Man, that nav flash on the left is kick ***! Did you make it yourself or is it a free flash thing? Still, whatever it is, it rocks! I don't think too much of the logo up the top, it's overly-simple really. Looks too unprefessional really. I'd also add some cellpadding to the main body cells, so that the text isn't touching the table's border. The whole site looks a bit too white as well for my liking. Perhaps add a bit more colour variations, very subtle ones though, light very faint blues or greys. Would look better i think. Still its a nice site and like i said i love the nav on the left! Nice one!
I think that flash navigation is gimmicky and annoying. It's not very user friendly at all since the nav text keeps disappearing when you roll over it.
I'm not quite sure what you're trying to get across with this site. The layout is very very boxy and doesn't suit the logo at all. The colour scheme is uninteresting and again, doesn't work with the logo. I think you need a much more coherent look and feel for this site. Your site is called "Blue Square" and yet there are no blue squares in the deisgn.
I also think that you need a more coherent vision in terms of what this site offers. The introductory paragraph talks a lot about tutorials and resources, but I don't see links to those sections in the navbar. Instead I see a list of mainly administrivia links and not much real content. Some of those links took me to content that I didn't expect (i.e. "Compting" goes to what seems to be hardware products that you're selling. I don't know what I expected there - probably tips and tricks of some sort - but I certainly didn't expect hardware for sale).
I think that using flash for navigation is generally a bad idea. The only thing it adds is eye candy which isn't really adding any actual value to the site - especially on an information based site. It's also more difficult to modify and update, which makes changes difficult for the developer to manage. Usability and accessability go down the toilet.
There is a time and place for eye candy - this isn't it.
I said before that the flash navigation was annoying and it still is and rather unprofessional IMO.
I agree with Megan as well about the lack of logic to the site & navigation. It seems to me that the site can't make up its mind what it's for/about! The horizontal scrollbar is very noticeable ;o)
I suggested before about a stronger logo incorporating some blue squares and you definitely need to do something with it.
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
Well i'm still liking the flash, maybe you're both right in that its out of place on this site, there's just something about the way it looks when you drag down vertically over the buttons i like.
I actually would suggest a complete overhaul/redesign of the site - and work out exactly what needs to go where and from what pages it will be available from. Planning is just as important as design
You're *all* right on the Flash nav, even Davey Sure its kinda *neat* in a novelty sort of way but it is also horribly impractical for all the resons listed above and more...
1/ I personally like to be able to glance down at the status bar to see where a link is going to. Is it an external site? a pdf document? a mailto link? All out of place in the core navigation of a site I know but that doesn't stop some people.
2/ I also like to have the option of opening a link inot a new window via rightclick or shift/click - flash menus rob me of that as well.
.....
Jimmy Changa posted this at 23:12 — 17th March 2003.
ok, wow take it easy on me,first of all, it is my first site. second of all as it clearly states - "The site is still currently under construction and new resources are being added all the time" so this isnt it, more content is on its way, and thirdly thankyou for your opinions, its very useful to get some quality user feedback, a complete redesign?!!! i only just put this one up, not too sure about that but thanks anyway. Well, i'll see what i can do in the way of changes, and get back to you soon, thanks guys and gals, see ya soon.
Just to add to that - I think it's really important to start a site with a really good architecture - that means the plan of all your sections and how they relate to each other. YOu can always add more later but it helps to have a solid structure from teh start. This means that you need to have a good idea of what you're going to include on the site - a clear plan of what you're going to do. Think of it of a hierarchy - like a family tree. You'll have one page at the top (the home page), with several sections extending from that, and pages extending from those sections and so on. Even if you don't fill up all your content right away, you can still create the base html pages and folders to contain them. You can also reserve a place for them on the navbar.
Speaking of the navbar, I also think it's important to keep your administrivia separte from your real content. This is a very common mistake that needs to be addressed. When you mix administrivia* with real content you just water down your content. People look at your navbar, see mainly a bunch of links that aren't relevant to them, assume you don't have much content that interests them, and go someplace else.
** by "administrivia" I mean stuff that is just about the site itself - links, affiliate stuff, advertising info, possibly "about us" and things like that. People largely don't care about these things, it isn't why they're visiting, so keep it out of their way. On smaller sites it may be okay to mix these in one navbar, but when you have more than five or so links it's best to separate them out into categories. You can even just put a space between each set on the navbar to visually indicate that they're two separate groups.
P.S. You should have told us this was your first site - I've seen your name around here before and kind of assumed that you must have posted a site for review at some point! Sorry if we're being to hard on you here - we don't mean to.
Quote: P.S. You should have told us this was your first site - I've seen your name around here before and kind of assumed that you must have posted a site for review at some point! Sorry if we're being to hard on you here - we don't mean to.
There's no point in being liberal and wrapping new designers in cotton wool, it doesn't help if you say that the site is 'flawless' or anything really. I think everything you've said it very helpful to someone just starting out and just be taken as advice, not criticism. Its more of a 'if you did this and that, it would be better...' and that isn't a bad thing in my eyes!
