Critique Site Please

They have: 107 posts

Joined: Mar 1999

The URL is robinsoncounseling.com. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

~Chris

taff's picture

They have: 956 posts

Joined: Jun 2001

IE5.5 - Win98 - 1152x864

Well as far as dark backgrounds go, I actually like the blue. I have readability concerns here but I think they are more due to the serif font.

The underlined headings look suspiciously like links.

Colours, colours, colours. I count about 9 in play here. You would be better off with some colour consistency. Your graphic links use totally different colours from your text links and neither of them seem to be drawn from any sort of theme.

The top banner doesn't work for me - I think it is the gray textured background that I dislike. Have you tried it on the blue? Assuming that the Maroon/Yellow(ish) are the client's colours, try using them as your link colours, although the maroon on blue is unlikely to work - especially for text.

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Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

1. Fonts - you've got sans-serif for the logo area, serif in the body and a handwritten look for the mouseovers - not good. I do like the use of the handwritten font there - seems appropriate for the topic.

2. Colours - yup, here I go again on colours. Lose the yellow first of all - it's too garish (and as I've said before, it's best to stay away from the 6 basic brights,they almost always look terrible)

3. The metallic look - just not appropriate here at all. It's too harsh. YOu should go for something softer and more soothing

4. This doctor has some very impressive qualifications (ie. books she's written, harvard educated) that you might want to highlight on the front page just to impress people

5. Where is this service available? Make that clear up front

6. Drop Shadows - on the text under the logo and on the navbar - too big! If you're going to use drop shadows, it's best to make them small, otherwise they look tacky

7. I like the way the circle part with her photo looks on the mouseovers on the front page. The font and colours look soft and inviting and comforting. I would take that look and go with it for the rest of the design.

8. Logo - boring! Try writing the name in a scripted or handwritten font.

9. Text is written in the first person (ie. My fees are...). I think it would be more professional to write it in third person (Dr. Robinson's fees are....)

10. Contact form - is that green or are my eyes deceiving me? Refine your colour scheme!

They have: 107 posts

Joined: Mar 1999

Thanks for the feedback.

I changed around the color skeme a little, so it matches that of the homepage. I adjusted the fonts a little bit as well. How does the banner image look on the top of each page now. I also lightened up the contact forms a little. Anything else?

~Chris

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Looks much better. You should fix the navigation buttons though and I still think the metallic look needs to go...

taff's picture

They have: 956 posts

Joined: Jun 2001

Much nicer!

Yes, my readability issues were due to font, not colour. I would recommend that you make the links the same font face and size as the rest of the text. They will still be obvious as links due to the colour (which is now consistent!)

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Busy's picture

He has: 6,151 posts

Joined: May 2001

At first view it looks like a frames site,
The mouse overs are good, but the text in the center of the circle gets to you, just a tad to bright maybe.
And the more I lok at it the darker that blue background gets, I love dark backgrounds but I think this may be a little to dark for the content topic.

Some of the pages have a lot of blank space between the content and the © footer, maybe just tighten that up a little.

At first i thought this big blank space was an editor fault, now as i see more and more sites with this "make you scroll down for nothing" i am maybe thinking its a trend?

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

I like certain elements but as a whole I'm not too sure.

I like the mouseovers and the first page at 800*600 looks good but at 1152*864 it looks odd as there is such a big space between writing & picture. I would perhaps think about having the picture in the center with the links going around each side, then have the text underneath it and as it's been said have important info like where she practices in with that bit.

Try to keep the text all one size as otherwise it's hard to read. (links)

I would loose the grey border at the top & make the logo something more fancy & unique.

Make the yellow a softer shade.

Good start though.

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

They have: 107 posts

Joined: Mar 1999

Thanks,
Actually originally I had the links going around the picture instead of just on one side. The problem was at that size, it would go off the screen at lower resolutions. I kind of like the grey at the top. Any suggestions for what I could change it to though?

The client really likes the yellow and blue, so I don't want to mess with those.

For the links, I see that they are slightly smaller than the rest of the text. I am using an external CSS. Any suggestions as to how to make them the same size.

taff's picture

They have: 956 posts

Joined: Jun 2001

Quote: Originally posted by rivimont
For the links, I see that they are slightly smaller than the rest of the text. I am using an external CSS. Any suggestions as to how to make them the same size.

Don't assign font sizes to your links (or font face for that matter). Just let them inherit this information from the tage that they are nested within.

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Keegan's picture

They have: 300 posts

Joined: Aug 2001

I do not have a problem with the colors(US-CERTIFIED, buy savings bonds) any color combination can be made to fit the specific genre of site, or area of interest.

Fonts, I opened the site, and while I love photoshop, I love correct use of fonts also.

So I will just end this post, in this very deserving thread in saying:

Use no more than two font types in a web page, if the site is large enough in viewership and has a blurred focus then fine, but this is about a business, and coming from someone who has very poor vision, I could tell that you cannot see that the fonts are destroying the layout.

WOW ZING POW! PING! WHOOEY!

K

They have: 107 posts

Joined: Mar 1999

Thank you everyone for youe help. I will be paying more attention to fonts now. I fixed the different size in the text.

Strange how specifying the font properties for the links in the CSS caused it to be a different size then the rest of the text, even though they were specifed the exact same size. I removed the font info (except color) and let it get the setting from the environment it was in. Does it look better now?

http://www.robinsoncounseling.com

~Chris

Keegan's picture

They have: 300 posts

Joined: Aug 2001

It does look better, you are going in a good direction.

The images, can you make them the same font without too much trouble?

There are three different types of fonts, three different colors. The page just is not busy enough in content to warrant that much variance.

The first time I pulled 75 million dollars in freight for nasa I made rules.

If the load is not secured, put another tie down on it. Stand back 50 feet, if it does not look right, put another one on it.

Stand back from your monitor and look at the layout. You might see what I mean.

K

http://www.kilclinefuneralhome.com/wf_posts/lowboyi.jpg

tmay's picture

They have: 75 posts

Joined: Sep 2001

I like it!!

One thing though, the contact form is messed up a bit. Both buttons submit the form. The clear button is not doing what it should be doing. Also, I don't think you need the "your text here..." part. It's pretty obvious that you type something in there.

But overall, I think it's great!

-Troy May

PC Sympathy

Admin at HFT Online

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