Navigation menu colour scheme advice please

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Helios_Multi TPoxygen11final

[neerav]

Hi all

not sure if this is the right place to ask but I've just moved my main site navigation at http://www.roadlesstravelled.com.au/ from the left sidebar to horizontally across the top of the page and this has necessitated a change in colour scheme for the menu

I'm not sure if the current choice of colours for the link buttons is the right combination

Any suggestions for colour combinations you think would be high contrast enough and still look good?

EDIT: You have to press CTRL+F5 to reload the css file if you've visited my site before
thanks

[Snoskred]

I'm not sure the color is the problem - the problem is the flashing ad just above it.

I know why it is there, and why you've put it in that location however it tends to distract from the menu - they're too close together.

Can you maybe take the ad up to the very top corner of the screen? If not, can you drop the menu to be below the header graphic, and make it in a larger font?

[neerav]

I'm not sure the color is the problem - the problem is the flashing ad just above it.

I know why it is there, and why you've put it in that location however it tends to distract from the menu - they're too close together.

Excellent suggestion. If there was a hat-tip smiley than I would use it here :-)

I've moved a few things around in the header area to space things out

What do you think now?

[Lani]

Neerav, just looking at it now (and this might be throwing a spanner in the works because it's not what you asked about, but the blog title is really jammed up and I think it needs a little more spacing.  Even Just 20 vertical pixels would make a difference.  Of course, you'd have to edit the image but adding some more of the green space and centring the title text in it should'nt be too hard. (Unless you only have the flattened copy?)

Great article on Jericho, btw. 

[Snoskred]

That's better.

I'm totally not in love with the flashing ad, though. Is the reason it is over there because it is the better spot for clickage?

Me personally I'd swap that to the other corner and move the search box down a little over there, and keep the left hand side of your blog for your stuff..

[Jaycee]

I've only just seen your site after the recent changes. I tend to agree with Snoskred about the ad at the top left - it's quite distracting but I'm sure you have your reasons for placing it there.

One suggestion about the search button in the banner, can it go in line with the navigation? Keep it on the right though.

[Lani]

I had exctly the same thought - search bar inline with the navigation.  But is it a fluid width theme?  If so, it might get crushed for people with smaller screens.

[neerav]

I had exctly the same thought - search bar inline with the navigation.  But is it a fluid width theme?  If so, it might get crushed for people with smaller screens.

thanks guys for taking the time to make suggestions

I'll have a think about them and get back to you on Tuesday night (I have a lot of work scheduled for Mon and Tues)

For now though please note I always try to make designs as usable as possible but there are compromises in the design forced by the location of ads

Regardless of that I have some coding tricks up my sleeve, try resizing your browser and you'll see different elements sliding vertically so you can still use them regardless of whether your screen is 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024

PS Advertisers will not pay top $$$$ if you place their ads on the right hand side of screen

[neerav]

OK I've tried to address as many of the issues raised as possible:

* The menu is now 1 font-height (em space) vertically away from the ad

* The blog title has been taken out of the image and moved to the top of the header as an actual text link. This gives it more precedence and allows people to click on it back to the home page which they couldn't do before

* The search button in the banner stays where it is rather than being in line with the navigation because it slides across to the left just above the menu when viewed on smaller screens like 800x600

* The header image has been widened so it is edge to edge left to right on screen widths smaller than 1280x1024

thanks for all your advice

[Lani]

Looks good.  The image is much more striking without the text too.

I would probably add an a:hover (underline or coluor change) to the title though.  I found it a bit disorienting on mouseover.

[Snoskred]

It looks better Still not in love with the ad being where it is, but I know why it is there.

[Martin Neumann]

Yep, as Lani has said: I'd add an a:hover for the links - a different colour or just no underline when hovering.

I'm also not a big fan of where your banner is placed.

For colour scheme ideas check out this - http://colorblender.com/