Vex Magazine

VEX V5 General Discussion General Forum
61

That link to that thread was started by us around a week or two ago. Basicxman just started this thread to get the writters and other contributers organized.

62

that thread was asking the people at Vexlabs to start a magazine but i though we’re the hobbyists and are always inventing robots so why not, we start the magazine? anyway i posted on that previous thread and then started this thread

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YES!!! You can now visit the Vex Magazine at TheVexMagazine.com
. Tell me if I need to add anything (I will need to add lots of stuff including more pictures.) so if you have any, email me at [email protected]. It should work fine with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox but I haven’t tried other browsers yet so tell me if there are any bugs.
Email me your articles and I’ll put them up!

I think that’s it.:slight_smile:

Jeff.

64

Good job so far, on the website.

65

I have several comments and suggestions on the website. Please don’t look at these like attacks, just some constructive criticism:

  1. The menu needs some work; I would suggest making the buttons smaller, making them all the same width, and adding a background color. Right now they just aren’t that friendly on the eyes. They also appear differently in IE and firefox (don’t know why, you may want to redo your css)

  2. Resize the images so they don’t take forever to show up! It is very good practice to resize the image with some image editor and then use that as a link to a larger picture or page (I’m of course referring to the thumbnail on the main page)

  3. The whole thing is a little wide (too big even for the most common resolution 1024x768!). You may want to shrink the menu and organize the main content better. Also, the main content looks a little weird with a sudden white background…

just a few things you may want to consider. I am no ‘expert’ on websites, but I have done a few and now know a little more about them.

66

Yea, I know it has some problems and I will try to get them fixed. (You should have seen the buttons before. In internet explorer they were on top of each other and all over the page. Took forever to fix it. Anyway, I’ll make them smaller, the sidebar too.) I will add a background to the buttons as soon as I make one. (still trying to figure out what to do for that.) I decided for now it was easier just to make them see-through so they still have the brushed metal appearance.

I fixed the pic on front page. I just noticed that it doesn’t fit because my resolution is 1600x1400 or something so everything is smaller.

All pages fit horizontally now without scrolling so that is fixed too (made my division too wide.) I added a silver border to the edges of the white, too.

PS: This is my first webpage (besides one I made at 1and1.com with their website builder, which by the way sucks.) so it won’t be great, but my brother is a webpage designer so I can get help when I need it. His site is dormtrader.com, it is for buying and selling textbooks to other students and a bunch of other stuff. (It hasn’t been launched yet though; he’s doing some facebook app stuff.):slight_smile:

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My suggestions:[list]
*]Standards are there for a reason: please use standard colors for hyper-links–it will make them stand out better than making them the same color as normal text.
*]Use percentages instead of fixed pixel widths: this will make everything auto-size to fit different browser window sizes
*]No offense: but orange on a brushed-metal background is incredibly hard for me to read. It may be best to make the buttons a different background color than the left panel.
*]I agree than the buttons should all be the same size.
*]The text on the pages seems randomly placed. Looking at other sites (http://www.slashdot.org is a good one), you’ll see that there is a strong horizontal continuity (you can read across very easily).
[/list]
These are just my opinions formed by comparing your site to the years of experience of looking at others. This is not an attack in any fashion: it is just a list of things that I think will make the site better.

68
  1. the buttens could be a little bit smaller
    2.it takes less then half a second for the picture to come up just click and its there i think its fine
    3.yes it is a little to wide
69

you saw the recent version, after he fixed the problem…

70

Sorry about the links; It was only supposed to be like that on the buttons (fixed)

I’m working on percentages instead of pixels, but when I do it gives me issues in IE so I’ll have to fix that.

I think orange looks fine on brushed metal

Working on it right now so it might look wierd at times.:slight_smile:

Jeff.

71

What you want to do with the links is make them blocks. Here’s a rough css class you could use:

a.menu_link {
    display: block;
    padding: 5px;
    color: #3333ff;
    background: #ffffff;
    text-decoration: none;
    font-family: verdana;
    font-size: 16px;
    border-top: 2px solid #aaaaaa;
    border-left: 2px solid #aaaaaa;
    border-right: 2px solid #555555;
    border-bottom: 2px solid #555555;
}

a.menu_link:hover {
    border-top: 2px solid #555555;
    border-left: 2px solid #555555;
    border-right: 2px solid #aaaaaa;
    border-bottom: 2px solid #aaaaaa;
    color: #777777;
}

then just add the class attribute:

Whatever

72

Just made them blocks right before you posted, but when I did I had to move them inside my sidebar division and they won’t align properly now.:slight_smile:
(also instead of doing each side of the border indivually you can just do “border-style: inset” or “border-style: outset”
The buttons are a little messed up right now. I should have them fixed by the end of the night.

Jeff.

73

Here’s an example of how it should work. Check the source and see the css in my above post…

74

I already fixed that.(mostly):slight_smile:
If the buttons on the homepage don’t load correctly in IE refresh the page and then tell me.:slight_smile:

Jeff.

75

That’s the thing… it should work properly in both IE and firefox. I checked you’re CSS and you don’t have the “display: block;” code anywhere…

76

On my computer, specifically the monitor which is an 18" widescreen, the stainless ends before the buttons does. It also cuts the text off that is closest to the button bar. Under the “How To” section, I cannot read the first word on each line because the buttons cut the words off. Also, the pic on the first page overlaps the upper text box. The stainless doesn’t run all the way down the side either.:o

This is all i can see on the negative side, good job by finally starting the magazine idea. I like the orange and gray/stainless theme.

77

The “Double your robot’s run time” article needs some tidying up.

There is a difference between the 7.2 Volt and 9.6 volt connectors… The Wire Gage.

For the Vex Controller, use the Radio Shack Item 23-444 (7.2 Volt), not the 23-445 (9.6 Volt), because the Wire is smaller with the 23-445 part, there will more resistance and Heat when Large amounts of current are needed from the Vex Batteries.

78

At my Radio Shack I bought one of each and they were exactly the same. The same wire gage and the same connector.

theotherguy- Yea I fixed that now, I was using IE and it automatically made them block so I forgot to add it. Then I looked this morning on the other computer using firefox and noticed it didn’t work properly. I’m still working on it.
I have to go to school and I’m leaving it a little wierd. I’ll fix it later.

Jeff.

79

I have bought 2 of the 23-444 (7.2 Volt), and one of the 23-445 (9.6 Volt). The 23-444 (7.2 Volt) Wires should be the same diameter as the Vex Controller’s Battery Wires, the 23-445 (9.6 Volt) Wires should be the same diameter as the Vex Transmitter’s Battery Wires.

80

Has anyone else started writing yet? I started an article over the weekend with building instructions for a chassis I designed, but have had too much homework to finish it yet.