Comments for my Site

My first reaction to it was, ooooh hard on the eyes, too blue & oh no not that monkey again!!

There is a scroll bar at 800*600 which is very small but very annoying.

I'm confused as to why you have a flash movie for the top part of the page - ah missed it playing on load, perhaps have it looping?

I quite like the rollover images for the Home, Reviews, etc at the top but I wouldn't have the links underlined on rollover, just leave it with the box highlighting.

I don't however like the rollover colour for the links down the side, perhaps choose an completely contrasting colour, this may also help bring some colour to the site.

Lastly, I don't like the text "Latest....." the font looks out of place with the rest. Keep the font the same as the other links and perhaps make this a different colour, especially if they are going to be links as well.

Thank you for your input.

THe logo graphic you've got there is great, but I feel that the rest of the design really needs some work. The page elements don't seem to work together very well. For example, you've got sans-serif fonts for the navbar on the left but a serif font for the body text - make them all sans (this could be a problem with the stylehseet in netscape, I know that happens sometimes).

The colour scheme seems to be rather incoherent as well. The bright blue doesn't work well with the darker grey-ish blue and it's hard to read on top of grey and none of those colours are working well with the colours in the logo. What you should do is grab colours from the logo and use those directly.

The headers on the navbar need to be re-done - it looks like you're trying to match the logo style but it's just not working for such small text - too hard to read. So try something different with that. I'm also finding that the plain text navigation items, both on the side and along the top and bottom, is way too small. You've got lots of room to make that bigger - especially at the bottom.

The general layout could use some improvement as well - look at how many boxes you have and how they're arranged. It needs to be more organized. The ad placement is particularly bad, as well as the other elements above it.

Dang, and I thought I had done an ok job. Lol. I was trying to use the "web colors" provided by the program I was using. Is it safe to use non-web colors on websites? Also, what is the recommended width (px or % wise) that one should use when designing a site? I heard that 750px is a good width to use. Once again, thanks for the honest opinions. I guess the only way to get better is to learn from your mistakes.

I liked the logo. Coool.

i wasn't so keen on the heading on the left. I found the grey hard to read against the blue.

The ad is ghastly, especially where it is. It's awkwardly placed.

Overall, I felt the look was a bit dark. If you picked a slightly brighter colour scheme it would help a lot I think.

One thing I have just noticed is that where it now says Wednesday, July 04........ the AM is pushed onto the next line and this makes it look uneven.

Overall impression was pretty good. However it reminded me of other sites in this 'genre'. I am not sure if that is good or bad. Here are some other things that I noticed:

• Drop shadowed text - while the drop shadow looks great on the logo, it is a bit too dark on the links like "Wires", etc. It is a little harder to read.
• Other text - is also in spots harder to read. Links like "3dretreat" can be a little harder to see with the color that they are. I would use a lighter or a more contrasting color.
• Latest - I can see the effect that you are trying to get with this but I think that you could get it with a space after Latest.
• Shock the Monkey - the monkey must die. Everyone hates the monkey.

I agree with much of what's already been said so won't reiterate those points.

Main table cell could use some padding so text isn't bumping against the left edge.

In NS 4.6 the left nav bar text links are blue and underlined (not enough contrast with the blue/grey background), whereas in IE 4.0 they are white, no underline, almost too small to read at 800x600 and the bullets don't display. NS 4.x doesn't handle CSS properly, from what I hear. But if you want compatibility, you'll have to learn to deal with it.

There's too much going on, would look better if you simplified a bit. What is the point of this graphic - box_image_1.gif? Looks like it's supposed to be some kind of gun just like the guy at the top right of the page is holding. The box with "3d Retreat Network" in it also seems redundant.

"This Page was created by..." I'd move that to the very bottom of the page.

At the bottom of the page now you have two logos in boxes that are wider than the logos. Why have a logo for and a live link to the page you're already on?

DVD's - no apostrophe in a plural.

I don't know why IE is doing this to me lately, but it says the date is Wednesday, January 20, 2106. (It's correct in NS.) And maybe it's just me, but I really don't understand why people feel the need to put the date and time on their site. I have a clock and I have a calendar, and if I need your site to tell me what day it is or what time it is (where *you* are, not where I am), then I'm clueless.

As for optimal width, 750 pixels will be "safe" at 800x600, which is the most commonly used resolution. However, computer freaks/gamers tend to have larger monitors and run higher resolutions. For example, at two of my "normal" sites the average using 800x600 is 55-60%, at my computer modding site it's only 35%, with higher resolutions much more common.

I recommend making tables scaleable to the visitor's resolution. You can mix and match absolute and relative widths. The left nav bar can be 150 pixels, the right column gets everything that's left over, or 100%. However, you need to accommodate the real estate the vertical scroll bar will take, so probably keep it to 90-95% to avoid a horizontal scroll.

Hope that helps.

I think you guys were lookin' at the wrong page. That one was the previous page that I created. After the comments, I tried to fix it with this new page, http://ps2.3dretreat.com/draft3.htm

Quote: Originally posted by john
I think you guys were lookin' at the wrong page. That one was the previous page that I created. After the comments, I tried to fix it with this new page, http://ps2.3dretreat.com/draft3.htm

I was looking at http://ps2.3dretreat.com/wires/network.shtml, which is the page you requested be critiqued in your original post. I don't see any place where you stated you had updated it and posted a new URL.

Most of my comments still apply.

I posted a new thread talking about the new page. I stated that I had posted a previous thread. So I assume the moderator combined the threads.

Quote: Originally posted by john
I posted a new thread talking about the new page. I stated that I had posted a previous thread. So I assume the moderator combined the threads.

No, I hadn't seen that thread when I replied. Why start another thread when you've already got one going? It is helpful to see what others have said, as well any changes that have been incorporated over the course of the thread. I think there should be a one-thread-per-site rule around here, like there is at some other forums. It's less confusing.

I have now closed the other thread as it was going to get everyone confused, so we'll just keep it to the existing thread.

The two pages you posted in the other thread were

http://ps2.3dretreat.com/draft3.htm

http://ps2.3dretreat.com/draft4.htm

I am viewing your page on 800 X 600 and the table butts right up against each side of my screen. I would make the main table just a tad smaller in width. Maybe 95% or even 90%. Add some color if you can.

disaster-master

The top navigation is a little confusing. Could you make an onclick event for the cels?

There I was, checking the site to review it and you are re-designing it! For the record, I liked the colour layout. Keepin it true to the PS2 itself. Haven't really got much else to say though!

very nice site, I like to clear layout, but is too blue!

I think your http://ps2.3dretreat.com/draft3.htm is the best page os far, I think it is looking really good.

Fix the images and such so they arent streatched across, make it so the man with the gun is on the right, a seperate image, and your logo is on the left, and make a background in the cell that will connect the two images, that way it will look good on higher resolutions.

the headers on the navigation are too dark. make them, brighter, maybe white with a black outline, then on mouseover the white can turn to a blue color? That would make it look good I think.

Good luck with your site.