Website Help(Sonicstef and anyone else...)

Ok here's the deal--
I have gotten the itch to redo our website--well basically start over in hopes of it becomming a baby site-- but need help in choosing the name--tired of really long web address so was thinking
www.ourlastnamefamily.com

What do you ladies think? I am completely open to suggestions

and also links of great sites that I can get ideas from would be great too!!!!

Stef--
I want to start a new site still using homestead but find the sitebuilder to be so limited-- How did you make your site look so great-- did you use another program and then just host it with homestead?
any suggestions would be great

I just use the Homestead sitebuilder. There are definitely limits to what you can do but as far I need it, i find it really useful.

What exactly do you want the pages to look like? If you can show me or explain it, I could walk you thru it.

Ok for starters thanks I really appreciate it-- I am starting to form some ideas--I love how your site is so simple yet so elegant
as for text- since they only give you limited fonts how did you do yours?

In order to do text other than the standard fonts, you have to create a .jpg or a .gif file with the fonts you want.

Other sitebuilders may let you use more fonts...but thats not necessarily a good thing b/c the only people who will be able to see the font the way you want them to see it are the ones you already have that font installed. So for example, if you type your main page in Font X and I dont have Font X installed on my pc, my web browser will convert the text into a standard font like arial. When that happens it looks all distorted and weird.

So thats the short explanation. Do you have any image editing programs like Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft PictureIt?

Ok so my guess was right on the fonts-- I really thought i was missing something in the software

Look at what I have done so far-- I would love feedback as this is a work in progressWymbs Family WebSite

Very cute.

The middle photo on the photo page does not display.

Just some suggestions:
-Limit your color palette. Right now I can see at least 4 colors you are using in addition to the very colorful block logo you have at top. Sticking with one background color that compliments the blocks and one text color that matches on of the colors in the blocks will give your site a more 'professional' look.
-Put your guest book in the navigation box where you have home, photos, etc.. Having it in that box at the bottom hides it as well as clutters the page.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the suggestions--
as for the guest book that is what I originally wanted by couldn't figure out what the link would be-- I didn't want to use one of the template logos so any help on that would be great
Colors-- I def see your point-- I actually dont like the side navigation color but had trouble fnding a shape I liked so I will keep looking
Background? should it be a softer color? or something like the new color I chose?
Do the pics take a while to load?
also was the links to the other albums confusing? i want to change that but that will take time to do them all-
So how do i pay you for all this
Thanks

As for the guest book that is what I originally wanted by couldn't figure out what the link would be.

To find the url for your guestbook, get to the page where you can enter a new post or look at old entries. Copy the url of that page and then create a link to that url in your navigation bar. Ive done the same thing on my site so you may be able to use it as a guide.

Colors-- I def see your point-- I actually dont like the side navigation color but had trouble fnding a shape I liked so I will keep looking

Why are you using a 'button' shape at all? I think it would be generallyl more appealing to look at your navigation all in one place. Like for example, when you click on photos to go to the photo page, maybe have another, smaller navigation list underneath the one you have. I find one on the side and one at top to be a little confusing. But again, that is just my opinion.


Background? should it be a softer color? or something like the new color I chose?

As you know, I am not adverse to bright colors. I just dont think the colors you have now 'match' your logo. So I would take a few of the colors you have in your logo and use those for the page instead of using entirely new colors.

Do the pics take a while to load?
It takes a little while but Im on a very fast connection right now so I cant speak for a dial up connection until I get home. The only way to resolve that is to optimize the images for web usage - you can do that using Photoshop or there are probably website that will do it for you for free. But I wouldnt worry about that until you are more settled on the design.


Was the links to the other albums confusing? i want to change that but that will take time to do them all.

I dont think its confusing as much as its a lot to look at. You may want to reorganize your albums into something more precise...but its not a big problem IMO.