@ccess The Golden Girls has received a much needed revamp after the last design lasted 10 months - the longest time a design has been up on @TGG!

I have had to re-arrange pages but hopefully it's easier to navigate and has a crisper cleaner look to it

www.the-goldengirls.com

Sam

I love the new design Sam!

I did like the last design, but you've outdone yourself this time.

Regards, James.

Ditto! Great work, Sam!

I love it, Sam! Great work! It really does look much cleaner and more organized without the side menu bar. I really like how how you have that picture of the girls infront of the semi-circle on each page, with the yellow divider below it. It looks fantastic!

Wow, it looks great, Sam! I liked the old design too, but I think the new look is cleaner and more organized. I love it!

Thanks for the nice comments, guys!

It was really hard to give up the old design because over the past 10 months I've had so many great comments about it, but I felt it was time for a change...and something a little bit different

Sam

I agree Sam! Great design! I know what you mean about not wanting to give the old design up, but you've got to try something new every so often... if you don't like it, at least you've tried! But that new design is great! It's really modern too, and I like the colour scheme.

WOW Sam!! Big change! Love it though!
If the feelings right go for it I say!

I love it Sam! The new pics you put are neat You still choose yellow and purple as the two main colours that suits your site so well

The site is looking great Sam!!

Good work!!

Catherine
xxx

Your new design is great, Sam It's clean and organized as everyone said. I know it's hard to give up the old you loved, but a change now and then is pretty good. And this looks lovely.

Cheers everyone, I'm glad it hits the right spots. I've slightly changed the main image of the girls on the homepage, from a blue hue to colour as I think it's a bit more striking! I'll probably be tweaking things for a few days to come but I think everything works well

Sam

The main image of the Girls looks great in colour.

As you said Sam, it's a bit more striking!

Regards, James.

@TGG version 7 is really a treat Sam yes I know you haven't learnt everything about design overnight it must have been so hard to learn but what a reward you got now with your website congrats once again and I'm sure you've got lots of ideas for version 8 oh sorry baby steps Nougi you might think

Cheers, James, glad you think the colour image is better too!


Quite. I'm learning every single day of my life. Looking back at my first ever design for @TGG I can see how I've moved on so much since then. I mean, the design wasn't bad at all compared to my first ever website, but things change all the time and I find myself getting inspiration for a new look, even if I'm not necessarily thinking about changing it.


Hehe, version 8 can wait another 10 months I think The site has had 7 designs in almost 3 years so that's not too bad. It's nice to give it a couple of new looks a year and improve upon things as much as I can. The last design was nice, but with the left hand navigation bar it was just getting really cramped and messy, so the drop down navigation menu will keep things a bit more neat and tidy.

Sam

Sam-

Just checked out the new look of your site... it looks just awesome! I always enjoy the new looks of your site, they are always so classy! I envy you!

Lauren =)

Sam I just took a look at the picture of the week on your website : Estelle saying "oh sh*t! after getting her line wrong I just can hear Estelle saying that disapointed but natural that made me laugh but sorry Estelle I didn't mean that I really sympathize : time for me to close my eyes what I find very touching is Rue and Bea attitude trying to console her! Estelle looks so sad! I think this pic shows how much the actresses cared about eachothers behind the scene! Great sicilian somenex before turning the light off anyway! Thanks Sam for posting it in a large size here after reading my post that I can't stop editing coz I think what I write about laughing isn't really nice to Estelle... but I can't help it's too funny!
I mean laughing at someone who suffers from stage fright isn't really nice of me or I have something else to say but for once that's not because I made syntax errors!!!

Maybe the picture is giving the impression that Estelle was sad, but she definitely wasn't She was shocked that she swore, but everyone was laughing, take a look at these scenes:



I love the way Dorothy is laughing on the second image across

Sam

There's no reason why you should feel bad about laughing at Estelle's mistake As Betty was announcing that segment she said they were hilarious bloopers...which they were. Everyone on set was laughing - if that's not the best way to overcome nerves and stage fright then I don't know what is She, aswell as the other girls, made mistakes in the bloopers segment and they found it amusing, all laughing at eachother - that's the best (only) way to deal with it.

