ContestX, a site to hold contests and win cash

I liked the idea for this until Ir ealized that all the contests have to be hosted directly on this site. It would be good if you could include contest hosted elsewhere. Lots of websites run contests from time to time so this would be a good way for people to find out about what contests they can enter, even if they're on other sites. You could do that as a sidebar or something, to add even more good content. I wouldn't be interested in using this site on it's own, but if I could use it to publicize the contests on my own site and have the opportunity to enter contests on a ton of other sites then I would definitely visit and maybe even subscribe to feeds.

The overall design here is quite nice. The colour scheme and overall theme are well done. I think the details need refining quite a bit though. The logo is much too big - try it in the same size as the enter/vote/win text and put some empty space around it to make it stand out. Try making the X bigger than the rest of the text, or in a different colour (like red). I like the icons with the enter/vote win, but '

In comparison to the logo and enter/vote/ win blocks, the navigation below is way too wishy-washy. Lose the fuzzy gradient and make the text bold. If there's not enough space, move the search box either to the white space below where it is now or into the top-right corner (standard position for search box).

The next problem is that the popular tags list is getting to close to the edges. Put some padding on that box so it has some space around it. Maybe try doing the sidebar with a background colour or a right border to give it more structure.

The footer is very weak as well. Do that in the same red as the header, with the same rounded corners. The footer should serve as a visual anchor to the page, so it doesn't just float off into space.

The text in the actual content listings should be refined a bit as well. It looks like it's just been pulled in from a database with little regard to how the components relate to each other and what they should look like. Play with the CSS on that to put some more spacing around the main explaination and add some colour.

The actual contest pages need even more work: it looks like the content was just thrown in there with no regard to the formatting at all.

Overall a good job, you just need to work on the details a bit

Thanks for the great advice!!I actually have a really good idea for being able to host it on different sites, subscribe to this thread, and I'll have something by the end of the week.

thjere is a lot of "wasted" space on the left side
and the images on the top look a bit childish

but the home page is clear and you get the idea of the site right away

good luck man

Cool, that's really what I want, is that people understand the idea behind the site in less then 30 seconds. Thanks for the input.

Hello,

Nice site but I think the top part where you have the large icons is a little bigger than it should be. I would make it a bit smaller because it pushes the rest of the content on the page downward. I'm not sure but on other screen sizes it may even take up even more space.

- James H

I think that you could give another try to that top part.The layout in general looks interesting but on the top there still is work to be done. the site is loading fast and the font is nice. Good luck with your site.

regards,
Dks

looks cool but that white space near the header is killing it.