Gladstone Websites

He has: 49 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

Hi,

This is my first XHTML1.0 strict tableless site, using css to style everything, even down to the tags.
Can I please have some critique, both good and bad are welcome.

http://www.gladstone-websites.co.uk

Thanks in advance.

Gary

Gary

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

This looks really good! Congrats on the CSS layout Smiling

A few things I noticed:

  • The graphic effects on the navigation buttons are a little too overdone. Try to simplify those a little bit. The photo is very striking but as it is now the nav buttons are competing with it. You want the photo to get the emphasis. Also make the buttons wider so the bar spans the whole width.
  • Put a bigger margin around the main body content. That will make the design feel less cramped.
  • I'm a little confused about the relationship between the top nav menu and the sidebar. Some of the links are the same but some are different.

Good job overall. I like the gradient in the background. I didn't notice it at first - a nice subtle effect Smiling

sitesupport's picture

He has: 190 posts

Joined: Jun 2007

Looks good, You culd change the color of the picture on the right side of the support page to the color of the one on the pricing page, the pink doesn't go well with the rest of your site.

They have: 17 posts

Joined: Oct 2007

Nice, tableless and XHTML Strict!

Suggestions...

1. Site navigation works better with div id='' tags. Let the spiders know your site navigation better, than with generic class statements. It's more CSS, but the important divs need identifiers.

2. Footer may need to be more separated from the body with more padding. This way visitors can really see your last "punchline". Currently, it's too close to the body of the text, blending into it.

3. Experiement with "text-align:justify", to fill in the empty white-space on the right, as you have ample margins between the sidebars.

4. For accessibility (if it matters for you); navigation sidebars are best on the right-side. It makes navigation faster even for those without text-readers, especially with larger monitors/higher resolution -- that's a long mouse travel otherwise.

5. Tidy-HTML spotted that the pound sign wasn't escaped, use (remove the hyphens as the forum auto converts it otherwise)...

&-#-1-6-3-;' instead.

Nice, clean coded, and to the point website. Smiling

sin0cide's picture

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Oct 2007

good colors... nice navigation... the only thing I would say is if your trying to grab clients from the site you want it to be as cool and cutting edge as you can handle... so update or redesign as much as you can.

Brian(Webdesigner/SEO)

He has: 49 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

Thanks to all who replied.

I've made some changes to the site ie colours, left nav, margin around central content and I've also justified the central content.

Theres still other changes yet to do when I get time.

Thanks again,

Gary

Gary

mfdc's picture

They have: 160 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

I like this site, it sits well on the screen and becuase there is no flash content, its very easy on the eye. It may be worth having perhaps a couple of your designs on the front page? It wasnt clear at first where I could find examples of your work

He has: 49 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

Ok, I've changed the header nav to an ul instead of using divs for each button, I've removed the red VAT image from the left hand side and added some images of my work to the home page. Plus a few other bits and pieces here and there.

Please let me know what you think of the site now.

Thanks again for your critique.

Gary

Smp Business Hosting's picture

They have: 60 posts

Joined: Aug 2007

Hi Gary,

I recommend you put an alt tag on the 'Some of our recent web design work' image and link it to your portfolio page.
I think you should also link to the sites in your portfolio so potential clients can get a better feel of your work.
Other than that you've done a great job!

Regards, Steve

mfdc's picture

They have: 160 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

Its good, the snapshot of your work looks very nice.
Couple of things though,

I think your strapline is weak...'designing websites from your ideas' and also the left column, underneath 'No added VAT' the yellow box isnt aligned with the purple header

It is though, coming along to be a very nice site

He has: 49 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

Thanks all for the comments/advice.

I've removed the VAT info on the home page and added a link to the portfolio page from the recent work image on the home page.

I've been advised to indent the markup by someone from a different forum, and wondered if I could have some views on this?

Also, can I have your views on using Google Adsense.

Thanks all,

Gary

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