Topic: Cartoonist Website - Impressions

[greghaynes]

Looking for some feedback on a project that I completed about 2 weeks ago for a cartoonist and friend of mine.

Going into this project he wanted the site to look clean and professional.  Originally the site was center aligned but he preferred it to be left aligned when seeing the two different versions.

He also wanted a discussion board added which is called "Coffee House". So I picked a phpBB style and made a ton of changes to it to get the final look that he wanted.

We also discussed having a store added so we went with Zazzle and after researching their API I was able to get his products to show up on his site.

So I was looking to see what you think and any suggestions that you may offer that we forgot to add.

http://www.theappletower.com/

[cags]

I don't dislike the style of the coffee shop page, but I don't like how it's different to the rest of the site. Especially as it's link is right in the middle of the navigation menu. I personally think your friend was wrong and it would be much better off centered, but I guess that's down to personal preference. Again though, the coffee shop section is centered so you lose the feeling of consistency. To a certain degree this lack of consistency is also present between the home page and the rest of the site, but that doesn't bother me as much. Perhaps because it is almost seems like a 'front cover' page.

[greghaynes]

Again though, the coffee shop section is centered so you lose the feeling of consistency.

Thanks Cag for the comments.  I'll go back and check with him and see about making the coffee shop section to be left aligned like the rest of the site for consistency sake.

[dannyluked]

Ill start by saying I LOVE the way the image enlargens in the way it does!!

I think the links at the bottom should have a light grey background to make it look more clear but I do like the rest of the site, suits it audience well.

[defeated]

+1 for the coffee shop being left aligned like the rest of the site.

[keldorn]

Looks good, definitely looks like a comic website. I was about to complain about the way you presented the enlarged image. But then I remember I have  Noscript installed. 

[sparq]

In windowed mode it looks fine, but full screen on my wide screen monitor the content is awkwardly off to the side, which I personally find annoying, you should find a way to make the design so that you can center it.

[cags]

In windowed mode it looks fine, but full screen on my wide screen monitor the content is awkwardly off to the side, which I personally find annoying, you should find a way to make the design so that you can centre it.

I believe the OP already stated that they had the site centred originally but the 'client' didn't want it that way.

[tibberous]

The image enlarging is neat, but it would have been a lot less annoying to just have it show up fully enlarged.

[yyboo]

It is awesome! I can understand artistically why he wants it left aligned. 
Great job! 

[Zane]

When I saw cartoonist in the title I had to check this website out seeing as how I should expect an artistic approach to the design, which I found.  But I also found that I was disappointed at how the designer tried to combine "web-site" aspects with his artistic theme, such as

 - backgrounds in the navigational buttons, making them look square whilst the text inside is skewed.  It sort of looks superimposed.
 - a scrollbar that serves no purpose other than to reveal the copyright info/navigational buttons (depending on your resolution... mine is 1024 X 768 right now).  The scrollbar is wasting space on your "canvas".  Try out different arrangements.... copyright on top .. in gray, etc.

Those are really the only two nitpicks I got.  As far as that goes everything else looks good.  I like the lightbox effect and the easy comic strip navigation..

[greghaynes]

- backgrounds in the navigational buttons, making them look square whilst the text inside is skewed.  It sort of looks superimposed.
 - a scrollbar that serves no purpose other than to reveal the copyright info/navigational buttons (depending on your resolution... mine is 1024 X 768 right now).  The scrollbar is wasting space on your "canvas".  Try out different arrangements.... copyright on top .. in gray, etc.

Thanks Zanus for your feedback.  I'm going to forward your suggestions to him.  Being that the site is still new he is open to suggestions from others. 

Would you be able to elaborate a little more with how you would imagine the navigation buttons to appear?  Are you thinking something hand drawn?