Did I see this on TAZ? I remember looking at it but didn't have a chance to write a review.
The overall design is really good. A bit conservative for a graphics site but overall very well done. Extremely high quality graphics.
For the front page, I would do something different with the navbar. The plain text links look too boring. Try playing with the CSS a bit to make it more interesting. Some padding and/or lline spacing at least would be helpful. More padding is also needed in the content areas.
The forums page, for some reason, is positioned differently from the front page. It's wider and doesn't fit in an 800px window. With your audience you might not need to worry about that though.
All of the boring topics are at the top. EVERYONE seems to do this at first and I really don't understand why. Nobody wants to talk about your news and announcements. Register is not a discussion topic. Now your users always have to scroll before they can start chatting. Why make it more difficult for people to participate? I find myself saying this all the time at TAZ - I even saved it as a browser note so I don't have to retype it every time.
Everyting else looks good. I would move that first section into one forum down in the Lounge area - that's what we do here and it works just fine. I was going to say something about the concentration on showing off work and getting work but it seems that your members appreciate that and use those forums a lot more than the graphics chat area so it looks like that's working well for you. Sometimes graphics sites concentrate more on helping with questions areas for different types of software.
I do really like the skin a lot. It's well done graphically but not over the top. I find sometimes they get so overdone that the skin detracts from the content. The lighter colour scheme helps here.
I love the graphics, but nothing is too eye catching, and with those graphics, flash would look GREAT. Be it just some flashes of light, lighning bolts or something spinning, it would greatly change the effect of the site. It is hard to tell what the site is for/about. You need a "Welcome to My Site, we..." or something. Otherwise, great start!
Very nice design. I looked at your site and the forums and one thing I noticed was that the forum was full of content; interesting tutorials; useful threads; competitions etc.
Indeed the forum's content is very rich.
However, I thought that the frontpage could link to things within the forum, instead of just the whole forum. ie you should draw the visitor's attention to the most recent tutorial, or the on-going competition- instead of just selling ad. space.
SOTW seems like a great idea, especially for a graphics orientated community. Perhaps the prize would be a link to their site on your front page (at page rank 4, that's a valuable prize!)
akdiver posted this at 22:06 — 26th September 2005.
I like your site too. Looks very proffessional and sleek. I do agree with some of the above points. Your home page is a bit cold and nothing to catch the eye. Also you hit me up with advertisement on your site but i still dont know what it is about. Minor things to think about. Good work
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."
The site looks great, very professional. The only thing that scratched my eye was that google adsense banner on the left. Either use a bigger one (120x600 skyscraper, or so) or don`t use it at all. I don`t think that the one link posted there generates a real income for your site, and - for now - the banner looks unfinished, like somebody cut from it.
Overall the site looks sleek and the logo is excellent. Obviously you should never use too many colours but I think on your site there should be at least one other colour to break up the blue (especially the homepage) as there isnt enough to catch the eye and all the text just blends in and you dont know what to read first so get bored easily.
I dont have much knowledge of this kind of site but I would imagine a graphics website should maybe use more flash or graphics to interest your visitors.
But I would give you 7/10 well done and good luck with it.
I like the way the website looks, I like the use of navy blue, and I especially like the banner on top with the logo in the middle, what I dont feel I like is the blog feel to a site that sells graphics, why not use a full flede CMS with this, or better yet edit the blogging code to remove time stamps and comments fields, thatll work, thats one mans opinion anyway...
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 13:26 — 20th September 2005.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
Did I see this on TAZ? I remember looking at it but didn't have a chance to write a review.
The overall design is really good. A bit conservative for a graphics site but overall very well done. Extremely high quality graphics.
For the front page, I would do something different with the navbar. The plain text links look too boring. Try playing with the CSS a bit to make it more interesting. Some padding and/or lline spacing at least would be helpful. More padding is also needed in the content areas.
The forums page, for some reason, is positioned differently from the front page. It's wider and doesn't fit in an 800px window. With your audience you might not need to worry about that though.
All of the boring topics are at the top. EVERYONE seems to do this at first and I really don't understand why. Nobody wants to talk about your news and announcements. Register is not a discussion topic. Now your users always have to scroll before they can start chatting. Why make it more difficult for people to participate? I find myself saying this all the time at TAZ - I even saved it as a browser note so I don't have to retype it every time.
Everyting else looks good. I would move that first section into one forum down in the Lounge area - that's what we do here and it works just fine. I was going to say something about the concentration on showing off work and getting work but it seems that your members appreciate that and use those forums a lot more than the graphics chat area so it looks like that's working well for you. Sometimes graphics sites concentrate more on helping with questions areas for different types of software.
