Lief
Guru Schmuru
Overall I think you all have done a fantastic job with the website redesign.
It looks like drupal is working well for you.
Some things that have been bugging me - please take this as constructive criticism (just like I do at "the office" when reviewing a new web application)
The titles in the left side nav.
* We're in here! - I think this could aptly be named Community. You have a FANTASTIC community of enthusiasts and it isn't obvious from the top level menu item.
* Also, if it is easy it would be nice to remove the repeated, italicized title 'we're in here' at the beginning of each sub-menu.
* Separation or differentiation between the newly updated forum postings (last 5 it seems) and the regular menu items. For that matter, I would recommend something a bit stronger for the top level menu items, perhaps Bicycle Health and then the sub-menus in the normal font. It would give the user a sense of where they are in menu-space after the numerous sub-menu's pop open. Right now they blend together.
* Again, separation or differentiation for the blog entries - a title would work. I don't think the gaps between the sections do enough. Especially difficult may be the fact that a somewhat casual user may not understand why the last updated titles have changed between visits. Seems like you are getting a lot of activity too, a good way to show how active the community is, at this top level, would be to expose some statistic in the left nav like (7 updates in last 24hrs).
* The red color for the menu items is difficult to see against the off-white-bluish color of the background. I wouldn't have guessed it but the contrasts work out fine in color-blindness testing (http://colorfilter.wickline.org) - I just think it is a little bit of a strain to read it. A deeper maroon would work. For that matter, changing the color of the top menu items (while leaving the subs the same) would help to segregate your three main subjects found in the left hand nav: PrimaryNav, Forum5, Blogs
Like I said, overall a great step forward from the previous site.
I will post a mock-up of some of these ideas when I get an opportunity.
It looks like drupal is working well for you.
Some things that have been bugging me - please take this as constructive criticism (just like I do at "the office" when reviewing a new web application)
The titles in the left side nav.
* We're in here! - I think this could aptly be named Community. You have a FANTASTIC community of enthusiasts and it isn't obvious from the top level menu item.
* Also, if it is easy it would be nice to remove the repeated, italicized title 'we're in here' at the beginning of each sub-menu.
* Separation or differentiation between the newly updated forum postings (last 5 it seems) and the regular menu items. For that matter, I would recommend something a bit stronger for the top level menu items, perhaps Bicycle Health and then the sub-menus in the normal font. It would give the user a sense of where they are in menu-space after the numerous sub-menu's pop open. Right now they blend together.
* Again, separation or differentiation for the blog entries - a title would work. I don't think the gaps between the sections do enough. Especially difficult may be the fact that a somewhat casual user may not understand why the last updated titles have changed between visits. Seems like you are getting a lot of activity too, a good way to show how active the community is, at this top level, would be to expose some statistic in the left nav like (7 updates in last 24hrs).
* The red color for the menu items is difficult to see against the off-white-bluish color of the background. I wouldn't have guessed it but the contrasts work out fine in color-blindness testing (http://colorfilter.wickline.org) - I just think it is a little bit of a strain to read it. A deeper maroon would work. For that matter, changing the color of the top menu items (while leaving the subs the same) would help to segregate your three main subjects found in the left hand nav: PrimaryNav, Forum5, Blogs
Like I said, overall a great step forward from the previous site.
I will post a mock-up of some of these ideas when I get an opportunity.