Sam

You're right Sam and you know how much I would have loved to be there on friday night during the show taping... What a great entertainment it must have been and I've always dreamt about having at least a line to say on at least one ep only to be allowed to sit at the table with the girls! and I wouldn't have to worry about Sophia's cushion joke coz I don't use a chair I stay on my wheelchair! I'm sure she would have made me drink orange juice in the joke glass anyway! Remember this scene where Dorothy drinks and has orange juice on her pullover, Blanche does the same but doesn't pour orange juice on her dress! Remember Dorothy's facial expression??

Haha! Oh yes!

I just noticed that huge Lifetime logo down in the bottom corner of the screen... is that always there? I thought the LivingTV one was intrusive, but it's nothing compared to that!

And then Rob, Dorothy says : Ma! Stop that!

That IS funny, Nougi. By the way, nice to 'see' you around--how are you feeling these days, mon cherie???

CHOC

Thanks Choc this quote is SO FUNNY yes to answer your question about how I'm feeling I would simply say : I'm fighting everyday as I always did as I'm doing and as I'll always do it's hard but people say I have a great sense of humor, I don't know if they are right but I sure think that a big laugh is the best medicine, that's why I'm in these so friendly forums

That made me wonder how you got a recording from Lifetime, Sam. They don't show that over there do they? Did someone here (North America) send that to you.

And to answer the question, I think the logo goes in and out, but I am not sure. I watch several episodes of the GG most days of the week on Lifetime and I rarely notice it.

By the way, has the "Reunion" show been broadcast elsewhere in the world yet?

Sam I just checked out the site and I LOVE the new look! It's great! I can just picture you speaking at Stan's funeral: "Innovative, beautiful, unique...those are just a few words Stan used to describe my site"

Is it just me or has @ccess The Golden Girls received another revamp after the last design lasted just over 2 weeks?!

I love the new design - especially the picture on the home page of Betty, Estelle and Rue from One Flew Out Of The Cuckoo's Nest (2).

Great work again Sam, James.

Thanks so much, Che. I've actually just redesigned it again today as the new look I created 2 weeks ago was bugging me so much that I started to hate visiting my own site, lol. I had some good comments, but it didn't have the 'wow' factor for me and I couldn't ignore it. I think maybe the use of delicate colours was the biggest factor in the last design not being satisfactory, but the colours I'm using now are much more "me". That was actually the first time I've ever created a design and loathed it so much so quickly, haha! I'm hoping this one will last longer than two weeks

Sam

I love the pic of the 3 ladies, and then your "Meet the girls", sounds very good.

...but perhaps you have even a better idea in a fortnight

I like the new stark picture on the site's mainpage...it is very dramatic and sort of looks like film instead of videotape, do you know what I mean?

What if you centered the whole thing on the page though? On my screen I see a long column of tan taking up the right quarter of my screen. Is that intentional?

I aligned the page to the left of the screen, intentionally I've centred the site for years (my screen resolution is set @ 1024x768) but I've seen the left align-style popping up again, on sites such as the BBC News site, SKY News site and LifetimeTV site...to name but a few and I fancied a change to be honest.

Glad you like the main pic - I think it looks very striking and "real". I've got two other large images to put on there...may rotate them every few weeks so people see something different when they visit. One of them is of Sophia from The Monkey Show, dressed in a yellow raincoat and the other is of Dorothy and Sophia at the kitchen table. I can't remember what episode that picture is from so I'll have to show it to you guys so you can help me out

Sam

About the pictures...I was thinking about how dramatic the current one looks and how that is so uncharacteristic of the show. I love that!

It would be great if you could make some more high-contrast images from screen shots of the girls with dramatic or solemn expressions. It adds a whole new dimension to the GG I think. We are so used to seeing that smooth, well lit, videotaped look.

i think the new design looks really good! Nice surprise

I love it too, for that reason. I LOVE the new design, Sam, it's so...striking

Ché

I do like the new design much more. I especially like the main pic and the "Meet the girls..." section of the main page. You're right - these new colours are bolder and not as "flimsy", which is great. I think from now on I'll start visiting the main site and linking to the forums from there, I like it so much!