I do really like the skin a lot. It's well done graphically but not over the top. I find sometimes they get so overdone that the skin detracts from the content. The lighter colour scheme helps here.
Megan
Connect with us on Facebook!
inet_ventures posted this at 15:19 — 20th September 2005.
They have: 28 posts
Joined: Jul 2005
I like the site layout, g**gles adword integration is seemless and overall the color scheme is pleasing to the eye and easy to read.
courtesy is spelled wrong (curtesy of Juano)
Sam Warren
Picnic-Basket.com
* Picnic Baskets * Picnic Backpacks * Wine Totes * BBQ Tool Sets
pcmcia167 posted this at 17:52 — 20th September 2005.
He has: 30 posts
Joined: Sep 2005
I love the graphics, but nothing is too eye catching, and with those graphics, flash would look GREAT. Be it just some flashes of light, lighning bolts or something spinning, it would greatly change the effect of the site. It is hard to tell what the site is for/about. You need a "Welcome to My Site, we..." or something. Otherwise, great start!
Lucas Sawyer
Family-Guy-Clips.org
Lucas Sawyer
Web Developer/SEO
www.LucasSawyer.com || www.Family-Guy-Clips.org || www.Travel-Hot-Spots.org
mattdes posted this at 21:14 — 21st September 2005.
They have: 17 posts
Joined: Mar 2005
Very nice design. I looked at your site and the forums and one thing I noticed was that the forum was full of content; interesting tutorials; useful threads; competitions etc.
Indeed the forum's content is very rich.
However, I thought that the frontpage could link to things within the forum, instead of just the whole forum. ie you should draw the visitor's attention to the most recent tutorial, or the on-going competition- instead of just selling ad. space.
SOTW seems like a great idea, especially for a graphics orientated community. Perhaps the prize would be a link to their site on your front page (at page rank 4, that's a valuable prize!)
akdiver posted this at 22:06 — 26th September 2005.
They have: 9 posts
Joined: Sep 2005
I like your site too. Looks very proffessional and sleek. I do agree with some of the above points. Your home page is a bit cold and nothing to catch the eye. Also you hit me up with advertisement on your site but i still dont know what it is about. Minor things to think about. Good work
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."
Ulladulla Popular Holiday Destination
Small Business Website Design
Tudor.b posted this at 11:48 — 1st October 2005.
They have: 35 posts
Joined: Jun 2004
The site looks great, very professional. The only thing that scratched my eye was that google adsense banner on the left. Either use a bigger one (120x600 skyscraper, or so) or don`t use it at all. I don`t think that the one link posted there generates a real income for your site, and - for now - the banner looks unfinished, like somebody cut from it.
www.it-base.ro
Funny posted this at 11:09 — 5th October 2005.
They have: 14 posts
Joined: Oct 2005
Hey gfxsector,
First of all, your site is simple and nice.
Home page is good, but the font size could be increased little bit more i guess. Do you have any test id which I can use it login into your forum?
Looking for a deal? Visit: www.DealDebate.com
Zaberfang posted this at 22:29 — 8th October 2005.
He has: 10 posts
Joined: Oct 2005
I like the layout.You didn't make too complicated and at the same time it looks really profesional.
The nav bar isn't that good though,maybe adme blue to it?
Why doesn't the forum page have the same navbar?
Post links to parts of the forum.
A 7/10 all in all.
The pinned topics have to go.make a special forum for news and announcements.
Good content,I like tutorial sites an despecially sites that have flash tutorials since that is what I'm trying to learn at the moment.
Xzone Your Zone
addicted2 posted this at 19:43 — 9th October 2005.
He has: 5 posts
Joined: Oct 2005
Overall the site looks sleek and the logo is excellent. Obviously you should never use too many colours but I think on your site there should be at least one other colour to break up the blue (especially the homepage) as there isnt enough to catch the eye and all the text just blends in and you dont know what to read first so get bored easily.
I dont have much knowledge of this kind of site but I would imagine a graphics website should maybe use more flash or graphics to interest your visitors.
But I would give you 7/10 well done and good luck with it.
addicted2
http://www.addicted2labels.co.uk
demonhale posted this at 02:02 — 10th October 2005.
He has: 3,278 posts
Joined: May 2005
I like the way the website looks, I like the use of navy blue, and I especially like the banner on top with the logo in the middle, what I dont feel I like is the blog feel to a site that sells graphics, why not use a full flede CMS with this, or better yet edit the blogging code to remove time stamps and comments fields, thatll work, thats one mans opinion anyway...
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.