The Battle: Dids.com VS. Simple Solutions

Well, I like the logo of Simple Solutions better than the logo of DIDS, but overall I like the DIDS site better. Here are a few reasons:

1) It's more rounded. Besides the Simple Solutions menu, the site is very square.

2) The main menu is better looking. The Simple Solutions menu is boring. Those tab things are used on a lot of sites. I really like the DIDS menu.

Have to agree with Justin.

My designs at the moment are predominantly "boxed" like DIDS

I like the focus that a boxed design delivers on the content. I just feel that it caters more for the mass viewing public. Especially on large screens; when maximised on some sites the content shrinks because of the available width and there is a lot of whitespace which remains unclaimed.

I am scared to put my own site up here now! But I suppose I will have to take the plunge soon. You can't throw too many stones as web developers, simply because we all (most of us) have sites, and therefore live in glasshouses.

I too prefer the DIS site. Here are my reasons:

• The color scheme makes it look more professional.
• My preferences also go to the centered table and not the screen filled one. Personally I think the centered tables always look better. Everything looks stretched on the Simple site.
• Along the same lines, the Simple site requires horizontal scrolling. What I mean by that is that while I don't have to use a scroll bar, of course, but I do have to interrupt my field of vision. That is on the DIS site, my eyes stay in one fixed position. On the Simple site, I have to move or scroll my eyes to get all of the page.

Detox, it does make one a bit fearful to show his work here but I would much rather hear the truth than a simple "looks good".

too true!!!

Tough decision! I am going to have to say that I like Simple Solutions better as far as design goes (and I did not mean to sound so negative about Dids, honestly! I will post more in that thread when I get a chance). I find SS to be a lot easier to navigate.

Even though both sites use a very similar navigation structure, I am finding it much easier to find what I'm looking for at SS. With a cleaner design the menus are standing out more. The spacial separation of the two horizontal menus as well as the fact that none of those menus are on there twice also helps to avoid confusion.

However, I do think that all of the navigation text is too small - hard to read. The "click here" links all over the place should be eliminated - when I'm scanning the page those links stand out, but it would help a lot of the linked words had some sort of indication of where the link is pointing to. On the front page, the "Award Winning", "web Hosting" parts along the bottom should have the titles linked, not the text beneath them - that confused me for a minute.

I have to say that what I like best about both sites is the colour schemes - very interesting and unique choices for both. I've been really into orange lately. I'm findig that the red/orange combination on SS is giving the site a warm, friendly feeling. I have both sites open right now and am feeling more attracted to SS. I also really like the pictures along the top.

P.S. Another difference I'm noticing between the two sites is pricing - if I was looking for a starter package I would certainly pick Dids.

P.P.S I also agree with Justin about the menus. Both sites have their pluses and minuses

Thanks to all of you for your opinions. I personally view this as not so much a contest as a way to improve. By comparing my site directly with a competitor's site, it gives me the chance to see what people like about his and gives me options for improving our own.

Megan, your comments are par-on. They make perfect sense and I have some of your comments from this thread and my own thread that I will be taking to heart tomorrow as I make some changes to our site.

I am sure Curtis is getting his own ideas about changes that he could possibly make and I hope he does so. This is for improvement (to me anyway) more than competition.

Hi,
Yup very tough decision, I like the colors of Dis better that simple solutions, they are much more "pleasing" to look at but I like the layout and structure of simple solutions more, Bearing in mind that at the moment i am using an old 14" monitor the text on Dis is quite small and eye straining, maybe this will look better when I am at home on a 17" ???
The simple site also looked a lot neater to me when using netscape, the Dis page appeared broken at the bottom.
I found both sites easy to navigate.
I think i would have to go with the Dis site as my "winner" but only just, 60/40

Tony

I am competely the opposite of adalt. I think the color on SS is great. Very bright and eye catching. But I do like the colors on Dids as well - just not as 'WOW'! I think the overall design of Dids is more interesting. I like the curves. I do like the pictures on SS - that adds a lot of interest to the site. So Iwould say that I like Dids the best - but it's close.

Brooke