Ché

Awww, thanks Ché! I actually visit the site myself a lot more before heading into here so I guess I must finally approve of something I've done, lol! I'm my own worst critic

Sam

You know I was just looking at the site's picture and it seems to be so sharp and clear. Is that a screen capture (or whatever the term is when you take it from videotape)?

Hey Sam! I was checking out your site last night, and saw that you redesigned it again, lol! But I LOVE what you've done! I think that the big "widescreen" picture you have at the top of pages is the best idea you've had yet. That looks so cool. I really like how you've put the thin lines through the picture of the house. It gives it a unique appearance. The homepage looks really nice as well. So neat and organized. Once again, well done!

It came from a TV promotion website a while back. They had a few 'shots' for people to download in various resolutions and a couple of 'cast' shot posters, that's why the picture is so sharp and clear. I'd never achieve that with a screen capture, sadly.

Sam

Cheers, Katie! I was dreading telling people about the sudden change in design because it's not the actions of a good designer to go chopping and changing every 2 weeks. Admittedly, though, this was the first time I'd ever done that because I was really unhappy about the last look - so that lessens my guilt a little

Sam

Yeah, I think it looks better with an action shot instead of just a portrait, it makes a nice change.

BTW Sam I love the way you included the girls house on the top of each page on your website and the screenshot you chose to put on the top of your main page

Thanks, Nougi! I rotate the main image every couple of weeks with a shot of Rose, Sophia and Blanche sat around the table on the lanai from the final episode, a picture of Dorothy and Sophia at the kitchen table from an episode I can't remember the name of and the one you see now of Sophia from The Monkey Show

Sam

You know how a lot of sites have those 'shoutboxes' now? Well, me being a follower of fashion ( ) I put one on my contact page on my site. Don't particularly want it on the homepage because it will just be used for all the wrong reasons, probably. Anyway, I added it a couple of days ago and I'm sure the picture just above the shoutbox will amuse you. Go here to see it

Sam

Sam! Love the picture!!
I saw one of those the other day and didn't quite get it so I never bothered with it!
What exactly do they do? Is nit like an interactive guestbook/chatroom-y thing?

Yeah, Paul, it's a kind of small guestbook. I get a lot of people who send me a quick e-mail to say something like "I just wanted to say I love your site!" - it's something they'd probably want to add to a guestbook. I got rid of my guestbook when I installed the forums but of course not everyone wants to register with a forum just to say "hi" or "love the site", so with the shoutbox they can just leave a short message without having to send an e-mail or register with forums

Thanks to those who left a message, including that Geordie friend

Sam

You spotted me?!

Like I said on your website, I love the shoutbox - it is a great idea!

Regards, James.

That shoutbox is a really fun idea. There's a Sarah Brightman site that's been using one for a long time and tons of people post in it. I've always liked the idea because it seems like my guestbook only gets signed once every blue moon, but they look kind of hard to set up. Are they? (Like, are they php or anything like that?)

I actually thought the same thing, Katie, that they were all PHP and difficult to set up but this one, would you believe, is simple HTML. I got it from www.myshoutbox.com. I just did a search for 'shoutbox' thinking it would list PHP ones to download but I was surprised (and thrilled) to find this simple HTML one. You configure everything in the Admin Control and there's tons of colours to choose from. You'll see the shoutbox on the main page of myshoutbox.com and underneath is a drop down menu with all the different colours/designs. Some nice pink ones which will be ideal for The Rue Crew or your SWC site

I was sure I'd sent you an e-mail about it last Tuesday when I got mine and although I did write the e-mail out it's currently still sat in my drafts folder

Sam

I love that picture, Sam! It's totally appropriate! The shoutbox is a great idea, it's a lot quicker and simpler than a guestbook and much more aesthetically pleasing. It doesn't take long to load, either!