side bar didn't look right to me.

I've switched the link color from blue to darkblue and made the header links bold to help them stand out. I'm now concerned that the darkblue looks too much like black of the normal text. I haven't decided quite yet. But enough messing with the website tonight. My laptop really needs more RAM before I can really do too much work in visual studio 2005 on it. It runs so very slow.