Topic: Design Critique's Wanted

[Syrehn]

Hey Everyone, 

I'm in the process of working on a new hompage for myself (the original one that I designed in school was horrible)

I was wondering if I could get some critiques on what I have got so far.  Currently what you will be viewing is done in tables (boo tables, I'm working right now on redoing it with div's/css but the layout is essentially the same) I eventually want to have a few different designs and have a theme selector.  (haven't figured out how to implement that yet o_0)

The only people that I have had give me comments have been a few family members.  I'm looking for a bit more than "nice"  -__-   I want honest opinions on color and width of the layout etc. or any other comments that might be had.

Also the navbar links to the old index.html and about.html pages so dont' need to critique those.  They will be taken down soon. 

The link for the site currently is:

www.designfoxmediaworks.com/index_test.html

[fabrydesign]

- It's centered.... yet not
- The colors are iffy, especially on the navigation bar, readability is low
- Navigation is awkward with the bright, high contrast horizontal bar and then having to use the low contrast, drab out-of-the-way sidebar
- Main content area (white) is thin and the padding between the text and the sides is too small
-Overall, stuff seems oddly placed and spaced

[TheFilmGod]

Why are you using javascript for the rollovers. If I was able to notice the lag and then verify the use of javascript with firebug... that's an issue.

[Syrehn]

TheFilmGod: when it was done originally, i was using javascript rollovers, because i'm in the middle of doing it in divs/css the rollovers are no longer done that way.  they are li's

fabrydesign: so you think that i should make the content area larger? I was going for 800 width here.  do you suppose the whole design should be larger?  i have had some ppl say they like the colors and some not.  i was trying to keep with my own style but still keep it readable.  i will take what you said to heart while i'm working on the div/css version of this.

[TheFilmGod]

TheFilmGod: when it was done originally, i was using javascript rollovers, because i'm in the middle of doing it in divs/css the rollovers are no longer done that way.  they are li's

I'm sorry, but I do not understand. Are you using css rollovers now? Do you need help?

[Syrehn]

No I don't need any css help at the moment.

What I was saying was the website that you are currently viewing is done in tables with javascript navigation.  I'm in the process of redoing the whole site using divs/css with css navigation using lists.  So any issues being had with javascript navigation in the future will be null as soon as I get the div/css version up. 

I was just looking to see what people thought of the overall design and what they think would be better if it was different.   

Did that make more sense? 

[keldorn]

It looks okay, except that is not centered correctly I think you'll need to move it left 50 pixels or so.

But I noticed its all created with tables and the rolls overs are javascript. Thats really like 2003 style,  I would mock that up in divs/css.
Your rollover images, you can put them into 1 image called a sprite, then put a css style on the div that contains those, that says, Change background image to x,y coordinates on the sprite image on   a:hover

[dropfaith]

overall i like the concept and design honestly.
as stated the links in the header  are a bit hard to read maybe a shade or 2 darker would work better without losing the  color scheme your working on.

also the center issue  it looks too right heavy i didnt check your code cause you stated it was in tables and you are working on a div version but when you do you should properly center it with

margin:0 auto;  on a container div

[eatfishy]

the design looks hot! One thing I noticed at a glance was that the login box length is a little short. I haven't seen many websites with a login input box with that length size before. It may be hard to read what was previously type.

Will paid quality bloggers on www.blogoberry.com

[Syrehn]

I'm curious to know, what is the default dimensions that some of you would design with?  this was done at obviously 800px wide.

[dropfaith]

i design mainly in percentages  75 or 80 percent screen width for my main div. but if forced to design on a set size  i go with the 1024.800 by 600 is getting less and less used due to excessive screen sizes.  im running 1660  right now o my home pc with a 24 inch screen so 800 by 600 leaves  a ton of empty space

but yea a scalable percentage based layout is prefered with a min width of 800 id say

[macdude100]

Hi

Site design stands out and is unique. I second what dropfaith said about the navigation links being a bit to light, and therefore could be a bit to hard to read, try a darker colour.

Also I would think about changing "creative print & website design and development" tooooo "Creative print, website design & development". Just sounds better in my opinion

Thats about it for now.

P.S. Liked the "farmers market" website design in your portfolio, gd job.

[steviewdr]

I think the white background stands out a little too much. Perhaps make it a light grey.
Some extra padding and line-height required for the main content.

I would like to see a bigger background image. You have the purple swirls and grey dots. I think you should add more of these and have them showing moreso on the left and *right*. This should improve the left/right balance, which is currently out of balance (towards the right).

I'm not too keen on the yellow for the navigation, nor the gradient from yellow to white.
Use: http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp to get matching colors to the purple.

-steve

[TheFilmGod]

Here is the problem: you are trying to create a professional website for you company. How do swirls, a narrow background, yellow on black, and small textboxes make your website professional? - Well it doesn't. Don't get me wrong, the swirls make your website "creative" but that's not what you're going after. Nearly every professional website uses white or a variation of white as its background. Those are just a few things to keep in mind while you are working on a revision for you website.