Website

[Ryan]

I just updated and re-vamped the website for the ranch I work for. Please check it out and tell me what you think. Any input would be appreciated.

http://www.shopSandDollarRanch.com

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[TXBobcat]

Nice looking website Ryan. I guess you live pretty close to Jacksboro if you are working for Sand Dollar Ranch? I was raised around Graham, and my wife is from Newcastle.

I am currently working on a website for Granger Cattle Co, the ranch I live on and work at part time. We also raise Longhorn cattle.

 

[Ryan]

I actually live in bryan, but my Home is in Bridgeport and my dad is the manager for Sand Dollar, so I work out there whenever I am at home (breaks from school, holidays, etc...)

 

[Bama]

I was at a class near Byran. I went to a steakhouse for supper. The tables were stainless. The waitress came over and wiped down the tables before our meals were served. When our steaks arrived it was bigger than the plate and hung off all the way around. You couldn't even see the plate. Made an impression on me. BTW the website looks great.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Ryan, I think you have created a very nice website and since you asked for comments I'll give you a few that I hope you'll find to be constructive. I've just taken a quick look at only portions of the site but here are a few comments:

From the Home page --- Regarding the Proven Sires tab: when I clicked on that tab the narrative makes reference to multiple sires but I only saw a picture of one bull, a real nice and beefy looking red and white pinto patterned bull --- was that intended? (OK, I later saw that his name is Big Bad Bob)

When I clicked onto Sire Prospects I saw thumbnail pictures of 4 bulls. Clicking on the first two did not take me to a larger picture and/or narrative about them, but it did for the last two bulls shown.

When I clicked onto the thumbnail for Renegade a nice sized picture came up, but the color pattern for all the narrative below the picture makes for very difficult reading – at least on my monitor it shows yellow and/or light orange lettering on a sort of tan background. Why not use the color pattern that you have for Red Man? Did you intend to post a price for Renegade?

When I clicked the thumbnail for Red Man I got no picture, although there is a good color scheme for the narrative.

Apparently you and/or the owners of the ranch like the light brown or tan background color, I assume in keeping with the Sandstone name. On your home page, and elsewhere, I would suggest that all the wording at the bottom would be more easily read if the colors used were, say for example, black or dark red or (I can't believe I'm saying this) Aggie maroon. Or heavy burnt orange lettering on the light brown background might be a nice touch. ;-) Yellow, and particularly the light orange, wording on the tan background, is quite a bit more difficult to read than I would think you want it to be

You might want to consider putting some pedigree charts with the pictures.


On an unrelated topic, I wonder if you know --- is there still a place in B-CS called Ma's (or maybe it was called Mom's) that serves good down home food "family style" in a little frame house? Do they still sell good kolaches in Snook?

 

[Ryan]

I think I've got all the links and pictures up and corrected, and I made some changes to the text. I think the pages will be easier to read now.

On the Proven Sires page: Although it says Bulls, and we have only the one bull up, there probably will be another one up soon.

As for the prices, I am still working on getting the prices for the animals, as they will probably change following our World Expo on June 8-12.

I am still working on a way to easily make pedigree charts, and then put them on the pages.


As for Ma's (or Mom's) I am not aware of that restaurant, I don't recall hearing about it. I haven't been to Snook, but I do hear good things about their kolaches (I wonder how they compare to the one's in West?)

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Nice changes Ryan --- the reading is easier and the thumbnails now seem to work just fine. Unless I just missed it, I don't recall seeing a picture of Redeemer's Redemption. Did Sand Dollar Ranch raise him? And then sold him? If so, consider putting his picture on your site for reference, as well as other recent winners or highly regarded individuals, even if no longer owned by Sand Dollar. Also, when looking at Longhorns it is always interesting to me to know which family is most prominently represented in the pedigree of the animal. Have you thought about mentioning any of that info? Might be useful for a potential customer looking for quick info on the right outcross.

 

[Ryan]

Further details on Redeemer's Redemption can be found at http://www.sanddollarranch.com That site is mostly for our Brood cows and Herd Sires. Sand Dollar did not raise him, but bought him at about 10months of age and continued to show him the next two years. I am going to put a Hyperlink where ever his name is that will have a pop-up window with his picture, but I am still working on that. I dont get too much time to work on the site between classes and studying and what not.

All of the pedigrees are very blended (just a few of our older cows are predominantly one family or another), as Sand Dollar looks for top quality animals, the quality of pedigree is more emphasized than the families within the pedigree (i think that makes sense).

I have just recently started working on narratives for the sale animals, and will definantly put more emphasis on the family/type of animal, and to what type that animal would cross best with.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and questions, they are a great help.

Ryan

 

[milkmaid]

Looks good. Just one suggestion - although I like when links change to a diff color after you've clicked on them so you know where you've been, the tan/orange color is a little difficult to read. I note Arnold already brought that up and maybe you're still working on some of those links.

Regarding pedigrees - Are you typing everything in HTML (as opposed to an automatic page generator)? If you are...I've used http://www.sitstay.com/pedi many times for dog pedigrees. It would work well for any animal...much easier than setting up the table yourself as it automatically gives you the code. Copy, paste, and you're done.

Again, it looks nice to me. I know first hand how much work websites are...you've put a fair bit of time into this one.

 

[Ryan]

Alright, I think I got the color of the Hyperlinks that have already been viewed to a more suitable color.

I have also added extended pedigrees to each of the animals. If we currently own an animal in the pedigree the name of the animal is a hyperlink (is underlined) and will take you to a page where that animal can be found.

milkmaid, thanks for the tip on the pedigree generator. I actually found another site with a pedigree generator that you can download to your computer. This way you do not have to rely on their website to generate the pedigree. http://www.terragethen.com/carroll.html has the downloadable generator. it is a small program/file and doesn't take up much space. Thought you might be interested in that.

Thanks again to all for the suggestions and tips.

Ryan