Brutal Honesty

[theodren]

Hello there I would appreciate all feedback on the following site
http://www.wwwdesigns.com.au
in addition to this, any comments on the sites from the web design portfolio page would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.pantaleophotography.com
http://www.autoglassrecycler.com.au
http:///www.andreamercierphotography.com.au

I am also in the progress of putting together another site that hasn't made the "completed" list
http://www.kpgphotographs.com/gateway.html
it's flash heavy and i haven't added in the noflash content as of yet.
Thanks heaps

[fred]

Well, that's a pretty tall order. In fact, to share all the comments I would have would take so long the forum would time out.

But I'll share my initial impression... ER, uh, question...

Why is everyone going with BOXED "blog" layouts these days???
It's really starting to get boring.

You are obviously a good technocrat -- evidenced by the clean and effective coding. However, the initial arrival here -- to me at least -- suggests there wasn't much thought in the VISUAL design of the page.

I have to ask:

How come the planets aren't in the darkness of space?
The boxed container and its light background against the gradient blue background look contrived, unnatural and confusing.

What if you set the background to start at the top with a deep, deep blue, (perhaps even black) and then gradiate to medium blue -- suggesting space.

What if you then REMOVED the whole box thing, and let the planets "float" in that deep blue gradation?

I feel compelled to think that the only thing here that needs to be boxed with a light background is the scrolling content frame.

Simply put: the layout is visually uncomfortable because of the main box, the incongruent blue background, and the fact that light planets are levitated in a light background.

This visual concept could be a KILLER. But it's not because of the adherance to the BLOG grid layout.

Sorry. I'll post more later.

I'd like to see some other comments too.

:o

[Bennie]

the negative colors of the background image would
look more natural and appealing.

Also, watch out for typos.

See: http://www.mcwebdesign.us/au.jpg

[theodren]

Hello there again
http://www.wwwdesigns.com.au

I have to admit I agreed on most points, I think at the end of the day I was trying too hard to avoid using darker colors because it's something i've already done alot of and was starting to get kindof bored of. Boredom or not I'm alot happier with how the latest editing has turned out than I was with the initial upload.
Again, brutal honesty much appreciated.

btw, typos were mentioned? Maybe it's a case of looking too long at the same thing, but I haven't been able to see any?

[Bennie]

Must have had another site in mind. My apologies.

But your font is very hard to read. It needs to
be larger or bolder, or given a greater line height.

I like the colors you are using now.

[theodren]

http://www.wwwdesigns.com.au

I've been very happy with the comments so far and have made changes accordingly so thanks heaps for all of the feedback. As it has been completely updated, any comments on the new look would be greatly appreciated, thanks heaps

[fred]

I can't believe how much better... WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT !!!!

YOU DID SAVE THE "BEFORE" version, right?

I neglected to grab a screen capture, and this transformation deserves an article in DTG.

Post a link to the "before"

Thanks

Fred :)

[theodren]

unfortunately I don't have a working copy of the "before" however i've attached a screenshot of what it used to look like (thanks to a previous poster who was kind enough to take a screenshot that i was able to invert the colors on to get back to the original look).
As I've been very happy with the feedback from this site (to be honest it's the ONLY critique forum that i've received a response on) I am more than willing to do what I can to help, and if posting an image of my original crappy design helps then so be it LOL :)
BTW, if the screenshot isn't enough, it won't be too much effort for me to duplicate what it used to look like through changing the style sheet, just let me know.

[fred]

Exactly what the doctor ordered.

It's important to see a "Before & After" for people to realize that there truly IS a benefit to the advice you can get in the Design Cafe.

Bravo on the conversion! Great work.

And, thanks for posting.

:)

[Zen2k]

"Nice Design! Could Of Been Created Easily Using Adobe Photoshop And Its Slice Tool! Good Work!"
DESIGN: 8/10
CODE: 7/10
MEDIA RESOURCES: 8/10
VIEWER FRIENDLY: 7/10
CONTENT: 8/10
---
OVERALL: 9/10

[theodren]

thanks for the post zen2k. i'm alot happier with it now than I was when it started.
I try to stay away from creating sites through photoshop. It's probably just a matter of preference but i have seen some excellent sites that used photoshop and golive.

[Zen2k]

No Problem -
Im Currently Looking For A Site To Take Me On For Web Design;
Is "http://www.wwwdesigns.com.au/" Employing?
Im Willing To Work For Free -
I Havnt Created Many Sites Recently So Even If I Was Involved In Minor Projects It Would Be Appreciated.

[theodren]

Hello there,
I've made a minor change with the overflow property for the text areas. I've never liked the horizontal bar at the bottom, and most of the text shouldn't really require a vertical scroll-bar, so I've set the overflow property to auto rather than overflow.
Improvement? All comments appreciated
http://www.wwwdesigns.com.au

[Eyecandy]

I think it's rotten...

The scrollbar looks out of place sitting in the middle of the page...At least change it's color, the text shaping to the world looks out of place...new text? smaller? not sure, but no me gusta...

css/xhtml buttons look extremely out of place on the bottom right...smaller n' center them?

Only thing I like about it...Is it's a small page...

[Bennie]

scrollbar removed entirely. Almost all the message displays
without scrolling, and it now stops at a weird place with
just the upper tips of the next line visible.
http://www.mcwebdesign.us/hon_before.jpg

I believe the whole page would look smoother and more
consistent without the scrollbar. And it would be easier
for the visitor. Nobody likes to scroll unless it is necessary.

Plenty of attention is drawn to the message by the very
large paragraph heading text. Perhaps make that a little
bit smaller and the remaining font a bit larger.

http://www.mcwebdesign.us/hon_after.jpg

Just a suggestion.

[MrGamma]

Loose the scroll bar... you already have a big one on the right hand side of your browser... everybody does... and if they don't... force it...

[Torch]

I'll just concur with all the above.

[Bennie]

I made in a previous post above.

I began to wonder whether the rectangular text block
looked "right." By this I mean does it work with the curved
area of the navigation on right side. I decided that with
my suggestion of removing the scroll bar it really does not.

I wonder if you could reword the text just enough to cut it
down so that it fits on the globe without extending below it.
That way it would look more integrated with the whole.
I cannot simulate this exactly, but I saw a tutorial recently
that used CSS to round the shape of the text block:

http://meyerweb.com/eric/css/edge/curvelicious/demo.html

How would it look to round the lower right corner of the
message to fit on the globe and continue the curve you have
created for the navigation? Would that look too contrived?