A new site for Dr. Chapél?

[satans.barber]

Evening all :wavey:

In another thread someone gave a link to Dr. Chapél's site which I hadn't seen before, and was complaining about pop-ups. I went to have a look at the site and although there was obviously a wealth of knowledge there to read and head scratch over, it seemed a little hard to read to me with some of the fonts and colours etc. that had used (see pic).

Because I like designing websites I thought I'd have a go at an easier-to-read design for Doc - I had a mess about for an hour and made this:

http://www.satansbarber.co.uk/files/chapel/

...only the first three links in the menu work as that's all I did for now.

Doc, if you like the design and you would like me to convert the rest of your pages into that style and send the site over to you in an e-mail, let me know. There wouldn't be any charge for this whatsoever, it'd be a gift from me to you. If not and you're happy with your existing site that's fine, please don't think I'm being presumptuous; I just spend some of my time messing about with that sort of stuff and thought maybe I could help.

I think there are pop-up adverts on the existing site because of where it's stored (maxpages), if you could find a few dollars a month for hosting (I only pay £2.99/month for mine) you could have a site without any adverts or pop-ups that people could enjoy and benefit from. Of course, I don't know how much priority you give to your website, it may be that it's not that important in your grand scheme of things! I know that Bob who owns Martial Talk has a design and hosting company at http://silverstarsites.net/ , I'm sure his $9.95 package would be perfectly adequate for your needs.

Thanks,

Ian.

[is it just my eyes?]

 

[Bill Lear]

Ian,

I'll be the first to say it. That is damn good work! I think he'll like it!

:ultracool

 

[Kenpomachine]

Yes, Ian, that's a great job

By the way, didn't Mr Chapél said something about JB redoing his site?

 

[Michael Billings]

I third that. I also like the creativness of the banner. It sets the site off nicely.

-Michael

 

[satans.barber]

By the way, didn't Mr Chapél said something about JB redoing his site?

Did he? I didn't want to step on anybody's toes, I hadn't noticed him mention that... :idunno:

I also like the creativness of the banner. It sets the site off nicely.

I thought it was quite nice too, although artwork isn't my strongpoint! Is the meaning clear? Since SL4 is to do with pressure points and nerve strikes etc. I wanted to incorportate that somehow into Doc's banner. I made the pointer lines to look like something you might find on an atemi diagram, showing the targets at the temple and sternum. These lines also point to Doc's heart and mind, showing that he's given of his heart and mind into his art. The crest on the right shows Doc's roots and gives credit to SGM Parker, and a line also goes from the crest to the title to show that SGM Parker's work was the basis for what Doc has expanded on over the years. Too complicated? I guess you read what you want into it

Ian.

 

[Michael Billings]

Nah! I got it and liked it. Now, does Doc like it?

-Michael

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

MUUUUUUUUCH easier on the eye to read. I may be wrong, but I suspect Doc would be pleased to see someone take such an interest in perpetuating the work.

Dave

 

[MJS]

Great job Ian!!!!

Mike

 

[mj-hi-yah]

Ian you did an amazing job! Now I really want to see the rest!

 

[ikenpo]

Yes, Ian, that's a great job

By the way, didn't Mr Chapél said something about JB redoing his site?

Doc and I have spoken about working on his site.......but, I think what Ian has done looks great (I particularly like the clean design), and I also think Doc will like it.

It is always great to see a person selflessly go above and beyond for a Kenpo Senior. Maybe we could work on it together. I never see value in reinventing the wheel, or not allowing a person who has the drive and skills to use both.

Drop me an email and I'll contact Doc about it after we've had a chance to talk.

Regards, Jason

 

[satans.barber]

Jason and I are now going to work together on this, hopefully we'll be able to produce a great new site that not only Doc himself likes, but you guys will enjoy too.

I'm going to finish converting Doc's existing site into my new design, and then I'm going to pass this over to Jason who will liase with Doc and tweak it to Doc's liking.

Watch this space!

Ian.

 

[vishalshukla]

I was asked to post this by Mr. Al "Hot Dog" Harvey. Mr. Harvey had some problems logging in and emailed me his post.

Respectfully,
Vishal Shukla

“Don’t mean to butt in here but I thought I would give you some info. First of all Doc is out of town on special assignment and pretty busy right now, believe me I know, I recommended him for the assignment. I spoke with him just before he left and he was happy as a kid in a video store.

I’ve known Doc since I was a kid (8 years of age) growing up in South Central Los Angeles. I started studying kenpo under him and other members of the original Black Karate Federation (BKF) back in July of 1970, so what we have together is a long history of martial arts as teacher, student, friend and family. I am currently a public servant, involved in Los AngelesCounty and CaliforniaState government just to give you some background on myself.


Now for a little insight into Doc’s character. I know he would appreciate your work and there is no doubt it is obviously very good. But I also know Doc would never put his picture up because he prefers to be low key and have people focus on his teacher’s Kenpo that he feel’s is most important. This is part of a promise he made to Mr. Parker with whom he was very close. I used to go by Doc’s house (unannounced) and Mr. Parker would be there watching television, just hanging out.



