Newly designed site - two technical issues

I’m about to go live with a re-designed site, but there are two issues I would like to get sorted out.

First - on this page http://www.jazzandsalsa.co.uk/jazz_and_salsa_test/corporate-events-entertainment.html in mobile view when one clicks on the video thumbnails the selected video plays ok but you have to scroll to the top of the page to see it. So initially it seems as if the video is playing sound but not video. This is set up by having the Joe Workman YouTube video stack inside Expose.

Second - I’m using both the Doobox Montage and Montage 2 stacks. Montage 2 is easier to use than Montage, but in both versions I have formatted the text to be centred - Montage does this fine, but Montage 2 doesn’t follow the CSS of the site with either the centring or the font. I made a query with Doobox but all I got was an automated reply. Nothing else so far. The Montage 2 stack is used on the corporate entertainments page given above. Here is a page with the earlier version of Montage http://www.jazzandsalsa.co.uk/jazz_and_salsa_test/latin.html.

Lastly I would invite any other constructive criticism about the rest of the site. The theme is the BLT Reservations Theme with some alterations by Rob Beattie.

Many thanks in advance

I’ve sorted the Expose/Youtube issue myself! So I just need a solution to the Montage captions plus anything anyone notices.

Sorry, I don’t have any answers but I like your site – and I don’t even like jazz or salsa!

Try this CSS in the global or page level CSS containers:

.justified-gallery>a>.doocaption, .justified-gallery>div>.doocaption {
    font-family: inherit !important;
    text-align: center !important;
}

Site is okay, but in my opinion it’s screaming out for:

(a) Much better font selections ( Eg a well selected Googlefont).
(b) The bordered areas cheapen the look. I think styled text headers would look much better than ‘boxes’. Consider using a nice texture to lay the headers and text onto to improve depth and atmosphere.
© The big red edge to edge border is obtrusive I played around with moving it down lower and it looked MUCH better IMHO.

Good luck.

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  1. Thanks very much Kryten. The CSS you gave sorted the titles in the thumnails but not in the Lightbox view. Any idea how I sort that?
  2. Re: Googlefonts. I have absolutely no visual style in my body! I’ve had a look at Googlefonts but one looks as good to me as another. If you’ve got a suggestion I’d be grateful.
  3. I’ll play around with your suggestions for the bordered boxes. I see what you mean.
  4. How do I move the red edge to edge border up and down?

Best wishes

Ok I’ve changed the bordered areas to have a background. Do you think that looks better? Btw not only do I have no visual style I am also colour blind!

http://www.jazzandsalsa.co.uk/jazz_and_salsa_test/corporate-events-entertainment.html

Excuses wont cut it with tough clients, Jan :wink:

To fix the issues with the lightbox text on the page you referenced, try adding this CSS to the CSS container box for that page:-

.stacks_in_7605_page13sl-wrapper.stacks_in_7605_page13simple-lightbox {
    font-family: Tahoma;
    text-align: center;
    font-size: 1em;
    text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #ccc;
}

I’ll take another look at the site re: the backgrounds.

Also consider adding ( to global CSS container ):–

#topHeader .apdiv {
    opacity: 0.1 !important;
}

#topHeader {
border: none !important;
}
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You’re right about the clients Kryten. Especially the brides from hell - of whom I’ve met a few!

So I’ve added those two bits of CSS. The text in the lightbox is great now. The red banner has now disappeared. Personally I don’t mind either way - but I’ll run it by some of the other band members and see what they say. I’m more than willing to accept that it’s better without it.

Look forward to what you have to say about the font and the text backgrounds.

Best wishes, Jan

Hi,

I would consider using something like Chivo from Google Fonts for the body texts. Don’t be afraid to increase the size of the text a little bit too.

The opacity CSS for the banner was just to get you started with experimentation with that value. You don’t have to make it invisible, just set it up so that we can see the faces of the people in the image. That band could be moved up or down to suit. As a matter of personal taste I don’t like using bands like that where there are humans in the image… its not natural to show an image of a smiling woman then slap a dirty great band of unnecessary text across her face. Let the image do the talking and find a better place to inject your h1 thats more tasteful. Just my $00.02 of course.

Regarding backgrounds… I think you might benefit from experimentation with some nice textures… plain white, on a site like that puts you, as the designer at risk of being criticised for a lack of creativity. Take a look at this site:

http://miserenatatango.com/

I did not make that site.

Soak up the details… font selections, textures, use of colour, shadowing … its engaging, attractive and imparts something of the heat of the subject matter.

… Now re-read the quote on your home page “Oozing with Cuban Charisma…”. Then you chose small dark plain text on a plain white background? See my point…? Don’t mean to be be horrid or anything… I just know that you can go back to it, take a fresh look re-do it then blow the client away.

Good luck.

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Hi Kryten, thanks for all your suggestions.

I’ve tried changing the font to Lato, which was available in the Theme. It seemed close to Chivo to my eyes. I applied this to the content and the headings, and I increased the point size from 12 to 13. Tell me what you think.

Also I’ve played around with the CSS for the red stripe. The first command changes the opacity? If I change it to about 0.35 it looks better. But I agree with you that it might be better if the stripe and the slogan text were all moved down, but the second command just seems to eliminate an upper border.

The rest of your suggestions I am still contemplating. Best wishes, Jan

Hi Jan,

The typography on the site is not how I imagined I was suggesting it. The banner stripe is literally cutting through the drummers eyes and actually separating the singers hand from the microphone she is holding. To then say that you think it might be better moved down forces me to concede defeat in my efforts to entice you into a more connected approach to the design.

Good luck finishing the site.

Hi Kryten,

Regarding the typography. Can you clarify how you imagined it?

Regarding the banner stripe - what I mean is that I’m sure you’re right! It’s just that I have no idea how to move the banner down to see what it looks like! The css you suggested for the banner just seems to make the border between the slogan text and the top of the stripe smaller - which looks rather odd. It didn’t seem to move the stripe or the text downwards - which I assume was what you were intending.

Best wishes, Jan

Hi Kryten,

I think that there may be a misunderstanding here. I’m not a website designer. I own the company that this site is for, and I have been building the content only. I did pay someone to do the basic design. I have never attempted to design a website! I’m very appreciative of your help and suggestions - which I am sure are correct - the problem is that I don’t know how to implement them!

Regarding the typography. Can you clarify how you imagined it?

Regarding the banner stripe - what I mean is that I’m sure you’re right! It’s just that I have no idea how to move the banner down to see what it looks like! The css you suggested for the banner just seems to make the border between the slogan text and the top of the stripe smaller - which looks rather odd. It didn’t seem to move the stripe or the text downwards - which I assume was what you were intending.

NB Rather than going back and forth like this - if as I assume you are a professional website designer you feel that you could make good improvements to this site then I would willingly pay you for that. Otherwise I am just going to be wrestling with these things when I would rather work at what I’m good at which is music.

Best wishes, Jan

Hi Jan,

Pay no attention to me comrade… I just sometime like to try to get people thinking about things differently and I really don’t mean for it to come off as rude or disrespectful. I suppose its just that I was taught to be savage when looking at myself and I don’t say I like something when I don’t.

My chief interest here is to get you up and running with a RW project/design which you can be proud of and results in a powerful business tool. I’ll send you an IM :slightly_smiling:

Cheers,

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