It's not neccessarily wrapping them in cotton wool, it's more a matter of not being too discouraging. It seems to me that maybe we were a little too hard on hclear here, since s/he has removed the site now. It could be discouraging to receive a lot of harsh criticism right off the bat so I often tend to go a little easier on people who are new at this. Beginners need to focus on different aspects of a site than people who have more experience. I think it's best to target what that particular designer really needs to work on at this stage in his/her work. Start working on the basics, then move on to the finer details. Being too harsh at first could scare them away from web designing altogether.
Of course, this all varies from person to person, which what makes critiquing difficult sometimes. Some new people will want to hear the brutal honesty, while some experienced designers can't handle criticism well at all.
Yeah very true, i remember when I first started in about 1999 and everything I heard was negative, like 'man those colours don't look good together' etc. and it does kinda hurt cos I was so proud of what I had done. Another difficulty with critiquing is that everyone's taste is different, and no two designers are alike - we all like and dislike certain things and have our own ways of presenting information - thats why I think everyone should say which part of the site they actually want reviewing - the site as a whole? the navigation? the colour scheme? etc. so that they don't start getting bad reviews on things that they really think are good. I mean, who are we to say what is or isn't good at the end of the day?
Ok, well thanks for your ideas guys and yeah i am on the road to recovery, i did post a site for review earlier on, a former verison of this so not strictly true...sorry about that..anyway, any criticism is good, because it gives me a focus for improvment, i'm no expert as you can all see, so thanks for the tips, and a new verison will be present soon.cheers
Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.
Megan posted this at 14:23 — 17th March 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
link?
hclear posted this at 14:24 — 17th March 2003.
They have: 36 posts
Joined: Oct 2002
http://bluesquare.df-network.com sorry!!
DaveyBoy posted this at 16:04 — 17th March 2003.
They have: 453 posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Man, that nav flash on the left is kick ***! Did you make it yourself or is it a free flash thing? Still, whatever it is, it rocks! I don't think too much of the logo up the top, it's overly-simple really. Looks too unprefessional really. I'd also add some cellpadding to the main body cells, so that the text isn't touching the table's border. The whole site looks a bit too white as well for my liking. Perhaps add a bit more colour variations, very subtle ones though, light very faint blues or greys. Would look better i think. Still its a nice site and like i said i love the nav on the left! Nice one!
Megan posted this at 16:55 — 17th March 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
I think that flash navigation is gimmicky and annoying. It's not very user friendly at all since the nav text keeps disappearing when you roll over it.
I'm not quite sure what you're trying to get across with this site. The layout is very very boxy and doesn't suit the logo at all. The colour scheme is uninteresting and again, doesn't work with the logo. I think you need a much more coherent look and feel for this site. Your site is called "Blue Square" and yet there are no blue squares in the deisgn.
I also think that you need a more coherent vision in terms of what this site offers. The introductory paragraph talks a lot about tutorials and resources, but I don't see links to those sections in the navbar. Instead I see a list of mainly administrivia links and not much real content. Some of those links took me to content that I didn't expect (i.e. "Compting" goes to what seems to be hardware products that you're selling. I don't know what I expected there - probably tips and tricks of some sort - but I certainly didn't expect hardware for sale).
Megan
Connect with us on Facebook!
DaveyBoy posted this at 17:00 — 17th March 2003.
They have: 453 posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Ah you love it really Megan
I guess i kinda agree about the links, the expected links aren't there.
I also just noticed - on my second look - that there is a horizontal scroll bar even at 1024x768! Hardly see that.
I still think the flash is class though
Megan posted this at 17:16 — 17th March 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
I think that using flash for navigation is generally a bad idea. The only thing it adds is eye candy which isn't really adding any actual value to the site - especially on an information based site. It's also more difficult to modify and update, which makes changes difficult for the developer to manage. Usability and accessability go down the toilet.
There is a time and place for eye candy - this isn't it.
Megan
Connect with us on Facebook!
The Webmistress posted this at 17:19 — 17th March 2003.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
I said before that the flash navigation was annoying and it still is and rather unprofessional IMO.
I agree with Megan as well about the lack of logic to the site & navigation. It seems to me that the site can't make up its mind what it's for/about! The horizontal scrollbar is very noticeable ;o)
I suggested before about a stronger logo incorporating some blue squares and you definitely need to do something with it.
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
DaveyBoy posted this at 18:14 — 17th March 2003.
They have: 453 posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Well i'm still liking the flash, maybe you're both right in that its out of place on this site, there's just something about the way it looks when you drag down vertically over the buttons i like.
I actually would suggest a complete overhaul/redesign of the site - and work out exactly what needs to go where and from what pages it will be available from. Planning is just as important as design
taff posted this at 22:26 — 17th March 2003.
They have: 956 posts
Joined: Jun 2001
You're *all* right on the Flash nav, even Davey
Sure its kinda *neat* in a novelty sort of way but it is also horribly impractical for all the resons listed above and more...
