Honest Critique Required - http://www.frombumps2babes.co.uk

Took a quick look. Looks not to bad. I think the pasifier logo could be less embose to be more sharp looking.

1) The FromBumps2Babes looks OK (shadow a bit dark) but the text underneath is a but confusing, I think its the font thats making it confusing.

2) I like the set width I think the top banner (title and text) should be flush with the top of the browser and the menu bar should be flush with the top banner and the advertising banner underneath as well as the ad banner flush with the content. All together will make the site look cleaner.

3) Maybe have some photography at the top, like a mother holding up a baby with joy to show quickly what the sites about. When I saw Babes I thought a girly site.

4) The content photos are a bit ... square. Maybe add some curves, curves is used alot for "baby" related marketing. Kinda adds "fun".

5) The Vbulletin portion looks good. Maybe remove the generic icons and put more custom ones like a pasifier or something

Besides that, not too bad

my 2 cents

At first glance it looks very seperated.
The logo needs brighter colours, like ebay style (dont copy) or use the yellow and blue of layout and change layout colour. The text used on the slogan part is also hard to read, maybe teenagers and txt'ers could read it.

The top navigation is way to small above the ads, the ads over power the links so really your just trying to send people away. maybe put the ads on the side (tower ads) or under the main text section.

The bottom link section is how your site should be presented, the top is non professional (not serious) where as the bottom is. Remember your reader base is mums, not the new borns, new borns wouldn't care if you had chocolate sauce plastered all over the place they would smile and say gaaa gooo (or something).
As you have 4 sections maybe make it into a square under the main text or even around it. Parents (parents to be) need to trust your site, a professional looking site will do that, a kiddies styled site wont show trust but rather that you don't know what you're doing.
You could also try get some articles or help/advice/whatever from childrens hospitals, medical professionals, plunket if you have it there and even schooling stuff.

I feel this site is very limited as it's directed towards a UK audience, although you mention a US section (open today) there is no mention about the rest of the world, nothing to say if it's open to the world, or even if dads or dad to be's are welcome or invited or even if you have a section for the men (more and more dads are becoming stay at home dads now as woman can earn more than males)

I think you have to be careful using photos of mothers and babies, as most countries are mixed races these days displying a white mother/baby could be seen as racist or again limiting.

You might want to add Dec 05 to baby club too

Great site, overall. I like the logo and color scheme.

I would put a bit more padding in the areas where the text is on the front page. It comes a bit too close to the edge, in my opinion.

I would also put some sort of picture in the top section of the front page. When I first went to the site, all I saw was a bunch of text, and it made me not want to stick around. You might even consider putting that welcome letter under the rest of the stuff on the front page.

Although this might require a bit of work, some curves in the design would be a good idea, given your target audience. Studies have shown that women tend to like more curves on a website, while men tend to like straight lines. (Studies that conveniently enough, I can't find a link to.)

The only other thing I might suggest is tweaking the color scheme of your links so that it goes better with the site.

Other than that, I like it! I especially like that header. I think it goes far in showing what the site is all about, while still being simple and succinct. (Nice job, Demonhale.)

i would change the background colour of the cell padding to a different colour than the background.

also try and connect the top banner, menu bar some how. everything on the site looks like its floating, some of the site is ok but not all of it

The complain I have is the font used for the top banner. In particular the lettering used for "your fun and friendly parenting......", is terribly awkward and uninviting. Please change the font to something legible.

http://www.duoservers.com

The first thing that jumps out at me is the header/banner....I really don't know how to say it any other way that to be completely honest...it's bad....it's really bad. It's very amaturish looking,

Ditto the color scheme. The color scheme just isn't working.

On the about us page the thumbnail images shoould be sitting on the left instead of sitting on the right side of the table cell.

The blue lines between table cells is isn't doing anything for this site...to me it makes it look beginner-ish instead of polished.

On a lot of pages the text is squahed up against the side of the table cell on the left..need some padding there.

Personally I'd re-think this whole thing and try to come up with something more polished looking.

Thanks for all the comments so far.

As I said this is my very first attempt at creating a site so yes it probably does look beginner-ish

A lot of good points have been made and I will certainly look at taking some of them on board.

Now if only I could afford to hire one of you guys/girls life would be so much easier lol.

I think one thing that has stuck with me from your comments is making the design more curved - I think thats a great idea and one I am going to research further.

Thanks again

Michael

I thought I would give you a fresh perspective without having looked at several reviews first, so here goes:

Overall, I think the site looks good. The basic design and layout is pretty simple, straightforward, and easy to navigate, while also being attractive and thoughtfully designed. I would say however that there are some major points to look into quickly:

1) On several of your pages, your menu is inconsistently placed on the page. Even when you have announcements on your page, generally you should have the menu stay at the same place on your page.

2) The banner across the top could use a bit of tweaking. It is definately hard to read and the font should be changed to something a bit more legible and not so "smashed" together. The rattle could be changed a bit too, though it is a good start. Possibly use a picture of a real one? Just a suggestion.

3) The ads are somewhat distracting. If you can move them somewhere less obtrusive or possibly rid the site of them altogether, that would help the layout.

The site is looking good! Keep working and you will definately succeed!

good effort - just build up those links. It's got the mark of a large community site in the future

i was scared when it asked me "when was the last time you had your period"