posted
Text size is too small. The color contrasts make it hard to read the words in the menus.
Oh yeah and splash pages are silly. When i go to a web sight I want to go right ot the meat of it. A intro splash page is only fun the first time and most of the time I skip them without even looking at them. It's the age old "Ok, now let's get on with it!"
posted
Love it... what kind of stuff will you be posting?
What software did you use to create it? You create it from scratch? Or is there a template somewhere you started from?
Posts: 353 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I like the color scheme and I think the font size is fine. I'm ambivalent about spash pages. The only thing that bugged me was that your side and top menus had some of the same links. I don't think you need the dupicates.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I don't mean to be a standards snob, but your site doesn't validate through the W3C HTML validator. (validator.w3.org) It also degrades poorly when using user stylesheets under Opera.
The layout seems pretty good, if a bit image-intensive. I'm not a fan of gray-blue industrial design layouts, but most people are.
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Ummm.. why so dark? I notice lots of people are going for the "dark" look on web sites lately. Although I usually do like a light text on a dark background, I'm getting older and it is getting harder to read these kinds of things.
But I was impressed with the design of it overall. Especially considering you pretty much did it from scratch instead of using someone else's fancy template.
posted
I really liked it, I thought it was original and easy to navigate. I don't, however, know one blessed thing about webpages; so all I'm giving is a layperson's opinion.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I like the overall look, though it is a little on the dark side. The graphics are impressive.
A few nitpicks, though: in the side menu the areas change color on a mouseover, even if the mouse isn't over a clickable link. It'd be better, I think, if the whole rectangle is clickable. Or just do without the color change. But having one without the other can be a little jarring. Also, mouseovers for the links on the top would be nice. These are minor points, though.
More importantly... a little context is good. What kind of site is it? If it's just a blog, why should I read it? What are your interests? Also, many of the links take you either off-site or stay on-site but change the page format drastically. I prefer it if there is a little more of a clear difference. At the least, group all links to internal, same-page-format pages in one place. And maybe add a "Links" heading to the external links.
Anyway, don't mind the nitpicks. I know from experience that it takes a lot of work to create a well-designed and functional website. Have fun! Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted
I really like the splash page. It's a cool image. It reminds me of a galaxy sort of, or maybe of something stirring or splashing into melted chocolate. Mmmmm. And it also looks a little like something made of steel.
I like the watcher in the water thing on the main page, too. But I miss the marble-textured border around the news/content section. Did you decide that made it too busy or something?
This is great! I hope you don't mind if I use your code as a template for mine?
quote: What is the point of this site you say? I'm not really sure. I just thought it would be nice to have a place to post some of the stuff that I do. Maybe sometime in the future there will be an actual reason that this site exists.
I have no purpose for it .
But thanks for the suggestions - I'll use (some) of them. Posts: 2756 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Yeah, about splash. I hate it, too. When I see it, I usually just close the window. Can't be bothered to deal with it. I agree with earlier comments about just getting to the content already - that's a huge part of it. The other part is that it loads too slowly. Not meaning yours in particular, just splash sites in general. I'm impatient and have attention span of a fruit fly.
Something to keep in mind - and not just you, but all web designers out there. Not everyone in the world has high speed internet. If the only people you want to look at your sight all have high speed, then it doesn't matter. But if you're not that focused - and really, who is? - then you need to take into consideration those people who are still on dial up. Yep, lost of people in North America, but also tonnes of people all over the world are still on dial up or have throttled bandwidth issues or the like. So the faster it loads, the easier it is on your audience.
I agree with the "it's a little dark" comment. See, the easier it is to read, the more likely people will stick around. Anything you do to make it difficult to either read the content, find the way around, whatever, the more likely people will flee. Internet users have no patience, generally speaking.
Graphics are cool - that whole Matrix monster tentacle thing is nice. Font size a little small.
I wouldn't bother labelling the side menu as the side menu. It's obvious enough what it is. And given that it's there, and that I like how it looks, I'd be inclined to ditch the links at the top that are duplicated. Keep the side thingy.
Forum. Given that you're using phpBB, I hope you've got the latest version installed. Previous versions are easily hackable. Make sure you keep current with the news on security issues for that, too. You don't want to be hacked if you can at all avoid it.
It would make more sense to have the shouts under the side menu bar on your main blog page rather than beside the flash intro thingy. Way way more sense.
