Laughing Buddha

This is not bad for a start. The overall concept is good (although I'm a little bit not sure about the whole laughing Buddha thing... could be seen as making fun). The inner part of the design is good. I like the inner glow and the way the content stays simple. It's a bit of a different concept of design. A nice break from the traditional content-based web design.

What I don't like is the outer glow oval, the big one with the main text on it. It's a little too much. It sort of looks like a tube or something. Maybe even if the gradient was less drastic and not so bubbley looking.

I also don't like the outer border around the whole content area. It's too rigid and black & white compared to the rest of the design. I would try it without any border at all, or do something more subtle using the other colours used in the design.

Overall not a bad job. Communicates well, and I like the fonts you've chosen.

can you get budda to laugh... an animated gif...? That'd be cool and would draw me in....

The Art work is amazing.. Its seems to be at least to me something different... I enjoyed it good work...

I Like it .. really fun to see this type of design again, meaning, not a box with boxes every where. I think the logo needs more definition. It's a great start, looking forward to seeing where it goes.
The fonts are great and maybe I am biased, but I have a Laughing Buddha above my desk!!

From the usability side of things, your menu does nothing on rollover. Your text in the middle uses the same font as the menu and takes you no where. You're going to annoy people there i think... it did me! The small size of the window means you can't go to a section without clicking 'next' just to get through it all.

You just can't have a website where all text is an image. At least have an alternative for the visually impaired and alt text on the images!

There are 11 HTML errors on your homepage, all easy to fix so i suggest getting them sorted.

The biggest faux pas seems to be that you have simply ignored your own philosophy.

Sorry to be harsh

-Rob

Thanks everyone for feedback, positive and negative. In response to some of the comments:

* Rob I'm not sure what the 11 HTML errors are but I found a couple including one that was bothering me - thanks, I hadn't checked the code closely. As I said in the opening post it's all image based for design purposes and I'll change the text to HTML soon. Alt tags etc will certainly be done and all the text will be in tables. Good point about the rollovers on menu buttons, I'll do that. I'll make the centre home page text go somewhere too. I'm glad you noticed that it's inconsistent with the philosophy because at this incomplete stage it is. Will be much more consistent when finished. The 'next' buttons only apply to one section really but I take your point and it's a good one. Curious to know what the 11 HTML errors are ......

* Megan the 'laughing buddha' is a very common variation on the standard buddha images, especially throughout Asia. It's also sometimes called the happy buddha. But your point is good and I should include a brief explanation about it somewhere. You're right about the 'tube' efect. Not sure which part you mean by the outer borders - do you mean the reddish page background or the borders directly around the image? It looked a bit weak without any borders so I'll try some different colour combinations.

* Other comments - animated buddha ..... hmmm will think about that, might make it tacky though?
- logo could do with being a bit more prominent

Pleased to hear everyone likes the general look as that's what I needed comments on at this stage. Now on to the next stage of making it functional and consistent.

Hey Dragonsjaw I have a laughing buddha above my desk too! And in the front yard, and out the back ...... I like the symbolism - reminds us all to laugh.

Cheers,
Blue

I like the concept but think the ring is to over powering. In some ways it's good because it makes you follow it but takes a lot away from the center.
I wouldn't use an animated budha, would cheapen it.

You don't need to use tables for something like this, I know you said it's a temp thing but loose all the tables and just place it in a , or just as the image.
Maybe introduce another colour for the links, tan or off tan (is there such a thing).
Will be interesting to see it when you've finished it.

It's simple with a sense of comedy...I like it.
However, those people in the photos of goannabakery.com.au look like a bunch of freaks IMHO.

G'luck.

I have to disagree with most of the comments. This is just me personally, but I think it looks cheesy, like something from a late 90's Geocities website. That said, it might improve things drastically if you got rid of that "tube", like Megan said. Also, My personal preference would be to fade the edges of the picture into the background color of the page in some way.

Again, obviously plenty of people like it, but that's my $0.02.

i dont like it too, it just looks a little too dropped together, I do understand the theme youre trying to achieve, but then the tube is not working, the text links are also way unrecognizable with other texts... But this could be redone to look way better...

Thanks for all the input everyone. Some good points and feedback. I've worked on most of the suggestions made and they do improve the site. The one remaining problem is improving that 'tube' effect and I haven't been able to make a better background that fits yet. Gonna have to ditch Fireworks and move to PS for that one, I think their gradient results are much better. Let's call the tube problem a work in progress.

The latest draft is at a slightly different URL if anyone's interested in seeing it - http://home.exetel.com.au/nonamedesign/buddha/slice/index.html

I have a question - the rollover images in the menu are too slow. I've set the behaviours to preload the images so they should change the instant the mouse moves over it. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Blue

I do like the concept.
I would probably think of making the "laughing Buddha" graphic restricted to a logo or some form of horizontal banner then just simply have html code dictating the background as one colour.
I would also think about loosing the ring graphic or just have it encompassing the buddha character in a small logo.
You could maybe benefit from a vertical navigation menu although I like the concept of how it is now.
If you are concerned with code validation (not everyone is as it apparently has no bearing on Search Engine PR) once you have converted your site into more code, I recently validated my site for the first time using WC3's validation tool but then I discovered that the code validation extension with FireFox showed more errors...which was odd seeing as WC3 developed the extension for FF.

It is difficult when a site is graphic rich...I should know!lol

OK thanks everyone for the feedback so far it has certainly helped to improve some shortcomings. The site is now live and keen to hear feedback for the final version. The new url is www.laughingbuddhadesign.com

* I haven't validated yet
* I have improved the 'tube' effect from what it was. Haven't completely solved it though believe me I've tried.

Everything is more HTML based now and not all in images. Other stuff fixed too, etc etc ......

Thanks again TWF members.

Blue

Just a comment from a 'silver surfer'

I couldnt understand what the site was about nor could I instantly find my way round.

Other than that I quite liked it.

Ok I followed the link in the first post :blush:

I can see what the site is about on the front page now but .... I spent a bit of time clicking on the text and going nowhere