1/ I personally like to be able to glance down at the status bar to see where a link is going to. Is it an external site? a pdf document? a mailto link? All out of place in the core navigation of a site I know but that doesn't stop some people.
2/ I also like to have the option of opening a link inot a new window via rightclick or shift/click - flash menus rob me of that as well.
.....
Jimmy Changa posted this at 23:12 — 17th March 2003.
They have: 220 posts
Joined: Mar 2003
I would really love to have comments, but all I get is "access Denied"....dam proxy servers.
lol
hclear posted this at 08:54 — 18th March 2003.
They have: 36 posts
Joined: Oct 2002
ok, wow take it easy on me,first of all, it is my first site. second of all as it clearly states - "The site is still currently under construction and new resources are being added all the time" so this isnt it, more content is on its way, and thirdly thankyou for your opinions, its very useful to get some quality user feedback, a complete redesign?!!! i only just put this one up, not too sure about that but thanks anyway. Well, i'll see what i can do in the way of changes, and get back to you soon, thanks guys and gals, see ya soon.
Megan posted this at 14:17 — 18th March 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
IMO, now is the time to rethink this thing rather than later. If you restart now you'll save a lot more problems down the road.
Megan posted this at 14:33 — 18th March 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
Just to add to that - I think it's really important to start a site with a really good architecture - that means the plan of all your sections and how they relate to each other. YOu can always add more later but it helps to have a solid structure from teh start. This means that you need to have a good idea of what you're going to include on the site - a clear plan of what you're going to do. Think of it of a hierarchy - like a family tree. You'll have one page at the top (the home page), with several sections extending from that, and pages extending from those sections and so on. Even if you don't fill up all your content right away, you can still create the base html pages and folders to contain them. You can also reserve a place for them on the navbar.
Speaking of the navbar, I also think it's important to keep your administrivia separte from your real content. This is a very common mistake that needs to be addressed. When you mix administrivia* with real content you just water down your content. People look at your navbar, see mainly a bunch of links that aren't relevant to them, assume you don't have much content that interests them, and go someplace else.
** by "administrivia" I mean stuff that is just about the site itself - links, affiliate stuff, advertising info, possibly "about us" and things like that. People largely don't care about these things, it isn't why they're visiting, so keep it out of their way. On smaller sites it may be okay to mix these in one navbar, but when you have more than five or so links it's best to separate them out into categories. You can even just put a space between each set on the navbar to visually indicate that they're two separate groups.
P.S. You should have told us this was your first site - I've seen your name around here before and kind of assumed that you must have posted a site for review at some point! Sorry if we're being to hard on you here - we don't mean to.
Megan
Connect with us on Facebook!
DaveyBoy posted this at 15:07 — 18th March 2003.
They have: 453 posts
Joined: Feb 2003
There's no point in being liberal and wrapping new designers in cotton wool, it doesn't help if you say that the site is 'flawless' or anything really. I think everything you've said it very helpful to someone just starting out and just be taken as advice, not criticism. Its more of a 'if you did this and that, it would be better...' and that isn't a bad thing in my eyes!
Megan posted this at 15:21 — 18th March 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
It's not neccessarily wrapping them in cotton wool, it's more a matter of not being too discouraging. It seems to me that maybe we were a little too hard on hclear here, since s/he has removed the site now. It could be discouraging to receive a lot of harsh criticism right off the bat so I often tend to go a little easier on people who are new at this. Beginners need to focus on different aspects of a site than people who have more experience. I think it's best to target what that particular designer really needs to work on at this stage in his/her work. Start working on the basics, then move on to the finer details. Being too harsh at first could scare them away from web designing altogether.
Of course, this all varies from person to person, which what makes critiquing difficult sometimes. Some new people will want to hear the brutal honesty, while some experienced designers can't handle criticism well at all.
Megan
Connect with us on Facebook!
DaveyBoy posted this at 15:44 — 18th March 2003.
They have: 453 posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Yeah very true, i remember when I first started in about 1999 and everything I heard was negative, like 'man those colours don't look good together' etc. and it does kinda hurt cos I was so proud of what I had done. Another difficulty with critiquing is that everyone's taste is different, and no two designers are alike - we all like and dislike certain things and have our own ways of presenting information - thats why I think everyone should say which part of the site they actually want reviewing - the site as a whole? the navigation? the colour scheme? etc. so that they don't start getting bad reviews on things that they really think are good. I mean, who are we to say what is or isn't good at the end of the day?
hclear posted this at 17:16 — 18th March 2003.
They have: 36 posts
Joined: Oct 2002
Ok, well thanks for your ideas guys and yeah i am on the road to recovery, i did post a site for review earlier on, a former verison of this so not strictly true...sorry about that..anyway, any criticism is good, because it gives me a focus for improvment, i'm no expert as you can all see, so thanks for the tips, and a new verison will be present soon.cheers
Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.