I'd also clearly label links that go off your site as such. Otherwise, people will be in for a surprise when they click it.
Overall, I like the design and the feel. It's cool. Yes, I'm old. I could even say it's slick. Or does that age me, too? Ah, I dunno. It looks good. Other than what I've already nitted. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
You ready for Tater's opinion? Can you handle Tater's review? *dramatic pause* 1] The portfolio's aren't showing up for me. I'll keep clicking, though. 2] I like the enter page. 3] I like the batman thing. 4] the enfect.trivia link doesn't work for me. It says the page does not exist. 5] Almost everything says "Whenever I have something to post here, I will post it." Oh man, and I was so excited. 6] AskKaioshin? Again? I love it! Brace yourself for my brilliant questions. 7] When are you going to put all those great graphic-things you make on there? 8] I'm not joining your forum. My trust issues tell me not to. They also tell me not to go to the site period, but I can't listen to them all the time, now can I?
Overall, Tater gives it two thumbs up. Well done, champ.
posted
Hmm.. I dunno... I'm a great fan of a well done splash page.
And for the record, splash pages can and often do serve a function. Case in point, if you have Flash content, it serves as a gateway page where you can inform the visitor about the site requirements or optimal viewing conditions (browser and version, connection speed, resolution, etc) before they enter the site and find that some thigns dont work for them.
Also it provides a nice buffer for Flash content. You can always offer more than one version of the site on the splash page (Flash or HTML) as well as the option to just skip the intro and go right to the heart of the site.
I frequently use splash pages on my client's sites not only for buffer reasons, but as an additional branding tool. It can't hurt for a client to see your name and logo one more time.
When done well a splash enhances a site.
Now, as for the Enfect site, it's got potential. A few bugs that need to be stomped here and there, (some content in the portfolio section wasn't loading) but all in all, it's not bad at all.
The dark color palette isn't my thing, but it can work nicely if done well (ala Depthcore, etc).
A few points: 1) Shoutbox should probably go on the inside of your site. You're discouraging visitors form entering the site by enticing them to stay on the outside typing away. It's better to lure them and keep them inside the site with the shoutbox. Shoutboxes are best on the splash page when the site is still under construction and you only have the splash page up to serve as your Coming Soon page. Other than that, they pretty much shoudl be relegated to inside the main site.
2) The fonts on the right hand side menu should be brighter. Brighter blue than the current shade or white.
3) The menu in the site masthead doesn't quite gel with the overall site. Maybe try horizontally aligning them in a row (standard menu config) or if your'e going for the touchtone phone numerical keypad configuration for the menu, then maybe grouping them more closely or tightly together will add that little extra oomph.. Also, make the menu stand out more. Maybe make the buttons a little brighter color to add contrast against the darker background or add a lighter colored border/lining around the buttons.
4) Always avoid letting the user navigate offsite/away from your site. Make links to offsite content load into a new browser window. Messageboards, especially. That way, once the user is done posting and interacting in the forum for however long they spend and possibly have completely forgotten about your site and it's content, BAM! As soon as they close that window, your site and its' content are staring them smack in the face again, and they may find something else to read or look at on your site.
5) Fix the broken portfolio section when you get a chance. Either its' broken, or no content is in there to be loaded and the links to more content disappear after you click on any of the navigational numbers.
All in all, not a bad job, young Jedi! Keep up the good work and soon enough you'll be stripping clients off of 2Advanced.com! :-)
Posts: 3 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:And um. Ill try to fix what this validator thing says.
This validator thing? Validator thing!?
The W3C validator is very important if you're going to do website development. If your site is standards-compliant, it will display properly on more browsers, as well as being more-readable to text-to-audio browsers and all-text browsers (like Lynx/Links).
I've contacted a number of website developers saying that their site doesn't display properly in Opera or Mozilla/Netscape/Firefox because the site is not standards-compliant only to have them reply that I should use Internet Explorer like everyone else. Despite how I feel about IE, no website developer should answer like that. Don't be like that--support the standards and they will support you.
I'm happy to note that you have no flash on your site. In my experience, yhere are so few sites that are able to reconcile the "cool"-ness of flash with ease of use and elegant layout. It always looks way too mobile and contrived. It also borks for people with dialup.
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I really liked it, especially the portfolio.
Some of the portfolios didn't load though (7-10 I believe). It might just be because I'm using Firefox.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000
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