Second I know he would not call it “Ron Chapél’s SL-4. His students along with me feel otherwise but I’ve had long talks and arguments (too no prevail) with him about this and the only reason the term SL-4 exists is because it’s different from what many do and he had to make a public distinction.



Lastly, although they are very close, the patch is not Doc’s. His is what he called a cleaning up and evolution of the patch. I’m sure he can explain it much better than I can. Anyway I know he would be very appreciative of your very professional efforts, and he has often spoke of needing a decent site, but he also doesn’t want to feel like he’s advertising but rather informing (being a university professor). Enlightening but not recruiting and it is a fine line.



His time is limited and he feels a site would be mostly for outsiders, and he concentrates his efforts on his many students on a personal level regularly not having much left over for others. He literally focuses everything into his student’s development and he’s on the floor with them regularly teaching white to black. It doesn’t matter to him at all; he cares enough to care and then does something about it.

Doc when you see this don’t get too upset with me or I’ll have to put my girls on you and you know you always lose with your nieces. I hope that special assignment that you are conducting for the New York Times is going okay.



Al “Hot Dog” Harvey

 

[satans.barber]

Firstly, to respond to Mr. Harvey's comments:

Mr. Harvey, obviously you're a personal friend of Doc's and so I appreciate your insights into his character; I've never met him personally and so I was at a disadvantage trying to come up with something he likes. When Doc has more time free, if he lets me know what he would like then I can create some artwork for his site to his specifications (or Jason can if her prefers).

With regards to Doc's picture, that image was floating around on Google, so it seems silly to try and hide him on his own site! But, if Doc prefers that then it's fine. I thought it was a really good picture though and sets the site off nicely IMHO. With regards to the 'Dr Ron Chap/el's' bit, most of the information on the site is Doc's original work as far as I can see, so I don't think it's wrong for him to credit his own work. Doc should be proud of what he's achieved I think. As for the crest that's my mistake; I didn't realise he had his own. If Doc or Jason could provide me with a copy of Doc's own crest then I could use that instead if Doc wanted it in there. I'm keen to emphasize, I'd like to make something Doc's happy with so I can try and make whatever he wants.

I appreciate that he's a busy man as you say, which is why I think it'd be nice if Jason and I could complete this for him.

Anyway, I've finished converting Doc's site, and the work that I've done is currently here:

http://www.satansbarber.co.uk/files/chapel/

I'm pleased with it, and I think it's an improvement. It's got a nice, clean design which isn't too busy, which is what you need when you're trying to concentrate on complicated SL4 stuff! Obviously the lack of adverts and animations whizzing about also helps you to concentrate on the actual content, and as I mentioned at the top if Doc can find a few dollars a month for hosting, it can stay nice and clean in his own space.

The re-design uses a fixed width 'magazine' format, which is easier on the eyes for reading long articles. With sites that fill the whole screen, you tend to get upwards of 25 or 30 words per line, which makes long articles very hard to read. The fonts are also nice and simple to facilitate this as well.

I've also given it an in-built printer style sheet, so if anyone prints any of the pages the banner and menus will automagically disappear, and a well formatted page should pop out of your printer (unless you're using some ancient browser like IE4!).

The whole site is written using cascading style sheets and 100% valid XHTML, so should display properly and consistently in any sensible browsers.

I'm now passing this site over to Jason, who will talk to Doc and hopefully tweak it to Doc's liking. I am, of course, here to give any further help if needed.

Ian.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

From the web-geek dept: I like it.

Nice design Ian.

 

[Rob Broad]

The site looks very good!

 

[Michael Billings]

Excellent work, I hope he likes it.

-Michael

 

[KenpoEMT]

Ok, this is like a freakin' cliff-hanger :lol:

Seriously, does anyone know if doc ended up liking the web-site???

 

[Bode]

This is quite a coincidence. Mr. Angell (One of Doc's highest ranking black belts) and I were just discussing the lack of web page. We were talking about getting the source code for a website that was halfway developed by one of our students.
However, this looks great. Of course there are a few changes. We would have to send you a new patch picture since our patch does look different. Great job all around though. You have just saved a few people a lot of time and frustration.

 

[kenposikh]

Well done Ian,

And I'm sure the Doc will like it. Believe me when he gets a chance to see it he will be happay as a chaotic bull in a china shop. He will also let you know.

Take care

Amrik

 

[Rich_Hale]

I know Doc spends a fair amount of time checking out the forum, but I see he as not jumped in on this thread. That makes me wonder.

I'll be sending the day with him in a couple of weeks and he said I can ask all the questions I want before and after the superbowl. I'll put the web page question on the top of my list.

Hopefully he will have already read, and responded to, this and my question won't be necessary, then he and I can send the entire day telling lies to one another.